Free Savage Splendor (Savage Lagonda 2) by Constance O'Banyon

taught to swim and to survive under much worse circumstances."
    "You are only trying to make me feel better. I saw Palomas's horse and it was dead. I could not bear it if ... if he . . ."
    "Palomas knew as I did that to stay on his horse would mean his death. The flying hoofs would have been very dangerous. He would have gone into the water as we did."
    "I pray it is so, Matio."
    "Look, my queen! I see Palomas! There he reaches for the branch that overhangs the water," Matio said excitedly.
    Mara watched as Palomas grabbed for the tree branch and hauled himself up out of the water. Her heart was racing and she wanted to run to Palomas as he dropped down beside her.
    "I was frightened you had drowned," she cried as she threw herself into his arms.
    He dislodged her hands and pushed her roughly away from him. "I am very angry with you, Mara. You acted unwisely, and are fortunate that you still live. Take heed that I will not tolerate such behavior in the future."
    "You dare to speak to the queen in such a manner?" Matio said, not knowing that on many occasions Palomas had shown Mara how displeased he was with her, and no one had dared object, least of all Mara.
    Palomas's face became a mask of fury as he faced Matio. "I charge you with the fault, Matio. You should have prevented her from trying to make the crossing. You knew it was dangerous."
    "I obey my queen, which is more than I can say for you. I will not stand here and listen to you insult her as if she were a child," the daring, foolish young warrior declared.
    Matio had no time to defend himself as a strong hand shot out and grabbed him by the throat.
    "I should kill you for what you did," Palomas hissed.
    Mara, knowing Palomas's strength, tried to wedge her body between the two men. "Release him, Palomas. It is I who am at fault."
    Suddenly Mara heard two gunshots ring out simultaneously. She saw Palomas release his hold on Matio with a look of disbelief on his face. "Mara," he whispered as he reached out to her and then stumbled backwards to fall into the churning waters below.
    "He has been shot, Matio. Did you see the blood on his chest?" she screamed, but when she looked back to Matio, she saw that his face was covered with blood. Reaching out her hand to him she watched as he crumpled at her feet, face down.
    On the inside Mara was screaming in agony, but no sound issued from her mouth, and she could hear nothing above the raging floodwaters that carried Palomas's body downstream. Her beloved Palomas was dead. She dropped to her knees and tried to turn Matio over. She heard him groan and knew he was badly injured.
    Matio tried to rise, and, getting halfway up, fell backwards. Through a haze of pain he saw the two white men making their way down the side of the bank. Mara was making whimpering sounds as she tried to pull him to his feet. "Get up, Matio, get up," she cried. Clasping her hands together she saw they were covered with blood.
    "Oh, God no!" she screamed. Darkness was closing in around her and she tried to hold it at bay. Her mind could not accept what she had just witnessed. Palomas and Matio were both dead and she, who was the cause of their deaths, was still alive. "No! No!" she screamed and her voice echoed and reechoed around the surrounding canyons. Something inside Mara's mind snapped and she fell to her knees.
    She reached for the golden medallion that hung about her neck and pulled on it until it came loose in her hand. She felt as if a dense fog was closing in on her and everything was spinning around in her head. She slumped forward in total darkness, thinking and feeling nothing. She was surrounded by shadows, and her mind retreated behind a dark curtain.

 
     
     
    5
     
    I seek who I am, I cried out in despair.
    My cry went unheeded, as it danced on the air.
     
    The two trappers made their way down the embankment and stood over Matio's body.
    "Damned thieving redskin," the eldest of the two replied as he kicked Matio with the toe of his