Charlotte realized that she feared this mindset as much as she feared members of the tribes.  As she watched, men on horseback with guns took up positions along the margins of the caravan, but not, she noticed, at the very back.  She would have to take care of herself.  To that end, she halted the horses just long enough to find the Colt and the rifle and place them next to her.  She couldn’t dwell on the likelihood of having to use them.

After what seemed like endless tense hours, the afternoon finally closed and the wagons halted for the day.  There had been no attack.  No one was dead, not even the old woman with the vapors.  With his sure grasp of the landscape, the young pilot had brought them home again to grass and water.  Charlotte was certain, however, that there would be no violin music tonight.  Instead, all concerned would sit grim-faced by their fires and armies of sentries would be posted around the clock.

Charlotte bent over her small fire, intent on adding fried onions to last night’s beans even though she might not be able to get them down.  She saw the rider coming and waited, seeking relief of her terrible anxiety, praying it was Ellis Gray.  Instead she found herself made even more anxious by the sweet but troubled face of Miller Dawson.

“Would it be all right if I joined you for a bit?” he said.

“If you do, you have to eat.”

He tied up his horse, a tentative smile competing with what seemed to be serious worries of his own.  “I’d welcome that,” he said.  “I wouldn’t ever pass up the offer of a meal.”

He sat down and she handed him a plate.  “And while you’re eating I’m sorry to be impolite, but I have questions that need to be answered pretty quickly.”

Miller nodded and swallowed. “That’s why I’m here.”

“Then the first one is…” she started to say, then halted.  “I’ve got another one before that.  Miller, do you notice that my hair’s all chopped off?”  She had a hard time believing a person like him existed.

He appeared, with his innocent, guileless face, to be seeing her hair for the first time.

“Looks nice that way.”

Charlotte would have laughed if she didn’t feel so sick. “My real question is where’s Ellis?”

“In the council meeting, that’s what I came to tell you, and it’s not going so good.”

Charlotte bowed her head with relief.  “Thank God.  He’s not dead then, or gone forever or anything.”

“No, ma’am.  He’s right here.”