Days of Gold (Edilean 2)

He led the men hard. There were places where the trail was so narrow their horses could hardly move, but Angus didn’t slow down. He didn’t know what Austin had planned, but Angus was sure that he wasn’t going to allow someone else to marry the woman he wanted.

Angus glanced back now and then and saw that Mac was easily keeping up with him, but the two young soldiers were hanging on for dear life. They weren’t used to riding and certainly not accustomed to trails that were used mostly by animals.

An hour after sundown, he took pity on the boys and called a halt. Mac shook his head in disgust as the young men tumbled out of their saddles, sore and stiff and tired. Muttering that the young ones were weaklings, Mac gathered firewood while Angus slipped into the bushes and returned with three rabbits, which Mac put on spits over the fire.

“I’ll never be able to walk again,” Naps said. His red hair gleamed in the firelight.

“Good!” Angus said in an accent they could understand. “Maybe it’ll keep you away from Betsy Wellman.”

“Another jealous man,” Naps said, grimacing as he tried to sit down.

Angus looked at T.C., who was quiet, but his face showed that he was in just as much pain. “What about you? You think Betsy is the love of your life?”

“I like a woman who can read,” T.C. said as he held his hands out to the fire.

“Not all of us can spend our lives in a schoolroom,” Angus said in his thickest burr, his teeth held together.

“What he means,” Mac said slowly, so the young men could understand him, “is that if you want to stay alive, you’ll stay away from the colonel’s daughter.”

“But—” Naps began.

“Austin will have you killed,” Mac said.

“Like in the Bible,” T.C. said. They all looked at him, as though they hoped he’d tell one of his stories. But T.C. just shrugged. “King David wanted Bathsheba, so he sent her husband to the front of the war, where he was killed.”

When he said no more, the others were disappointed, and Angus looked at the young man hard. He’d been told that the reason Thomas Canon “T. C.” Connor had joined the army was because he’d been in love with a young woman in Williamsburg, but her father had married her off to a rich old man. T.C. had been roaming the new country since then, collecting plant specimens wherever he went. Angus didn’t know if the story was true or just gossip—and T.C. answered no question about his past.

“I think we need to get some rest,” Angus said. “I’ll take the first watch, then you.” He nodded at T.C. “Naps, then Mac, you take the last watch. At first light we’ll leave.”

“Could you tell us where we’re going?” Naps asked.

Angus hesitated, but then relented. “I think that Austin has arranged for Miss Wellman’s fiancé to be killed.”

Naps didn’t seem to hear anything but “fiancé.” “She’s engaged to someone else?”

Angus shook his head at the young man and gave Mac a glance to say that the boy would never learn. “Turn in, all of you. I’ll wake you when your time to watch comes.” He glared at Naps. “And let me tell you that your life won’t be worth much if you fall asleep on watch.”

Naps looked out into the darkness and shivered. “You don’t have to worry about me. This place scares me so much that I won’t be able to sleep at all.” Ten minutes later, he was snoring so loudly that Mac kicked him.

The next morning, before the sun was fully up, the four men rode out and Angus set a hard pace for them.

“Can this man take care of himself?” Mac asked when they stopped to rest the horses.

“No,” Angus said. “Wellman called him ‘effeminate.’ ”

“What does that mean?” Naps asked.

“Like a girl,” T.C. answered.

“Then Betsy won’t have any trouble choosing the right man,” Naps said, yet again turning everything back around to her.

Angus started to say something about the girl but didn’t. “Let’s go. I know where it’s most likely that the payroll wagon was ambushed.”

Minutes later, they were riding again, and when Angus saw smoke, he kicked his tired horse forward. “We may be too late,” he said over his shoulder.

When they were at the top of a ridge, Angus held up his hand for them to halt, and he slid off his horse to crouch down among the trees. Behind him, Mac made hand gestures to the young soldiers that they were to get down and be silent. Mac went to squat next to Angus.

Below them was what was left of the payroll wagon. It had been burned, and near it were the bodies of two soldiers.