Silver Moon
Adventurer
Chapter 175, “Indian Country”, Tuesday, January 24th, 1882, 9:30 P.M.
Jake replies, "Get saddled up and ride with us....." Simultaneously they say to each other in a loud voice, "You know I don't want you out here getting shot at!" Chester saddles up and leads his horse to the front of the Lone Star.
He Sees to Nanuet ride up and says with a smile, "Alright, Mr. Ambassador. It's show time."
Nanuet replies, "Good evening Chester. Good Evening Mr. Jake, a fine night for a ride indeed. You have to mention money at a time like this?" Nanuet laughs. "Hope you didn't go through all that trouble just for me." He then notices Ruby, prepared to ride out with the men. "Miss Ruby, you don't need to come. I... I... I know I am wasting my breath though." Nanuet and Chester look like they wish they were someplace else.
Nanuet finally turns to Jake and says "But you are responsible for keeping an eye on her too, I hope you know that." Jake replies, “You are a thousand laughs tonight, Indian."
Jake kicks his horse forward and turns to Chester. "There's two theories to arguing' with a woman."
Chester says, "There are?" Jake replies, "Ya, and neither one works." Then he says over his shoulder. "Don't just sit there fuming at me, come on and keep up. Our Indian guide says I have to keep an eye on you." He pushes his hat back on his head. "The way I figure it, you'll save my ass again and I'll never hear the end of it."
She answers, "You should be so lucky..." Jake smiles broadly to her and says, "I DO have a lucky hat." and touches the brim. Ruby spurs her horse forward and rolls her eyes. "Why do I get the feeling you boys don't think I can handle myself?"
Nanuet spins on his horse and speaks to Ruby. He says, "I know you can handle yourself, I just wanted to give Jake something to do to keep him out of too much trouble." "Now you're asking for a miracle..." Everyone can see that now that things are moving forward Nanuet has relaxed and may even seem eager to take some action towards a resolution to this situation. Ruby says as she rides up next to Nanuet. "So, do you have a plan?"
"A plan? No I don't have a plan really. My goal is to get these two hotheads to talk and resolve what seems to be a simple issue without a war erupting. Hopefully Kate and the others will reach Geronimo first and talk some sense into him, and hopefully Jake here can keep Gamble from flying off the handle. Not sure about anything else."
"That's our plan, huh?" Jake scratches his chin. "You know I like. Elegant in it's simplicity. Nanuet facilitates the meeting, I keep Gamble from flying off the handle, and Ruby saves my ass. Well let's just enjoy the ride then." Jake smiles confidently at his companions "Oh, and don't forget Chester, he's got the eight or nine score troops covered." Chester grins back, "Yeah. No problem."
The soldiers mount up and move out. Chester falls back a bit, putting a short amount of distance between himself and Lieutenant Gamble. Jake and Ruby ride near the front alongside Nanuet and Comstock’s group. Of those six, the retired officers Billy Comstock and Elisha Whittemore are still in civilian attire, but during the short respite in town Mitzer and his three men have now changed into their United States Army uniforms.
The group rides along the south road out of town. Mitzer notices some concern in Nanuet’s facial expressions and asks Gamble where they are going. The Lieutenant replies, “To a defendable location along the outer edge of the mountain range. At night them Injuns can see better than we can, I wouldn’t want to risk riding into an ambush. We’ll set up camp at a place where we can guard against an attack and also keep a close eye on the mountains. If they decide to attack we’ll see them coming. If Geronimo really wants to talk peace they he’ll know where we are and can approach peacefully. Either way, we’ll be in position to ride into the mountains at dawn and deal with them.”
The group eventually branch off from the road and ride towards a large hill approximately a mile-and-a-half southeast of Promise City. The lightly wooded hillside rises up to a primarily flat plateau, 120 by 80 feet in size, and approximately 1,200 feet higher than the ground below it. The hill has fairly steep cliff sides on its north, northeast and eastern sides, at around a seventy-degree angle. From the plateau the cliff side gives an excellent view of the adjacent Chirachua Mountains to the northeast, east and southeast.
