DISCLAIMER: The characters you recognize are not mine. I'm only playing with them for a little bit.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is my first attempt at a Bonanza fanfic. Please don't be too hard on me if I got the characters a little off. I haven't watched the show in between 20 and 30 years.
Karen Cartwright was sitting on a bench outside the private school she had been sent to. She loved her school but she couldn't wait until she could go back home to the Ponderosa Ranch outside of Virginia City. She missed her brothers and her father.
She knew that her father had promised her mother that he would make sure that she received a proper education back east and he had followed through on that promise. She was a proper lady and knew how to run a home. She knew about the etiquette for hosting parties and dinners and all of the proper social events that a young lady of breeding should know about.
What most of her classmates didn't know about her was that she was a crack shot with a pistol or a rifle thanks to her older brothers. She missed them so much.
Little Joe with his hot temper, a gift from his mother, had always been the one to help her get into trouble when she was younger. Adam, with his thoughtful nature had always been the one she turned to for help when she needed advice. And Hoss, he was the one she always ran to when she needed someone to protect her.
All of her brothers had always been there for her whenever she needed them.
Karen's mother, Jenny Leigh, had died in childbirth and so Karen had never known her. She'd heard stories about her from her father but she had always envied her brothers having at least known their mothers. Or so it seemed.
"Karen Cartwright, the headmistress would like to see you in her office right away please," Miss Eiderdown said in front of the class after being handed a note by the office assistant.
"Yes, ma'am," Karen said as she gathered her books. She left the room quickly and quietly without causing any disruption. She moved through the halls and straight to the headmistress' office.
Arriving there, Karen was instructed to go right in to the office. She entered the door and closed it quietly behind her. "You wished to see me, Mrs. Prentiss?"
"Yes, dear. Please come and have a seat." Once Karen had been seated she noticed that there was another woman in the office. "This is Anabelle Dastrovsky. She was sent by your father to bring you home for a wedding."
"Wedding? Who's getting married?"
"Apparently, your brother, Eric. The wedding will take place in approximately three months. Your father sent Ms. Dastrovsky to escort you home for the wedding and then she will be escorting you back here to finish your schooling."
"What about my classwork?" Karen was thrilled to be getting away from school for a while but she didn't want to seem to excited.
"Well, from what I have heard from your teachers, you are doing extremely well in your classes and are even slightly ahead of the framework in most of them. There will be no problems with you going for the wedding. When you return, you will take the final exams in your current classes and then move on to the next year's classes with the rest of your classmates."
"Well, if everything is arranged, I'll just return to my room and pack my things. I can be ready in about two hours, if that's alright with you, Ms. Dastrovsky?"
"That will be fine, Miss Cartwright. I will just wait here for you to get ready. Then, we can be off. Your father is eager for your return home. As are all three of your brothers."
"I'll return here as soon as I have my bags packed then?"
"That will be fine, miss."
Karen stood and looked at the headmistress. "I shall return as soon as my bags are packed. I see no sense in delaying our departure any further than necessary."
"Very well, Karen. I shall see you when you return." Karen left the room and went straight to her own room to begin packing for the trip. It would be a long one considering the fact that Karen was attending school near her mother's childhood home of Charleston, South Carolina.
They would be traveling all the way to Virginia City by train and from there, they would travel to the Ponderosa via horseback.
Standing in her room, she wondered if she would be assigned to the same room when she returned. She decided she would ask Mrs. Prentiss about that when she returned to the office after packing her bags. She got to work and made sure the four bags that she would need for the trip were ready in short order.
When she put the four in the hallway before making one final check to ensure that she had everything she needed, she was surprised to find two men standing there waiting for her to hand over the bags. "We are traveling with you, miss. Your father sent us as guards for you and Ms. Dastrovsky. There will be a few others as well but nothing to worry about," one of the men said as he took two of Karen's bags.
The other man took the other two. "We'll just put these in the coach while you return to the office and notify Ms. Dastrovsky that you are ready," he said with a smile. Both men seemed rather nice and friendly. She could only hope that any others accompanying them were just as polite and not the usual rough hands that were hired for this kind of job.
Karen walked back to the office and knocked. When she was bid enter, she opened the door and walked in. "Mrs. Prentiss, I have one question. Will I have the same room when I return?"
