Chapter 2

A dark haired rider on a palomino and a dark skinned man on a painted horse rode in on the two men in the copse and Maggie saw the one that grabbed at her go down clutching his shoulder, dropping his pistol. The second villain took one look and ran off, leaving his partner cursing in the dirt. The palomino rider slid off his horse, kicked the man's gun away and then picked him off the ground and threw him in the direction his companion had run off in. The man stumbled, fell, cursed, picked himself up and staggered off.

Maggie watched in a mixture of relief and wariness as the dark haired man remounted and the two new riders turned their attention in her direction. People were not always as they seemed out here, she'd learned that the hard way. She didn't know yet if they'd moved in to take over or help. She quickly checked her chambers. Two rounds in one gun, one in the other gun and no time to reload as they rode in on her. She clicked the two guns shut simultaneously and leveled one at each rider. They pulled up short, glancing at each other.

"Mister, we ain't gonna cause you no more trouble, we're just checking in to make sure you don't need no more help." The dark skinned rider nodded towards KD, still lying in the dirt. "Think your horse might be in bad shape".

He kept his hand hovering near a gun on his hip but didn't move to draw. He had a kind face and seemed to have a genuine concern. Maggie's eyes swung over to the second rider. A kind face was not to be seen here. Impassively, he stared right back in her eyes. That was when Maggie noticed that his gun was also drawn, low near the saddle horn and pointed directly at her. Her heart skipped a beat. She hadn't seen him draw but his hand hadn't held a gun when he first approached. Slowly she lowered the gun pointing at his friend, but kept level the one pointing at him.

"I don't want no more trouble here." she growled, pitching her voice as low as she could manage.

"Don't need to be any more trouble if you'd stop pointing your gun at me." The dark haired rider said steadily.

Her eyes slid back to the coloured rider. His expression was wary but his face still held a kindness that she found hard to think as put on. She was at crossroads. To trust or not to trust? She didn't fancy her odds if she started a shoot-out. Two against one, even if she was an excellent shot. She had to make a decision. She examined her gut feelings and taking a deep breath, she threw herself into fates hands. These men had helped her and she was going to trust they were good men. She un-cocked her remaining gun and lowered it.

"Noah, will you check on the horse?" The dark haired rider dismounted and approached. "Miss, my name is Jimmy, that there is my friend Noah, we're riders with the Pony Express."

"Pony express don't send out two riders at once. " Maggie warily shot back, not bothering to pitch her voice this time. She was unnerved that he'd obviously known she was girl since he rode up, unlike Noah.

"That's true," said Jimmy and she saw a small quirk in the corner of his mouth. "We were on our way back from a special errand for the Rock Creek Marshall." The quirk disappeared. "You hurt?"

"Nothing permanent." Maggie hoped she was telling the truth as tried to push herself up off the ground. She wasn't feeling much pain in her leg anymore. She managed to get seated on the boulder and hauled her leg out front. "Looks worse than it is." Maggie hoped this was true too.

"Humph." Lips pursed Jimmy reached down and gently clasped her leg, angling his head from side to side. Then he pulled out a knife and started to cut away her pant leg.

Warning bells rang off and Maggie pulled her gun and pointed it right at the middle of Jimmy's forehead. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" She grated between clenched teeth.

He stopped what he was doing, slowly pulled his hands back, resting them on his thighs. He looked her full in the face. In his eyes she saw a combination of annoyance, wariness and she wasn't sure, but maybe kindness.

"Look, the wound is too far up the leg to roll your pant and we're going to need the extra material for binding anyways. We're not going to hurt you."

And with that he lifted the knife and started cutting away again. Maggie had to ease back the gun so as to keep his head from bobbing into it.

"Horse has got a flesh wound, but nothing that won't heal right quick. Never seen such a talent for playing dead before, this horse belongs in the theatre." Noah chuckled as he coaxed the horse into standing. "He'll be fine to ride home if we take it slow."

Maggie holstered her gun as she watched Jimmy clinically examine and tie up her leg. "You seem mighty handy at this." It was her way of saying sorry.

"Been shot lots." Was his reply "See if you can stand on that?"

Maggie stood up. There was mostly numbness with a sort of aching pain. What she didn't expect was the way the ground tilted underneath her and the rushing noise in her ears. Maggie sat down with a thump and a wave of nausea had her putting her head down between her knees.

Noah was beside her in an instant. "Mister, you OK?"

"Miss" Jimmy's voice matter-of-fact above her.

"What?" Noah asked

"Miss, he's a Miss." Jimmy answered.

"Well, I'll be. Maybe we should call her Lou Two." Noah chuckled again.

"Keep you mouth shut Noah, 'sides Lou One is enough trouble as is."

"My name is Maggie, Maggie O'Shaughnessy." Maggie said, head still between her knees.

"We'll, I'm Noah Dixon and this here is Jimmy Hickok. Nice to make your acquaintance."

"Did that already." Jimmy stated.

"Yeah, but you never give the last name, and it's the last name what makes us sound distinguished." Noah shook his head in obvious disgust.

"Last name what's always getting me into trouble."

Maggie suppressed the urge to laugh. Taking a deep breath, she raised her head again.

"I was on the way to Rock Creek myself, could I ride in with you boys and you can point me towards the hotel?" Maggie took a second deep breath and the world stabilized.

"We'll do better than that, we'll point you towards Rachael and get Doc Vaughn over to see you. You just stick with us and we'll keep you safe." Noah tipped his hat and smiled kindly. "You sure you're able to ride?"

"Yup" Maggie gave a half smile in both directions and pushed herself standing again. This time, everything remained level. "Thank you, both of you for…everything." Noah touched his hat again in acknowledgement.

Maggie turned to Hickok, "Sorry for aiming at you, seems you were just being kind."

"Can't be too careful." Hickok said evenly. "Keeps those guns close, and loaded. We ain't home yet."

Noah helped her up onto KD and the three of them struck up an easy lope in the direction of Rock Creek.