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A CHILL WIND SEEMED to sweep the plain as they reached the spot where her father had breathed his last
They were just east of the woods A hard ride downriver led to John Snow&039;s trading post, while bracken, brush and pine forest led off to the west They could see the cliffs that shielded the Apache caht as well have been in the middle of nowhere Truthfully, even in the center of Victory, Alex reminded herself, they actually were in the middle of nowhere Here, alone, with the whisper of the trees in the background, the sky overhead and the plains seerasses, the world seemed a vast and mysterious place
"There," Dave said, and pointed to a spot where the grasses seeht there is where we found him" He looked away from Alex "He was cold, Alex We couldn&039;t tell when he had died"
She dismounted and walked to the place Dave had indicated, where she sank down to her knees She had been afraid she would burst into tears, wondering how he had ended up dying here, all alone He should have grown old; she should have been there to hold his hand at the end It hadn&039;t been his tih Instead she felt the breeze touching her cheek A wave of nostalgia swept through her, and she just wished she could let him kno much she loved him, what a fine man and fine father he had been
She looked up at Dave "How did he die?" she demanded
Dave dismounted and caravely "We don&039;t know"
"What do you mean, you don&039;t know?" Alex demanded "Was he shot? Stabbed?"
Dave shook his head "No"
"Then what happened to him?" she persisted "Dave, co sense Please, Dave, he was one He ht have had a heart attack, and then so a heart attack Cole thinks it was Milo and his gang, but the truth is, we just don&039;t know Things were happening Brigsby was dying, andwe didn&039;t even knoas happening until it suddenly becahost town And your dadthere wasn&039;t a mark on him Weren&039;t no doctor in the town at the time Jim Green, over at the funeral ho serious, we sent for Dr Astin over in Brigsby or Dr Peters in Hollow Tree, but now" He shook his head as if to clear it of thoughts too terrible to dwell on "We brought your dad home We prepared hiot the news to you as quick as we could"
She nodded, then looked out across the plain "Not a mark on him," she repeated
"Not that we could see Ji, and he didn&039;t see a thing Everyone loved him, Alex No one in toould have wanted to see him dead"
They sat in silence Then, just as she was about to speak, the co howl that seemed to shake the very earth
"My God!" Alex exclaihed ruefully at himself "It&039;s just a wolf"
"I&039;ve never heard a wolf sound like that," Alex said
"It ed But then he looked past Alex and hurriedly got up and headed in the direction of the horses, which had been grazing un-tethered They had been lazily grazing, but now both ani, disturbed by the cry of the wolf
"Quiet do, you two," Dave said, walking toward theain, so eerie and high-pitched that it was painful
It wasn&039;t a single wolf anymore It was many wolves, and as they let loose theira cue for the sun to fall
The sky had been blue Now, pink and gold streaks suddenly started shooting across it Then pink darkened quickly to purple, gold to a to soothe his horse, but the gelding was not about to be soothed It reared, and Dave backed away "Hey, who feeds you, you bastard?"
Alex hurried toward her own horse, but the palo away "No, no, not you, Cheyenne," she said "Please, coht, it&039;s me I&039;ll protect you" What a lie She? Protect the horse from a wolf? Not even if only one as on the prowl And if a group of hungry wolves were on the hunt?
She realized she was letting fear set in and forced it back and focused on trying to catch her horse She had a gun, and she was a da a creature as beautiful as a wolf, but if it meant survival, she would do it
"Stop!" Dave cried, and she looked up to see his horse racing off-heading like ainto the woods
"No," Alex whispered desperately
Too late Her mare looked at her ide eyes, then took off after Dave&039;s gelding
Alex stared after Cheyenne, then turned to stare at Dave, guilt filling her They were there because she had insisted, and now night was coht, when the evil everyone was afraid of cahed "I&039;ure on wolves"
"Think we can catch the horses?" Dave asked worriedly
"I think we have to Maybe they stopped once they ain"
"Well, let&039;s go look We can&039;t wait here forever for the toward the trees There were pines and wild oak, with shrubs and an occasional flowering bush There were trails, because the Apache sorown and narrow
As they started down the trail the horses had taken, Alex found herself looking up at the sky, catching gli to darkness Pink had beco
"Stay by me," Dave commanded
"Oh, you can count on that," she assured hi Earlier a gentle breeze had stirred the air; noas as if it rustled through the trees with an edge of warning
She spun around when it sounded as if soe had moved in the brush behind her "Cheyenne?" she said tentatively
"No horse could hide in that bush," Dave said worriedly
Siuns
A black shadoept across the trail ahead of thes of soination, she told herself, a trick of the dying daylight, the tione and yet the
"What the hell was that?" Dave asked, deination
"I don&039;t know An owl,to come up with a rational explanation
But she didn&039;t feel in any way rational It was as if so in the woods had awakened every pried within her
"A trick of the light," Dave said, sounding as if he was trying to convince hiain, the sound h-pitched than she had ever heard, and as loud as if every wolf in Texas had joined the chorus
Instinctively, Alex whirled around, so that she and Dave were back to back She held her Colt firan to rise and fall around thes were beating unseen just above their heads
Soon there would be no h For soon the darkness would fall, and the light of the h to penetrate the canopy created by the great oaks and pines
"Be ready," she said to Dave
"I as, was suddenly very close
Dave fired, then fired again
"Save it until we can see so all our a?" Dave protested, as the light continued to fade around theinvisible birds!"
Alex felt hercloser and closer And again that sound
Who Whatever it was, it was coainst her cheek, as if it was about to touch her
THEY WERE GALLOPING flat out, and Cody thanked God that his horse was sound and healthy And fast
Brendan raced close behind him
They could hear the wolves, and Cody kneas not the ghosts of long-dead Apaches inhabiting the creatures and crying out in hopes of revenge These wolves were howling in fear They were predators, and they knew another predator was loose in the wild, trespassing on pack territory, and the scent of the intruder was driving them insane with terror
Suddenly he reined in
"What is it?" Brendan asked, jerking his own mount to a stop
"A horse-there!"
Cody started forward at a more cautious pace The anirass, facing the edge of the forest He could see the broken brush where it had crashed through fro, he could tell that the ani that the creature&039;s heart hadn&039;t burst froly as he approached the horse
His own horse was starting to prance nervously, as if he scented so
Brendan rode up beside hihouse stable," he pointed out
"I know" Cody was already leaping down He unstrapped his large bow fro with his quiver of arrows Brendan followed suit, choosing a sharply pointed stake
At the edge of the trees, Cody paused He let the breeze surround hiht Her scent came to hi too wildly We have to hold!" she cried
"But it touched me!" Dave replied
"We need to make our shots count, Dave," Alex replied
Cody could tell that she was close, and even noith theabout her see in hiive up without a fight, even though she had no idea what she was fighting and would never believe hi out here?
He disht and called her name
"Alex?"
"Over here!" she shouted back
He and Brendan raced in the direction of her voice and found her in fine defensive position, standing back to back with Dave, which ht be what had saved thele man or woman, to swoop down and avoid the bullets Bullets that wouldn&039;t kill thee that e and other factors
He and Brendan hurried to help the others, taking up their own positions While Brendan fell to his knees, stake held fir was acute, and he quickly located his target and sent the first arrow flying He was pleased to hear a shrill screaet The shadow veered off, and he heard it crash soain he listened, took aiain