DARK INTRUDER
DARK INTRUDER© nesciri
Part 11
Lou rose from the chair where she had been sitting staring out the window to get an idea of what had happened when she saw Kid leave and head to the house. Anxious to hear what had happened she met him at the door.
"Kid! What's going on? What was all that shooting about?" When she saw his pale face, she continued. "Are you hurt?"
"No. Lou, it was Rosemary. I killed her."
Lou placed an arm around his waist and helped him to sit down in the kitchen. She placed herself close to him, waiting for him to tell her.
"I can't believe it, Lou. She was just standing there, accusing me, threatenin' me. And then she pulled a gun on me. when she turned everything happened so fast and I didn't have time to think, so I fired. I didn't even have time to aim. Lou, if I just had done something different, then maybe she wouldn't be dead."
"No, you might be. It happened Kid and there ain't nothin' you can do to change it." She softly caressed his arm. "How's Jimmy takin' it?"
"He's blamin' me."
"He'll get over it when he realizes that you couldn't have done anything else."
"But maybe I could have, Lou - maybe I could have done something different. I don't know - she was talking crazy, claiming that she killed Buck---"
"What?"
Kid closed his eyes when he realized that he had forgotten to tell Lou about that. He opened his eyes and looked at her, holding on to her shoulders.
"Lou, she said she killed Buck, that she had shot him."
Lou stared at him in disbelief. "She said she killed Buck? That can't be true! Can it?"
Kid looked down.
"It can't be true, Kid - it can't!"
"I don't know, Lou."
"But why?"
"Lou, she might have lying. She was saying a lot of things that doesn't make sense." Kid tried to console her. But Lou remembered something else.
"I was scared of her," she whispered.
"What, Lou, who was you scare of?"
"Rosemary. The day she was here, after they had found that boy's killer. There was something about her that scared me."
"Lou, you alright?"
"Then it was Buck." Lou continued as if everything suddenly was crystal clear, while Kid stared at her as if he thought she was going crazy. Lou looked at him.
"That night, at the canyon, there was ---something--- looking for us. And I was really scared, Kid, but just before you came I felt something, as if someone was protecting us. I think it was --- Buck's spirit."
Kid didn't know what to say. "Lou," he begun hesitantly, "there's no---" then he changed his mind and held her in a tight embrace. "If you believe it, then that's probably what happened, Lou," he told her gently as he could feel tears running down her face. "Everything will be alright, Lou. Everything will be alright."
"He's dead, Kid, I know he's dead," Lou sobbed in his arms.
"We can't be sure, Lou, I mean there are no - body, nothing. We can't know until - we're sure." He slowly caressed her back. "Why don't you go back to bed, honey? You need the rest."
Lou rose from his embraced and wiped her tears. She nodded and rose to get back up.
"You're coming?"
"I'll just wait for Teaspoon to get back," Kid replied. "Go to bed, Lou."
As soon as she had left the room, Kid let his head sank down until it rested against his hands. The last hours events haunted his mind and he was geting a headache. Jimmy's words still rung in his ears; A horse, goddamit!" and he couldn't shake of the feeling that he had taken another person's life to save a horse. It didn't matter that it was a special horse, the question was if the horse's life was worth more than a human's. If somebody would have asked him that at the moment Rosemary aimed her gun at Katy after revealing her crimes, he would have said yes, but now he wasn't so sure anymore. If only the headache would go away, he pondered. With his head feeling as if somebody was pounding on it with a hammer he couldn't think. Must be from when I hit it on that pole, he pondered as he closed his eyes again the pain, hoping that it would go away.
Lou woke up as the sun tickled her eyes through the gap between the drawn curtains. Mumbling, she reached out for Kid only to find that he was not there. Alarmed, she sat up and when she didn't found him in the room, she quickly changed into pants and one of Kid's old shirts and walked downstairs. She couldn't hold back a smile when she saw Teaspoon and Kid asleep in chairs in the kitchen. She assumed that Cody had returned to the bunkhouse. She wondered where Jimmy was, and wondered if he had returned as well. She would like to tell him that she was sorry for his loss. No matter what she had thought about Rosemary, she knew that Jimmy had loved her and that he must be hurting right now. Someone should be with him, but knowing Jimmy, he had probably rejected any offer of company. Without waking up the two men in the kitchen, she put on some water to boil for morning coffee, before she slipped into Rachel's room.
