Thanks for the reviews/comments (guests, Kathy, Carrie, macberly, tellygirl); it's always good to know that there are still folks out there. The story is almost done.
"We could eat 'em," Larry said.
"Shut up, you moron," Brent slapped at his cousin's hat. "I already told ya they ain't dead, and I ain't about to kill 'em and eat 'em."
Standish's sleepy mind registered activity and unknown voices….and tried to understand. Did he just hear someone say something about eating him? Good Lord, had they been captured by a gang of cannibals? He tried to wake up, to tell Chris they needed to do something, but his body once again succumbed to the lingering effects of the laudanum, and he passed out.
"We gotta tie 'em up. Larabee and his tracker beat the crap out of Scott and me the other day, and I got no interest in tryin' to fight him again," Brent wished he had taken anybody else with him this morning besides his cousin. Larry was a couple of years younger than him and had always been a "simple" kid. He was stouter than Scott and his other cousins though, so he would be helpful for the immediate task at hand. "Grab under Larabee's arms and let's get 'em moved over by the campsite." They tied the blond's hands and feet and plopped him on the hard ground of the canyon and returned to repeat the same procedure with Standish.
Fred finally yelled down to the 5 men and 2 women, "thank you for your good behavior. You can head on home now. Make sure to get back here by 2PM tomorrow…..or we'll be forced to take out our frustrations on Larabee and the fancy feller."
Vin, Buck, Nathan, Josiah, and JD readied the horses. Vin's horse was turned over to Ms. Nettie. JD took Ezra's brown beast since he was the most familiar to Chaucer. Vin rode JD's horse, and Buck moved over onto Chris' black terror. Mary rode Buck's grey.
Vin stopped after about an hour and listened intently, "I'm gonna ride back for a bit and see if anyone's following us."
"Let someone else do it, Vin," Nathan suggested as non-confrontationally as he could. This was the first day that the tracker had been fully upright since being shot. It was obvious that the man still hadn't regenerated all of the blood lost and that he was still in pain. Despite Tanner's best efforts to hide it, his pale, pinched face had given him away.
"I'll go," Buck volunteered. He felt that he still had a lot of atonements to make from bringing his friends into this mess in the front place.
"All right," Vin trusted Wilmington to be able to see if any of the Spikes' kids were on their tail, "but if we ain't bein' watched, I'm gonna set off in a bit to track Nettie's wagon."
Nathan sighed. "You really think you can find it?"
"It's a heavy wagon," Vin winced as he dismounted to wait for Buck, "findin' that thing'll be easier than trackin' a peg-legged pirate through the mud."
Nathan wanted to suggest if it were that easy, then one of the others should go, but he knew it wouldn't actually be that simple. He certainly didn't trust himself to track it. "Sit down and get some food and water in ya then….and you ain't goin' by yourself."
"Maybe Nathan should go with you," Josiah suggested, "since Chris and Ezra are hurt." Josiah figured the healer could keep an eye on Vin that way as well, but he didn't voice that out loud.
Vin looked up at the big preacher, "my understandin' is that Nate's low on supplies anyway, and it's possible I won't find 'em. I think Nathan should go back to town, re-stock his supplies, and meet us back here tomorrow afternoon as planned."
"You ain't gonna be able to move or carry them with your shoulder, Vin," Nathan pointed out.
"I'll go with him then," Josiah's loud voice boomed, clearly suggesting that he could carry Chris or Ezra himself with no problems.
Buck rode back in a few minutes later, "didn't see any sign of a rider followin' us. Think they were bluffin'..probably didn't trust any of those boys not to get captured by us anyway. So, what's the plan? We goin' after Chris and Ezra?"
"Vin's gonna try to track the wagon with Josiah," JD answered, "the rest of us will go back to town and ready another wagon. Meet back up here tomorrow."
"Vin, I wanna go with ya," Buck scanned the faces of his friends, making sure they understood that he wasn't going to take no for an answer.
"That leaves a lot of work readyin' the wagon to JD and Nathan, and Nate's gonna be busy gettin' medical supplies."
"Brother Buck can handle Chris and Ezra," Josiah locked his blue eyes with Buck's, "he can go in my place, and I'll help JD with the wagon."
Buck nodded his head in thanks, and Vin said, "sounds fine to me." Tanner knew that Buck wasn't as bulky and strong as Josiah, but his guilt would give him all the strength he would need.
Chris opened his eyes to find himself flat on his back in the dirt. Ezra was lying to his left and still appeared to be out cold. Larabee tried to sit up, but his weakened body, hindered by the bound hands and feet, was not cooperating. He grunted in frustration, and that was enough to garner the attention of his captors.
"Brent, I think he's wakin' up."