The remaining sides of the hills are less steep, the angles of ascent ranging from twenty to fifty degrees. The ogres are ordered to rope off two corrals on a couple of acres of land on the southwest side of the hill, one for horses and another for ogremounts. Along this corral area is a stream flowing westward from the mountains to the east. The land is mostly grass covered, with just enough trees for the soldiers to use to tie off the corral.
The soldiers start to retrieve canvas tents from their saddlebags. The orgres troops are ordered to pair off and pitch tents surrounding the hill, with each tent no more 500 feet and within sight of those to the left and right of it. Each pair of buffalo soldiers is instructed to have one on guard duty while his partner sleeps and to alternate during the night. The human soldiers are all ordered to make their camp on the plateau at the top of hill. Three human buglers are told to stand guard duty on the plateau while the other human troops are ordered to get some rest.
Nanuet is very familiar with this site. This hill with the plateau that the troops are on is the property of Hamilton Fisk. From this hill Nanuet can see the hillside known as Pete’s Ranch some four-tenths of a mile to the west. The land between these two hills is the 200-acre plot that is jointly owned by him, Sonoma and Kate, with the roped off corrals below holding the soldiers’ mounts being the easternmost edge of their property.
Comstock tells Chester, Jake, Nanuet and Ruby “I don’t care for how some of these soldiers are looking at Miss West. You had better camp near us for your own safety.” Chester says, "Thanks, Bill. Sorry, Ruby. I forgot all about that. Oh, Bill? Do you have a tent for Miss West? We hadn't planned on a bivouac. One of us will be able to guard her in camp to avoid any problems." "Sounds like a good idea, thanks" Jake tells him. He whispers to Ruby, "Please stay near me, between the two of us we don't have enough ammo to shoot all these lonely soldiers."
Kate had watched her companions as much as the landscape on the hurried ride to the mountains. It might have been necessary sometime during this night to display her talents, and she wasn't sure how they would feel about it. Her instincts said that Jeff would be okay, startled, but okay. The others were strangers. Well, that was a bridge she would have to burn when she came to it.
She led the three quietly to the place where they had crossed into Apache lands that day with the Cartwrights. "Jeff, make sure you keep your hands away from your weapons. Let's not start off on the wrong foot here. I'm sure we're being watched."
Katherine reached up and pulled the necklace from around her throat. She held it up high, letting it catch the moonlight. "Shouting to them is not my first choice. We don't have much time to wait, but let's see if they come to us before we go barreling in."
A dozen Apache warriors appear up near where the horses had been left. Four check the animals’ saddlebags and weapons, then lead the horses away. The other eight move forward. Four of these Apache are armed with Henry repeating riles. They stop on the hillside some 25 feet way from the quartet near the fire. Kate notices that each of these four is making eye contact with a different member of her party. They are holding but not pointing the rifles.
The other four move closer. One gestures for Kate and her party to lift up their hands. The Indians then move forward and pat down each of the four, apparently looking for concealed weapons. They then move back. A man dressed as a shaman, but not Nanuet's friend Kajika, steps forwards. He tosses powder into the fire, which creates a flash while saying words that Kate recognizes as the translation spell
He then says in words that Kate can understand for her to repeat what she had said earlier. She does so. He says, "You were present here before, these others were not. Who are they? Why do they accompany you? And why is it that Nanuet does not?"
Cornflower tells Kate softly "Your instincts are correct. We have been watched and followed for the last twenty minutes. Their numbers are increasing with each quarter mile that we travel." They soon reach the area where Geronimo had spoken to them before. A large fire is burning although the surrounding curved hillside is currently empty of occupants and nobody is anywhere near the fire. "What should we do?" Jeff asks.
"I'm not certain, but they have allowed us this far. I take it as a good sign." She slid down off the stallion's back and wrapped the reins around an outcropping of rock. "This is the place where Geronimo held council when I was last here. Since that is what we want, this is a good place to be. Let's go down to the fire. Leave your weapons here, they won't do us any good anyway."
