Seven Is A Secret

Part One

"Aw hell Ez, would ya quit yer bleating? Ya make more noise than a pair of coyotes durin' matin' season!"

Ezra turned to Buck with a slightly scornful huff.

"Mr Wilmington," he drawled pretentiously, wiping his hand across the perspiration that had formed over his usually immaculate brow, "I seem to recall voicing my distaste of manual labour on numerous occasions. If in light of this however, our esteemed Mr Larabee still sees fit to insist that I partake in this endeavour then I only see it as my right - nee, my duty, to make as much commotion about it as I possibly can."

Buck merely smiled in that easy, and sometimes rather annoying, way.

"Ya could've just said 'no'".

Ezra shook his head in disgust and continued to work.

The huge storm that had unexpectedly torn its way through the area a few days ago had interrupted what had been a quiet period for the seven men. The biggest thing they had had to deal with was a bunch of rather inept would-be rustlers who had unsuccessfully tried to raid a nearby ranch. Capturing them had been less than challenging, especially considering that when the felons had seen exactly who was on their heels they had immediately given themselves up. It seemed that the lawmen's reputation had preceded them. In a way the whole affair had been rather disappointing. That was the trouble with living the lives they did. After all a while, you just didn't feel right if you weren't in mortal danger.

Four days later, just when the lowest depths of boredom were beginning to set in once again, the storm had struck. While the town had withstood the fierce wind and torrential rain with relative ease, Chris had expressed some concern about the outlying homesteads. Once all was settled he and Vin had headed off to the ones north and West of the town, while Josiah and Nathan went South and East. Between them they would drop in on all the homesteads in the area, checking on the occupants and giving any help where needed. Chris had said he expected the whole thing would take them a few days, and in the meantime he would leave the safety of the town in the capable hands of Buck, Ezra and JD.

No sooner had the others left than a telegram from Judge Travis had arrived, asking for one of them to accompany him in escorting a prisoner to Ridge City. The man was wanted on charges of theft in another town, and he was to be shipped there by train to face trial. The job wasn't a particularly dangerous one and so JD had gone alone, which left Buck and a rather indignant Ezra to carry out a number of basic repairs to the town.

Their biggest task was to replace a good length of the boardwalk running down from outside the First National to the entrance of the Clarion. It appeared that the wood had already been starting to rot, and in the violent winds it had simply ripped away. The work wasn't too strenuous, and yet Ezra had been complaining from the moment they started. The twenty seconds of silence that had just prevailed had been the longest he had managed all day.

"You know, I really don't understand why I couldn't have attended to Judge Travis's request, and left Mr Dunne here to assist you," Ezra muttered, trying to pull yet another splinter from his delicate fingers. If this affected his ability at the card tables...Well, he'd probably still win anyway, but that wasn't the point.

"Surely he and your good self would have been far more suited to this type of labour," he continued, watching as Buck laid another board down and began hammering it in place.

"Why, ya too good for a bit o' old fashioned, honest-to-God work?" Buck joked.

"No, but this jacket is," Ezra grumbled in reply, brushing the sawdust off of his sleeves and frowning in dismay to see that doing so ruined the finely woven surface of the material.

"Well, if ya dressed proper Ezra you wouldn't have a problem," Buck said, standing to take a swig of water from his canteen.

"And, pray tell," Ezra said, leaning back against the railings, seemingly having decided to take yet another of his frequent breaks, "What type of attire would you class as 'proper'?"

Buck simply shrugged and indicated to what he was wearing.

Ezra looked him up and down with something resembling disdain on his face.

"No offence, Mr Wilmington," he said coolly, "But I would gladly submit to the cruellest of tortures rather than dress in that fashion."

"Ezra," Buck said, hitching up his trousers and bending down to continuing, "Coming from a man who dresses prettier than a lot of ladies I know, none taken,"

"'Prettier'?" the Southerner enquired with a raised eyebrow.

Buck simply chuckled and continued to work.

--

JD parted company with Judge Travis once they safely reached Ridge City and the prisoner was ensconced on the train. He was the sheriff of Four Corners, after all. He should be there protecting the town, especially when they were low on numbers. While he of course had total faith in both Buck and Ezra's abilities to hold their own if a crisis broke out, it was his responsibility to deal with it. He wanted to be there.

After watering his horse, he set off at a considerable gallop. At this pace he could easily make it back to Four Corners by nightfall. Just in time to be nominated for the late watch no doubt, he thought with a wry smile. What with Ezra's gambling and Buck's womanising, he figured much of the night work would come down on his shoulders until the others got back.

