Chris made his way over to the saloon first thing in the morning. He hadn't been all that happy about leaving the gambler on his own for the night, but he knew Nathan would be camped out just down the hall, and checking in on him frequently. And Ezra had seemed to be doing pretty well last night. This was a long way from being over, but with any luck, they'd made it through the worst of it. He was surprised to see one of the tables already occupied when he got there. Inez had had a late night, staying up with Ezra for some time, yet there she was, already sipping her morning coffee. More surprising was the company she was keeping. Mary Travis sat next to her, and Nettie Wells was at the table as well. That Nettie would have come to town this early wasn't a surprise, but to see her sitting there, well that was definitely unusual.
"Morning ladies." Chris could almost feel the chill from the glare they gave him. The sound of footsteps was a welcome diversion, and he looked over to see Nathan coming down the stairs.
"How's he doing this morning?"
"Haven't looked in on him yet. He was restless for quite a while last night, and since it's quiet in there now, I thought it best to let him sleep." He glanced over to the ladies at the table, then back to Chris with the question clearly on his face. Chris just shrugged. "Mind if I pour myself some of that coffee?" Nathan got the same glare Chris had received.
"Is there something you ladies would like to discuss with us?"
"There certainly is Mr. Larabee." Mary spoke with great determination, and underlying anger in her voice. Mr. Larabee? That did not bode well. Before Chris could ask for an explanation, Mary continued. "We can wait for the others to get here."
As if on cue, the batwing doors swung again, and JD and Buck entered the room. They misread the quiet. "Something happen? Is Ezra alright?" JD sounded anxious.
"Good of you to be concerned."
"Well of course I'm concerned. Why wouldn't I be?" He didn't get an answer, as the discussion was interrupted by the arrival of the final two. Vin smiled when he saw Nettie sitting in the corner. He'd been hoping to see her when she got into town today. The smile faded when he saw the look she was giving him.
"Sit down boys. Apparently, the ladies here want to give us a piece of their mind about something."
Nettie spoke first, focusing her attention on Vin. "I'm ashamed of you boy. Thought you were smarter than this."
Vin stunned. "I'm sorry Nettie. I don't know what your talking about."
"Of course you don't. You don't think you did anything wrong."
"None of you do." Inez added angrily. "None of you have any idea what you've done to him."
"Now just hold on. We haven't done anything to anyone. Wasn't our fault Ezra got hurt." Buck felt bad about what happened yesterday, but couldn't see why anyone would put the blame directly on them.
"No, it wasn't your fault he got shot. That's part of the risk he takes. All of you take. As lawmen." Mary put particular emphasis on the last word. "And that's what you all are, right?"
"What are you getting at Mary?" Chris wasn't in the mood for games.
"Answer my question Mr. Larabee."
"Yes. We are lawmen. We get shot at. What's your point?"
"And Mr. Standish? Ezra? You consider him a lawman too?"
"Course we do. Why would you even ask?"
"You wouldn't know it from the way you talked to him yesterday. 'You can still shuffle Ezra.' 'You can still deal Ezra.' 'You can still gamble Ezra'."
JD was puzzled. "Well that's important to him."
"So is what he does for this town. Would have been nice if at least one of you had reassured him that he was still able to protect this town. That he still had a place here in town. But the way he sees it, you only think of him as a gambler."
"How could you know that?" Chris demanded, the guilt that was building in him bringing his temper up to a boil.
"How could you not?" Mary shot back.
They sat quietly. Chris thought back over the conversation, and realized Mary was right. "I wouldn't have thought we'd need to tell him that."
Inez shook her head. "Really? Knowing how long it took until any of you decided that maybe he could be trusted. That maybe he wasn't the same man you first met. How is he supposed to know you don't still think that way? Have you ever told him?"
Josiah looked up, speaking for the first time. "You really think he still doesn't know that? That he still believes we don't trust him?"
"But you don't trust him. Anybody listening to you yesterday would know that you don't trust him."
Buck was completely stunned by that suggestion. "What the hell are you talking about Inez? Of course we trust him."
Inez stood and went over to the bar, grabbing a bottle and a couple of glasses. She took them to the table, setting one in front of Chris and one in front of Buck. She poured a shot into each class. "Drink."
"It's 8 o'clock in the morning Inez. I'm not about to drink Ezra's favourite whiskey, especially not at 8 o'clock in the morning."
"Drink," she repeated. Her tone indicated she was not about to accept no for an answer.
Buck shrugged, looking at Chris. "Fine. But when Ezra yells at me and Chris for doing this, you get to be the one to tell him it was your idea." Buck reached down and picked up the glass, wincing slightly as he prepared to drink it back. Chris was about to do the same, when he got a sniff of the amber liquid inside.
