Hear The Drums Echo

"Did you really think things were going to return to normal?" Nathan asked, though he expected no answer. A person like Lara didn't break easily, but her spirit was clearly injured.

She hadn't spoken a word to him since they'd left Far View, but when they had stopped their little caravan back at Spruce Tree Terrace Center, after being only allowed to pack the lightest of goods, Lara came unglued.

"Is this your idea of a joke, Nathan!"

He got out of the jeep and slammed the door, leaving her to stew.

Buck and Len appeared from the little trail that led to Bucks old cabin and waved Nathan over. "Were you able to gather them up, Buck?" Nathan hollered.

"Yep. I fed'em good. Their ready as they'll ever be."

Nathan turned and waved everybody to get out. "Start unpacking! We will be right back!"

Lara watched as they did his bidding growing more volatile by the second.

She watched Seth and Haven, grapple with the baby and Deag with his kids trying to help her, Monica and Cole who had seemed to find their way back into a relationship grabbed Payton and tossed the three backpacks they had brought on the driveway.

Everyone else tossed backpacks out, and Hollis began taking the vehicles around just to park them near the information center. He came over and threw Nate's stuff out and looked at her. "Are ya coming?"

"What, are we walking?" she asked sarcastically.

"You can if you want," Hollis replied, then when she made no attempt to get out, he cocked his head to one side and eyeballed her, slightly smiling, slightly not. "Look, Miss, as a rule I tend to keep my opinions to myself. My wife taught me that," he grinned, and his black eyes sparkled with mirth, as he scratched his forehead, "but your stubbornness. It's worse than the old medicine woman's from our tribe back home."

Lara looked around to see if anybody had heard their exchange and stared in disbelief as Len, Buck and Nathan came off the trail leading a string of horses, some saddled some not.

She looked back at Hollis. "We're riding?" she asked incredulously.

"Like I said, you can walk if you want."

Lara slowly got out and grabbed her backpack, now understanding why Nathan had only allowed one per person.

Hollis started the jeep and pulled off.

Neala was jumping up and down and Deag lifted her up and slung her over the saddle, mounting up behind her. Nathan put Rois on and mounted up behind him.

Cole did likewise with Payton. Verbena mounted and Len helped Monica up behind her, while Buck helped Donelle on with Keith. Buck climbed up on his Palomino mare, Seth put Haven up in the saddle of their horse and jumped up behind her while Hollis held the baby and when Len mounted up, he bent down and took the infant. Hollis lashed the backpacks to two pack horses and looked over at Lara with the obvious question in his eyes.

"I guess I'm riding," she mumbled under her breath, taking the horse's reins that Hollis held out to her.

With that, Hollis mounted his horse and Len slowly led the way out, down the long stretch of Cliff Place Loop.

When they reached a place beyond the storied Cliff Palace Cliff Dwellings, Len accessed a dirt trail which wound along the base of Cliff Canyon and would take them deep into New Mexico's Indian Nation, the bitter edge of the Rocky Mountain range, and his homeland.

They rode this way for miles up against the canyon walls, in silence except for the occasional song from Buck.

The heat pressed down on their backs and a hot wind blew through the narrow canyon passes and, in the distance, the drum of thunder occasionally rolled over. Lara felt like they were the only people left in the world, as the isolation and emptiness of Mesa Verde stretched for miles in any direction.

At a conjunction of two deep canyons which Len called the Soda Canyon, the baby started to squirm and fuss, Len pulled his horse to a stop at a small green island of grass and scrub pine and dismounted.

"She needs to nurse. We can take a break here and stretch our legs."

The group took advantage of the respite, and Buck passed out deer jerky and bottled waters, but he let them know they had to stretch the water as much as possible.

Len took a map from his saddle bag and pointed out the route he would take them through. A river called the Mancos was the immediate destination and they would follow it until they reached Grass Canyon Road. From that point he would lead them off road through a maze of tributaries at the Colorado-New Mexico border. "It's a full ten-day ride, twelve at best. If we're able to keep pace. That area has ample sources of water for the horses and places safe to camp at night. We'll be going through several different terrains, but I will keep to level ground as much as possible."

