“You realize Lynx will never let you hear the end of it?” Hickok mentioned.
Blade rolled his eyes skyward. “Don’t I know it.”
Hickok glanced at Geronimo. “And what the blazes happened to you?”
“I stole a jeep and headed for Denver,” Geronimo disclosed. “I looked all over for you before I left, but all I found was your rifle.”
“You found my Henry?” Hickok exclaimed happily.
“It’s in the SEAL,” Geronimo said. “Boone and his men arrived a little while before I took off, so I knew Bertha and Joshua were in good hands.”
He hesitated. “How are they, anyway?”
Hickok smiled. “The Healers say they’ll both pull through.”
“Thank the Spirit,” Geronimo stated in relief.
Hickok gazed at the west wall. “We’ve been busy rebuilding. The bridge was our first job.”
Blade draped his right arm over his friend’s shoulders. “You can tell us all about it. Later. Right now, I want to see Jenny.”
“And I must see Cynthia,” Geronimo mentioned.
They started to walk away from the stream. Hickok stepped to one side and looked back, over the bridge. “Shouldn’t one of us let your men know it’s safe to come in?”
Blade laughed. “I almost forgot about them!”
“Some commander you are,” Hickok quipped.
“I’ll let them know,” Teucer volunteered, and ran off.
Blade stretched. “It feels good to be at our Home again.”
“I’ll echo that,” Geronimo concurred.
Rikki nodded knowingly. “We should give thanks for our deliverance.”
Yama suddenly sniffed the air. “Is that roast venison I detect?”
“You’re just in time for a shindig we’re throwin’,” Hickok said.
They threaded their way through the rows of military vehicles.
“Say,” Hickok remarked, struck by a thought. “Where the blazes is Kilrane?”
“He’s in South Dakota with the Cavalry,” Blade answered. “His horses couldn’t keep pace with our vehicles on a long haul, so we came on by ourselves. We plan to hold a summit meeting in a month.”
“Jenny and Cynthia will be tickled pink to see you,” Hickok predicted.
“How is Sherry?” Blade inquired.
“She was injured during the attack,” Hickok informed them. “But she’s okay. Actually,” he said, and lowered his voice so only Blade and Geronimo could overhear, “we’ve been busy making babies.”
Geronimo stopped so abruptly the others almost ran into him. “You’ve been doing what?” he demanded in a loud tone.
Hickok placed his right index finger over his lips. “Shhhh! Not so blamed loud, pard! Do you want the whole world to know?”
Geronimo cupped his hands around his mouth. “Hickok and Sherry are baby-making!” he shouted.
“Shhhhhh!” Hickok frantically motioned for Geronimo to pipe down.
“Beware, world!” Geronimo cried. “I don’t think you’re ready for another Hickok!”
The gunman feigned outraged indignation. “You dang-blasted, mangy, good-for-nothin’ Injun! I should of known better than to tell you! You’re a regular gossip, you know that? The Elders ought to appoint you as our official town crier!”
Blade smiled. Things were back to normal. And, for the first time in months, he felt genuine happiness pervading his soul. This was what it was all about, he told himself. The Home, the Family, his loved ones and friends together, sharing their lives, their joys, and their sorrows, encountering life’s difficulties and emerging from their trials even closer than before.
It didn’t get any better than this.
And he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Epilogue
A year passed, a time of relative tranquility.
Toland was elected President of the Civilized Zone, and a representative legislature was duly installed. A constitution was drafted insuring everyone their fundamental rights.
The Flathead Indians were freed from their slave labor in the Civilized Zone and returned to Montana. A delegation arrived at the Home and, after considerable soul-searching, Star, the Indian princess, decided to rejoin her tribe. Before leaving, she signed a treaty between the Flatheads and the Home.
Months were required, but eventually the Home was completely rebuilt.
A new drawbridge was installed, only this one was designed to open by swinging outward instead of inward, this enabling the Family to preserve the new bridge.
Joshua, Bertha, Samson, and Gremlin all recovered. Joshua became the undisputed spiritual sage in the Family. Samson again took up his duties as a Warrior. Bertha received the highest honor she could imagine: she was relegated to Warrior status to replace one of the four lost. Three other Warriors were also selected: Sundance, Helen, and Marcus.
By deciphering the Doktor’s four blue notebooks, the Elders discovered the source of the premature senility: the Doktor had poisoned their water supply, the stream, by installing time-released chemical canisters in the stream above the moat. The notebooks detailed the location of the seven canisters, and specified the antidote for the senility.
Plato recovered his vitality and strength and, to Blade’s relief, retained his position as Family Leader.
Both Blade and Hickok became fathers to newborn sons during the course of the year. Hickok assisted in the delivery of his, and Sherry afterward claimed she hardly noticed her labor because she was too busy laughing at Hickok’s antics.
About a year after the siege, the Family, the Civilized Zone, the Clan, the Moles, the Cavalry, and the Flathead Indians held one of their periodic conclaves. The respective heads unanimously agreed the time was propitious for discovering the fate of the rest of the country after World War III. Accordingly, they decided to send an expedition east of the Mississippi to ascertain if the terrifying rumors they had heard were true.
Because of its impervious body and its lethal armament, the SEAL was chosen as the appropriate vehicle. Volunteers were called for, and all of the Warriors offered to go on the mission.
Three were selected.
But that is a tale for another day.