"We do try to keep you in the same room from the first day of classes here until you graduate but if it must change, we will take care of moving your things to your new room for you. Are you prepared to begin your trip?"
"I am. Thank you." She turned to Ms. Dastrovsky. "If you are quite ready, Ms. Dastrovsky, we can leave."
"I am ready. Thank you, Mrs. Prentiss, for seeing to this so quickly. Thank you, Miss Cartwright, for preparing so quickly." The two walked out of the office and went down to the coach that was waiting to take them to the train station.
Settled into the private car that had been paid for by her father, Karen immediately pulled out her text books and started reading. "You would study on this trip rather than seeing all the beautiful scenery?"
"Yes, ma'am. I've seen the scenery before and I would much rather be prepared for when I return to take my finals. I would hate to waste this time with doing nothing."
"I can understand that. If it will not bother you, I believe I will take a nap. After all, this is a long train ride."
"That won't bother me. Please feel free to take a nap." Karen settled back in her seat and got comfortable. So comfortable that she didn't even notice when the train took a side track that was going away from Virginia City and heading much further north.
When darkness fell, Karen and Ms. Dastrovsky went to enjoy dinner in the dining car. They had a wonderful meal of roast duck in orange sauce, roasted new potatoes, and fresh green beans with bacon in them. Karen didn't notice the scenery around them in the dark.
The two women headed back to their car for some sleep as the train continued its trek in the dark. Anabelle talked to two of the guards outside the door to their private car before joining Karen inside.
"Don't forget. The girl does not leave this car without me at anytime. She is not to get off the train even when it stops. We must keep her in the dark as to exactly where we are until we get to the end of the line. It is the only way to keep her from being able to get word to her father as to where she is. He will pay dearly for what he did to me and my husband. I will see to that."
"Of course, milady. We understand."
"See that you do. You are being paid quite handsomely for this job. Do not fail me. It would go very harshly for you if you do."
"We understand."
She went into the car and the two men took their positions to keep anyone else out of the car and away from the women.
Some two days later, Karen looked out the window and saw trees. A whole forest of trees. "This can't be right! We're going the wrong way!" She turned to find Anabelle holding a gun on her.
"Actually, my dear, we are going the right way. You are not going home. That was just a ruse to get you out of that school and take you somewhere that your family will not be able to find you. At least, not until they pay dearly for what they did to my husband and I 20 years ago."
"What's going on? What are you doing? What did my family do and why do I have to pay for it?"
"You aren't paying for it, dear girl. Your family will. They will pay a large sum to have you safely returned to them. And then, I will return you to them. Only to kill you in front of your father, thus making him pay the ultimate price for his betrayal of my husband 20 years ago."
Karen sat down on her bed, tears welling up in her eyes. Anabelle left the car to relax in the dining car with a drink. Karen sat on the bed, trying to think of a way to get away before this deranged woman sent her message to Karen's family and stole their money.
She couldn't make her pa watch as this woman killed her right in front of him and her brothers. She couldn't let that happen. Nothing her pa had done in the past could possibly warrant this. He was a good man.
'I could get off the train. I'll see if anyone's guarding the back. This is the last car on the train. If I can do it, I'll just have to wait until the sun starts going down in order to figure out which way to go. I can head south and hopefully run right into the Ponderosa. Of course, if I don't get there before Ms. Dastrovsky sent her message, my pa and brothers would start searching the area for me. Maybe then, I'll run into one of them and be safe.'
Karen set up a small bag of clothes and a few other items she might need for the run. She didn't have a clue how far from the Ponderosa she was at the moment. She knew that this wasn't going to be an easy thing to do but she didn't have much of a choice that she could see.
The next morning, Karen slipped to the back of the car and realized that she had been right. No one was guarding the back. She grabbed her bag and moved quickly and quietly as Anabelle was in the dining car having some coffee. She opened the door and slipped out onto the back of the train.
As the train was moving through a forested area of the track, she made her move, jumping toward the most heavily wooded area and rolling quickly into the trees.
She moved quickly back into the woods where she couldn't be seen by anyone just stepping out onto the back of the train. Then, she settled in to watch the sun make its trek across the sky.