The others dismounted and tied their horses. They walked slowly down near where the fire threw flickering patches of orange against the ground. Kate spoke in a normal tone of voice, knowing that this natural amphitheatre would carry it.
"I am Katherine Kale. I bring words from Nanuet, Geronimo's ambassador to the humans. I have made a pledge to assist him in that task and come to you in fulfillment of that promise. I seek council and time is short. Will you speak with me?"
"This is Jeff Mills, he accompanies me because it is not safe for me to ride out alone and he is a trusted friend. This is Cornflower of the Navajo, who comes because she would be known to Kajika, Nanuet's mentor. This man is Jeremiah Peck, husband to Cornflower. He accompanies us because he would not see his wife go into danger alone.
It would have been dangerous to many if Nanuet had come here tonight. As part of his duties he went to a fort of soldiers today to find out why they had broken the agreement by riding onto your lands. The soldiers gather in Promise City now, as I'm sure you know. They will come here to treat with Geronimo soon and Nanuet will be with them. If they had caught him coming to you they would have suspected ambush, so I have come in his stead.
I have more information about the soldiers and their intentions if you wish to hear it." "You should tell our chief," he states. The Indian walks away while the other seven remain. The four who had been with the group's horses soon return as well but stay near the top of the hill.
No more than five minutes pass until a larger group of three-dozen Apache warriors arrives, Geronimo among them. Kate does not see Kajika with this group. They climb down the hillside. Geronimo gestures for most to sit while he and one other warrior approach.
"I remember you," he says to Kate. "Why did our Ambassador send you to me?" "Great Chief," she nodded. She quickly repeated what she had already told the first warrior she'd spoken with, introducing the others and explaining why Nanuet could not come himself.
"It appears that the soldiers believe your people are protecting members of the Cowboy Gang here, and have learned that Knowles stays on your land. They followed members of the gang onto your land, considering the agreement already broken by your people. My understanding is that your people feel the soldiers broke the agreement, and I tend to agree as I don't believe you would be hiding members of the Cowboy Gang here.
The soldiers orders are to reestablish the peace if possible. If not, to move your people to a reservation, and if that cannot be accomplished to fight. Our worry is about the soldier in command. His name is Lieutenant Gamble, and he will follow his orders to the letter. However he is a cruel man who enjoys killing. He will follow his orders, but he will look for any excuse to declare peace impossible.
There is no doubt that your people would defeat his soldiers. But if all out war starts here the government will send soldiers until your people are completely wiped out. If it takes ten soldiers for every Apache, the government will send them. We were only about a half hour ahead of them, they will be here soon."
He replies "They appear to have stopped for the night. They are camped on a hill near your dwarven friend, around five miles from here. From what you have said I do not know if it would even be worth trying to talk with him. I have pledged to Knowles that he may live with us and I will not break my word. If these humans require him I will not wish to compromise, but do not want one man to be the catalyst for giving the humans an excuse to imprison us on a reservation. What do you suggest?"
She replies, "I would attempt negotiation. A violent confrontation is in no ones best interest. I do not want to see the Apache forced out of these mountains. From what I've been told Gamble will obey his orders, and he's been told to broker peace if at all possible. My understanding is that he wouldn't really care that you are elves, he just enjoys the chance to kill. He'd kill me just as quickly if he had an excuse.
It seems to me you just need something more attractive to offer than Knowles. Something they would rather have. The agreement was that the Apache would not allow outlaws to cross their lands if I understand correctly. Is there some way that could be expanded, something more you could offer without letting the soldiers on to your land?" Kate looks over to her companions. "Any thoughts?"
He replies, "I would be willing to keep all humans from my land. We only allowed Knowles and his friends to venture through our land because they offered us much needed food. Game has been scarce in the mountains for the last several months. We now know the reason why, the earth sprits had consumed it so there was none left for my people.
I do not trust this soldier you call Gamble. He was the one who fired upon my braves. Two would have perished if not for Kajika's healing abilities. I should negotiate for my people, but if I were to be killed there is no doubt in my mind what my warriors would do. They would avenge me. How can you guarantee my safety with these soldiers?"
