The Five Dollar Mail Book 3: The Road Home

15: Homecoming

Cover painting by Angela Taratuta. Chapter artwork found image. All graphics by me.

Book 1: The Green, Book 2: Lynch's Boys, Book 3: The Road Home, and the Riders & Kickers Anthology are available on Amazon under the name Regina Shelley. So if you hate waiting for chapter posts and/or want a more polished read, the finished product is available now.

Still Water Woman was pleased to see the brave front Jesse was showing as she helped him walk unsteadily into the village. But she could feel him trembling against her, and the quickness of his breath. She didn't want him to be afraid, but she supposed there was no helping it. He was, after all, Runs Laughing's captive, and it was just as well that he was. Being led into the village by a girl of eight winters would make him the target of considerable ridicule, but she hoped it would also protect him to an extent. He was no threat to anyone, and the humorous situation would put everyone in a good mood. Eagle Bone had run ahead of her, alerting the camp of their arrival.

Jesse held his head up and silently endured it when the children crowded around him, pulling on his clothes and hair. Best get the lodge set up and get him inside as soon as we can. He needs to rest, she thought, tightening her grip around his waist and pulling him more firmly against her side. He is drained from travel. She thought of how death had retreated from him in her lodge, and how deeply it had pleased her to see the gray leave his face and to see his eyes open. It had felt like a gift to her, to see that good...that life...had happened in her lodge.

She desperately wished what she knew what turn of events had brought him to where Runs Laughing had found him on the riverbank, soaked and cold and nearly dead. He wasn't soft like the other white man, Richard Galloway. Even in his weakness, she could feel the wiry strength of him beneath her hands. He had the marks of fighting on him, skinned knuckles and mild bruises. She suspected that whoever he had last fought, he had bested.

After what had happened with Richard Galloway, after the unpleasant meetings with the white men from the East...it was best to distance Jesse from all that. To make sure nobody thought he was anything but what he was...the captive of a girl of eight winters.

One of the older girls had a handful of his yellow hair in her hand, jerking his head back. He stopped, his eyes squeezing shut as he patiently bore the rough handling without complaint.

"Stop," she said, waving the girl away from him. "Let him go." Runs Laughing helped her shoo the children away. The crowd loosened, and she saw a gaunt, colorful figure shuffling towards them, his step uneven and slightly hitching. He wore a long, heavily quilled and painted garment and dentalium shells in his long, silver hair. A wave of relief flooded through her. Two Elk.

He smiled, his black eyes twinkling from the wrinkled folds of his craggy brown face as he looked the three of them over. Nodding, his face adopted a serious expression as he addressed Runs Laughing. "Eagle Bone has told me that you bring a captive."

"Yes." Runs Laughing said, standing up straighter. "I found him near death and Eagle Bone brought him to my sister's lodge."

Two Elk grunted, giving Runs Laughing's charge an appraising look. Jesse stared back, unflinching. Still Water Woman could feel the young man's heart pounding as he steadied himself, meeting the elder's critical gaze.

"Hm." Two Elk's eyes crinkled again. "He doesn't look like he's worth much. I doubt the army will give you much for him."

Still Water Woman stifled a chuckle. Runs Laughing glanced behind her at Jesse, then back at the teasing Two Elk. "I am not going to trade the army for him."

"He doesn't look like there's much work or sense in him, either." Two Elk shrugged dismissively. "Eagle Bone told me he nearly died of cold on a mild day. And he was someone else's captive. Look...he is afraid of me, an old man."

Still Water Woman knew that what Two Elk said was true. Jesse was afraid. But if he had not been trembling against her side, if her hand was not pressed against his the fluttering pulse in his chest, she wouldn't know it to be so. His heart could not lie. But he did not wear his fear on his face. He held it back like a warrior. Anyone but Two Elk might have been fooled.

"He freed himself from his captors." Runs Laughing retorted. "He came all the way back from the edge of the Soul Road."

Two Elk nodded sagely, looking up at Still Water Woman. His teasing expression melted into something she could not read. The fond merriment was still sparkling in his eyes as he smiled kindly at her. "He was not ready to walk that road," he said gently, holding her gaze. The brown wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deepened slightly. "It is good that you are walking him away from the edge of it."

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