Chapter 2

Ruby was at Ebony's door in moments. Without bothering to stop to knock, she ran straight through and scooped up Ebony in her arms immediately. Slade wasn't far behind her, but stopped at the door and watched the scene before him: the Warrior Queen, kneeling on the floor, hugging her night-gown round her and screaming as Ruby held her and rocked her gently back and forth. Not knowing what to do he turned and headed down to the saloon.

Ruby continued to comfort Ebony for at least half an hour until the screams and sobs eventually subsided into a quiet, tearful sniffle. Pulling away from Ebony, Ruby saw that the girl's face was stained wet with tears from eyes that stared, dull and lifeless, at a point somewhere beyond Ruby's shoulder.

Ebony kept staring, unseeing, past her friend as she unfolded her arms and handed Ruby the note. She didn't see Ruby take the note and read it. She didn't hear her sharp intake of breath as Ruby reached the end of the note. She just kept staring straight ahead, thinking over everything from the last month. Eventually, she spoke.

"He left me," she whispered, her voice hoarse from the screaming.

"But he'll be back," Ruby said, her voice consoling.

"They always leave," Ebony frowned, "No matter what I do, how much I try to keep them. Bray, Zoot, Jay, Slade... Even Ram. I thought Jack might be different, though. Of all the guys out there I thought maybe, just maybe, he'd be the one that stayed."

"He'll come back, Ebony. He's only gone to find his daughter. He loves you: he said so in the note."

"They always say that when they're leaving and they don't want you to make a fuss."

"But this is Jack we're talking about here. Jack wouldn't lie to you. Not about that."

"Wouldn't he?"

"No. You know he wouldn't."

"Do I? I thought I knew him. Thought I could read him like a book. Then I found out I didn't. I didn't know the half of it!"

"Well, everyone got a bit of a surprise when Hope turned up. Even Jack himself!"

"Not Hope. Well, not just Hope. It was all the stuff we talked about and fought about on the way here too. The music. His family. The arguments we had. The snake. That fight just before we got here."

"So there was a lot you didn't know. That doesn't mean that what you did know wasn't real. He's a good guy, Ebony. A nice guy. And nice guys don't grow on trees! He'll come back."

"No," Ebony replied, turning slightly to focus on Ruby with chilling certainty. "He won't."

****

Jetta hurried on her way. She was beginning to recognise the area now. It had been two years and more since she was last in the area and there was no way of knowing whether her tribe would still be here, but she had to at least look. She wasn't heading for their main camp: she was sure they wouldn't be there any longer. Instead, she was heading for their hiding place: a secret place hidden in the depths of the forest to which they retreated if their main camp was no longer safe.

As she walked, she couldn't get Jack out of her head. She had been thinking of their first kiss since early that morning and now her thoughts were winding their way towards their one and only night together. They had spent another few days hidden in a cave in the hillside, near where Jack had been wounded. It had taken Jetta hours to find the cave but, the morning after Jack kissed her, she had felt it wasn't safe for them to be out in the open: Jack's wound would take a while to heal enough to travel and the Chosen would be sure to send more guards after the first two.

Once they were hidden away in the cave, Jack rambled on about this and that and what they should do next and where they should go and why they should head for the city to his old tribe. Jetta had listened to him. It was his way of proving to himself that he was still alive. His way of blocking out the pain from his wound. He had only quietened once, when they had heard shouts from outside, and when he was asleep.

After two days in the cave, Jetta had to go out for more food and supplies. When she got back, Jack was quiet and the fire was out. She re-lit the fire and hurried to Jack's side. He lay so still and pale that, for a moment, she had thought he was dead. She shook him a little and let relief wash over her when he stirred and slowly woke up.

"Worried about me?" Jack asked, quietly.

"Just a bit!" Jetta replied, sighing, and sitting down beside him, "I almost thought you were..."

" But I'm not," he cut her off quickly.

A few moments passed in silence before Jack sat up and put his arm around Jetta's shoulders.

"I might have been, though," he said. "If it wasn't for you."

"So might I, if it wasn't for you," Jetta replied, reaching up and taking the hand that rested weakly on her shoulder. "So we're even."

"I guess," Jack grinned.

"You should be lying down," said Jetta, breaking another silence that had crept into the cave.

"I'm fine!" Jack shrugged.

"Maybe you are, but I need to change that bandage!"

Jack held up his hands in a sign that he surrendered and lay back down. Jetta laughed a little and began work on his wound. The cut was almost closed, but not yet fully healed. Good enough to travel anyway. The bandage stuck to the skin as she peeled it back. Jack yelped.

"It can't be that bad! I'm trying to do this as gently as I can!" Jetta sighed, sitting back for a moment. "Besides, it's nearly healed!"

"Yeah, and I think the nerves healed first!" Jack pouted.

"Here," she said, handing him a bottle of clear liquid. "I was keeping this for when I clean it, 'cause that's really gonna sting, but take a swig now and it'll deaden the pain a bit."

Jetta smiled at the memory of the evening that had followed, then winced as she remembered waking up the next morning and finding Jack gone, with a note left in his place.

****

Jack hadn't stopped for breakfast. He merely tore off a chunk of bread and ate it and some fruit as he walked. He had heard some news of a blue haired girl and her infant daughter in the last village he had come to, so he was at least on the right track: they had stopped there for two days, then left by the north road out of the settlement. Jack wondered why they had stopped so long at the first village.

He had an idea in his head of where she was heading: she had told him of it long ago, when they first met. She had told him very little about her tribe, but when they talked of where to go, she had suggested a secret place her tribe used, in times of danger. The place was a valley, hidden deep in a forest. The only entrance was through "the curtain", but what exactly "the curtain" was, Jack couldn't say. He had a few ideas of what to look out for, but that was all she had told him.

The countryside around him was hilly and Jack stumbled as he climbed up the steep path before him. They must have come this way, there was no other path for them to take, but his mind kept filling with visions of Hope and her mother lying at the bottom of some ravine somewhere and his pace quickened. As he reached the crest of the hill, he looked around, hoping to see her safe and on the path, walking, but she had at least four days start on him and, as much as the gap had closed, it was still too wide to let him see her yet. His only consolations was that progress with Hope would be slow and Jetta would have to keep taking breaks to feed and rest her daughter, their daughter, whereas Jack could keep walking right through the night if he had to.

****

Lex wandered into the saloon in Liberty. It was nearly lunch time and he was hungry after his walk. Amber had been laying down the law and Jay had been poncing about telling people what to do as if he had a poker up his... But that didn't matter now. This was his bolthole. Out of the mall and out of the city, he could relax.

Jack had asked him not to tell anyone in the Mall that he and Ebony were staying in Liberty, let alone that he had a child, and, for once, Lex had done as he was asked. He had been itching to talk to someone about it, though. Now he was here, perhaps he could talk to Jack himself. He walked up to the bar and sat down on one of the stools, wondering why it was so quiet. He almost laughed when he saw Slade hurry through in an apron, with two bowls of stew for two customers sitting at a table behind Lex.

"My, my," Lex chortled, "Now haven't you been trained well, mate!"

"Lex!" Slade cried, startled, on his way back to the kitchen, "You know I could really do with a hand back here..."

"No way!" Lex replied, laughing, "There is no way you are getting me in a kitchen! That's what women are for!"

"There's a free meal in it for you..."

Lex looked at the ceiling. He was hungry.

"What do I have to do?" he asked.