Beyond the Dream Catcher Read online

  The four of them moved swiftly away from the battle scene, trying to ignore the smell of sweat and blood mixing, and the death they were leaving behind. Katherine lagged, and Chase urged her forward. Yet none of the four could ignore it. With grim foreboding, they moved away swiftly.

  As they approached the old adobe shack, they quickly scrambled inside and barred the door. Abandoned long ago, the room reeked of dust and dirt, filled with cobwebs. The windows were small and well shuttered. Obviously the owner waged many battles from the huge holes in the walls.

  But for now it was refuge.

  Sounds of the battle echoed in their heads. The battle raged for at least thirty minutes then a loud silence prevailed. Were they all dead?

  "D-do you think any survived?" Katherine asked as they all fell to the floor to rest.

  "Maybe. It is possible a few might," Chase said checking his gun. He wasn't looking at her face gone pale. He was making ready for any skirmish they might meet.

  "Will they follow us?" she looked wide-eyed at him.

  "I doubt they'll have the strength to worry about us. The Indians will move on, if there are soldiers, I do not know."

  "The Captain is a determined man…." Lee offered.

  "Yes, he if any might make it. But rest for now, we will need our strength." Chase cautioned. "We cannot gauge our enemy yet."

  Silence filled the shack until the wee hours of the night then Chase and Katherine heard it at the same time.

  "What was that?" She raised up against the wall.

  "I do not know. But lie still. We cannot move around. We must rest and forget what we have seen and heard."

  "It's too much. First at the station, now this…" Katherine cried. "This unbearable silence and not knowing."

  "The Captain did not want to hear the truth…" Chase whispered, as they lay against the wall, side by side. "You heard him with your own ears. He would not listen."

  "I did not want to kill anyone…" she cried, as tears slid down her cheek. "Why couldn't he understand it?"

  "Because he thought you helped me. I'm a breed Katherine, whether you consider that different or not, he does. Most do. I know that your heart is pure Katherine. That is why I will protect you. You are an innocent, and the Captain and others must someday know this."

  "But they will never know it. They wouldn't believe it was you who saved me from their wicked clutches." She cried, a tear slipping down her dust stained cheek. "Josh was right about that."

  Both of them looked at Josh's still body, he was breathing very shallow, and Katherine couldn't bear to think he might die. She wouldn't think it. Chase pulled her against him, and comforted her with his hand against her cheek, "Someday, they will know the truth."

  "I didn't believe Josh when he said they would come after us." Katherine cried.

  "Shh…it is all right Katherine. If you believe in your God, you know they will someday see the truth."

  "And you…you are not guilty either." She cried. "They blamed you before they even heard the story."

  He smiled and looked into her eyes, "Weep no more…."

  And then like magic his lips touched her forehead gently. It was but a mere feather kiss, but Katherine sighed heavily and leaned into him as her eyes closed and she fell asleep again. She didn't want to sleep, she needed to stay alert and help, but the weariness bore down on her.

  Chase felt his heart stir as he touched Katherine, but there was no time for emotions.

  Besides, when this was all over, he'd still be just a breed and she would go to the Shawnee camp whether she wanted to or not.

  He would take care of her and Josh, see them to safety but he must remember there could never be anything more than friendship with this woman. He told himself that, but he did not believe it. Feelings for this woman multiplied, and nothing but God himself could stop it. Yet God or Moneto had blessed them. Had Burning Tree done this? Had he put them under a magic spell, for his feelings for this woman were much greater than the young love he shared with White Dove. Perhaps because of the dangers, perhaps because an old man deemed it necessary, whatever the reason, his passion for Katherine grew minute by minute. His desire to see her safe even greater.

  The next morning, Josh was almost conscious but not fully. He moaned as he lay helpless. Katherine scrambled to his side. She pulled the canteen she carried around so he could drink.

  "Where are we?" he asked, his first words since they left the station.

  "Safe for now…."

  "Katherine, am I going to die?" Josh asked her, looking into her face, as though he already knew the answer.