"What the hell is this?"
The grimace on Buck's face as he reluctantly swallowed showed he had the exact same question. "I've tasted a lot of whiskey in my day. Nothing like this."
"Senor Standish taught me how to make it. It's sweet tea."
"This is what he was drinking?"
"He never drinks when he gambles. He rarely drinks at all. One real glass at the beginning, usually watered down. He says only a fool would drink while he gambles. And Senor Standish is not a fool."
"So, he was stone cold sober when he went out there?" Chris registered.
"Of course. He is not a fool." Inez repeated.
"You apparently think otherwise," Mary added. "You don't trust him do know how to handle himself. How to do his job."
Nettie stood up, looking at the men with disapproval. "You all claim to be his friends. You claim he's part of the team. But when something goes wrong, you waste no time before you put the blame on him."
Vin could see what they were getting at, but he was still confused by one thing. "It doesn't make sense Nettie. If Ezra was sober, and I ain't arguing that he was, how the hell did he make a careless mistake like he did? How did he let himself get shot like that?"
"Why are you so sure he made a mistake? I'm thinking he knew exactly what he was doing, and I can only think of one reason he'd take that kind of chance."
Vin had to fight to catch his breath, as he realized what she was saying. "Ezra shot him? Ezra took out the guy behind me? I thought that was you Chris?"
"I thought it was Josiah," Chris replied.
The big man shook his head "I took out the guy that shot Ezra. The angle he was at, he could see the fella coming. Hell, he could see both of them."
"Took out the bastard behind me knowing he'd get shot. Stupid son of a bitch." Vin's voice cracked as he spoke. "Coulda got himself killed. Damn near did." All six men sat quietly, none of them willing to look the ladies in the face. How could they have been so stupid? How could they have been so blind?
Mary looked at the other two women. "Looks like they've seen the light."
"About damn time." Nettie said, a hint of a smile crossing her face.
Inez was not quite as willing to forgive them yet. "All that's left now is for them to talk to him. Make things right."
"What do you think Nathan?" Chris looked to the healer for advice. "Think he's up to dealing with our load of guilt?"
"I doubt it Chris. Last time I looked in on him he was pretty restless. He didn't have a fever starting then, but I'll be surprised if he doesn't have to fight something. There was a lot of hurt to that hand."
Vin looked up, not entirely sure he wanted an answer to the question he was about to ask. "Too much hurt?"
Nathan just shook his head, shrugging slightly. "It's hard to say. As long as he doesn't get a bad infection, and assuming he behaves himself – which none of you ever do –I don't think his life's in danger. But you've seen how fast things can change."
Chris looked over at the table where their three accusers still sat. Why is it he could stare down the worst gunman around, but these three ladies were making him ridiculously nervous? "You're right. We screwed this up, and we need to talk to him. But he needs to get better first." He held up his hand to stop their inevitable replies. "Don't worry, I'm going to go up and see him. I just don't think we should all charge in on him. More likely to make things worse."
To his surprise, and relief, all three women nodded. Nettie was the first to speak. "Nice to see you using your head."
"I need to go up with you Chris." Vin spoke so softly he could hardly be heard. "I need him to know that –" he took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "I need him to know that I know what he did. I need to talk to him."
Nettie smiled. "That's my boy."
Nathan stood, holding both hands up to signal that no one was going anywhere. "Let me look in on him first." He looked over to the large wall clock. "At best, he's had about four hours sleep. If he still sleeping, I don't want any of you in there." He turned and headed upstairs.
Inez pushed herself up from her seat. "Well ladies, I believe our work for the morning is done. At least here. If you'll excuse me, I have a business to get back to."
Nettie stood as well. "Yes, as nice as it has been to set for a while, I best be doing what I came into town for as well." She glanced over to Vin. "If you can't be seeing our fancy friend right now, I could use a hand with my supplies."
Vin smiled gratefully. "I'll be with you soon as I can. Thank you, Nettie"
"God damn stupid son of a bitch." Nathan's shout from upstairs had them all running. They stopped in the doorway of Ezra's room. Nathan stared at them. "He's gone. Took off."
"What the hell do you mean he's gone? I thought you said he was too sick, too hurt?"
"Seriously Buck? When has something like that stopped Ezra from doing something foolish and pigheaded? I shouldn't have listened to him. I should've stayed with him all night."
Chris was hoping there was a logical reason for this, knowing in his heart that wasn't. "Before we all panic, are you sure he's left? Maybe just went outside to –" he paused, realizing the ladies were in the room.