She answers, "My skills are not great. I have some small teaching with magics, but nothing compared to what your own shaman can do. You can best secure your own safety by giving no indications to Gamble of any pending violence. To not allow you to be baited into anger, whatever incitements he may offer. The most important thing is for this conference to end without bloodshed on either side. I said it before, the Apache would win this battle, but more soldiers will come and they will keep coming until the Apache are gone.
I can't think of any way to help other than offering myself as a hostage. Gamble might not care, but he will be surrounded by others who would. I must admit, I'd like to save that option as a last resort. It will be difficult to explain why I was here, and Gamble would know that I am friends with Nanuet."
Kate was quiet for a moment, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, I'm in a bit over my head here, as I'm sure you can see. I will help you in any way I can. Jeff, Cornflower, Mr. Peck, any ideas?" They nod no.
Geronimo says "We can plan after I survey the situation better." The Apache warriors with Kate, Jeff, Jeremiah and Cornflower's horses bring them over. All of their weapons have been removed. Jeff stares and Geronimo who says "They will be returned when you leave the Mountains and not before." He gestures to Kate and says "I know this woman, I do not know the three of you."
The ride to the southwest for the next hour. Kate estimates that around 300 Apache warriors are with them. They stop and dismount in the forest of one of the westernmost mountains. Geronimo gestures for Kate to accompany him. Jeff says "I'm coming too." Geronimo says "No, just the woman." Jeff looks like he is going to protest until Kate signals that she is fine."
The climb up some natural rock formations that is almost stair-like in nature. They move out from the trees onto a rocky outcropping. From there they can both see the next hill a half-mile to the west and around 300 feet lower in elevation. There are no campfires but the moon provides enough light to make out the next hill. The plateau on top is filled with around sixty canvas tents. At the base of the hill they see large numbers of mounts and another ring of tents surrounding the hillside. Kate then recognizes the next hill further west as Pete's Ranch, and realizes that this is Fisk's Hill, at the edge of her ranch, where the soldiers are camped.
Jake replies, "Get saddled up and ride with us....." Simultaneously they say to each other in a loud voice, "You know I don't want you out here getting shot at!" Chester saddles up and leads his horse to the front of the Lone Star.
He Sees to Nanuet ride up and says with a smile, "Alright, Mr. Ambassador. It's show time."
Nanuet replies, "Good evening Chester. Good Evening Mr. Jake, a fine night for a ride indeed. You have to mention money at a time like this?" Nanuet laughs. "Hope you didn't go through all that trouble just for me." He then notices Ruby, prepared to ride out with the men. "Miss Ruby, you don't need to come. I... I... I know I am wasting my breath though." Nanuet and Chester look like they wish they were someplace else.
Nanuet finally turns to Jake and says "But you are responsible for keeping an eye on her too, I hope you know that." Jake replies, “You are a thousand laughs tonight, Indian."
Jake kicks his horse forward and turns to Chester. "There's two theories to arguing' with a woman."
Chester says, "There are?" Jake replies, "Ya, and neither one works." Then he says over his shoulder. "Don't just sit there fuming at me, come on and keep up. Our Indian guide says I have to keep an eye on you." He pushes his hat back on his head. "The way I figure it, you'll save my ass again and I'll never hear the end of it."
She answers, "You should be so lucky..." Jake smiles broadly to her and says, "I DO have a lucky hat." and touches the brim. Ruby spurs her horse forward and rolls her eyes. "Why do I get the feeling you boys don't think I can handle myself?"
Nanuet spins on his horse and speaks to Ruby. He says, "I know you can handle yourself, I just wanted to give Jake something to do to keep him out of too much trouble." "Now you're asking for a miracle..." Everyone can see that now that things are moving forward Nanuet has relaxed and may even seem eager to take some action towards a resolution to this situation. Ruby says as she rides up next to Nanuet. "So, do you have a plan?"
