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"That's good enough," he said brusquely.
"But I'm not fin-"
Ja
Ty's hands shifted with shocking speed. In an instant Ja
Naked and weaponless but for the knife, Ty waited to see what scrambled up over the rockfall and into the pinon-filled hollow.
Chapter Four
A soft nicker floated through the air as a horse scrambled over the last of the rockfall and into the hollow.
"What the hell?" whispered Ty.
Ja
"Boy, can't you tell a horse from a zebra!"
"Better than you can tell a girl from a boy," Ja
"What?"
"Let me out," she said, pushing against Ty's back.
"Ouch!"
Instantly Ja
"Hello, girl," Ja
Zebra whuffled over Ja
"Be still," Ja
"What does she think you are?"
"A bad-smelling horse."
Ty laughed softly. The sound made Zebra's ears twitch. He began talking in a gentle, low voice.
"You've got a better nose than my daddy's best hound ever did," he said. Without looking aside he asked Ja
"I don't."
"What?"
"I don't own her. She likes me, that's all. Some horses enjoy people, if you approach them the right way."
"And some horses damn near get people killed," Ty said. "I was about ten seconds away from dropping my loop on Lucifer's neck when Cascabel jumped me."
Ja
"I'm a fair tracker when I'm not half-dead," Ty said dryly.
"The shamans say that no mortal man will ever capture Lucifer. He's a spirit horse."
Ty shook his head. "That old boy is pure flesh and blood, and he sires the best colts I've seen west of the Mississippi. Lucifer's my ticket to the future that the Civil War took away from the MacKenzie family. With him I'm going to found the kind of herd that my daddy always wanted. He would have had it, too, except for the war. The four MacKenzie brothers rode off to battle on his best horses. They saved our lives more than once."
Ja
"Hope it rains soon," Ty said, looking up at the massed thunderheads. "Otherwise that big dog's tracks are going to lead Cascabel right to us."
"It will rain."
The confidence in Ja
"How do you know?" he asked.
"I just…know," she said slowly. "I've lived with the land so long that I know a lot of its secrets."
"Such as?"
"Such as-when the air over the Fire range gets an odd sort of crystal shine to it and then clouds form, it always rains about two hours before sundown. It rains hard and cold and sudden, like an ocean turned upside down and pouring back to earth. After an hour or two some of the finger canyons run twenty feet deep with water." Ja
Ty wasn't surprised that his occasional dizziness had been noticed. He was discovering that not much escaped those clear gray eyes.
"Some," he admitted. "It comes and goes."
"Do you think you can get over that rockfall if I help?"
"Count on it, with or without your help."
Ja
There was only one haven Ja
It had been her secret place, as close to a home as she had ever known. She had shared it with no one. The thought of sharing it with Ty made her feel odd. Yet there really was no other choice.
"Soon as I get you patched up," Ja
"Mad Jack? I thought he was a legend."
"He's old enough to be one."
"You've actually seen him?"
Ja
"I've heard he has a gold mine hidden somewhere on Black Plateau."
Her hands paused, then resumed slathering on medication. "Whatever Mad Jack has or doesn't have is his business."
Ty's black eyebrows lifted at Ja
"Sorry," she said in a tight voice.
For several moments Ty watched the gray eyes that refused to meet his.
"Hey," he said finally, catching Ja
Ja
"I'm sorry," Ja
The surge of anger Ty felt at the thought of a child having to lose white men in the rocks as though they were Indian renegades surprised him. So did the protectiveness he felt toward this particular child. Uneasily it occurred to Ty that beneath the shapeless old hat and the random smears of dirt, the youth's face was… extraordinary.
My God, I've seen women a hell of a lot less beautiful than this boy. Maybe the men weren't following gold, after all.
Ty snatched his hand back as though he had been burned. The sudden movement made Zebra shy away violently.
"That damn horse is as spooky as a mustang," he said, rubbing his hand against his chest as though to remove the tactile memory of soft skin and delicate bone structure.