Chapter X
By Joanna Phillips
Lou glanced into Jimmy's eyes, but he looked away, knowing all to well the guilt she was feeling. Lou's eyes grazed over Cody and Buck, and then over the unconscious Kid. Her lower lip trembled slightly as she glared at the Senator and then wheeled the buckboard and mare around and rumbled away at a mad pace. The wind whipped tears from her eyes as she raced for Rock Creek.
She wasn't but a few miles away when she spotted a buckskin horse coming at her in full gallop.
Noah pulled up breathlessly and looked questioningly at her attire, then at her wild eyes, "What's going on? Jesse told me that Callie's dead, and she was wanted for murder. He said that you'd gone after the boys after they joined up with the posse to catch her."
"Noah, I've been so stupid!" She hurriedly explained the events of the last two days and concluded, "he said if I don't bring Callie to him in two days, he'll start killing them! There's no time to waste! I'm so scared Callie didn't stay where I left her! What if she's gone, Noah?"
Noah reached over to put a gloved hand on Lou's small shoulder, "Calm down, Lou. We'll cross that bridge when we get there."
Lou shook her head vehemently, "No, Noah. We can't try anything funny. This man is dangerous, and he means what he says. He told me if I came back with anyone other than Callie he'll kill the boys on the spot, and I have no doubt he meant that. We can't tell Teaspoon!"
Noah sighed, and tilted his hat back, "Teaspoon's gone anyway. He rode to Fort Laramie."
"So what can we do?" Lou wondered.
Noah sighed again, "All I can see to do is get Callie."
Jimmy stared at his hands, bound tightly in front of him, and fought off the urge to scream and fight the ropes with all he had.
"Relax Jimmy, I know Lou and I know when she's lying. Callie is not dead," Kid said, wincing as he brought his bound hands up to gingerly trace the knot on his temple. He felt dizzy and sick to his stomach, and he was worried not only for their situation, but also for Lou's.
"What if you're wrong? What if she died because we wouldn't listen to her?"
Cody sighed and glanced over at his friend. In a rare moment of subdued wisdom he pointed out, "You had no way of knowing. Callie should have told us about this so we could help her."
Buck nodded, "She didn't trust us any more than we trusted her."
"I'm beginning to wonder if a woman like Callie is worth all this trouble," Kid muttered.
Jimmy would have lunged for Kid at that moment but for the Senator's voice. "A lady like Callie is worth it!" the senator said, having crept up and listened to the boys' conversations. Jimmy jumped away from Kid as he continued, "I wonder if you boys know just what she's worth!"
"A thousand dollars apparently," Cody muttered, and the Senator delivered a swift kick to his middle that doubled him over and left him coughing in the dirt.
"Callie! Callie! Get out here!" Lou's voice sounded unusually shrill and bounced off the canyon walls many times.
Callie jumped awake from her crouched position in the back of the cave and fought to open her eyes. She'd just gotten warm it seemed, after hours of trying to sleep, and stirring wasn't a welcome thought. There was no denying the panic in Lou's voice as she shrieked again, and so Callie quickly scrambled up and out into the overcast day.
Lou was running up toward her, tripping over her burgundy skirts, the ones that Callie had so proudly picked out for her. Her face was bright red with the wind. She noticed Noah standing by the horses, looking up at her expectantly.
"What is it?" Callie called out to Lou long before she reached her.
Lou stopped in front of her, chest heaving with exertion and eyes glassy with fear and lack of sleep. "The senator has the boys."
"What do you mean?"
"He said if you didn't come back, then he'll start killing them, one by one," Lou said grimly, "And I think he means it."
Callie grew very pale, and moved about restlessly, her heart beating in her throat. "He does mean it," Callie whispered, and brought her hand up to sweep her hair off her forehead and then cover her mouth, "Oh, God, I can't go back!"
Her eyes were gaining the look of a wild animal. Suddenly she moved as if to bolt to her horse, but Noah had caught him and held him with their animals.
"It's time to stop running Callie. We don't want to make you go back to him, but the others will die if you choose to keep running. And he'll find you eventually." Lou murmured. Callie looked to her feet at Lou's words, knowing them to be true. "He isn't going to kill you, Callie. He's going to kill them."
Lou reached into her gown and pulled something out. "The senator asked me to give you this. What is it anyway? What does it mean?"
Callie took the card as if it might burn her hand, and winced as she turned it over. The tears that had filled her eyes spilled over as she closed them and bowed her head in defeat. "It's the queen of hearts," She said simply, and gathered her skirts to run toward Ghost.
