 The riders from the Rocky Ridge station had been hit hard with the croup. Once one got it, all but two of them also came down with it and Teaspoon was just one of the Station Masters who had been asked to send some of his riders to help out. Cody and Buck had drawn the short straws and they had been working the Rocky Ridge legs of the Express route for a week. Cody had been sent to deliver some dispatches to the army detachment at Little River, an encampment by the banks of the river that wound its way about fourteen hours north of Hope Valley and Buck had been tasked with delivering a special package to the sheriff in the town itself. The Rocky Ridge Station Master hadn't mentioned the sign but he had been quite particular in making Buck aware that he shouldn't be in the hills West of the town during the night. When pressed for further explanation the Station Master would only say that there were stories about 'that place' and although he didn't believe in 'superstitious nonsense', he wasn't about to risk a rider who was on loan to him. The other healthy riders from the station were out on runs and no-one in town would talk to him. Even Cody couldn't get any more out of the Rocky Ridge townsfolk on the subject of Hope Valley other than there seemed to be a large wolf pack that hunted the hills. It was for this reason that Cody had insisted that they meet up in Hope Valley for the ride back. It would mean that Cody would take a day longer to get back to the Rocky Ridge Station but he was concerned for his friend. The trip so far had been uneventful but as he drew closer to Hope Valley he began to feel a darkness settle on his mind. He came to a halt when he reached the sign that marked the border to the hills west of the town. Wolves were common all over the territory and all those who traveled these trails were well aware of it and had no need of such cautionary words. Yet, someone had seen fit to put up this sign. Buck observed that it had been well anchored into the ground and had been recently repaired, so it was clear that whoever had put it there meant it to stay. That also meant they were serious about the message and that warranted some careful thinking on Buck's behalf. In one small perverse centre of his brain he wanted to see these wolves; curious about a pack that seemed to be acquiring a legend of its own. His gut, however, was telling him to run as far and fast as he could in the opposite direction. His horse gave no indication that she was nervous, and she certainly would have if she smelled wolf in the wind. He had at least three to four hours of daylight left. About a mile in the distance he could see a hill that was slightly higher than the rest. He pushed his horse on in that direction. It proved to be a good choice as he could see the town of Hope Valley. It was nestled in a beautiful green valley, but a swathe had been cut through the trees that had once surrounded the town. It looked as though the townspeople had cleared a mile wide strip of land around the outermost buildings. It gave the impression that the little town was under siege. Buck's sharp eyes picked out the trail he would travel to get there and committed the various landmarks to memory for the trip. About an hour after he entered the hills he heard the laughing and shouting of several men. He was riding the narrow pass that would soon present him with two paths. He had made up his mind to take the one that would lead him away from the men, as the laughing had a cruel tinge to it but then he caught another sound that clutched cold fingers on his spine. It was the scream of a woman. Despite every bone in his body trying to push him in the other direction, Buck's heart and conscience wouldn't let him leave until he knew if there was anything he could do to help. He dismounted and looped his horse's reins over a tree branch, then he carefully stole forward, quiet as the grave. The laughing grew louder as Buck approached the end of the pass. He peeked around the rock wall and saw what he half expected and hoped he wouldn't. Five men had a woman at their mercy. "Give it to her good, Mr. Cade. You teach that whore a good ol' lesson or two," called out a man with dark hair in a fancy blue waistcoat. The woman was bent, face down, over a large fallen tree. Most of her clothes had been torn from her. The man in the blue waistcoat held her wrists and two others each had hold of one of her kicking feet keeping her legs wide open while another man, obviously Cade, raped her. "How's that, hey? Do you see how it is now, bitch? No two bit whore says no to me," Cade yelled out between grunts. The others watched and whooped encouragement. The woman was fighting them. She screamed at them, cursing them bitterly in a language Buck had never heard before Buck felt sick, but he pushed that aside as he formed a plan to rescue the woman. The men's horses were easily located. They had been loosely tethered a short way from where the men were busy at their vicious game. Buck guessed the woman's screaming had been unsettling them, so the men had taken their victim further into the small valley. The horses' tack was all of very high quality and coupled with the expensive looking clothes the men wore, Buck guessed they all came from well heeled families and were accustomed to getting what they wanted. 