Rachel was still unconscious and worried Lou sat down by her side. She gently wiped her brow and helped her to some water.
"Good mornin' Rachel," she said prepared to tell her some anecdote or an old memory as she had done every time she had sat with her earlier. But suddenly there were no words. She couldn't tell Rachel anything. Bringing up old memories would just be to painful in light of Buck's likely fate. So instead she just sat there, brushing the hair from Rachel's' face. Then slowly she began to talk as she reached for Rachel's hand, holding it in her own.
"Something has happened, Rachel, and I don't know how to tell you. There was a fight here yesterday and Rosemary was killed. You remember Rosemary don't you? Of course you do. Well, she tried---" Lou stopped. She could have sworn that Rachel had clenched her hand. "Rachel?" she whispered. "Please, Rachel, wake up."
Lou could her the water on the stove starting to boil, but she didn't care. She was more interested in the second squeeze of her hand. She swallowed hard.
"Can you hear me, Rachel?" Another squeeze. Lou felt her heart flutter. Rachel was coming through. "It's alright, Rachel, just take it slow. There's no need to overdo it."
Rachel's eyelids fluttered and a soft moan emerged from her lips. Lou immediately brought her some water. Slowly Rachel opened her eyes and looked with unseeing eyes at Lou.
"Lou?" she croaked.
"I'm here, Rachel. Don't move too much, you've got a concussion."
Rachel blinked a few times but then slowly her eyes cleared.
"What happened?" she mumbled.
"The wagon went over into the canyon. You must have been thrown free."
"Ain't you a sight for sore eyes!" Teaspoon walked up behind Lou and smiled at Rachel. "How are you doin'?"
"Got a headache. I don't understand - what happened--."
"It was an accident," Teaspoon explained.
"No. No accident. Somebody scared the horses. I saw--"
"What? What did you Rachel?" Lou asked as Teaspoon indicated that she should take it easy.
"I thought I saw Rosemary there. But why would she be there - I don't understand---"
"That's alright," Rachel, "don't you worry about that now. Just get yourself better, that's all we care about right now," Teaspoon said. "I'll get you some tea, you look as if you need it."
Rachel nodded and then grimaced at the increased pain in her head it caused.
"Doc said you shouldn't move for a while," Lou informed her.
"How bad?"
"Well, there's the concussion and you've got a broken leg. And a lot of bruises. You'll probably feel sore for some time."
"Already does," Rachel admitted. "Lou, you said that - Rosemary was dead."
Lou bit her lip and nodded.
"Yes, Rosemary is dead." Slowly she filled Rachel in on what had happened, leaving out what might have happened to Buck. She didn't want to burden Rachel more than necessary.
"How's Jimmy?" Rachel asked with tear-filled eyes as Lou finished.
"I don't know," Lou admitted. "He never came back after taking her to the undertaker."
"Lou, there's something you're not tellin' me," Rachel continued as she winced trying to ignore the terrible headache.
Lou smiled faintly. "I'll tell you later. Right now you need some rest. I'll bring you some soup later."
"Lou---"
"Now you rest up," Lou ordered with the same firmness in her voice that Rachel normally used when ordering the boys around. Smiling at the recognition, Rachel closed her eyes and sank back in the bed, more than willing to accept the order. She wasn't feeling too well.
As Rachel slowly dozed off to sleep again, Lou left the room and headed back to the kitchen where she was greeted not only by Teaspoon and Kid, but also Cody.
"I hear that sleeping beauty finally woken up," Cody said with a big grin. "Is it alright to see her?"
"She's just gone back to sleep," Lou explained, "and I think she needs the rest."
"You can see her later," Teaspoon said shortly. "Right now I want to try and resolve this situation."
"I'll get some breakfast ready," Lou stated and rescued the kettle who was boiling dry from the stove. She started on breakfast as she listened with interest to the other's conversation by the table.
