Galen rushed to Jo. She threw her arms around him and pressed her good cheek against his chest.
“I thought you were dead!” She hugged him as hard as she could with her eyes closed. Thank you, Lord, thank you.
He pushed her back and his hands clasped each side of her head. He turned her face up. His eyes were the color of ice. The worry in them melted her heart. “I’m sorry I didn’t get back sooner,” he said. “Are you all right?” He pushed a few locks of her hair behind her ear.
Jo smiled and nodded. There was a faint odor of smoke about him. She stepped back and gaped at the small, singed holes all over his T-shirt. “Galen, what happened? Are you Ok?” She clutched his forearm lightly and ran her fingers down the scorched T-shirt, until they came in contact with his flesh through a tear. She withdrew her hands.
“Yeah…uh…just a little fire. No big deal.” He brushed his shirt with quick strokes of his hands. Charred threads broke off and floated away.
Jo’s eyes locked on a small glimpse of skin. “Are you hurt?” Her voice wavered.
“Hey.” He lifted her chin and smiled at her. “I’m Ok.”
“What happened to that scythe thing?” She asked him.
“What? That toothpick?” He smirked.
She looked from his sweet eyes to his full lips and back. She breathed out a discreet sigh.
“You’re a tough girl, Jo,” he praised her, his voice low and quiet.
Her heart swelled. She wanted so much to—
A hand touched her shoulder. “Hi. Remember me?”
“Dove!” Jo turned from Galen and embraced her friend. “Are you all right? Oh, my gosh—when he grabbed you—”
“I’m fine,” Dove answered. “Thanks to Galen.” She threw a smile of gratitude at him and looked back at Jo. Curiosity and confusion swirled together in her blue eyes. “Are you all right?”
Jo nodded, gingerly touching the back of her neck. She wiped a trace of blood onto the side of her shorts.
“What happened to you, Jo?”
“It’s a long story.” She grinned wearily.
Dove’s eyes glided over Jo’s hands, her clawed arms and legs, and her bloodied shirt. She cringed. “Oh…Jo.” Her voice was just a whisper.
“I’m Ok, Dove. Really. Are you? Did he hurt you?”
Dove sniffed and shook her head.
Mike limped over to them with a crooked form. His good arm was behind him, rubbing his lower back. There was a new purple bruise on his left cheek bone.
“Hey, man, are you all right?” Galen asked him, reaching for his hand.
Mike gripped Galen’s hand and shook it. “Nothing a shot of morphine won’t cure.” His tone was droll; he grinned. “But I’m Ok. And you?” He was looking at Galen’s shirt.
“Yeah, but you should see the other guy.”
Mike chuckled. He turned to Jo and reached out for her. Galen had to move over. “Jo, thank God you’re Ok.” His eyes tried to connect with hers, but she only looked at places on his face, and was acutely aware of Galen's posture as he stepped aside to let Mike close to her.
Mike embraced Jo and pressed his head against hers. She could smell the cave dirt on his clothes. The sweat on his skin mingled with hers. She patted his back. The hug was too long and she delicately wiggled out of it. “I thank God you guys are Ok,” Jo told him, withdrawing from him. His arms drifted away from her. There was something new in his eyes and she was afraid to look at it.
“How’d you know where to find us?” Mike asked.
Jo drew a breath to answer—
“Hellooo.”
“Lary!” Dove grabbed the lantern and dashed over to him.
In the harsh light, his body, fully revealed, made Jo grimace. He hung like a trapped animal, torn and bloody. Dove lifted his head and pushed back the damp hair stuck to his sweaty brow. He struggled to stay on his feet and keep his weight off his arms.
They gathered around him. Mike examined the bracelets on his wrists and the chains that bound him to the cave wall. He grabbed the chain on one side and jerked it hard, again and again, but it was embedded solidly in the rock.
“Allow me.” Galen grasped the chain and yanked it. A link snapped in the middle. He reached for the one on the other side and yanked it, and the same thing happened.
Lary’s arms fell to his sides; he started to collapse. Dove and Jo moved under his arms and eased him to his knees. The bracelets still circled his wrists and a short length of chain hung off both of them.
“Galen! What the heck?” Mike marveled. “How’d you do that?”
All eyes were on him.
“It’s no big deal guys. The links were rusted. I figured a good hard yank would bust ‘em. I got lucky.” He hunched his shoulders and there was no hint of conceit in his face.
Jo was gazing up at him, unaware of the pride bathing her expression, until she sensed Dove staring at her from the other side of Lary’s chest.
“What’s going on?” Dove whispered, speaking underneath Lary’s chin.
“What?” Jo affected an innocent expression.
“You and…” she nodded her head at Galen.
Jo dropped her eyes. “Nothin’.” She knew her cheeks were bright red; they burned like hot coals. She tried to hide them by shaking her hair so it would fall down the sides of her face.
“All right, people, let’s get out of here,” Galen said.
Dove and Jo helped Lary to his feet.
“Can you walk?” Galen asked him.
“Yeah,” Lary answered. “Just let me get my sea legs. Let go, girls.” He took a couple of wobbly steps and a few more steady ones. The chains dangled from his wrists. He grabbed them with his hands. “Ahh—weapons,” he stated with his hoarse voice.
The grey links swung in the lantern light—not a spot of rust on them.
Galen picked up the lantern.
“You think he’s waiting for us?” Mike asked him.
“Maybe. But, I don’t think he’d risk taking us on all by himself.”
Not with you here. Jo gazed at Galen as if she was seeing him for the first time.
She walked over to pick up the branch that had been thrown across the cave. The white bark was smooth on the tips of her fingers. She wiped the bloodied end of the stick in the dirt. “These make good weapons,” she told her friends. “Aspen makes them weak—they’re afraid of it.”
“Jo, warrior princess,” Mike said with a tone of pride.
She turned her head, amused by his words. He grinned and winked a tired, bloodshot eye. She flashed a grin and turned her attention back to the branch.
“How are we going to get down this hill?” Dove asked.