Chapter 5 - Some Light
They rode first to the boarding house, where George usually stayed. Mrs. Cunning looked unpleasant when Cole let his dog climb up the stairs with them but said nothing to it. She knew it was useless anyway. They had had this discussion a few times before. Cole and Sky could not be separated for long and Cole couldn't stand it when Sky wasn't allowed to stay. Sam knocked at the rooftop room door.
"What?" George's grumpy voice answered from inside.
"It's us, Cole and Sam."
The key turned in the lock and the door was jerked open by George. He looked bad. Not the ill kind of bad but neglected. He was unshaved, which was practically unthinkable. The Advisor always cared for his appearance. Now, George's clothes were rumpled, and his tie hung loosely around his neck. He seemed to have slept in them. The room smelled of alcohol and cigars. "Hey boys, come in."
The Advisor closed the door after them and slumped back into his chair at the small table with a full ashtray and a nearly empty bottle of whiskey.
The two young men searched for a seat in the spacious but spare furnished room. Cole ended up on the wooden chest next to the bed. What left Sam still on the search for a place where he didn't feel so awkward and exposed. Sky communicated with a short bark with Milo, George's red kite. The big bird sat on a perch and screamed to answer Sky's barking.
Sam decided to look after Milo. He walked over to the red kite and stroked his feathers calmingly. Sam had never seen this type of bird anywhere in America. But he had read in a book about them. They were usually at home in Europe. So Milo was really special. George had found him nearly starved and imprisoned in Connecticut where a Sailor had tried to sell the poor bird. George had told him he had felt the connection to his familiar right away. It had taken many weeks of close care to get him back to his usual strength. Now George himself looked as if he needed care. "Milo seems unsettled, you should let him fly for a while?"
George looked up to his familiar. "Good old boy refused to leave me yesterday, Sam. I didn't try this morning." George got up too and opened the window. A gust of fresh air flooded the room. Milo flapped to stretch his wings. George let him climb on his outstretched arm and carried his feathered friend to the open window, whispering apologizing words to the bird. The only words Sam heard were the little louder ones at the end, "Take a flight, my friend."
Harris stretched his arm out of the window and Milo pushed up into the sky, spreading his wings wide and letting out a high scream. George closed the window again, sighing. "Where is Daniel? Is he alright?"
Sam took over the conversation. "He is with the Crow. We need to speak to you."
George's red-rimmed eyes filled with tears. "I'm so damn sorry boys…I don't understand how that all had happened."
When Sam had been here yesterday and told The Advisor, the man had been shocked, devastated, unable to say anything. He had left him soon. He did not know what to say to the man. Cole was so much better at that. Like now.
He watched his friend get up, squatting next to Harris. "George, hey look at me. We need your help with this. Mike wanted you to be there for us. I know how you feel, we lost so much with them. Our fathers, your Brothers. I know it hurts, but I need you to focus now. Something is not fitting with the whole story. We were so much into taking care of them that we didn't see it."
The broken man in front of them gathered his strength and managed to look at them. Sam began explaining what they assumed and had found out with the notes of Bastian and Mike. Then Sam asked the question they had on their minds. "Why didn't you get infected? You traveled with them from Fort William again. Can you tell us something else that happened between the Coven and Fort William?"
George sighed, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. "I was wondering the same. I have no explanation for that. Maybe they got bitten by something on their way to Fort William? Though I asked them, and they denied it."
Sam had thought about that too, but there was a hook to that thought. "Yeah, possible, but why did the fever break out here in Canaan too?"
"We need more information." Frustrated Cole got up and started pacing the room. "What about Ben? What did they load off at his store for supplies? When it was something they had with them and left here in Canaan it could explain the fever here and us not getting infected."
George looked up at Cole. "They bought Whiskey and some other things in Liberty for him and also brought some herbs from the coven."
"Did they do something else in town before they headed home?" Cole asked.
"Only what you already know, Bastian was feeling so bad. He was pale and feverish. Wade headed with him to the doctor, while I helped Mike at Ben's. We separated then and the three rode home." George got up and grabbed his jacket from the rack. "Let's talk to Ben. He can give us a detailed list of the things they brought him."
Griefing or not. Harris looked awful. Sam wouldn't let him go outside like that. "George, you should clean yourself up first. You look horrible and still, you look much better than you smell."
George nodded, mumbling an excuse. He left his jacket on the chair and got undressed to wash himself and get into a clean shirt.
*** The Wild West Triad - prequel ***
Half an hour later they waited in Ben's store for the owner. He had shouted from the far corner of the house where he had his storage, that he would be there in a minute.
Ben came to them and looked curious at the three men and the white wolf dog. "Good day, George. Cole, Samuel, I haven't seen you for over a week, how are the others?"
Sam saw how hard it was for Cole to keep it together at the moment. His friend had combed his fingers through Sky's fur but had stopped abruptly and had grabbed into Sky's fur to ground himself when Ben had asked this question. He would have to lead this conversation. "Wade, Mike, and Bastian didn't make it. They died a week ago from the fever."