"I thought of that," Mason replied. "Bed's cold. He's been out of it for a while."
"It doesn't mean that's not what he was doing." Vin spoke as he headed for the door. "Just got to tired to get back. One easy way to figure this out." They followed him downstairs and stepped out of the saloon, looking up and down the streets, as if expecting Ezra to simply appear. Vin headed directly to the livery, and a moment later they heard more swearing. He came out again, heading toward his wagon. "Chaucer's gone. I'm gonna to get my gear and start tracking him."
"Hold up." "You ain't stopping me Chris. I'm gonna find him."
"No. We're going to find him. But we're not going out without a plan."
Vin pulled what gear he would need out of his wagon. "I don't need a plan Chris. He's not gonna be hard to track."
"Where you can start? Which would you figure he left?"
Vin turned to Nathan. "Would he have been thinking clearly?"
"Course not. He's wounded, weak, and in pain. And he took off in the middle of the night. How can you ask if he's thinking clearly?"
"You know what I mean. Would he be able to put a plan together?"
Nathan took a deep breath and try to calm down. "Yeah, he could probably think that through. And follow through on it."
"So, he's likely headed to a town. He'll try to avoid going anywhere people will recognize him too quickly. Wants to give himself a couple of days to get ahead of us."
"What? He thinks we won't come after him?" JD was dumbfounded by the idea.
"No, he assumes we will. At least I hope he does. That's why he'll probably do what we least expect him to. So, I'm gonna had north. If I don't see tracks from Chaucer in the first mile or so, I'll circle 'round until I do." He headed off to mount up.
"Hold on." Chris turned to the others. "Nathan, get what Ezra's going to need when we catch up to him. You and I are going with Vin. The rest of you need to stay here." He kept talking over the protests. "We've got a prisoner to take care of, and there may be more idiots in that gang. Plus, there's a chance Ezra could come back on his own." About as much chance as an icicle in Hell, but a chance nevertheless.
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it hadn't been that hard to follow Ezra. Clearly, there been no effort to hide his tracks. Whether that was because he didn't think anyone would follow him, or whether he just didn't have the energy, no one was certain. They were just grateful he'd made it so easy.
It was early afternoon when they'd arrived in Bakersfield. The town was about the same size as Four Corners, and they knew if this is where he'd stopped, there'd be no trouble finding him.
"Stables would be the first place to look. No matter what, he'd make sure Chaucer was taken care of." Chris lead them toward the large building at the end of the street. Vin dismounted first, looking inside, then turning back with a grin. "Yep, he's here."
"Can I help you gentlemen?" Then turned to see the stable hand coming toward him. The boy appeared to be about twelve or thirteen, and anxious to help.
"We're looking for the fellow who rode in here on him. Any idea where he might be?"
The youngster's eyes pulled away from Vin's face. "Uh, no, s-sir." The nervousness was evident. "Just left the horse here."
Chris looked down at him, fixing him with an ice-cold stare. "He said, we're looking for the man who rode in on that horse. Where is he?"
"Don't Chris. The kid's just doing his job." Nathan smiled at the young man. "He's a friend of ours. He's hurt, and he needs our help. Please, if you know where he is, you need to let us know."
The young man raised his head enough to glance at the trio. Yes, they were intimidating, but they were also worried. You could see that clearly. "He paid me not to say anything. So, I'm not going to tell you where he is." Before Chris could reply, the youngster continued. "What I will tell you, is if you're looking for a place to stay, there's only one in town. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have a boarding house. Other end of the street, door's painted blue." The young man turned away and went back to cleaning the barn.
"Kid?" Chris dismounted quickly. "Take care the horses for us. We'll be back."
They got a similar reaction at the boarding house. It was obvious Ezra had done what he could to make himself inaccessible. Again, they didn't know whether it was because he thought they'd come, or if it was simply habit. Either way, the delays were getting frustrating.
"We know he's here. We don't mean to cause any trouble ma'am," Vin was trying his best to charm her. "He's our friend, and we're worried about it."
"Why would you be worried about him?"
Nathan figured honesty was the best policy. "He was hurt, pretty bad. He may be able to hide it for a while, but he needs our help."
Mrs. Wilson studied them for a moment. She'd been in this business for a while, and thought she was a pretty good judge of character. "He didn't look sick or hurt. But I admit, he looked pretty tired. Said he been riding for some time."
"Please ma'am, let us up to see him. If he's all right, if he doesn't need us, we'll be on our way." She looked at the man who was clearly the leader of the group. She had no doubt she couldn't stop him if she tried. The fact that they were asking, and not demanding, was what finally made the difference. She reached into a desk drawer and pulled out a ring of keys. "Follow me."
