See chapter one for disclaimer, summary, etc.
Chapter Two
A/N:
Okay, sorry for the long wait! I did manage to get it finished though, and it almost hit 2,500 words! :) Thanks to ALL my reviewers, even though I realize the Hidalgo fandom here isn't that big, I'm glad to see this fic is so well received!!! LOL. And another "just so you know": This is HIGHLY AU. I started on it BEFORE the movie came out. I do not know about Native American customs, so no offense is meant with any of this fic. Most of it is completely made up. And I cannot promise prompt updates on this - as I do think it will turn out to be quite long, according to what I have planned. (Ugh for me, haha!) I hope you all will enjoy it anyway and excuse the AUness. :) ALSO: About the cursing in the fic. I figure - these guys are rough 'n tough cowboys. They're not exactly going to use nice words. ;)
THANKS : To Rhonda, who yet again read over this and said "dammnn" for the lack of errors in it. Perhaps I should put more errors in these things just to make her work harder ...
Frank grunted in pain, jarred awake by a vicious backhand. He blinked several times to bring his eyes in focus, trying not to concentrate on the pain coursing through his battered body. Of course, it didn't help. He was never good with ignoring pain ... something else that had separated him from his mother's tribe. The warriors had all passed the trials they undertook when of age - yet he couldn't seem to be able to push his body to the limit, to succeed them.
Another backhand and he realized he should really pay better attention to his surroundings. The large man, the leader, stood over him, murder in his eyes. Frank winced.
"Bastard is finally awake. Get'em on the horse." Red said, looking at Joseph and Rick. The two nodded, roughly grabbing Frank by his bound arms and hoisting him over the back of a horse. Spots swam in Frank's vision as his broken ribs were violently slammed against the saddle. Breathing slowly, he waited for the rush in his ears to settle so that he could hear what was being said.
"-river washed out, take us a good two weeks to get back to town." Rick's voice.
"Tempted to just hang'em here. It's what he's gonna get anyway." Red eyed Frank.
"No, cousin. That ain't how we were brought up and you know it." Bradley said. "Justice the legal way."
Red turned, shouting. "Well why don't you tell that to my brother over there!" He pointed towards three mounds of dirt with crudely build crosses at the head of them. Frank felt sick. How could they think him able to even plan something like this?!
Bradley looked down. "I know! He was my cousin, you know! I loved'em as much as I love my own brother! Don't ya think I want to see the damn injun' dead as much as you do?!"
Red said nothing, only sighed. "We'll take him to town. Redskin better survive the trip though." He cursed, then mounted his horse. "C'mon, if we want to make the pass before it washes out too, we better go now."
The men nodded, saddling up and following Red down the dirt path. Frank grimaced, trying to wiggle enough to relieve at least some of the pressure off of his ribs. Nothing worked, however, and he just gave up. Not to mention the rain that was still pouring in sheets - he was already frozen to the bone. More discomfort to add to the ever-growing list. He sighed quietly.
This would be a long trip ...
As the men left, Hidalgo watched from the bushes. The intelligent animal was very well hidden, watching the men as they abused his friend. Frank. But Frank had told him to stay away - and Hidalgo always did what Frank said. Well ... almost always.
The horse's ears pricked upwards as a sound echoed from not too far away. He knew that sound. White Wing. And where White Wing was, Grey Wolf was nearby. Hidalgo quickly gave an answer, hoping that the other two caught it.
Turning around, Hidalgo galloped in the direction of the two. In the direction of hope.
Small puffs of barely visible smoke floated from the cave entrance, the only sign that the closed space was occupied. Although, Grey Wolf remarked to himself, he wasn't really worried about anyone finding his little dwelling ... not many people with common sense would be out in this rain.
'Then again ...' A little voice reminded him. 'Frank is probably out in it.'
Yes. That was most likely true. Grey Wolf shook his head and sighed. Frank really, truly needed to learn to take better care of himself. That didn't make him any less of a friend, no, but it did make their friendship rather ... hard. Especially when most of their days revolved around Grey Wolf rescuing Frank from some ill fate that had befallen him. Again. Repeatedly.
He sighed again.
Near the cave's entrance, White Wing nickered gently as if saying, "They're still out there, but we're stuck in here". Grey Wolf resisted the urge to bang his head against the wall of rock he was lying against.
"If the skies had not opened up upon us, we would leave. Right now, we cannot risk travel in such weather. You know that."
The horse gave a very un-horse like snort, turning her rump to him. He glared and rolled his eyes. "Fine, be that way. You just won't get this lovely lump of sugar I found in my pocket ..."
