Captives

"Get your hands off me!" Lou growled and yanked back hard, but only managed to lose her footing on the sandy bottom of the pond. She would have gone under water but the brave held her upright.

He grinned wickedly, and turned to say something to his friend over his shoulder.

Lou seized her chance. With every bit of power she had, she backed up and kicked out, putting both feet squarely into the man's stomach. While he doubled over she began swimming to the other end of the pond.

The other one leaped into the water to come after her. She could hear his powerful strokes bringing him closer and closer. She felt his hand at her ankle and kicked him off.

He grabbed her again, she she was pulled under.

She came up coughing hard after swallowing a mouthful of water.

He held her hard and she kicked and flailed, fighting hard.

Finally, he subdued her by pinning her against him.

"Let go!" Lou panted, struggling hard against his hold.

Suddenly, a shot rang out and a bullet sent a spray of water high into the air uncomfortably close to the Indian and Lou's side.

The both flung themselves to the side. The brave lost his hold on Lou, and she took the opportunity to kick him hard too, missing his gut but finding his shins instead.

She turned to see who had fired the shot.

A sigh of relief escaped her. Jimmy, Curly, and Raven Wing stood at the bank. Jimmy held his gun in hand, staring into the water angrily.

Curly stopped him by placing a hand on his chest.

"I will handle this!" He insisted, "Do not shoot again!"

"You get them away from her Curly or I'll kill them!" Jimmy growled, leaving little doubt that he meant it.

Raven Wing placed a gentle hand on Jimmy's arm, "She is safe now."

"Not until they are out of the water," Jimmy disagreed.

Curly spoke to the two men in Lakota, and his voice was low and deadly.

Lou cowered low in the water, her eyes shifting from the man in front of her, to Curly, to Jimmy. Every one of them looked like a strung bow, ready to snap.

Especially Jimmy. His finger still rested on the trigger of his Colt.

"What's he saying?" Jimmy demanded of Raven Wing without looking at her.

"He tells them that they have gone too far with their games!"

Jimmy finally turned his eyes to her incredulously, "Games! Is that what your people think this is? Is that what you called it when the woman from your tribe was raped?"

"They would not have hurt her. They wanted only to scare her," Raven Wing said softly, cautious of his anger, though she knew it not directed at her.

"The hell they wouldn't have!" Jimmy spat out, then turned to Curly, waving his gun, "Curly, you get them out of that water or I will!"

Curly ignored him. He continued his tirade against the two braves.

The two men had been silent up until that point. Suddenly though the one that had first gone after Lou disagreed heartily with something Curly said and angrily stormed out of the water, stopping inches from Curly's face. He yelled furiously.

"What's he saying?" Jimmy asked Raven Wing.

Raven Wing was loathe to tell him, but couldn't deny his wishes, "Dark Wolf says that Lou is now his woman, his captive…"

The words were barely out of her mouth before Jimmy stormed to where Curly and Dark Wolf stood. It was Jimmy this time who was in Dark Wolf's face.

"She is my woman!" Jimmy yelled, and Dark Wolf sneered dangerously. Jimmy spoke to Curly but kept his eyes boring into the brave's, "Tell him Curly!"

Curly did so.

"And tell him that if he ever comes near her again, I'll kill him!"

Curly spoke to Dark Wolf, but he did not convey the threat. A captive did not threaten a Sioux warrior.

He told Dark Wolf to go, and to take his shadow, Laughing Fox with him.

Dark Wolf planted him feet, and told him, "I take her with me." He nodded his head toward Lou.

Raven Wing suddenly joined the melee, her voice high and outraged, and she spoke so rapidly that even someone who spoke Sioux might have had trouble getting all the words.

Jimmy watched in amazement as Dark Wolf seemingly shrank in fear and slunk away. His friend, Laughing Fox, left Lou alone in the water.

Suddenly the water seemed suffused with heat, and Lou could feel her skin becoming flushed.

She was blushing up to the roots of her hair as Raven Wing, Curly, and Jimmy stood in shock and stared. That the water covered her didn't matter. She was in agony.

"Oh," Raven Wing muttered suddenly, understanding, "Poor Lou! We are making her very uncomfortable. Both of you turn around and let her get out of the water!"

Jimmy and Curly, also blushed a bright shade of red. They turned around and walked to the edge of the trail to give Lou some much deserved privacy.

Raven Wing waded into the water and met her with a blanket, wrapping it around her tightly.

"You all right Lou?" Jimmy wondered, not daring to turn around.

"I'm okay," She said a bit shakily. She was no longer blushing and had turned alarmingly pale.

"What did they want with me?" She asked Raven Wing as she finished drying off and slipped the deerskin dress over her head. It fell to just below her knees. Her scratched and bruised legs were revealed.

