Winchester West
Disclaimer: I have no claims to the show Supernatural, the characters or themes. I also mean no insult to any and all Indian tribes, people etc. I just like to play with the characters, tease, torture, caress and the rest!!
CHAPTER 21Previously: If he could have seen what was happening, he would have taken what Black Wolf had said more seriously for he would have seen a link between Sarah and Black Wolf. A link that none could brake. For at that moment Sarah was recovering from a sudden illness that left her shivering and cold. She had a high fever and her parents where worried. It had only been last night that the fever had broken and it had gone on for a few days. Yet the only person she wanted was Dean, and her father Henry worried that without him, she might not survive whatever the future held in store.
For you see while Dean (Black Wolf), was getting used to his new life, Sarah had been getting the store organized, and continuing the running of said store. With her mother's help she had managed to continue with things even though some nights she stayed late making dough for the next day's bread or got up earlier then usual to feed the chickens. On the whole life continued but there where a few drastic changes though. Changes that would not have happened in Dean was still there. For instance Samuel (or Sam as he now wanted to be called), moved back to town and instead of having an apprentiship under a city doctor, he studied and helped the new fort Doctor/Soldier, in his duties covering everything from arrow wounds and bullet holes to broken arms and the countless fevers and flues, the soldiers seemed to catch. Maureen, (Sarah's sister), moved into the store a few weeks after Dean had vanished and spent her days helping out anyway she could, from working the counter to helping with the chickens and baking bread. Though in all fairness Sarah had to put a stop to her help with the bread rather quickly, mainly because it turned out only fit for the chickens, when she made it. The chickens where another source of problems for Maureen, but after a few weeks, she got over her hatred of them and developed a hatred of catching escaped chickens, to a point, where it was said that no chicken dared to try to escape. This did though teach her to be fast on her feet, which would come in handy later in her life. If you have ever tried catching a runaway chicken, you will understand what I mean. It was about three months later that she suggested the store should start selling guns and in desperation for her harassed chickens, Sarah agreed, making her promise though, that Maureen alone would deal with that side of the business. As a result the egg laying count went up. Sarah decided that chickens laid more eggs when they where not being chased.
An upshot of this was that of course Maureen had to learn how to shoot and clean weapons, which not unsurprisingly she turned out to be very good at it and so life went on and everyone settled in for the long search. Maureen dealing with the weapons and years later buying a share in the Saloon. Lynda helping Sarah run the store. Henry being the Doctor he always was treating an ever increasing population of people from all walks of life from Farmers to the odd Soldier, from Indians to Chinese. All came and went through his office at one time or another. Once or twice he was called to the fort or even another fort, when the running battles meant there was need of two doctors instead of one, or when a case turned up that the fort Doctor needed another opinion on. Henry was the one called. Martha set up her home base (so to say) at the Mansion and when she was there, she too helped out at the store. The horse company was run by Daniel, Henry's son, when his 1st tour as a soldier ended. Turned out it was not really what he had thought it would be like, and he was glad to find a job when he returned to the New Stand area. He even stayed at the Mansion, to be near them in case of any trouble. Unfortunately there was trouble from marauding Indians to Bandits, raids on farmhouses and stables where a normal hindrance but Daniel seemed to be able to deal with it all and in him Martha found a honest hard working ranch head, who was totally loyal and very grateful for the chance she gave him to run the horse business.
