Page 29 of Chapel at Ender’s Ridge (Ender’s Calling #1)

Stripped to the Bone

T he second time the barn door shrieked open, Decker sighed. “I suppose you want to come along?”

Laurie stood stiffly at the door. “I know the workings of the church.”

Decker raised his eyebrow at the large, overstuffed carpet bag Laurie clutched and yanked the last tie on his saddlebags. “We’re going to Silver Creek, not back East.”

“I packed what was necessary.”

“How many Bibles you got in that thing?”

“Only one,” he said, sidling past Decker to hang his bag off the saddle horn.

“Are you going to try and walk home like the last time you rode with me?”

A tired smile played on Laurie’s mouth. “Depends on what new things you tell me there.”

Decker smiled and swung up into the saddle. His offered hand lay empty as Laurie climbed up behind him.

His knees pressed against the back of Decker’s as they rode out of town, away from the shattered bridge and gathering clouds .

The wind picked up, whipping his hair into knots as they trotted into the striped hills, sky barren aside from the magpie soaring overhead. The bird followed them for miles until the wind dragged in rumbling clouds.

“Looks like Sister was right. The plagues are moving in fast,” Decker said over his shoulder to Laurie, who’d foregone decency and huddled into his back a mile ago. He only nodded, the nudge of his chin into Decker’s back an odd comfort.

Sitara picked her way down crumbling slopes of muted russet and snapped her teeth at the bristling tail of a gangly jackrabbit as it sprang from the sagebrush and darted away. Mid-morning sun darkened under the clouds, jostling and leaping until they tumbled into a wall of bulging grey behind them.

The first drops of rain stung like bullets and Laurie hunched lower behind him, face pressed into his shoulder blades. The hailstorm moved towards Ender’s Ridge and the snap of lightning bristled the hairs on his neck as he brought Sitara to a halt, gaze drifting back.

Laurie’s arms unfurled from his waist, as if suddenly conscious of how close he’d been. “They had a warning this time. They’ll be alright.”

Wind whipped against them in a furious attempt to silence Laurie’s words.

The plagues were too unpredictable to ensure anyone’s safety; but the slow brush of his hand down his arm convinced Decker more quickly than words could.

Safine and the others would be fine, and they would return with answers.

Failure couldn’t be an option.

The river rushed above its banks and Decker reined Sitara into a slow walk .

Sand crumbled underneath her hooves. She steadied her footing and picked her way down the hill into the rushing current.

“This isn’t an attempt to rid the town of me, is it?” Laurie’s breath was hot against Decker’s ear, steaming in the rain.

Sitara lurched, striking into the water as Decker gave her the reins and sat deep in the saddle. “There would be easier ways than this,” he called back.

Decker grit his teeth as the icy water bit into his boots, seeping into worn leather, then crawling up his legs and waist. If he could feel it, Laurie was already twice as cold. He urged Sitara forward, planting his hands at her crest and pushing her towards the opposite bank.

The current clawed at her, dragging them further downstream and she snapped at the seething water with long, sharp teeth. They’d forged the river at this crossing before, but never with a second rider. And not in weather like this.

Keep your head, my star.

Rain pelted Decker’s shoulders and he hunched over her withers, whispering to her and keeping her aimed towards the opposite bank which was visible in flickers of lightning.

Decker’s shirt clung to him as Sitara sank, plunging them chest-deep, then lunged off the bottom. She thrust her nose above the rapids, steam puffing from her nostrils like she was one of Lee’s horses as she swam diagonally to the current, powerful legs churning the water to a froth beneath her.

Laurie’s grip loosened around Decker’s middle and the river’s roar drowned out Laurie’s panicked yelp as the current ripped him away from the saddle.

Decker swore .

Wedging his boots in the stirrups to keep him steady, he thrust his arm into the water, searching, coming back with nothing but rock and silt, then again, and again, goddamnit Laurie—

Laurie’s ice-cold hand scraped at his wrist from under the surface.

Decker yanked him up by his sodden coat-cuff, straining against the pull of the river as Sitara sank again, then struck out towards the looming bank.

He hauled at the heavy layers of wool, throwing his weight against Laurie and dragging him over the saddle horn.

Sitara caught her balance, squealing and gnashing her teeth as her hooves caught. She lunged out of the river and charged up the incline and Decker clung to Laurie, hands knotted in her mane on either side of him. She lurched to a snorting, quivering halt.

Laurie lay still across her saddle.

Frigid water, north wind, human mortality. Shit.

