Chapter 27

After dressing I walked out to take a piss. Later, when I found my spot, coffee appeared, and I started sipping and just enjoying the morning, but I got a notion I wouldn't be enjoying it long when I saw two women talking excitedly to Taachachi. My coffee mug and I headed that way.

The gist of the story must have been finished by the time I reached them. I knew that it wasn't good news from the expression on Taachachi's face.

"Dertot and Calmire have slipped away in the night, taking their mates, Chichi and Shalta, with them. Since they traveled very light I think they must have forced their mates to leave with them," Taachachi said.

"I see. Do they know how far ahead they might be by now?" I asked, waving a hand at the women I didn't know.

"Several hours is the best they can come up with. Will you go for them?" Taachachi asked.

"I will go and ask the women if they wanted to leave, though I'm fairly certain they didn't. I could catch up to them easily if I only knew where they'd gone. Since I don't I'll probably need one or two to go with me and find the path they took," I said.

"Eat your breakfast while I put together some traveling food. Teecha and Teechi will take their bows and go with you," she said, and filled my mug again before sending me to eat.

After I'd finished I saddled buck and packed our food into the saddlebags. It was just bad luck that this had come up before I had any horse but Buck trained to ride. It couldn't be helped though. At least one of the girls could ride behind me while the other trotted along beside. They could switch off and stay fairly well rested.

They didn't start out that way though. Both of them circled the camp looking for sign to get us headed out in the right direction and Teecha found it within ten minutes. It was easy to see after they pointed it out to me.

Meanwhile I'd put Biltee in charge and asked him to get the crowd moving toward our horse camp, telling him we would return there one way or the other. I helped Teechi up behind me and told Teecha to wait.

The runaways had left on a near trail and I doubted they'd left it for at least half a mile. After telling Teechi to keep her eyes open for sign I had Buck slow lope in the direction they'd taken.

We were able to follow the trail easily for the first mile and a half. I set Teechi off with her bow and arrows and headed back for Teecha. Ten minutes later we were all at the spot where our prey had slipped off into the woods. The girls spread out and picked up the trail again in minutes and I followed them as they trotted off following it.

We pressed as hard as we could. If we found a good part of a trail I'd have one of them ride behind me and keep me on it until she needed to get down and look more closely. I'd let whichever it was behind me down and return for the other. It was a damn good thing I had Buck for this trip. The girls had a lot more stamina than I did and if it weren't for him we wouldn't have made half the distance we were able to with him helping.

The bad part was those we were following had more stamina than I did too. Maybe the occasional stretches where Buck could be used for ferrying would help out. No doubt it did but we were still late into the afternoon before we caught sight of them.

Teechi spied them where they were sleeping. Even their strength had given out by now and they must have felt confident that they were away clean since no one was keeping a watch. I left Teechi and Teecha to follow on foot and kicked Buck into a serious lope. They didn't stir until I was within fifty yards or so, and by then it was way too late for them.

One of the men was trying to get up and shake out enough of the cobwebs to make a show at defense by the time we were within ten yards. I would have given him a chance to explain himself if I hadn't been able to see that both women were bound hand and foot. I let Buck barrel over him and stopped on the other side of where he fell. Buck turned on the proverbial dime and I was now facing the one that hadn't been run over.

He was holding a spear but his face reflected stark panic.

"Drop the spear and I'll let the women tell me their story. There's still a chance I'll let you live, but I'll admit it isn't much of one," I said.

Just then I heard an arrow whistle and then strike something that sounded like flesh. I didn't move or take my eyes off the man I was facing. He wasn't so calm about things. He turned tail and took off. I was about to give chase on Buck but a second arrow made it unnecessary. It took him high in his left leg and his running was over with for a while at least.

Teechi was cutting the two bound women loose by now and she was removing gags that were tied on around the backs of their heads. They needed water before they could talk but a few sips let them tell their stories.

They were the mates of the two men but hadn't wanted to leave. Their men had slapped them around a little and forced them to go. They were fairly distressed about the whole thing and didn't mind saying so now that we'd caught up.

"Just to make sure, do either of you want to stay with either of them?" I asked, and I got a resounding no right away.

The one Buck had knocked over was still out of it so I just slit his throat. The other one couldn't stand but he still had his spear. I didn't need to do anything dramatic this time and the Glock settled his hash with no muss and no fuss.

No matter that we had accomplished our mission we were not going any further today. There wasn't more than two hours of daylight left and I didn't think the women had rested nearly enough even though they'd all been asleep when we found them. In fact, their hands and feet were numb from the tight bonds and reduced circulation.

I gathered wood while Teechi started a fire and Teecha tended to the women, trying to help them get the circulation up to snuff so they could at least walk off and take a piss. Teechi asked me if I could ride Buck in a big circle to see if I could get a small deer or something else for some fresh meat.

Hunting luck was not with me, mostly because I was too lazy to actually get on the ground and search for sign. It didn't matter though. Taachachi had packed plenty and the women we rescued had brought some food along. One of their skin bags cooked us a wonderful stew and we went to bed full.

Just before sunrise Teecha woke me and pointed out a wolf that was trying to jump up and grab hold of our stew bag. It was currently holding our breakfast, leftover stew from the night before, out of reach.

"It looks like another mama wolf to me, what do you think?" I asked her.

"I didn't pay any attention until you said that but I'm sure you are right. Her teats are hanging," she said.

"Just keep watch on her while I saddle Buck. I want to try roping her," I said.

By the time I had Buck ready to go the sun was high enough so we could tell it was a mother for sure. I didn't know exactly what I'd do with her even if I could get a loop over her head, but I was hoping I'd think of something.