One speckled ear betrayed the horse, turning his way. Grey Wolf grinned and whistled to himself, pretending to ignore the horse. Trying to be sneaky, White Wing flicked her tail, turning her head towards him, then quickly looked back out the cave's entrance. She repeated the process, huffing in frustration. Finally, when she could stand it no longer, she turned back to Grey Wolf, stretching her head out in anticipation.
"Do you want this?" He asked slyly.
His only response was a pair of teeth clamping down near his knee in warning. Laughing outright, he held the sugar up for the horse, grinning as White Wing seemed to savior the sweet taste.
"If I'm not careful, you're going to end up as spoiled as Hidalgo! That is, if you're not already ..." White Wing seemed to be offended at this and nipped his arm - gently, of course, but enough force to let him know his place - then gave a stern glare as if to say, "Repeat that again, I dare you".
They were interrupted by a loud "BANG" that seemed to echo off the trees and into the cave. Grey Wolf looked up, alarmed, and raced to the entrance, followed by White Wing.
"Looks like you're going to get your wish, sister. We're leaving." The indian turned to kick the fire out and gather the supplies he carried.
White Wing stepped out into the rain, worry - as much as a horse can look worried - covering her face. She raised her head and let out a loud whinny, calling for the two she kept close to her heart.
The horse almost gave up until she heard the answer. Hidalgo. Almost dancing in place, she gave an impatient call to Grey Wolf, hurrying the man along.
"I'm coming!" Grey Wolf leapt from the ledge of the cave and landed lightly on the horse's back, supplies dangling from one arm. "Let's go!"
White Wing jumped forward, racing through the trees. Although she tried to avoid some of the lower hanging branches, some were rather ... unavoidable, and ended up smacking her rider in the face in a shower of water and tree sap. She would have to remember to apologize later. For now she only rushed like the wind, intent on her goal.
Grey Wolf gave a loud whistle, listening to see where Hidalgo was located at. The answer came from not too far ahead of them. He was close.
With a crash, Hidalgo jumped over a downed log, skidding to a halt in front of them. His sides were heaving as the horse tried to catch his breath. Frank ... Frank was nowhere to be seen.
The man slid off of his horse and stepped over to Hidalgo, rubbing the horse's nose gently. "Calm down boy, calm down. Is Frank hurt?"
Hidalgo nodded. Grey Wolf sighed. Frank would have to be injured, wouldn't he? Well ... the indian couldn't really say he was surprised ... considering this was Frank he was speaking of.
"Can you take me to him?"
Hidalgo nodded again. That was enough for Grey Wolf. The indian almost laughed to himself; if a white man were to have seen him speaking to the horse, he would have been possibly hanged for "witch craft" or something of the sort. If only they knew how intelligent animals were ... perhaps they would see things in a different light.
He mounted White Wing again and they followed Hidalgo at a fast pace, hurrying to get to Frank. When they arrived, however, Grey Wolf found something much worst. There was no sign of Frank. There was, however, many signs that Frank had been there. Three graves were next to the small house, recently dug. There was blood covering the front porch ... and Grey Wolf had no urge to step inside.
Looking at the ground with a trained eye, he almost visibly winced. He could see there had been signs of a fight, with several men. 'Of course there are. Who are we saving again?'
He shook his head, remembering one of the first times he had saved Frank from a rather large scrape. Although they laughed about it now, at the time, it wasn't particularly funny ...
Flashback
"Blue Child! Blue Child! Where are you?!" Grey Wolf growled to himself, attempting to locate his friend. They were going to be late for the feast! Blue Child had said he was only going to the canyon to think, yet he had been missing for almost three hours! "Blue Child!"
His only answer was silence. Grey Wolf let out a frustrated sigh, running his hand over his face. Retracing his steps back down the canyon trail, he tried to think of where the missing man could have gone to. There weren't many options - the canyon was basically boxed in, besides the trail that led up it and onto a fairly big plateau. Grey Wolf supposed that is why his friend had chosen the spot as his place to think. One could sit upon it and look out over the lands, seeing for miles and miles, surrounded by complete silence.
"Blue Child! Now is not the time to play games! We are going to be late!" As he turned to venture the rest of the way down the path, a small sound caught his attention. It sounded like ... a moan. It came from one of the pits that opened up on the cliff face below the trail. Grey Wolf's eyes rounded, and without another thought, he pressed himself flat onto the ground. The sight made him gasp.
Blue Child lay below him, surrounded by a nest of rattlesnakes. From the blood soaking the fallen man's thigh, Grey Wolf could tell he had already been bitten at least once.
"Blue Child! Can you hear me?" He called desperately, looking for a way down to his friend.
"Can ... can h-hear ... you." Blue Child's eyes were lidded and he couldn't focus.
