“Leave it,” Evelyn said. Their lives weren’t worth the risk. She was relieved when they emerged into the open but not so happy at how low the fire had burned. Another ten minutes or so and it would go out, plunging them in darkness and leaving them vulnerable.
“I am scared,” Bright Rainbow said.
So was Evelyn, but as her father always impressed on her, she was a King and the Kings never gave up. Where there was a will, there was a way, he liked to say. She stood with her back to the fire and commenced to reload her rifle.
Bright Rainbow cast the brand into the fire and gripped the hilt of the knife in her small hands. “The Devil Cat will kill us.”
“Stop talking like that.” Evelyn was trying to load and watch the woods at the same time, and she spilled some powder.
“There is only one safe place. The hole where I hid after it killed my father.”
“No.” Evelyn felt the best place to make their stand was in the open where they could see the mountain lion coming and have room to move.
“It is big enough for both of us.”
“No, I said.”
“You can kill the Devil Cat if it tries to crawl in after us.”
Without thinking Evelyn snapped, “Did you listen to your mother as poorly as you listen to me?”
Bright Rainbow’s scarecrow frame slumped in sorrow. “I always did as my mother asked.”
“Then do the same with me.”
“You are not my mother,” Bright Rainbow said, and with that, she snatched another brand from the fire, whirled, and ran toward the forest.
“Get back here!” Evelyn hollered, but the girl ignored her and plunged into the Stygian mire.
Evelyn raced after her, fully aware of the mistake they were making. “Come back!” she tried again.
As fleet as an antelope, Bright Rainbow didn’t heed. The burning brand rose and dipped and weaved right and left as she avoided obstacles.
“Please!” Evelyn reckoned the girl was trying to reach her hidey-hole before the torch went out. Something compelled her to look over her shoulder, and her breath caught in her throat. A black blur was crossing the clearing in a beeline after them. The mountain lion had given chase.
Fear clutched at Evelyn’s heart. The cat could see in the dark and she couldn’t. It would catch up and spring on her. She ran another dozen strides and stopped and spun. Better to face it, she reasoned, than have it take her from behind. She never heard a sound, yet suddenly there it was, a darker black than the night itself, its eyes glinting in the starlight. Evelyn swallowed and brought the Hawken up just as the mountain lion sprang. She had no time to cock it. A heavy blow to her left shoulder spun her halfway around and pain spiked her body clear down to her toes. A raking forepaw had slashed her. She turned to confront the beast, but the mountain lion hadn’t stopped.
It was after Bright Rainbow.
“No!” Evelyn cried, and sprinted madly to the girl’s aid. She didn’t shoot. She couldn’t hold the rifle steady enough to be sure of bringing the mountain lion down. “Bright Rainbow!” she screamed. “Look out!”
The girl heard her—and stopped. She raised the brand just as an ebony form arced through the air. She was smashed to the ground and the burning brand fell next to her.
Bright Rainbow didn’t move.
In a spurt of speed Evelyn reached her. The girl’s eyes were closed and blood oozed from half a dozen slash marks. Evelyn dropped to a knee. “Bright Rainbow?”
She showed no signs of life.
Evelyn gripped her arm and shook. “Bright Rainbow? Answer me.”
The girl’s eyes opened, twin mirrors of utter and total fear. She trembled and whimpered.
Evelyn shook her harder. “Snap out of it! We must run or the cat will get us both.”
Bright Rainbow’s eyes weren’t on Evelyn; they were fixed blankly on the heavens. Tears trickled from their corners.
“Listen to me!” Evelyn demanded, and when that got no reaction, she slapped her.
A sharp intake of breath, and Bright Rainbow calmed. She pressed a hand to her cheek and said in a tiny voice, “You hit me.”
“I’ll do it again if you don’t get up. How badly are you hurt?”
“I was clawed a little,” the girl said.
Evelyn pulled her to her feet. “This hole of yours. How far is it?”
“We are close.”
The brand was almost out. Evelyn grabbed it and held it higher so the breeze lent the flames new life. “Take me. Hurry. And carry this for me.” She shoved the Hawken at her. There was no time to reload. She drew a pistol.
Bright Rainbow just stood there. “My mother never hit me.”
“I am not your mother. I am your friend. And I am trying to keep us both alive.” Evelyn pushed her. “Now
“Friends do not hit friends,” Bright Rainbow said, but she turned and made off through the pines and spruce and scattered oaks. She was limping.
“What is wrong with your leg?”
“I twisted my ankle when the Devil Cat jumped on me.”
“Stop calling it that. It is a mountain lion. A black mountain lion but only a mountain lion. It can be killed like any other.”
“You are wrong, Blue Flower. My father stabbed it and it did not die. You have shot it with your thun-derstick and it did not die. The Devil Cat cannot be hurt like we can.”
“I made it bleed. And anything that bleeds can die. Now hush and get us there.” Evelyn needed to listen for the painter. Not that she would hear it if it didn’t want her to. She remembered to cock the flintlock. As heavy as it was, she held it in both hands.
Bright Rainbow’s “not far” turned out to be a quarter of a mile. Every step was an agony of suspense. Evelyn never knew but when a heavy body would smash into her and fangs and claws would rip and rend. The forest thinned and ended, and above was a slope covered by a jumble of rocks and boulders. Bright Rainbow headed for the largest boulder. She stopped and pointed. At its base was a dark cavity not much wider than she was.
“There.”
“Inside. Hurry.” Evelyn faced down the mountain. The brand was almost out. Its light barely reached the trees, but it was enough; two malevolent eyes stared up at her.
From out of the hole came a muffled “I am in.”
Evelyn crouched and leaned the brand against a rock. She went to all fours and scrambled backward, sliding her feet and then her legs into the hole and easing the rest of her after. The blazing eyes swept toward her. She levered her elbows and found herself in a dank hole barely long enough and wide enough for her and the girl both. They were pressed close together. She could move her arms but little else. She trained the muzzle on the opening and waited.
From outside came a growl. A shadow passed across the hole, but the mountain lion didn’t look in.
Evelyn prayed it would so she could send a ball crashing into its brain. Suddenly the light faded. The brand had gone out. Tense with apprehension, she held the flintlock steady. But the mountain lion was either too shrewd or too wary to try to get at them. Nothing happened, and after a while she wondered if it was out there.
“Blue Flower?” Bright Rainbow whispered.
“Not now.”
“Thank you,” Bright Rainbow said quietly.
