It was only when I heard my father yelling did I move around the side of the small building only to see an Indian in the corral, tripping over himself as my father advanced on him, naked as the day he was born and probably scaring the poor man half to death. I couldn't help but break down laughing at the Indian's face as he fell through the corral fence and jumped onto his horse, bolting away. I continued to laugh as tears gathered in my eyes, slowly calming down.
"I think you scarred that poor man for life daddy!" I told him later that evening with a smirk as I chewed on a piece of bread.
"Shut up. I didn't realize that I was still naked. Besides its that Indian's fault for trying to steal my horse in the middle of my bath." he replied, grumbling the last part to himself as he glared at the fire, causing me to giggle softly.
"That, my good sir, is why I keep Nightmare in my quarters with me every night and close the door." I told him with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah well, Cisco is to big for me to keep in my tiny quarters because you took the big one." father replied grouchily.
"I only took it because I'm a lady and ladies need more space." I replied, sticking my tongue out before spying Two-socks watching the biscuit in my hand hungrily.
I went to take another bite but when the wolf licked his lips hopefully I sat it on the ground and watched as he walked over and picked it up, chewing it before looking at me for more, huffing and laying beside me when he didn't find anymore.
"I swear you've done something to that wolf to get him to trust you so fast." dad grumbled, eying the wolf as I reached down and rubbed his head, popping that last bit of bacon into my mouth.
After sitting by the fire for an hour after the sun went down Two-socks followed me into my quarters, staking his claim on the hay for the night, but when I tried to sleep it just wouldn't come to me. After trying to sleep for an hour I heard a sound that wasn't common in our vacant fort. As I tossed in my small bed, watching Nightmare as she slept peacefully I glared at her.
"Lucky girl." I grumbled as I sat up before hearing the pounding of hooves and yelling around my quarters. "Shit!" I yelped as I fell off my bed before rushing to the door with my pistol, seeing dad fall to the ground after slamming into his door frame before I spotted three young Indian boys riding away from the fort with Cisco.
I growled softly under my breath as I quickly led Nightmare out of the quarters, leaving Two-socks inside as I chased after the three boys, holding on tight since I had only put the saddle on, not my bridle. When I crested a hill I saw Cisco fly past me back to the fort before spying one of the boys on the ground, cradling his arm.
"Huh, karma strikes again." I mumbled as I walked Nightmare down the hill to the boys, slipping off beside the boy on the ground. I slowly moved closer, motioning to his arm before stretching my own out.
"Can you move it?" I asked the boy, motioning from his arm to my own as I moved it. The child looked at me fearfully for a moment, glancing up at the older boy as he watched me before nodding. The child quietly looked back to me before looking at his arm and trying to copy me before yelping and shaking his head.
"Hmm. May I?" I asked, motioning to his arm as I held out my hand. The boy looked back at his friend before slowly letting me touch his wrist and arm, feeling gingerly for the break that must be there. "Ah, yep, fractured." I mumbled once I felt the small separation on the kid's forearm.
After finding the fracture I stood, opening my saddlebags and taking out some leather strips and looking around for some wood, spying the boy's broken bow laying a few feet away. I quietly fetched the broken bow before settling in front of the kid. I motioned to his arm before slowly stretching my own out before I held out a piece of smooth wood from my bag to him, motioning for him to bite on it.
The boy looked from my to his friends, saying something as the older boy knelt down beside him, looking at the things I had laid out before responding. The boy looked between us for a moment before slowly taking the piece of wood from my hand and placing it in his mouth as the older boy took his arm and slowly stretched it out, the small boy yelping and biting hard on the piece of wood until his arm was straight.
I nodded to the older boy before quickly placing the pieces of wood on the sides of the boy's arm, motioning for the older boy to hold them there as I quickly began to rap the leather strips around the wood, tightening them gradually like the Army doctors had taught me until I couldn't tighten them anymore without hurting the kid. When I finished I nodded and leaned back, examining the splint before standing.
"You better get him home soon. That splint is only a temporary one. It needs good care." I told the older boy slowly as he helped his friend up. He blinked at me for a moment before nodding leading the boy to his horse and helping him up onto the pony. I watched the hurt boy for a moment as he settled on the pony, gripping his reins with his good arm and cradling his other to his chest as the older boy stared at me for a moment before taking a feather on a leather strip adorned with beads from his hair and holding it out to me. I cocked my head in confusion and the boy motioned for me to take it, pointing at his friends arm and back to the beaded father strip.
"Oh, you're giving me this in return for helping him?" I asked softly, taking the gift gently. The boy simply nodded stiffly before quickly mounting his horse and leading his friends into the night. I smiled softly after them and shook my head before mounting Nightmare and loping back to the fort yawning as I settled Nightmare in our quarters before laying down and passing out, the small gift still in my hands. That night I dreamed of the young boy that had given me the small gift. I would never admit it but I had been a bit captivated by him.
Over the next few days I would ride to the top of the hill and look around, watching in case the Indians came back. I also braided the feather and beaded strip into my hair. At first my father questioned it but soon let it go as the days passed.
A week went by with no sign from the Indians, allowing us to fall back into a rhythm with only one incident when I fell off of Nightmare after she spooked at a sun bleached skull laying in the grass, causing me to hurt my leg a bit, until two weeks later. I sighed softly as I sat out in the grass on the hill behind my quarters, my shirt tied right under my breasts and my pants cut 6 inches above my knee, allowing my legs and stomach to get some sun.
Nightmare grazed silently a few feet from me as I chewed on a piece of dry grass before I heard Cisco starting to run in his coral, growing more and more upset by the minute.
"Dad! Calm that dang horse down!" I yelled, not opening my eyes as I continued to soak in the day.
"Arise! Arise get back to the fort!" I heard my old man yelling causing me to growl under my breath and sit up with a glare only to yelp when two hands scooped me up and I was pulled onto a horse.
I heard Nightmare start squealing in anger as she ran after me. I froze in fear as I looked up to see an older Indian holding me on the horse in front of him, his dark eyes staring behind him as he urged his horse faster. I heard loud barking and saw Two-socks, jumping at the horses head, only to be knocked away as we continued to run.
I whimpered softly as the Indian glanced down at me. He called something to some other Indians that appeared around us before I felt a small pressure at the back of my neck and blackness engulfed my vision, Two-socks' barking fading with my vision.
When I finally came to I groaned softly and heard a couple gasps and shuffling as I slowly opened my eyes, blinking in confusion as I looked up at a cloth roof with a hole in the middle. I groaned again as I slowly sat up, my head pounding as I placed a hand to it.
When I finally opened my eyes again and looked around I noticed I was in a circular room, the ground covered in furs except for the middle which held a small fire pit. I also noticed that my leg was freshly bandaged and felt really cool underneath.
"H-hello?" I called softly, hearing movement outside before the flap door of the room opened, the light outside almost blinding me as an older Indian man adorned with feathers and beads entered.