"What do you want us to do, Teaspoon?" Cody asked as Kis wiped the last remains of sleep from his eyes.
"I want you to head out and look for Buck once more."
Cody looked uncertain at Teaspoon and then at the others, before returning his gaze to the older man.
"I don't mean to sound harsh or anything, Teaspoon, but we already looked for him, and, well, ---" Cody stopped, not able to continue the sentence.
"I know what you mean, Cody, but I'm not gonna believe that Buck's dead until I got proof of it - not only the words of a confused woman." Teaspoon lowered his voice. "And to answer your question, no, I don't have much hope of you finding him alive, so basically you'll be looking for his body - or traces of it."
For a moment there was nothing but the noise from the bacon sizzling in the pan heard in the kitchen as Kid and Cody contemplated the not so appealing task. As if looking for somebody wasn't bad enough, they would be looking for a body.
"When do you want us to head out?" Kid asked silently.
"As soon as possible, if we wait too long we might never found out what happened." Teaspoon replied as Lou told them breakfast ws almost ready. Despite the grim situation they were hungry and it didn't take many minutes before the plates had been cleaned.
"I didn't know you could cook like this, Lou," Cody said with a satisfied grin on his face.
"You never asked," Lou replied.
"Well, you always refused to cook, so how was we to know?"
"I alwys refused to cook, 'cause you always asked me!" Lou replied. "And the only reason you asked me was 'cause I was a girl. Besides, I thought it was better that you learnt to cook."
"So that one time when you burnt---"
"On purpose," Lou smiled and Cody rolled his eyes.
"I should have known! Do you realize what it meant for me to have to eat Hickok's cooking for that whole week?"
Lou couldn't hold back the laugh, but it had no more left her mouth before it turned into a sob and she felt tears running down her face.
"Lou, I'm sorry," Cody stuttered, "I didn't mean to ---"
"It's not your fault, Cody," Lou hiccuped, "I don't know what's wrong with me, all I seem to do right now is cry."
"It's the tension, Lou," Teaspoon said and pulled her into his embrace before Kid managed to. Lou leaned her head on Teaspoon's shoulder and let the tears flow, allowing the comfortin' feeling of having Teaspoon's arms around her to calm her down.
"I'm fine now, thank you, Teaspoon," she said a few seconds later and released herself from his embrace.
"You're sure?" Teaspoon asked and cupped his hand under her chin lifting her face up so that he could see it. Lou nodded as she turned and saw Kid's worried face next to her.
"I'm fine" she assured him. "I'm sorry for actin' like this. I don't know what's wrong with me."
"Maybe you should see Doc?" Kid suggested carefully, knowing how his wife hated to be left behind due to weakness on her part.
"No, I'm just real tired. Besides, somebody should stay with Rachel."
"You'll be alright?"
"Yes. Just do your best in finding Buck, will ye?"
"We will." Kid leaned forward and placed a gently kiss on her lips. "See you later, Lou."
Lou nodded as she tried to fight the uneasy feeling that had filled her sa Kid had kissed her. I'm crazy, she thought to herself. Why should I feel nervous about Kid kissing you? There must be something wrong with me. Maybe I should see Doc after all? No, I'm just tired and anxious about Buck and Jimmy, that's all there is. But she couldn't shake the feeling that the kiss had been different - even wrong.
"I'm glad you're staying with Rachel, Lou," Teaspoon said and finished his breakfast. He joined Lou by the window and watched Cody and Kid take off.
"You think---" Lou begun.
"Don't think about it, Lou. There's no use letting your imagination run away with you."
"I know," Lou sighed. "What are you gonna do, Teaspoon?"
"I'll have to find Jimmy."
"Teaspoon, will you tell him - that I'm sorry?"
"I'll tell him that, Lou."