'This time it's goin' to cost them,' Buck promised himself. Buck untied the horses and led them away and up the pass. Once he was sure they were out of earshot, he removed their tack and sent them running back to the open plains. He then returned to his own horse, mounted her and rode her slowly forward. She didn't like the woman's screaming any more than the men's horses had, but she obeyed his command. Buck's plan was simple. Ride in fast, shoot as many of them as he could, grab the woman and ride as fast as he could using the trees for cover. He took a deep breath and shivered down his spine as he forced himself to look once more at the terrible scene of the woman's rape. Cade had finished and with a satisfied smirk he did up his trousers. "Who else is ready for another round?" he asked, and gave the woman a slap on her bare rump. She yelled and struggled against the men holding her. "She's still got lots of fight in her. Would've thought she'd have been wore out by now," commented the blue waistcoat. "She's used to it," said the man holding her left foot. He had dark hair and looked like the blue waistcoat's brother. He ran one hand all the way up her leg to the top. "Half expected her to feel like she's made of leather on the inside, but you're not, are you? You're all soft and tight." The woman tried to squirm away from the man's hand. "Get outta there, I'm next," said a man with carrot coloured hair. He was bigger and meaner looking than the others. He unbuckled his holster and handed it to one of the men who had his hands free. "Get her on her back, Georgie. I like to grab me some of this when I ride," the red head said to the blue waist coated man as he stepped towards the woman and reached under her thrashing torso to grab one of her breasts. "Just keep a good hold on her this time," he said as his brushed at the scratches on his face. Buck could see scratches on all of them. 'Good for her,' he thought. "Ready?" asked Georgie. "On three. One, two, three." The two men holding the woman's legs hoisted her into the air to flip her over. In doing so, the man holding her left leg lost his hold. The woman half flopped back on the log. Her sudden fall pulled her right leg out of the other man's grasp. She wasted no time and lashed out with a well aimed kick at the red head's groin. He slumped to the ground in agony. Buck saw his chance. "You filthy bitch," shouted Cade. "Grab her boys. We ain't nearly finished teachin' . . ." His words came to a halt as he clutched weakly at Buck's knife which was now firmly embedded in his back. He was dead when he hit the ground. Georgie looked down at Cade, but before he could react, he slumped to the ground having been shot through the head. One more man fell as Buck fired two shots into his chest. The red head that the woman had kicked in the privates was still writhing in pain on the ground and posed no threat for the next few seconds, that left one healthy and very angry man to avenge his friends. The woman took great pleasure in hitting him in the head with a rock. She hadn't killed him, but he was out cold. Buck rode into sight, jumped off his horse and kicked the red haired man in the head. While the man was stunned, Buck used his rope to tie him and the other still living man securely. Then he turned to the woman. Up close she looked very young, barely seventeen. Her disheveled hair was as black as Buck's but she had a white forelock. Her skin was tanned and covered in a rich tapestry of grazes, small cuts and bruises. He turned away and tried not to look at her since she was virtually naked. What was left of her frilly white blouse hung loosely about her neck. She stood and stared at him, doubtless unsure of what Buck's intentions might be. Buck walked over to where her skirt had been tossed and picked it up. Careful to keep his eyes averted he held the skirt out to her. He felt the skirt leave his hand. "I guess there's no point in askin' if you're alright," Buck said quietly. He retrieved his knife and wiped it clean before sheathing it, then he checked all of the fallen men to make sure they were no longer going to be a problem. "You can turn around now," the woman said after a few minutes. Her voice was quite deep and a little raspy from her prolonged screaming. She also had a strong accent that Buck couldn't recognize. The woman had tied the torn skirt around her waist and managed to get her upper body covered with a clever rearrangement of her tattered blouse. She went straight to Cade's body, reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a gold medallion which she kissed then put about her neck. "Pig!," she yelled at the dead man, then she spat on him and kicked his corpse. "Do you think you can ride? I should get you to town and a doctor, and I need to get the sheriff to pick them up," Buck said. "No. My family; I must return to them," the woman said firmly. She drew herself to her full height and put her hands on her hips to convey her conviction. "Will you take me?" Buck was more than a little confused. The