Chapter 49: Lilly's Home

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with?" Arthur asked Lilly.

Lilly was preparing for her journey north to meet up with Eagle Flies. "Mo chuisle, I know you're worried, but I'm sure. You can't postpone the riverboat or the trolley station jobs. Besides, I'll have Brian and James with me."

She bent over the bed and folded a few items of clothing. Arthur held her from behind and rubbed her belly. She stood up straight and leaned into him. Arthur kissed her shoulder. "I'd feel much better if you had one of the guys come with you. The boys tend to run off on their own, Lilly."

Lilly took a deep breath, turned around, and put her arms on Arthur's shoulders. "If it makes you feel better," she said, smirking at him. "Worry wart."

Arthur chortled and placed a soft kiss on her lips. "Thank you, mo stór."

Lilly rubbed his cheek with her palm, feeling his stubble. "Any idea who we should ask?"

"I'll ask around."

"Okay. Go ask around."

Arthur smiled and left the tent. Lilly shook her head with a chuckle. That man was always so worried, but she knew he had a right to be. She was carrying his children, not to mention she'd faced death twice in the last three months. He wanted so much to protect her from harm, it warmed her heart, but it was also very, very frustrating. Still, Lilly didn't want it to turn into a fight and then leave things that way. That was like a bad omen with them. She finished packing her supplies and walked out, seeing Brian and James over by Liath. They were all set to go. As she walked over, she noticed their heads were as tall as her waist now. It made her think of the huge paw prints she'd seen when she came out of her grave.

The woman reached her hand up and pulled herself from the dirt with a deep, raspy breath. The rain hit her face and she looked up. Suddenly she vomited a black, gooey liquid all over the ground. As her stomach continued to heave, she realized she had no idea who she was or how she got there. When the woman was done puking, she saw tree branches when she looked up and climbed out of the ground as lightning flashed. She looked around. Thunder boomed. She saw three pairs of paw prints on the ground. Two wolves, and ones that had to be a giant wolf.

"Child," she heard a woman say. Lilly turned around and saw a woman in a red dress with two wolves. "You must go home."

The girl blinked and wiped her brow as lightning flashed. She tried to talk but found she could not. She grabbed her throat. Was she voiceless now?

The woman pointed to the south. "Follow the river south until you see a cliff with tents. Your home is up there."

Lilly was startled out of her memory by Charles. "You okay, Lilly?" he asked her.

She smiled at him with a deep breath. "Yes, sorry. I was just thinkin' really hard."

Charles laughed. "Arthur asked me to go with you."

"Oh. Okay, then. Thanks." Lilly put her clothes and supplies on her horse and climbed up. "Oof..." Lilly said and grasped her stomach. "Wigglin' little chiselers."

Charles laughed again. "Babies kickin'?"

"No, I think they're just movin' about. Early in my mother's pregnancy, she'd call James a "wigglin' little chiseler"."

"What is a chiseler?"

"A child. Mostly, a trouble makin' child. And she called me that a lot," Lilly said with a smirk.

A chuckle escaped Charles and Arthur approached Liath. "Be careful, mo grá."

Lilly bent down and gave Arthur a quick peck. "Good luck with your poker game," she spoke, smiling as she looked into Arthur's eyes. "And don't let Trelawny make you lose too much money or I will kill him," she joked.

Arthur chortled and kissed her again. "Very funny."

Charles got on Taima and neared the married colored. "Ready to go, Lilly?"

Lilly gave another kiss to Arthur. "I'll hurry back to my home, hertis rote," Lilly said, putting her hand to his chest. "I will hurry back to you."

Arthur gave Lilly a deep kiss. "You better."

Lilly sat up straight and she looked at Charles who was smirking at them both. "What?"

Charles laughed. "The sooner you both stop snogging, the sooner we can get back, you know."

Arthur and Lilly laughed. "Come on, boys. Let's go."

Brian and James padded along as Charles and Lilly drove their horses off. Lilly gave one last look at her husband and he waved. She waved back and blew him a kiss. He made a motion of catching it and placed it over his heart. She smiled and faced forward, the horses increasing their gait.

The newly revived woman ran alongside the river as the storm continued on. The red woman told her to follow the river south but she didn't know how long she'd been running. But eventually, the nameless woman saw the cliff. Home. Was her home really there? She ran faster across the land until she reached the base of the cliff. Could she climb? Something inside her mind, deep down in the depths of her locked memories, made her trust it. So she climbed. As she started her ascension, she heard hooves pounding into the ground. She turned her head and lightning flashed but she didn't see who or what it was. Thunder clashed, then another lightning strike and she saw a man on a horse off in the distance for just a moment. Who the hell would be out in this weather?

