Wild Splendor

view, riding like the wind, their backs level with their horses. Gritty dust rose from the trail in clouds, blocking the sight of the other Indians. But Leonida could still hear their murderous cries, and the screams of the soldiers as they fell from their horses.

Then the dust cleared somewhat, and Leonida paled when she recognized Sage among the Indians advancing closer and closer to the stagecoach. She was shocked and disappointed that Sage was taking part in this dreadful raid. All along she had seen him as a peace-loving man, incapable of violence such as this.

She gasped as Sage raised his rifle and aimed at the stagecoach, leveling the gun on the driver. She was glad when he didn’t shoot immediately but shouted to the driver to stop, at least giving him a chance.

She inhaled a deep breath when the driver did stop the stagecoach. Not only did he throw down his arms but the soldiers who were not wounded stopped their horses and dropped their weapons to the ground, soon thrusting their hands into the air, giving up the fight to the Navaho.

From the shadows of the stagecoach Leonida watched Sage closely as he rode up close and drew a tight rein. Sage ordered the driver down, then his gaze moved to the door.

“All passengers step to the ground,” he shouted, motioning with the barrel of his rifle toward the door. “One by one, leave the stagecoach. Quickly!”

Leonida’s trembling fingers reached for the door latch.

“Quickly!” Sage said, this time more impatiently.

With the children crowding in behind her, crying, and the women sobbing, Leonida slowly opened the door. The moment she moved out of the shadows and Sage got his first glimpse of her, she heard him gasp. As she stepped out, she looked up. Their eyes momentarily locked. But Leonida could not continue looking at him, for she was torn with too many feelings about him right now.

There were several wounded soldiers lying on the ground, groaning with pain. It was hard to believe that Sage had led an attack that had caused such suffering. And even though she perhaps understood that he had to retaliate in some way to prove a point to Kit Carson and Harold, she could not condone such violence.

A finger on her chin, turning her eyes upward, made Leonida’s pulse race, for she knew whose finger it was.

Sage’s.

He had dismounted and come to her, singling her out from the others to speak to. It was going to be hard for her to treat him coldly, while her insides warmed with his mere presence.

“You are with these women and children,” Sage said, forcing her to look at him. “Why are you?”

Leonida defied him with a set stare and a tight jaw. A part of her wanted to fling herself into his arms and apologize for his having to resort to this way of life. Yet she kept reminding herself that she did not know this man at all. Perhaps he had been responsible for some of the other raids. This one had seemed easy for him, as though practiced many times.

“You too are now Sage’s enemy?” Sage said, fighting to keep his voice cold and impersonal. “This is why you travel away from Sage? You see him as criminal? As renegade?”

Leonida could not keep her silence any longer. There were too many things to be explained. “Haven’t you proven today that you are both?” she said. She placed her hands on her hips. “If you were innocent of all crimes, you wouldn’t be here now, with those men lying wounded. If you were innocent before, you certainly aren’t now. You are rightfully the hunted one now, Sage. I have no choice now but to see you as you truly are. An unruly renegade.”

Sage took his hand from her chin. He motioned with a nod of his head toward the soldiers whose wounds were being looked after by his warriors. “If things were different, this would not be of my choosing,” he said thickly. “It is not something long planned. Only one sunrise ago did I know that this must be done. Only then did I have to scheme ways to turn the tide back in my favor. Taking hostages is the only way. Surely you can see that.”

“No, I can’t see how maiming and stealing can solve anything,” Leonida said, dropping her arms slowly to her side. In truth she saw his point, but she still could not condone his tactics. And he still had not proven to her that he had not been one of those murderous, thieving renegades all along.

“It is the only way,” Sage said, then walked away from her.

Leonida edged back to stand among the other women and the clinging, sobbing children. When Trevor took her hand and looked up at her with fearful eyes, she reached down and lifted him up into her arms and held him tightly to her breast, still watching Sage as he went from one wounded man to the other, saying words of comfort to them. To her amazement, the soldiers responded in kind, their hands momentarily locking with Sage’s as they smiled up at him.

Then Leonida was filled with horror when some of Sage’s warriors yanked the other soldiers and the stagecoach driver over to the wagon and tied them one by one to the four wheels, until they were a crowded jumble of flesh and faces massed together.

Sage came back to the women and children. His gaze moved slowly over them, then stopped at Leonida. He grabbed Trevor away from her and put him with the other children. “You will ride with me,” he flatly ordered her.

He shifted his eyes to the other women and the children. “We are taking you all to our stronghold in the mountains,” he said solemnly. “All but Leonida will walk.”

He motioned with his rifle. “Go,” he commanded stiffly. “Start walking. We will soon follow on horses.”

Terrified, the women and children stumbled away, clutching each other and sobbing. Leonida dared Sage with a set stare. “I’m no better than they,” she said icily. “I won’t ride while they walk.”

She hurried after them. She was aware of Sage’s eyes on her, angry and hot, and she was aware when he mounted his horse and began riding toward her.

She walked more quickly, so fast that she passed up some of the other women in her haste to put as much distance between herself and Sage as she could.

Then her breath was stolen when Sage reached down and grabbed her around the waist, yanking her onto his saddle in front of him.

“Let me down,” Leonida cried, trying to pry his arms from around her waist with her fingers. “Sage, I don’t want to be on your horse with you. Let me down.”