The Iron Horseman by Kelli Ann Morgan Page B

ached from the tumble.
    “Excuse
me,” she said without looking at him. “I’m quite all right. If you could just
put me down…”
    “Oh,
yes. Of course.”
    Once
her feet were secured solidly on the ground, she took a small step backward.
    Levi
cleared his throat. There were pressing matters that needed his attention. He
would deal with his growing attraction toward Miss Walker soon enough.
    “James,”
Levi called out to the conductor as he ran toward a groaning man, “what
happened here?” Levi asked, fearing escalation between the railroad and the
natives. He threw his hands through his hair and briefly closed his eyes to the
all too vivid memories of battle.
    The
conductor shrugged, his arm bleeding through a tear in his shirt sleeve. “It
looks like we hit a barricade. You there,” James called to one of the seemingly
uninjured crewmen, “take this man over to that tree. We’ll need to collect all
of the wounded together.” He turned to Levi as he started toward the engine.
“I’m heading up to the front. I don’t know what we hit, but Buck should be able
to tell us what happened and there’s bound to be more injuries up there.”
    James
was as close to a medic as they had on board. Those who’d suffered injuries
would be better in his hands than any other here.
    Levi
looked down to where a man leaned against an uprooted railroad tie, a bone
protruding grotesquely from his leg. Suddenly, the magnitude of what had just
happened hit him and he dropped his hands to his knees, gasping for air.
    The
distant noise of cannon fire echoed in Levi’s ears, penetrating that moment
where memories collide with reality. It was out of place, but Levi ducked out
of instinct. He shook his hung head, desperately trying to rid his mind of the
painful battle where he’d lost so many good men.
    “Mr.
Redbourne?” Someone called to him from a distant place.
    The
rhythmic thumping of Levi’s heart blocked out all other sound. His breathing increased
and he began to pant heavily as he watched in his mind’s eye as soldiers under
his command fell one by one to the earth, soot-stained and weary. Dead.
    “Mr.
Redbourne?” The voice grew louder.
    He
clenched his fists, willing the vivid recollections of his past to vanish.
    It’s
not real.
    As
his sight regained focus, a woman’s dark brown eyes snared his, drawing him
back to the present. Her lips repeating his name over and over.
    Snap
out of it, Redbourne.
    Levi
held Cadence’s searching eyes, his vision clear. She was scared. He grabbed her
shoulders. “Are you all right?” he asked urgently.
    She
took a deep breath. “No. Are you?”
    “Why
don’t you go sit down over ther—” he glanced around, realizing that there was
nowhere for her to go that would remove her from the devastation that
surrounded them. Mounds of rubble and debris, splintered off from the train,
extended across the tracks and down both sides with shocking devastation. The
first few cars appeared to have taken the brunt of the damage. One of the supply
coaches, the livery car, and the caboose were still coupled together and sat
only at a slight angle off the tracks.
    Through
the haze, he could see horses, cows, and sheep littering the countryside, running
amuck in the background. It had been wise for someone to let the animals out to
prevent further damage. It looked as if the remainder of the train might tip
over at any minute.
    “I
don’t want to sit, Mr. Redbourne,” she said. “I can help. Let me.”
    Levi
nodded. “Go find James. He headed up to the locomotive to check on Buck, the
engineer.”
    Cadence
ran straightway toward the head of the train.
    Levi’s
stomach turned at the acrid stench of burned flesh. Smoke burned his nostrils
and stung his eyes. He wiped the back of his hand across his face to clear the
haze-induced tears. Bodies lay prostrate amidst the ruin of supplies that had
been scattered from the lead cars. Battered and bloody, those men who were able
carried the