"A plan? No I don't have a plan really. My goal is to get these two hotheads to talk and resolve what seems to be a simple issue without a war erupting. Hopefully Kate and the others will reach Geronimo first and talk some sense into him, and hopefully Jake here can keep Gamble from flying off the handle. Not sure about anything else."
"That's our plan, huh?" Jake scratches his chin. "You know I like. Elegant in it's simplicity. Nanuet facilitates the meeting, I keep Gamble from flying off the handle, and Ruby saves my ass. Well let's just enjoy the ride then." Jake smiles confidently at his companions "Oh, and don't forget Chester, he's got the eight or nine score troops covered." Chester grins back, "Yeah. No problem."
The soldiers mount up and move out. Chester falls back a bit, putting a short amount of distance between himself and Lieutenant Gamble. Jake and Ruby ride near the front alongside Nanuet and Comstock’s group. Of those six, the retired officers Billy Comstock and Elisha Whittemore are still in civilian attire, but during the short respite in town Mitzer and his three men have now changed into their United States Army uniforms.
The group rides along the south road out of town. Mitzer notices some concern in Nanuet’s facial expressions and asks Gamble where they are going. The Lieutenant replies, “To a defendable location along the outer edge of the mountain range. At night them Injuns can see better than we can, I wouldn’t want to risk riding into an ambush. We’ll set up camp at a place where we can guard against an attack and also keep a close eye on the mountains. If they decide to attack we’ll see them coming. If Geronimo really wants to talk peace they he’ll know where we are and can approach peacefully. Either way, we’ll be in position to ride into the mountains at dawn and deal with them.”
The group eventually branch off from the road and ride towards a large hill approximately a mile-and-a-half southeast of Promise City. The lightly wooded hillside rises up to a primarily flat plateau, 120 by 80 feet in size, and approximately 1,200 feet higher than the ground below it. The hill has fairly steep cliff sides on its north, northeast and eastern sides, at around a seventy-degree angle. From the plateau the cliff side gives an excellent view of the adjacent Chirachua Mountains to the northeast, east and southeast.
The remaining sides of the hills are less steep, the angles of ascent ranging from twenty to fifty degrees. The ogres are ordered to rope off two corrals on a couple of acres of land on the southwest side of the hill, one for horses and another for ogremounts. Along this corral area is a stream flowing westward from the mountains to the east. The land is mostly grass covered, with just enough trees for the soldiers to use to tie off the corral.
The soldiers start to retrieve canvas tents from their saddlebags. The orgres troops are ordered to pair off and pitch tents surrounding the hill, with each tent no more 500 feet and within sight of those to the left and right of it. Each pair of buffalo soldiers is instructed to have one on guard duty while his partner sleeps and to alternate during the night. The human soldiers are all ordered to make their camp on the plateau at the top of hill. Three human buglers are told to stand guard duty on the plateau while the other human troops are ordered to get some rest.
Nanuet is very familiar with this site. This hill with the plateau that the troops are on is the property of Hamilton Fisk. From this hill Nanuet can see the hillside known as Pete’s Ranch some four-tenths of a mile to the west. The land between these two hills is the 200-acre plot that is jointly owned by him, Sonoma and Kate, with the roped off corrals below holding the soldiers’ mounts being the easternmost edge of their property.
Comstock tells Chester, Jake, Nanuet and Ruby “I don’t care for how some of these soldiers are looking at Miss West. You had better camp near us for your own safety.” Chester says, "Thanks, Bill. Sorry, Ruby. I forgot all about that. Oh, Bill? Do you have a tent for Miss West? We hadn't planned on a bivouac. One of us will be able to guard her in camp to avoid any problems." "Sounds like a good idea, thanks" Jake tells him. He whispers to Ruby, "Please stay near me, between the two of us we don't have enough ammo to shoot all these lonely soldiers."
Kate had watched her companions as much as the landscape on the hurried ride to the mountains. It might have been necessary sometime during this night to display her talents, and she wasn't sure how they would feel about it. Her instincts said that Jeff would be okay, startled, but okay. The others were strangers. Well, that was a bridge she would have to burn when she came to it.
