Something was wrong.
Kathryn didn't know what, but she wasn't the only one feeling restless.
The cattle were as well. They would make to break away, but luckily, everyone was on alert.
"A penny for your thoughts."
Kathryn gave Cody a small smile as she rode forward to cut off a head that looked a little too close to deserting. "With this herd? Taking your eyes off them for even one second is liable to get you-"
"Ms. Quinn, stop jawing! You're about to lose a head!"
Kathryn rolled her eyes at Nick's reprimand. He was a little too late as said head was back in the herd before he'd even finished hollering.
She wheeled around to tell him to get his spurs out of her and noticed that Raphael wasn't near him.
He wasn't anywhere.
Kathryn stared off into the darkness.
Raphael was a big boy, he could take care of himself; she was just feeling uneasy. She felt like she was on the edge, waiting for... something to happen.
What that was? She couldn't say.
"Being your nursemaid is a little above my pay, what with having to constantly make sure you're eating-"
Kathryn flung her hand up to silence Nick, not in the mood to deal with his interfering. "I'll eat when Raph gets back."
Nick's face furrowed in confusion. "I thought he was riding with you today."
She sighed crossly "And I thought he was staying with you today. Apparently, we were both wrong."
Nick's face softened "Aw, come on; he's a wolf. There's not much out there that would willingly cross that mutt."
His flippant dismissal was the straw that broke the camel's back. "I think we should send for Heath."
"... Excuse me?"
She turned to face him, his ire evident.
"I think we should send for Heath, reinforcements and wait."
"There's no need! This is a four-day trip and we're already halfway through it!"
"Something's wrong!"
"What?!"
"I don't know!" She realized just how loud she had gotten in her argument with him. But why couldn't he see, why couldn't he tell that there was something waiting to happen?
She was scared.
"Nick... please. I am begging you."
He snorted derisively. "Sorry, Ms. Quinn, but I need more than that. We have a schedule to keep. Heck, if Heath had come, this trip would only have taken two days and we would have been back already. But—" He stopped himself. "No... I'm not sending for him and there's no way in h**l I'm waiting for him because you have a 'feeling.' " He all but sneered. "Perhaps you're experiencing your courses." Looking away from her, back to the campsite he continued "That's why hiring women for ranch work is not done. You're emotional."
She gave a huff of contempt. "That may be so, Mr. Barkley. But keep in mind, that I'm one of your hardest workers; and the only reason I stayed and didn't leave the ranch that day was because your brother has more common sense than you."
Not giving him a chance to respond, she glided down the hill.
She had enough moonlight; she should be able to find Raphael.
The next day was no better.
Kathryn made sure to steer clear of Nick.
He was in one of his moods and she herself was having a hard time keeping her fiery temper in check.
It seemed like every time she got one beast to behave and return to the herd, another one decided it wanted to test her patience.
Something had to be spooking them! That or they had bought unmanageable stock that was more trouble than it was worth.
Just another thing to add to the list Nick already had going against Heath.
"Sid! I swear, if I see another head break away, you can pack your bags when we get back!" Under his breath, Kathryn heard him mutter "If Heath was here, these cattle wouldn't dare behave like this; could really use his way with animals right about now. And if he was here, I wouldn't be so— Percy!" he bellowed, riding ahead to aid the cowboy who, apparently, had bitten off more than he could chew.
Kathryn sighed in relief when she looked up to see Raphael on a ledge above her head and, too late, heard his growl.
"Stampede!"
Kathryn stood, hands on hips, surveying the damage.
Luckily, Raphael's warning meant they hadn't lost any of the cattle. After some time, they had been able to round them up and not a single head had broken away.
But that seemed to be the only thing in their favor.
The wagon was smashed to pieces with a lot of their food rations destroyed, so she would have to go hunting.
Everyone had bumps, bruises, cuts and scrapes.
The more severe injuries were a possible broken arm for Luther and a bump on the head she was watching to make sure wasn't a concussion.