From the canyon basin where they presently were, rivulets of water pooled in the drain path causing the little islands of green to spring up sporadically all the way through the gorge. Lara could see the hazy outline of mountains above them and in the far distance the tops of forests of spruce, pine and aspen that touched the blue cloudless sky.

"Beautiful isn't it?"

She turned her head to look at Nathan standing a few feet from her admiring the view. "It is but I wish it were under better circumstances," she commented blithely. The midafternoon sun lit up the highlights that streaked through his shoulder length hair, and the days-worth of beard on his jaw, so with his gun on his hip he could have easily been in any western movie she had ever seen. He was a chameleon. Blending naturally into any setting.

Nathan cleared the few steps he was from her and slipped an arm around her waist. "Is that admiration I see in those dangerous blues?" he asked giving her a light kiss.

She toyed with a lock of his hair. "Sometimes, I don't know you Nathan O'Connor."

"I think you do Halburg, you just don't want to admit it," he whispered against her head. "Come on, the baby has quit fussing and we have miles to make."

She followed on his heels and the group continued the trek south, as the horses nimbly picked their way along the sometimes rocky but always dusty trail.

Lara watched Len, ahead of them with Havens baby. It amazed her to see his tenderness over the infant. He had her in a basket that sat across his lap at the front of the saddle. It had a long leather strap attached to it that looped around one of his shoulders, across his back and attached to the other side and held the basket securely against him.

Lara prodded her horse up beside Nathan and Rois. "Is that some kind of handmade basket?" she asked Nathan.

He smiled.

"Is it Uncle Nate?" Rois parroted her.

"It's a baby basket," Nathan chuckled. "Len made it specially for her before she was born."

"Really?" Lara quipped.

"You sound surprised," Nate led her on.

"I am. Is that what he was doing all those days and nights up at that Tree House Tower?"

Nathan laughed. "You mean the Cedar Tree Tower?"

"Well what ever tower he was at," she laughed at herself.

"Maybe," he replied enjoying her lightened mood. "Len is a master of many trades. The basket is very special," Nathan hinted.

"Really? How so?"

"It's a weaver woman's basket."

"Weaver woman?"

"Mm Hm. She is a medicine woman. Each of her baskets have a different and unique weave pattern. Each pattern means something. Only the medicine woman knows the magic of each weave pattern, and she only teaches her secrets to one person in her lifetime."

"Wow. It's nice. I like it," she nodded.

Nathan smiled and took a deep breath. He was glad she was coming around.

Buck broke into a rendition of Home On The Range, singing quietly but soon others picked up the tune and even Lara joined in singing softly beside Nathan as they rode along.

They rode the canyon south until they reached the Mancos Canyon River and stopped to water the horses and give Haven time to care for the baby.

Here, Len would follow the river down through Mancos Canyon, along a dirt service road that hugged along the canyon floor until they came to the place where they could cross the river and cut inland.

This place would be Grass Canyon Road. From there they would skirt a series of canyons and gulches as they neared the New Mexico border.

Lush forested countryside began to set in around them as they followed the river, dropping in elevation as they entered a tree filled valley of sorts and as they left behind the orange and red dirt of barren cliff and plateau Mesa Verde, Len picked up a trail that skirted the edge of a vast grassy meadow.

For several hours they meandered on and later cut up a rocky path that curved up the side of the mountains they had just gone around, and rode further into the elevation.

They began to hear the rushing, gurgle of water and Len turned slightly in his saddle to tell them this was where they would be bunking for the night. It was a tributary off the river nestled in the trees. Lara was beyond relieved.

The group dismounted and Len gathered them together, handing the baby to Lara while he divvied up the tasks he needed done to set up camp.

"Seth, you and Cole and Monica gather wood for a fire. Buck, Nathan. Help me set up shelter while Hollis gets the horses settled. Lara, I'm putting you in charge of Haven, and Verbena and Donelle can help Buck later with cooking a little something."

Lara nodded, looking into the pink face of the sleeping infant she held, and she and Haven went off to find a place to settle down. Cole, Monica and Seth brought sticks, small limbs and a few pieces of larger wood but there wasn't a lot of that to be found close by.

