Evelyn slid the ramrod from its housing under the barrel. “Yes,” she agreed. “We are.”
Chapter Seventeen
The fire roared, the flames two feet high. Its comforting light lit the entire clearing and the fringe of woodland.
Evelyn sat with her knees tucked to her chest and the Hawken propped between her legs. Next to her, curled in a ball and sound asleep, was Bright Rainbow. Evelyn refilled her coffee cup and glanced at the firewood they had left. She frowned. It wasn’t enough to last the rest of the night.
Hours had passed since the Devil Cat attacked Buttercup. There had been no sign of it since. Evelyn hoped— she prayed—the mountain lion had been hurt when the tree limb struck it. Hurt so badly, it had gone off to its lair and would leave them be.
By her reckoning it was past three in the morning. Another three hours, or so, and the sun would be up. Another three hours and her parents would be there. She was a little surprised they weren’t there already. She’d figured her father would ride like a madman to her rescue. She gazed along the dark funnel of the valley as she had a dozen times since she sat down and did more praying.
“Where are you?” Evelyn wondered out loud. The only reason she could think of for them not to show was that something had happened to Dega and he never got to them. The prospect terrified her.
Evelyn sipped more coffee. There was about a cupful left in the pot, and that was all. So far it had kept her awake and alert, but she could feel fatigue nipping at her mind and body and every so often she stifled a yawn. She envied Bright Rainbow being able to sleep. The girl had tried to stay awake and help keep watch, but exhaustion and a full belly refused to be denied.
Down out of the moonlit peaks to the west drifted the howl of a wolf. She had heard an awful lot of wolves that night, many more than usual. She speculated on whether a new pack was roaming that region. The notion didn’t scare her. She wasn’t afraid of wolves as she was of grizzlies and mountain lions. When she was little, her brother had a pet wolf for a while, and she had liked the frisky fellow considerably. She gazed up at the beautiful full moon and almost felt like howling herself. Grinning at her silliness, she raised the tin cup to her lips—and her heart skipped a beat.
The eyes were back, across the clearing at the edge of the trees, aglow with reflected light from the fire, unblinking in their intensity.
Evelyn set down the cup and took up the Hawken. She thumbed back the hammer and set the rear trigger so that all it would take was a slight squeeze on the front trigger to fire. Her Hawken had a maple stock with a curve in the wood for her cheek. She put her cheek to the curve and sighted down the barrel.
The eyes vanished.
Evelyn held the rifle to her cheek until her arms couldn’t take the strain, and lowered it. If she didn’t know better she would think the mountain lion was toying with them. All she wanted was a clear shot, just one clear shot, and their ordeal would be over.
The flames were dwindling. She added one to the three pieces of a broken limb they had left and tried not to think of what she must do after she added the other two. To take her mind off it she sipped coffee and thought about Dega and how her picnic had turned into a disaster. So much for being alone with him. So much for sharing her heart and having him share his.
Bright Rainbow groaned and stirred and muttered in her sleep. Her arms and legs twitched. She was in the grip of a dream or more likely a nightmare because she started to mew in terror and uttered a soft sob.
Evelyn shook her.
The girl’s eyes snapped open and she sat bolt upright. She looked around in confusion and then at the fire and at Evelyn. Sweat caked her face and she was as pale as a bedsheet.
“Are you all right?”
“I had a bad dream.”
“The Devil Cat?”
“Yes.” Bright Rainbow scanned the impenetrable wall of forest. “Have you seen it?”
“No,” Evelyn lied.
“Maybe it is gone.”
Evelyn bobbed her head at their meager firewood. “I have to gather more or the fire will go out.”
“I will help,” Bright Rainbow offered.
“It is safer for you here.”
“I am too afraid to be alone. I will carry a burning stick so you can see.”
Evelyn would have her hands full with her rifle and the firewood. She couldn’t hold a torch, too. “If I agree, you are to do exactly as I say. If I tell you to run, you run.”
“I will not leave you. I would rather die than be alone again.”
“Enough of that kind of talk.” Evelyn slid her hunting knife from its sheath. “To protect yourself with. Go for the eyes.”
The girl took it and lightly pricked her finger with the tip and ran the same finger along the edge. “It is very sharp.”
“A dull knife doesn’t do much good.” Evelyn rose. “We should go while the flames are still high.”
Bright Rainbow chose a brand. She held it out in front of her and clenched the knife tight. “I am ready.”
The forest was ominously silent.
Her skin rippling with dread, Evelyn crossed to the woods. Bright Rainbow’s arm rubbed her with every step. She spotted a downed limb, but it was too thick for her to break apart. Stepping over it, she went around a pine. The brand hissed and gave off smoke that tingled her nose. “Try not to hold that so close to my face.”
“Sorry.”
Evelyn roved past a thicket wide enough to hide the mountain lion. She kept the Hawken leveled, just in case.
“The Devil Cat is near,” Bright Rainbow whispered breathlessly. “I can feel him.”
Evelyn told her to be quiet. But she could feel the cat’s presence, too. She looked for eye shine.
“There,” Bright Rainbow said, and pointed with the knife. “Plenty of firewood.”
Fallen limbs littered the ground at the base of a dead tree. Evelyn stooped to grab one and a growl rumbled out of the darkness. Straightening, she jammed the Hawken to her shoulder. “Where is it?” The growl had seemed to come from everywhere at once.
“I do not know.” Bright Rainbow’s voice quaked with terror. “We should go back.”
“We need the wood.” Evelyn hastily scooped up several pieces of a thick limb and turned to retrace their steps.
The eyes were behind them. The mountain lion was between them and the clearing. It couldn’t have been more than twenty feet away.
“God, no,” Evelyn said. She dropped the firewood and snapped the Hawken to her cheek. “I have you now.” She fired. At the boom of the shot the eyes rose straight into the air and came down again, and blinked out. Drawing a flintlock, Evelyn shouted, “Stay by my side!” and charged forward. She came to the spot where she thought the eyes had been and cast about for sign and found it in the form of bright scarlet drops on the grass and the leaves. “I hit it!” she exulted.
“But where did it go?”
Evelyn turned in a complete circle. “I don’t know.” She had hit it, yes, but there wasn’t much blood, which might mean she’d only nicked it. And a wounded meat-eater was always more dangerous. Her father had warned her of that since she was old enough to hold a gun.
A snarl rent the air.
Evelyn spun but saw only dark undergrowth and trees. With its black coat, the mountain lion was practically invisible. It could spring at them at any moment. “We’re going back,” she declared, and retreated toward the clearing.
“What about the firewood?”
