The Doctor And The Rough Rider Part 7

"Eventually?"

"They are still learning how to control it," said Geronimo. "Little do they know that it cannot be controlled, only aimed like a rifle or an arrow."

Roosevelt frowned. "I'm not sure I understand."

"I will show you."

Geronimo closed his eyes and uttered a chant. Roosevelt tried to follow it, but though he had studied the Apache language, most of the words were unfamiliar to him.

Then, suddenly, a naked warrior with bright red skin, perhaps two feet high, stood on the ground between them. Roosevelt leaned forward and studied him. His red face was almost that of a skeleton's, but it was somehow capable of expression, and right now it was frowning and glowering. His arms were as long as an ape's, and ended not in hands or paws, but in flames.

"What is it?"

"The man Edison would call it a test model," answered Geronimo. "It is a creation of my rivals and your enemies. It has a name, but you cannot p.r.o.nounce it. The closest approximation is War Bonnet."

"And this is what the other tribes are sending against us?" asked Roosevelt.

"That is correct."

"I could smash his head with my pistol right now," offered Holliday. "Or put a bullet through it."

"This is not War Bonnet," said Geronimo, "but merely what he will look like."

Roosevelt reached out for the image, and his hand pa.s.sed right through it. "If that's the worst they can do, I don't think we've got much to worry about," he said.

"As I said, it is only a model. This is what the true War Bonnet will look like when they are done with him." Geronimo muttered another chant, and suddenly the image of War Bonnet began growing taller and broader, the flames that were his hands become longer and brighter, his skeleton's face grew more fearsome, and when he finally reached his full height the top of his head towered some twelve feet above the ground.

"Interesting," commented Roosevelt.

"He is not just a giant, but will have powers even I cannot guess at," added Geronimo.

"He's a couple of feet taller than the biggest grizzly I've ever seen."

"And mighty few grizzlies can reach out and set you on fire," added Holliday.

"Will he be able to shoot those flames like arrows?" asked Roosevelt.

"Almost certainly," answered Geronimo.

"And he'll have other powers too?"

Geronimo nodded. "Many." He paused. "I will make him vanish now."

"No," said Roosevelt, pulling a notebook out of a pocket. "I'm not much of an artist, but let me sketch him so I can show Tom what we're up against."

"Tom?" repeated the Apache.

"Edison."

"The White Eyes have too many names," declared Geronimo.

"His whole name is Thomas Alva Edison," said Holliday with a smile.

"You are sure?"

"As sure as my name's John Henry Holliday."

Geronimo snorted but made no reply.

"Okay, I'm done," said Roosevelt a moment later, putting the notebook away. Geronimo made a gesture and the image of War Bonnet vanished.

"I've got a question, if I may," said Holliday.

Geronimo turned to him. "Ask."

"You're the most powerful medicine man of them all. Why can't you just magic War Bonnet away, send him back to whatever h.e.l.l they pulled him out of?"

"His magic is too strong for that-or it will be, once he truly exists," answered Geronimo. "They know better than to create a creature that I can scatter on the winds."

"Let me make sure I understand our agreement," said Roosevelt. "You lift the spell, and I agree to fight War Bonnet with help from Edison or anyone else I can enlist?" He paused, frowning. "We have an army. Why don't I just send for it?"

"Your army cannot cross the river, for I cannot lift the spell with all of the other medicine men arrayed against me," answered Geronimo. "First they must be defeated. Only then can I lift the spell."

"Not much of a bargain," commented Holliday. "Especially since you admit that sooner or later we're going to spread across the river anyway. Did I hear that right?"

"You heard it right," confirmed Geronimo.

"You didn't ask him the operative question, Doc," said Roosevelt.

"What question was that?" asked Holliday.

Roosevelt turned to Geronimo. "If the spell isn't lifted, when will we freely cross the river and settle the land to the Pacific Ocean?"

Geronimo opened both hands, extended his fingers, then closed them and repeated the process seven more times.

"Eighty years," said Roosevelt. "Almost everyone who is alive today, even newborn infants, will be dead by then." He grimaced. "That's why I have to do this, Doc. It is our manifest destiny to reach from one coast to the other. I can't make an entire nation wait for more than three-quarters of a century because I find the task daunting." He reached his hand out. "Goyathlay, we have a deal."

Geronimo took his hand. "It is not written that you shall succeed," he said grimly. "Only that you are the best of them."

"Doc and I have to get back to Tombstone and meet with Edison," said Roosevelt, getting to his feet. "How long will you remain here?"

"I leave tonight," answered Geronimo.

"How will I find you if I need to confer with you?"

"Holliday knows."

Geronimo didn't say another word, but somehow his warriors knew to bring Roosevelt's and Holliday's horses and weapons, and shortly thereafter they were heading back to Tombstone across the parched landscape.

A single hawk, riding the hot thermals, circled overhead. Finally it swooped down, diving directly toward Roosevelt. When it was some thirty yards away its wings turned to flames, the same flames Roosevelt had seen at the ends of War Bonnet's arms.