woman seemed too calm for someone who had just been through such a violation. "Aren't your family in the town?" Buck asked. "No. The townspeople, they would not have us. They say we are not clean. My family is camped in the hills," the woman said. Her black eyes glittered with loathing. "It isn't safe for them out here. Didn't you see the warning about wolves?" Buck asked. "We see the sign. There are no wolves. The sign, it lies. We were camped two nights here before the men came. We did not see wolves, nor do we hear them," the woman said. She cocked her head to the right and her hair fell back to reveal that her left ear lobe had been torn, as if her ear-ring had been ripped out. It was not bleeding so Buck guessed it had happened much earlier. "Then I'll take you back to your family. Can you sit on the horse?" Buck asked, careful with his phrasing. "I can, but first I must wash off their stink. There is a stream in the next valley. I will go there," the woman said. She turned her back to him and started off. The whole episode had taken about thirty minutes and Buck was mentally tallying up how long he had to get her back to her family then get himself into the town. The woman's family might not have seen any wolves so far, but that didn't mean they weren't there. Wolves could travel long distances in their hunt. "Wait! I'll be right there," Buck called out to the woman's retreating back. She stopped and turned to look at him. Buck collected his horse and checked that the unconsciousness men were still securely tied, then he fell in behind the woman and followed her to the next valley where there was a small stream, just as she had said there was. She walked to the edge and started to undress. "Um, just wait a minute," Buck said, and took out his blanket and handed it to her. Nightfall was still an hour away, but the sun had dropped behind the hill tops and, a cold mist that not even the brightest moonlight would be able to penetrate, was creeping into the shaded valley. "Try not to take too long, we need to get to your family." "What is your name?" the woman asked, imperiously. "Buck Cross, Ma'am. I'm a rider for the Pony Express," Buck offered. "Buck Cross, I take as long as I take to get clean of them. Understand?" the woman asked, but it was clear it was of no import to her if he said that he didn't. Buck only nodded and turned his back to her. He heard the rustle of clothing and then the sounds of her entering the water. While the woman bathed, he scanned every visible corner of the valley for any sign of wolf tracks. He found none which gave him a small measure of comfort. By the time he returned the woman was wrapped in his blanket and waiting for him. She smiled coldly at him. "I was fast enough, yes?" She asked. "My family are that way," she announced and pointed in a southerly direction. She walked up to him. Buck reached his hand down and neatly lifted her onto the saddle in front of him which presented him with somewhat of a dilemma. He didn't want her to fall, but he was hesitant to put his arm around her to keep her anchored. "There is no need to hold me. I ride before I could walk," the woman advised him. Following her directions they rode through several more valleys with no sign of her people. As they rode, questions continually pressed against Buck's mind until he could no longer hold them in, and one popped out of his mouth before he could stop it. "If your people are so close, how did those men get you away from them without them coming after you?" Buck asked, then mentally kicked himself for making mention of her captors. "I was walking in the valley, looking for firewood when the men found me. My family will know by now that I have had trouble. They will be looking for me," the woman said. Her story didn't quite ring true to Buck. Why the need to travel so far from their camp to look for firewood? If her family were looking for her, then how could they have missed her screams? The woman must have sensed his doubt. "Perhaps I have not told the exact truth," she started, but Buck cut her off. "No, it's alright. It ain't really any of my business. I shouldn't be askin' you questions after what you've been through," Buck said. "My family should be here," the woman said as they rounded a small ridge into yet another valley. "Are you sure? There's no tracks. Nothing to show anyone's been here for months," Buck observed. "We are gypsies. We love the land. Always we leave no mark where we have camped. They have moved on. Probably they search for me," the woman said. Buck noted there was no hint of disappointment in her tone. If anything, he thought she sounded almost pleased to find her family gone. 