Good morning!

I hope today finds everyone healthy and well!

Thank you to everyone who checked to see how I was doing after my rough time last week! I really appreciated the moment you took to message me. Also thanks for reviewing, favouriting and following my story, I hope you all continue to do so :)

So here it is;

Chapter Three

Isabella scratched behind Suko's ear affectionately. Over two weeks now she had made her visits to the stables a regular affair, and the horse and the young girl had developed a connection based on trust... And the carrots that Isabella always brought as a bribe.

The stable owner, Tobias, was more than content for her to visit and had even allowed her to assist in grooming the horses once or twice. The creatures still intimidated Isabella, who stood at just over five feet and was tiny in comparison, but she found their mannerisms endearing.

She held out the last carrot and Suko greedily snatched it from her fingers, the whole thing vanished within a couple of loud crunches. Isabella displayed her empty hands to Suko, giggling when the horse rubbed his nose against both hands before snorting, clearly disappointed that the yummy treats had all been consumed.

She stroked the horse once more before waving and saying goodbye to Tobias. Charles was expecting her at the saloon.

As she strolled down the main street, she detected the unmistakable sound of horse shoes beating the ground. Isabella had grown accustomed to the sound now, nearly everyone in this town owned a horse. The constant thumping of hooves led her to believe that there was more than one horse approaching her from behind so she wandered over to the right side of the street ensuring she left plenty of space for the horses and their riders to pass.

She glanced over her shoulder, preparing to greet whoever was there but remained silent when she realised that these three men were strangers. As they entered the town limits behind her, they reduced their pace to match those walking around them. The man closest to her nodded his thanks as they passed, briefly touching his hand to the front of his hat. Isabella had only been a resident here for a month and although she did not know everyone's names, she did recognise them all. She was more than certain that she had never seen these men before, and from the way the other townsfolk followed their movement with suspicious eyes, they did not appear to recognise them either.

Isabella had not realised that she had come to a halt, as she once again became aware of her surroundings she continued towards the saloon, in the same direction as the three unknown men. They were overdressed for the weather, much like she had been when she had first arrived. Their wool coats were thick with the collars turned up, their wide brimmed hats tilted low over their faces, each of them wore tall boots with spurs protruding from the ankle. The guns that were fixed to their horse's saddles were terrifyingly impressive, and each man was equipped with more than one.

Were they bounty hunters? She wondered. Were these men potentially looking for her brother? She shivered despite the heat. These men were built like bulls, their shoulders were broad, their upper bodies tall, their shadows stretched far behind them in the morning sun. They did not speak to each other but moved in perfect sync. As she trailed behind, she observed them warily, the one in the middle reached into his brown leather pouch. He removed a long stick and placed it in his mouth; a cigarette, he flicked his hand across his knee igniting a match, then lit the end of his cigarette and inhaled as Isabella reached the doors of the saloon, but she did not enter.

There were not many people up and about yet, but the ones that were watched as eagerly as she did. If these were potentially the men that she was up against in the search for her brother, she did not stand a chance. What if they had already caught him and he was locked in another towns jail?

"Bella?" Isabella flinched as Charles broke her from her thoughts, he was stood on the other side of the swinging doors watching her curiously.

"Hi Charles, sorry, I was distracted. Did you say something?"

"Yeah, I said, you coming in or you gonna' stand there watching the tumble weed roll?"

Isabella chuckled at the expression; she had not heard that one before. Charles pulled the door open for her to come inside, she peeked at the retreating men once more and sighed as they left the town. Then graciously accepted the cup of coffee that Charles offered to her as she passed.

"So, what are yer' plans today kid?"

"I figured I would stay with you till this afternoon, then head back to the stables to check in with Tobias. He has a mare that's expecting any day now, he said he would need an extra pair of hands for the birth."

"Right, I suppose that can't wait?" He questioned.

"If you need me here, I can come back if nothing is happening over there yet." Isabella suggested but Charles looked unsettled as he scratched at the stubble that had appeared in the last week. "If you think you're going to be really busy, then sure, I'll stay. I can always head over to the stables a little later, I'm probably being a little too eager."

