Lucas rode on, noticing several things as he neared the centre. The noise was different, and there were strangers lurking in pairs on strategic posts around the main square. Lucas left his horse at the smith's deserted store, and walked slowly toward the main plaza, rifle in hand.
"They gunned down old Mister Tanner, Lucas." A familiar face supplied the information from behind a moving curtain. People were scared. If the old, harmless towner had gotten killed, he understood everybody hiding. These must be ruthless people.
"Lucas, oh thank God you're here, they hurt the sheriff, and pulled the old judge from his office!"
Now that piece of intelligence sharpened his senses even more. Micah hurt? And the old judge? Whatever for? This business was more layered than a simple holdup or bar brawl.
A dark-clad figure leaned with deceptive laziness against a corner. Lucas gripped his rifle tighter, and met the glittering eyes.
"Who are you people?"
"Drop the rifle, Mister, or we'll make you drop it. Let us finish our business here, and we'll be out of this town."
Lucas made no move to do as asked. "What is your business here?"
"Oh, a friend of ours is of a mind to take a wife."
"Look, Mister, I was called here by some concerned folks, I'm of a mind to go look for the sheriff."
"The sheriff was mighty tired. He lay down, a while back. Why don't you turn around and come back in maybe an hour or two?"
The stranger exchanged a glance he thought went unnoticed by the rifleman with a companion half-hidden by the next building. Lucas knew the kind of men he was up against. They'd as well shoot him in the back, knowing he would never leave the scene without a fight. It was going to be a question of who pulled the gun faster, and seeing as they had all already drawn their guns…
"Fair warning, mister. This is my town, my friends, and I'm not going to just leave."
A glint to his left – the hidden man would try to outdraw him. Lucas dropped to his knees, pulled the rifle around and pulled the trigger. With a moan, the stranger toppled over. Turning around quickly, Lucas met the first man's gaze. "What's it going to be, stranger?"
He made the wrong move, but Lucas managed to hit his gun-hand, and leave him standing. Angry now, the tall man stood, closed the distance and pulled the stranger around roughly. "You bloody idiots. Where is Miss Schuler? Where is this mate of yours?"
"The saloon."
Now that there was somebody here willing to set things right, familiar faces dared appear at the windows, a few doors opened. But clearly this troupe had frightened the simple people enough to scare them away thoroughly.
"How many more are you?" He had noticed at least two more, who were now invisible… But he remembered where he had seen them, and one face at a window further down from the saloon was motioning helpfully toward a balcony. He'd do well to clean the town centre before he tried to enter the saloon.
What was Eirik up to?
Lucas walked purposefully toward the saloon, keeping to the middle of the road. "Hey there, you on the balcony. Why don't you come down and we see if we can persuade your people in the saloon to settle this peacefully. Nobody else has to die to day."
"We're not the talking type, mister." The voice came from a different place, and there was movement on the balcony. Lucas pulled the rifle around, dropping to the ground once more. The stranger's bullet missed his arm by a hair's breath, and felled the Lucas' first opponent - but the rifle faithfully hit the mark. A black-clad figure toppled from the balustrade. Lucas had the mouth of his gun sighted on the last opponent before that one had turned back from seeing his comrade fall, face still aghast.
"What's it going to be?" even to Lucas himself his voice promised a quick end to the situation.
"Enough, enough, see!" The stranger dropped both his guns into the dust, anger in his features.
"Right then, lead on. No sudden movements." Slowly the tall rifleman walked the other man across the place that seemed impossibly large in instances like this.
It was a strange picture that presented itself in the saloon. There was Miss Schuler, very pale, a strangely dejected expression on her usually so lively features. She brightened a little at Lucas' entry, only to give a hopeless shake of her head. The rifleman took in the other man, who was leaning against the bar carelessly – he seemed drunk. And then there was a dark, still man with white-blond hair standing to the side of the room, guns deceptively leisurely at the ready. His face was expressionless, the glitter in his eyes emotionless.
Lucas frowned. "What's going on here? Miss Schuler?"
"Who are you, then?"
It was the old judge who answered both questions at once. "Lucas McCain. They've got the children." He had an ugly gash over his eyebrow, and cradled his arm against his chest.
Miss Schuler leaned forward. Clearly she had tried this before. "Ned, please don't do this. This is not like you."