'She can't be too anxious to tell her father she's been raped,' he decided. "It's getting' late," Buck said. "We can't keep searching for them and we won't make the town before nightfall." "I already told you. I will not set foot in that town. We will stay here. My family will come back to this place when they cannot find me out there," she informed him with a sweep of her arm back towards the way they had come. He was filled with foreboding about having to spend the night in the hills. He had seen no wolf tracks anywhere that they'd traveled but he wasn't looking to test the legend. The woman slipped off the horse and walked over to a clump of bushes that grew close to the valley wall. She pulled the bushes back to reveal a shallow cave big enough to take both of them and Buck's horse. "My little brother find this place yesterday. We will make a fire there," she pointed to the area in front of the cave. "If my family see the smoke, they will come and if there be any wolves, the fire will keep them away," she stated with surety. They made a fire exactly where the woman had said they would, then Buck made coffee and broke out the last of his rations and offered them to her. "What is it you want in exchange for all this kindness you show me, hey? Always men, they want something," the woman said. The firelight flickered across her dark orbs and she suddenly looked to Buck to be much older than he first thought. "It was the right thing to do," Buck said. "Still, you must want something. Do you want to lie with me? That is what men want from me. Always men think that gypsy women are whores," the woman said. Despite the bitter words, her voice was neutral. "I've never met any gypsies before. Anyway, no man has the right to do what they did to you," Buck said and his hatred of all such men clearly rang in his tone. "You have seen this kind of thing before?" asked the woman quietly. Buck didn't answer. His thoughts had turned to his mother. "If you have a child from what happened, would your family accept it?" Buck asked. "Such a strange question. Why do you ask this?" The woman crawled over to him so that her eyes were no more than three inches from his. Buck looked away from her searching gaze but she cupped his face with her hands and forced him to look at her. "I am royal among my people. A princess of the old blood. I have the gift of seeing into the soul and the road that it will take. I will tell you what I see in yours, in return for saving me," the woman offered. "You really don't have to. I would've done the same for anyone," Buck said and tried to pull away. "Yes, that is there to be seen in your eyes. The question is why. Why do you risk yourself to save me against so many? Because it is your nature or because of what was done to your mother?" The woman's eyes seemed to turn all black as Buck felt her delve deep into his mind. It felt as if her hands, which had the longest fingernails he had ever seen, were pulling away the shroud of his innermost self; seeking out the core of his being. He wanted to stop this, but he was powerless in her grip. "There is a shadow on your soul. Put there by much pain, but your soul is bright. Full of passion and a need for love. Your soul is a good one. An old one, like mine. This is not your first time on the Earth. It will carry you through many trials. It will remain strong despite the evils this world will heap upon you. Your path ahead will be filled with hardship. You will lose friends. You will lose your brother to a war he cannot win. All that you attain will be stripped from you, yet, your heart will remain true. You will not let the actions of lesser men turn you to their way. I judge you a good man, Buck Cross." The woman withdrew her mind from his, but not her hold on him. Buck's mind tumbled in turmoil. He felt dizzy. The light from the fire that reflected in the gypsy's eyes seemed to explode out and over him. He couldn't formulate a coherent thought and felt his body fall out of her grasp back on the hard ground. "You will never know true love, Buck Cross, and I have met few men who have your goodness of soul," the gypsy said as she loomed over him. "You saved me with no thought of taking me for yourself. You would let me sleep here, safe and untouched. You would not ask me nor force yourself on me." The gypsy let the blanket fall away and the firelight flickered across her body. "For these reasons I give myself to you." Before Buck could protest the gypsy leaned down and kissed him. She tasted of the wild and it sent Buck spinning into a limbo where he couldn't move his limbs at all. The kiss seemed to last forever and while her mouth was on his, he couldn't focus his thoughts on any one thing. Images tripped over themselves in his head and odd sensations traveled through him. Faintly he felt her hands working at his clothes and when she ended the kiss Buck found himself naked. His head and torso were too heavy for him to lift off the ground. His fingers refused his commands to move. All he could do was lie and watch as the gypsy moved her kiss down his chest and his stomach. He wanted to tell her to stop; that this wasn't what he had intended when he had rescued her, but it seemed her kiss had stolen his voice. She reached the dark forest at his groin and with gentle strokes teased him to life. Her mouth and fingers closed around him, pulling at him, working him with practised ease. A primal groan escaped Buck's lips. He had never known it to be this way. He watched her at her work which only hardened him further. When she judged him ready she released him and sat up so she could straddle him. It was then that he saw all of the marks that had covered her body were