by tag
The Magnificent Seven is copyright © The Mirisch Corporation, MGM, Trilogy, and the rest of the Alphabet Soup. No infringement of that copyright is intended by this story.
"Their Fates Aligned" is copyright © 2002, Trudy A. Goold.
Author's Notes: Thanks to Mog, who created the Mag7 ATF AU; to Rhicy, for her Eternal series, which got me thinking; and to all the fans of Mag7 who have done such a wonderful job of keeping the characters and series alive.
WARNING: This story contains some scenes containing gory violence; inadvisable for sensitive readers.
"...An' Vin says that that's how you tell when someone's trying to wipe away their tracks. Ain't that right, Vin?"
Vin, who'd been sitting on the boardwalk just outside the saloon, looked up from under his hat to see JD and Buck approaching. "Ain't what right, JD?" he asked calmly.
The youngest member of the Seven waved his hands enthusiastically, almost hitting Buck on the forehead. "I was just telling Buck about how you showed me what it looked like when someone tries to erase their tracks," JD explained, ignoring - or perhaps not even noticing - the glare Buck shot in his direction at the near-miss. "How you were saying what it looks like when they use branches with leaves, or branches without leaves, or--"
"Rider coming in!" came a sudden shout from farther down the main street of Four Corners, interrupting JD's explanation, and all three men looked over in that direction.
A moment later, the rider came into view.
"Hey, ain't that George Davies?" JD asked, peering at the features of the approaching rider.
Vin nodded. George Davies owned one of the smaller ranches situated around Four Corners - a pleasant enough man, who treated his people well, from all Vin had heard of him. "Yep." Then he frowned, standing up and looking closer. "Horse is near to founderin'," he said quietly. "Buck, you'd best fetch Chris - he an' Nathan are at the church with Josiah."
As Buck headed for the church, Vin heard the saloon's batwing doors swing open behind him. There was no need to look to see who it was - Ezra's step was a familiar one, and Vin knew that he'd been in there playing solitaire. He'd most likely heard the shout and come out to see what was going on, Vin figured.
Then Davies reined his horse to a stop in front of the three peacekeepers. He nodded to them as he dismounted, and then glanced around. "Mr. Larabee here?"
"He's comin'," Vin replied, taking in the man's pale and sweating face, and the signs of a hard run on the horse. Whatever it was that had brought Davies to town looking for them, it definitely had him spooked.
"Is something wrong?" came Chris's voice from the direction of the church, and Vin glanced over to see the Seven's leader approaching, flanked by the others.
"Yes, sir, Mr. Larabee," Davies replied, sounding shaken. The words startled Vin; despite the fact that all of the townsfolk and a number of the small ranchers and farmers in the surrounding area had benefited greatly from the Seven's presence, it was an extremely rare thing for one of them to call Chris - or any of the others, excepting maybe Ezra at times - 'sir'.
"What is it?"
"I... I found a... a body... just outside my woodshed," Davies stuttered. "It... it... I think you'd better take a look-see."
Chris glanced over at Vin to see what he thought, and Vin gave a slight nod. Something nasty had happened; a dead body, unless it was a close friend or relative, shouldn't have spooked the rancher this badly. Out here, life was cheap, and death was all too common.
"All right," Chris said, turning back to Davies. "Ezra, Buck, JD, I want you to stay here. Those marshals are due sometime within the next hour or two with their prisoner. If they don't get here by evening, wire the Judge to let him know. The rest of you are with me. Let's go."
As Vin followed Chris, Nathan and Josiah to the livery, he reflected grimly that although he'd planned to avoid the marshals when they arrived, this wasn't exactly the way he'd hoped to do it. He was starting to get an uneasy feeling about this.
Half an hour or so after Chris, Vin, Josiah and Nathan had left with Mr. Davies, JD heard a knock on the door of the sheriff's office. Putting down the dime novel he'd been reading, he opened the door, took in the two U.S. Marshals and their prisoner with a glance, and then motioned them in.
"Glad to see you made it," he told them.
The older man, who had iron-grey hair and was almost as tall as Josiah, frowned. "We're looking for the Sheriff."
"An' you've found him," JD replied calmly. He'd gotten used to this reaction by now. It still bothered him that most people looked at him and saw a boy instead of a man, but he'd learned enough to know better than to let it show. "JD Dunne, Sheriff of Four Corners."
The younger marshal, a man who looked to be about Ezra's age, looked disbelieving, but the older one simply nodded. "I'm Bill Freeley; this is Mike Carter. And this here," he gave their prisoner a sharp shake, "is Luke Dalkey - we're transporting him to Yuma."
