ikissdhimbck: (Farmland Home Big Sky Country)
Katherine "Kissin' Kate" Barlow ([personal profile] ikissdhimbck) wrote2012-11-12 11:34 pm

OOM: Kate Barlow | Mireille & Hildegard -- Texas, 1888

Things are going her way.

It's enough to make her nervous.

She's superstitious in her own way, but it don't take soothsayers and bad portents to predict that someone with Kate's kind of luck, reputation, and price on her head is soon for a bad turn. Oakville went real smooth with Ace Lehane on her hip. She stayed for some time, and found two more able-bodied men willing to make the trek to Cuero.

Well.

Able-bodied enough. Texas may be suffering drought, but there are plenty of fish to be found in the local saloons, weathered lips wrapped around a bottle. It don't make no never mind to Kate, so long as they know what they're doing.

(And she's made it clear their vices won't be affecting the job, or else.)


She left them with three weeks to get their affairs in order and meet her in Yorktown. A date, a time, and the name of the place she'll be; that's all she gave. The boy said he could arrange for some ponies, and she's entrusted that responsibility to him. There's still one more stop she's got to make on that count, and she'd rather do it alone.


She cuts the same trail she took a month ago — or a year ago, factoring in all the time at Milliways — heading north past Beeville and bypassing Kenedy, heading toward Cuero. It's empty land out this way, mostly desert save for the one river that feeds the cities. Nothing much changes.

It's odd, then, to see the brand new crater in the earth.

Beaut whinnies, starting from a trot to a canter.

"Whoa! What's the matter, darlin'?"

She gently pulls the horse to a stop despite her protests, and walks her in a slow circle. Bobbing her head and pulling at her reins, Beaut's sides heave under Kate's thighs. She frowns, patting her neck until she manages to calm down.

It is strange. It looks like something big made an impact and dragged away toward the river.

"Okay. S'okay. We're jus' gonna see what that's about, sweetheart. S'all gonna be all right."

Beaut's less than convinced, but walks ahead at Kate's gentle prompting, following the strange tracks down to a shallow gully cozied right up to the river's edge.

There are bones. Lots of bones. Mostly cattle, by the looks of it.