The Iron Horseman (29 page)

Bart
lunged for her, but Levi came out of nowhere and knocked into him. Both men
rolled off the embankment and down into the rushing water.

“Levi!”
she called, peering over the ledge and scanning the river for any sign of the
men.

Nothing.

Her
heart pounded, her chest constricting. She searched the banks, then scanned the
water. Still nothing.

“Levi!”
she screamed again.

“Ain’t
nobody going to survive a fall into that river. He’s hell and gone.” Abe said
haughtily.

Cadence
refused to listen, to even consider that…that…

“Levi
Redbourne!” she called out as the rains started falling in thick sheets.

Nothing.
She closed her eyes and strained her ears in hopes of hearing anything that
might give her a little hope.

“Here.”

The
voice was faint, but she’d heard something.

“Cadence.”

She
heard it again.

Cadence
opened her eyes just as a bolt of lightning thrashed the heavens and lit a part
of the river where a tree had tipped, but had not yet been completely uprooted.
A splash of white appeared amongst the earthy browns and greens of the edge.

Levi.
He was alive.

Thank
you, Lord.

Cadence
shoved her gun into her dress and carefully made her way down to the tree. Levi
was not holding onto the tree itself, but hugged a large rock in the middle of
the river that had somehow managed to stick out of the water’s rapids.

“You
need to go for help,” he yelled, but she could tell his voice was strained.

The
tree trunk jutted out just above him, but appeared just out of his reach. If
she could just lower it enough that he could grab hold. Cadence took a step out
onto the wood, testing its durability. The trunk lowered a little, and luckily,
the roots seemed to hold.

“No!”
Levi yelled. “It’s too dangerous.”

Images
of the night he’d saved her from the fire flashed through Cadence’s mind. She
would not lose him. Couldn’t. She stepped out a little farther on the trunk,
though the tree was slippery. She sat down and straddled the wood, inching
herself out farther, gripping fiercely onto the bark, until the tip was low
enough for Levi to grab onto. When he tried to pull himself up, a cracking
noise sounded behind her and the entire trunk dropped a few inches.

Levi
let go.

“Don’t
you do this to me, Levi Redbourne. You will take ahold of that branch and pull yourself
up here. Do you hear me?” Tears streamed down her face both from fear and
anger. “I will stay out here all day and all night.”

Levi
bowed his head and shook it.

“Fool
woman,” he said as he reached up again and grabbed ahold of some of the broken
branch nubs.

Cadence
gingerly scooted backward as quickly as she could until she was able to push
herself up onto the bank. She didn’t take her eyes off of Levi as he placed
hand over fist, his feet still fighting with the water. At last, he swung a leg
up over a thick branch that allowed him to pull his weight atop the trunk of
the tree.

The
roots cracked again, the tip of the tree now buried just beneath the surface of
the water.

Cadence
couldn’t breathe. He was only a few feet away, but it seemed so far. She held
out her hand, leaning over as far as she dared, but it was no use. He would
have to make it the rest of the way alone.

“You
listen to me Levi Redbourne. I love you!” she mustered a smile when his eyes
locked with hers. Rain mixed with her tears as they ran down her face. “I want
to be your bride,” she yelled. “To spend forever with you. To have children
with you. I’ll marry you, Levi, but only if you get over here and off that damn
tree.”

He
stood up.

CRACK!

She
reached out to him and his hand gripped hers. He jumped just as the remainder
of the tree broke apart and fell into the flow of the river.

Levi
threw his arms around her, holding her so tightly she could scarcely breathe.
But she didn’t care. She tightened her arms around him, pulling him closer. His
hands were suddenly at her face, cupping her jaw. His tear-filled eyes met hers
briefly as he lifted her chin to meet his ardent kiss. His cool lips melded
with hers and joy filled her completely. Her hands grasped the side of his
face, her fingers running through the short hairs at his nape.

“Tell
me again,” Levi said as he pulled away from her.

“I
love you.”

Levi
and Cadence returned to the camp, hand in hand, only to find it empty. Abe had
gotten free of his bindings and the horses were nowhere to be found. The rain
had all but put out the fire, but the rabbit still sat on the spit. Levi threw
open the tent flap. The box of dynamite was gone.

“I’ve
seen those explosives before. At the end of the war, I saw them used more than
once. They are extremely dangerous and highly unpredictable. Just one or two
sticks have enough power to bring down that entire bridge.” Levi ran his hands
through his hair.

How
could he have let this happen? He kicked at the ground and mud sizzled as it
flew into the fire pit.