And Sid, who had somehow managed to sprain his ankle and was wailing about it as if it was broken. She almost wished it was, then the amount of work, or lack thereof, he was doing with it would be comprehensible.
But the worst was—
"Kathryn?"
She turned her gaze to John, his clothes dusty, his left sleeve ripped and right pant leg torn at the knee, a scrape on his left cheek.
"We've gotten him on what we could salvage from the wagon. Luther has him all bandaged up; but he's still out cold."
Kathryn rubbed the bridge of her nose.
During the stampede, Nick had been thrown and, from what she could barely see, trampled. He was spangled black and blue, and had yet to wake up.
With Nick out of commission, the camp would soon dissolve into chaos and they'd be lucky if they didn't have a riot on their hands.
"John! Sid wants to... discuss who's in charge with Nick down and out." Ernest hollered from where he was standing over the "wounded" Sid.
John sighed dejectedly and made his way toward the group of men slowly gathering.
Kathryn walked away from the poor excuse for a camp, grabbing her bow and quiver of arrows from Vacquero's saddle.
Using her three fingers, she slowly petted down from his forehead down his muzzle twice, letting him know that she wanted him to stay, but that he was safe. Walking away, she whistled four notes softly, two high and the end note the same as the beginning.
Raphael came bounding out of the underbrush to her right, tongue lolling and grinning.
"So help me, if you chase away any game I'm lucky to find, it's hardtack for you."
Raphael rolled his eyes at the empty threat.
Raphael bounded in front of her as she trudged back into camp.
Three squirrels and five rabbits, a poor contribution to offer to Luther. "Raph, I swear, I know there was a deer. I know you—"
"And where were you?!"
Kathryn looked up to see... well, everyone in camp, save Nick, glaring at her.
She held her hands up in surrender, thus showcasing her paltry efforts. "I noticed earlier that our food rations might be in trouble so I went hunting."
Keeping her attention on the rest of them, she handed her meager offering to Luther.
He took them with a heavy sigh. "While I appreciate the thought, girlie, we didn't know where you were."
She turned her gaze to each and every one of them, including Sid, Percy and Amos. "You were talking about who was going to be in charge now. I figured a woman's perspective wouldn't be appreciated."
"And it's not!" Sid interjected fiercely.
Kathryn rolled her eyes. "So, I thought I'd be useful."
Cody came up to her and with a soft smile, put his hand on her shoulder "We're all a little on edge. We've already got one man down; we was just worried is all."
At Raphael's low growl, she cuffed him on the head with her index and middle finger "Maoth," she berated.
"We were just discussing, since we can't agree on who should step into Nick's place, what should be done." Howie informed her.
She sighed wearily, knowing the reaction her words would bring. "I say we send for Mr. Heath and wait for reinforcements."
She calmly withstood the barrage of disagreement that arose at her suggestion.
John managed to quiet them down. Cajoling, he implored "Kathryn, we're two days away. If—"
"Two days, without a wagon, depleted food rations, no way to get Mr. Nick home, and the rest of you knocked around and looking worse than if you had ridden a wild bull." Leveling each with a dark look she asked "Are any of you wanting to ride in the saddle tomorrow?"
They all looked away from her gaze.
She turned her fire back to John, who had the good grace to look sheepish. "I begged Mr. Nick to send for help. I pleaded last night and he didn't listen." Gesturing to the wreckage around them she lashed out "And now, we have this to deal with and we have no idea how bad off he is. For all we know, he could be at death's door!"
After a pregnant pause Ray ventured "How do we help him?"
She met Jesse's scared hazel eyes. "Jess?"
"Y... yeah?"
"You remember the way back to Stockton?"
After a moment of shock, he nodded his head vigorously. Kathryn gave a small nod of acknowledgment. "You're probably going to have to ride for about a day." Going to her own saddlebags, she pulled out her portion of hardtack, two apples that were now bruised due to the events of that day and her full canteen.