Decker leapt down, his chest clenching as he threw Laurie to the ground, hands going to his cold face, blue lips, stiff hands.

“Laurie.”

You weren’t under long, take a breath, damnit.

Decker jostled him, held a hand above his mouth, pressed his palms flat against his chest. “Come on, preacher.”

His heart tapped weakly against Decker’s hand and something uncurled in Decker’s stomach. That feeling after catching a runaway horse or making distance between himself and a rattler. Uncomfortable, like he’d been worried.

Maybe he had been. He couldn’t bury another friend .

Laurie shuddered and Decker grabbed a handful of his coat, rolling him to his side as he hacked, retching up river water. He finally dragged in a full breath.

“You didn’t let go of me,” Laurie rasped.

“I said there were easier ways of getting rid of you.” A slight smile flitted to Decker’s lips, but the wind dragged it away. “Don’t drink the water next time.”

Helping him to his feet, Decker thumped him on the back, throwing him into another coughing fit.

Blue lips finally cracked and wavered into a smile.

Decker swung back into the soaked saddle, offering him his hand. It trembled slightly, even though he didn’t feel the cold.

This time Laurie took it.

Once they were in the saddle, Sitara charged ahead, the muscles under her slick hide coiling and lengthening, her stride eating away at brown grass snapping in the wind. Lights pricked the distance like a sheet of stars across the prairie.

Laurie shuddered behind him and pressed closer. Decker had the sense it was for comfort instead of practicality.

The preacher huffed a laugh that sounded more like an attempt to silence his chattering teeth. “I d-doubt he’ll be interested in letting us look around his church in the middle of the night.”

“I won’t be asking.”

“Surely you’re not p-planning on threatening the priest? Decker, that’s…”

“Possibly necessary to prevent more plagues?” Decker twisted in the saddle and caught a glimpse of Laurie’s pale face.

He looked worse after the river, and his blue lips pursed in disapproval .

Silver Creek sprawled ahead of them and Decker’s tone softened as Sitara slowed to a walk. “We get in, we find Whitton, we get out.”

“And if we get caught?” Laurie asked, which seemed to be the particular reason why he didn’t want to help with less than legal activities.

“Then you’ll flash your pretty brown eyes and distract him while I try to find Whitton.”

Not a sound came from Laurie, but if Decker turned around again, he reckoned the other man’s face wouldn’t be red only from the wind.

The church loomed ahead of them as they wound through the streets to the center of town. A dog barked between the dark shops as Sitara picked her way over uneven cobblestones.

Get in, get Whitton if Sister Inez was right, and get out .

A simple, easy, bullet-proof plan.

As bullet-proof as Cricket?

Decker winced at himself.

Behind him, Laurie’s shivering became uncontrollable.

Damn frail humans.

He couldn’t drag Laurie through the church in this state and expect him to provide a distraction when he could hardly keep his teeth in his head. Laurie deserved better.

Decker sighed and glanced down the darkened street. A wooden sign creaked in a gust of wind, the gilded letters reading Buffalo Jump Inn.

He wanted nothing more than to get Whitton and return home. But thunderclouds gathered and riding back tonight would gain him nothing; with their current state of muddy, soaked clothes covered in red clay and grave dirt, they already looked suspicious.

“We’ll stay here until you’re warmed up.” Decker turned Sitara towards the stables behind the inn.

“T-thank you,” Laurie chattered behind him, the relief evident in his cold bones as another shiver went through him.

The woman behind the counter was cross-faced, equally displeased with the dirty footprints across her lobby as she was with Laurie’s ruddy cheeks. She peered up at them from behind a counter low enough to make her seem average height, if one ignored the stool she stood on.

“Got caught in the rain did you? Nasty out tonight,” she said, her tone still gruff and unbothered after Decker wordlessly dug through his pocket and slipped her more than enough.

Being alive for as long as he had came with some advantages; wealth accumulated like dust on a mantle and he saved it for times such as these.

To help a friend or, in this case, a warm bath and a hot meal for Laurie who swayed in place, dripping water across the Turkish rug.

“Lucky you came when you did, people have been tricklin’ in since supper trying to hunker down and there’s not many rooms left,” she said as she stepped off her stool and nearly disappeared behind the counter. She produced two keys from the dark, cavernous space.

“We’ll just need one,” Decker said. Laurie’s near-panicked gaze darted to him, and he smiled patronizingly. “We’ll only be here for a few hours.”

Laurie laughed shortly, his cheeks flaming .