"No, no, it's fine, I'm sure it will be fine." He reassured her, only his voice did not really succeed in persuading her. She eyed the man for a moment longer but he did not give anything away with his actions or expressions.

So eventually, when noon rolled around Isabella made her way to the stables, picking up Seth along the way.

"Isabella-"

"It's Bella, Seth. You can call me Bella." She smiled.

"Sorry, Bella, why are you working for free?" The young boy wanted to know, the scepticism that marred his features was apparent.

"It's not really work, I enjoy being around the horses and Tobias offered to let me help with the mare." Isabella made an effort to explain. She snickered under her breath as the boy appeared even more puzzled by her response.

"You should ask him for money, since you're doing chores for him," the boy instructed her matter-of-factly. Isabella felt a moment of sadness for the young boy, at age 12 his mind revolved around various ways to make money when at his age, she had been playing dress up with Betty from across the street. She had never witnessed Seth do something simply because he enjoyed it or wanted to have fun.

As they meandered through the town Isabella paused at the general store; she placed her hand on the boy's chest to stop him from going any further. Without an explanation, she disappeared into the store, re-emerging just moments later with a small, colourful box in her hand.

"What's that?" Seth stepped closer to take a look.

Isabella took the lid off of the box to reveal the contents; inside were little oval treats.

"It's called Taffy. It's great," she teasingly shook the box causing the sweets to rattle around. Seth took a piece of the candy and hesitantly took a bite; he chewed a couple of times before grinning at Isabella. "Good, huh?" Isabella helped herself to a candy too.

She was barely an adult herself, her eighteenth birthday closer now than her seventeenth which had passed in the spring, but she felt protective of the young boy.

Silently they resumed their walk to the end of the street until they arrived at the stables. Tobias was seated just inside the stable on a small stool reading a book, his finger touching the page and his mouth sounding out the words.

"What are you reading?" Isabella asked. Tobias, who had not heard the two approach nearly fell from his stool as he hurried to hide the book from sight.

"Nothing," his cheeks glowed pink as he struggled to right himself. "I can't read all that well, I'm just practising." He mumbled.

"Everyone has to start somewhere and Miss Jenny always told me that practise makes perfect." Isabella encouraged the man who had to be at least fifthteen years her senior.

"I can't read at all," Seth shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. Isabella had been appalled when she had first discovered that Seth did not attend school or have a tutor. However, she quickly came to learn that out west, an education was more of a luxury than a necessity. School was not cheap and for a little boy who begged for most of his money, she realised that when it came down to it, food or an education? It wasn't really much of a choice. It also didn't help that the nearest school was over two days ride away.

Isabella reached out to take the book Tobias was still trying to conceal from them, he reluctantly handed it over.

"The Scarlet Letter," she read aloud. "I have not read this one before."

"Yeah? It's about men, fighting. War. I don't think you would like it." Tobias held his hand out in silent request for her to return his novel.

"Oh," Isabella fought hard to contain the laughter she felt trying to break free. She had not lied, she had never read the book, herself. It had been one of her mother's favourites however. She spared poor Tobias and handed the book back without calling him out on his lies.

"How is Tilly?" Isabella tiptoed over to the stall that contained the pregnant Tilly. The horse was short but wide, her belly much too big for her small frame. She kicked at the ground with her front hooves, then circled around the stall.

"She's uncomfortable, the heat ain't making it any better. It shouldn't be long now though, I expect, she's showing the signs." Isabella held her hand out to the animal but the horse paid her no mind as she lowered herself to the ground, swishing her tail back and forth.

"Can I step in with her?" Isabella asked, she pointed to the brush hanging from a nail indicating her intentions. Tobias nodded, giving her permission to go ahead. She knelt down next to the horse and proceeded to brush the horse all over, hoping that it would help to ease the horse's discomfort.

"You ever owned a horse before?"

"No, I didn't really need one back home. We had trams where I come from, or I just walked to most places."

"What's a tram?" Seth looked at Isabella thoughtfully.

"It's like a train, but smaller, we had trams that were pulled by horses, but most recently we had trams that were powered by electricity." She could tell that Seth had no idea what she was referring to.

"Will you show me how to read Bella?" Seth asked. The girl glanced at the boy, who looked at her with his big brown eyes.