"Shut up, woman. Ned knows exactly what he wants, and he's gonna get it." The blond man's voice was soft and ugly. "See Mr. McCain, or whatever your name is, Ned loves this girl here. He wants to marry her. I'm here as his best man. To help him - a good man deserves the wife he wants."
"Seems to me she doesn't want him, otherwise this whole bloody mess would not be necessary."
"That's why we found some incentive for her…"
Where was Eirik? "In the form of…?" Lucas frowned, surprised at the instinctive trust he felt rising at the thought of the young man ghosting through the tense town's streets.
"They've locked the children in the school, Lucas, and two men guarding them. They'll set fire to the house."
"It needs a particularly heartless man to threaten children." Lucas fixed his gaze against the blurred blue eyes of the young man so sickeningly in love with the schoolteacher. "Ned, that's your name, right? Are you certain you want to start your life with a woman like this?"
"She wouldn't consent." The flouting youngster was passably handsome man with sandy hair, his most prominent feature a fleeing chin and weak forehead.
"Enough talk." The blond man interrupted icily from the side. "Judge, get on with it, before I decide to take revenge for my people outside and kill everyone here."
"You forget I have a gun on your man here."
"And I have two guns plus the children… and this old man's wife and daughter." The leer he directed at the young woman frightened her. "Tell them, teacher, who's got the better cards here?"
She turned slightly. "Lucas… "
"Mister, I give you a choice." God, Lucas could begin to hate the emotionless voice any moment. "Either you make your way to the school and rescue the children, but by the time you're back Miss Schuler here will be Mrs. Turner. Or you stand here and threaten my man and delay this wedding, but then I can't be held accountable for the town's youngest and brightest… There is a time-frame on this wedding, see. Flames licking and all that."
The judge swore under his breath, drawing Lucas eyes to him. Miss Schuler stood straighter, and searched her 'betrothed's' glazed eyes: "Ned, please, this is crazy!"
"Shut up, woman. Judge, get on with it. Or the children are roast."
Lucas shuddered at the absolutely emotionless gloating in the young man's eyes. But the blond man to the side was the really dangerous one – the way he not-moved, the way the pale eyes kept the whole room in sight and the easy way he held himself spoke of an experienced gun-man.
"What's in it for you?" the tall rifleman tried to distract his opponent, hoping for more time.
"No, mister, I'll not fall for that. Judge, get on with it. Have I to remind you that you've got a wife and a daughter in town?" His gaze never waivered. It was infuriating how calm, how certain he was.
Slowly, a dejected air to his shoulders, the old man stood straight and moved toward the two young people. Lucas held his breath, a crazy notion sparking defiance: What if he let the wedding take place, save the children, and follow the pair and shoot the bridegroom?
"Ned Turner, will you take this woman as your wedded wife?"
Make Mary a widow before she could be forced to endure the wedding night?
"Aye, you know I will. I love her."
"Miss Mary Schuler, do you consent?"
"I…"
Lucas held his breath, desperate.
"Speak up, woman."
An interruption came from the door. A cool, long-fingered hand gripped Lucas' arm for a short moment.
"It's not consent if you make her afraid to say no."
Lucas managed to breathe again. Micah stood in the half open door, a gash on his cheekbone, and gave his questing glance a short nod. Eirik stepped past him into the room, eyes fixed on the pair at the bar. A glance over his shoulder showed him a pale Cade Dorcas, gun in his hand, countenance almost crazy with desperation. But he stopped outside at Micah's gesture, keeping the open space in view.
The deep voice was ringing out intently: "Ned, is it? Put an end to this before you regret it!"
"I love her."
"Ned, don't listen to this greenhorn!"
"I want her! She liked me, earlier. She'll learn to again. Won't you! You consented! She's just stubborn! I am stubborn, too – I love her!"
"Think back, man. Why do you love her? Is this not exactly why? Her independence, her spirit, her strength, the way she's smarter than you, than most of your friends?"
"What's he planning with that drabble?" The dark-clad man Lucas had dragged in tried to interrupt, but was silenced by the reminder of the rifle in his back.