The girl continued to lift herself, occasionally slipping due to the wet stone, but she finally reached the top. She stood as lightning flashed again, wiping her brow and eyes. She saw tents everywhere. Was she home? She wasn't sure. She snuck over to the closest tent and slipped in. Something clattered as she walked and she gasped with a jump. The place had bottles and clothes were scattered everywhere. Whoever lived there had to be a pig. Finally the storm passed and the girl's eyes adjusted. There was a big stain on the bedsheets. Was that blood? She walked to it and touched the bed. As she did, footsteps came from outside and she gasped lightly before ducking into the corner of the tent, holding her legs to her chest.

"It's Dutch, you in there Arthur?" a deep toned man asked. He entered and the woman watched him drop something. "Arthur, you want to come have a drink with us?"

The woman shook her head but she tried to speak. "D...D...Du-" but she was interrupted by a man shouting outside."Dutch!"

Dutch opened the flaps and walked out. "Uh, Arthur? Where did you go? And..."

Uh oh. Did this "Dutch" realize she was not this...Arthur guy? What was she to do now?

"Lilly's grave is empty."

"Um. What?"

Was she Lilly? No. She couldn't remember. Why had she crawled out of the ground? Was she even human? And why couldn't she remember anything? Was she dead? Had she died? What was going on?! The woman stood. She needed answers. She tried to talk. She tried to say Arthur. "A...Ar...Art..." Her voice was barely even a whisper. "D...Du...Dutch." That was easier to say. One syllable was enough.

"Her grave is god damn empty! And there was this woman who said she dug Lilly up and-"

She tried her best to shout. "D...D...DUUUUUUTCH!" The girl scared herself. That was a really loud shout.

"Arthur, there's someone in your tent. I thought it was you but-"

The girl exited the tent and fell to her knees, staring at the ground and taking deep breaths in and out. "D...D...DUTCH!"

"So how do you want to do this?" Charles asked Lilly as they set up their individual tents.

"Seems simple to me. Get in, grab the reports, get out," she replied.

"Really? Can you really get in unseen?"

Lilly laughed. "I was taught by a goddess and a mob boss' staff on how to sneak. Trust me, I got this."

"You were taught by a goddess? Who?"

"The Morrigan."

"The Morrigan? That's Adair's mother, right? Was she the one who brought you back from the dead?"

"Yes." Lilly crouched down to get a fire going. She lit a match and put it into the set of logs and dried leaves. "Didn't Arthur explain all this to everyone while I was, um...incapacitated?"

"I think he left some things out."

"Oh. Well, what did he tell you?"

"Well, he mentioned Adair being a goddess, he mentioned you were her reincarnation, he talked about your journal of visions, about you savin' Sean, your Uncle Levi and Mr. Pierce burning you at the stake...I think that was it."

"Ha!" Lilly blew into the pit to get the fire going. "He didn't mention the wolves?" she asked, inclining her head to the two giant white beasts sleeping by the fire.

"No. What about them?"

"They're reincarnations of my dead brothers. Fancy that I would name 'em Brian and James, huh?"

Charles crossed his arms and chuckled. "I did think they were unusual. You think they were sent here to protect you?"

"Probably. I don't know why any of this shit is going on, but," Lilly grabbed raw meat and rubbed mint into it, "it's gotta be for a reason, right?"

Lilly continued filling Charles in on the details Arthur missed as they ate. Soon they were silent, they cleaned up their plates, and both went to bed. The next morning, Lilly got up to see Charles making breakfast. They happily ate and Lilly let Charles feel her tummy as the babies moved around.

"I can barely feel it, but they're in there, alright," Charles said. "What does it feel like to you?"

Lilly ate some of her oatmeal. "Well, it started out feeling like butterfly wings inside. Then it turned into tiny little bumps, like muscle spasms. Now they're rollin' about and soon, they'll be kickin' me like mules. God, I hope they don't kick each other."

Charles laughed. "I'm sure it'll toughen them up if they do, especially if they're like their parents."

Lilly snickered. "Shut up."

