Rue Allyn Read Free

stream they found was little more than a mud track that would leave clearer prints for the pursuers to follow. So the pair had pushed on until now, when they paused to let the horses drink from a puddle that hadn’t yet dried up.
    The badlands stood before them. Kiera knew better than to enter the twisting, endless chasms. They’d lose all sense of direction within an hour, and once in, the chance of getting out of the rocky maze alive was miniscule — better to risk facing the two men who’d followed all the way from the Flying V.
    “We’re going to have to deal with them,” Muh’Weda’s statement drew her from her thoughts.
    “Lord knows we can’t seem to outrun them, and places to hide are few and far between.”
    “My father told me that Chief Washakie once said ‘if you must fight, it is best to choose the time and battleground’.”
    “We can’t fight them. I may be able to fire a pistol, but we both know that my hands shake so much from fear that I couldn’t hit the sky if I aimed at it.”
    Her friend grinned. “I never could figure out why you’re afraid of guns when you’re not afraid to live alone in Smoke Valley.”
    “Solitude doesn’t scare me, but guns … I saw a man murdered once and haven’t been able to fire a weapon accurately since. I’ve got other ways to defend my home, just like you taught me other ways to hunt.”
    “True. Still I’d like to hear the story of the murder someday, so I can really understand.”
    “The story and my fears won’t matter, if those men catch us. They think we’re rustlers, and they’ll hang us at the first tree they come to.”
    “Then we’ll just have to make certain they don’t catch us.”
    “How?”
    Muh’Weda shrugged. “Beats me.”
    “Wonderful.” Kiera shook her head. Out of loyalty she’d allowed herself to be dragged into a situation where she could very well lose her life. She’d never see her sisters — one older, one younger — again. All the dreams she had of reuniting with them and bringing them west to live in her valley would die with her.
    Though she mourned the loss of her dreams, she didn’t regret helping her friend. She’d been on the run for most of the past three years; the last eighteen months in Wyoming had been harsh. She’d been slowly freezing to death in the Wind River mountains when Muh’Weda found her. Until then, she’d not dared to hope for reunion with Edith and Mae. It was Muh’Weda’s help and his family’s kindness that allowed her to finally feel safe and settled enough to hope. She hadn’t escaped her grandfather’s brutal plans then survived three years of tribulation and disaster just to surrender and die. She’d get herself and Muh’Weda out of this, if she had to bushwhack the pursuers. “That’s it. We’ll set up an ambush.”
    Muh’Weda stared at her, his jaw flapping. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
    “You did.” She couldn’t let her friend feel inadequate. He’d never get the
puha
he needed, and that had been the main purpose of this adventure. Getting back some of the village horses was an added benefit. The real gain was in proving to the village and the elders not only that getting the horses back could be done, but that Muh’Weda could do it.
    “I did?”
    “Sort of, you said we should choose the time and place for the fight. What’s an ambush if not that?”
    “Did you have anything specific in mind?”
    “Yes. I’ll tell you all about it while we look for the right kind of canyon to use as our battle ground then find a spot to leave our horses and the other ponies.”
    • • •
    The sun hung low over the horizon when Muh’Weda scrambled into place beside Kiera behind a large rock fall that created a choke point in the box canyon where they’d set their ambush.
    To someone unfamiliar with her Shoshone friend, his thin lips and flat features made it seem as if he were dead serious. However, Kiera saw the twitch at the corners of his mouth and the