Nickel's Luck by S. L. Matthews

Author:S. L. Matthews
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: S. L. Matthews
Published: 2019-12-06T14:24:10+00:00

Bannack rubbed the back of his neck and cleared his throat. “I’m goin’ for a walk,” he told Marbles. “Secure a wagon.” His voice sounded extra gruff, so Marbles didn’t argue. He knew the relief his friend felt; all that time they had searched . . . it terrified him, the thought they’d find his body, yet afraid they wouldn’t.

He returned just before daybreak with no transportation other than the two saddle ponies he and Marbles rode in on. At least a few would get to rest their feet.

Marbles saw him coming and met him, out of earshot.

“How’s Ryder?” Bannack asked.

“B-Boy ain’t s-said a word since you l-l-left. He ain’t w-well.”

“We’ll leave now. Nothin’ left to keep ’em here, I reckon.”

“Get a wagon?”

“Nope. No empty wagons goin’ that way.” Bannack explained what he found: most of the buckboards streaming in were staying to help; those leaving with straggling survivors were already loaded beyond capacity. Many people had neither horse nor wagon, so they started out on foot, having given up the search for their loved ones and abandoning their former homes and possessions. The Wheelers would have to follow suit.

“Some of us are gonna have to walk. Might run into somebody on the road to Victoria with a wagon to spare.”

Marbles said nothing.

Bannack found Molly Wheeler crooning over her boy. Les and the others gathered around him as though he were some sort of deity. Bannack wondered if he was.

Nickel’s reunion was heartening, but the shadow of devastation hung low over the Wheeler clan and their friends.

Bannack noticed two people refrained from basking in Nickel’s golden glow of luck.

Alastor Wheeler kept well away from his brother and, in fact, hadn’t even welcomed him so far as Bannack knew. That was something to tuck under his hat for later. The lad seemed to alternate between sulks and scowls and envious stares.

The other was the girl, Lucy Parker. She huddled alone a short distance from the Wheelers, not quite a part of their family or anyone else’s. Her father was the only kin she had to speak of, but no one seemed to know—or care—where he was. Bannack couldn’t quite figure if the girl held to herself for her own personal reasons, or if the Wheelers had pushed her aside. Either way, the girl seemed forgotten in the glory of Ryder’s return.

Nickel, he thought to himself but shook his head. It would be strange to think of him as anything but the Ryder from five years before.

Another glance answered at least one question: Lucy Parker’s gaze never wavered from Nickel, who seemed oblivious of those around him. He was war-torn, an overnight veteran at sixteen, and it showed in the shadows of his face.

Bannack knelt with his knee in the sand and a hand on Nickel’s forehead. The boy opened his eyes and whispered his hero’s name. “Hey, Bannack.”

“Hey, Ryder. It’s time to move on, son. We’ll get your family settled in Victoria. I couldn’t get a wagon, so some of us’ll ride, but the rest have to walk.

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