Cole pulled Seth off to the side. "Hey me and Monica are going to scout out a little further for more wood. That little dab won't last an hour. If Len asks, that's what you tell him ok, cause we might be gone a while," he hinted loosely.

"I don't want to have to come looking for you Cole. So just make it quick," Seth cautioned him.

Cole gave him a slight glare. "God when did you get to be so damn buzz-kill?" He walked off and grabbed Monica's hand and they took off into the small wooded area.

Seth watched them go and returned to his wood gathering. He knew if Bretta hadn't died, Cole wouldn't be anywhere near Monica, and he wondered how Cole could just move on so quickly.

Deag helped Lara and watched over the kids as Len and Nathan constructed a primitive shelter with the canvas tarps they had on the pack horses.

When Hollis got back, he started a fire and Buck and Donelle threw some beans in a pot and opened several packs of hotdogs. Verbena and Keith sat and whittled cooking sticks for the hotdogs while Yolo and Biggie sat and watched them, drooling for a couple of hotdogs too.

Everyone gathered around the fire, and Verbena passed out the cook sticks.

Seth helped Haven over and they huddled together talking quietly and fussing over the baby. Seth adored the little girl and held her to his chest lovingly as the rest of the kids mooned over her. The dogs even chose a spot near them and Yolo laid his big head on Seth's lap trying in vain to get a lick of the infants tiny face. Neala laughed at that and Payton looked around to see if his dad and mom had seen it and not finding them, he went and asked Deag where they were.

Deag looked around too, guessing immediately that the two of them had snuck off for a tryst.

"Hey Seth, where's Cole?" he asked even though he was sure he knew the answer.

"Gathering more wood, I guess," he answered, never taking his eyes from the baby. He gave Haven a side glance and she also became overly enthralled with attending the baby, rubbing her forehead lovingly.

"Oh," Deag replied with a frown, "I see. I guess I'll go help them. Payton wait here till I get back."

Seth watched from under his brows as Deag walked off in the general direction they had disappeared into the woods. He looked at Haven and she just shrugged. "They should have known better," she whispered to him.

Fortunately, it didn't take Deag long to find them, in various levels of undress, and he smirked, picking up a long stick and tossed it in their direction. Both their heads popped up; expressions guilty as hell.

"Your Son is looking for you," Deag stated drily. "Bring that wood and come on!"

"Gosh dammit, Seth," Cole muttered exasperated.

"What was that Cole?" Deag said over his retreating shoulder.

"Nothing god dammit. I'm coming."

Deag sniggered. "Like hell you are."

"Shut the fuck up Deag!"

Deag bellowed with laughter and trotted back the way he'd come, smiling all the way. Damn kids. Worlds gone to hell in a handbasket and all they want to do is make another kid.

〰️

Everyone had to pile under the tent Len had made, to sleep. He only had two tarps, so he had spread one the ground and thrown the other over a rope tied between two young aspen trees.

It was crowded and cramped but at least they would stay warm. Nathan placed all the kids in the middle and the rest of them piled in on either open side. Buck and Len each took an end and lay back on their saddles for a pillow with their guns beside them. Deag wanted to separate Monica and Cole but Nathan just laughed as he crawled in beside Lara.

He lay there and ran his fingers down her arm, stroking the side of her breasts. Her nipples hardened at his hot touch and he rubbed one tenderly. She looked around and discovered Verbena, watching her with squinty eyes again. She slapped Nathan's hand away and he chuckled deep under his breath, leaning close to her ear.

"What's a matter Halburg? Verbena won't give away our secret," he whispered tantalizingly. His breath touched her skin sending a chill racing down her spine.

"Go to sleep O'Connor."

His laugh rumbled against her chest and he dropped his hand down cupping her breast, feeling the dull pound of her heartbeat and she pressed herself against him. He sighed and slipped an arm around her waist pulling her flush with his long frame and let his mind relax with the feel of her in his embrace.

Her breathing lulled him to sleep, though he knew in another place and time, he would have made better of the enticement she concealed beneath that stoic personality.