Disclaimer: Found in Part one.
Authors Note: Please Review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The riding in that part of the country through the backwoods terrain she was forced to ride through could only be described in one way, hard. The trip so far had been nothing but long and hard, most of it being spent trying to stay away from civilization as much as possible. However, Kaiyana was keenly aware of the fact that it wouldn't always be easy to stay clear of civilization and eventually she would have to pass through a town. As it was she had ridden around the outskirts of more dangerous town then she cared to count. Riding for a week in the hot conditions from before dawn until long after dusk was beginning to take its tole. Her greatest hope was that perhaps she might be able to pass through a town without a fight. For someone as good as fighting, and even at intimidation as she was, she had grown to hate having to fight constantly for everything and anything she needed or desired.
She cast these thoughts out of her mind, though. They would do her no good. She had to go home, to where Star was and where Vin was. Nothing would stop her; she would get home to them. All she had to do to feel the drive to succeed at that task was to think of those people waiting for her and she felt completely rejuvenated.
"Hey, there she is!" Kaiyana heard the voice clearly despite the fact that it was somewhat faint, telling her that those that were hunting her were still some distance away. Her mind raced frantically trying to come up with what she could do to get out of this latest mess she found herself in.
"Where? I ain't seein' nothin'," Another man said skeptically, the voices were getting closer and Kaiyana's thinking was becoming more frantic with that action.
"Oh, you dummy, cain't ya see her through them trees, she's got them two horses she stole," They continued speaking unaware that their pray could hear their every word. However being able to hear her would-be-captors was doing Kaiyana no good. There was really no place to hide with these two Neanderthals able to see her. Every hiding scheme she knew was racing through her head but none seemed applicable and she was nearing hysteria with rapid speed as her assailants drew closer to her.
~*~
"What's that?"
"What's what?" Vin asked back at Star as they walked down the street side-by-side looking more like two friends, two equals, then a little girl with her father.
Star looked at him as if he'd suddenly grown two heads, "That wagon with the women in it," Star gestured toward the structure with big hand motions. Vin turned and immediately saw the wagon. The wagon full of scantily clad prostitutes calling out to men walking in and out of the saloon.
Thinking quickly, Vin went with avoidance, "Well, it's just what you said, honey, a wagon with women in it."
"Why are they dressed like that?"
"I don't know?" Vin tried but had the distinct feeling that Star would probably see through him. He was right.
"Yes, you do. You just do not want to tell me. Why?"
"Why don't I want to tell you?"
"Yes."
"Because it's kinda hard to explain."
"Like the Daddy thing?"
"Just like that," Vin nodded, happy Star understood he couldn't explain and hoping from there she would let it go.
"Maybe you should get Mrs. Travis to explain this to me too," Star suggested innocently.
Vin remembered the look of pure homicide Mary had given him when he stuck her with explaining fatherhood to Star, he could only imagine what Mary would do if he stuck her with this too. "I don't think that would be a good idea, darlin'."
"Then you will explain this to me."
~*~
Kaiyana found herself in an entirely different situation then Vin. However while Vin's was extremely difficult, Kaiyana's life was in the balance as far as hers went. Somewhere in the span of about thirty seconds she had managed to find a place to hide, leaving the horses as they were, hoping to make it look like she been thrown and fallen down the steep incline only fifteen feet away. Her biggest worry now was making sure that those that chased her fell for this little ruse. She was so close to Four Corners, all she needed was two more hard days ride and she was sure she could make it.
But first she had to escape these two. She wasn't exactly sure what would happen when she reached Four Corners. She wasn't naïve enough to believe all of her problems would simply disappear the moment she entered the town. But she had to believe that somewhere out there she could find peace. And more and more she was beginning to think that that place was Four Corners. At least she hoped it was.
It was then that her attention focused back her current predicament. She watched closely as the men guided their horses carefully threw the bush all to aware of the steep ledge so near by. The area was infested with snakes making it very easy for your horse to get spooked and throw you right over the edge. It was with this knowledge that Kaiyana hoped they would assume she had been thrown, that she had never been aware of their presence. That they therefore would assume the obvious.
"Look, Mike, there's them horses!" One of the men, named Brett, cried, sounding excited and confused all at once.
"Yeah, but where's the Indian?" Mike answered with a sarcastic and frustrated voice. He'd been looking for this woman for months. Yet he'd never laid eyes on her, she always seemed to outsmart them and, or evade their attempts to capture her. He hated being made to look foolish by anyone. And as with the basic ideas of the time, he hated even more to be outsmarted by an Indian or a woman but especially an Indian woman.
"How the hell am I supposed to know, I's jus' pointin' out them horses to ya, hoss," Brett commented in an easygoing manner. Brett wasn't exactly what one would call bright. In fact he was just plain dumb. To dumb to actually care.
"I know that, Brett, but where did that wench disappear to? Tell me that," Mike spoke raising his voice a little.
"Well," Brett thought, using brainpower no one would have thought he possessed, spoke, "Are them horses tethered?"
Catching on the Brett's line of thought Mike arched in the saddle to see, "No, they ain't."
"Well, then, maybe she got throwed…"
"Maybe," Mike spoke a little skeptically. Nudging his horse closer to the cliff, he dismounted and peered over the edge, "Don't see no body, can't no one survive a fall like that," He spoke a little absently, lost in the height and the prospect of falling.
Brett appeared next to him and took a look for himself. "Well, there's a river down there, maybe the body got washed away."
"I don't know," Mike was skeptical, without a body they couldn't be sure of anything and he wouldn't be taken for a fool again. "Maybe, somehow, she figured out we was followin' her and she faked fallin' over the edge, maybe she's really up here, hidin', waitin' ta git away…" Even after he stopped speaking Mike's mind continued to ponder his conspiracy theory.
"Well, then iffin' ya want ta, we can take a look see 'round. Make sure she ain't hidin in the brush waitin' ta make us look the fool, 'gain."
"Yeah, I think we ought ta do that," Mike affirmed.
Without another word the two spread out and began to search.
~*~
Kiayana watched and listened in absolute horror as she realized her plan hadn't worked. She knew that their finding her was probably inevitable, her hiding place was just behind some brush, she'd had no time. What could she do? She didn't even think that she could fight her way out because the men were spread out and both were well armed. If she got one there was a very good chance the other would shoot or capture, or worst of all shoot and capture her. However the more she thought about and the more she watched them the more she came to the clear realization that her discovery was inevitable and she had to formulate some plan, or she was as good as dead. After all the months of near hits and misses, of narrow escape, of fooling and making fools out of these white men she was sure that only death would come out of capture, and that death, she was even more sure, would be the worst she could imagine. Further, if she were captured she would never see Vin or her little girl again. She had to find some way out.
To Be Continued…