Standard Fanfic Warning that wouldn't last ten seconds in a court of law: these aren't my characters. I'm just borrowing them for, um, er, typing practice. Yeah, that's it, typing practice. (The quick red fox jumping over the lazy brown dog gets old real quick, y'know?) Based on characters and situations from The Magnificent Seven TV show, which was based on the movie of the same name, which was (loosely) based on The Seven Samurai. All characters will be returned to their lawful owners unharmed (or at least suitably bandaged). Originally published in Diamonds and Dynamite #1, from Agent with Style Press. A FanQ nominee for Best M7 Story. (It lost, alas, to Grace Fortado's "Ties of Friendship" in the fanzine Let's Ride #16, from Neon RainBow Press.)
Dead or Alive
by Susan M. M.
Magnificent Seven
"Dead or alive, Tanner! That's what the wanted poster says."
Vin Tanner lay on the ground, bleeding. "Sorry I got you into this, Nate."
"Not your fault," Nathan Jackson told him as he tried to bandage the wound.
The two of them had been riding up to the Seminole village, Nathan to see Rain, Vin to see her cousin Toakhulga. It was a beautiful fall day, and their minds had been on the women they were courting. Without warning, they'd been ambushed by a pair of bounty hunters. Vin's horse lay dead. Nathan's horse had thrown him and run off. Both were bruised and battered. Vin had been shot; Nathan suspected that his ribs had been cracked when he fell from his horse.
Vin Tanner was a young man with a problem. A former bounty hunter himself, he was wanted for the murder of a man someone else had killed. There was a five hundred dollar price on his head, which was why he had fled the great state of Texas and gone to the territory of Arizona. However, someone had wanted that five hundred dollars enough to track him down ... which was why his horse was dead and there was a hole in his right arm.
Nathan, a former slave and a self-taught healer, bandaged the arm as best he could. Had he been in his clinic in town, he could have given Vin willowbark tea for the pain or sassafras root tea to bring down fever, but in the middle of nowhere, all he could do was clean the bullet hole, bandage it, and pray it didn't get infected.
"The wanted poster says 'dead or alive'," Nathan reminded Vin. "If we surrender, we could get you some proper medical treatment."
"Ain't really the surrendering kind," Vin said. "And you did a right fine job taking care of my arm."
Nathan pointed out. "It would give Chris and the others time to rescue us."
Vin and Nathan were part of the team of seven regulators led by gunslinger Chris Larabee to protect the town of Four Corners. Had the other five known they were in danger, they would ride over Earth and through Hell to rescue them. Had they known ...
But the others didn't know, and Vin and Nathan were on their own.
"Give up now, and we'll take you both in alive," one of the bounty hunters offered. "Give us any more trouble and we'll kill you both."
"That's right!" called out the other bounty hunter. "Give up, boy, or we'll kill you, too. Bound to be some nigra wanted for something. Once you're dead, you won't be able to tell 'em who you were."
Nathan gritted his teeth. "I hate it when they call me 'boy'."
Vin swore. He didn't trust them not to just shoot him and Nathan if they surrendered. But while his own life was his to risk, Nathan's wasn't. Surrendering might mean saving Nathan's life, and Heaven knew, the town needed a healer more than they needed a tracker and hunter. Nathan's life was too valuable to throw away. He was just about to explain this to Nathan when they heard hoofbeats.
Vin and Nathan peeked over the rocks to see who was riding toward them. They couldn't see the horses or who was riding them. They could see one of the bounty hunters fall, an arrow through his chest. They heard the whoosh of an arrow and heard the second bounty hunter scream. Then they heard a familiar voice.
"You were late," said Chief Tastanagi, the white-haired leader of the Seminoles. "We worried when you did not arrive."
Vin and Nathan stood up. Tastanagi sat on a brown and white pinto. At his left hand was a beautiful Indian woman, his widowed daughter-in-law, Toakhulga. She, too, rode a pinto. At his right hand was an equally beautiful dark-skinned woman, Rain, the daughter of his sister by her husband, a runaway slave. There was a bow in Rain's hand and a wide grin on her face. She rode a palomino mare. Six braves on horseback were behind Tastanagi, some with bows, some with rifles.
"You are hurt, Vin?" Toakhulga asked.
"Yeah, a mite," he admitted.
Nathan smiled up at Rain. "Right glad to see you."
She smiled back at him, a very possessive smile.
"Come," Tastanagi ordered. "Come with us to our village. You will rest. My son's wife and my sister's daughter will tend your hurts."
Vin limped over to Toakhulga's horse and mounted up behind her. "Best offer I've heard all day."