With Jason injured, they weren't going to be moving camp anytime soon. Tor took this opportunity to work with Idiot on a few things. She kept Eric on her at all times. She had chosen to wear some of Larson's old shirts, with the sleeves rolled up and the hem tucked in, because they had a pocket on the front. The ones in her limited wardrobe had no such amenities. Eric stayed in that pocket, a handkerchief tucked around him when the cold wind blew strong. 

She spent the mornings with her big horse and let him alone in the afternoons to cover his mares. She took out one of her mild-mannered geldings and ranged a short distance from the camp, trying to see if any of her mares were close by. There was no sign of them and no sign of Larson, either. She sighed and turned the gelding back home. 

It had been nearly two weeks since Larson had gone out in search of the missing mares and since Jason had stolen Eric. She decided it was time to go see if her brothers had seen her horses, even if she hated their guts. She set Eric down in the wagon. 

"I'm going to lock it and the windows," she told him. "I want you to stay here. Who knows what they'll try to do to me right now. It's safer for you here. I'll even have Stephan keep a close eye on the wagon." She gently rubbed his back as she placed him on the bed. "There's ladders for you to climb anywhere you want so you can still look out the window."

"But I don't want to stay behind!" the princeling protested. "I want to stay with you so that they can't get me again. Jason could come and get me if I'm not with you." His eyes were wide and terrified at the thought. 

"Stephan will keep watch," she told him again. "He's a good, trusted man who's been with me almost as long as Larson has." She bent down and kissed the top of his head. "Now stay put and stay calm. I don't think I'll be long. I'm just asking if they've seen my horses." 

That said, she turned and left the wagon. She did as she told him she would by locking all the windows and the door and having Stephan stand watch. "Don't let anyone into that wagon except me or Larson," she instructed the big man.

"Yes, boss," he said. "No one'll get your little human. I'll see to it."

Tor smiled slightly and saddled up Idiot. She stroked his neck and spoke softly to him. "You're a real good man. Keep me company and keep me safe while we go see about your mares." She swung into the saddle and headed off.

Stan greeted her as she rode into Jason's camp. "Miss Tor," he said, "it's not wise to come poke a viper you've already punched."

Tor snorted. "That viper stole from me. He stole my human and had every intention to kill him. Don't talk to me about wisdom and morals." She looked around the camp and noticed Jason off in the distance. "I see he's up and about. So I didn't kill him. Pity."

It was Stan's turn to snort. Jason was up and about, yes, but the man should still have been in bed. He had a big bruise down the side of his face and still had dizzy spells, especially when mounting or dismounting or having to turn quick on Corsica. "Go on home, Tor," he said. "There's nothing for you here."

Tor eyed him sharply. "The last time you said that, Jason had my human. Does he have my missing mares, too?"

"I don't know anything about missing horses, Tor," Stan said. "I just know you shouldn't be here. It does nothing but cause trouble. You do nothing but cause trouble."

Tor gave a sharp laugh at that. "Ha! No. That's not me, Stan, and you know it. You're talking out of somewhere other than your mouth now. I'm going to talk to Jason and make sure he doesn't have my missing horses. I didn't get a chance to look last time. I was too busy rescuing my human that Jason was attempting to kill in a rather humiliating way."

She urged Idiot onward at a trot. She had to rise up and down with the pace to ensure that her butt and his back weren't sore at the end of the ride. What she saw when she rode up had her seeing red all over again. 

Her missing mares were mixed in with Jason's herd. She knew that wasn't an accident. Larson had spent the last several days with some of the men combing the countryside they had ridden through looking for them. Now she realized they had been stolen. 

Jason's condescending smirk told her all she needed to know. She rode her big stallion right up to his dainty mare, pushing the stud's broad chest into the mare's delicate rump. "Give me back my horses!" she bellowed.

Corsica, Jason's mare, stumbled at the impact. She whinnied in distress as she regained her footing. Jason glared at his sister. "Watch it!" he snapped, spinning the mare around so he was face-to-face with Tor. His hand was white-knuckle in its grip on the horn. He backed the mare up, ensuring there was a good distance between his crazy sister and himself. "This mare is worth ten of any of your range-rats!

"Give me back my horses!" Tor repeated. She had her stock whip coiled around the horn of the saddle. She quickly undid it and snapped it at her brother, cracking the air right by his ear. "Give me back my horses or I will kill you!"

Jason flinched away from assault, narrowly avoiding a nasty welt across his face. As it was, his ear was ringing from the deafening sound the whip created. "Who do you think you are?!" he bellowed. "You don't get to come riding into my camp and threatening me!"

"I'll do as I damn well please, you horse thief!" she spat. There was no reasoning with her. If there had been a rope in her hands, she would have made it into a noose and looped it around Jason's neck. "I'm going to report you to the local magistrate!"

"And say what?!" Jason snapped back. "I have controlling interests in your damn animals. I can do whatever I want with them!"

"No you can't! They've got my brand. Not yours. Not Pap's. Mine. Their papers are in my name. You can't have them!"

Jason scoffed. "Your abominations don't have papers. Not real ones. Not ones that matter."

"Says you! But my ledgers say otherwise. The national breed registry says otherwise." Her eyes were blazing. She cracked her whip again, this time landing a blow on Jason's arm. 

The man cried out in pain and shock. He hadn't actually thought Tor would hit him with the whip. At his cry, a few of his men turned their horses and headed towards the pair. The siblings bickering wasn't unusual, but Jason's obvious pain was. Tor reared her arm back and struck again with the whip. She wasn't so accurate with her strikes that she hit the same spot and broke skin, but she did leave another welt. Jason yelled again.

"Woman, if you don't stop!"

