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Chapter Eighteen

A round noon the next day, Blaze halted his horse as the group approached Desert Station.

As soon as he noted the hotel, he knew Lucas would want to stay in this town for the evening.

Before Lucas could mention it, he said, “We are only stopping here for supplies. We aren’t going to waste the rest of the day here. ”

Lucas opened his mouth to respond when Faye intervened. “We’re close to Quartzsite. If we keep going, we can make it there by tomorrow afternoon.”

Glad Faye agreed with him, Blaze nodded. “I doubt Lee and Wilson will stop here for longer than a few minutes,” Blaze emphasized. “We need to get to Quartzsite before they do. There’s bound to be a hotel there that you and Gail can stay in.”

“You two won’t be needed when we go after my brother and his friend,” Faye added.

Lucas let out a disappointed sigh but agreed to their terms. Blaze was relieved.

He was afraid Lucas would argue with them.

Lucas might have argued if Zeke had been with them.

Zeke seemed to think that they had all the time in the world to linger in town.

Blaze didn’t begrudge newlyweds time to themselves, but it was better for everyone if Lucas waited another day before partaking in the marital bed.

“All we need to do is gather a little more food and some more water while we’re here.” Blaze glanced at Faye. “The way I figure it, we’ll be out of here within a half hour.”

“At the most,” Faye replied.

Without waiting for Lucas or Gail to agree, Faye nudged her horse in the sides, and it headed off in a canter. Blaze gestured for Lucas and Gail to follow them, then urged his horse toward the town, too.

When they entered the general store, Blaze noticed a newspaper stand, and one of the articles on it had to do with a Red Ghost sighting.

On it was a drawing of something that seemed to be a mix of a bear and a horse.

It had sharp teeth and horns protruding from its head.

On its back was a human skeleton carrying a fiery sword.

He rolled his eyes. The thing that had run off with Bernadette and Zeke didn’t look anything like that.

It had looked like a huge horse with lumps on its back at best, and while it did have a human skeleton on its back, the skeleton had been wearing torn-up clothes on it.

Blaze hadn’t been close enough to see if there was anything distinctive about the clothes, but he suspected it was a uniform of some kind.

Perhaps from the army. The thing had to be a camel.

There was no other explanation for it. But here people were, spreading wild stories that got people like Zeke all riled up so they believed a fiendish beast was tearing its way through Arizona.

“Is that the thing that ran off with my sister and Zeke?” Lucas asked in shock as he stopped by Blaze.

“No,” Blaze replied. “That is a figment of someone’s imagination.

Your sister and Zeke aren’t in any danger.

They’ll meet up with us in Quartzsite.” When Lucas seemed hesitant to agree, Blaze gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder.

“I’ve lived in rugged places all of my life.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that there is always a reasonable explanation for everything. Monsters do not exist.”

“But the Devil exists,” Gail said.

Unaware that she had heard them, Blaze told her, “Yes, but he doesn’t roam around the land in the form of a monster. Like God, he’s in spirit form.”

“I wish I had seen it,” Lucas commented. “If I had, then I’d know what we’re dealing with.”

“I didn’t see it, either,” Gail began, “but I’m inclined to agree that it’s probably a large animal. I can’t recall the Scriptures ever talking about the Devil taking on the form of something that looks like that.” She gestured to the illustration.

“Well, I still don’t like knowing my sister and Zeke were hauled off by the Red Ghost,” Lucas muttered. Turning his gaze back to Blaze, he added, “Maybe Gail and I should go back to the camp.”

Blaze shook his head. “You and Gail are safer with me and Faye. You never know who you’ll come across. Some people seem trustworthy when you meet them, but later you realize they are the enemy.”

Faye approached them with a bag of coffee beans and four potatoes in her arms. “I thought we were here to shop.”

“We are,” Blaze said, turning his attention to her.

“I was just reassuring Lucas and Gail that Zeke and Bernadette will be fine.” He glanced their way.

“After spending time watching and talking to Zeke, I am confident in his abilities. It’s important to him that he proves himself. This is a good way for him to do it.”

Lucas shifted from one foot to the other, let out a sigh, then nodded. “Alright. We’ll keep heading for Quartzsite with you and Faye.”