"I know that! What does it mean?" Lou asked again, running beside her and tugging on her arm, "Callie, if you run away from him he's going to kill them!"
"I'm not running away from him. I'm running to him," Callie growled, all the cultured softness gone from her voice, and in its place a cold, hard resolve.
Noah stood back as she mounted her white horse, and wheeled him around.
"Wait for us Callie!" Lou cried out, but in vain because Callie was already thundering out of the canyon, the queen of hearts still clutched in her hand.
Callie pulled up her horse in plain sight of the camp. Her heart beat in her throat, and she felt dizzy with fear. She spotted Jimmy, Kid, Cody, and Buck, each tied to separate posts, and squared her shoulders. Her eyes drifted to a large tent set up in the middle of the camp, and knew the senator rested within it.
She glanced down at her dress, now dirty and torn. She knew her hair must be wild and her face dirt streaked. She made a half-hearted attempt to wipe her face clean and pat down her curls. She didn't want the senator to see her so disheveled, but she had no choice.
A glance over her shoulder showed her that Lou and Noah were riding hard on the horizon. They'd tried to catch her all day, but she'd kept a strong lead the entire ride back. Her Arabian was bred to run long distances, which had kept her at an advantage over the heartier Western horses. Slowly, she urged her horse toward the camp, sitting tall in her saddle and not allowing Ghost to move faster than a stately walk.
Jimmy raised his aching head slowly, and squinted as he spotted Callie. At first he thought he must be dreaming, so convinced was he that she was really dead. However, Cody and Buck's murmurs of surprise told him that she really was slowly riding into the camp.
Gratitude to see her alive took Jimmy. She sat tall and motionless on her horse, with her shoulders squared. Her head was held high and her chin jutted out stubbornly and determinedly. Her eyes blazed, and Jimmy had never seen them such a stormy hue, not even during her encounters with Jarvis Malone. He noticed her gown torn in several places, but she might have been dressed as a queen for all the disdain written on her face. Anyone who gazed at her would recognize her for what she was and always had been-the Lady of the Manor.
Callie blinked again and concentrated on keeping the trembling from working into her hands. She allowed herself to glance over at Jimmy, and was surprised to find him staring intently at her. On his face she saw a mixture of concern, apology, and regret. She caught the way the corner of his mouth twitched as he nodded his head to her, and she knew that he also admired her.
It filled her with warmness momentarily.
However, soon Cyrus Stevenson's men were shouting to him, and he strolled out of his tent.
Callie still sat quietly on her horse, trying to control the onslaught of emotion that poured into her heart as she gazed at the big man in front of her. Hate, fury, bitterness, fear, and grief washed over her like a rushing river, and she felt slightly dizzy. She was determined to meet his pale stare. She liked the advantage of being on horseback. It made it that much easier for her to stare down her nose at him distastefully. She didn't blush or look away as he strolled over to her.
"Well, I'm glad you've come to your senses, my dear!" Cyrus began, "Of course, you have no idea the price you'll pay for what you've done!"
Callie narrowed her eyes, and they glittered icily, "Nothing has changed between us. I'll still never agree to what you want me to!"
This seemed to enrage the senator, and with the riders watching in horror, he reached up to yank Callie off her horse and shove her into the dirt. When she would have climbed to her feet, he kicked her swiftly in the side, his booted foot coming into contact with her arm. She bit down the cry of pain, and then slowly tried to climb to her feet again.
Again, he knocked her down.
"It's time for you to learn your place, Miss Sullivan!"
Callie said nothing, but continued to push herself to her feet.
"Stay down!" Cyrus roared, and hit her again.
This went on for some time, a sheer battle of will on Callie's part, with the senator growing every angrier, and hitting even harder. It was a horrible spectacle for the boys to watch, as the senator tried to break down her will, and Callie refused to back down, getting hurt badly because of her pride.
"Stay down!" Kid cried out at one point, unable to stand the scene. Jimmy's wrists were raw from trying to escape and come to her aid. And finally, Callie had no choice but to stay down. Her body was sore and battered, and she knew she didn't have the strength to stand, even if the senator allowed her to. So, she sat in the dust and looked up at him with daggers in her eyes.
"Let them go. You have me now," Callie finally gasped out, wiping at the bloody corner of her mouth with her fine silk sleeve. "I'm what you came for."
"Fond of them aren't you? Even had them fooled…at least that one," he motioned to Jimmy, "That's why you came back, to save them?"
"What does it matter why I came back? You win now," Callie muttered.
