Tip of the Spear (27 page)

Hinto
followed Thais. He moved slower than he would have liked, but until his full
mobility returned, he had to be careful.

He
joined her behind a large boulder as they absorbed the scene in front of them.

She
whispered, “Six enemy. One family. Two of which are dead, another wounded but
still alive. What looks like his wife or sister is being taken there.” Two men
held her fast while another tried to force her legs still.

Hinto
noted either her husband or brother calling weakly to her, currently under
threat of a bullet by another man, while a young boy cried out for his mother,
held back by a laughing man with black teeth and one eye. Five bad guys
accounted for, and one more… There. He spotted the sixth man holding a precious
two-year-old girl away from the carnage. He crooned something soft to her as
she cried. Hinto couldn’t pinpoint the feeling, but he just knew the man
wouldn’t be gentle for long. Something about the way he held her.

“We
have to help,” Thais said before he could demand they assist the family.

“Yeah.
I’m slower than you, but I have a gun.” He withdrew the weapon and checked to
make sure all six chambers of the revolver were filled. In the racket beyond
them, no one heard the click of the barrel as he closed it once more.

“Hurry.
They are nearly upon the woman.”

“Shit.
You take them out. I’ll grab the ones by the man and the boy. Then we’ll get
the ugly one holding the girl. He’s not right.”

Thais
didn’t question him. She nodded then disappeared into the woods, circling left
to near the woman while Hinto circled right to move closer to his quarry.

His
Amazon worked fast. She threw a knife into the back of the lecher atop the
woman and jumped into the fray before Hinto shot the bastard holding a gun over
the wounded man. The boy bit his captor’s hand and rushed to help his mother.

Hinto
shot the man before he could reach the boy, then turned to help Thais. She had
one of them in a headlock as she protected herself from a second male, until
Hinto killed him. Once the other fell with a gunshot between his eyes, she
broke her opponent’s neck.

The
boy reached his mother, who was no longer moving.

“Thais?”
Hinto yelled as he knelt by the wounded man.

She
felt the woman’s neck and nodded. “Alive, but unconscious.”

The
crying boy looked from his mother to Thais and leapt into her arms. The stunned
look on her face might have been funny if Hinto hadn’t noticed the man with the
girl no longer in sight.

“I’m
going after the girl. Stay here.”

He
left before she could protest. Using his gift, he felt with his sixth sense for
vibrations of energy in the woods that didn’t belong. Following the trail with
a more pronounced limp, he tried to move faster but couldn’t.

It
turned out he didn’t need to. The man holding the girl was trying to mount
Ainippe, Thais’s mare. Beast wasn’t near. Not good.

“Don’t
eat the girl!” Hinto yelled as Beast rushed out of the woods, knocked the man’s
gun to the ground and chomped off his arm.

The
girl screamed as she fell to the ground. But when Hinto scooped her up, he saw
that she was mostly unhurt, just scared.

And
rightly so.

While
Beast gorged on this newest feast, Hinto mounted Ainippe with the girl in his
arms. A difficult task made harder by his weakened limb. A nudge from Beast
helped him.

“Thanks.
And try not to make yourself sick,” he told the vore while keeping the girl’s
face away from the mess.

Beast
nodded and returned to his meal. Used to such sights, Hinto didn’t do more than
flinch when Beast tore through the man’s neck with one bite.

Urging
Ainippe through the woods, he returned to the battle ground and stopped.

There
in the clearing sat Thais next to the unconscious woman. The small boy sat in
her arms as she crooned a song in that fluid language that sounded more like
music than words. Thais stared down at the small blond head under her hands as
she sang, her expression confused, defensive, and just a bit wondrous.

Her
hands were soft as they stroked his hair, and Hinto noted with some
satisfaction that the little boy had known exactly who to help him when he
needed it most.

The
Amazon with the heart of gold.

Chapter Fourteen

“They
were on us before I could move,” Mark Raeford said as he thanked Hinto yet
again. “They killed my brothers quick. Not sure why they didn’t take me out as
well.” He lowered his voice so as not to distract his children from their
mother and Thais, but Hinto saw the tears he couldn’t hide.

“Who
knows what men like that think?” Hinto knew the type of men he’d just killed—criminals
who took the easy way out. Easier to kill and rape and steal than work your
fingers to the bone for hope of a good life.

“Yeah.”
Mark swallowed loudly. “If you and your woman hadn’t come when you did, I don’t
think…  My daughter, my son—” He choked and closed his eyes.

The
bandage around his ribs held his broken bones together. The small gash in his side
had been made by a knife instead of a gun. Thais had given Hinto her paste, and
he’d used it sparingly but effectively. She sat with the woman, trying to help
her and her children while he sat with Mark.

To
Hinto’s amusement, the boy seemed fascinated with Thais. He continued to play
with her braid and all but sat in her lap as she talked with his mother,
Judith.

 “I
can’t ever repay you for this,” Mark said and opened his eyes. “Everything I
own is yours.” He glanced at his daughter and tears fell down his cheeks, but a
core of steel lit his gaze when he turned it back to Hinto. “Except for my
family.”

Did
he really expect Hinto to ask for the girl in repayment? Then again, the
desperation to find a female might push many a man into accepting the girl as a
gift. “Easy, Mark. I have enough to deal with riding with Thais.” He caught the
frown she sent him and grinned. “But you need to take better care of your
family. You shouldn’t be passing this way by yourselves. Why not a caravan?”

“Costs
too much. I have just enough gold to get us to Mobely, where Judith’s cousins
have a farm. We were going to settle there. Raise our families together.” He
looked over his shoulder at the shallow graves of his brothers. “Now Gabe and
Tom will never get to meet the woman waiting for them.”