"Yep, Judge Travis mentioned that," JD said. Leading them to the cells in the back, he opened one of the doors and stood aside to let Freeley put his prisoner in. Then, locking the cell, he returned to the desk. "He'll be safe in here for the night. There'll be someone on guard for the entire time."
Freeley nodded, and then looked around. "I heard Chris Larabee was in these parts," he commented. "Do ya happen to know if he's around? He's an old friend of mine."
The Seven had experienced enough in the past several months to know that Chris Larabee's 'old friends' tended to be one of three things. Either they were gunslingers aiming to test themselves against Chris, enemies who were after him; or - on very rare occasions - they really were old friends.
Considering that this man was a federal marshal, JD doubted that Freeley was a gunslinger - besides, he looked to be older than Josiah, and gunslinging was a young man's game. So that meant that either he really was a friend of Chris', or he was an enemy. Just because he was a marshal didn't necessarily mean that he was a good man - another lesson that JD had learned well.
Whichever it was, Buck would probably know - JD would ask him, hopefully before Chris and the others got back from Davies' place. And either way - whether he was Chris's friend or not - right now, at least, JD could feel comfortable giving a completely honest answer to the question.
"I'm afraid he ain't in town, Marshal Freeley," JD said calmly. "Matter of fact, I ain't exactly certain where he is at the moment," he added, which was also true enough. They hadn't been gone long enough to have reached Davies' ranch yet, which meant that they would be somewhere on the trail. Ezra'd taught him that sometimes the best way to deceive was to answer with the literal truth.
Freeley nodded. "Well, if he doesn't get back before morning, I suppose I'll just have to make arrangements to see him later. In the meantime, we've been riding a long ways today and both Marshal Carter and I are feeling a bit peckish. Can you recommend a place to eat?"
"Well, the hotel serves food, but it ain't exactly cheap... You could always try the saloon - they've got a good cook in there," JD said.
"Thanks, Sheriff," Freeley said, and led his companion out.
JD sat back down at his desk, and returned his attention to the novel he'd been reading, while keeping a watchful eye on the prisoner.
After the minor excitement of George Davies' appearance, Ezra had returned to playing solitaire desultorily at a table in the back corner of the saloon, feeling quite bored. The stage from Denver, with its potential marks, wasn't due in for another two days; and since it was the middle of the week, there was no one else willing to play cards with him except his fellow peacekeepers. And none of them presented any real challenge - especially not after he'd been playing regularly with them over the past several months.
Besides, at the moment - since Chris had taken Vin, Nathan and Josiah with him - the only ones left in town with Ezra were JD, who was on duty over at the jail, and Buck, who was currently flirting outrageously with Inez - again. Does the man never give up?
Suddenly, the saloon doors opened, and Ezra saw two strangers walk in. Most likely the US Marshals they'd been expecting, he figured, taking note of both the clothes they wore and the way they held themselves with the ease of long practice.
Buck had also turned to look at them, and a moment later, Ezra saw a wide grin cross the scoundrel's face.
"Well, if it isn't Bill Freeley! You finally irritate your boss enough to get assigned out here permanently?" Buck asked.
The older of the two marshals shrugged in response. "I asked for escort duty this time," he replied, walking over to the bar to stand next to Buck, leaving his companion by the saloon doors. "Heard you and Chris had become the law around here, and I thought I'd see if I couldn't run in to you, see this for myself."
"So, you're one of the marshals Judge Travis told us to expect?" Buck asked. "You get your prisoner settled in at the jail all right?"
"Yep," the older man replied, as Ezra slipped the cards he'd been playing with into his pocket and, standing up, wandered over to join them.
The younger marshal, who'd finally come over to where Buck and the older one were standing at the bar, frowned. "You certain that kid was the sheriff, Bill?"
"I'll have you know, sir," Ezra said mildly, motioning for Inez to get them all something to drink, "that Mr. Dunne, although somewhat young for his position, is indeed the sheriff of this town, and happens to be an extremely capable one at that."
"Bill, this here's Ezra Standish," Buck said. "He rides with Chris and me."
"Not to mention the rest of our illustrious group," Ezra murmured, as Inez put four tumblers of whiskey on the bar. He was careful not to mention the names of the rest of the Seven, just in case either of these marshals knew about Vin being wanted. "Thank you, Inez."
"You're welcome, Señor Ezra."
Buck and the two marshals nodded their thanks to her as well.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Standish," the older man said. "My name's Bill Freeley - I'm an old friend of both Chris and Buck here. This is Mike Carter; he's the one who actually brought Dalkey - our prisoner - in."
