James Axler – Demons of Eden

Turning away from the window, he saw that Krysty was gone, but he heard her voice from the other room. Making a deliberate effort to push away the strangeness of his dream and the voice in his mind, he holstered the SIG-Sauer, sat on the edge of the narrow bed and tugged on his boots.

He checked his chron, noting it was nearly twenty-four hours to the minute since the Red Cadre had arrived. During the day and most of the night following the battle, he and his friends had patched up their wounds as best they could and helped the survivors of the battle collect and tidy the dead. The thought of remaining in Amicus another day suddenly revolted him.

Ryan went through the door into the common room of the little hostel. Jak and Krysty sat at the table with a pot of the pungent tea before them. Doc stood shaving in front of a tiny trade mirror, carefully scraping the straight razor across his face. Mildred and J.B. were evidently still asleep, since he heard snores from an adjoining room.

“Did you call out in there?” Krysty asked.

“Mebbe,” Ryan replied. He pulled out the chair next to her and sat.

“Bad dream?”

Ryan hesitated. “I don’t know. Thought I heard someone outside the window.”

Jak narrowed his eyes. “Who?”

“Mebbe I just dreamed it,” Ryan answered with a shake of his head.

“I’m not surprised,” Krysty said, placing her hand over his. “The past few days have been a nightmare. And if what’s left of the Red Cadre manages to regroup”

“We’ll be long gone before that happens,” Ryan interrupted a bit more harshly than he intended. “Let’s be out of here after breakfast.”

A voice spoke from the doorway. “I’d hoped you might stay until at least lunch.”

Ryan turned, facing Autry who leaned against the door frame. He was wearing a wooly buffalo robe that was far too big for him. His gentle, bearded face sagged with pain and grief.

“We’d rather get on the move as soon as possible.”

Autry nodded. “We’ll be sorry to see you go. Amicus owes you great debt.” He didn’t need to add, what’s left of it.

Ryan smiled slightly. He knew the survivors of the battle still blamed the outlanders for bringing such a flood tide of blood and pain to their community. If they stayed, he and his friends would be resented almost as much as the Cadre.

“Give us some food and some mounts, and we’ll call it even.”

“Where will you go?” Autry asked.

“Does it matter?”

Autry shrugged. “I suppose not. I’ll have some food brought to you.”

He turned and left the hostel.

“Where we go?” Jak asked. “Mountain ranges all around. Can’t sail wags on them.”

“We can go back to Colorado, mebbe, so we can see how Dean is doing at school.”

“And after that,” Doc added, toweling the lather from his face, “I daresay we shall make another jump.”

Autry returned, bearing platters of food. It was the same mixture of cheese, bread and bacon they had eaten on their first morning in Amicus, and it was even less appetizing this time around.

After Autry put down the platters on the table, he said, “If you’re looking for a guide, there’s a Lakota tribesman who arrived late last night. He wants to talk to you.”

“Who is he?” J.B. asked.

“Little Mountainremember him?says he’s a highly placed war chief.”

“You mean this Yutan-kin-Mahipiya?” Krysty asked, stumbling over the pronunciation.

Autry nodded. “Says he knows you.”

Jak’s eyes narrowed. “Knows who?”

“All of you. Wait a minute, I’ll fetch him.”

Through the open door they watched Autry cross the muddy street toward a tepee. A man sat there, wearing a hooded deerskin cape. He rose with the lithe, coiled movements of a panther when Autry approached. There was something vaguely familiar about his smooth, quick motions. He cradled a Gewehr automatic assault rifle in his arms.

Autry and the stranger marched across the street. As they entered the room, the man pulled back the hood of his cape. His face was lean and sharply planed. His black-haired head was alertly erect, and a pair of red hawk feathers were pinned at the back. He was no wild tribesman. His face and dark eyes had fire and pride and a haughty intelligence. Mildred recognized him first.