Chapter 3

The next morning dawned gray and foggy. No one felt much like talking, and I spent most of the day preparing my weapons and gear for the duel on the morrow. Night Glow and Winter Dawn were uncharacteristically quiet and went about their routines somberly. Brett was caring for his own gear and kept casting suspicious glances into the fog. I trusted his instincts. He had saved our bacon more than once on missions with his hunches.

"I wish we had Carl and Blackie with us," he remarked at suppertime. "I think that we're going to need all the firepower that we can get before this is over."

Blackie was the heavy gunner for our squad. A full blooded Cheyenne, he was the source of most of the Indian lore that I remembered. Carl was our demo man. He was the one who had taught us all how to blow things up with a masters touch. But both of them had been killed during our last mission.

"I wish that they were here too," I said with a sigh. "Blackie would be in hog heaven right now."

That night Wife and I did not make love. Instead she held me tight all night long, her tears soaking my shoulder.

In the morning I gathered the others together in my tent.

"Brett, no matter what happens out there today, get the girls out safely," I said. "Use the Barret to clear the way and get going fast if I lose."

He nodded and clasped my shoulder for an instant. Wife kissed both of us hard, then scrambled out of the tent, tears streaming down her face.

"If you lose," Night Glow said. "She will not want to live without you." Then she too left the tent with here eyes streaming.

Brett chambered a round in the Barret. "If you lose, I'm going to blow your opponent out of his socks before I do anything else." He looked at me with hard eyes. "You'll have an honor guard in hell," he promised.

"Hey, I haven't lost yet Sarge. Now get out there and comfort the girls while I get my mind straight." I told him.

He left, taking the Barret with him.

I arranged myself cross-legged again and prepared my mind for meditation. Whatever Laughing Boy had in mind, it wouldn't be anything straightforward. That boy had a mind as twisted as a broken backed snake. But I had read Niccolo Machiavelli a time or two, and I had a few tricks up my sleeve that he wouldn't be expecting.

Finally the time approached for the duel and I exited the tent. I felt relaxed and ready. My body abuzz with the tingle that I always felt just before going into combat.

I saw Brett and the ladies looking off to the east. There was now a large circle of bare dirt where there had been lush grass the day before. There were 6 people standing on the other side of the circle, clearly waiting for us. As I started walking toward the circle, Brett, Wife, and night Glow fell in beside me. Overhead a raven circled, as the Grizzly emerged from the woods to pace at my side.

Coyote was one of the people there of course. With him were a pair of men with similar features and cold eyes. Beside them was an old crone with a mouthful of pointed teeth that she showed in a wide grin. Opposite the old woman was a beautiful woman that had bright red eyes and claws on her fingers that put those of the Grizzly to shame. And standing in front of Coyote with his hands on her shoulders was a young girl who looked about 10 years old.

My companions stopped at the edge of the circle as I walked on to stand in the center of the battle ground.

"Come on asshole," I said to my opponent. "Get in here so I can carve your gizzard and go have my lunch."

"I have no time or energy to waste on a mere human." He said lazily. "According to the laws of the High Court, I have chosen a champion to deal with you in my stead." Abruptly he shoved the young girl into the circle. "I choose Moon Mist as my champion."

I heard a gasp from Wife and Night Glow.

"You must not enter the circle or she is forfeit," said Bear aloud.

"But that's our sister!" wailed Wife.

Coyote smirked. "What's the matter warrior? Are you afraid of a child after all those brave words?"

Brett went prone with the Barret aimed at Coyote.

"Hold your fire!" I told him quickly...

I stepped closer to the girl. "Don't worry, I will not hurt you."

I looked up at Coyote with death in my eyes. "Since you have proven yourself coward yet again, I declare vendetta on you. I shall hunt you down and slay you wherever I find you."

I turned my back on him and sat down in front of the girl who had turned to face me.

"Sit little sister and let me tell you the tales of my people."

She blinked at me for a moment, then sank down to sit in front of me. I told her all of the legends of my Danish forebears that dealt with Loki the trickster god. I could hear Coyote fuming and sputtering behind me as the girl started to relax and enjoy the stories. Over her shoulder I could see Brett still aiming his gun at Coyote and the ladies on their knees holding each other. Bear just sat there panting and saying nothing.

"Are you going to talk her to death?" sneered Coyote.

"Silence puppy, until your betters are done speaking," I said without turning around.

Enraged, Coyote stepped into the circle.

This was what I had been waiting for. I stood and spun to face him.

"You're mine!" I snarled and backhanded him across the face.

The girl scrambled on all fours toward her sisters as Coyote went sprawling, blood dripping from a broken nose.

Behind me the Barret boomed in rapid succession and Coyote's allies went sprawling. Coyote didn't spare them even a glance as he came to his feet with a screech of pure rage. He drew a knife from a sheath at his back and came forward in a crouch. I drew my Bowie and gave him a humorless grin.

"I see you have some guts after all. Let's see how they look on the ground."

Coyote's knife had an obsidian blade that had an unpleasantly greasy sheen. My first thought was that it was probably poisoned. Coyote circled to the left, and I pivoted to keep him in front of me. I kept my eyes in the blade of his knife. When he made his move, it was faster than I would have thought possible. I felt something thump my side hard, then he was dancing back to avoid my blade.

He smiled wickedly and glided forward again with that uncanny speed. This time however I was waiting for him and he got a slash across his chest that made him scream and drop his knife. I saw the edges of his wound turn black and shrivel a little.

