Scorching Ground, page 5
The bad weather was just one more thing to add to the growing list of things to put him in a foul mood. He’d already endured driving through snow during the long drive from the university to the little town of West Yellowstone - which looked like nothing but a tourist trap - even being almost buried in snow. It was still the off-season, but Shelby had told him that the town would become much busier when Yellowstone Park opened to the public in a couple of days.
Austin’s gaze followed a large bird as if flew low over the river. It was dark with a white head and white tail. That had to be an eagle. He’d only seen a few of these birds before, but definitely not flying so close to the ground. The bird of prey was probably looking for some fish. Ducks and geese were everywhere on the water, and some huddled closer together or sought the safety of the icy riverbanks as the raptor passed overhead.
The truck slowed, and Austin took his eyes off the river and looked straight ahead. A group of buffalo lumbered along on the road, moving about as fast as a turtle going uphill. He shifted in his seat and sighed.
“What’s the matter?”
Shelby’s voice sounded louder than it really was in the quiet that had passed between them until now. Austin didn’t turn to look at her but rather kept his eyes on the buffalo herd. Shelby’s truck was close enough to the animals that she might bump into one.
“Can’t they move faster, or get out of the way?” Austin’s gaze was locked on the backside of one of the creatures right in front of them. While his irritation grew that they were slowed down by the lumbering beasts, so did a small sense of awe. Other than in photographs, this was the first time he’d even seen a buffalo. These creatures certainly didn’t look as majestic.
“I’ll get around them, but I don’t want to push them into running,” Shelby said. “You’ll just have to be a little bit patient.”
“Honk your horn or something.” Surely that would scare them into moving off to the side of the road.
Shelby’s head moved so she was looking at him rather than straight ahead. “These animals are exhausted from a long and brutal winter. They’re skin and bones right now. I’m not going to force them into moving faster than they want to. I will push through the group and they’ll move over, but I’m certainly not going to honk my horn. It wouldn’t really do much, anyways.”
Austin shifted his focus slightly to look at her out of the corner of his eyes. Shelby didn’t sound mad, just very passionate about what she was saying. He sighed again and settled into his seat.
“How far is it to the hot spring?”
“We should get there in about forty minutes once we get through the group of bison, and if we don’t encounter any others further down the road.” She paused, then spoke again. “You know, most - if not all - people who come to the park and see bison for the first time are a bit more excited about the encounter. You could at least pretend to show an interest.”
Austin frowned. He crossed his hands over his chest. “I didn’t come here to see buffaloes,” he mumbled. “I just want to get the samples and get back to the university. It’s going to be late before I get back, and I hate driving in the dark.”
Shelby shrugged. “You’re the one who didn’t want to meet early in the morning.”
Austin finally turned his head. Annoyance made the skin on his arms prickle. This outing was such a waste of time. “You shouldn’t have insisted I personally come to collect samples. It would have been better for both of us if you’d just gotten them and brought them to the lab.”
Shelby laughed. “I don’t think so. Like I told you before, you need to do your part on this project, and that includes going out into the field.”
“And I’ve said I am doing my part by doing all the lab research.”
By the way her body stiffened, he’d struck a nerve. Sure enough, her voice rose. “You’re the one who insists on doing all the lab work. You won’t let me do any of it. Every time I’ve tried to make a suggestion, you tell me it’s wrong, and your way is the only way.”
“You’re better suited for being out in the field.” Austin kept his voice even. Arguing with Shelby in her ancient truck while being stuck in the middle of a herd of buffalo was not his idea of a good time. Maybe he should have just kept his mouth shut about suggesting she should do the field work. “I’m here, aren’t I? You got me to come out here.”
“But you’d rather be in the lab.”
Austin shrugged. “So? It’s where I feel more comfortable. Wouldn’t you say you’re more comfortable in this environment?” He raised his hand to gesture out the window. “Seems to me you’re better suited for your little job as a park ranger than you are working on a master’s thesis in microbiology.”
“My little job?” Shelby’s voice rose some more. She slammed on the brake as a buffalo shoved its way next to the one she’d been tailgating. She faced him and her eyes blazed with obvious irritation. She drew in a loud gulp of air, perhaps to calm her nerves. “There’s nothing wrong with enjoying more than one thing, Austin. At least I’m not single-minded like you are. While I love the park and being a ranger who educates the public, I also like academics. Maybe I’m not ready to follow in my dad’s footsteps, not that it’s any of your business.”
With a dramatic jerk of her head, she faced forward again and continued to push through the herd. The knuckles on her hands had turned white from the way she was gripping the steering wheel. Clearly, he’d touched a nerve.
He didn’t know her well enough to understand what had made her so angry; and frankly, he didn’t care. Shelby had been dumped on him by their thesis professor, and that’s as far as this relationship went, despite his irritating attraction to her. They were always arguing, which made it even more confusing why part of him was drawn to her. No doubt she felt the same way about their working relationship, and would have much rather done her research independently. They did have that much in common.