Ben looked shocked. "Oh good Lord, I'm so sorry. The fever took quite a lot of people here too. But for a week no one died. Thank God, I think it is finally over. The Seavers cared fearlessly for the infected in their church. So maybe we broke the infection chain."
Sam shot Cole a glance. For a week? The timing was just too perfect. Their thoughts were the same. They had missed something. Cole wouldn't forgive himself. Sam felt the same. They would have had a chance to save them and they had done nothing. God damn it!
"Can I do something for you, gentlemen?" Ben ripped them out of their silent conversation.
Sam cleared his throat. "Uhm, yeah. Can you give us a list of the things Mike loaded off here? We need to check it for the books of the Ranch. Wade had not been able to note it down when he got ill."
"Of course, wait a moment…." Ben went through the pages of his register book and shoved the right page over to Sam.
*** The Wild West Triad - prequel ***
They exited the store with a list of the load. Only a few things needed to be checked. Most of it was still untouched in Ben's storage. These things were out of the question. He had sold the Whiskey and meat cans for Mike to Martin and the herbal tea to the doctor. Cole would check the Saloon while Sam wanted to make a list of the victims. To do so his friend would go and see Noah Seaver, the new priest in town. George wanted to interview the doctor.
Tanner hadn't been in the Saloon for weeks. With the music playing and happy chatter, it felt surreal and wrong. "Let's face reality, hun." He swallowed, trying to keep his poker face, and headed straight to Martin, the owner.
"Cole, haven't seen you in a while!" Martin bent over the counter. "Hey, Sky, some water for my best and only dog in my saloon?" The slender man didn't wait for an answer from any of the two but filled Cole a glass of whiskey and placed Sky a bowl with water next to her master's feet.
Cole eyed the liquid in his glass. "Is this the whiskey Mike brought for you from Liberty?"
"Sorry, no, the barrel from Liberty is already empty. I hope he will bring me more of it soon. The men liked the stuff. Paid me even the higher price for it. How is Mike by the way? George told me you had the fever on the Ranch."
"They died a week ago. This damn fever means nothing good," Cole only replied grimly, gulping his glass.
"Oh shit! Cole, I'm so sorry. I know Mike was your father and you two were close." Martin refilled Cole's glass and another one for himself. He raised his shot. "To three honorable men. The world will miss them."
Cole raised his glass without words and they drank to the Triad.
"How are Daniel and Sam? You three didn't get ill?" Martin wanted to know.
"No, we didn't. But it hit us pretty hard to lose them." Cole ran a hand over his unshaved face. "And you, Ella, and the others?"
"We are fine. Though Ella lost Mary. Most who got the fever were women and kids and some family men. My customers were mostly unaffected by the disease. I think the whiskey disinfects." Martin filled their glasses again. "We have to drink at least three to them, don't you think?"
Cole nodded. "Fill one more for Mary." Cole remembered the thin redhead who had worked for Ella for over a year now. She had been a kind person. What a pity. Tanner decided he had done his part of the investigations, he would wait for the others here. Why not numb his pain a bit?
George and Sam entered the Saloon together when Cole already had more than four shots. George gladly took a glass. "I tell you the doctor is a quack. He ordered everyone who came to him with any symptoms some of this Camilla tea. I swear never again in my life am I gonna drink this brew. My mother gave me enough of it when I was a kid."
Sam suddenly slapped his palm on his forehead. "Of course, the tea! George, you said it yourself, you didn't drink it, right? Did the Triad drink the tea on their way home?"
"Uhm, I think so, yes, but my mother always brews it. You can drink it every day there. The doctor in Fort William even ordered tea. Wade had made some from mother's bags for us but I … oh my goodness … I rejected it because I hate it. The tea. You might be right, Sam. But that means… you can't tell me my mother had done this on purpose!"
Cole had followed the conversation and couldn't believe it. "What reason would the witches have to kill the Triad?"
George raised a calming hand. "Woah, woah, woah, woah, no one said they wanted to kill them."
"But they are dead! And it all started when they left the Coven. What happened there, George? We already know that you had a fight with your mother." Cole had gotten up from his seat with a rough push of his chair, which brought all the attention of the people around to him. Sky was on her paws, growling slightly.
Sam pulled at his sleeve to make him sit again. "Cole, calm down, not so loud."
Angrily Cole took a seat again, ripping his sleeve from Sam's grip.
George started talking again when the chatter at the other tables restarted and the others forgot about them. "There has to be an explanation for this. We need to see the witches. My mother had no reason to harm them. Wade had always kept friendly ties to the coven."
Cole was still unsettled and answered hotheaded, "Then we better get going and prepare a ride to the coven. We need to ride to Liberty anyway. The Brotherhood had to be informed. I can't stand it anymore that everyone asks me how the others are doing, and I have to tell them they are dead!" He got up again, grabbed his hat, and left the Saloon followed by Sky.
Cole waited outside, his anger needed a ventile. Pacing back and forth in front of the Saloon, he felt like exploding the very next moment. Another guy left the Saloon and called to him. "Bad day, Tanner, huh?"
This was the final straw and Tanner gave Chris a hard shove. "You fucking asshole, care of your own damn business." Chris was in every way at the wrong spot at the wrong time.
TBC