gone. All of her flesh had been returned to a state of perfection. Slowly she took him inside her, drawing out the first feel of him entering her. She sighed and smiled to show him how much she wanted him there and then she began to ride him. Gently at first, she gathered her hair up with both hands and held it behind her as her hips moved rhythmically, giving him a full view of her breasts with their dark tips. They bounced in time to her movements as if they were dancing for him. The gold medallion dangled in the valley of her bosom. Every now and then it would catch the firelight and dazzle him. Buck couldn't have said how long she rode him. He only knew that she had some strange power over him that kept him ready longer than he would have thought possible. When the climax came they both tore at the walls of the cave with their mingled screams. Buck's mind flailed in the grip of pleasure. He was sure he was about to pass out, but the gypsy was not finished with him, and she worked her magic on him long into the night. When she was finally done with him Buck had reached the point where he couldn't have spoken a word or even remembered his own name. The cave walls receded and all he could see was the golden light of the fire that appeared to envelope both of them. "What is your name?" Buck asked, and he didn't know why this question had not come out of him earlier. He was shocked at how hard it was for him to get the words out at all. "I am Guadalupe. I was named for my mother and her mother before her. It means, wolf valley," replied the gypsy. It was then that Buck realized he had been tricked and he fought to get his body to move, but Guadalupe brushed her hand along his chest and he lay completely still. His heart pounded with the need to push his body to run. "Do not fear," Guadalupe said and then allowed him to see all of the truth. Her gypsy family had come to Hope Valley to make a home for themselves, but the self-righteous mayor, Titus Cade, wouldn't allow them in. The mayor's son had taken a fancy to Guadalupe and assumed that as she was a gypsy, her body was for sale. She refused and the young man had gathered his friends and ambushed Guadalupe's family; killing all of them, including her little brother. Cade was the first one to rape Guadalupe. On his first vicious thrust into her, she cursed him; on his second she cursed all of his friends and on his third she cursed the town. After that she lay quietly while all of them defiled her. When they were finally done with her, Cade Jr. strangled her. He and his friends then piled the bodies in the brightly covered wagon that had been Guadalupe's home and burned it Cade Jr. and his friends never made it back to town. Their bodies were found just outside the town limits with their throats torn out. Over the course of the next fifteen years, any travelers caught out in the hills at night were subjected to the trial of Guadalupe. If she found their souls were dark or if they tried to rape her, the wolves disposed of them. All of this Guadalupe revealed to Buck so that he would understand the true legend of the hills of Hope Valley but whether she told him the story or if he dreamed it he would never really know. The gypsy took off her gold medallion and hung it around Buck's neck. "I judge you to be a good man, Buck Cross. I give you your life," Guadalupe whispered in his ear. At least that's what Buck thought he heard her say. The words were muddy and he was beginning to fall into the blackness of sleep. He tried to hang on to the light and ask what she had meant, but she was already gone. .Buck snapped awake when he heard the growling. It took a moment for him to order his thoughts, but instinctively knew the fire had gone out. He opened his eyes to see a pack of about nine huge wolves arranged around the cave entrance in a semi-circle. He had no idea why they hadn't attacked him already. The biggest of the pack sniffed the air and Buck realized they were the avengers of Guadalupe's family. He must have been covered in her scent. A wolf to his left snapped its jaws as if questioning the leader why they hesitated. Buck's hand went to his throat as he pictured the death of Cade Jr. and abruptly noticed that he was fully dressed and no clue how he'd got that way. Under his shirt he felt a small circle of intense heat. The lead wolf took a step back. Buck freed the medallion and held it away from him. It was glowing. All of the wolves whimpered. They parted to leave a path between them and bowed low to him. Buck stood and walked past the wolves, brandishing the medallion like a shield. His horse, which should have been frantic with terror, walked patiently behind him as if she knew the wolves were not here to harm her. Once he was a few feet away, Buck mounted and rode as fast as he could for the town. When he entered the last valley there was one wolf barring his way. Its left ear was torn. "Thank you," Buck said solemnly. He took off the medallion and hung it on a tree branch. The wolf moved aside allowing Buck to pass. He didn't look back, but he knew both the medallion and the wolf were gone. There were other travelers to judge.
Email TracyTYR EXPRESSions Home |