"I can try, I've never taught anyone how to read before so I don't really know where to start."

"My wife read to me whilst I followed the words on the page, I can recognise most words now." Tobias added. He walked over to where some of the horse's equipment was mounted on the wall, pushed some loose items aside on a shelf and retrieved another book. "Here, start with this one, my son loves listening to this one, he says it's the boss."

Seth accepted the book and studied the cover, after a moment he glanced at Isabella before extending the book out to her. She stroked Tilly once more before leaving her to rest, returned the brush to the hook and stepped out of the stall.

"I don't know if I have enough time now Seth, I promised Charles my help if Tilly wasn't ready yet." She chewed on her lip as Seth withdrew the book with an awfully sad expression transforming his features. Isabella sighed heavily and with her hands on her hips. I guess five more minutes wouldn't hurt, she thought.

She plodded over to Seth and retrieved the book from his loose grip and took a seat on Tobias's stool. Seth didn't hesitate as he flung himself on the ground by her side.

"Davy and the Goblin," she started.

They had barely read a couple of pages together when a loud whip-like crack resonated through the barn, poor Tilly jolted in her stall as Isabella, Seth and Tobias all sprung to their feet. Another rapid round of four gunshots had them hurrying to the barn door, Isabella nearly stumbled over the front of her skirt as she trod down on the material but Tobias managed to keep her on her feet with a firm grip around her upper arm.

Cautiously the three of them peeked around the door frame and towards the centre of town. There were three men on horseback, two had their guns aimed at the bank. Isabella gasped as she recognised the men from earlier that morning, their horses shuffled around anxiously but their focus steadfast.

Crumbled on the ground was the body of a man, his gun still clutched in his lifeless fingers. The sheriff was stood a little to the side, unarmed and defenceless under the watchful eye of the third rider.

"Ladies and gentlemen of this here fine town. We do not mean to alarm you. We do have your sheriff here, and by hook or by crook we will be leaving with that money." The town was deadly quiet as they waited for the man to carry on. "I will give you ten seconds to let my men walk out of there with the Lincoln Skins or you will need to find yourselves a new sheriff."

Isabella's fingers had drained of any colour as they crushed the fabric of her skirt apprehensively. She wondered who was lying on the ground, was it Mike?

"One."

The three men were dressed exactly as they had been before but with the addition of bandana's now shielding the lower half of their faces. She could not believe that she had believed that these law breakers could be bounty hunters!

"Two."

"Three."

The man's deep voice carried down to the stable where the three remained out of sight, their heavy breathing and the sound of Tilly shuffling around were the only things to break the prolonged silence. Each second felt so much longer than was possible and Isabella's heart pounded aggressively in her chest.

"Four."

The man in the middle, the one that was seated on a great big black horse, appeared to be the one counting the seconds as his bandana twitched with the movement of his lips. From the side she could not discern any particular features, his black hat was angled low over his eyes. Only a slither of hair was visible between where the bandana was secured and the bottom of his hat, displaying the most unusual shade of copper hair.

"Five."

All three men cocked their guns in sync.

"Six."

"Hang fire, we're here." Two men stepped out from the bank to join the fuss on the street. They calmly approached the three armed men, clearly friends and not enemies, hanging from each hand were large sacks presumably filled with their loot.

The rider in the middle lowered his gun, he seemed to be the one running this show she noted as he barked the orders. The other two kept their guns trained on the bank.

"Get yer horses and let's get out of here. Sheriff would you be so kind as to escort us to the edge of your town?" The man posed it as a question, almost as if he was inviting the sheriff to join him for a drink, but Isabella knew he could not refuse.

When the final two men had secured the sacks and mounted their horses, they began to follow the sheriff who was leading them in their direction, Isabella's eyes narrowed as she gritted her teeth.

All five raiders were sweeping the street with their eyes, all on high alert, the one at the rear kept glancing behind ensuring no one snuck up behind them. Isabella felt slightly relieved as she noticed Mike exit the bank slowly, a gun in each hand pointing at the ground unthreateningly, another deputy close behind him.

"Step away from the door," Isabella inhaled sharply as Tobias startled her. He gestured for Isabella and Seth to follow him back into the shadows of the stable. Isabella was horrified when she realised that Tobias had retrieved his own iron, prepared to defend them should he need to. She truly hoped that it would not come to that.