  "No Josh, you can't leave me…," she cried. "I can't lose you, Josh. Just hold on…please."

  "Nor I you…" he tried to smile, but it was weak and he lapsed into another deep sleep.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Suddenly an arrow hit the outside wall. The whirring echoed through the room. Chase ran to check, that's when he spotted Hawks and the other men coming full speed for the cabin. Hawks had brought the Indians down on them again.

  "Fools, they've brought them here," Chase muttered, as he fired at the Indians chasing them.

  He felled one and reloaded.

  Katherine stood behind him, more bullets in her hand. "Who's out there?" she whispered.

  "Your neighbor, Hawks and some others," Chase said. He fired once more again felling an Indian who was very close to jumping one of the men.

  The horses ran almost into the building as the men dismounted and hurried inside.

  But Hawks men had chased the Comanche's back into the rocks, firing their guns and killing several on horseback.

  Hawks eyed Chase quickly as he stumbled inside with the others, then glanced around the room. Jesse was wounded and fell on his knees. Katherine rushed to his side. "You're hurt, Jesse. Sit still, I'll tend you."

  "Thanks Miss Katherine," Jesse barely uttered, before passing out on the floor. His face was pale and his wound bled all over the floor. Katherine didn't bother with the floor, but bandaged him with her slip pieces.

  "Are you hurt, Miss Katherine?" Mathew cried out from the other side of the wall where he collapsed from fatigue.

  Katherine tore off more of her slip and bandaged Jesse again as he was bleeding through it, "I'm fine, Mathew."

  "But your brother wasn't as lucky, looks like," Hawks remarked coming closer into the circle of the others. Seeing Josh barely awake he seemed to size the situation up. His beady eyes became narrow slits as he watched out the window for a moment.

  The Tyler brothers were scared and quiet as they hugged the walls of the shack. For some reason, seeing these men made her feel less afraid. Safety in numbers, she thought. Perhaps her assumption of Hawks had been wrong. Maybe he was trying to help. But Chase was right; he had led the Indians to the shack, now they were all in danger.

  "Those redskins 'ell be back. We'll need more ammunition, I'm running low." Hawks said, checking his gun belt and realizing he was almost out. His anger festering as he moved to the small window hoping to pick off an Indian or two.

  "We have some you can use…" Lee offered, quickly stripping his gun belt and tossing them some bullets.

  But that wasn't the last of their troubles. More arrows flew, breaking the small window and nearly wounding Lee. Lee ducked down and reloaded his gun. He seemed to gauge the Indians correctly and knew how to wait out the fighting.

  "Damnation, it's the Captain, he's still alive…." Lee hollered when he tried to see outside once more through a small hole in the wall.

  Chase grimaced, but nodded. "Let him in…."

  "But…" Lee started to protest, his eyes scanning the room for approval.

  "I know, but we have no choice. Let him in," Chase commanded, taking the bullets from Katherine's hands and reloading his gun too.

  Katherine nodded at Lee.

  Hawks stood aside when the Captain practically fell into the cabin as the door opened and closed like a loud sneeze. Wounded in the shoulder, an arrow protr
uded. His coloring paled but he held his head high.

  Chase saw it and without even asking ripped it from him in one agonizing quick thrust. "Stop the bleeding Katherine!" He hollered as he tossed the arrow to the floor and watched outside movements. His actions stunned the Captain, but he was too weak to protest.

  Katherine gasped and ran to take care of the Captain as soon as she finished bandaging Jesse.

  Seeing the Captain, Hawks nodded to him. "I thought they done you in."

  "Most if not all my men are dead," the Captain frowned as though unsure what to do or say.

  "So what's the army doin' this far south? I thought they were mostly concentrating their efforts to the north of us," Hawks said as he watched Katherine work on the soldier.

  "I've come to take these three back to the fort…for trial," The Captain insisted stubbornly.

  Hawks eyed the Captain, then Chase and Katherine and Lee. "What have they done?"