It was dark. And there was pain, more pain that he ever thought he could endure. He tried to get his feelings sorted out, but only found everything more confusing. He could scent smoke, he more or less felt the herbal aroma that now and then passed his nostrils. He could hear voices, but they seemed undefined. He wanted to move but found his limbs tied to the ground although he found no restraints. It slowly dawned on him that he was lying on the ground and as his hands slowly moved he felt some sort of pelts. He slowly opened his eyes, but his sight was impaired by a soft fog. What he could see was the light from a fire and the rocks around him. He seemed to be in cave of some sort. The scent of herbs became stronger and the chants were louder. Despite the unknown surroundings and the pain his body, he wasn't scared. There was comfort in the sounds and smells. He blinked a few times and chants stopped. He could hear a soft chuckle next to him and then a voice spoke in Kiowa.
"You so have decided to join me, my young friend?"
Buck stared up in the face, confused and disoriented. As the wheels of memory slowly started to spin, he gasped with recognition.
"Am I dead?" he asked hoarsely and confused in English, mixing his two languages, unable to find any other reason for the other's presence and forgetting.
White Feather chuckled again and continued in Kiowa. "No, you're not dead my stubborn friend - but you were very close to join the land behind the sun."
The smile faded from White Feather's features. "You did battle with the unknown, my friend. If you had not been closed to the sacred grounds, you would have died."
"Who - what was it?" Buck asked, changing to Kiowa, fighting the searing pain that seemed to rip throw his body for every breath he took. "An evil spirit?"
White Feather shook his head. "No - and yes. It is not a being I know of, but I can sense its presence. It has no connection to the land or the skies. It is alien to this land. I think it came from across the sea, maybe with 'the hairy mouths', bedalpago." White Feather closed his eyes. "It is very old and very evil. You were very lucky, my young friend."
White Feather opened his eyes and turned to Buck. "I can feel a lot of agony within it - many voices crying out in agony."
"We must it fight it," Buck mumbled.
White Feather shook his head. "It is strong, and if we loose we will risk our people. We can't battle what we don't know."
"Then you have to help me fight it."
White Feather smiled sadly. "I can't let you fight this being. If you loose, and it takes your spirit, then it will get know our people and turn on us."
"But it will kill my friends."
"Are you willing to risk your people for your friends?"
"It will grow stronger, White Feather. I know, I've sensed it before. And when it's strong enough it will no longer be content with killing bedalpago - it will come for our people."
White Feather looked with consternation at the young man. Beads of sweat trickled down Buck's face as he struggled not to succumb to the weariness that seemed to fill his body.
"You've sensed this - being?"
"Yes."
A faint smile showed in White Feather's face. "I knew you had a brave heart. Now I learn that you have a powerful soul, a Kiowa soul. But it's not enough to win this battle. You must heal first. You have walked the fine line between this and the spirit world. The spirits are still calling your name. My healing powers kept you in the land of the living, but when you leave, I can no longer protect you."
"But you will help me?" Darkness threatened to overpower him and the words were a mere whisper.
"I will help. Now you will rest." White Feather moved his hand over Buck's face and with a silent sigh Buck closed his eyes as he relaxed into a quiet sleep. White Feather looked troubled at the young man and shook his head. The boy was brave, but he knew little of what he would meet. And White Feather feared that when he realized it, it would be too late.
Teaspoon found Jimmy in a room at the hotel, where he had checked in after taking Rosemary's body to the undertaker. Walking up the stairs after receiving the information from the clerk, he wondered if Jimmy would talk to him. The boy had had his heart broken more than once and Teaspoon often wished that Jimmy wouldn't be so much of an "all-or-nothin'" person. But then he was also a survivor. Hesitantly he knocked on the door.
"Jimmy? It's me, Teaspoon."
"It's open, Teaspoon," came the reply. Teaspoon opened the door and stepped inside, finding Jimmy half sitting in the bed, twirling his gun in his hand, and looking disinterested at it. When he saw Teaspoon's worried frown, he shook his head.
"It ain't loaded, Teaspoon," he stated grimly. Teaspoon took a silent breath.
"Didn't think so, son." He placed himself on the edge of the bed. "What are you doin' here, Jimmy?"
"I needed to be away from the others and it was the hotel or the saloon," Jimmy shrugged. "Figured the saloon wasn't my best option."
"Lou wanted me to tell you she's sorry."
"Yeah, sure. None of them ever liked Rosemary. Bet their only feeling is relief."