"Try to stay awake!" Grey Wolf spotted a handhold to maneuver himself downwards. He did so, keeping his distance from the snakes who apparently had enough of the intruder in their home.
"T-trying, not s-so easy ..." He coughed, saliva running from the edges of his mouth. His body was wracked with tremors and the world blurred in and out of focus, causing him to be dizzy. His stomach revolted at the motion and he had to hold in the urge to vomit; somehow he didn't think the snakes would like that very much.
"Somehow, getting bitten by a snake is never easy." Grey Wolf commented, moving until he was directly above his friend. "Come on, lift up your arms. I need you to try to stand, so that I can put you over my shoulders."
"I ref-fuse ... to be c-carried ... like a c-child ..." Blue Child grunted, trying to lift himself up.
"Can you walk then?"
" ... No."
Grey Wolf said nothing, just shook his head. Finally, on very shaky limbs, Blue Child had managed to get to his feet. One of the rattlers struck out, missing his foot by inches. Ignoring the hissing of the snakes, Grey Wolf focused on pulling his friend up and over his shoulders. Moments later, after much grunting and moving about, he had managed to lift the almost-unconscious man, and now made his way back up to the trail.
Quickly placing his friend on the ground, Grey Wolf fished out his hunting knife and cut the clothing from around the wound, wincing at the sight of it. The skin was red and infection had already set in; the area around the puncture marks was severely swollen, looking very painful to the touch.
"I'm sorry, my friend." Grey Wolf gently patted the other man's arm.
"Do it." Blue Child muttered through gritted teeth, attempting to keep a firm grip on the chills that wracked his body. "Just hurry up."
A swift cut of the knife, and Grey Wolf pressed his lips over the snake bite, sucking the poison out. He grimaced at the taste, spitting it onto the ground and repeating the process until he had gotten all he could. When he was finished, Blue Child had fallen unconscious, head lolling to the side as a wheezing sound came from his lungs when he took a breath.
"Come on," Grey Wolf bent and picked up his friend. "You're not leaving me now, not when I just saved you. We'll get you to the medicine man and you'll be fine."
He could have sworn he had heard Blue Child mutter something unflattering to him. Grinning to himself, he knew his friend would be fine. Blue Child was too stubborn to be removed from this earth by any ordinary means ...
The memory wasn't a particularly happy one, but it did make Grey Wolf smile just the same. He spotted Frank's hat lying on the ground, near the porch. Picking it up and brushing the mud off, he stared at the path the men had taken when they had ridden out - with his friend.
"Hang on Frank. I'm coming."
Frank held back a yelp of pain when he was thrown from the saddle onto the muddy ground. He was then picked up by his hair, looking straight into the eyes of one of the men. "We've gotta cross this water on foot. Too dangerous for the horses to carry us."
Frank wondered just how they expected him to do THAT.
"Wait just a minute here ..." Joseph muttered, looking into Frank's eyes. "Red, come'on over here."
Frank, uncomfortable under the intense stares he was receiving - as well as the hand still holding him up by his hair - shivered and twisted in a futile attempt to escape the men. He was backhanded for his troubles.
"What is it, Joe?"
"His eyes. They ain't brown ..."
Red's eyes widened. "I'll be damned. He's a damn halfbreed."
From the hatred that reflected off of Red's face, Frank felt that this bit of information wasn't going to be good for his health ...
Reviews -
Firniswin - LOL! Thank you, so glad this one is coming off so well! :) And yeah, I have been searching for lots of Frank angst also. Unfortunately there aren't many Hidalgo fics on , and not many fansites that I can find. ::Sighs::
viggomaniac - Thank you so much! :) I've forced myself not to rush on this one, unlike most of my other fics. Trying to keep it even and slow-like. But yes - there will be much Frank angst in this fic! :)
princess-elfie - LOL thanks! You got it! :)
Amber - Thank you! :)
hotaru - Do not worry about that, I will be writing much more. :)
westernrider - I am happy to know it isn't boring! :D Although if the reader were there watching the characters, I have a feeling the characters would be trying to escape said readers. ::g:: But thanks so much!! :)
meriwether weasley - Yes, poor Frank! And more poor Frank to come! Hahahaha! That man will hate me before this is over ...
Erindi - Mean? Me? ... Well okay, yes, I suppose so. But it makes for great fanfiction! LOL. I only take notes from the greats though. Angst = good. Hahahahaha. Write more? Of course! :D
mav32 - Thank you and thank you, on both accounts! Glad you think so! :)
Pegasusflight - Of course I won't leave you hanging! LOL. Frank is captured ... being beaten ... I'm not that cruel! LOL. Thank you for the review, glad you like the fic! :)
TBC...
Reviews = welcome. :-)