He glared art me for a moment, then he was running toward the trees as fast as he could move, Brett tried to swing the Barret around, but Coyote vanished before he could draw a decent bead on him.

I put my hand down to where I had been hit to rub away the lingering soreness from the blow and my hand came away wet. I looked down and saw the blood on my hand. I took a couple of steps toward Wife, then the world spun around and everything went dark.

I heard Brett's voice arguing with Wife and Night Glow.

"I have to get him to a hospital or he is going to die. Is that how you want to repay him for all that he has done for you?"

"He shall not die," came Wife's reply. "You heard what Raven told us. Husband will live and father many children yet."

"Yeah, I heard, but meaning no disrespect, I'd rather put my faith in a well equipped trauma team at a hospital in Phoenix or Tucson," Brett grumbled.

I opened my eyes to see the tent roof curving above me. Turning my head I saw the young girl from the challenge circle kneeling at my side watching me intently. She started to get to her feet excitedly, but I held a hand up to stop her and put a finger to m lips to signal for silence and she settled back to her knees.

"Brett don't be a fool," I managed to say. Damn, it hurt to talk or even breathe. "If you took me to a hospital, that would mean that we'd have to leave our women here unprotected. And that would doom them as surely as if you stuck them with a cold iron knife."

Brett came into the tent when he heard my voice. "How long have you been awake?" he asked.

"Long enough to hear you make an ass of yourself," I told him.

Wife brushed past him to kneel beside me. I could feel her lifting the poultice from my side and then her fingers gently probing the wound.

"I think that Raven's medicine has drawn out the poison," she said as she handed the bloody mess to Night Glow to dispose of. "The bleeding has stopped," she continued as she smeared some more smelly gunk over the wound, making me wince a little.

"Yeah, well I'm still not used to all this weird shit going down out here in the boonies," Brett said. "But I'll stick it out. God knows that you've hung your ass out on the line for me often enough."

"Just watch out for that damn Coyote," I told him. "No way he's going to give up now."

Brett smiled grimly. "I doubt that he knows anything about claymores."

I raised an eyebrow. "I didn't see any claymores in the stuff that you brought with you."

Wife patted my forehead with a damp cloth. "My Husband, you have lain as if dead for almost a full month. Brett has come and gone many times in his ultralight," she stumbled a bit over the last word.

Well, that would explain the dreams about giant mosquitoes.

"Any sign of that treacherous asshole?" I asked.

"He was wounded as badly as you were," said Night Glow from the doorway of the tent. "The cold iron of your blade did as much harm to him as the poison on his blade did to you."

If I was waking up and feeling better, then Loki/Coyote would be up and around as well. I reached down and touched the place where he had stabbed me. I could feel the stitches that closed the lips of the wound and the poultice that was supposed to be helping heal me.

"Brett, help me outside so I can sit in the sun for a while."

Wife opened her mouth to protest, then subsided and helped him get me to my feet and out to the log by the fire. The sun felt good on my back and the fresh air seemed to re-energize me.

The young girl came out and sat beside me, taking my hand and holding it as I looked out over the pond. It occurred to me that I had never heard her speak. Hell, I didn't even know her name, only that she was wife's kid sister.

"What is your name?" I asked.

She ducked her head and mumbled something.

"I couldn't hear you," I said. "Hold your head up and speak clearly please."

Slowly she raised her head and looked straight ahead. "I have no name," she said. "When my parents were killed, I left my childhood behind and my childhood name with it."

"Then I shall call you Treasure and declare you to be my daughter." I told her.

Her head whipped around so fast I thought her neck would break. "Truly?"

I heard a familiar mental laugh from behind me. Bear was back.

"He speaks truly and from the heart little Treasure," Bear assured her. "He does things like this all the time. It is most amusing,"

I glanced back over my shoulder at the hairy hulk sitting next to the tent.

"Laugh it up while you can," I told the Bear. "We still have to figure out what Coyote's plans are, and how to throw a monkey wrench into the works."

The bear just scratched itself vigorously and remained silent.

Brett came over and sat down beside me. "Well Slick, you haven't lost your touch with a blade. But I don't see that character letting you get that close to him again."

"No," I agreed. "Not unless he doesn't know I'm there."

Brett laughed. "Gonna ninja up on his ass are you?"

I had to smile at his whimsy. "Hardly."

Brett sobered abruptly. "You know that we'll have to fight the next battle on his own ground."

"Yeah," I muttered.

Treasure tugged at my hand to get my attention. "What will you do to my brother if you catch him?"

"I don't know," I replied honestly. "What do you think that we should do with him?"

"Make it so that he can't come here anymore!" she said.

"How do we do that?" Brett asked. "Unless we kill him."

"Winter Dawn knows how," Treasure declared and ran off to go find her sister.

Brett stood up. "I am going to go get us an edge." He said, then headed for his ultralight.

I looked back over my shoulder at the bear. He was asleep. Or at least appeared to be. The hairy beast didn't twitch an ear when Brett's ultralight buzzed to life and took off.

I sat there on the log and thought long and hard, then a delightfully evil plan took shape in my head.

"Bear," I spoke aloud. "I have a mission for you, should you choose to accept it."

The Grizzly raised his head to blink solemnly at me. "And what madness are you hatching now?"

"I need to speak to the spirits native to this place." I said.