Raven Wing helped her tie the strings at the shoulders of the dress and searched for the words to explain, "Dark Wolf was being cruel. He has a mean streak, and likes to scare people. And he hates Curly. Knowing that Curly knows both of you and is the reason you are being given more freedom than is customary will make it hard on you with him."

"Why does he hate Curly?" Jimmy wondered, for he was listening.

"Because I married Raven Wing," Curly answered. "She was promised to Dark Wolf. However, I saved the chief's life one night when I came across the Sioux party. They had been attacked by the Comanche. There were only three Sioux left, and I helped Running Horse fight off the last of them. Running Horse insisted I come back here and pick a woman as a prize. Then I met Raven Wing, and though she was promised, we both fell very much in love. Dark Wolf was furious, but Running Horse loves his daughter too much to deny her happiness. Now Dark Wolf says I owe him a wife. He thinks that he is entitled to you, Lou."

"Well I hope you cleared that up," Lou said, with sarcastic nonchalance.

The cynicism was lost on Curly, "I cannot say that he won't try again. Just beware."

"I thought you said he wouldn't have hurt her," Jimmy growled.

"He's angry now. And insulted. He won't allow an insult to go untouched."

Jimmy nodded, understanding the subtle warning.

Dark Wolf wanted Lou to settle an old score that had hurt his pride.

And, Curly told him later, because he found Lou very attractive. *

Lou and Raven Wing walked to meet the two men waiting on them. Jimmy glanced in surprise at Lou's clothing. She blushed again, feeling very silly.

He smiled, and said, "Come on Pocahontas, I think you might like the tee pee better now."

Lou managed a small smile, "So is it standing?"

"Of course," Curly smiled.

"Well, then that's an improvement!" Lou pointed out.

Everyone, even Jimmy, laughed. Raven Wing led Curly back up the trail toward the village. Jimmy hung back a moment, and gently placed his hand on Lou's chin, turning her head and making her look him in the eye.

"Are you all right?" He asked gently.

Her eyes misted with tears as she nodded her head. Jimmy was worried about how pale she looked. However, he sensed that if he prodded her with gentle inquiries she would lose her control and burst into tears. And he knew she didn't want to do that.

So instead he slid his hand to cradle her cheek a minute and smile softly at her. Then he set his arm around her shoulders protectively, and they followed Curly and Raven Wing.

They spent the rest of the day with Curly and Raven Wing. But the nightfall was unavoidable, and soon it was time to retire to the small space where they would live together.

Lou curled up against one side of the lodge, and Jimmy took the hint and lay down on the other. Her back was to him and she was almost lost in the folds of the thick blanket Raven Wing had given her.

After a while, he found the courage to ask her what he was thinking, "Lou, you don't think I'm gonna try nothing do you?"

Lou smiled softly. The thought of Jimmy doing anything to hurt her or make her uncomfortable was crazy.

She turned over and looked at him, "I know you better than that."

But, I don't know myself that well, she thought quietly.

Jimmy, his mind at ease, turned to go to sleep, but before he drifted off he murmured softly, "We're gonna be all right, Lou."

However, at one point during the night he woke up. In the dim light from the fire outside, he could make out Lou, still curled in a ball with her back to him.

Her shoulders shook as she sobbed, and he knew she was thinking of the Kid.

He raised up to comfort her, but realized he was out of words. Though it hurt him, he closed his eyes and pretended not to hear her heart breaking as he eased back down on his bedroll. Time and time again he had tried to tell her that everything would work out the way it was supposed to with Kid, but now she faced the possibility of not seeing him again for a very long time.

And it wasn't as if the Kid would wait for her, he thought with a sigh.

Jimmy couldn't figure out if it was good that Lou wouldn't be around him to discover that, or if it would kill her to have left him with so much unresolved.

He suspected the latter might be true.

Then, he took a moment to feel sorry for Kid too. He'd think Lou was enslaved or worse, dead. He'd think both of them were. His guilt would know no bounds. Grief made people do crazy things. He prayed the others would keep Kid sane.

Of course, they'd be crazy with grief too, Jimmy knew. They had known all along that the chances of losing one of them was good, but they'd never allowed themselves to comprehend what the loss of one of them would be to the strength of the group as a whole. They'd never even considered the magnitude of the loss of two of them.

Jimmy was up for quite a while, his mind racing, trying to think of some way to let them know they were still alive. He couldn't think of anything he and Lou could do. When he finally rolled over to sleep, Lou was finally resting peacefully too.

"We'll all be all right," He said aloud again.

He just wished he believed it.

"I'm going."

The words startled the table into silence and forks paused in mid-air. It was the first time the Kid had really said anything in two days.

All the riders' eyes turned expectantly to Teaspoon. When Cody, Buck, Noah, and Ike had announced it was time to go look for Jimmy and Lou two days ago, he had exploded.

