Blackfeather
9 Sold
“THERESA, run to the hotel!” Miranda commanded. I felt rather than saw her stepsister as her footsteps retreated rapidly. “Leave her,” Miranda continued. “She’s too young.” I looked through her eyes at the three young soldiers who had her trapped against the wall. Blue trousers with a gold stripe. Dark blue double buttoned shirts. Tan hats. These looked like the same soldiers we saw in Baltimore. Where was Kyle?
“We only want you anyway,” one said. Six feet tall. Pocky complexion. I corrected myself. Five-eight tops. Miranda was a lot shorter than me. A boy who didn’t look more than 15 looked after Theresa but didn’t move.
“And what do you want with me?” Miranda asked. One of the things Pa warned us about was to look first and not try to just jump in and take over our host. He’d got his killed that way. I wasn’t sure Miranda knew I was there yet and I didn’t want to distract her. I did make a subtle suggestion, though and her right foot crept up the wall as she leaned back against it. Before long, I could reach the knife she still carried in her boot.
“Just a little tupping,” scar-face said. “Probably won’t have a clean white girl again for months.”
“Probably never had a clean white girl, have you?” Miranda prodded back. I could feel her awareness seep into mine as she surrendered control of her body while she kept them talking. I got hold of the haft of the knife.
“Soldiers, attention!” a voice shouted from the walk behind them. The pock-marked private looked up and sneered.
“We’re off duty until we board tomorrow morning, Corporal,” he snapped.
“You are never off duty when you are wearing that uniform,” the voice snapped. He stepped around the privates to position himself next to Miranda. “I said, attention!” The soldiers pulled themselves upright into a pretty sloppy attention. “Private Randolph, you took an oath to protect the citizens of the United States from the savages of the plains and mountains. This is a citizen of the United States. Do not become the savages you are supposed to protect her from. Dismissed.” The three soldiers growled a little but turned and shambled away. Miranda breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank you, uh…” she started.
“Corporal Jason Wardlaw at your service, miss,” our rescuer came to attention beside us and bowed. Kyle! No. There was no Kyle there. But I was sure this was the same soldier. What’s going on? Where’s Kyle?
“Thank you, Corporal,” Miranda continued. Then she gasped. Just over Corporal Wardlaw’s shoulder there was an Indian dressed in buckskins. “There is a…”
“My companion,” the Corporal said. “John Hamm is my translator and friend.”
“I am pleased to meet you, Corporal. Mr. Hamm. I am Miss Miranda Lewis. Again, thank you for your intervention. It would be a shame to have bloodied his uniform before he had blooded his weapon.” I know the Indian saw me slip the knife back into her boot sheath and the hint of a smile crossed his face. Miranda firmly took control of her body from me and I rode quietly in her mind as we turned toward the station. The Indian walked silently behind us.
“He may wear the uniform but he has no respect for it,” the Corporal said. “May I escort you back to the hotel and your chaperones?”
Way to go, Miranda!
She blushed. A raven looked up at us from the street where he was tearing at a bit of garbage.
Awkawkawkawk!
I was gone again.
What the fuck?
I was sitting in my bed and still rubbing myself. I was building up to a good one and could hear Kyle and Aubrey still going at it next door. I heard them yelp and moan and I tipped over the edge. I went time traveling without having come?
I lay there in bed with the light off for another twenty minutes before I heard Aubrey come into the room. She went to her accustomed side of the bed and slipped in next to me. I rolled toward her and spooned behind her. She was naked. I smashed my bare boobs into her back. It surprised me, but I didn’t want to just jump away. I acted like it was just natural.
“Not good enough to pass out tonight?” she whispered as she caught my hand and pulled it around her.
“Girlfriend, I have no idea what you are talking about,” I giggled. “Did you knock him out?”
“Yeah, but that’s not so difficult.”
Now that our little hug and joke were through, I felt I could roll back away from her and my embarrassment. She held my hand against her stomach.
“I do like cuddling at night. Thank you for being here like a sister for me,” she whispered. I gave up and just lay there next to her. She hugged my arm around her and before long we were asleep.