"That true, Jimmy, and I shouldn't have to tell you that. They care about you and right now they're worried. And so am I."
Jimmy didn't reply.
"Look, Jimmy, I know how you feel - I've lost people I loved too..."
"No, you don't." Jimmy's voice was low but determined.
Teaspoon frowned at him, as Jimmy rose from the bed and walked over to the window.
"I heard Teaspoon - I heard what she said to Kid. She threatened to kill him." Jimmy turned around. "It just don't make sense, Teaspoon. She couldn't have killed David, so why did she say she did? That just don't make sense."
"Son, sometimes people do things that we don't understand. I don't why she said what she said or why she felt the need to lie to Kid..." Teaspoon stopped, looking at Jimmy. "Is there something else? Jimmy, what's on your mind?"
Jimmy sighed. "I just don't know, Teaspoon. When I stood outside, listenin', there was something different about the way she was talking - something in her voice. I didn't believe that she would kill the Kid. I still don't believe that she would have done it."
"Then why the threats?"
"When she told him how she had killed Buck, that she had wounded him first, before finishing it - it was cruel, Teaspoon. She could just have said that she killed him, it would have made no difference."
"And that's why you think she wouldn't have killed Kid?"
"Yes." Jimmy looked at Teaspoon, hie eyes weary from lack of sleep and Teaspoon realized that the young man had been pondering the matter during the night. "She wanted Kid to kill her - she wanted to die."
Teaspoon gasped when he realized what Jimmy was talking about. Could that really be the case? That Rosemary merely had used Kid to take her own life. For a second the thought abhorred him, but the more he thought about the more he saw the logic in Jimmy's reasoning. That's why she had aimed the gun at Katy instead of Kid knowing that Kid would react instinctively to save his precious horse. And that also meant that she could have been lying about Buck. The last thought sent a ray of hope to Teaspoon's chest. He looked back at Jimmy, knowing what it had cost him to come to that realization.
"Jimmy..."
"And I just stood there, like a dumb fool, listenin'. I could have stopped her Teaspoon. If I had rushed in there, nothin' of this would have happened. But instead I waited, 'cause I knew that she wasn't going to kill Kid. It's my fault."
"No, it ain't." Teaspoon rose and placed his hand on Jimmy's shoulder. "If you had rushed in there, then maybe she would have killed Kid, or maybe it wouldn't have changed anything. We can't change what has happened, so there's no use dwelling over it. It happened."
"Why? Why did she do it? Why didn't she tell me that she was miserable?"
"I don't know - she did it. And we'll never know why, so you have to learn to live with those questions unanswered."
Jimmy nodded. "I know. Still can't believe it. Not the way she did it - if she wanted to die, she shouldn't have dragged Kid into it. I'm angry at her for that, Teaspoon, and I can't tell her that!"
Teaspoon marveled over how much the young man before him had matured since he first lay his eyes on him. He'd grown up too fast, he thought with sorrow. No young should learn about the harsh realities of life so quickly. At the same time he felt an immense pride. Not only had Jimmy chosen not to dwell in the sorrow, he had managed to reason around it and found answers. He smiled at Jimmy and embraced him. After a second he backed away holding Jimmy at an arm's length by placing his hands on Jimmy's shoulders.
"I know a lot of good men that spend a lot of time, worryin' over things that you can't do nothin' about. And it's hard not to, but you have to try."
"I just wished..."
"I know you do, son. When's the funeral?
"This afternoon. Teaspoon?"
"I'll be there, and I'll tell the others. What would you like to do now?"
"I don't know. What are the others doin'?"
"I sent Kid and Cody to look for Buck. Lou's stayin' with Rachel. You, know, if you don't mind, I would appreciate if you could stay at the station. There's just been too many accidents around here, and I need to find out what happened to that army group that Cody was with, before they start runnin' around tellin' tales of murder."
"I don't mind. I can keep an eye on them, but I'm sure Lou can take care of them just fine on her own."
"I wouldn't disagree with you on any other day, but she's been actin' rather strangely recently, and I would just feel w whole lot safer if I knew you were at the station with them."
"I'll do that."
