AUTHOR'S NOTE (14 Mar 2022):
Hello again, readers! I'm excited to be posting again for the second time this month after such a long hiatus between Chapters 57 and 58. Thanks so much for all the positive feedback I've received this past week!
So what happened after the gunshot? Read on…
Chapter 59 - Glimmer of Hope
"Stop it, Jake!"
Jake turned his eyes away from Sam to see that a red-haired civilian woman, standing just inside the doorway, had issued the command after firing a round at the ceiling. She was now aiming her revolver at him. A tall, lanky civilian man standing next to her also pointed a weapon at him.
Jake's face turned pale as he recognized the woman. "Skylor!" he exclaimed with false enthusiasm, slowly climbing off the bed. "It's so good to see you again! We all were worried about you after we heard what happened at Kryptarium Prison!"
Sam sharply inhaled. Kryptarium! That's where Kai's being held!
"What were you doing just now, Jake?" Skylor demanded, her green eyes not wavering from his face.
Jake began to button up the torso buttons of his union suit. "Skylor, my dear, it's unfortunate that you had to see this. You see, this woman is a spy for the Yellows, and I was trying to scare her into revealing infor…"
"I know who she is, Jake. And we were watching you through the kitchen window. Don't bother lying anymore."
Both Jake's and Sam's eyes grew wide at these revelations.
Jake walked toward her, arms outstretched. "Darling, we are engaged to be married. Why would I lie to you?"
"Hold it right there, Jake." Skylor clutched the gun more tightly. "I know all about Fifi."
Jake paused, his face becoming even more pale. "Wh-who is Fifi?" he weakly stammered. "Dear Skylor, the stress you must have been suffering these past few weeks has made you delusional. Come, my dear, you're safe in my arms," He continued in her direction.
The lanky man stepped forward to block Jake's path. "You heard what the mademoiselle said, you peeshwank. So stop and put your hands in the air," he ordered, waving his weapon.
Jake obeyed, grudgingly. "Skylor, dear, would this be the, uh, gentleman - and I use that term loosely - who killed Colonel Doolverr?"
"Don't change the subject, Jake. Your last letter to Fifi, in which you said your fiancee was GULLIBLE, ended up in an envelope addressed to me. I'll bet she got the letter I should have received. Obviously you need to be more careful the next time you write letters to all your women!"
"And you seem to have formed an alliance with this…swamplander, my dear," Jake retorted, having noted Jules' accent. "So I don't believe I'm the only sinner here."
"What do you want to do with him, cherie?" Jules interjected. He was anxious to leave Ninjago before the Purple Army caught up to them, and before Jake's condescending attitude irritated him further.
Skylor scrunched up her nose. "Not sure yet." She briefly scanned the cottage. "Any weapons in the bedroom?" she asked Sam, who was still laying on the bed.
The wild events in the past few minutes had left the blonde woman stupefied; she could only shake her head to indicate no.
Skylor turned to Jules and tilted her head toward the bedroom door.
"All right, peeshwank, into the bedroom you go," Jules declared.
Jake sighed with an exaggerated manner but complied. "You could just shoot me, swamplander," he mocked, "IF you didn't have the guts of a mosquito. I myself have killed plenty of men. Knifed them, shot them, even threw them into a rattlesnake pit."
He paused to turn to Sam, who was being assisted to a sitting position by Skylor. "In fact, Samantha, I remember a friend of yours from the Ninjago Town region. We talked about you just hours before I tossed him down the snake hole. Let's see, what was his name? Duncan? No. Donner? No. It was…Donlan!"
Sam gasped. Michael Donlan from the Double S Ranch!
"Hell is too good for you, Jacob Clouse!" she spat, glaring at him.
Jake laughed diabolically as he allowed Jules to guide him away.
Once Jake had entered the bedroom, Jules shut the door and jammed the back of a kitchen chair under the doorknob to lock him in.
Skylor kneeled down to bring herself on Sam's seated level. "Sam, I'm Skylor. I'm glad to meet you because I want to tell you about Kai," she revealed in a low voice so as not to be heard by Jake in the next room.
Sam, still reeling from learning of Michael Donlan's fate, was nervous about what Skylor might say about her beloved husband. "You've talked to Kai?"
Skylor glanced at Jules before answering. "We both have. We traveled here straight from Kryptarium Prison. Kai was in the infirmary recovering from...an illness. Before we left, I was making sure he got good care, and he was doing well."
Kai is all right! Sam was elated. But then a thousand questions popped into her mind. "Wait…you were making sure he got good care? Are you in the Purple Army? You're not in uniform."
