Hello! Hermes here. As always, I only own my OC's (and Scratch.)
Okay, so the first chapter was a tad rough, but Dalonega Noquisi seemed to like it! Many thanks to my first reviewer. I'm sorry this took so long to update, but I'm still not satisfied with the first chapter. The second one is ironing out a bit of the kinks, stretching new muscles and so on. I hope people can get past it! Chapter title is taken from Terry Pratchett's The Wee Free Men and you'll find Tessa quoting those witches quite a bit. But due diligence, I will always tell who and where I got the quote from, if it isn't mine.
That being said, ON WITH THE SHOW! And let me know what you think! :)
"Them as can do has to do for them as can't.
And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices."
-Terry Pratchett, The Wee Free Men
The makeshift stable was empty enough that Tessa felt she could freely discuss the days events with Scratch, her mule, and not be ridiculed. The scarred and angry animal was a good listener, when he wasn't pouring water in her boots. Her long black braid fell over her shoulder as she leaned over and tightened the saddle girth once he bothered to let out the breath he was holding.
"Eventually you will stop doing that." she informed him, flipping aforementioned braid back into position. Scratch didn't dignify that with a response, gnawing half heartedly at the remains of the oats in his nosebag (muzzle).
"Degenerate," she murmured affectionately, and checked the straps on her saddle bags.
"Tess."
Tessa glanced up from her work and cocked a questioning eyebrow to Joe lolling in the doorway. "Chisolm's in the boarding house, he wants to talk to us before we get going anywhere."
"Ah." Tessa patted Scratch's broad forehead and led the crotchety animal out into the sunlight.
"...Do you think we're doing the right thing?" she asked after a few paces. "The probability of us surviving this is...well low."
Joe cast a long glance at her and flipped the ever present piece of silver he always had on him. The metal chimed and flashed twice before he answered, as they made their way to the boarding house Nick had just checked them out of.
"I don't know. I think so," he said finally. He easily dodged a stray hoof from Scratch as Tessa tied him to the hitching post. "It's like...if we do nothing, aren't we just saying it's alright? How do you always put it?"
"By our silence we give our agreement," Tessa offered.
"That's the one," Joe flipped the coin again. Paused. "I mean we could go and find another bounty. Got word of a vaquero running from the law, we could go hunting and no one would blame us. Hell, out here, it's every man for themselves. No one expects us to go play hero."
The thought didn't sit right with her and Tessa frowned. "I would blame us."
Her lion colored brother grinned sweet-and-easy, "I know. I wouldn't feel too right about it myself you know?" he admitted. "I talked a bit to Teddy Q, that's the man Mrs. Cullen is traveling with, and he told me all about the situation. It's a regular dominance play by a man far too used to getting his way. I mean, he offered farmers twenty dollars per land deed! The man is a snake. It just," the coin flashed once. "Don't seem right to leave them like that."
She couldn't stop herself from grinning at the scowl on Joe's face. Her rough and tough little brother might not like to admit it, but he was very much a romantic. "All right Don Quixote we're going." she teased. " I never said anything about leaving them to it. As I like to say, "Them as can do-"
"-must do for them as cannot" I know, I know," Joe rolled his eyes and playfully offered his arm to her as they walked up the boardinghouse steps.
Tessa socked him in the ribs for his cheek. He guffawed loud enough to startle Mrs. Cullen and Teddy Q as they walked into the front room. Nick shook his head from his seat but kept his peace, by now used to their antics (as if he didn't join in on occasion Tessa thought spitefully), but Mrs. Cullen didn't look too pleased. She did hold her tongue.
Teddy Q did not.
"Kind of you to join us Mr. and Mrs. Newell." he muttered, just shy of actually confronting them.
Tessa's eyebrows hiked towards her scalp and she traded an amused glance with Nick; Joe did not restrain himself to that. He snorted and started giggling like a child.
"Now, Mr. Newell," Tessa began severely, causing Nick to erupt in a series of painful sounding coughes. "And you too Mr. Newell, kindly show some decorum. We've got business to settle."
Teddy Q looked plainly confused while a thoughtful frown crossed Mrs. Cullen's pale brow. Chisolm restrained himself to merely glancing up at the ceiling as if the rough boards held the answers he needed. Ignoring her ridiculous kinfolk the short woman glanced down at the rough map on the table.
"I take it this is your town Mrs. Cullen?"
"Yes." Whatever the woman felt for her personally was put aside as she got down to business. "As I was explaining to Mr. Chisolm, here is the mine Bogue owns, and here's the town." She pointed out the features. "The only way in is over here, through the valley floor, and the road in and out is to the west."
"Is there only one road in and out?"
"Yes." Mrs. Cullen affirmed.
"You're sure?" Tessa pinned her with a gimlet eye. "No game trails, no back ways for bootleggers? No way for someone to sneak up on us?"
An expression of almost comical distaste came on her face and Mrs. Cullen's chin jutted forward sharply. "We are not those sort of people, Mrs. Newell."