  Chase noted that Hawks seemed really surprised to hear this. So he wasn't working for the Army. But Hawks wanted something, and Chase aimed to find out what it was.

  "The breed killed a man, he'll hang for that. The girl and her brother, I'm not sure about, but it looks as though they might be responsible for killing a couple of soldiers. She'll get a chance to tell her story. But I don't hold much for her chances once they know what she did to hide it," The Captain said his voice harsh and uncaring. "The soldier, if you can call him that, deserted. That's a hangin' offense too."

  "Captain you are wrong…" Katherine cried aloud.

  "I took those two men on the stage back to the fort. You made a laughing stock of me." He leaned toward her and grimly frowned into her face. "The General couldn't stop laughing. He thought it was the best trick he'd seen in years. The whole company laughed. Well, you won't be laughing, miss. Killed by the Comanche, were they? Then why did they both have mouthfuls of dirt in them? The Comanche didn't kill them. You did. Or you were hiding this man, and he did. Either way you are both guilty and going back with me." The Captain seemed to have it in control, everything except the pain he felt in his arm. His face contorted as she tightened the rag around his wound none too gently.

  "Captain, I can explain this… I know it looks bad, but you must hear me out," Katherine insisted.

  "We'll all hear you out at the trial. Looks like we're gonna be busy trying to figure out how to get out of here, first."

  "But you're mistaken. Those men…those soldiers, they were on the stage. They were trying to…they were trying to…."

  "They would have raped her." Chase Rivers stared at the Captain, his eyes as cold as steel as they raked the man not once, not twice but three times.

  "And you wouldn't?" The Captain gaze moved like a predator about to devour his prey.

  "That's right, I wouldn't." Chase's frown turned to a smirk, patronizingly. "This isn't the time to go into it, Captain. And you're letting your pride dent your better thinking."

  "There are two soldiers dead, and the Corporal did not stay at his station. Those are the facts." The Captain's haughty behavior digruntled the group.

  "It don't matter none, who did what. We got problems of our own right now, Captain. Problems stayin' alive." Hawks looked at them all as if they were crazy. "We'll all be lucky to get out of this Hellhole. You can worry about hangin' them later. Right now, we're pinned in here and we ain't goin' nowhere."

  Chase sighed heavily. He was hot, tired and in no mood to wrangle with the Captain. He looked around at Katherine, who had turned white as a sheet. "We need to see how much water we have. Check the canteens, Katherine."

  ***

  Katherine nodded. She went about gathering everyone's canteens and came back to stand beside him. "Two and a half." The more she stayed busy, the less she worried.

  "That isn't much for as many as we now have. We'll need more. Maybe I can sneak out after dark and get some at the well." Chase nodded with a dauntless air.

  "You can't go out there, you'll be killed," she shrieked. Terror leapt to her breast.

  "Well, we'll die in here if I don't." Chase added, "It will be fine, little one." He smiled at her now his courage feeding hers.

  She found herself smiling back. It felt good to smile again.

  Everyone seemed to watch them with curiosity. The Tyler boys recognized her favoring Chase Rivers and frowned, but said nothing. Hawks watched in silence. He just shook his head as though he knew something they didn't.

  Tensions rode high in the small adobe shack now.

  The Tyler boys slumped to the floor. Taking out their handkerchiefs they wiped their faces and checked their guns. Rufus sat up straight and watched everyone with an eagle eye. Paul was quiet, almost pensive, he seemed exhausted. Mathew watched Katherine for a long while, then closed his eyes and went to sleep for a short time.

  The Captain didn't thank Katherine for her care; he merely stared at her long and hard as she moved to Chase's side. Her brother moaned and she went to check on him. He wasn't feverish now, that was good.

  Lee gathered the ammunition and divided it equally among them all. The Tyler boys seemed eager to load their guns and keep watch one at a time.

  "Captain…I'd like to explain…" Lee began as he handed him the bullets, then threaded his hair with his fingers and stared him down with blatant honesty.

  "There is nothing to explain. You deserted. You left your post." The Captain chided him, his judgment final.