Tor struck him for a third time. "You don't get to steal my horses, you damn horse thief!" She pulled her arm back, readying herself for a fourth strike, when her wrist was grabbed from behind.

"That's enough, Tor!" It was Larson. He had ridden into camp just as she left. When he heard where she was headed and what had happened while he was gone, he had followed at top speed. He had realized any confrontation between the siblings wasn't going to be civil. 

"He stole my horses!" she protested. She yanked her arm, trying to free herself. "Go look for yourself! All the missing mares are in his herd!"

Larson looked over at the graceful horses sprawled out over the grass. Tor's horses stuck out like a sore thumb. Their big, heavy bodies were like a wolf-hound in a pack of setters. They simply didn't fit. Larson groaned under his breath. This wasn't going to be a pretty resolution.

"Didja have to go and take her horses?" Larson asked.

Jason scowled. "I'll do what I damn well please with any of the horses!"

"No you won't," Larson snapped back. "There's an agreement between you two. She won't mess with your herds and you don't mess with hers. Your pap set up his will just-so for a damn good reason. He knew how greedy and selfish you were and he set it up to protect Tor."

"He should have just given me my freedom!" Tor yelled. "He was a damn fool to think Jason could ever change."

Jason's face nearly turned purple. "Pap was a smart man! He knew to give me controlling interest because you're the one who's a fool. Breeding those range rats as if they mean anything. You'll go broke before you make any sort of name for yourself with them. You should have just continued breeding with Pap's lines. There wasn't a damn thing wrong with them!"

Larson quickly grabbed Idiot's reins with his other hand, spinning the big stallion around so Tor couldn't use him to ram Jason again. "Shut up!" he yelled. "You're only making it worse. Return the damn horses and stay out of Tor's affairs!" 

Jason growled. "Fine. Take your fucking rats back." He signaled to the men who were sitting behind him. "Weed out the mutts and send them back to Tor's herds." The men nodded and rode off to do as told.

Larson turned to his boss. "Listen, Tor, be pissed but be smart. You've got your human back at your wagon in a panic. Take your horses. I'll help you get them home." 

Tor glared and yanked her arm free. She leveled her nastiest gaze at her oldest brother. "I won't forgive what you did. I'll make sure you pay." She pulled Idiot's reins away and turned him to her mares. The stallion immediately focused on the mares. He followed his instincts and began herding them back to where he knew his other mares were. 

Tor let him, allowing him to do his thing as she thought. This was unacceptable. She absolutely could not allow Jason to get away with stealing her horses. She knew he wouldn't face the noose, but there had to be something she could do to keep him from repeating his little stunt. She growled under her breath and chewed on her lip. But what could she do?

Larson sighed. "Tor, don't let him get to you too much. He's an ass. Always has been and always will be."

"No! I'm not going to let this go," she snapped. "Not at all. I've got to do something. I can't let him get away with stealing my horses. Not at all. This is beyond being an ass."

Larson had to agree. "If you're that bad off about it, go see a solicitor. There's a town a hard day's ride east. Due east, just keep the setting sun at your back. Go see what he has to say about the will and your arrangement."

"I'm not leaving my horses," she said. "We'll drive the whole herd with us. One hard day won't do them any damage at all. It should do nothing but strengthen them." She looked her top hand dead in the eye. "As soon as we get back to camp, break and let's go. No wasting time."

Larson had to sigh. "Alright. We'll break camp as soon as we get back." He wasn't looking forward to it. He had been riding hard for the past several days and had been eager to rest in his bunk. But work was work. He and Tor drove the group of mares back to camp where they promptly set about packing and getting ready to go.

"Tor!" Eric called, waving frantically to his owner-friend. He was right where he had been left, the window ledge above the bed in her wagon. "Tor! Where your horses with Jason?!"

Tor thanked Stephan and dismissed him. She was in the middle of hitching up her big geldings when Eric spoke. She stopped and brushed some hair from her face. "Yes," she said shortly. "He stole them, the fucker. We're going to a solicitor in the next town to see if something can be done to keep him away from my horses."

"But it's almost dark," Eric said. "Can't we wait until morning?"

"No." She gave him a withering look. "It can't. He'll probably send a few men under the cover of darkness to steal from me again. I can't risk it. I won't."

Eric shrank under her glower. "Oh. Alright."

Tor huffed and returned to fastening the harness across the black gelding's back. "You can stay in the wagon if you're that tired. You've got no purpose out here."

Eric shrank even further into himself at that. Tor noticed but only huffed. She didn't have time to stop and coddle his feelings. Getting away from Jason was top priority. She finished hitching the geldings to the wagon before pulling the tack off Idiot. She patted his shoulder before turning him out to the rest of the herd. He would run with them, as was proper, while she drove her wagon team. He was a great mount but his main job was to make little copies of himself and he couldn't do that while under saddle. 

She watched him trot back to his mares, high-stepping and neck arched, and smiled for the first time since she realized her mares were missing. "You're a good man," she murmured to herself. She climbed to the seat of the wagon, made sure the window was closed before looking to the rest of her men.

"Let's go!" she called. She snaked her whip into the air, cracking it above her team's head. The geldings snorted and lurched forward, pulling the wagon easily along behind them. Another crack of the whip and the geldings picked up speed. A third crack had them galloping. The pair snorted and tossed their heads but complied. 

The men driving the horses called out to each other, cracked their own whips to get the herd moving. Idiot reared and screamed a challenge to the men. One of them cracked their whip near the big stud. The horse got the message. With a snort, he turned and began driving his mares away from the men, inadvertently following Tor's wagon. The rest of the bunk wagons and the chuck wagon spread out behind the herd, helping to keep them moving in the right direction.