Skylor grimaced. "Up until this morning I was a Purple Army officer and Jules here was a Purple enlisted man. But now we're on a run for our lives. Nya suggested we head to Skeleton Territory…"
"Nya? You know her? Wait…that dress is hers, isn't it? I thought it looked familiar. How did you…"
Skylor patted Sam's forearm. "I know you have a lot of questions, Sam. And I want to answer them. But Jules and I must get going. The Purple Army is going to be looking for us because they think we killed a Purple officer in cold blood. And…you should come with us."
Jules raised his eyebrows and smirked but kept quiet. His woman was full of surprises.
"No!" Sam exclaimed. "I can't." She turned away from Skylor. "Kai's safety depends on my…cooperation with the Purple Ar…"
Skylor interrupted her. "You don't have to worry anymore about that, Sam. I know what's been happening," she admitted. "That awful colonel at Kryptarium is dead now. We saw him die. He can't hurt Kai anymore."
"And…" She stood up, contemplating a new idea in her mind. "Just to make sure Kai doesn't suffer any retaliation for your disappearance, I'll leave a note here saying we kidnapped you…and Jake," she added. "In other words, you came with us involuntarily."
Skylor's mention of Jake coming with them, too, surprised Jules, but he wished to vocalize his thoughts regarding Sam accompanying them. "May I add, Madame Smith," he spoke up, "that when we leave, you will be alone here for a time in a cottage with no lock. The next man who shows up may not be a Purple Army gentilhomme. He may be a dishonorable deserter who is too cowardly to face the spring battles. Or he may be a mercenary looking for his next opportunity. And you, madame, are not able to walk to your friends, and they may not be able to reach you for days, perhaps weeks, until most of the peeshwanks have left the area. And if the bebe has a problem, you would have no help."
Sam bowed her head in thought. Jules had given good reasons for her to go with them. And Skylor's plan of a kidnapping note would get Sam away from General Chen, making it seem as if she disappeared through no fault of her own. She wished there was a way to let her loved ones know where she was going, but for now that was not possible…and would be too dangerous, anyway.
Sam had one more question. She looked at Skylor.
"Skylor, why did you take such an interest in Kai and me?"
Skylor took a deep breath. "I was courted by Kai here in Ninjago Town about two years ago. He even proposed marriage."
I remember Kai speaking of her! Sam remembered. She left him not long before I came to town.
"Fate didn't intend for us to be together, however," Skylor went on to explain. "Kai eventually found his true soulmate in you. And I found my true soulmate, too," she smiled at Jules. "We both consider Kai a dear friend and, by extension, you as well."
Sam was touched. She reached for Skylor's arm and squeezed it. "And I consider you two my friends. Now let's get out of here!"
"Yes, let's go!" Skylor happily agreed. "Let's see…if we're all going, we'll have to take the wagon, which the Purple Army conveniently stocked for us," she laughed. "Sam, if you'll tell me where the ink and paper is, I'll write the kidnapping note while Jules helps you in the wagon and ties our horses to the back of it. Then, Jules, you and I can put Jake in the wagon under the watchful eye of our gun barrels."
"I like the way you think, cherie," Jules agreed. "You sit in front and take the reins. The peeshwank can sit next to you and I will sit behind him in the wagon to stop him from making the misere."
"And this would only be for a few hours, until we reach the border of Skeleton Territory," Skylor assured Sam. "Then we'll put Jake out of the wagon. By the time he finds help and gets back to the Third Division, we'll be deep into Skeleton Territory."
Sam was glad that Jake would only be with them for a finite amount of time. His nonchalant attitude about having killed one of her friends was nauseating.
She told Skylor where in the kitchen the writing instruments could be found. Skylor set off to write her note.
Jules addressed Sam. "Madame Smith, allow me to carry you to the wagon after I have fetched your shoes and cloak."
"Oh, Jules, please call me Sam. I wish I could tell you where my things are, but Jake took away all my outerwear so I couldn't leave the cottage. I don't know where he put them.
"Jake is more than a peeshwank," Jules muttered to himself. To Sam he said, "Let us bundle you in the bed linens then."
He helped her drape the blankets around her shoulders, then carried her, bridal style, outdoors to the wagon. As he did so, Sam breathed in the late February air. A sense of spring, along with its promise of hope, managed to make itself known in the chilliness. As if in confirmation to her that a new season was approaching, a crack of ice resounded from the Ninjago River.
An idea dawned on her.
"I know a good hiding place in Skeleton Territory," she told Jules. "It's a log house up in the Stone Mountains. It's a three-day ride from here, a nine-hour ride from Qubla, the capital. After Jake is out of the wagon, I'll tell you two more about it, and I'll tell you how I ended up owning it."