Rachel, from her spot at the end of the table said firmly, "You can discuss this after dinner. I'm not having another war at my table."

"Ain't nothing to discuss. I'm going," Kid repeated.

"The hell you are! I won't have you out roaming the countryside, chasing something you ain't gonna find!" Teaspoon said, his grief over the failure of Jimmy and Lou to return showing in haggard lines on his face. They all looked like that.

"Watch me!" Kid snapped and pushed himself up.

"Kid! Kid!" Teaspoon stood up also, following him out on the porch. Kid kept walking toward the barn. Finally Teaspoon voiced the cold hard fact that no one had dared to put into words, "You are just going to have to accept that they are gone!"

Kid stopped cold, and from inside the bunkhouse, the riders looked toward the open door in shock. Having it put into words slammed the reality home like a knife in their chests.

Teaspoon held his breath while Kid turned around slowly, his head bowed.

"I'm sorry son," He said softly, "But I just got a bad feeling. If they ain't back by now…"

Kid was already shaking his head, "No," he whispered, then his voice came out more sharply, "No!" Suddenly he was yelling, "No! Damn it! No!"

"Don't make this any harder on yourself than it has to be," Teaspoon began.

"No!" Kid insisted again, "If she was dead, I'd know it! I know she's alive, Teaspoon!"

"Son, even if she is, which I doubt, she's far away from here, you can bet," Teaspoon explained.

"That's because I drove her there!" Kid choked out, tears making his eyes appear liquid blue. He turned from Teaspoon and continued walking to the barn.

"Where are you going Kid?" Teaspoon wondered, afraid of the answer.

"To bring her back," He answered simply.

Teaspoon sighed, and though it killed him, let Kid walk on. He heard footsteps behind him, and turned to find Ike, Noah, Buck, and Cody filing out of the bunkhouse.

Their faces were solemn, their jaws set. He knew what they would say.

"We gotta go, Teaspoon," Noah said, the unofficial spokesman, "Kid's right. We'd know it if they were dead. They are out there alive, somewhere."

"Somewhere is a mighty big place," Rachel said, coming out of the bunkhouse behind them.

Teaspoon nodded in agreement. Then he sighed and made his decision, "Yes it is. So, we'd better get started."

"Teaspoon…" Rachel began, while the others looked at him in amazement.

"Rachel, darling, I want you to go to Sweetwater and stay there until we get back. The Sioux aren't acting up right now, but who knows how long that will last."

"But what about the mail?" Rachel said, protesting mildly, "And there is so much to be done…the horses have to be fed…"

"Tell Barnett what happened. He'll get someone to feed the livestock," Teaspoon said quickly, and went to embrace her, "And the riders from Blue Creek can pick up the runs, or not. It doesn't matter to any of us."

Rachel sighed, knowing she should be the voice of reason, but not having the heart. She loved Jimmy and especially Lou, and she wanted them home. Tears filled her eyes, "Dear Lord, I hope you bring them home!"

"We will," Cody promised, and stepped up to hug her tightly, "Don't you worry none about that!"

Teaspoon nodded, "Let's go."

They walked side by side to the barn. Kid looked at them over Katy, tightening his saddle, "What are yall doing?"

"What do you think?" Buck smiled slightly, "Thought you'd like some company."

"You gotta have someone along who knows what he's doing," Cody said with an arrogant smirk.

"Which is why I'm going," Noah commented.

"No, that's why I'm going," Teaspoon said, and Kid looked at him in surprise.

Teaspoon explained sheepishly, "I learned to trust your hunches a long time ago, Kid."

Soon they were astride their horses, and Rachel stood at the head of a horse hitched to a buckboard.

"Ride safe, boys," She said softly, "And you Teaspoon."

"You too, darling. We'll be back, have no fear," But as he met her eyes Rachel saw the doubt in them. They'd be back with Jimmy and Lou, a definite answer to what had happened to them, or not at all, Rachel realized.

For better or for worse, in sickness and in health, till death do they part Rachel thought solemnly, and tears filled her eyes at the love they all shared.

"Let's go!" Kid said, "Let's go find Lou!"

"And Jimmy!" Cody said sharply.

Kid realized his mistake, and corrected himself quickly, "And Jimmy."

And yet, somewhere down deep he felt a surge of jealousy that wherever Lou was it was Jimmy there with her.

Teaspoon, with his uncanny ability to know what his boys were thinking rode up beside Kid and spoke softly, so that none of the others could hear. "If I were you Kid, I'd be spending a lot less time thinking about how jealous I was of Jimmy, and a lot more time praying that he found her and is watching over her."

He left Kid with his head bowed in shame.

They wheeled out of the station at a hard gallop, heading toward the Redfern station, never looking back, never doubting that what they were doing was the right thing.

Rachel burst into sobs when they were out of sight, wondering if it would be a long, long time before she saw any of them again.