The Outcast's Bride by Janis Jakes

Author:Janis Jakes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christian Fiction, inspirational fiction, Clean and Wholesome Novels, Religion and Spirituality
Publisher: Pelican Book Group
Published: 2023-03-13T00:00:00+00:00

16

“Do not look their way,” Walking Stick whispered.

“It’s too late. One of them is headed toward us.” Kwi stiffened, ready for anything.

The man rode downward from the cliffs. His partner was on foot and stayed behind, almost as if guarding the entrance. A rifle lay cradled in the man’s arms. The rider sat tall and lanky in the saddle, maybe in his early twenties, and not in a hurry. He tipped his hat as he rode up to them. “Hello, there.”

Kwi drew the reins on his horse. Walking Stick did the same. They both bobbed their head in greeting.

Rustlers liked to stake out their territories and caves. They’d ride for days to hit a ranch, alter the brands, take the horses into another city to sell them, and then return to their hideout with their winnings until the time came to do it all over again.

“What’ve you got in your saddlebags?” the young man asked.

Kwi didn’t have time for this. He had to catch up with Susannah. With frustration wound about his limbs, he answered in as calm a voice as he could muster. He hoped the man couldn’t detect the depth of his angst. “Pemmican. A wool blanket. Nothing worth stealing, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“No liquor?”

Walking Stick answered in his monotone voice. “We don’t drink.”

The man pulled his pistol and cocked it. “Leave ’em right there on the ground. Whatever’s in your bags belongs to me now. Your horses, too.”

Kwi held his hands up. “All right. The horses are yours.” He exchanged a knowing glance with his father.

Walking Stick slid off first. As Kwi shifted in his saddle to dismount, Walking Stick slapped the rear of his own horse, sending him romping off into the woods and startling the young rustler. Kwi used the distraction to grab the knife from his boot and slice it through the air, hitting the man’s wrist with a solid thud before the blade landed in the dirt.

The man screamed and dropped his gun. He grabbed his bloodied wrist and fell to the ground. The man from the cliff top pointed his rifle downward.

They’d be easy pickings for him if they didn’t do something fast.

Kwi knelt beside the wounded man, pulling him up to his knees by his hair and putting a blade to his neck. “Drop your gun…Now!”

“Do it!” the wounded man cried out as blood dripped from his wrist. “Before I bleed to death!”

The lookout dropped his gun and a woman appeared beside him. Though she stood higher up the hillside, Kwi could still make out her features—pretty face, dark hair, high cheekbones. Probably native mix.

She shook her head, a grin teasing the edges of her lips. “What’ve I told you boys about robbing people in the daylight?”

“Is she your boss?” Walking Stick asked the man Kwi still held in his grasp.

“My brother is the boss.” He groaned in agony. “She’s his wife.”

“We’re passing through, ma’am,” Kwi said. “We didn’t want any trouble. We still don’t.”

“Is that so?”

“I’m looking for a woman,” he yelled up.

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