"Is that right?" Brent approached and hauled the black-clad man to a sitting position. "You awake, Larabee?" Spikes slapped him hard across the face.
Chris righted himself and stared into the cold, brown eyes of the young man before him. Brent hadn't even realized how angry he was at the seven until now. Top Hat Bob was his father. Granted he hadn't seen him in more than 10 years, but it was still his father nonetheless. Because of these men, Larabee especially, he would never have the chance to get to know him…..to show him that he was a full-grown man now himself. Physically, the boy shared a lot of similarities with Bob and the Spikes' side of the family. He was tall, as was his companion and cousin, but Brent wasn't quite as bulky as Larry.
Ezra began to stir as well, and Brent glanced over at the gambler. He sure looked a lot different today than he had when he rode into camp a few days ago. He was dressed in only his shirtsleeves: no fancy jacket or vest, and the once-white shirt was untucked and unbuttoned from about half-way down his chest. Larabee was dressed more or less the same, but the shirt and pants were his customary black.
"Looks like it's party time, Larry," Brent laughed, "both of our guests are awake."
Larry laughed loudly and stood beside his cousin. He laughed even more hysterically when Brent pulled Standish to a sitting position, and Ezra fell right back over again.
"What's the matter with you, boy?" Brent teased the gambler, "you been drinkin' or somethin'? Whatta ya think, Larry? You think they got some whiskey stashed in the wagon that they didn't tell us about?" Brent grabbed the front of Ezra's shirt and pulled him upright once again.
"Leave him alone," were the first words that Chris said to them. He sympathized with Ezra. Larabee had only been upright for about 5 minutes, but he was already feeling dizzy. How long did it take a body to regenerate blood cells? Was he going to feel like this for weeks?
Brent abruptly let go of Standish's shirt, and the pale man collapsed to the dirt once again. Larry continued to get a big kick out of Ezra's inability to remain upright.
Chris all of a sudden felt his hands come untied. What the hell, he thought. These idiots didn't even know how to tie a knot?
Brent pulled his pistol and reached for a handful of Larabee's hair. The seated captive abruptly swung his hands around and smashed Spikes with a double-fisted uppercut to the chin. Brent's gun went flying, and the tall youngster collapsed senselessly to the dirt. Larry didn't even have his gun on him, but he charged at Larabee and kicked him full-force in the stomach.
"No!" Ezra screamed and rolled towards Brent's dropped pistol. He remembered Nathan's warning about Larabee being hit in the abdomen, and his heart sank. Standish's hands also easily came untied, and he reached for the gun. Ezra painfully made his way to a sitting position, cocked the pistol and pointed it at a dumb-founded Larry. "Let me see your hands….please."
Chris gathered himself and got to his knees just as Larry turned to bolt back to the campfire and his own weapon. "Stop, Goddamnit!" Chris paused and so did Larry. "There's been enough killin'. Put yer hands up and stay right there…..or he will shoot yer ass." Larabee untied his own feet. He was sore and so damn tired, but he forced himself to crawl over to where Larry Spikes was standing. "Sit," the man in black commanded, and Larry obeyed.
Chris tied his hands and feet, and slowly crawled over to the unconscious cousin and did the same, using the ropes that he had removed from Ezra's hands and feet.
Larabee sat on the ground next to Ezra and tried to gather the strength to make his way over to the campfire and the other weapons. "How're you doin', Ezra? If I help ya scoot over against the canyon wall, you think you can keep the gun on those boys?"
"He kicked you," Standish said so quietly that Larabee didn't hear what he said.
"What?"
"In your stomach, he kicked you…..hard."
Chris had forgotten all about Nathan's warning in the panic to subdue the captors, but he saw the obvious concern in the pale green eyes staring at him.
"I'm ok, Ezra….well, at least no worse off than before." Chris smiled and once again got to his knees. He put his arms under Ezra's shoulders and helped to move the exhausted gambler up against the rock wall. Standish was sweating and unnaturally pale, but he remained upright. He had no idea how long he was going to be able to stay that way.
Chris crawled to get Larry's gun and returned and propped himself against the wall next to Ezra. Brent had since woken up and was cursing at Larry and the two captives-turned-captors.
"Shut the hell up!" Chris yelled back. He believed what he had said to Larry earlier. There really had been enough killing already, so he would hate to have to shoot the loud-mouthed kid.
"I don't know if I can do this, Chris," Ezra looked over at his fellow peacekeeper, and Larabee could see that his face was stark white and etched with pain.
"Go ahead and lie down, Ezra," Chris offered, "I'll keep watch for a while."
"Sure…you're all right," Ezra said just as he passed out, and his friend slowly lowered him to the ground.