As they crawled along, Austin glanced out the passenger window and stared at the trees, the snow-covered meadow, and the river with its frozen banks. Shelby clearly had nothing more to say, so he kept quiet, too. Countless minutes passed until she finally got through the herd of buffalo and accelerated.
“Maybe now we can finally get to where we need to be,” he mumbled with a relieved sigh, and shifted in his seat.
“There could always be more bison ahead,” Shelby said. There was an almost teasing note to her voice. The edge from earlier was gone. “But if we have a clear road, we should be at Grand Prismatic in forty minutes.”
Time seemed to drag, but it was almost exactly forty minutes later when Shelby turned off the road and pulled into a parking lot. According to the park service sign, they were at an area called, “Midway Geyser Basin.”
“Welcome to your first field work experience.” Shelby smiled, but didn’t wait for a reply as she climbed out of the truck.
Austin grunted. The cold air that hit him as he opened the truck door was another reminder that he’d rather be back at the lab. He’d give Shelby her moment of fun and satisfaction of dragging him all the way out here. Hopefully it would appease her enough so he could continue his research.
Thick steam coming from across the river obscured whatever there might be to see. Shelby carried a pack on her back and was already heading for the bridge leading across the river and up a path made from wooden boards. Austin reached for the pack he’d brought that held collection vials and a couple of thermos bottles to keep the samples hot. Hopefully Shelby had brought additional equipment to obtain the samples without getting scalded.
He rushed to catch up with her, falling in step beside her by the time she was halfway across the bridge. The water level in the river below was barely high enough in spots to cover the rocks on the bottom. Hot water steamed as it rushed down the steep embankment on the other side of the river, presumably from Excelsior Geyser.
The water had cut a deep channel in several places, outlined by green and orange colors. More thermophiles to study at some point, but for now, he was after the bacteria that lived in the hotter water of Grand Prismatic Spring.
“Maybe we should sample a few of these other pools.” Austin pointed at a couple of hot water pools they passed as Shelby headed up the boardwalk. She shook her head.
“Can’t get to them,” she said without turning her head.
“It’s not going to hurt anything to walk over to them.” Austin glanced at the countless buffalo hoof prints in the mud surrounding the springs. If the ground could support those heavy creatures, then surely there was no danger to him if he left the boardwalk.
Shelby stopped and finally turned to face him. “We’re not leaving the boardwalk.” She glared at him as if she was ready to punch him in the face.
“I can safely say I weigh less than a buffalo, so there’s no chance I’d break through any thin crust, and I promise I won’t fall into the pool.”
“Bison,” Shelby responded.
Austin frowned. “What?”
“They’re called bison, not buffalo,” she clarified, then sighed as if she was about to lecture a little child. Austin bristled as his father’s face flashed before him for a split second.
“And the point of staying on the boardwalk has little to do with falling through the crust, at least in this area. It’s more about keeping the natural features as undisturbed as possible. You’d be leaving footprints.”
“But there are buff . . . bison prints all over the place.” What harm could there be? She was getting worked up about nothing.
“The animal prints belong here. Your footprints don’t,” Shelby said with a note of finality to her tone. “You are not leaving the boardwalk.”
Austin grimaced. “Fine. Let’s get our samples, then, so I can get back to the lab.”
The edges of Grand Prismatic Spring were several hues of orange and came right up to and even under the boardwalk in some places. The colors seemed to vein off the deeper waters of the spring where it was a brilliant blue. Steam coming off the hot water made it almost impossible to see at times, until the breeze in the air pushed the vapor aside like a veil.
Shelby pulled something that looked like a telescoping fishing pole from her pack. It looked to have been homemade. At one end, she attached a collection vial and was able to reach out into the water like an extension of her arm to fill the vial with water from the hotter parts of the spring.
“I’ll label the vials and pack them away. I need samples from multiple locations.” Austin pulled on a pair of gloves before taking the vial that was now filled with hot water.
“As you wish.” Shelby tossed him an annoyed look to go with her sarcastic remark, then moved up the boardwalk along the giant hot spring.
Austin labeled the vial and placed it inside the thermos, then moved to follow Shelby. He stopped. She was at least twenty yards ahead of him, and had her back turned. Austin glanced at the hot spring they’d passed. He could grab a sample from there before she even noticed. He took an empty vial from his pack and headed back down the way they’d come, then stepped off the boardwalk.
The ground was muddy, and there were a few patches of ice where the earth apparently wasn’t warm enough to melt the snow. He’d definitely not get scalded here. No sooner had he taken a few steps, when Shelby’s angry voice called him back.
Austin cursed. He wasn’t going to let her tell him what to do.
“Get back on the boardwalk, Austin.”
His back stiffened. Shelby sounded like his angry father. If she wanted to stop him, she’d have to come after him. The pool he eyed could possibly contain the same — or similar — thermophiles as Grand Prismatic Spring, and could maybe shed some light on why he hadn’t been able to keep them alive and reproducing.
“I’ll just be a minute,” he called over his shoulder. “You were the one who insisted I do field work, so that’s what I’m doing.”
