Spartacus leaned over and glared at the soldier. “You know, friend, you have a big mouth. Around here we don’t like big mouths. In fact, if someone’s mouth is too big, if they don’t know when to keep it shut, we solve the problem by nipping it in the bud, so to speak. We slice their tongue off. Keeping that in mind, is there anything else you’d like to say today?”
The Watcher vigorously shook his head.
“Didn’t think so,” Spartacus said, replacing his broadsword. He glanced at Seiko. “What did get into him?” he asked.
Seiko, his Oriental features furrowed in contemplation, shrugged.
“Now don’t you get inscrutable on me,” Spartacus stated. “You were closer to the doorway. Did you hear anything? What got him so upset?”
Seiko stared at the front door, the corners of his mouth turning downward. “Joan,” he answered simply.
Spartacus nodded, understanding completely. “Poor guy. He needs something to take his mind off of her,” he commented.
Outside, Hickok was twenty yards from C Block, stalking across the compound, oblivious to the questioning stares of other Family members.
His mind whirled, recalling the softness of Joan’s lips on his, remembering that horrible instant when she was killed by the Trolls, and reeling from the inadvertent rebuke of Jenny’s words to Blade.
Dear Spirit!
How true!
How very true!
He had been aloof, telling Joan he was reluctant to “rush” into anything either of them would regret. And now look at him! His only regret was that Joan was gone.
“Hickok!”
He heard her call his name and turned.
Sherry rushed into his arms and hugged him with all of her strength.
Her warm breath was intoxicating as she smothered him with kisses.
“Thank God you’re alive!” she finally exclaimed. “I was so worried! I was afraid they’d kill you!”
Hickok, his face flushed, held her in his arms. “I felt the same way when I saw you lying on the ground. I thought I’d lost you too.”
Her lips lightly touched his own. “Don’t worry, lover. I’m sticking around for the duration.”
“I hope so,” he confided, “because we’re getting married in four days and I’d look pretty stupid taking the vows by myself.”
Sherry, utterly flabbergasted, stepped back. “We’re getting what?”
“Married,” Hickok reiterated. “Some of us refer to it as a binding, to bind together in an eternal union. If we…”
She gripped him so hard her nails bit into his arms. “You’re really serious?”
“Never been more serious about anything in my entire life,” he solemnly affirmed.
“But this is so sudden, so unexpected,” Sherry noted. “Are you sure?”
“How many times do I have to tell you?” Hickok asked. “Yes, I’m sure.”
“I just don’t want you to do something you’ll regret later,” she remarked.
“And why would I do that?”
“Because I might be getting you on the rebound,” Sherry observed.
Hickok smiled. “The only thing I’m on the rebound from is stupidity. I don’t intend to make the same major mistake twice in one lifetime.”
“I don’t understand,” she admitted.
He kissed her on the right cheek. “The only thing you need to understand is that I care for you. We’ve been together… what?… three, four weeks now. If you think you need more time to settle how you feel in your own mind…”
“No! I know how I feel,” she assured him. “You already know I love you.”
“Well, then,” Hickok said impatiently, “will you marry me or not?”
Sherry threw her arms around his neck. “Oh, I will! I will! You big dummy! Do you think I’d pass up a chance like this? Of course,” she added, “I will feel somewhat guilty.”
“Guilty? Why?”
“For taking advantage of you while you’re obviously suffering from temporary insanity!” She laughed heartily and kissed him passionately.
“This could get to be a habit,” he declared when they came up for air.
“The best habit I’ve ever found!” Sherry said, giggling. “Hey! Do you realize you’ve just kissed me in public? In public! I thought you were the one who never makes a display of his affections?”
“Every rule has exceptions,” he retorted gruffly, “and this is a special case.”
“I’m glad,” she sighed.
“But I want you to know,” Hickok stated gravely, “that I’m not making any promises. I’m not going to say we’ll have a life of ease, because we probably won’t. And I won’t give up being a Warrior, no matter what. And just because we’re get tin’ hitched doesn’t mean you have a license to nag.
Another thing. If I say I don’t like a particular food, then I don’t want to see it on my dinner table. And if…”
Sherry quickly kissed him, aborting the diatribe.
“Perfect timing,” someone else remarked, “or he’d have gone on like that until nightfall.” The speaker, a woman, chuckled.
Hickok and Sherry turned and found Blade and Jenny only a yard behind them.
“Did we catch the gist of that?” Jenny inquired. “Did he just propose to you?”
“Yes!” Sherry exclaimed. “Do you believe it?”
Jenny looked fondly up at Blade. “Oh, I believe it, all right. Marriage proposals seem to be contagious today.”
Blade twisted, thoughtfully staring at C Block for a moment. Then he faced Hickok and nodded. “These women must have drugged our food yesterday. For all we know, the Family could have a marriage epidemic on its hands.”
“So when are you two tying the knot?” Sherry questioned Jenny.
“In four days,” Jenny replied.
“What?” Sherry gasped, surprised. “Hickok said we’re getting married in four days too!”
“Small world, isn’t it?” Blade wryly mentioned.
“I know!” Jenny proposed. “Let’s have a double ceremony!
“Oh! I’d love that!” Sherry said enthusiastically.
Blade moved closer to Hickok and lowered his voice as Jenny and Sherry began discussing the wedding preparations. “Congratulations,” he said softly.
“Thanks, pard,” Hickok responded in a quiet tone.
“Say, Nathan,” Blade commented, curious, “you weren’t behind C Block just a bit ago, were you?”
Hickok nodded, then hastily addressed the women. “Say, ladies. I’ve been thinking.”
“About what?” Sherry asked.
“About our getting hitched. It wouldn’t seem right without Geronimo here to be our best man.” Hickok paused. “Do you reckon we could postpone the ceremony until he gets back?”
Sherry and Jenny glanced at one another, then at Hickok, smiling sweetly.
“No!” was their unanimous answer, delivered in forceful unison.
“Just thought I’d ask,” Hickok said sheepishly.
“Look at this,” Blade interjected. “We haven’t even said ‘I do’ yet, and already they’re bossing us around.”
Hickok stretched and winked at Blade. “You know, this tends to remind me of something my grandfather used to say a lot.”
“What was that?” Blade inquired.
“I recollect my grandpaw telling me that when he first got married,” Hickok reminisced with a twinkle in his blue eyes, “he loved my grandmother so much he could have eaten her alive.”
Sherry and Jenny, all attention, waited for him to finish.
And waited.
“Yeah? So?” Sherry finally goaded him. “So in his later years,” Hickok said, completing the story, “he used to say he was sorry he didn’t!”
Chapter Nineteen
He struggled against the darkness, his own mind balking at the prospect of returning to full consciousness. His head had sustained two severe blows, and the pain was intense, his temples throbbing. He attempted to recall his final memory before he blacked out, but it was indistinct and shrouded in a haze. Slowly, laboriously, his remembrance returned. There was a jumbled picture of a large hole in the ground, of a crater of some sort, of his tomahawk clenched in his right hand, and of… of… what?