Out of the corner of my eye

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Out of the corner of my eye crept five shadowy figures with their faces smeared black with soot to disguise their Mescalero war paint. One had carelessly forgotten to discard his silver necklace causing it to catch just a few flickers of sunlight as they approached but Star Raven saw them and so did Willow. Drawing their knifes they charged us as Star Raven dropped the sputtering dynamite at her feet drawing first blood with a strike to the throat killing the first brave instantly dropping stone dead between us. The second swung his knife across my chest only tearing my shirt with his rusty blade but I lunged forward with the Bowie piercing his heart as his blood sprayed my face until he fell also. With just three left there was only one thing to do so with Willow in one arm and Star Raven in the other we jumped off the ledge just as the dynamite exploded. The force of the blast blew my shirt completely off my back but it also pushed us over some jagged rocks below and into the only sand dunes located just under the cliff dwelling's. The back of my butt was a little singed but we were safe and alive and I hugged Star Raven as Willow licked both our faces.

I don't remember much after that but Star Raven told me Mrs. Thompson was the first to reach us, followed by Bacho and then a hat-less Captain Thompson who was still swearing about his horse. If it hadn't been for Mrs. Thompson and her box of dynamite we may have never made it out alive and as it happens no Mescalero's did on that day truth be told. I lived another ten years on the post after what was to be known as the Mescalero Cliff Killings and became an army scout and interpreter with Willow who never left my side. The Captain and Mrs. Thompson kind of became my parents and I help them move to Arizona in their later years when Indian fighting was now just a thing of the past. I bought some land in New Mexico after my army days and worked in the towns telegraph office and then agent for the United States mail and even drove stagecoach with trusty Willow riding shotgun. Bacho and Star Raven had disappeared into the New Mexico wilderness after that day and where never to be seen again but I did hear tell that Bacho was welcomed back into his tribe and took two young wives with one expecting?

When Willow died in her tenth year I was overcome with grief but when life ends so does it begin and for me a beautiful woman named Sarah appeared. It always seem to me that our souls were intertwined having lived in another place and time if you are to believe in such things. Together our love replaced sadness and our joy replace loss as we journeyed through life on its path together. When I said from the beginning of my story that Sara was terrified of death it wasn't true at all because it was I with the fear and not her. She reassured me that we would be together again and that her passing would not be the end but a new beginning for both of us. I visit her daily in our town's cemetery and bring her flowers from the Mexican Blue Sage which was always her favorite when they flowered in the spring and sometimes it's almost dark when I leave after long talks and past memories. And as I walk away to face another day without her I repeat her name in my heart with a kiss from my soul, good night once again my dear love of my life, good night my sweet princess my Sara “Star Raven” Taylor.

The end