Austin took a cautious step forward, then froze. He squinted his eyes and blinked. A gust of wind had created a thick veil of steam coming from Excelsior Geyser, obscuring his view, but he could have sworn he’d seen someone standing just beyond the pool. Behind him, Shelby again ordered him back to the boardwalk.
The steam in the air thinned. Austin’s eyes widened. There was someone standing well off the boardwalk. Shelby must have seen him, too.
“And you,” she shouted. “Get on the boardwalk, too. I’ve told you before.”
Austin turned. He took several steps toward the boardwalk. There was something odd about the man coming toward him. Shelby seemed to know him, but not in a good way, judging from the anger in her tone. He looked like some character out of an old Western movie. At least her anger was no longer directed at Austin, but rather at the man who skillfully maneuvered around the hot spring and stepped onto the boardwalk.
“Shelby Osborne, we meet again.” The man smiled at her, then turned his attention to Austin. Slowly, Austin stepped back onto the boardwalk to be on the same level with the man and Shelby. Getting that sample wasn’t possible now. He glanced back at the hot spring. If this guy could walk around the area and not get scalded, then Austin was going to get that sample he needed later.
The Native American-looking man turned to Austin, and the smile slowly faded as he seemed to assess Austin from head to foot.
Shelby stared at the man with confusion in her eyes. “How did you get here?” Her voice was a bit feeble compared to a minute ago. She seemed genuinely confused, and her anger at him for being off the boardwalk had vanished, at least for the moment.
The stranger looked at her, but didn’t answer her question when he spoke. “Perhaps I was wrong when I thought everything was well,” he said. Concern flashed in his eyes, and his gaze once again locked on Austin. The look sent a feeling through Austin’s weakening limbs of being judged, tried, and convicted.
CHAPTER 6
Elk Runner stood on the flat pieces of wood that created some kind of barrier over the ground that the people of this time used to safely navigate around the scorching earth. He’d been here many times to shape his hunting bow by softening the horns of the bighorn sheep in the heated water, yet he’d never found the need for such paths. Then again, in his time, he had never seen so many people gathering to view the colorful pools of this area.
He gripped the pouch around his neck containing the vessel that had brought him here . . . to the wrong place and time. He pressed his lips together in agitation. It would appear he had traveled back to the exact time and place where he’d encountered Shelby Osborne the first time. That had been more than a moon ago, yet now he was back in the same place as if no time had passed at all.
He hadn’t spoken to her during that first encounter, but had returned to his own time to avoid confronting someone from the future. At the time, he hadn’t been sure of her identity.
After talking to his shaman, he’d decided it would be good to learn more about the future protectors of the mountains. He’d found himself taking frequent trips through time to become more familiar with the snakehead device. Along the way, he’d learned a lot about Shelby Osborne. The vessel still presented some problems, however. It usually took him to the correct time and place he’d wanted to visit, but there were still times the vessel seemed to have a mind of its own and sent him to completely different locations and days.
His understanding of how to use the snakehead was still far from complete. He’d been told by his grandmother, Natukendra’eh, that it might take a long time for him to gain full control of the vessel, but eventually he would master it completely, and it would take him to the exact time and place he chose. The more he time traveled, the more skilled he would become. At least that was his thinking. After all, a hunter only got better by going on more hunts.
It had been more than a moon since he’d decided to talk to Shelby and remind her that her duty was as protector of the sacred mountains. During some of his previous observations when she hadn’t been aware of his presence, it had appeared as though she might stray from her true path, so talking with her had seemed like the right thing to do.
He’d been warned not to interact with the people he encountered in different times, but sometimes it was necessary, wasn’t it? As the last elder of the Sky People, it was his duty to make sure the future protectors of the mountains knew their roles. How would they know if he didn’t talk to them? He’d been careful not to reveal anything about himself to her, but surely he had planted the thoughts in her mind about what she needed to do.
Now he was back in the same location as when he’d first seen her. Elk Runner gripped the pouch and gave it a slight shake. Of course, that would do little to reprimand the vessel. The snakehead seemed to behave worse than a disobedient child.
He certainly hadn’t meant to be seen and have another encounter with Shelby Osborne in this area of hot pools. The Sky People ancestors must have had a hand in where the vessel had taken him. He could only guess why their spirits must have some plan why he needed to talk to Shelby Osborne again.
To her, it must seem as if they had just had their one encounter the same day. From the way she scowled at him, she clearly remembered him and was confused about their current meeting.
“I just saw you this morning heading out to West Yellowstone. How can you be here at Grand Prismatic Spring?” she asked, stepping closer and eyeing him with suspicion and a hint of curiosity. “I didn’t see a vehicle in the parking lot.”
Elk Runner took his eyes off the man with her and smiled. Even though he had not spoken to her more than once, there was a certain familiarity about her, and she was surely the one who would see to the continuation and protection of the sacred mountains. Her companion, however, was another story. Nothing about him revealed that he was here for the purpose of caring for the mountains. Why would she associate with someone like him?
