Silver Claws: Blood Twins

Chapter 8

8.

When I woke, I was in a cave and it was soft under my head. Wool, scent of horse. A blanket. My head felt like the inside was too big for the outside and was trying to break out. I opened my eyes and Rhea’s face wavered over me.

“Rom?”

Good, she was in human form. She had gotten the message. I pushed my thought to her. She answered. Yes, you’re in human form, too.

I hurt in human form. I tried to sit. Mistake. I blacked out.

The next time I woke, another face hovered above mine. “Don’t sit up. Your leg is broken in two places. I set it while you were out. No reason to cause you pain and make you pass out again, was there? You got some broken ribs and I’ve got you bound up tight for that. You’re breathing pretty good so I don’t think you punched a hole in your lung. You got a big tear on your face that’s going to leave a nice scar. If I was you, I’d make me up a good story, not that you were so stupid that you plunged off a ledge running from the boogeyman.”

“You were killing those wolves.”

“They were killing humans. Wouldn’t you kill them?”

I closed my eyes.

Caught. But something was wrong here. I breathed deep to test the bandage around my ribs. Scent. The man didn’t have one. I could smell his clothes, the leather of his vest, the things his boots had trod upon, the horse he had ridden. But he, the man, had no human, body scent.

The man’s mouth twitched into an almost smile. Like he had read my thoughts.

I must have hit my head hard. Lost my ability to smell man.

“Now, that’s really something,“ the man said. “That cut on your face is only hours old and it’s healing already. That’s. . .sure. . .curious. Don’t you think?”

He stood and looked down at me. He seemed a hundred feet tall. “I’ll fix you up some grub. I saw some squirrels out there that were just begging to jump into my pot.”

I turned my head and watched him leave the cave. Then I heard the ravens caw and one of them lit on his shoulder like an old friend.

Rhea sat next to me. “He hasn’t told me his name. He just said he’s a Gunslinger.”

“How did he catch you?”

“That horse is fast. He was on me, guns out a  moment after you leapt. I had changed but he looked right through me. I knew I couldn’t escape, I almost jumped down next to you. But he laughed and put his guns away. ‘I’ll get your brother,’ he said. ‘Seems to be a little addled. Thought he was a bird. You trust me, right?’ And I did, just like that.”

“You trust him?”

“It’s in my gut.”

I wondered if he had cast some kind of spell on her. He was magnetic, like he gathered attention.

“He climbed down and got you and brought you back up, didn’t he,” she said defensively.

“I guess so.”

“And he could have killed us quick as a lick. If he was an agent of Nero, he’d have just left you down there.“ She paused, thinking. “But he took us to this cave instead of to that cabin where the people were. I think that’s strange. He saved them from the wolves, they would been glad to help a hurt child.”

“He doesn’t have a scent.”

“What?”

“Can you smell him?”

Rhea was quiet for a  moment. “I was worried about you and there’s the horse smell and. . .you’re right. He doesn’t.”

“And the ravens come to him,” I said.

“Like they showed up when we met Abigail,” Rhea said.

The memory of Abigail hit my bruised mind hard enough to make me groan. “Abigail. She smelled of. . .”

“Flowers. Strong, it made my nose twitch,” Rhea said.

“I don’t think she had a human smell either,“ I said. “The strong flower smell was to cover that up, maybe. And she seemed to command the ravens. They saved us from the sheriff.”

“So you think Abigail and Gunslinger are the same breed and the Ravens work with them? Do they work with Nero or do they want to help us?”

Gunslinger strode in then, holding two squirrels by their back legs. “This won’t be much meat, but I’ve got a potato and a couple of carrots in my pack. I can make a passable stew.”

The Ravens were not with him. In an eye blink he had a knife out and was butchering the squirrels. Moments later their hides were flung on a rock, and their insides in the pot. The stew was more than passable.

“You’ve got unusual names,” the man said as he considered his stew. “Rom and Rhea.”

I flicked my eyes at Rhea. Of course, he must have asked our names.

“You must have interesting parents,” he continued.

“There were interesting,” I said swallowing hard, trying not to cry. “They died a few months ago.”

The Gunslinger seemed to go still, as if his breath didn’t even move within him. “That’s a shame. I’m sorry for your loss.”

We finished our stew in silence.

The man gathered the cups and plates and scrubbed them off with sand from outside the cave. When he came back in, he unrolled his blanket and handed it to Rhea.

“You two don’t have a reason to trust me, but I don’t see you with any other choice. Two kids won’t last in the desert. I can’t see how you made it this far.” He stared each of us down. I supposed he was waiting for us to answer. Give him a story. But if we didn’t talk, he couldn’t catch us in a lie.

“So, I’m gonna take you to a town. My brother lives there. He’ll look after you.”

I was able to sit now. Had done it to eat. The man saw me about to stand. “No one needs to look after us,” I said.

“You’re healing faster than I’ve ever seen a boy or man heal, but you stand on that broken leg right now and I think you’re going to do more damage.”

I settled back.

“Why don’t you listen to all I have to say before you get huffed up,” the man said his voice softened.

“My brother and his wife will tend to you while you heal. You got any other relatives? Is that where you two were headed?”

“We don’t have anyone. We were looking for someplace new. We didn’t want to be put in an orphanage,” I said.

The Gunslinger nodded, two slow moves of his head. “I understand that. My brother and I lost our parents early. Wanted to stay together. You did good by heading West. Towns here are too small for orphanages.” He made a sound I took to be a laugh. “Never too small for a few saloons and a jail, but schools and orphanages, they come last.”

He stretched out on his back. “When you’re healed up, nobody’s got call to make you stay or go where you don’t want to. But I think you’d be smart to let me take you to my brother’s for the time being.”

He tipped his hat over his head. “Sleep on it.”