  "But sir…the Indians, they were coming back to the station to burn it. They did burn it. The Sergeant died instantly, took an arrow right to the heart. This man…this breed as you call him, saved my life by taking me with him. If I'd have stayed I'd have been killed too." Lee gestured to Chase fanning the air with dead breath.

  "And by living you became a deserter." The Captain smirked, his confidence edged with uncontrolled authority. He seemed unmoved by the corporal's explanation.

  Lee frowned, shaking his head. "You don't get it do you? No sir, there's not an ounce of understanding in your soul, Captain. You stand there unable to forgive or forget, with your pious self-righteousness. I never deserted sir. I'm still a soldier. I'm still fighting the Comanche."

  "Tell that to the judge. You'll get a fair trial." The Captain sighed and grabbed the bullets. He spoke with an unholy lack of emotion. His empty humor bit the skin like a knife.

  "We should have let the Indians kill him, he has no mercy in his soul," Lee said as he went to sit beside Chase and Katherine.

  "Why didn't you?" Hawks asked.

  "Because despite the circumstance, he's a human being too," Chase answered him with a frown.

  There was a long silence.

  "Do not trouble yourself, Lee. The Captain aims to see us hang, but he'll have a time getting us to any fort for that. Right now I'd say the Comanche have a better chance at that, than the army. It's just his unforgiving nature on duty right now. Perhaps in time he'll come to see."

  "And I wanted to make a career out of the service," Lee muttered.

  "Do not give up so easily, my friend…" Chase smiled.

  "I'm sure hungry," one of the Tyler boys said, watching all of them with a nervous gaze, as hunger cut the edges of a smile from his face.

  "Yeah, me too, now that you mention it," Jesse sat up and maneuvered his arm so it lay against his chest. His unhealthy pallor registered the pain he bore. He went white for a second, then sighed heavily and fell against the wall. His breathing fell to a low whimpering sound.

  Everyone watched him for a few minutes to make sure he was still alive.

  "We will use the water sparingly, only a sip at a time." Chase warned as he handed her the canteen to give water to Jesse.

  "And what about food…?" she asked Chase, as everyone watched.

  "Check in there to see if there is anything…" Chase motioned.

  Katherine looked at them all, as though they all expected her to find food for them and feed them. She got up and went to see if there was anything anywhere that th
ey could eat. Strangely enough, the numbness that had nearly buried her with her folks was gone. She felt alive and eager to fight to stay that way.

  A burned out fireplace looked empty, but there was a spit and the big black iron pot was sitting on the table clean but empty. The small cupboard housed a few plates and utensils but there was no food. Not one crumb.

  She went back to Chase's side, "There is nothing there…"

  "I will get us water and food, tonight. We will make a fire and have something late. I cannot go out till it is dark," Chase offered, his eyes seeking hers for understanding.

  "But you can't go out there," she protested. "They'll kill you…"

  "I can, and I will. I do not choose to starve." Chase smiled at her. "There are better ways to die."

  "There's no wood for the fire," she turned to look at the dead embers in the small fireplace.

  "We will bust what is left of the furniture and have enough for the night. Tomorrow is another night and we will manage."

  She nodded. Chase's words gave her courage.

  Before long she slipped into a deep sleep. Unaware of how she clung to Chase.

  Her dreams magnified and she stirred restlessly against him. He smiled as she nestled into the crook of his arm.

  ***

  Katherine pleaded with Chase not to go outside. But he was going and she couldn't stop him. "Please don't go, we'll think of something…"

  Chase smiled and led her to the back door; no one was awake but them. Chase looked down into her face. "Do not worry, little one, I will return."

  "Even if you manage to get water, how will you find food? They aren't going to just sit out there and watch you," she cried in a panic.

  "I will find food, no problem. Now, stay low, don't waste ammunition, and stop worrying…"

  Suddenly, Katherine looked into his eyes, eyes that held laughter, and sorrow. Eyes with knowledge. "Please don't go…"