She led the three quietly to the place where they had crossed into Apache lands that day with the Cartwrights. "Jeff, make sure you keep your hands away from your weapons. Let's not start off on the wrong foot here. I'm sure we're being watched."
Katherine reached up and pulled the necklace from around her throat. She held it up high, letting it catch the moonlight. "Shouting to them is not my first choice. We don't have much time to wait, but let's see if they come to us before we go barreling in."
A dozen Apache warriors appear up near where the horses had been left. Four check the animals’ saddlebags and weapons, then lead the horses away. The other eight move forward. Four of these Apache are armed with Henry repeating riles. They stop on the hillside some 25 feet way from the quartet near the fire. Kate notices that each of these four is making eye contact with a different member of her party. They are holding but not pointing the rifles.
The other four move closer. One gestures for Kate and her party to lift up their hands. The Indians then move forward and pat down each of the four, apparently looking for concealed weapons. They then move back. A man dressed as a shaman, but not Nanuet's friend Kajika, steps forwards. He tosses powder into the fire, which creates a flash while saying words that Kate recognizes as the translation spell
He then says in words that Kate can understand for her to repeat what she had said earlier. She does so. He says, "You were present here before, these others were not. Who are they? Why do they accompany you? And why is it that Nanuet does not?"
Cornflower tells Kate softly "Your instincts are correct. We have been watched and followed for the last twenty minutes. Their numbers are increasing with each quarter mile that we travel." They soon reach the area where Geronimo had spoken to them before. A large fire is burning although the surrounding curved hillside is currently empty of occupants and nobody is anywhere near the fire. "What should we do?" Jeff asks.
"I'm not certain, but they have allowed us this far. I take it as a good sign." She slid down off the stallion's back and wrapped the reins around an outcropping of rock. "This is the place where Geronimo held council when I was last here. Since that is what we want, this is a good place to be. Let's go down to the fire. Leave your weapons here, they won't do us any good anyway."
The others dismounted and tied their horses. They walked slowly down near where the fire threw flickering patches of orange against the ground. Kate spoke in a normal tone of voice, knowing that this natural amphitheatre would carry it.
"I am Katherine Kale. I bring words from Nanuet, Geronimo's ambassador to the humans. I have made a pledge to assist him in that task and come to you in fulfillment of that promise. I seek council and time is short. Will you speak with me?"
"This is Jeff Mills, he accompanies me because it is not safe for me to ride out alone and he is a trusted friend. This is Cornflower of the Navajo, who comes because she would be known to Kajika, Nanuet's mentor. This man is Jeremiah Peck, husband to Cornflower. He accompanies us because he would not see his wife go into danger alone.
It would have been dangerous to many if Nanuet had come here tonight. As part of his duties he went to a fort of soldiers today to find out why they had broken the agreement by riding onto your lands. The soldiers gather in Promise City now, as I'm sure you know. They will come here to treat with Geronimo soon and Nanuet will be with them. If they had caught him coming to you they would have suspected ambush, so I have come in his stead.
I have more information about the soldiers and their intentions if you wish to hear it." "You should tell our chief," he states. The Indian walks away while the other seven remain. The four who had been with the group's horses soon return as well but stay near the top of the hill.
No more than five minutes pass until a larger group of three-dozen Apache warriors arrives, Geronimo among them. Kate does not see Kajika with this group. They climb down the hillside. Geronimo gestures for most to sit while he and one other warrior approach.
"I remember you," he says to Kate. "Why did our Ambassador send you to me?" "Great Chief," she nodded. She quickly repeated what she had already told the first warrior she'd spoken with, introducing the others and explaining why Nanuet could not come himself.
"It appears that the soldiers believe your people are protecting members of the Cowboy Gang here, and have learned that Knowles stays on your land. They followed members of the gang onto your land, considering the agreement already broken by your people. My understanding is that your people feel the soldiers broke the agreement, and I tend to agree as I don't believe you would be hiding members of the Cowboy Gang here.