“He
couldn’t have gone far,” Cadence said, spinning in slow circles as she scanned
the entire valley.

“But
without the horses, we’ll never be able to catch him. He knows we’re going to
try to stop him, so he won’t take any chances by waiting until the train comes
through. We need to find him. Now.”

“Look,”
Cadence said, grabbing Levi’s arm and pointing to a section of the bank only a
short distance from the base of the bridge.

Abe
was hunched down over the crate of explosives.

“I
can’t let him do this.” Levi started running down the bank toward him.

“Wait,”
Cadence called after him.

Abe
looked up at them, his eyes locked with Levi’s, victory written all over his
face. He smiled and turned toward the bridge, a raised stick of dynamite in his
hands.

Levi
tried to run faster, but the mud made for a slippery terrain and the weight of
his wet boots slowed him. The fuse stayed lit in the rain. Abe lifted it behind
his head, ready to throw it into the bridge supports.

“Long
live the Confederate States of Americ—”

BOOM!

BOOM!
BOOM!

Levi
was thrown backward and slammed into the rocky terrain beneath him as the
entire mountainside shook. Debris of all kinds tumbled down the hillside and
the bridge groaned in protest. The air had been sucked from his lungs and his
ribs hurt, but he tried to push himself up off the ground. His ears rang and
his head was spinning.

“Levi,”
Cadence whispered his name.

He
rolled over onto his back and opened his eyes. She wasn’t there. He forced
himself into a sitting position and tried to shake his head clear. It wasn’t
long before everything came back into focus and he spotted Cadence lying on the
ground covered in mud and debris.

Cautiously,
he dragged himself to his feet and stumbled toward her.

“Cade,”
he said, bending down, “are you all right?” He carefully turned her onto her
back.

“You
should just leave me lying here all alone,” she said with a whiny voice he’d
never heard from her before.

“What
are you talking about?”

She
sat up and looked at him. “I tripped.” She slammed her palms against the muddy
ground. “Landed right on my face. I could have stopped this whole mess with a
bullet when I had the chance. No questions. This was my assignment and I
failed.” She pulled a strand of grass from her muddied hair.

Levi
wasn’t sure whether or not it would be prudent to laugh, but he couldn’t help
himself. Relief, exhaustion, and wonder all combined into one. “It’s over,” he
said, pulling her to her feet. “Both men are gone. The bridge is…well, it’s
still there. And, we’re together.”

“I
wish that were true,” she said, shoulders slumped. “I mean the being over
part,” she was quick to assure him. “There are still six sticks of dynamite
unaccounted for, and in case you hadn’t noticed, we’re stranded here. We have
no idea when or even if Durant is going to be released and we still haven’t
decoded the rest of that journal.”

“Shhhh,”
Levi pulled her into his arms. “One victory at a time.”

Cadence
pulled away, her eyebrows knit together. “You’re shivering.”

It
was funny. He hadn’t felt cold, but as he held up his hand to examine it, a
chill washed over him and he shook from the inside out.

“Come
on. I won’t be able to carry you back to their camp.” They slowly made their
way back to the tents, Levi leaning on Cadence’s shoulders for support. He was
tired and hungry. The smell of cooking meat on the spit didn’t help with the
latter.

“You
sit down right here.” She helped him to a rock. “We need to get that fire going
again, despite the rain, and get you warmed up to the bones. It looked like
there were other supplies in those tents. Blankets, maybe even some dry
clothes.”

Levi
tried to shake the cold off, but it was just too strong.

Cadence
took one look at him and her face said everything. If he didn’t get warmed up
soon, he was going to die out here.

Not
acceptable.

She
threw open the flap to the closest tent. “You need to get out of the rain. So,
you’re going to wrap yourself up in one of those dry blankets or change into something
of theirs, but either way, you are getting out of those wet clothes.”

“Yes,
ma’am.” He saluted, but wasn’t sure why.

“Here,”
she said, lifting up one of his legs and pulling at his boot, “let me help
you.”

Once
his feet were bare, Levi pushed off the rock with every ounce of strength he
could muster and fumbled with the top button of his shirt.

Cadence
took a deep breath as she brushed his hands away and undid the fastening. Levi
could have sworn that her hands were shaking too. One by one, she unhooked each
button until his shirt fell open at the front.

Levi
strained to pull the wet shirt and vest from his shoulders. Cadence slid her
hands up his chest and over his arms and shoulders, pushing the clinging
material from his goose fleshed skin until he was free of them. A flicker of
heat started low in his belly at her touch, but he forced himself to focus.

