Slater Bros: Apache Summer Part 31

"There's no hope!" she whispered.

Jon set his hands on her shoulders.

"Courage, Tess. There is every hope. Nalte's little sister begins her p.u.b.erty rite today. The rite goes on for four days. The woman over there will be her sponsor. She is of impeccable character, and she will stand for the sister. The man there with the buffalo horns upon his cap and the white eagle feathers, he is the shaman, the medicine man, and he will add the sacred religion to the ceremony. The girl is dressed for her role as White Painted Woman or White Sh.e.l.l Woman, a sacred maiden and one of the most important of the Apache supernaturals.

She will pray to the sun. The dancers with the headdresses, they are the Gan, or Mountain Spring Dancers.

It is an expensive ceremony, but Nalte is a great chief, and he has supplied much for his sister's rite. The Gan dancers symbolize the four directions.

They are elaborate." Tess watched the dancers as they prepared for the day.

They were painted black and white, and they carried huge fan racks and wore buckskin kilts. They carried wands. On their arms were trailers made of cloth and eagle feathers. Their huge masks had false eyes. The fan racks portrayed snakes and other creatures.

She s.h.i.+vered, grateful that Jori was there to a.s.sure her that the dancers were involved in a ceremonial rite and were not preparing for war. She looked into his green eyes and realized that he had kept talking to ease her mind from worry, and she was grateful to him.

"He must be furious to be disturbed today!" she whispered.

"He is not disturbed. He will make his decision quickly," Jon told her.

An Apache warrior emerged from Nalte's tent. He spoke briefly with Jori and took Tess by the arm.

"Jon!" she cried.

"Go with him," Jon ordered her.

"He isn't going to hurt you. I'm wan led with Nalte. And you are not."

She didn't want to let Jon out of her sight, but he moved away resolutely, and she had no choice but to accompany the warrior who took her by the arm.

Seconds later she was thrust into an empty tepee. The fire that had burned in the center was nearly out. On rocks beside it were corn cakes and dried meat. She hadn't been told she could, but she was alone and she was starving, so she helped herself. She had barely bitten into the food when she became so nervous she couldn't chew. She set the food down and began to pace.

After a while she sat again and looked sadly at her tender and torn feet.

They would never be the same again.

Moments later, she heard a rush of air. She catapulted to her feet, staring toward the opening of the tepee. Jamie was coming in. She gasped softly, then raced toward him, flinging her arms around him.

He quickly untangled himself, staring fiercely into her eyes.

"We're going to get out of this. If you can manage to behave."

"Behave!"

"Listen to me!" He shook her so hard that she felt her teeth rattle.

Indignantly she tried to jerk away from him, but his grip on her was firm and he wasn't letting go. "You're hurting me!"

"I'm hurting you! We're in the midst of a fiasco like this" -- "It wasn't my fault!"

His jaw twisted hard.

"I know. It wa~ mine. For being so d.a.m.ned determined to try to understand you.

She felt the color drain from her face. The planes of his face seemed very lean and hard. He was more bronze, tauter. There was a fresh scar upon his cheek. She wanted to touch it tenderly, but he was holding her with too great a vigor. And the smoky anger in his eyes told her he did not want her touch.

He had come for her. He had survived both yon Heusen's guns and his fight with Chavez to come for her. But now she realized that he had come only because he considered himself responsible for what had happened to her. She paled, trying to pull from his grasp, but he wouldn't let her.

"The p.u.b.erty rite for Nalte's sister will last four days. He will not attend to any other business during that time. Jori and I are to be his guests. You are to stay here, do you understand me?"

"Just stay here ... for four days?" she whispered.

"Can't I be with you?"

He swore, vehemently.

"You were purchased, Tess! d.a.m.n it, don't you realize that? And not for your talents with a newspaper."

"Jamie, don't you start with me" -- "No, don't you start with me," he said heatedly.

"You can manage yourself, and you can manage a lot, and you probably are a d.a.m.ned good rancher and newspaper woman. But if you try anything here, Tess, we'll both probably die. Do you understand? We're walking a very narrow line here. I've tried to explain von Heusen to Nalte.

He has a sense of honor; there is a chance he will return you. But I can't do-any of this if you interfere. Do you understand?"

She wrenched free of him at last. His hands fell upon his hips and his hat brim tipped over one eye, yet she could still see the silver glint in the other. She swung around and walked with her shoulders stiff and straight, then she sat Indian fas.h.i.+on upon a blanket roll. She mustn't let him see how hurt she was.

He didn't say anything else to her, but started to turn to leave. She couldn't stand that, and called out to him.

"Jamie!"

"What?" he demanded impatiently.

"What" -- She paused, licking her lips. "what happened to Chavez?"

"He's dead," Jamie said flatly.

"And the Comancheros" -- "The Comancheros never saw me," he said.

"But if we're going to get out of the mountains, we're going to need an Apache escort. So don't create problems."

"Me!" "You," he said succinctly, and he was on his way out again.

"Jamie!"

"what now?"

She hesitated a second.