The soldiers orders are to reestablish the peace if possible. If not, to move your people to a reservation, and if that cannot be accomplished to fight. Our worry is about the soldier in command. His name is Lieutenant Gamble, and he will follow his orders to the letter. However he is a cruel man who enjoys killing. He will follow his orders, but he will look for any excuse to declare peace impossible.
There is no doubt that your people would defeat his soldiers. But if all out war starts here the government will send soldiers until your people are completely wiped out. If it takes ten soldiers for every Apache, the government will send them. We were only about a half hour ahead of them, they will be here soon."
He replies "They appear to have stopped for the night. They are camped on a hill near your dwarven friend, around five miles from here. From what you have said I do not know if it would even be worth trying to talk with him. I have pledged to Knowles that he may live with us and I will not break my word. If these humans require him I will not wish to compromise, but do not want one man to be the catalyst for giving the humans an excuse to imprison us on a reservation. What do you suggest?"
She replies, "I would attempt negotiation. A violent confrontation is in no ones best interest. I do not want to see the Apache forced out of these mountains. From what I've been told Gamble will obey his orders, and he's been told to broker peace if at all possible. My understanding is that he wouldn't really care that you are elves, he just enjoys the chance to kill. He'd kill me just as quickly if he had an excuse.
It seems to me you just need something more attractive to offer than Knowles. Something they would rather have. The agreement was that the Apache would not allow outlaws to cross their lands if I understand correctly. Is there some way that could be expanded, something more you could offer without letting the soldiers on to your land?" Kate looks over to her companions. "Any thoughts?"
He replies, "I would be willing to keep all humans from my land. We only allowed Knowles and his friends to venture through our land because they offered us much needed food. Game has been scarce in the mountains for the last several months. We now know the reason why, the earth sprits had consumed it so there was none left for my people.
I do not trust this soldier you call Gamble. He was the one who fired upon my braves. Two would have perished if not for Kajika's healing abilities. I should negotiate for my people, but if I were to be killed there is no doubt in my mind what my warriors would do. They would avenge me. How can you guarantee my safety with these soldiers?"
She answers, "My skills are not great. I have some small teaching with magics, but nothing compared to what your own shaman can do. You can best secure your own safety by giving no indications to Gamble of any pending violence. To not allow you to be baited into anger, whatever incitements he may offer. The most important thing is for this conference to end without bloodshed on either side. I said it before, the Apache would win this battle, but more soldiers will come and they will keep coming until the Apache are gone.
I can't think of any way to help other than offering myself as a hostage. Gamble might not care, but he will be surrounded by others who would. I must admit, I'd like to save that option as a last resort. It will be difficult to explain why I was here, and Gamble would know that I am friends with Nanuet."
Kate was quiet for a moment, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, I'm in a bit over my head here, as I'm sure you can see. I will help you in any way I can. Jeff, Cornflower, Mr. Peck, any ideas?" They nod no.
Geronimo says "We can plan after I survey the situation better." The Apache warriors with Kate, Jeff, Jeremiah and Cornflower's horses bring them over. All of their weapons have been removed. Jeff stares and Geronimo who says "They will be returned when you leave the Mountains and not before." He gestures to Kate and says "I know this woman, I do not know the three of you."
The ride to the southwest for the next hour. Kate estimates that around 300 Apache warriors are with them. They stop and dismount in the forest of one of the westernmost mountains. Geronimo gestures for Kate to accompany him. Jeff says "I'm coming too." Geronimo says "No, just the woman." Jeff looks like he is going to protest until Kate signals that she is fine."
The climb up some natural rock formations that is almost stair-like in nature. They move out from the trees onto a rocky outcropping. From there they can both see the next hill a half-mile to the west and around 300 feet lower in elevation. There are no campfires but the moon provides enough light to make out the next hill. The plateau on top is filled with around sixty canvas tents. At the base of the hill they see large numbers of mounts and another ring of tents surrounding the hillside. Kate then recognizes the next hill further west as Pete's Ranch, and realizes that this is Fisk's Hill, at the edge of her ranch, where the soldiers are camped.