Faye went back to the shelves and continued shopping.

Blaze gave Lucas and Gail a comforting smile. “Everything will be fine. I promise.” The matter settled, he did his part to collect the things they would need for the rest of their trip to Quartzsite.

“We’ll take a break here,” Zeke called out and pulled the reins of his horse so it came to a stop.

Bernadette stopped beside him. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and noted that the skin on her face felt unusually warm. Without the shade from her hat, the sun was bearing down directly on her face, and she didn’t like it. “When we come to the next town, can we get a hat?”

“I was planning on getting you a bonnet instead of a hat, if that’s alright,” Zeke said as he secured the horse to a shrub. “Bonnets are cheaper. I don’t have much money left. I was planning on getting you the supplies you lost when the Red Ghost raided the camp.”

Though the beast was long gone, she still got chills when she remembered that large snout and the glowing eyes it had.

Cold, dead eyes. Eyes that didn’t know the slightest thing about mercy.

She shivered. God willing, she’d never see that thing again.

“I’m happy to be alive. I don’t think I would have gotten away from that monster if you hadn’t been with me. ”

He smiled as he approached her. “The funniest thing is that I didn’t even think about it when I went after you.

I just acted in the moment.” He lifted his hands up to her and helped her down from the horse.

“Blaze assured me I could act quickly and be successful. I bet his training is to be credited for that.”

“I’m sure his training was a part of it, but you made the choice to rescue me.”

“Blaze was still in his bedroll when you screamed. I was already out of mine. It was easier for me to come after you than it was for him to do it.”

“You don’t need to be so modest, Zeke. You’re the one who took the risk. You could have waited for Blaze to do something, but you didn’t.”

A moment of awkwardness passed between them. She could tell he was flattered by her words but didn’t know how to respond to them. She was tempted to kiss him. The only reason that she didn’t was that she’d never behaved in such a bold manner before.

“I’ll take care of your horse,” Zeke said as he took the reins. “Why don’t you sit? I want to check your feet and see how they’re doing.”

Ignoring the pounding in her heart, she did as he instructed.

She’d had the hardest time sleeping last night because all she could think about was how she was going to tell Lucas she didn’t want to marry Blaze.

She got the impression that Lucas expected things between her and Blaze to become romantic once this ordeal was over, but she knew better.

Zeke brought over a canteen and the small jar of salve with him. As he settled in front of her feet, he asked, “How do your feet feel?”

“Better than they did this morning. I think being able to ride a horse instead of walking helped.”

With a nod, he put her feet up on his lap, untied the strings of her boots, and pulled them off of her feet. She winced. She hadn’t expected that to hurt. He carefully removed the socks he had let her borrow and studied her feet.

When she saw him frown, she asked, “What is it? Are my feet worse?”

“No, they aren’t worse, but they aren’t as good as I hoped they would be, either.”

She almost brought one of her feet up to her own lap but stopped when she recalled how much of her legs would be exposed to Zeke if she did that. “If they aren’t worse, then what’s wrong with them?”

“Well, you have a blister on one foot and a cut that’s irritated on the other. I’m afraid that your boots aren’t helping things.”

“If the boots aren’t helping, then doesn’t that mean my feet are worse?”

“Not necessarily. It just means that you shouldn’t wear your boots.

When we get to town, I’m going to buy you moccasins.

Those will give your feet more room. The boots are just too tight.

They’re good boots. You don’t need to get rid of them.

My advice is to wait until your feet are back to normal before wearing them again. ”

She had no idea what moccasins were but decided not to ask when he poured water on her feet. She gritted her teeth against the pain.

He stopped pouring the water and winced. “Sorry.”

Touched by the concern in his eyes, she returned his smile. “I know you aren’t trying to hurt me.”

He set the canteen down and retrieved a handkerchief from his breast pocket. He gently wiped her feet. “Is that better?”

“Yes, thank you.” She released her breath. “I had no idea walking on the ground without boots could cause so much harm.”

“It’s really not that bad. Your feet are more tender than normal, but they’ll heal.” He paused. “I think when we’re in town, you should get a bath. If you let your feet soak in water for a good fifteen minutes, and then put some of this salve on after they’re dry, that will help a lot.”

“When will we get to the next town?”