Charles and her laughed and finished their breakfast. They packed up their small campsite and headed out with the wolves due north towards Citadel Rock, the place where she was supposed to meet Eagle Flies. It took most of the day to get there and when they trotted up, it was getting dark. Eagle Flies looked at her skeptically.

"You needed an escort?" he asked her.

Lilly rolled her eyes and she dismounted. "My husband insisted I take someone with me. Wolves can't watch over me all the time."

"Heh."

Lilly made the introductions. "Eagle Flies, this is Charles. Charles, this is Eagle Flies, son of Chief Rains Fall."

They shook hands. "Yes, I remember him from the wagon train as well."

Charles blinked, looking a little shocked. "That was you?"

"Yes, and my father."

Charles looked at Lilly. "That's a hell of a coincidence."

"It is," Lilly replied. "Shall we get down to business?"

"There's a foreman...his name is Danbury. He has the files," Eagle gave Lilly binoculars, "in the office above the refinery room." Lilly looked through the instrument. "It's that window with the blind drawn up."

Lilly spotted it. "Yep, got it." She handed him back the binoculars.

"If the files are as incriminating as we believe, Mr. Cornwall's men will destroy them if they know you'e coming."

"Good thing they won't know I'm comin'," she said with confidence. "What do the files say?"

"There'll be a report from Leland Oil Development Company."

"Okay. Well, hmm...I know wagons come in often. I could hide in one of them, but I would risk them lookin' in. I know there's a fence...hmm...decisions, decisions."

Charles snorted. "Will either one be a problem for you?" Eagle asked. "If there is a problem, call me."

"That's okay, I solve problems as I go along."

"What does that even mean?"

Lilly gave him a smirk. "It means I will kill every single one of those men in there if it comes to it and I mostly certainly can do that on my own." Lilly spotted a wagon and sighed. "Welp, screw it, there's my ride. Brian, James, stay with Charles."

The boys whined and Lilly laughed quietly as she walked down the hill. Once the driver's line of sight was away from her, she ran in a crouched position to the back and got in as it stopped and waited for the train to pass by. She stayed low as the wagon resumed its trek to the oil fields. And she waited, and waited, and waited, until it stopped again.

"That you, Al?" she heard a man ask the driver.

"Hey, Tom," the driver responded.

"You pickin' up?"

"Yup. Supposed to meet the early train to Saint Denis."

"Okay. You better get a move on, then."

Lilly felt and heard the wagon move again and she ducked down further. Lilly checked her arrows, her revolvers, and her knives. She was ready for anything. "Morrigan, cosain mé féin agus mo pháistí," she whispered to herself. The wagon stopped. [Morrigan, protect me and my children.]

"Alright, I'm gonna start loading up," someone said.

Lilly snuck out of the wagon, crouched, and headed straight for the building as she looked around for people. She got into a small room and pressed her back to the wall, peeking into the bigger room. She saw one man close by, another near the other side of the room. Lilly followed the first one before passing by him, then she passed the second to the stairs. As she climbed, she saw one man on the catwalk with his back to her. She made a bee line to the other side without being detected. The man turned and walked in the direction of the stairs and Lilly made it to the office door. She opened the door and shut it behind her.

"Ah, you're Danbury, yes?" she asked the man at the desk.

"What?" the man asked in shock as she wedged a chair under the doorknob. "What?"

Lilly ambled on over. "Listen, I just need a file from you, sir. The sooner you give it to me, the sooner I can be on my way."

"But I, I can't! Who are you?"

"Oh, that ain't important, sir." Lilly pulled out a knife and stabbed the desk with it, making the man yelp in surprise. She leaned on the desk and smiled at him maliciously. "Leland Oil Company. It's a file about oil by Wapiti."

"I...I..."

Lilly shook her head. "Sir, I've already ruined your desk." She pulled the knife out and pointed it at him. "Let's not stain it as well, okay?"

The man reached for a desk drawer. "Here-"

Lilly moved to the side. "Ah ah aaah, noooo," she sang casually and he removed his hands. "Good boy. Now," she made her way over and opened the drawer, looking in. No gun. "Okay, now you may find it."

"W-What is this about?" he said as he dug into the drawer.

Lilly leaned in and put the knife to his throat. "I think it's best if you don't ask questions, sir."

He gulped. "Yes ma'am." He put the file on the desk and Lilly removed her knife.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Danbury." She grabbed the file. Lilly heard someone outside and Danbury flinched but she aimed the knife away him again. "Do not give me away."

"Danbury? Mr. Danbury, are you okay?"