"Yes, I do. However, I can't very well let them go, Callie," Cyrus grinned, as the riders shifted uncomfortably and listened for their fate, "Why, they'd have a posse after us in no time."
"I mean nothing to them," Callie said, which made the boys look to the ground in shame, and Jimmy shake his head softly, "They rode out here to help bring me in. But now I'm here, and they are not involved."
"Where's the girl that told me you were dead?" Cyrus demanded.
"Behind me. I left her to get here more quickly."
"Ah, yes, and save your dear friends!"
"Let them go, Cyrus," Callie said, her eyes and voice turning almost pleading, "You've got me."
"I can't let them all go," the senator said, "but perhaps we could just keep one for insurance purposes…"
"No! You let them all go!" Callie said forcefully, and was slapped across the face for her efforts.
She climbed to her feet slowly and stiffly, and stood with her arms pressed close to her sore ribs. She met the senator's pale eyes, and found herself wishing to wake. So many of her nightmares had involved standing in front of him as she did now. "Let them go!" She repeated.
"I think you know as well as I do the only way they get to go," Cyrus said slowly, grinning and leaning down to pick up the card that Callie had dropped in the struggle, "and it involves this."
He held it under her nose, "I hope you have better luck on the second try than on the first!"
Callie felt her resolve slip, and tears sprung to her eyes, but she did not shed them. She looked at the old card.
The senator then snatched it from under her nose and examined it himself. "I do believe that this card has a few spots of blood on it from the last time we used it. Remember that glorious summer afternoon?"
Callie looked away to keep from lunging at the man's throat, and tears escaped her eyes as she remembered the day the senator spoke of all too well.
Jimmy watched her tears and wondered what in the world could cause her to drop her pride and let this man see her cry. An unmerciful beating hadn't made her control slip, and yet, the sight of the simple playing card brought the tears down so quickly.
"I won't do it!" Callie growled, "I mean it this time!"
"That's what you said the last time. I guess we'll just have to use the same methods again! You will do it!"
"No!" Callie snapped back, "You aren't going to get away with this again!"
"Oh, yes I am, my dear, and then we are going back to New Orleans to pick up where we left off!"
Callie lunged for him without warning, and sent fingernails raking across his face. She kicked him hard in the shins, and he cried out in pain before two of his men drug her away from him.
"Tie her up with the others!" Cyrus snapped, wiping at the blood with his handkerchief, "We'll begin this at sunset!"
Callie soon found herself bound in front of Cody, Buck, Kid, and Jimmy. They all looked miserable and guilty.
"Callie, I'm sorry!" Jimmy began first.
She shook her head quickly, "No, I should have told you the truth. I just wasn't sure if you would believe me."
"Why don't you tell us now?" Kid wondered.
"It is too late!" Callie began miserably, feeling utterly hopeless.
"No, it isn't! We'll figure something out! But we have to know what we are up against, Callie," Jimmy assured her.
Callie looked at the dirt, and sighed, immediately wishing she hadn't because it sent pain through her sore ribs.
"I've never told this to anyone," She began quietly. Her eyes sought Jimmy's and she held them steadily as she spoke. "My parents really didn't die of the fever. I was away at finishing school when I learned they were dead, and that was the story that I was told. By the time I got home from London, two of my brothers were dead also, supposedly from the fever too. But it was very soon that I learned it wasn't the fever after all. It was Cyrus Stevenson. He killed them all.
"I arrived home, and was waiting for my third brother, Jonathan, to arrive. He'd been on his grand tour to Europe when all of this happened. Cyrus Stevenson called on me one of my first days back. I thought it was strange because he and my father had always been enemies. Our land was some of the best in Louisiana and Stevenson wanted it for his own from the first day he laid eyes on it. Of course, my father wouldn't sell, and Stevenson set out to destroy him any way he knew how. The Sullivans were too established and respected for that to be effective, and the senator came out looking very foolish. It ruined his career.
"Stevenson served me with papers saying the bank was foreclosing on our plantation. He'd bought the bank, I found out later. I argued with him, and told him I had the ledgers to prove that was impossible, but it seems he'd thought of that first. Every one of them was missing, and there was nothing to disprove the evidence he'd construed to foreclose. He'd already bought the place and informed me he was moving in.