Eirik ignored the interruption, intent on the half-drunk would-be bridegroom. He still carried that long staff – so utterly unobtrusive that Lucas felt his spirit rise. The boy was quick on his feet, and even quicker in mind…
"That she wants to make something out of herself, something more than be a drunk farmer's beaten wife? Would you destroy everything you admire about her only to have her? You'd have her, like a horse, yes, but you'd have lost everything that made you fall in love with her in the first place." Eirik seemed to be speaking directly and only to the young man who still held the schoolteacher's hands in his white-knuckled grip. "You'd end up with everything you despise, and it would be your own fault. Be a man, and let her go her own path. Might gain a friend in the process."
"Ned…" Miss Schuler's pale face had gained colour and self-assurance.
"Oh bleeding heart." Blond man lifted a gun, his tone exasperated, pointing it at Eirik's head. "Ned, remember what we came for! I'll take care of this one for you."
Lucas shifted his rifle, but his foremost opponent hindered him. Fear for the reckless young man rose, but Eirik read Miss Schuler's face. He half-dropped onto one knee, and in the small space lifted his staff with force, connecting with the other man's hand. The revolver went off, but the bullet went into the far wall. The weapon flew high in a decorative arch.
Eirik caught it, wiping a delighted, surprised grin of his face quickly. But not quickly enough for Micah, who snorted, or for Lucas, who pursed his lips in relief.
"Damn it, youngster, step back! These are men's dealings." The toneless voice had gained intensity. "Who do you imagine yourself to be – with a face like that? You don't even carry a gun! You in love with her, too? Too late, hero! We got the children! You ready to put your name to their deaths?"
Micah took a step forward, exasperated, but still tense. "This is over, give it up already. Enough people have died!"
"No." The blond man lifted his second gun, pointing it at Eirik. "Get out, you softie. Or I'll repay you for that broken wrist."
"Enough!" Lucas was fed up, too. He shifted his gun, pointing it at the obvious leader of this scene. "Drop your gun."
"Oh, he's got a soft spot for the boy? Seems we're at a draw, mister. Who's faster?"
The situation was VERZWICKT. Too many people in this room, and a wrong move would risk Eirik's life. Lucas hesitated – and Eirik reacted, stepping to the side fluidly.
"Mary!" He threw the revolver at the blond woman, who in a quick movement escaped from her would-be-fiancé and caught it, turning it against Ned.
The blond man's pale eyes darted through the room, confused. One shot passed the young man, but his move had drawn the SCHUSsLINIE away from the judge and Mary. The second shot the blond man tried to get off would have been aimed at Lucas, but by then the rifleman had shifted his gun and pushed the black-clad stranger in front of him to the floor. The shot from his rifle rang through the air first, and the blond man stumbled back against the wall with a rather ugly oath, the gun too dropping from his bloodied hand.
A collective breath rushed through the room.
"Eirik, the children!"
"Peace, Mary, they were my first stop. They're at the Sherriff's with the Smith and his wife." Eirik's deep voice conveyed nothing of the tension that was visible in his posture.
"Aye." Micah supplied from where he was bending over the blond stranger. "Eirik slipped in where they had locked me up."
"You did all this, alone?" the woman's gaze on the young man bordered on worship.
Eirik would not have it, though. He shrugged in embarrassment. "No. I found Cade. He helped me."
"Cade?"
"Mary, are you all right?" The youngest of the Dorcas brothers had a weird expression on his face, eyes going from his friend to the woman.
"Oh God, yes. No, leave Ned, he's not worth your anger, Cade, seriously. I'm glad to see you."
"Let's get the Judge to the doctor." Eirik was gently pulling the old man upright. "Sir, lean on me."
"My wife, my daughter!"
"Swenson knew they had a watcher, too. Cade and I took care of him. They're fine."
Lucas held the door open and then helped Micah with the spitting and swearing blond stranger. His own opponent waddled along without a word, clearly shaken and disappointed by the outcome of their endeavour.
Things having settled down after all, Lucas found his farmhand leaning against the back door of the smithy. The broad-shouldered form of his neighbour Zach Valance was intently bent over a bandage on the young man's upper arm.
"Eirik?"
"Lucas."
"What's this?"
"Just a grazing shot, McCain. Nothing to worry."
"Aye. I'm fine."
Valance straightened. "Boy did bloody well. I heard what happened from the smith. Came late for the action. Here, you're all set."
The young man shrugged. "Thanks for that, Mr. Valance." He pulled the torn sleeve down over the bandage – and the long scar that had resulted from the fight with Cade's brothers. Lucas had not noticed it before.