"Thank you. Thank you for coming after me.

Thank you for risking so much."

"You don't need to thank me. I owed you this." This time he stayed, staring at her. But she couldn't speak anymore because sudden tears were welling behind her lashes and threatening to spill over on her cheeks.

He owed her this. He had come for her because he owed her. She had dreamed that he was falling in love with her.

Maybe she was proving to be too much trouble. She had traded half her land for a hired gun. But she had never told 231 her hired gun he was going to have to go after Comancheros and Apache as well as von Heusen's men. I'll member to thank Jon," she said coolly.

"He didn't owe me anything."

"You do that," Jamie told her. But still he didn't leave. He stood by the entrance, and she sat across from him, her knees crossed, her shoulders and back-very straight, her hands resting upon her knees. The distance between them seemed immense, and yet she felt the touch of his eyes as if it was fire.

It was he who spoke. ~this time, lightly, softly. "Tess?"

"What?"

"Did--did any of them--hurt you?"

She knew what he meant. Her cheeks burned and her lashes fell over her cheeks.

"David was a monster, and he probably would have killed me. Jeremiah wasn't so bad--he wouldn't let David touch me. I was sorry to see Jeremiah killed." Her voice faded slightly.

"Especially the way he was killed.

And Chavez. Well, you know about Chavez, because. because you were there."

"Yes, I know about Chavez. What about Nalte?" She shook her head.

"He let me be. Because of his sister."

She started, hearing the long, ragged exhalation of his breath. She thought, for a moment, that he would cross the distance between them and take her into his arms. He did not. She could scarcely breathe, longing to leap to her feet once again. But he had already set her from him. She wasn't going to touch him again.

"You're still Nalte's," he told her harshly. She gazed at him, wondering what he meant. Then she realized that he would not touch her until he had completed his negotiations with the Apache chief.

He didn't say any more. He swung around and left, and she knew that even if she had called his name then, he would have left her.

The day wore on endlessly. Tess could hear the ceremonial drums beating and the chants of the p.u.b.erty rite, but she could see nothing, and she was involved in nothing. She tried very hard to be patient, and to understand that everything rested upon negotiation.

Late in the afternoon, Jon came in. She almost leaped into his arms, but he was carrying a dish of food for her. He set it down, and she did hug him, fiercely. "Eat," he told her.

"You may need your strength."

She nodded and sat and looked suspiciously at her bowl. "What is it?"

she asked.

"Something exotic and Apache," he told her, "beef. Probably, from cattle taken in a raid. You should not worry.

The Apache are very finicky about what they eat. They will not eat snake, for they believe that the creature is evil, and they will not eat evil meat.

Here they are close enough to the plains to seek out the buffalo. They also hunt deer, antelope, elk and bighorn. Their food is quite safe, I a.s.sure you."

She flashed him a quick smile and ate the beef with her fingers. It was delicious.

"How does the ceremony progress?" she asked. "The gift has been taken to the ceremonial tepee with her shaman. She has knelt down on the buckskin and lain p.r.o.ne to be ma.s.saged by her sponsor, and she has run in the four directions. Tonight she will dance in the ceremonial tepee, and others will dance in the center of the village."

He paused, looking at her.

"I am leaving tonight. Nalte will not let you go until this ceremony is over, and we think it is important that I hurry to Wilts.h.i.+re with the news that you have been found."

"Oh!" Tess said, setting down her bowl and staring at him. Then she moved across the tent and hugged him close.

"I don't want you to leave. I'm so afraid for you."

"The Apache will see me past the Comancheros, as they will do for you if they choose to let you go."

"If" -- "Whenl" he a.s.sured her.

She pulled slightly away, staring into his deep green eyes and feeling as if she had found a friend she would cherish all her life. In his buckskins he appeared very much the Indian, but his words were those of the white man who knew her society and understoocf her fears.

"Oh, Jon, be careful!" she pleaded with him. "I'm quite sure he will be."

Jamie's deep drawl startled them both. Tess stood quickly. Jon came to his feet more slowly, staring at Jamie.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt," Jamie said drily. He ducked beneath the flap and was gone.

Tess instinctively ran after him.

Jon caught her before she could leave.

"You cannot go to him!" he ordered her hoa.r.s.ely.

"He has explained to you.

You are still Nalte's. You remain here, untouched, until a decision is made.

"But he--he misconstrued what he saw!" Tess wailed. Jon offered her a dry smile.

"Perhaps he deserved to, eh?" She didn't smile in return, and he hastened to rea.s.sure her.

"He is my friend, and I am his. He knows we said goodbye and nothing more." He didn't let her answer, but gave her a quick squeeze.

"I'll see you in Wilts.h.i.+re," " he whispered, then he was gone.

And she was left alone. Outside the light was fading. Darkness was coming, and despite the summer heat of the day, the night was coming with a chill.

Tess s.h.i.+vered and wrapped her arms around herself, staring miserably at the center of the tent where the fire burned no longer.

Jamie walked almost blindly into the growing darkness of the night.