“Trousers
too,” she said with a raised brow.

She
wasn’t making it easy.

Levi
knew she had to be cold also. She may not have taken a detour in the river, but
she’d been standing out in the rain all morning. He looked at her, willing his
fingers to work well enough to release the fastening of his trousers. Success
came quickly.

“I
think I can take it from here,” he said as he slowly bent down and crawled into
the tent.

He
tried not to think about the putrid odor that permeated the tent as he searched
for some dry clothing and decided against wrapping himself in nothing but a
blanket. He opened a large canvas satchel and found exactly what he needed.

It
took him longer than he’d expected to rid himself of his wet britches. It
didn’t help that every inch of him was freezing cold, but he had to admit that
donning a dry shirt and trousers took the edge off the chill. He lay back onto
the haphazard bed of blankets that had yet to be rolled for the day. His
eyelids grew heavy.

“I’ll
just rest a moment.”

Cadence
looked at the tent with growing satisfaction. It had taken some effort, but she’d
been able to take down and re-pitch the second tent over the fire pit. She had
been pleased to see that this tent had a canvas floor. She used her knife to
cut a hole in the floor big enough to encompass the pit and another in the top
of the tent large enough for the smoke to escape.

As
Cadence fanned the coals and added one of the three large logs she’d found
inside, the fire came back to life and the smoke seemed to know instinctively
where to go. She needed to get Levi into the warmth as soon as possible, so she
quickly changed into some clothes she’d found amongst Abe’s belongings before
stepping back out into the cold. Luckily, the rain had subsided for the time
being.

“May
I come in?” she asked.

A
low rumbling sound was her only reply. Cadence flipped back the tent door and
found Levi sprawled out on the blankets, snoring. She placed a hand on his
face. He was still extremely cold to the touch.

“Levi,”
she said quietly.

“What?”
he sat up. “Is everything okay?”

“Come
on.”

He
seemed to be feeling a little better already. It took him some time, but he got
to his feet and followed Cadence to the other tent, but not before she’d
grabbed the pile of blankets he’d been sleeping on. She threw them toward the
back of the tent with the others she’d discovered.

Cadence
quickly sliced a few pieces of meat and placed them on the single tin plate
she’d found.

“I
thought you might be hungry,” she said, not quite able to meet his eyes. She
was still reeling from the feel of his sculpted chest beneath her fingertips.

He
watched her. She could feel it.

“Cadence,”
he said in those deep rich tones that she’d grown to love. “You are an amazing
woman.”

Heat
filled her face. She couldn’t help but be pleased by his appraisal.

Silence
again passed between them.

“Here,”
he said, holding out a piece of the meat to her, “eat.”

She
took a bite and smiled.

“Thank
you.” He reached a hand up to her face, his thumb tracing her cheek.

Suddenly,
he cleared his throat. “It’s going to be a long day,” he said with a laugh.

Cadence
held up a deck of cards. “After you sleep.”

Levi
couldn’t sleep. He pulled back the covers of his bedroll and sat up, careful
not to wake Cadence. The soft glow coming from outside the tent told him that
it was almost time for the sun to rise. He slipped on his socks and boots,
newly dried over the fire, picked up his rifle, and slipped out into the fresh
morning air.

He’d
not been able to stop thinking about the missing sticks of dynamite and thought
he might know how to find them, so he lit a lantern and walked down to the edge
of the river at the base of the bridge supports. He tried not to think about
the life that had been lost here, rather about the ones that would be saved.

It
appeared as if the water had receded significantly within the last day or so
and he held up the lantern, hoping to confirm his suspicions. The lantern’s
light didn’t seem to reach very far, but sure enough, about ten feet out into
the river, the tips of three clustered dynamite sticks peeked above the water.
Levi scanned the other trusses to locate the remaining sticks.

He
knew from experience that dynamite would not explode when wet, but if the water
continued to recede, it would only be a matter of time before they had another
problem. Levi had no desire to repeat the experience of yesterday morning and
thought it best to leave the removal to a crew better trained with explosives.

It
also appeared that one whole section of the vertical support pilings in the
framework had been washed away in the sudden torrent of rising water. They’d
have to warn the engineer and he would be able to evaluate if the trestle
bridge could be crossed safely.

Footsteps,
accompanied by a soft nicker, brought a smile to Levi’s face. Apollo’s cold
nose nudged his arm and he turned around to greet his old friend.