"You can imagine my reaction. I was furious, but also shocked and scared out of my mind. My brother wasn't there, I'd just lost my parents, and I had no way of knowing what to do. I told the senator that I would fight him, and so would my brother, and that I knew people in New Orleans who would see to it this didn't happen, and that's when he grabbed me. He beat me up and locked me in the attic." Callie's eyes filled with tears, "I didn't see anyone for days. I had no food, no water, and no light. I thought he meant to leave me up there to starve to death. I really didn't care though. I just spent most of the time sobbing over my family's death and wishing to die. A few days later, one of our house servants came in and brought me food and water. She told me in the few seconds she was allowed to be near me that the Senator had told the slaves if they said anything of my presence then he'd kill them and their families. One of our oldest, and most loyal slaves tried to get word to someone, but the senator found out, and sure enough, killed the poor old man. He whipped him to death.
"I was left in the attic, and only fed every few days. I wondered what would become of my brother, when he arrived in a few days or if he was already there and locked up also. I expected to spend the rest of my life locked in that dark room. A day later the Senator came in. He offered me a place in his bed. Of course, I refused, and he beat me and left me in the attic. Four days went by before I saw anyone. The slave woman told me that the senator would let me out if only I'd agree to serve him, but I was too proud to serve the man who had stolen my home and my life, and I refused."
Callie put her head in her hands for a moment and shook it, "But dark solitude does strange things to a person. You begin to miss human contact and light, and you ache for any chance to hear another's voice. I imagined myself going crazy, because I would recite poetry for hours on end, just to hear the sound of my own voice. Finally, about a week and a half later, I grabbed the slave woman and begged her to take me out, promising to serve the senator or whatever it took. She had to nearly beat me off of her, and left me there. I began screaming and clawing at the door, and I think I was very nearly mad."
She held up her hands and the riders winced as they for the first time recognized the tiny scars on her fingertips that clawing at the door had left on her.
"It wasn't long before the Senator came up to take me out of that horrible room. For days I couldn't bear to hold my eyes open in the light, but still he expected me to work. And I did work, doing everything he said, so terrified if he was displeased he would lock me back in the attic and leave me there to die. I dreamed of escaping, but if he didn't have his eyes on me, one of the slaves did, and they feared his wrath too badly to let me escape. He didn't ask me into his bed for those first few days--I'm not sure why but he didn't.
"I was serving him breakfast on the veranda when I happened to look up and see my brother riding down the drive," Callie closed her eyes and could see the youngest of the Sullivan boys thundering in on his black stallion. It had been the last time she'd ever seen any of them on horseback. They'd all been such beautiful riders, nearly becoming one with the horse as soon as they were astride.
Jimmy winced. Good God, the poor girl had been stashed in darkness for weeks, after having just lost her family. And he had a feeling he knew what would happen to the youngest brother.
"I broke away from the Senator and ran towards my brother before he could stop me. Jonathan didn't understand my incoherent cries to ride away, and he pulled me to him in an embrace, thinking I was hysterical, which I was, but for good reason. The Senator came out with his rifle, and ordered my brother inside.
"Once there, he explained to us how he'd killed our parents, and why. He'd offered to buy the land once more, and my father had ordered him away from Sullivan Manor forever. The Senator had grown furious. He'd waited for my father to go on one of his daily rides, and shot him in the back. When my mother and two brothers ran out to see what the matter was, he killed them too. He started a rumor about the yellow fever, and whispered that several of our slaves were sick too, and that the epidemic was spreading. None of the society folks would risk coming out, and the Senator handled their deaths very quickly. No one even questioned why he'd been the one to discover them and why he'd never contracted the disease. I found out later that was because Cyrus Stevenson now owned the mortgages on some of the most powerful people in New Orleans, including the law. They couldn't afford to question him.
"And then, he told me and my brother that my brother was about to contract Malaria. I became hysterical and tried pleading and begging with the senator, and even fighting him, which I hadn't dared since being locked in the attic, but he would hear nothing of it. He told me I would have one chance to save him, and that was if I drew the right card from the deck he held. He wouldn't say any more than that.
"And so he tied my brother up in the yard to a tree, and stood about five feet from him. He held the deck of cards out to me. At first I refused, but he threatened to kill my brother right then and there and not give me any chance at all. So I drew a card. I barely dared to glance down at it. It was the queen of diamonds."
"The senator smiled and without taking his eyes from mine, raised his gun and shot my brother before I could move. I ran to him, but it was too late," A hiccoughing sob escaped Callie, and Jimmy longed to take her into his arms but couldn't, "He was dead. The senator came to stand over me, and threw the queen of hearts down on my bleeding brother. 'This card would have saved your brother, princess' he told me, and then dragged me away."
"Oh, Callie," Jimmy said very softly, and she bent her head and allowed the tears to flow. He stretched his hands out toward her, but they were bound tightly so they fell far short of their goal. She shook her head and blinked back her tears, and raised her eyes again.