At the top of the stairs she walked up to the first door, tapping lightly. "Mr. Standish? I'm sorry to intrude, but there are people here to see you. I really think you should let them in." There was no sound from within, so she knocked again. "Mr. Standish?" Still hearing nothing, she let out a small sigh, and unlocked the room. She gasped at the sight before her.
Chris needed no more incentive to push past her, running to the unconscious form on the floor. "Ezra? Ezra can you hear me? Nathan, he's burning up."
Nathan was already at his side. "Help me get him up on the bed. Try not to disturb that arm any more than you have to. Vin, get the stuff out of my bag and put it out on the table. Mrs. Wilson, we're going to need hot water. And towels or sheets - lots of them."
It was obvious Ezra had barely made it up to the room before giving in to the pain and sickness that ravaged him. He had dropped to the floor after taking no more than a half-dozen steps into the room. His bag lay beside him on the floor where it had fallen. His arm was swollen and discoloured, almost all the way to the elbow. The bandage was a sopping, discoloured mess from blood and fluids. He was drenched in sweat, shivering now despite the fever. He wasn't as feverish as Nathan feared he would be, but it bad enough. Ezra moaned softly when they moved him, but showed no signs of waking up.
"We gotta get him out of these wet cloths and try to cool him down. Chris, go down and get the hot water from Mrs. Wilson so I can clean him up. I'm going to need cold water too. As much as you can get. If there's an ice house in town, that would be better."
Vin had already poured water from his canteen onto a cloth and was wiping Ezra's sweat covered face. "Can you help him Nathan? Are we in time?"
"Yeah, I think we're in time. He's going to be mighty sick, but I've seen worse. He should be able to make it through this."
Vin could hear the hesitation. "Is he going to lose the hand?"
"I wish to God I knew."
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For what felt like the thousandth time, Nathan wrung out a cooling cloth before placing it on Ezra's forehead. He been sitting with the man for hours now, only sometimes stepping away to let Vin or Chris take over.
There had been little sign of improvement. Granted, Ezra didn't seem to be getting worse, but that was small comfort. He'd wrapped and rewrapped the hand several times, applying poultices and ointments to try to fight off the infection. He was sure it hadn't spread further, having marked the point on Ezra's arm with a colouring to show the infection had taken hold. It had moved only a fraction beyond that first line, then began slowly pulling back. As long as he could keep it from flaring up, he was confident Ezra would be alright.
The other two problems worried him more. There was no sign of movement in the hand it all. He had poked and prodded at it. Ezra had responded to nothing, and Nathan now believed that the nerves and muscles had been severely damaged. If he was right, there was no realistic hope the hand could ever again be useful. His focus now rested on saving the hand. It may not be functional, but at least it would spare Ezra what he would see as the humiliation of having a stump or some wooden replica.
A soft moan brought his attention back to Ezra's face. It was still glistening with sweat, even with the benefit of the cooling cloth. Nathan wiped him down again, noting the etched pain lines as he did. There was still enough fever and illness to be keeping him in a bad state.
"Wish I could do something about that Ez. But 'til you wake up and get a bit of strength back, I just don't think you should be taking anything."
"I'm sure he'd understand Nathan," Vin spoke softly, hoping he hadn't startled the healer. Nathan showed no sign of response. "He'd also know you're doing everything you can. Don't let this eat at you."
"Don't feel like it's enough."
"He would. He will."
"I don't know. He ain't gonna be too forgiving if he loses –"
"Don't finish that thought," Chris interrupted. "First place, he is not to lose anything. And whatever happens, he'll come around."
"May take a bit of time Nathan, but once the shock wears off, he'll come around." Vin agreed, hoping he was right. "You can't be blaming yourself."
Nathan looked Vin in the eye. "And how is that 'not blaming yourself' working for you?"
"That's different," Vin said softly.
"How?" Chris demanded.
"Because if I'd been more aware of what was going on, Ezra wouldn't be here now. None of us would."
"He shot a guy coming up from behind. Since when do you have eyes in the back of your head?" Chris challenged.
"If I'd been –"
"Knock it off. Both of you. If Ezra wants your guilt he'll let you know. Seriously doubt that's going to happen though. What he needs is support, not pity."
Another soft moan came, almost as if endorsing the sentiment. All eyes turned to him as Ezra shifted slightly on the bed. Nathan yet again removed the cloth, dipping it into the cool water and wringing it out. Chris reached out and took it from him.
"You two go get some rest. I'll stay by him for now. Go. I'll send for you if I need to."
Reluctantly both men left. Chris sighed deeply. "You best get better Ezra. Don't think I could handle losing the three of you."
tbc
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