When I woke up in the morning, Aubrey still held my hand around her but she’d moved it—or we’d moved it—so it was held against her breast. I thought I’d better gently extract it, remembering our joint embarrassment when she’d woken up holding my breast. At the same time, it was incredibly pleasant to cuddle and hold her like this. My fingers reflexively squeezed against the supple flesh and I felt the nub of her nipple harden against the palm of my hand.
It was nice.
I was raised with women who were lovers and who loved my father. But somehow, I’d never thought about whether I could ever feel that way about a woman—not only loving her as my friend, but loving her sexually. I still wasn’t sure but there was no question that holding Aubrey like this was pleasurable, apparently for both of us. She moaned softly in her sleep.
“Kyle,” she whispered. That was my cue. I pulled my hand gently away from her and rolled the other direction. This was my brother’s girlfriend. I wasn’t going to get between them.
Our junior year in high school seemed to be when we actually started to learn things. Freshman and sophomore years still seemed like elementary school. Classes our junior year were way more intense and we were working our tails off to keep up. Pa had made it clear to us that if we didn’t go to college, we weren’t going to have a horse ranch. That was motivation enough to keep us on top of our studies.
Having ten horses to care for in ‘our herd’ plus the rest of the ranch horses, kept us working. We had six rescues, Pooky, Dado, and the kids’ horses. I’m not sure they’d ever even named their horses. They did saddle them and ride with the rest of us, but these days they spent every available moment with Bells, Bows, and the other rescues.
In addition, there were a dozen working ranch horses and mules. When we finished our servitude with the cattle before school, Pa assigned all horse care to the four of us. He was still waiting for our business plan. When does he think we’ll have time to do that?
By the end of September, I’d pretty much put it out of my mind as I struggled to keep up with school and the horses. After dinner Saturday night, I planned to study my Algebra. Kyle would want to see my worksheets the next day. Saturday night, of course, he was headed into town to take Aubrey out. They hadn’t come back out to the ranch since Labor Day.
I studied until my eyes started to droop. It was about ten o’clock when I went outside and just looked up into the clear night sky. I leaned against the porch post and let my mind wander. My eye was caught by a flicker and I turned to see the old raven sitting on the rail nearby. It was almost like he was becoming a pet.
“I don’t know what you’re staring at, old Blackfeather,” I mumbled. “I don’t think I’ll be rubbing one off tonight. I’m almost asleep as it is.” He bobbed his head up and down, looking at me out of his one good eye.
Awkawkawkawk!
“Demon Ramie, save us!” she was chanting over and over.
What the fuck, Miranda!
“I know you aren’t a demon, Ramie.” At least she wasn’t saying that out loud. “I’ve been chanting for days, praying that you would come and help us.”
Who is ‘us’ and why can’t I see anything?
“There are four girls in addition to me, and we are under a canvas in the back of a wagon. Ramie, they grabbed me in Vincennes, Indiana. I don’t know where we are now. My hands are tied behind my back. I tried to talk my way out by telling them I could summon a demon and when she came they would die.”
Great. Damn it, Miranda. How did you get into this pickle?
“I take it you mean how did they capture me? Mister Jonathan sent me to get sweets for Theresa and me when the train stopped in Vincennes. He was being uncommonly generous. Gave me a small purse. I didn’t even make it to the drugstore. Two men pulled me into an alley and threw a bag over my head before I could even see them. The others were already here when they tied my hands and threw me under the canvas. We have been traveling hard for two weeks.”
What’s with the chanting ‘Demon Ramie, save us?’
“I thought it would scare them into letting me go.”
So, we’re both tied up in the back of a wagon. And it stinks in here!
“They have not let us stop to make a toilet for the past three days. And we have had no food.”
I’m sorry, Miranda. Truly. I suppose they took your purse and your knife.
“As soon as they grabbed me, they broke the string of the purse. They seemed pleased. The knife is still in my boot.”
Thank God for small favors. Let me see if I can reach it. Miranda, if you want me to help you’ll have to let me take control.
“Yes. Of course.” She was still slow at relinquishing control. It must feel really weird to consciously let go and let someone else take control of your body. Once I was fully in command, I could also fully feel the biting ropes and the gross pile of shit in my drawers.