Larabee jumped when someone grabbed his arm. He had been fading in and out of consciousness for the last hour, and he had never been more thankful in his life to see that familiar pair of blue eyes starting at him.
"You ok, cowboy?"
"Vin."
"Looks like at least one of you two must have been feelin' pretty ornery earlier," Tanner motioned to the two Spikes' men tied up 10 yards away.
Chris' green eyes lifted to look at Vin and Buck, who was tending to Ezra, and the blond simply grinned.
"Buck, how's Ezra?" Vin asked.
"Seems all right," Wilmington answered, "just worn out I think."
Standish's eyes opened at the sound of his name. "Buck…Vin."
"He must really be tired if he's callin' us by our first names," Buck held his canteen up to Ezra's lips, while Vin did the same for Chris.
It was almost dark, and the plan was to spend the night here then head for home in the morning.
"Vin, you wanna bring the wagon over here, and we'll get these two back in their beds?"
"Sure thing, Bucklin."
The horses were untied and allowed to wander to a stream not far from the canyon.
"We could probably make enough room in there for you too, Vin," Buck knew the long-haired man had to be exhausted as well.
"I'm fine," Tanner said and then yawned as if on cue.
Wilmington laughed out loud, "sure ya are."
"Let them have the room in the wagon; I don't mind sleepin' on the ground."
"Get to it then," Buck could see that Vin was about to argue, "I can get Chris and Ezra settled by myself just fine." Buck laid out Tanner's bedroll by the fire, and the tracker obliged the older man. Vin's eyelids were feeling awfully heavy.
Buck carried Ezra's unconscious form to the wagon, followed by Chris'. Neither of the men did more than groan as they were moved and laid on the straw mattress. Buck sat by the fire and kept guard on the two prisoners.
At about 3AM, Vin woke feeling stiff but otherwise pretty good. "Go lay down, Buck. I'll keep watch." Tanner knew that Buck had to be tired as well, so the two men traded positions. The ladies' man had a new appreciation for the young Texan. Even in his current state, Vin had tracked Nettie's wagon as efficiently as a blood hound tracking a wounded raccoon. Without a single wrong-turn or back-track, Tanner had led them right to their friends…and just in time by the looks of Chris and Ezra.
Wilmington had no idea how the two very wounded men had subdued those big Spikes' boys, but he figured his stubborn old friend had a lot to do with it. Buck closed his eyes and felt better about things than he had in a long time.
The tall, moustached man sat up from his bedroll, after sleeping about 4 hours, to find Vin drinking coffee and sitting in the same spot as he'd been sitting last night. The two Spikes' kids were still sleeping (and snoring loudly) from the other side of the campfire. It did not appear that Ezra or Chris were awake yet either.
"Mornin' Buck," Vin drawled as Wilmington pushed his long body to its feet and stretched.
"Looks like a nice day to go home," Buck looked up at the cloudless sky and poured himself some coffee. He wandered over to the wagon and peeked in.
"Mr. Wilmington," Ezra greeted.
Buck spilled hot coffee on his arm and said, "shit, Ezra. I wasn't expectin' you to be awake."
"I find myself in need of a short walk this fine morning."
"What?"
"I need to pee, Mr. Wilmington."
"Oh, right." Buck sat his coffee down and climbed up in the wagon to assist Ezra.
On the way back, Standish asked, "so Mr. Larabee was ok last night?"
"Seemed to be, but he was tuckered out…..didn't really say much," Buck admitted. "What happened here yesterday?"
"We were able to get our hands free from the ropes," Ezra began as Wilmington sat him down on the back of the wagon. "Our illustrious leader managed to knock out the older boy, Top Hat Bob's son, and his weapon was fortuitously knocked right into my hands."
Buck thought it was strange hearing Ezra talk like himself, when he looked so normal – dressed pretty much like the rest of them. "Can't believe you two managed to take those big ol' boys down in the shape you were in."
"It wasn't necessarily all that graceful," Ezra started.
….and Buck finished, "but you got the job done."
"I suppose we did," Standish smiled and turned to look at Larabee's sleeping form. "So the blow to the stomach didn't hurt him?"
"What blow? Nobody said anything to me about it," Buck looked back at Ezra, "he got hit in the stomach?"
"Yeah, the behemoth cousin kicked him," Ezra looked up at the taller man standing before him, "I thought he told you."
"No," Buck jumped up in the wagon, "no, he did not. Chris…..wake up you ol' War dog."
Larabee was generally not difficult to wake, but he made no acknowledgment of Buck's voice.
Buck got closer and repeated, "Chris, open yer eyes." He and Ezra looked at each other and both started to wonder what the hell was going on. Why wouldn't he wake up?
Buck felt for a pulse on the pale neck, as he continued to yell, "Don't you dare be dead, you bastard! Chris!"