"I'll be quite all right here," Jenny told her mother quite firmly. "I'll probably be a lot safer here than in that hell-hole they call a town."
Her mother looked at her and conceded that she might have a point. OK, she did have a point. The so called town was packed with rushers and outlaws, the rushers wanting to sneak into the Indian territories to find gold and the outlaws cheering them on and getting ready to rob anyone who made it in and back. Taking a young woman into that place was just asking for trouble.
The next day Jenny watched as her parents and brother headed off in the buckboard. If they hadn't been so badly in need of some extra supplies they would have deferred this trip until the army had calmed things down a bit. Not that her parents wanted the army around. Strictly speaking their little homestead was illegal, being on the Indian side of the river. Still, they had reasonably good relations with the local Indians and they'd never objected to their presence.
The only real problem of living there, in Jenny's opinion, was the lack of male company. Any rushers passed through fast, eager to find gold and get out. Going to town to meet people, god forbid. She'd seen enough of that town when they passed through several years back. Still and all, it wasn't fair. Here she was, eighteen, and still unmarried. Maybe her mother was right and she should go and stay with her Aunt. She at least lived close to several towns and they were surrounded by other farms where men worked. She just might take her mother up on that the next time she suggested it.
The day passed peacefully. Jenny did the essential chores around the place but limited her work to that. She saw no reason why she shouldn't have a couple of easy days. The night also passed peacefully but Jenny was annoyed to find herself awake and full of energy when the sun peeped through her window. Here she was with a perfect opportunity to sleep in and she was wide awake. Life just had it in for her.
Jenny made herself some breakfast and then attended to the dishes. After that she fed the hens and collected the eggs. No horses to feed and the few cattle they had were quite happy to munch on the grass available. A few more chores around the place and that was it. Jenny was starting to feel bored. She decided to make some lunch.
"Where the hell are the rest of your family?" demanded a deep voice from behind her, freezing Jenny in her tracks. Nervously she turned around.
Standing in the kitchen doorway was an Indian, one she'd never seen before. The man was about thirty and looked extremely savage. All he was wearing was a loin cloth and some paint. Paint? War-paint, Jenny realized. It appeared the Indians had got tired of the rushers and were going to do something about it.
"Are you dumb?" the man asked. "I asked where is the rest of your family?"
"Ah, they're not here," she managed to get out.
"God, dumb as all get-out," the man grumbled. "I know they're not here. That's why I asked where they were. Now can you please answer the question?"
"Ah, I didn't know any of the locals spoke English."
"Quite a few of us do. I learnt in a mission, myself, and am quite fluent. It's a useful thing to know the language of the enemy. Will you stop evading the question and enlighten me as to the whereabouts of your parents?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"I intend to massacre them. The trouble is it's hard to massacre people when they're not available for that massacre. So if you'll just speak up I can kill you and be on my way to find them."
"Kill me?" she shrieked.
"Well, of course. You are part of the family, aren't you? You've been trespassing on our land for several years, ignoring suggestions that you should move on. We've decided to kill every white on this side of the river as invaders who are in violation of the treaty. That naturally includes you. I don't like to harp on this but, your family?"
"They've gone to town. I doubt they'll be back once they know you're on the warpath."
"They probably will be. They'll want to try to rescue you. They must have left yesterday so that means they'll probably be back late today or tomorrow."
The man looked at her thoughtfully.
"OK. I'm Beaten Bear, by the way. It goes against my general principles to leave anyone alive but killing one little girl just isn't worth the effort. I'll just leave you here and include you in the general massacre when I get around to it. You might like to suggest to your folk when they get back that they have two days to get out or die."
"Oh. OK," said Jenny in a very small voice. She did not want to say anything to make him change his mind about starting the massacre with her. She found she couldn't help herself. "Beaten Bear?" she asked.
Bear gave her a nasty look and then sighed.
"I was trailing a grizzly. Miserable thing doubled back and attacked me from behind. It gave me a hell of a beating before I killed it. I was so badly mauled that I was referred to as the man who was beaten by a bear. That became Beaten Bear. Rather unfair seeing I won the fight."
Bear moved closer to her, reached out and took hold of a large amount of her hair. A quick slice with a knife and he was holding that large skein of her hair.
"That's just a reminder to your parents that I'm serious," he told her.
Jenny touched the now extremely short hair on one side of her head, furious. She glared at Bear but kept her mouth shut. He was probably right. Seeing her hair like that would certainly drive the point home as to what might have happened.
"Now seeing I'm being all nice and considerate and not killing you I think it only fair that I have a little reward before I go."
And just what did he mean by that, Jenny wondered? She wasn't left wondering long.
Bear was still standing very close to her. His hand caught the collar of her dress and pulled it out slightly. His knife flashed and Jenny could hear a tearing sound as he slashed downwards. She guessed he showed quite good knife skills, slitting her dress from top to bottom without touching her at all. Those knife skills did not impress her, especially as he continued his demonstration with her underclothes. A few quick slashes and he rendered her naked, rags pooled around her feet.
Jenny stared at Bear in shock. She couldn't believe he'd done that. She was naked. She was even more shocked moments later when his loin cloth also dropped to the floor. Suddenly she knew precisely what his intentions were. She just didn't know what to do about it. The next thought that came into her head was the fact that she didn't actually know what to do, full stop. What exactly did a man do when he wanted a woman? Animals she understood but she'd never dreamed of applying that knowledge to herself.
"Run," a little voice shrieked at her.