I pulled my legs up and managed to touch my boot with my hands. A girl next to me moaned and pushed against me.
“Hush,” I whispered. “The demon is setting us free.” It was a struggle to get to the knife and get it out of the sheath without dropping it. My hands were nearly numb from lack of circulation. Once the knife was in my hand, though, I managed to reverse it so it was against the rope that bound my wrists. It took dozens of little sawing movements to bite through the cord. At last, the tension eased.
The first order of business, once I had hands free, was to push off my drawers and wipe as much shit off my ass as I could before I shoved the mess down by my feet. The second task was to tear the bag from over my head. I still couldn’t see anything.
“Are you really…?”
“Unless you wish to die by my hand, close your mouth and say nothing,” I whispered to the girl next to me. She gasped and I think she passed out. I had to think fast or the girls would revolt. “Demon Ramie, by the powers of the Dumbledore, endowed upon me by Gandalf the Grey, smite these villainous scoundrels who have captured your faithful servant,” I shouted out.
“That’s enough out of you, cunt!” one of the men in front of us yelled. “One more word and I’ll put an end to your maidenhead through the shit and all.”
“Pray for your soul, foul cur. The demon shows no mercy to those who offend her minions!” I changed my voice as much as possible from Miranda’s. Now I was truly the demon. And the canvas cover was thrown back.
“I warned you, whore!” a man who might have been shaved and clean a few days ago growled at me. They were his last words. I rammed the knife into his throat. He gurgled as I pulled it free and jumped onto the back of the one driving the horses. I wrapped my arm around the startled driver’s neck and pressed the knife against his throat.
“It wan’t me! Silas did it all. He said we ’ud have it easy. All I had to do was drive a wagon full of whores to Texas. That old man din’t say you ’as a witch!”
“What old man?”
“Yer pappy. Silas beat him at cards and he paid with you. We wanted the blonde, but he ’ud only part with you.”
“Where are we?”
“Just crossed into Tennessee on the way to Memphis!” he squealed.
“Fuck.”
The knife in my hand moved without my volition and the driver slumped forward.
“What the hell?”
He was lying. He was as much a part of it as the other one.
“You can’t blame that one on me.” I was pissed. I was going to let him live.
Then I’ll rot in hell.
I kept control as best I could. Miranda was constantly complaining about being dirty and the girls in the back had started caterwauling. We approached a stream and I pulled the horses to a stop. We pulled the canvas off the girls and then the canvas bags from over their heads. One of the girls didn’t move and when I checked I discovered she was dead.
I no longer felt so bad about Miranda killing the bastard.
“Listen up,” I commanded the other three. “I’m going to free you. Before I do, you should know that we’re leaving the bodies here. If you run away, you’ll get caught. And then you’ll get hung for the murder of these three. Your only hope is to stay together until we are safe. I am Demon Ramie and I have spoken.”
Miranda was going to owe me big time for this. Demon, my ass. Nonetheless, the girls obediently got out of the wagon and went straight to the stream to clean themselves up. I did the same and washed my chapped butt and petticoats. The girls all discarded their bloomers. I searched the bodies and relieved them of several fat purses and their guns before we dragged them into the bushes. The girls all dumped their soiled drawers on top of the bodies and laid the unknown dead girl next to them.
“What are we going to do now, Demon Ramie?” one girl asked. She’d been pushed forward by the other two.
“We will leave this cursed place and find a decent campsite,” I commanded. “There is a fair amount of money in these purses. We’ll divide it equally. When we get to Memphis, we can all go our separate ways.” They nodded their assent and we crossed the stream, still headed southwest with the road. I strapped the two guns around my waist to make sure no one else could get to them. I’d have to instruct Miranda on how to use them.
I was exhausted. I’d been tired when I got summoned out of my body and even though Miranda’s body was a little more rested than mine, my mind was done for. One of the girls had experience driving and took the reins. After I was reasonably comfortable that Miranda could handle the girls, I rendered control back to her. I tried to meditate as I rode along in her conscious mind, just spacing out. The girls were all pretty quiet until we’d made camp. They found saddlebags with vittles in them and all ate for the first time in two days. I was just nodding off when a flicker of movement caught my eye.
Awkawkawkawk!
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