Chapter Eighteen

Excerpt from Ch 17

"Stop those horses where you are and throw down any weapon you have." A voice full of desperation snapped…though if anyone asked Brian what he planned on doing, and he'd replied honestly, he'd have said besides stealing the horses…he had no idea.

Not knowing who the man was, and just what he was capable of, Nick and Elizabeth stopped their horses. Nick removed his pistol and threw it down on the ground. He did the same with the rifle that Mr. Jackson had insisted Nick take with him; it had been hanging in a sheath attached to the saddle.

"I need the horse." Brian swung up into the saddle while keeping the pistol in his hand pointed at Nick and Elizabeth who had been ordered to step clear of the animal. "I can't go back down into the valley. Since the two of you were coming out of the mountains, I am going to take it that you know another way out of here. Get walking!"

Due to the way Brian had looked at Elizabeth, Nick stepped in front of her. "She can not get you out of the mountains another way, but I can." So, that was only partially true only Nick was hoping it would buy Elizabeth her freedom. "Let her go, and I'll be your guide."

While Brian actually had the decency not to touch another man's woman-which he assumed was the case here- he wasn't about to let the woman go either. "I have another idea." The man snarled. "You be my guide, and I let her live."

Somehow sensing the assumption the man had made, Nick took a hold of Elizabeth's hand as they walked in front of their captor; he hoped the action would reinforce to the man that she was indeed taken. It was a gesture Elizabeth quickly recognized and appreciated-though it still stunned her to know Nick was still interested in her in spite of who her brother was and what he had done.

Moments later, they were heading back up into the mountains. After he and Elizabeth started walking, Nick mouthed 'Do you know another way out of these mountains or not?'

Elizabeth, who didn't know the area they were in very well, thought hard on it and then- eventually mouthed 'Jackson'-hoping Nick would get what she was trying to say.

Nick nodded ever so slightly as he mouthed- 'you want us to take him back to your friends?' He wasn't surprised when Elizabeth barely nodded her head.

Nick quit making any attempt to communicate to Elizabeth as he focused his eyes on the tracks that his and Elizabeth's horses had previously made. The fact that there wasn't a cloud in the sky gave him hope that-as long as there were no more storms-anyone who Tabitha brought back up would easily find the trail as well. "There is a path that will connect to this road, in a few miles. We'll have to take it only there's more snow on it, and we'll have to slow our pace down even more—for all our sakes and the horse's sake. Unless," he looked over his shoulder, "your plan is to die out here."

Brian, who was wishing he'd thought of a plan before he escaped, didn't want to entertain the thought of dying. "If anyone dies out here, it will be you and your woman there!" He snapped. "Just keep leading the way!"

Nick wanted to laugh at the man behind his back. It was obvious the man wasn't very bright. At least, he wasn't in Nick's eyes. Anyone else would simply have taken the horse and made a break for it…. if they didn't kill him and Elizabeth first. After all, there was nothing that said the man would have to travel towards the people who were looking for him. As it was, Nick was just grateful the man wasn't pushing them to walk faster than they were. If they didn't get a miracle first, they'd need all their strength when they had to start walking through the snow that led to the Jackson's cabin.

While Nick and Elizabeth were leading their captor towards the path that led to Elizabeth's friends' home, Tabitha successfully led Jarrod, Heath and the men with them within a hundred yards of where she'd ridden away from her stepmother. It took roughly ten minutes only-just as one of the men started to say 'that deaf…' Heath was hollering he'd found tracks. It caused Jarrod, the men and Tabitha-who saw Jarrod's reaction-to practically fly to where Heath was standing.

"Looks like two people are walking while one's riding." Heath looked at Jarrod. "They can't be that far away if that's the case."

"He has their horse, a perfect way to make a fast escape … and he's slowing himself down by making them go with him?" Fred muttered, adding if he could he would add the man to some sort of stupid crook list. It was a comment that got the rest of the men to chuckling while agreeing with the lawman.

Jarrod might have added something to Fred's comment only Tabitha was tugging on his sleeve and pointing in the direction the tracks were leading. He took the same paper and pencil he'd given to the young woman earlier and hurriedly wrote 'The posse will pursue them in a minute. First, someone needs to help you find a safe place to stay in town until this is over.' He handed the note to her and started to ask the group who was willing to take the young girl back to town while the rest of them continued the search only to find himself and Heath practically jumping into their saddle….as Tabitha was already on her horse and practically flying alongside the clearly marked path her stepmother, Nick and their captor had left behind.

One of the men swore and yelled they wished the young woman could hear. It was a sentiment Jarrod and Heath agreed with—even as they pushed their horses as fast as they could to catch up with her.