The ride passed peacefully enough. The day was pleasant, if a little warm, and the recent storm had seemed to freshen the landscape. It was quite a sight to behold. Many considered this part of the country to be barren, wild and uninviting, but JD felt there was something wonderful about it. Although he couldn't pinpoint exactly what.

It was the studying of his surroundings that allowed him to spot the stranded stagecoach in the distance. Frowning, he pulled out one his twin Colt Lightning pistols and held it ready as he trotted Toby cautiously over. There was always a chance that robbers were to blame for the stage being seemingly stranded, although it was more likely an accident. The storm had made the roads positively evil, and it would be quite easy for a coach to throw a wheel.

Much to his relief, his arrival was met by a lady who looked nothing like a robber. Still, he reholstered his pistol slowly out of habit. He noted with some interest that the lady was very discretely carrying a pistol of her own. Just in case he wasn't as friendly as he looked, he supposed.

"Afternoon, ma'am," he said, tipping his bowler as a greeting, "You folks look like you're in some trouble."

"We could certainly do with a hand," she said, in a soft accent but with a voice full of self-assurance, "The horses were startled by a nest of snakes and the driver was thrown."

JD nodded as he dismounted, trying to attain an air of almost weary understanding. As if he dealt with things like this all the time and he was more than capable of doing so.

"Is he all right?"

"A couple broken bones by the looks of it," the lady said, clearly not willing to give up her air of authority just because of his arrival. The only passengers on the stage had been herself and two sisters who were going to meet with their parents after spending the summer on their grandparent's ranch. Pleasant enough girls, but a little too mouse-like for her. The way they had squealed when the carriage had bucked before coming to an abrupt stop, you would have thought they were being murdered or something. It was an embarrassment really. In her book, women should try and show a little more backbone.

"What we need is some assistance in reaching our destination," she continued as they walked across to check on the driver, who was being attended to by the other women.

"And where would that be?"

"Ridge City. The station there, in fact. Trains to catch."

JD sighed a little. It was his duty to get these ladies safely to their destination, but he didn't want to have to go all the way back there again. He should be in Four Corners where he belonged. Fortunately, sense and reason seemed to be on his side.

"I think you should consider a change of plans, ma'am," he said with a knowing nod, "There's another town much closer. And you could hop on the stage to Ridge City in a couple o' days. It'd be much safer. Try to get there now and you'd have to ride through the night. I wouldn't suggest that in these parts."

The woman looked slightly skyward, clearly irritated by the impromptu delay, but resigned to go with JD's suggestion. She had guessed he would say that but thought it worth the try anyway. Her business in St Louis would simply have to wait.

"Whatever you think is best", she conceded, "You know this area better than I do." She smiled at him, brushing her annoyance aside.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"JD Dunne, ma'am," he said, tipping his bowler again, "Sheriff of Four Corners."

"Ms. Annabelle Henderson," she returned before adding, "Four Corners? Is that where we're headed."

JD nodded.

"And you're the Sheriff?"

He nodded again.

"A little young for such a post aren't you Mr Dunne?"

"I manage well enough, ma'am," he replied promptly, just the slightest bit affronted.

She noted his reaction. The remark was obviously some sort of a raw point.

"No doubt you do," she soothed with a reassuring smile.

JD was left unable to comment on that as they reached the injured driver. Bending down to check the unconscious man - hearing the other two women passengers whispering something about the brave man that had come to rescue them - he found that one of the driver's legs was indeed broken. From experience he knew it wasn't too the serious - the leg was not twisted and the skin hadn't been broken.

"Well, we.... we should get this in a splint," JD said, a little hesitantly, hoping he was doing the right thing. Nathan had tried to instil some basic medical knowledge in all of them, but he was not entirely sure how much had gone in.

"Then we can get him back to town."

Annabelle looked at him curiously for a moment, detecting his uncertainty. She was good enough not to mention it though.

"Of course. There's plenty of stagecoach parts we could use. That thing certainly won't be going anywhere again."

JD nodded as he went to get some planks of wood. He was secretly quite glad the lady was so decisive. While he was definitely growing in confidence and wanted to show his independence, JD still found himself looking for the assurance of others at times. It was comforting. Last time he had began to get too cocky, he'd accidentally killed a woman. That mistake was going to make him cautious for a long time.

He glanced up at the sky, the sun just beginning to dip in to the horizon, the shadows around him starting to lengthen. They stretched out, as if reaching for Four Corners which was still some way in the distance. So much for being home before nightfall. Well, at least he'd get out of doing the late patrol.