"It's Ms. Newell, Mrs. Cullen, and I can assure you, there's always one or two who circumvent the law." Tessa dryly corrected. She arched an eyebrow, looking between the two farmers. "Well?"
"There's one or two game trails," Teddy Q offered, almost shyly, after a moment. He looked apologetic, though to which woman Tessa couldn't begin to guess. "But it's tough terrain for a small group on foot, let alone the army Bogue is bringing."
Rocking back on her heels, Tessa mulled that over. "Where's he coming from?"
"Sacramento," Mrs. Cullen offered stiffly.
"If he's as rich as you've made him out to be then he has a lot of hired gun yes?"
"Blackstone agents," Chisolm cut in. "A lot of them if what Mrs. Cullen says is correct."
Tessa nodded thoughtfully. "Has he left men in the town?"
"The sherriffs on his payroll," offered Teddy Q darkly. "And he always leaves a few Blackstone agents to enforce things."
There was a slight emphasis placed on his words that Tessa didn't miss. There was little doubt what kinds of things these Blackstone agents enforced. But she let it pass, unwilling to give up her train of thought as she traced the large blank spaces of the valley floor. "What's this land used for?"
Mrs. Cullen and Teddy Q exchanged a puzzled glance over her bent head, while Chisolm looked on thoughtfully. "It's the towns land. No one farms it. It's to built on one day, when the town is a bit bigger," said Teddy Q.
Tessa tapped the map once and glanced from Joe to Chisolm. "Are we heading directly to Rose Creek?"
"No. Got a few more men in mind I want to ask to join." Chisolm explained, looking almost curious.
"And when is Bogue coming back for you?" she inquired of the two townsfolk.
"Three weeks. But Ms. Newell I don't-"
The small woman raised an imperious hand and Teddy Q came to a sputtering halt. She ignored Nick's scoff from the corner. "Send Joe to Rose Creek." she told Chisolm. "He can get the lay of the land and find out pertinent information that could prove useful to us."
"I can, can I?" Joe drawled, but his eyes were dancing.
"Yes you can." Tessa told him sharply, then to Chisolm, "He can."
"Is there something wrong with our information Ms. Newell?" demanded a stiff backed Mrs. Cullen.
"No of course not." Tessa said impatiently. "The information you have is invaluable. But Joe can...how did that preacher put it Joe? "Charm the fangs off a rattlesnake" I want information on Bogue's inner workings. If Joe can fleece these agents while the rest of us gather some extra guns, so much the better."
"I believe Mr. Chisolm is the one we hired to oversee this undertaking." Mrs. Cullen said firmly, eyes cold and dangerous. Tessa amended her impression of the woman, and smiled. The expression caught her off guard to say the least.
"He did." she agreed and they both turned to the warrant officer.
"It's a good plan," he said after a moment of scrubbing at his beard. "Do you think you can do what your sister thinks you can?"
Joe spread his hands and shrugged. "It's what I do," he said modestly. "Everyone takes offense to a woman walking around and asking questions, and Nick here," said man swatted at the hand Joe attempted to place on his shoulder, "is grumpy curmudgeon on the best of days. I can get in and out with the necessary information."
"You shouldn't go alone-"
"I'm not leaving Ms. Emma," declared Teddy Q firmly.
"Well, no." Tessa and Joe agreed immediately.
"I'll have to go. We know how to work together." Nick rose to his feet and then addressed Tessa, "Standard layout and supply list?"
"Of course."
Chisolm shook his head in bemusement. "I'm glad that's settled then,"
"But where does that leave you?" Mrs. Cullen asked the other woman.
"I'll be watching Mr. Chisolm's back. If you can stand to have a woman at it." she lifted her chin challengingly. The man smiled ever so slightly.
"I think I can manage."
"Good," Tessa nodded firmly. "Now where's this other fellow you mentioned?"
When Tessa saw the man Chisolm had in mind she wondered very seriously about the man's decision making process. No sooner had Teddy (she wasn't going to call the man Mr. Q, that was a tad ridiculous) and Mrs. Cullen given Nick and Joe their heading, than Chisolm was informing them he'd found the third of their merry band. And what a strange fellow he was. They'd had one, very brief altercation, but Tessa would bet her mother's necklace the man didn't remember it. He'd been roaring drunk early that very morning.
She wondered idly how he was standing on his own two feet and trying to bargain with a midget of all things. It must have been because he was simply enormous, Tessa decided. He would be a height with Nick if they ever met.
"-standoff except we've got an Irishman and a Baptist, and I'm not sure how that ends." he was saying, entirely too coherent for the amount of alcohol he must have had in his system.
"With you walking away without your horse," rejoined the tiny, smug, Irishman. Tessa watched in rapt fascination as Scratch's long ears flicked towards the angry stallion in the paddock.