“Oh?”

Mark
nodded. “Judith has a female cousin.” He lowered his voice. “Truth to tell, a
lot of females pass through Mobely lately. There’s some church there that
blesses folks into having youngins, leastwise that’s what I’ve heard.  If you
and the lady are wantin’ to start a family, might want to head to Mobely. Won’t
take long after the blessing.”

“Is
that what happened for you?”

Judith
rose with the girl in her arms and left her son with Thais as she made her way
to her husband.

He
smiled. “No, just got lucky. Little April was born a year after Ryan. She looks
just like her daddy, Gabe. My precious little girl.”

A
protectorate, as he’d suspected. Something he’d never planned on having. Mahpee
had tried it once with Dana, but the thought of making love to his brother’s
woman hadn’t set well with any of them. The Dakota men were old fashioned, just
like their father.

Thoughts
of sharing Thais with his brothers reared its head and made him see red.

“You
know, your Thais is a natural. I think Ryan’s in love,” Mark said and nodded at
his son.

“Yes,
I think he is,” Judith repeated and brought her daughter to her husband.

Ryan
was fingering the handle of Thais’s knife as she gently explained the story
behind it.

Hinto
excused himself from Mark and joined her to listen.

“What
about this one?” the little boy asked, pointing to the blue stone in the middle
of the handle just under the guard.

“This
is to remind us of the waters where the first Amazon was made.”

“Borned?”

“No,
made. The Great Mother wasn’t happy with the men on her land. Not all of them
were as nice as you, Ryan. Some of them fought and warred and set fire to the
land the Goddess gave us.”

“Like
the bad men,” Ryan whispered and shoved his thumb in his mouth.

Thais
gave him a foreign, almost loving look, and kissed his forehead with a
hesitation that made Hinto feel funny, deep inside.

“Yes,
like them.” She hugged him tighter in her lap and continued. “When the Great
Mother was sad, she wept. From her tears sprang the first Amazon. Strong,
courageous, filled with truth and right and honor.”

“A
hero,” Ryan mumbled around his mouth.

“Yes.
A heroine to fight the bad men. The Amazon did as the Great Mother wanted and
wiped the men from her lands. As a reward, the Amazons were allowed to live in
the jungle, among the jaguars and the macaws and the monkey-men.”

Ryan
stopped sucking his thumb to stare up at Thais in awe, the knife forgotten. “Monkey-men?”
  

Thais
smiled, her expression sweet.

Hinto
blinked, not sure he was seeing the same woman who’d broken a man’s neck not an
hour past. She’d sure as hell never given
him
that look. He’d have
remembered that.

“The
monkey-men are the Amazons’ best friends. They have two hands and two feet,
with six fingers and six toes on each. Their tails are stronger than most men’s
arms, their fur is green and brown, and they speak with growls and groans. Like
this.” She made a series of strange grunts and humming sounds.

“What
does that mean?” Ryan’s eyes were as round as stones.

“It
means beware the nighthawk. The monkey-men don’t like the nighthawks around our
village. They take all the best bananas for the Goddess. And they tickle little
girls—and boys,” she added quickly, “when they find them walking alone. Like
this.”

She
proceeded to tickle Ryan, who laughed so hard he forgot to be sad. When Thais
glanced up at Hinto, she wore a smile on her face.

“So
I guess you do like boys after all?” At that moment, he envisioned her carrying
and playing with her own son. His child.

His
heart raced in his chest.

Still
smiling, she answered, “Well, they don’t smell as nice as little girls, but
they’re twice as snaky when they wiggle.”

“You
mean squirmy.” He chuckled.

Ryan
played until he could no longer see his mother. Then he called for her in a
panic.

“She’s
with your dad, son. Don’t worry,” Hinto said.

Ryan
tried to catch his breath as Thais wiped a tear from his cheek. “I just didn’t
see her for a minute. But my hero wouldn’t let her get hurt.”

Thais
rolled her eyes, and he realized she thought Ryan was talking about him. “Your
hero, hmm?”

“Yeah,
Thais would get him for sure.” He planted a smack of a kiss on her cheek, then
ran to his parents.

Thais
stared blankly after the boy, a hand on her face.

“I
guess I have some competition,” he teased.

“Hmm?”

“So
should I warn him?”

She
whipped her face to his. “What are you talking about?”

“Ryan’s
in love with you. Should I tell him you’ll break his heart?” He laughed when she
flushed with anger and embarrassment.

“I’ll
do no such thing.”

“Oh,
so then you don’t eat little boys for breakfast?”

She
swore at him and shoved her knife back in its sheath. He caught “asshole” and
“shit for brains” before she ventured into that colorful language he knew he
was better off not understanding.

They
spent the night with Mark and his family, keeping careful watch over the group
in case the dead men had friends among the living.

Thankfully,
the night passed without incident. Early the next morning, Hinto stacked the
guns and ammunition the dead men left behind next to Mark in the wagon.

He
sat next to his wife. The children sat in the back. Hinto had tied two of the
dead men’s horses to the back of the wagon as well, for trade if Mark didn’t
intend to use them.

“Best
of luck in Mobely.” He tipped his hat to Judith and the children. “Take care of
them.”

“Thank
you so much,” Judith said. Her lips trembled and she started to cry as her
husband put an arm around her. “If it weren’t for you—”

“Then
Ryan would have been forced to call the monkey-men,” Thais interrupted with a
nod at the children. “Good-bye April, Ryan. Remember the Goddess, Ryan. Do good
to others, be strong and be brave, like you were last night.”

Ryan
nodded and motioned for Thais to come closer. She did and he pressed something
in her hand. He whispered in her ear, hugged and kissed her good-bye.