The men were just reaching the stable now, the sheriff's feet scraping along the ground as he walked, the horse's hooves kicking orange dust into the air. Isabella held her breathe as first the sheriff walked past, then the leader followed by the leader. A shiny silver object fell from his brown leather pouch and rolled towards the stable, stopping a few feet away.

At first, she thought she was the only one that had noticed the object drop as the rider continued, but Seth darted forward abruptly, his hand stretching out for the shiny article. She did not even think before she raced forward after him.

"Seth, no!"

"Isabella!" The unexpected noise spooked the horses at the back of the pack causing them to rear up on to their hind legs, the riders managed to stay on but Isabella realised that she and Seth had managed to draw their interest.

The leader huffed in annoyance as he scrutinised the two children, but thankfully made to continue on.

"Bumble Bee?" Isabella's breathe caught in her throat at the sound of her childhood nickname. Who? Her eyes desperately scanned the four remaining men, squinting as she tried to see through their disguises. The three riders in the middle were no longer staring at her, but gaping at their comrade at the rear. Isabella looked to the man, his eyes-

"Jasper?" She watched as his hazel eyes screwed up at the corners, almost as if he were smiling beneath his bandana. A scar ran from his forehead, across his eye and disappeared below the material, exactly as the wanted poster had depicted. He lowered his gun as he steered his horse towards her, but it was the perfect distraction that the sheriff and his deputies had been hoping for.

Isabella's mind did not seem to register the sound of a bullet whizzing past her until it had imbedded itself into her brother. Two deafening blows echoed around her as she was tackled to the ground. The air was knocked from her lungs and her chin stung from the impact of hitting the rocky surface. She cried out as the deafening sound of a gunfight commenced overhead. A heavy body was still positioned protectively over her, keeping her immobilised, she stretched out her hand blindly feeling for Seth, as soon as she felt his fingers in her own, she jerked him toward her.

The terrified girl tried to make sense of what was occurring around her, she positioned herself so that she could see past her defenders' restrictive arm. The sheriff was hunched over behind a barrel watching on uselessly as his two-remaining deputies continued their assualt.

"Stay down," a voice grunted in Isabella's ear.

"Tobias?" She exclaimed. Suddenly he was hauling her to her knees along with Seth, propelling them towards the safety of the stable. The three of them managed to crawl away unscathed as the chaos continued, tiny rocks dug painfully into Isabella's knees through the material of her skirt. When they had finally reached the doorway, Isabella rolled over to watch the gunfight.

The gang members were firing back with such ferocity and pace that the deputies were forced to take cover, only managing to shoot a couple of rounds every now and then, but their aim was way off its intended targets. Despite everything that was happening, Isabella could not tear her eyes from her brother who was slumped over his horse, a red stain trickled down the horse's neck. It was impossible to tell how much harm the bullet had caused from her position, in spite of that she immediately feared the worse.

"Get him out of here!" The leader commanded. The man closest to Jasper stowed his gun as he maneuvered his horse. His fingers seized Jasper's reins which he used to guide the horse closer, until they were side by side and he could hold onto the unconscious man. Then he tapped the heel of his boots into the side of his horse, sparking a fire that had the horses sprinting away together with their riders.

"Jasper!" Isabella screamed after her brother. Tobias wrapped his arms around her in a restraining embrace to stop her from attempting to follow. She would never catch up with them anyway but all rational thought had abandoned the desperate girl. She dug her fingernails into Tobias' arm, hoping it would force him to let her go but his grip remained unbreakable.

The third member rode off, then the fourth all whilst shooting sporadically towards the deputies to keep them at bay. Only the copper haired cowboy was left, his horse reared back impressively, his front legs kicking high into the air before thundering back to the ground and sprinting after his comrades.

Within seconds the gunfire ceased and the dust began to settle on the ground again. Tobias hesitantly relaxed his arms; however, his caution was not needed as Isabella was no longer wrestling with him. The men were gone, along with her brother, who was potentially dying or already dead.

Isabella heaved in a deep breath as her body shuddered with her silent cries. Tobias was no longer trying to contain the girl but keep her on her feet as her knees became weak.