She missed the words that led to them fingering their guns, but it was impossible to miss Sam Chisolm sticking his nose where it didn't belong. Her eyebrows were probably going to stay permanently sky high around the man, she decided, as he bought the angry stallion and the saddle, and summarily dragged the man into service.
He didn't come all that unwillingly to be fair. He weighed the bag of money Mrs. Cullen threw to him, tossed it back, and slid his eyes over all of them in an economic fashion. "Who are these?"
"My name is Emma Cullen and this is my associate Teddy Q," she nodded to Tessa. "This here is Ms. Tessa Newell."
The man looked at his horse. Or would it be Chisolm's horse? "Is it difficult?"
"Impossible." Well at least Chisolm didn't mince words. Tessa could respect that, being unwilling to mince words herself.
"How many you got?"
"Five." Tessa snorted softly, seeing where this was going.
"I believe your count is off my mysterious friend." The man flashed what he probably thought to be a charming grin.
"No," Chisolm disagreed, mild as you please. "Ms. Newell, her two brothers, and you and me."
A surge of admiration for the mans audacity threatened to make her laugh, and it looked like their newest associate was having the same struggle as Tessa. The grin on his face was probably the first sincere expression she'd seen since their first brief (and painful) meeting. Which said a lot of interesting things about him.
He came with them of course. He liked his horse very much, apparently.
They rode out towards the foothills of the mountains, and Tessa quickly came to wish he hadn't.
He rode next to Mrs. Cullen at first. "Doesn't seem too chivalrous to send a woman to gather guns."
"I volunteered," retorted the regal woman. "Insisted actually." Tessa smiled down at Scratch's rough mane. She was liking the other woman more and more.
Hoofbeats on her left had her expression smoothing into a blank look as he came to try his charm on her. To her surprise he didn't say anything for a long moment, and Tessa glanced up to find him studying her hard.
"Can I help you Mr…"
"Oh where are my manners?" his look eased into something between automatic leer and charming grin, and touched the tip of his hat. "Joshua Faraday milady, at your service, and might I say, you look mighty familiar. Have we met before?"
"Oh yes." Tessa fought down a grin.
"We have? I mean- how could I forget such a pretty face! Mind refreshing my memory darling?"
"You were very drunk," Tessa supplied helpfully, ignoring the "darling" comment. For now. "I'm surprised you can stand. At any rate, I can imagine that even if you forgot my face Mr. Faraday, your wrist still hurts a bit."
Whatever he was going to say got lost on the way out as he boggled at her and shifted mindlessly to touch the wrist she'd twisted sharply not six hours ago.
"I hope that wasn't your gun hand darling." She smiled her sweetest smile. "I'd hate for you to get killed because you mistook an honest woman for a painted lady while you were drunk off your mind."
He drew back in his saddle ever so slightly and then clicked his tongue, urging his horse forward. It was just as well really. Scratch was plainly eyeing the handsome bay stallion in a less than friendly way. As soon as he'd gone, Mrs. Cullen rode into the place he'd left. Tessa preemptively tightened her grip on the reins, in case Scratch got any ideas. Her palomino was pretty, but Scratch was a hell-beast, and often angry, purely on principle.
"Mrs. Cullen." she offered peacably after a few paces.
"I think given the circumstances, you can call me Emma." The red head smiled a tad ruefully. "I believe I let my assumptions get further than my facts, Ms. Newell. I'd like to apologize."
Tessa didn't ask what assumptions. It wouldn't do her any good to know. But it was nice to know Emma wasn't a rigid, self righteous woman. She was stressed and grieving of course, but she seemed fair, she thought. "I'm used to it." Tessa continued aloud. "It doesn't bother me as much as it used to."
"And...have you been a bounty hunter long?" Emma asked tentatively.
"Three years. Started when I was 25." Scratch's ears flicked back and she firmly guided his head away from Emma's mare. "It makes decent money."
"I've never heard of women being bounty hunters," Emma eyed her a little dubiously, from the tips of her broken in boots, to the white scars on her tanned knuckles. Tessa fought not to curl her hands in on themselves under the weight of the other's scruntiny. She hadn't always been so smart about how she hit people. The other womans pale knuckles had no scars. But they probably had callouses, she consoled herself, and shook the thoughts from her head.
"Of course not. Men don't like it when a woman brings in a man they've hunted. My brothers usually get the credit, even if I come up with the plans." she explained. Comprehension dawned on Emma's face.
"So you won't be fighting then." Tessa wasn't sure whether she was relieved or disappointed.
"No, I will." She grinned at the other. "I never make a plan asking someone else to do what I'm not willing to do Emma. It isn't right, for one, and I'm a decent shot for another."
They eyed one another for the space of five hoofbeats and Emma tipped her head approvingly. "That's a worthy way of looking at things."
They nodded at one another, now that they had an understanding and continued in companionable silence.
"And you can call me Tess or Tessa. We might be heading to our deaths, I think we can stand to be familiar with one another." That drew a laugh, however slight, from Emma.
