Chris crouched down behind a felled tree. He could see the lights from the main house. Royal didn't seem to have a lot of men patrolling the outer part of the property and the few they had come across had been easily and quietly taken care of by Josiah and Vin. The fact that Royal didn't have more men patrolling the outskirts of his property bothered Chris. He felt like Royal wanted them close. He just wasn't sure why. He glanced over at Ezra and saw a mask of control firmly in place. Ezra had even made a quip about Vin's ability to take a person out of commission without a sound. He looked back at the house. "We need to know where he's holding them before bullets start flying."

Vin looked at the house. "We've all been inside. There's five or six rooms on the main floor. A loft area up stairs."

Chris looked at the house and the immediately surrounding property. There was really no other place Royal could hold seven women other than the house. The only alternative would be the bunkhouses down by the cattle fields but something told him Royal wanted them close. "Buck, take JD and Ezra and skirt around to the left. Nathan, you and Josiah go to the right. If you can get in the house, start searching."

As the other five disappeared into the night Vin leaned forward and nodded his head towards the house where Royal had stepped onto the porch. You could see the red glow from his cigar.

"You boys out there yet?"

Chris gave some thought to just shooting him. "Royal, you know this isn't going to end well."

Royal stood on the porch and looked in the direction of Chris's voice. "That's where you're wrong. This is going to end exactly where I want it to end."

Chris stepped out from behind the felled tree. Distracting Royal might mean that maybe one of the others could get inside the house. "Royal…". Before he could continue he watched Royal strike a match. He knew instantly what he was planning. Emptying his revolver into Royal he thought for a moment he had succeeded then he saw the porch burst into flames.

Maddie twisted the knob and eased the door open a crack. She could see the two men sitting in the chairs playing cards. She could tell by their postures that they weren't concerned at all about the women they were guarding. She supposed it could work in their favor but she also wasn't overly confident in their ability to overpower both of them. She glanced around the rest of the small room. The only way out that she could see were steps on the left that led up. She eased the door shut and looked back at Mary and Nettie. "Steps to the left. Either of you familiar enough with this property to know where we are in relation to the main house?"

Mary pursed her lips together and thought back to when she had been in the house. "I don't think there were steps in the house going down into a cellar. So maybe the access is on the outside of the house?"

Maddie ran through their options. If the access was on the outside of the house, if they could get to the door it meant they'd probably be able to escape. The problem was the two men on the other side of this door. They were going to have to talk their way out. "Mary, the two that are out there came in with Royal. Standing to his left. Do you know either one of them?"

Mary shook her head. "I didn't recognize any of them. Inez?"

Inez shrugged. "They may have come in for a drink but I couldn't even tell you what they were drinking." She knew Maddie was trying to find an angle. "We are unfortunately going to be left with making it up as we go."

Casey frowned. "Aren't we just going to fight them?"

Maddie glanced back at Casey. "We won't win. Not without some or all of us getting hurt."

"Mary's been in fights before and Inez got away from that guy by stabbing him in the neck…". Casey didn't understand Maddie's reluctance to fight.

"Casey, every time I stood my ground against someone I also had a gun in my hands." Mary looked over at Casey, realizing the opportunities she had missed in mentoring the young girl. "We're going to have more luck talking our way out."

Casey changed directions. "Maddie, all the stuff you did during the war…you've probably fought against men and won, right?"

Maddie turned fully around so she could look at Casey. "Like Mary, I generally had a gun in my hands. The one time I had to physically fight with someone I was left with a broken hand and bruises over most of my body for weeks. And the only reason I did it was because I didn't have an option and I figured I was going to die in that jail cell anyway. I have zero intention of dying right now." She turned to look at Mary and recognized the look on her face. It was the same one Ezra had when he realized where they had imprisoned her.

"You were at The Castle." Mary had kept her voice low. She didn't think the other women would even know what The Castle was but she knew enough about it that she figured Maddie wouldn't want to talk about it with many people.

"Mary, I'm not a story."

"That's not what I meant…I just…". Mary knew she should have waited but the shock in realizing what Maddie must have gone through had thrown her off. "Does Ezra know?"

"Yes." Maddie met Mary's eyes. "Ready to talk our way out of this?" Getting a nod from Mary, she stood up and slid the hand with the knife behind her back. Twisting the knob on the door, she took a deep breath, opened it and stepped out. Both men jumped up but didn't move from their positions. "Whatever he's paying you, it's not worth your life."

The one closest to the steps bolted up them. Maddie could hear a door being thrown open and then slamming behind him. Chances are he was going to either tell Royal or get reinforcements which meant they needed to move fast. She looked at the man remaining. "It's not worth it. Let us go and we'll tell them you helped us."

The man laughed. "I'm a dead man either way. Whether it's Royal or those seven men…what Royal paid me means that my wife and child eat so I think I'll side with him."

Maddie frowned, desperation made people do a lot of things they normally wouldn't do.

"Your wife and child would prefer for you to be with them…trust me, I know." Mary took a step forward. "Imagine how you would feel if your wife was in one of our places."

The man looked down for a moment, then moved towards the steps. Moving up the steps, he pushed on the cellar door. Looking back at Mary and Maddie, he shook his head. "It's locked."

Maddie crossed the distance to the steps and joined the man on the steps. Inspecting the door while pushing on it, she looked back down at Mary. "See if you can find something we can use to pry the wood apart."

Mary and the other women looked around the room for something that might work. Maddie slid the knife into a gap between the wood. There was a gap, she just wasn't sure if the wood would give enough for them to break through the door. She paused when a familiar smell hit her. It was the smell of a burning building. There was an odd difference between the smell of a campfire and the smell of a burning building. She had seen more of her fair share of burning buildings, the Union Army had been particularly good at the scorched earth tactic in Mississippi. Frowning, she looked back down at Mary and realized she wasn't imaging things.

"Smoke." Mary looked up at the ceiling of the cellar as panic set in. She could see a small plume of smoke wafting down from a corner of the room.