"Bella, you need to calm down." He tried to hush the weeping girl.

"Sheriff! Are you okay?" The deputies appeared in front of the stables. Beyond them the towns people were slowly starting to appear on the street, aching to see for themselves what destruction the gang had left behind.

"Is Wes-?" The sheriff started.

"He's dead." Mike answered before he could finish.

"God damn-it, he didn't even last a week. Anyone else?"

"They roughed up a couple o' people in the bank but they'll live. They got away with everything sheriff. All the money is gone."

The sheriff cursed as he hurled his hat to the ground and kicked it in exasperation. It was then he noticed his audience and visibly tried to rein his anger in. His upper lip curled in a snarl as he eyed everyone in the small crowd, you could physically see his mind working to regain control of the situation.

"You! Nelson, getcha' horse and ride to the next town over, we need some more hands here in case they come back."

"What would they come back for?" Mike asked incredulously. "They've taken all of the money."

"Well, if they don't come back then I'm going to need a few extra hands to go and hunt them sons of bitches down." The sheriff growled. Mike looked unsure but didn't say anything else as Nelson ran, mounted a horse and set off in the opposite direction to the gang.

Without warning the sheriff focused his wrath on Isabella.

"You," he pointed at her with a dirty index finger. "You knew them," he took a couple of menacing steps towards where her.

"I-" she stuttered.

"You spoke that boy's name. Who was he?" Tobias arms awkwardly fell away from Isabella as he took a couple of steps back. "Speak girl!" The sheriff demanded; Isabella flinched at the raised volume.

"Now sheriff, maybe you misheard-" From out of no where Charles tried to intervene. He discreetly tried to position himself between the sheriff and Isabella but the sheriff would not allow it.

"I know what I heard; this wench knows them." He was now stood squarely in front of Isabella, who was trembling in fear. She did not know what to say, should she confess to this man that she did in fact recognise one of those men? The very men who had just murdered one of his deputies and made off with the town's wealth. She didn't think that would play out too well for her, but how could she deny knowing him when the sheriff had seen their interaction with his own eyes?

Her teeth dug painfully into her lower lip as she struggled to maintain eye contact with the furious man, she felt that to break the link between them would be a sure sign of her guilt. Isabella shrieked as the sheriff grasped her upper arm tightly in his beefy fingers. She only just managed to stay on her feet as he yanked her along behind him, her cheeks burned as the people she had come to know over the past month witnessed the sheriff march her towards his office.

From the corner of her vision she caught sight of Wes' body still sprawled across the ground where he had fallen. From this far away, she could see the gaping hole in his chest and it took every ounce of will power that she possessed not to be sick.

"Now sheriff, she's just a kid." Charles had followed them down the main street.

"She knows something Charles! Why are you protecting her?" He snarled; Charles backed off slightly in response. "I'm going to get her to talk." Isabella shivered as the hostility she detected in his voice sent chills racing through her. He dragged her up the stairs to the sheriff's office, thrust the door open and lead her over to one of the unoccupied jail cells.

He catapulted the young girl inside, the force sent her tumbling to the ground, her palms stinging from the attempt to break her fall. She yelped as the door crashed shut behind her, her heart racing as the dread consumed her.

"Maybe some time in here will loosen her tongue." The sheriff glared at her from the other side of the bars, Isabella had never been on the receiving end of such a vicious stare. She shrunk under the weight of it, pulling her knees close to her chest.

In the doorway Charles shuffled his weight from one foot to the other, the frustration clear as day on his face. Isabella looked so fragile inside the cell; she did not belong there, but he was at a loss as to what he could do to help the girl.

Meanwhile Isabella seemed to retreat into her mind. So much had happened in the past hour, events that had completely thrown her off-guard. Her brother was alive, or had been. NO! She refused to believe that the world had finally reunited the siblings only to tear them apart again so viciously.

But he was a criminal. There was no denying it now, she asked the world for proof of her brother's goodness and it had laughed in her face by presenting her with a ruthless sinner!

Once again Isabella found herself stuck between a rock and a hard place; should she speak to the sheriff or keep her mouth shut?

Tada! Who do you think our other thief's were then?