Carter was also, Ezra suspected, going to be trouble. His comment about JD and the way he was looking disdainfully around the saloon spoke of a huge chip on his shoulder. However, Ezra didn't let this conclusion show in his expression. The marshals would only be staying the night, and it was, after all, the middle of the week. There wouldn't be that much trouble for Marshal Carter to get into, even if he sought it out. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Marshals. Particularly as you are a friend of Mr. Larabee's."
"Speakin' of Chris, where is he, Buck?" Freeley asked then, turning back to the scoundrel. "I asked the sheriff, but he just said that he wasn't exactly sure."
"Good for JD," Buck commented. "Chris ain't the most popular fellow around - you know that, Bill. Especially after the past several years. There've been a few problems since we started here. Nothin' we couldn't handle, but it's made us all real careful.
"As for where he is... Chris and the rest of our group rode out to investigate a body that one of the local ranchers found. They probably won't be back before dark."
Freeley looked disappointed, but nodded in understanding. "Well, in that case, your young sheriff mentioned that there is reasonably good fare served here, and we're both quite hungry."
"Inez, my darling, please get these gentlemen a meal, on me," Buck said.
Inez gave the scoundrel a scorching look, but nonetheless turned to the two marshals and inquired, "What would you like, Señors?"
"Whatever you've got that's good and hearty," Marshal Freeley replied.
"Of course," Inez replied, and headed for the back, where the storerooms and the small kitchen that had recently been added on were located.
"You see, Ezra?" Buck declared, grinning. "She does like me."
Ezra sighed, but forbore to comment. Instead, he nodded to the marshals, and returned to his table and the game of solitaire he'd been playing.
Sometimes I do wonder if Mother is right about this being a waste of my talents...
An hour after they'd left Four Corners, Davies and the four peacekeepers arrived out at his ranch.
Davies hadn't been able to tell them anything about the body itself; all he'd managed to say was that he'd ordered his men not to let anyone, including each other, near the woodshed until he returned with the Seven.
Chris had praised that decision, which had helped Davies calm down a bit, but the rancher was still very tense and shaken as they rode up to the ranch house, Vin noticed.
Vin stayed in his saddle for a moment and glanced around as the others dismounted. He couldn't see or hear anything that seemed out of place, but the uneasy feeling he'd had since leaving town had been increasing with every mile they'd ridden - and now that they were here, his instincts were screaming that there was something very wrong.
"This way," Davies said after they had hobbled the horses, pointing towards the barn. "The woodshed... it's just around back."
"Coming, Vin?" Chris asked quietly, as Josiah and Nathan followed Davies.
Vin frowned as he dismounted. "I don't like this," he murmured. "Somethin' ain't right here, cowboy."
Chris frowned in response. "You think it's a trap?" he questioned, alarm flickering across his face.
Vin shook his head. "No. It ain't got nothing to do with Davies. It's somethin' else. I just..." He grimaced in frustration. "I can't say what it is, exactly. I just don't like it."
Suddenly Josiah reappeared. The preacher looked pale and sickened. "Chris, Vin... I think you'd better see this," he said grimly.
The two of them looked at each other, and then, as one, turned and followed Josiah.
As they came around the corner, and got their first look at the body, both Chris and Vin stopped in their tracks.
It's a good thing JD ain't here, was all Vin could think. He could easily see why Davies had been so spooked. In fact, he found it surprising - now that he saw what Davies had found - that the rancher had retained enough sense to come and get them.
The body had been that of a young woman. Had been.
She'd been attractive when she was alive, Vin figured; she had curly, dark brown hair, and brown eyes that were now wide and staring in death. Her face was completely untouched - which made the sight of what had been done to her all the more horrifying.
She had been eviscerated, her body slit open from the base of her throat to her pelvis; and, judging from the look of absolute terror on her face, she'd still been alive - and aware - when whoever had killed her had started to cut.
"Oh, my god..." Chris murmured from beside him.
Vin had seen people tortured before, but never anything like this.
It took him a good minute or two to regain control of himself. Once he had, however, he looked away from the body and directed his attention at the surrounding area.
"Vin?" Chris questioned after a moment, breaking the silence that had fallen over the group. Looking over, Vin could see that his friend had also managed to regain control.
"She wasn't killed here," he said quietly. "No blood on the ground. Whoever killed her brought her here - or had someone else bring her here - after she was dead." He looked around again, this time noticing the faint marks that led off to the west - away from the barn and the house. They looked to be several hours old. "Nathan, y'all got any idea when she died?"
Nathan looked up from where he was examining the body, his expression grim, and shook his head. "'Fraid not, Vin. Probably sometime yesterday, but that's all I can tell you at the moment.
"Except..." The healer hesitated for a moment, and then his mouth tightened. "Except that she's missing her heart."