Martha herself traveled a lot searching, looking, spreading the word about Dean from one side of the country to the other but every time she returned, it was the same. No-one had seen or heard of a white boy, with his description, growing up around Indians. She found out that Green eyes where a rare occurrence among Indians but it seemed as time wore on that finding one boy among an Indian nation of countless tribes and offshoot tribes was a near impossible feat, but Martha was never one to quit. Sam also did not know how to quit and had spread the news where-ever he found Indians but he quickly realized that they would not answer any question about captured white people, so he too seemed to be running up against a wall of silence. He being a soldier was assigned to fort after fort, wherever there was a possible trouble with the Indians because the army had long discovered that Sam was an expert tracker and he knew several Indian languages. This made him invaluable when discussing treaties or water rights or even moving a wagon train through hostile country. He was definitely in demand by the army. But he never stopped searching and sometimes even his commanders wondered if it worth it. Many people said that Dean was probably dead or so much a savage that he would be unrecognizable to anyone even his family. But Sam ignored them, like the others, he knew he had to keep searching. What would make their search more important then anything else, was that sometimes Sarah would fall ill and at these times all she wanted was Dean. Henry even though he was a trusted and reliable and even a great doctor, unfortunately had no idea why or how she fell ill. There was no pattern to the illness and no single item that would explain it. It just seemed that, one day for whatever reason she would fall ill. It started as a fever or cold would start, her throat would feel sore and her temperature would rise. Once or twice she lost consciousness or had to stay in bed, complaining of how her body hurt or her back or her head, and yet the doctor could find no reason for the sudden illness and he did try. People begun to feel that she was cursed, and yet the illness would vanish as quickly as it came. The doctor could as I have said find no reason why the illness came or went. It had started a few months after Dean vanished, Sarah fainted right in the middle of the day. At first he thought that it was heat-stroke. He noted that she said that suddenly she felt as if she was drowning and he sent her straight to bed to recover. It was a few days later that her lack of breath was joined by a high fever, leading to her staying in bed suffering with delirium, and calling for Dean. Then one day when the doctor was about to give up hope, she recovered and seemed well again and itching to get back to the store. So Martha, Maureen and Sam traveled trying to dig up any information they could, hoping to set her mind at ease. For you see the entire town, including her father, thought that the illness had been brought on, (the first time that is), by the stress of losing Dean and when she settled down to running the store again, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, that she was alright. All though agreed the faster Dean was found, the better it would be for her.
It was not until years later about the time that she was twelve that any useful information was found though. It was actually Maureen who found it or rather should I say, blackmailed a Indian to tell her. She had for some time been a rather good bounty hunter, strictly small time though and had just earned her biggest bounty yet. It was for a gang of bank robbers, who after being locked up by the sheriff pleaded capture due to being insanely drunk, instead of admitting that one woman had managed to capture four men. That bounty totaled $1200 for all four. They had robbed six banks but managed, except for shooting one teller in the shoulder and a deputy in the leg, not to hurt anyone. They stole four good horses. Martha happened to be close by so they joined up to chat and talk over what each had found, i.e. Martha confirmed that as far as she knew Dean was not with the apache or the Cherokee or the Blackfoot. Maureen shook her head and told her of her latest hunt, as she called them. Martha looked at her, Maureen looked tired and saddle-sore, both of which she was, and Martha insisted that she go home to rest. Not only because she thought Maureen needed it but also because Sarah had been ill again, about a week earlier and maybe Maureen should come back to New Stand to help out at the store, and convince Sarah to take things a little easier. Maureen had been away from New Stand for five months and she agreed, she could do with a few home-cooked meals and a soft bed. She would also try to get Sarah to relax more. It was then that Martha who by now had finally admitted, (like Henry before her), that Maureen was not going to grow up to be a lady of good manners and fancy clothes, decided to give Maureen a gift to make sure, she always had a good weapon. Martha did this because well, she wanted Maureen to have a weapon she could depend on, a reliable weapon that would never miss it's target. For this weapon for all the time Martha had used it, in the few fights and arguments and hold-ups, she had been involved in over the years, had literally never missed it's intended target. It had also never gotten lost, even when Martha herself thought it had been stolen. On that one occasion, the bag it was supposedly in along with all the other items on the stagecoach, had been stolen, and she was sure that the knife was lost. But on looking in the one bag that the thieves had left her, containing bread, cheese, a small water bag and a little meat, there it was and how it got there Martha would never know. Yes, Martha gave Maureen the knife, Dean had given her, and made her promise never to lose it. Martha was convinced the knife brought good luck and protection and that was what she wanted Maureen to have.
Maureen was in shock but she gratefully accepted it. Then Martha caught her stage, on her way to Washington to talk again to the secretary in charge of Indian affairs, and Maureen went to saddle her horse, to go home. Unfortunately plans laid by men or women have the regular problem of going wrong and so it was Maureen plan. While she was notifying the sheriff that she was on her way out of town, he had wanted to know whether there would be any more gun fights around the town. She saw the sheriff putting up a wanted poster offering a bounty of $25,000 for one man. That amount of money would set Maureen up for life and then some. It would allow her to fulfill her dream of buying into the saloon back home and settling down. She had been saving for that dream for a few years now and here was enough money not only to guarantee her dream but to put enough money in the bank to last her a lifetime. She decided that she was not about to refuse such a hunt.
Next: The Hunt