The Five Dollar Mail Book 3: The Road Home

79: Charge

Cover painting by Angela Taratuta. Chapter artwork of Jesse by Marina Gimenes Matiaizi . All graphics by me.

Book 1: The Green, Book 2: Lynch's Boys, Book 3: The Road Home, and the Riders & Kickers Anthology are available on Amazon under the name Regina Shelley. So if you hate waiting for chapter posts and/or want a more polished read, the finished product is available now.

Jesse really didn't understand what he was seeing. First of all, Dev didn't really ever leave his cabin. At least, he hadn't as long as Jesse had known him. So to see him here, in the Lakota village of all places, was disorienting and confusing. But that paled in comparison to the surreal experience of seeing Fiona standing next to him dressed in a blue Army uniform, red tendrils escaping from under the soldier's cap she wore.

He realized his jaw was hanging open. He closed it and attempted to articulate one of his many questions. "What..." he started, shaking his head as though if he rattled his thoughts around a bit, they might start making sense. "Why are you here? And how did you know I was here?"

"We didn't," Dev grunted, stepping closer to him and protectively pulling Fiona close to his side. "We had no idea you were here, and we'll talk about that later. But look, Hanson, right now you need to know it's about to get bad. The army's on its way out here. You gotta clear out."

"What? The army?" Being here in the village had been dreamlike to Jesse, as if he'd been pulled out of the world and thrown into a place where time moved differently. Seeing the urgent fear on the faces of his friends, however, had snapped him back to reality. "Why are they..." Someone touched his hand and he turned to look. Still Water Woman had come up beside him, and her worried brown eyes darted between his face and the newcomers.

"This is Still Water Woman," he said, interlacing his fingers with hers. "She...ah, hell, it's a long story." He could hear a soft, hitching limp and the tinkling of dentalium shells as Two Elk approached. "And if the army's on its way out here, we ain't got a lot a time for it."

"What's this about the army?" Two Elk said, doing a double-take and smiling in surprise when his eyes fell on Fiona. "You are a soldier?"

"No," she said, flustered and startled, pink flaring in her cheeks. "We had to sneak out of the fort. I just...borrowed these clothes..."

He nodded sagely, the crinkles deepening in the corners of his eyes. "I see."

Jesse turned to him, his mind reeling. "They say the army's coming, Two Elk. We gotta let His Horses know. Hell, we need to let everyone know!"

Two Elk raised his voice and barked out something in Lakota. Stone Robe, Eagle Bone's friend who had escorted Dev and Fiona into the village, turned and bolted, shouting as he went.

"Fiona, why?" Jesse pulled Still Water Woman close against his side, in a gesture of protectiveness that was becoming habit. I can't protect her...I can't protect any of them. I got lucky out at the river. Ain't no luck gonna stop a bunch of soldiers. "Why are they coming here?" There was a panicked edge to his voice, and he fought to calm himself. "They got no reason to..."

People were shouting, collecting up their children and babbling hurried plans to each other. Fiona grabbed Jesse's other arm, digging her fingers in. "The first lieutenant at Bridger, Collins, has been looking for an excuse to target the Indians out here. There's a railroad representative claiming they attacked his people..."

"What?" Angry heat surged through him. "I almost had to mix it up with a couple surveyors who thought thought they would make free with..." He shook his head. "No. That didn't happen."

"So no war party was sent to attack Bridger?" Her eyes were bright and threatening to brim over.

"No! A couple railroad men, Anders and...Stone, I think, were out here trying to get the tribe to sell this land move out. Nobody's attacking anybody!"

"Stone?" Fiona looked at Dev, dismay etched plainly across her features. "Stone is the man who told Collins he'd been attacked. Jesse, what..."

Jesse felt the blood drain out of his face. "He's using the army to get us off the land." We're gonna be attacked and I got no weapons. Nothing. Panic began to rise through his chest, up his throat. He tasted acid. I reckon I got Eagle Bone to thank for that...the jackass. And to compound it, Still Water Woman's here, Fiona's here, and... New panic seized him. "Where's Runs Laughing?"

He head the loud crack of a rifle, heard the whine of a bullet slicing through the air. From somewhere up the ridge, he could hear a bugle.

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