"People are looking for you… You did good, Eirik."
The youngster tried to ignore the praise. "I thought I'd head home, bring Freddy back to town, give Mark the 'coast clear'. They'll be worried."
"Don't let him fool you, McCain. He was pretty shaken up when I found him."
Lucas narrowed his eyes at the young man. "It was a close call in there."
Eirik met his eyes for a split second, hands burrowing into his shirt. "I hate it when children are involved."
"Come. It's over." The rifleman grabbed the other's shoulder and gently pulled him toward the street. Valance followed with his rolling gait.
For once the young man did not pull away at once. "So do we know the why of the whole shenanigans?"
Lucas could feel the tension seeping out of the wiry shoulders under his arm. "Seems Turner made a deal with this guy."
The melodic voice from behind them supplied: "Wanted man, this Llandy, by the way."
"His gang would help him wed Miss Schuler - Ned's the reason Miss Schuler left her last employment."
"I knew that part."
"Ah, that's why you were so eloquent?"
"Mary had been telling me about him. But this Llandy guy?"
Lucas grinned slightly. Eirik was good at distracting from what he did not want to discuss further… the memory of their latest talk this morning came to mind with force. Not the right moment. "Landy would gain a partnership to Turner's mining rights… The boy's got money, but neither character nor manners to go with it."
"Turner wanted Miss Schuler for his wife, and would trade parts of his income for her?"
"Essentially."
"I should have let Cade take his fists to that face."
"Maybe. But you should have seen Cade's face at your tirade. He felt those words keenly, too. I never took you for a suffragist." He said the word with a gentle sneer, but the farmhand answered with dead seriousness in his eyes.
"He's welcome to every word. And yes, I believe in women's rights, I have yet to find somebody to explain to me how there is such a difference to the sexes that a woman's dignity is worth less than a man's, and a woman's mind is less than a man's. I know the boy loves Mary with a vengeance, but he's still so young, and so under the influence of his brothers. He doesn't really know what he's getting himself into, and what devils he might have to face if he manages to…" he stopped, out of breath.
'So young?' Eirik was hardly older than his friend. "…to win her. Eirik, aren't you setting yourself up for hurt? I thought you liked her."
The young man shook his head, reaching for Lucas's horses bridle. "Not like that." He whistled for the dun stallion, and a relieved smile crossed his features when the tall horse bounded around the corner.
Valance took a step to let the tall horse sniff his hand, eyes roaming appreciatively. "Say, what did he say in there, McCain?"
Lucas squared his shoulders. "About how a man in love with Miss Schuler should love her even more for wanting to become more than a drunk farmer's wife."
The burly man's face cracked into a wide grin. "He's quite literate, this farmhand of yours."
Much more so than anybody would ever guess, Lucas reflected soberly. "He had Micah staring. That's why Miss Hattie likes you so well, Eirik. She's all for women's right to vote and that stuff…"
"And you, Lucas?" the deep voice inquired, laced with something indefinable.
The rifleman rubbed his hand over his face, suddenly tired of the subject. "Find me a woman with a reasonable approach to politics. I'm not averse to the idea. The schoolteacher before Miss Schuler handed out pamphlets. Got Miss Hattie on the wagon."
Seemingly satisfied, though his eye still spat fire, the young man turned: "Valance?"
A singularly lascivious grin lit up the handsome face. "Oh, all for it. Believe me. Woman have less problems with the likes of me than men…"
Lucas refused to blush, surprised at the level gaze that passed between the other two.
"One day you'll tell us who you find attractive, Eirik." The glint in his neighbour's eyes told Lucas that Valance was repaying the youngster with the pointed barb. He chuckled.
Swinging onto the horse, the young man gave the tall rifleman one of his rare, wide smiles. "One day maybe. Keep an eye on Ned Turner, Lucas. If he took up with Llandy…"
Lucas grinned at the boy's prudence. "I think he had no idea how dangerous the group was he fell in with. They'd have taken his whole mine from him in no time at all. He's in a cell next to the two others under Micah's watchful eye. Go, tell Mark I'll be along shortly."
Eirik hesitated, an almost childish grin of satisfaction stole it's way into the green eyes. "Did you see how I caught the gun?"
The tall man guffawed with surprised laughter. "Aye. Nice move!"
"I'll see you at the farm, Lucas. Valance."
…