"Soon!" promised the hawk, and vanished just before it reached him.

HOLLIDAY, ROOSEVELT, AND MASTERSON sat on cow hide furniture in Edison's living room. Edison himself emerged from a kitchen, bringing them coffee on a copper tray.

"Ned will be here in a few minutes," he announced. "He's just finis.h.i.+ng up some work in his lab."

"I don't want to sound unduly nervous," said Roosevelt, "but I have to ask: Is it safe to sit here with my back to a window?"

Holliday chuckled at that, and even Masterson smiled.

"Have I said something funny?" asked Roosevelt, trying to hide his irritation.

"Theodore, nothing inimical can get within a quarter mile of the house without my knowing it-on land or in the air. Pull your gun and take a shot at the window in question."

Roosevelt frowned. "Shoot at the window?" he repeated.

"That's right."

"Stand back, Bat," said Edison. "Just in case."

Masterson got up and walked to the center of the room as Roosevelt pulled his pistol out of its holster, took aim at the window, and fired. The bullet flattened against the window and careened off very near to where Masterson had been sitting.

"Well, I'll be..." said Roosevelt, obviously impressed. "That's truly remarkable, Thomas."

"I developed it about two years ago," answered Edison. "The problem is, I haven't found an inexpensive way to make it. It's effective, but it's exorbitant. I use the gla.s.s only on the house. Oh, and of course on Ned's next door."

Roosevelt leaned back on his chair. "Well, that a.s.suages one worry."

"Just one?"

"You've been out here for three years. I've never seen a manifestation of magic until today."

Edison smiled. "I view it as a different scientific system. The effects can be startling, even frightening, but it obeys laws, just as science does. The trick is to find out what those laws are and to learn how to negate or contravene them."

"Maybe we can get you together with Geronimo," suggested Roosevelt, picking up a cup and sipping his coffee. "You're both on the same side, so perhaps he can educate you in his system's laws."

"He'll never do it," said Holliday firmly.

"I agree," said Masterson, lighting up a cigar.

"But-" began Roosevelt.

"Trust me," said Holliday. "I know him better than any of you. We were his enemy until a few months ago. We're still not his friends, just a perceived inevitability. He's not going to turn over any secrets to any of us, and especially not to Tom."

Roosevelt turned to Edison. "Do you agree with that appraisal?"

Edison nodded his head. "Doc's summed it up. We're not his friends, and we're not his allies. We're an inevitable force that he's willing to accommodate, nothing more."

A burly, balding man entered the room from the enclosed pa.s.sageway that joined the two houses together.

"h.e.l.lo, all," said Ned Buntline. "How did the meeting with Geronimo go?"

"The spell's still in effect," said Roosevelt.

"Figures," said Buntline. "He didn't send for you just to say, 'Here, Theodore-the continent's yours.' What does he want from you?"

"You're very perceptive," remarked Roosevelt with a smile.

"If he was going to lift it without something in return, it'd be gone already. And if he just wanted someone killed, he'd never send for you when Doc was already obligated to him for springing him out of that jail in Leadville."

"That's what I'm here to discuss," said Roosevelt. "Ever hear of someone or something called War Bonnet?"

"No," said Buntline and Edison in unison.

Roosevelt spent the next few minutes describing the huge apparition.

"What can he do?" asked Edison. "Which is to say, what are his powers?"

"I don't know," answered Roosevelt. "In fact, I don't know for a fact that he has any, other than the strength that goes with that physique."

"Oh, he's got them, all right," said Edison. "If physical strength was all they wanted to imbue it with, they could make it the king of the grizzlies, huge and invulnerable." He turned to Buntline. "Right, Ned?"

"I agree. They didn't need to make this creature just to combat you, Theodore. They've got the warriors from half a hundred tribes to do that."

"May I offer an idea?" said Masterson.

"Certainly."

"Could this thing have been created to face an American regiment if Geronimo finds a way to lift the spell without their consent?"

Edison and Buntline exchanged looks.

"Makes sense to me," said Buntline at last.

"I don't know," said Edison. "I think we're missing some necessary information."

"What do you mean?" asked Roosevelt.

"Theodore, I'm sure you and Bat made excellent time coming out here, and caused no undue commotions along the way, but believe me, you couldn't have kept your presence secret from all the other medicine men, even if none of them are quite as powerful as Geronimo. They could have attacked you at any time along the way. And that means you might not be the only reason this War Bonnet was created, or is being created, or will be created."

"Makes sense," said Holliday.

"It makes sense, but it means we're still in the dark," said Buntline, taking a proffered cigar from Masterson and lighting up. "What do the other tribes plan to do? How do they plan to negate Geronimo's magic and keep you from doing whatever it is Geronimo wants you to do?"

"He wants me to kill or neutralize this War Bonnet," said Roosevelt.

"Well, I'm sure he wants that too," said Buntline, "but he's a devious old devil, even when he's on our side. And somehow he always gets what he wants. The trick is to figure out on the front end just what that is."