Lilly narrowed her eyes at Danbury who kept his hands up. "You're okay, ain't you Mr. Danbury?" she asked him, her voice low and calm. He nodded at her fearfully. "Good. Let him know that, please," she said softly.

"Yes...it's just...I'm working...all's fine," Danbury stammered.

Lilly smiled and walked to the window. "Thank you for makin' this a pleasant visit, sir." She opened it and crawled through. "Oh, and sir?"

"Y-yes?"

"I'm sure you'll be tellin' your boss Mr. Cornwall about this even if I tell you not to, soooo...please tell him Lilly says hello. Will you do that for me?"

"Yes ma'am."

Lilly giggled. "Much obliged, sir." Lilly crawled out of the window and shut it. She walked across the roof and looked down. There were guards. Ack, shite. Lilly backed up and looked around. She walked to the end of the building and looked down. Just one guard. Lilly jumped down behind him and when be turned, she knocked him out with a punch to the face. "Well, that was easy," she uttered.

Suddenly she heard a hammer click near her head. "Hands up, miss."

Lilly rolled her eyes and raised her hands. "I just had tah jinx meself."

She grabbed the gun quickly and punched the man in the throat. He went down coughing and she pistol whipped him once. He went unconscious immediately. Lilly looked around and went running through the darkness. She bypassed all the guards without being seen and she eventually met up with Eagle Flies and Charles back at Citadel Rock.

"Did you get the documents?" Eagle asked her.

Lilly patted her satchel. "Yup."

"So you met Mr. Danbury?"

Lilly nodded. "Yes, he was most helpful." She handed Eagle Flies the documents. "Here you go."

"Thank you. I hope...well, I don't know what I hope, but who knows? Maybe these will be of some use."

"I hope they will, Eagle Flies." Lilly mounted up. "Hey, the boys go out and about?"

Charles nodded. "Yeah. Should we track 'em?"

Lilly shook her head. "Nah, they'll find us when they want to."

Eagle Flies looked at Lilly. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Lilly said warmly. The man left Charles and Lilly and the Irish woman frowned. "Charles, is it really that bad that I got two wild animals at my disposal?"

"No. It's just unheard of if you're not a Native. And it's not like they're normal wolves. They're your brothers."

"Yes, but he doesn't know that."

"Who cares? You know it and that's all that matters."

Lilly smiled. "Thanks, Charles." She adjusted herself in the saddle. "Well, let's ride a ways and set up camp."

Charles and Lilly rode out for an hour before putting up camp. After eating dinner, they said good night to each other, went to their respective tents, and both fell asleep.

Lilly woke up in the middle of the night to noises outside. She assumed it was the wolves until she heard Charles yelling as if he was in pain. Lilly got up and opened her flaps a tad to see men tying him up and gagging him. As she was about to get out, another man opened her tent entrance and reached for her. By instinct, she grabbed his arm and twisted until she heard bone crack and a shrill scream as he went down on his knees. Another couple of guys reached in and tried to grab her but she kicked one in the face, knocking him out cold. The other tried the same thing and grabbed his ear, ripping it clean off. He screeched and back up while holding the spot where his ear had once been. Lilly pulled out her revolvers and aimed at the men holding Charles down.

"Let him go." The men refused and she pulled back the hammers. "I SAID LET HIM GO!"

The men obliged and backed off with their hands up. "Holy shit," one of them said.

Lilly's acute hearing picked up footsteps coming from behind so she pivoted at her waist and aimed at a man's head as he was about to pounce. "Who the feck are ya fellas? Bounty hunters?"

"Lillian Morgan," she heard another man behind her.

She twisted around to feel something clamp around her neck. She kicked the man but he barely moved. Oh shit. It was another one of those power supressing things. Lilly was punched in the face and the force of it almost knocked her down as she staggered. Her guns dropped but she wasn't finished yet. She balled up her fists and got into a type of boxing stance.

"Ya want me? Come and get me, ya bastard," she challenged with a growl.

The man approached her with another punch but she knocked his fist away and counter punched. Someone seized Lilly from behind but she elbowed his gut, stomped on his foot, then elbowed his nose and groin in a matter of seconds. He went down as the guy in front of her threw another punch. She went down to her hands, popped around and knocked him down with a leg sweep. She pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the heart, then she pulled it out of his chest. She got up quickly as three men charged her. She side stepped with a twist of her body, pulling another knife out and plunging it into a guy's kidney. She yanked it out as she stabbed another man in the neck and sliced into the third guy's jacket as he jumped back. Lilly got back into her fighting stance then a shot rang out and hit her in the shoulder. She cried out but did not falter.