"I tried to run, to tell anyone who would listen, but he began keeping me under lock and key. I refused to serve him again at first, but the solitude wore down my pride again. When he tried to bring me to his bed, although I'd been prepared to do anything to keep from being locked up again, I just couldn't bear it for him to touch me. I fought him off on several occasions. All I had to do was to picture my brother lying dead in my arms or my mother and father's grave, and it gave me strength to refuse him. He kept me locked up, thinking it would wear me down. I was determined that it wouldn't. But he's a persistent man--Cyrus. He got what he wanted eventually, when his patience finally ran out."
Callie's cheeks flooded with heat and shame, her voice trembling in hatred. "He was entertaining many important men when he decided to share me with a friend. The house was filled with congressmen and the like. He must have had too much to drink, because late that night the door to the attic opened, and he came in with another man that I now know was the mayor of a small town not too far from New Orleans. Both of them were drunk. The mayor advanced on me first, and tried to have his way, but I'd found a heavy candlestick in the attic to use against the senator, so I reached for it, and hit him in the head. I guess he was killed instantly, I didn't wait long enough to see. I hit Cyrus with it when he came after me, and he was knocked out. I ran from the attic to my old room and gathered whatever I could. Then I went to my brother's room, and found his pistol. I was almost out the door when Cyrus caught me. He slung me into our parlor and hit me with a fire poker about three times. I finally got away from him, and pointed the pistol at him," Callie closed her eyes and remembered the hideous look on his face as she'd leveled the gun, "I intended to kill him," she admitted, "But my aim was bad and I only hit him in the arm. It was enough to stun him though, and I ran from the house and escaped in the confusion that followed."
"And you've been on the run ever since," Kid said grimly.
"Yes. Jarvis found me when I was very ill. He figured out who I was, and threatened to turn me in if I didn't work for him," Callie said quietly, looking at Jimmy as she remembered how bitterly angry she'd been the day she'd first seen him. In fact, she thought, she'd been bitterly angry since her arrival from Europe, and only after meeting Jimmy had she found herself feeling anything but hatred and grief.
"Did you kill him, Callie?" Jimmy asked her quietly, looking away from her for the first time.
"Yes, I did," Callie said honestly, and though he'd expected as much, Jimmy couldn't stop the stare of surprise he gave her, and neither could the others.
"And you started the fire to cover it all up?" Kid wondered.
"No!" Callie growled, "Jarvis knocked over the lamp when he fell. I hit him in the head to stop him from killing me! I didn't mean for him to die, or for the fire to get started, but I'm not sorry he's dead or that that horrible place is in ashes!"
"Neither are we," Buck assured her quickly.
Callie sighed and glanced at the slowly sinking sun, knowing it was only a matter of time before the Senator came back out to begin executing the riders. "And it was all for nothing! I'm going to end up back at Sullivan Manor with him!"
"No you aren't! You're forgetting, Lou and Noah are still out there," Cody said.
"They aren't coming! They would have been here by now!" Callie whispered miserably.
"Nope, they are just biding their time, they're out there," Buck said confidently, his eyes scanning the land, "They're watching us right now."
Kid nodded and clenched his teeth. He wasn't sure if he wanted Lou riding in here or not, even given the lack of options they had and the knowledge he had about what the Senator was capable of.
"Well, they'd better hurry and do something," Callie said softly, "Cyrus said sunset, and for all his other faults, the man is punctual."
"They'll be here," Jimmy reassured her, but nevertheless cast a restless glance over at the Senator's tent, then over the landscape.
"Well, so what are we going to do?" Noah asked quietly, "And don't even think about saying 'rush them', okay?"
Lou shrugged, and attempted to straighten out her cramped limbs. They had been laying in the dirt behind a small bluff overlooking the camp for almost an hour, trying to figure out how in the world they were going to help the boys. "Well, we can't just stay here! And we've got to do something before it gets dark! There's no telling what the senator will do then! I think we've got no choice but to just simply ride in there and get them!"
"Sounds easy enough, just as long as he keeps all the men in his posse bound and gagged!" Noah snapped sarcastically.
"He doesn't keep his men bound and gagged," an unfamiliar voice said quietly.
Lou and Noah both gasped and flung themselves around, shocked to see that a tall man had crept up behind them. He leveled his revolver at them and said calmly, in the Southern drawl they were growing so accustomed to, "I'll give you about two seconds to tell me who you are and what you are doing here."
To be continued…... Chapter XI
Copyright 1998-This work is not to be reproduced without the permission of the author
Email: gliterin@bellsouth.net