Walking to him, she handed the provisions over. "I would rather you take Vacquero; but he's ornery and won't let anyone but me ride him."
"He can take Twist," Ernest offered his own ride. Kathryn nodded her thanks to him. After Vacquero, Twist — short for Twister — was probably the fastest and most sure-footed of the other steeds.
It was agreed that Jesse would leave at first light.
Dinner that evening was a somber affair.
Luther had trouble preparing and cooking the meal; so Kathryn had helped the man, doing everything precisely as she was... ordered.
She knew Luther was frustrated and thus, didn't let his harsh tone and words pierce her skin.
Leaning back against a tree on the edge of the camp, away from the others and the campfire, she let out a soft groan as she gingerly felt her tender body.
Thankfully, nothing felt broken, cracked or sprained, but she sure was aching.
Her back and sides were hurting something fierce from when she had leapt from her saddle to Nick's side in an effort to shield his body from the many hooves thundering around him. The same could be said for her arms that she had raised in an attempt to guard Nick's prone body. And her legs were throbbing painfully from where she had squeezed them tightly to Vacquero's sides as she urged him to go faster than she had had to in a long time.
"I figured you were just as banged up as the rest of us."
Kathryn gave Chuck a gentle smile. "Can't have you believing that I'm delicate just because I'm 'womenfolk.' "
Chuck's face scrunched in disgust "Who's been spewing that hogwash?"
Kathryn waved a dismissive hand as he crouched down beside her. "Doesn't matter. What matters is that everyone's alive." She gazed at the wreckage of the wagon where she knew Nick lay. "For now."
"Thanks to your warning."
She chuckled softly. "Not mine, Raph's." Right on cue, the wolf appeared at her right side, staring intently at Chuck.
He gave a hesitant smile. "That so? Well, in that case, I owe you a piece of jerky."
Kathryn shook her head with a soft laugh as Raphael "woofed" softly in his direction. "He'll hold you to that. When it comes to meat, his memory's like a trap."
Chuck sat down next to her and gazed over the sorry state they were in. "We have ourselves quite the problem."
As Kathryn unfurled her bed roll next to the makeshift bed Nick was occupying, she heard Ernest state "During the war, there was a time when my commanding officer was layed up with a terrible fever. We sat and waited; we didn't know what to do, we didn't have any orders. I tell you, those days were... dark, for me and the others. We... we did things that... that I'm not proud of."
Kathryn tried to tune him out. This was going to be a rough night already, without them dredging up "ghost" stories from bygone days.
As she made to hunker down to try and get comfortable, though that was a fool's hope, she heard Raph whimpering.
She quickly found him, pressed up gently against Nick's left side.
Nick was fussing, which couldn't be good for whatever wounds he had sustained.
She crawled over and started to gently card her fingers through his hair, wincing as the appendages sometimes found dried blood "Sh, it's OK. You're safe now. Just rest," she assured in a quiet voice.
As she tenderly removed the grim evidence of the trauma he had endured she sang softly "It started out as a feeling, which then grew into a hope; which then turned into a quiet thought, which then turned into a quiet word. And then that word grew louder and louder, 'til it was a battle cry. I'll come back when you call me, no need to say goodbye."
His hair was now free of blood and he was beginning to settle down. As she continued, she was so focused on Nick that she didn't realize the others were now in their bedrolls, listening. "Just because everything's changing doesn't mean it's never been this way before. And all you can do is try to know who your friends are as you head off to the war. Pick a star on the dark horizon and follow the light; you'll come back when it's over, no need to say goodbye. You'll come back when it's over, no need to say goodbye."
As Nick stilled and his face became less pained, Kathryn choked out "Now we're back to the beginning; it's just a feeling and no one knows yet. But just because they can't feel it too doesn't mean that you have to forget. Let your memories grow stronger and stronger, 'til they're before your eyes. You'll come back when they call you, no need to say goodbye.
You'll come back when they call you, no need to say goodbye."