Sounds of the Prairie

Chapter 6 Colorado

While I watched the scenery around me, taking in the vibrantly golden larches and aspen trees towering around us stretching their limbs up to the sky, Essie fell asleep against my chest and I let her stay that way as Tucker and Joe caught up to us, Tuckers face one of apparent shock.

"Did ya kill her?" He whispered.

Joe gave a laugh as we all clicked our horses to follow along the trail, "No you idiot, she's sleeping. Probably just had a little too much excitement." Joe was more than likely right and maybe I shouldn't have jostled her around like that. It felt as though we had been riding for weeks but the reality was that we had only been at it for a few days. Most men, if they were riding by themselves probably would have been able to close the distance a lot faster and without stopping, but not us. If we were feeling the fatigue of the day's travels, Essie was probably smarting a right good more than we were. Her being hurt and all. Riding with her, she just had a way of making me forget myself. Where I always tried to be more mature, serious and composed, to now wanting to enjoy my time or waste it with moments that made her smile. She fit right in with the three of us, the easy way she conversed and joked seeming to be just as natural as we spoke to each other. 

Her smile was becoming everything. When I first met her, I didn't have a chance to see it, she was so sad with her wide blue eyes and downturned face, which she still wore at moments when you could tell her memories haunted her and she didn't know you were looking. Every now and then though she would smile at me, the most beautiful smile with an adorable crooked tooth in the front, that little imperfection making her even more perfect. Right now, she gave a soft snore and sigh that only I could hear as she stayed leaned against me while we road through the back county, the trees seemed to be guiding our way along the trail some of their long limbs snagging Essie's skirts every now and again. My mind traveled through what felt like a thousand small thoughts. Like maybe we could get Essie some trousers that would make riding more comfortable, how long we would have to travel to the next town and about the men we were chasing after. I thought about how narrow the trail was that we followed and how the posse of men wouldn't have been able to go very quick with the size of their party. None of the tracks I saw were fresh and they were not spread to far apart, which served my theory.

"Colorado." Joe stole me away from my thoughts with a hand pointing to something off the trail. The closer I got to it and the more my eyes were able to focus, I knew exactly what I was looking at. One tiny calf carcass that was tucked up beneath a tree along the trail. Almost as if someone had made an attempt, and a poor one at that, to hide it from view. Tucker spoke up confirming it, "Looks to be calf's bones. Maybe one of Essie's families you think?"

I agreed with him, it was usually more common to find a deer carcass out here then it was a cow, let alone a calf. They were usually something you wanted to raise up and get more beef out of. The only reason someone would want to kill a calf is because of necessity.

"Men must have needed food, doubt they brought enough with them." I stared at the slaughtered animal remains and was relieved for Essie being asleep. Seeing it probably would have only fueled her fire and she seems to have enough of that right now. Besides the dead animal, the trail was clear of any sign that humans had been through it recently. Part of me wondered if that was on purpose, had they made an effort to cover up the horses prints in the dirt? These men came off as professionals with the way they escaped custody so it would make sense if they covered their tracks. The hair on the back of my neck stood up as Joe came to ride beside me. He looked at Essie peacefully sleeping while he pursed his lips, the expression on his face like writing on a wall that something was bothering him. His hand went up to his face as he motioned for me to be quiet with a single finger pressed to his lips, then took to pointing down at an opening towards the end of the trail. At first, I did not notice what he was pointing to but then I saw it. What anyone could have mistaken for two trees blending in were actually two mounted riders. That would explain why I suddenly felt my senses prick up. My eyes roamed over the four horses before landing on Joes with a solution. "Joe, give me your blanket?"