Lilly turned, threw a knife at the shooter and watched as it hit him in the chest. He dropped the gun and slumped to his knees. She was seized from behind once more so she stabbed the man in the leg, threw her head back to hit his face, shoved off his arms, pivoted about and sliced his neck open. He grabbed his throat and went down. Lilly ran to Charles, ungagged him and cut his binds loose.

"You okay?" she asked, breathing heavily and sweating.

"Yeah, you?" Charles ask her.

"Yeah." She hissed and touched the back of her shoulder. When she pulled her hand back, it was covered in blood. "Shit." Lilly felt something cool and hard around her neck. "Help me get this fuckin' thing off."

Charles examined it. "Hmm, looks like it needs a key." They both started looting the bodies and not only found a set of keys, but notes with her face on them all. Lilly read one out loud.

"Payment of one hundred fifty thousand dollars shall be given for the live and safe capture of Lillian Rose O'Callaghan, A.K.A Lillian Rose Morgan. She is an Irish immigrant. Approach with caution; considered armed and extremely dangerous. Has two giant white wolves as protectors. Suggest going after her and wolves with multiple men. Use collars to subdue her supernatural abilities, which are as follows: Siren Song, Shout, Enhanced Healing, Super Strength, Vi-" Lilly put a hand to her mouth.

"What's wrong?"

"...Visions..." She looked at Charles. "No one knows about that except everyone at camp. And that was only a few days ago. How did..."

Charles crossed his arms. "Sounds like we've got a rat. Is there anything else on there?"

Lilly continued. "Avoid harm to Lillian as she is pregnant with twins. Once captured, deliver to Angelo Bronte or...Leviticus Cornwall." Lilly shut her eyes. "They formed a fuckin' alliance to capture me?"

"I thought Leviticus wants you dead? And why Angelo Bronte? I thought the other gu-"

Lilly sighed. "Angelo Bronte is Papa. My former mentor."

"...Oh."

"That's a story for another time. But yeah, Uncle Levi wants me dead. Why join resources with someone who wants me alive?"

"Hey, we should go before someone comes lookin'," Charles warned.

Lilly nodded and they packed up their things. Just then, Brian and James showed up and she scowled at them. "And where the hell have you two been? We got ambushed!" The boys whined and bowed their heads. Lilly pinched the bridge of her nose from annoyance. "Okay, from now on, we stick together. Things just got more complicated."

Charles laughed as he mounted up. "The fact that they understand you used to baffle me. Now I know why."

"They understand everybody as long as it's English or Gaeilge," she said as she climbed on Liath. "Let's get goin'."

The group galloped off together into the night. The trip was mostly a silent one as Lilly had much to think about, except when she told Charles to not speak a word to anyone about what happened, except with Arthur. Charles agreed. When Lilly and Charles returned to camp, it was night time and Arthur was nowhere to be found. Shit. She asked around, finding out he was in Saint Denis doing the riverboat job. Again, shit. So, Lilly went to her tent and waited. And waited. And waited. She went and got food then waited some more. She lit a lantern and tried to read a book, but instead she kept grabbing the bounty note and reading it over and over. She pulled out the iron collar and examined the gem on it. It looked like a ruby but she wasn't sure. How the hell did this thing work?

"You're home," Arthur said happily as he walked in without her noticing at first. Lilly stood up and walked to him, almost tackling him as she wrapped her arms around him. "Ha, I missed you too," he said, holding her close.

"Bounty hunters came after me. A lot of 'em," she said. "I killed all of 'em, but they almost got me and Charles and they used the same neck thing on me in Rhodes and Charles found a note on one of them and, and...oh Arthur, they knew about my visions. How did they know? How could they know? Only people in camp know and that was-"

"Woa, slow down, honey," he said, looking into her eyes. "Let me see this note."

Lilly pulled it out and let Arthur have it. He sat on the bed near the lantern and started reading it. When he was done, he frowned at Lilly. "Are you sure no one else outside camp knows about your visions?"

"Who the feck would I tell?"

"Okay, good point. We should talk to Dutch and Hosea about it. And it seems to me that Angelo Bronte and Leviticus Cornwall are in on this together. That concerns me."

"No shit."

He stood up and walked to her. "Come on, let's go talk to them."