Chapter 4: And left with a bam

They went to an open field, the wagon in plain view for everyone to see. Schultz freed Tony from the wagon as Django put on the winter jacket from the late Ace Speck, since he had no other clothes. Nera went in the wagon and changed into her normal cowboy outfit. She came out of the wagon in her regular clothes with a content look on her face. It feels good to wear my trousers again! She thought.

Django and Nera then went out to find some wood for the campfire. They collected the wood in silence at first, until Django started to speak.

"I haven't thanked you yet, for saving my ass with Little Raj. So… Thank you." He didn't look at Nera as he spoke, but she could hear the sincerity of his words.

She smiled at him. "You're welcome." Her face then turned into one of compassion. "Those Brittles, you must have really hated them for what they did to you and your wife, right?"

Django stopped gathering wood and looked her in the eyes. "How do you know?"

"The way you looked at them and the way you shot Little Raj told me enough." She answered him with sympathy. Django didn't know what to say and just nodded. They fell into a comfortable silence as they continued to gather branches and returned to the camp.

Schultz was studying a map, when Nera and Django returned. They dropped the branches on the ground and Django started to make a fire. "So, what are we going to do with Big Daddy?" Nera asked.

"What about him?" Django questioned, keeping his gaze focused on the task at hand.

Nera sat down on the ground near the campfire. "There is no way that Big Daddy will let a black man kill a bunch of white folks on his territory in front of all his black slaves to see, and be fine with it." Nera voiced her suspicions with loathing as she spoke about Bennet.

"Exactly!" Schultz was pleased to know that Nera was on the same page as him. "Now here's what we're going to do."

"Sure you two don't want to play another game?" Nera asked Schultz and Django with a grin on her face. The three of them had been hiding for over half an hour in a big tree across the field, after they had taken everything of importance out of the wagon and put some dynamite in the wobbly tooth.

They had been playing Blackjack to pass the time. But Django and Schultz didn't want to play anymore, because Nera had won most of the time.

Django was the first one to spot the torches in the distance. "Look, over there!" He exclaimed, pointing at the light in the distance.

"What the hell are they doing?" Django asked Schultz and Nera. They were observing the situation high-up in the tree. About thirty men on horseback, were carrying torches and guns. They all just sat on their horses, apparently listening to the two other men in front of them.

"Whatever it is they're doing, they're not really trying to be subtle." Nera answered. She then remembered her mini-monocular that lay forgotten in the inner pocket of her vest. "I've got an idea boys."

Schultz and Django watched how she took her mini-monocular out of her vest and used it to spy on the group. Django had never seen the strange object before, Schultz on the other hand, did recognise it for what it was.

"Oh, well hello Big Daddy. What a surprise!" She said.

"What's that?" Django asked. Nera looked away from the monocular and turned to Django. She handed him the small object. "Here. Just hold it against one eye and look through it."

Django did as he was told. "Wow. Wow! How does it do that?" He asked her, as he continued to watch the group.

"Science."

Django handed the monocular back to Nera. She took it and held it out to Schultz. "Our captain should be able to see the dangers of the sea as well." She told him with a small smile that managed to reach her eyes. He kept her gaze for a moment too long and then took the monocular without saying a word.

He observed them as they stood there for another five more minutes, seemingly arguing. After Bennet became angry at his followers, they all put their bag on their head and raced towards the abandoned wagon, yelling nonsense.

"Wow, they are definitely not trying to be subtle now." Nera snorted. Schultz handed the monocular back to her and aimed for the wobbly tooth.

"Auf Wiedersehen." Schultz murmured, before firing his riffle and blowing up his wagon. The explosion was enormous and painful to the ears all the way up the tree. Big Daddy was one of the men that instantly fell of their horses, due to the impact of the blow.

Django chuckled as he watched the explosion and Schultz was quite proud of his well-aimed shot. "Bullseye."

"Look at them run!" Django exclaimed in wonder.

Schultz gave them a knowing look. "Yeah, cowards do that." He pointed out as he reloaded his rifle.

"Damn."

Schultz aimed to shoot at Bennet, but then he looked back at Django and handed him the rifle. "Would you care to?"

Django doubted for only a split second, before he took the weapon in his hands. By that time, Bennet had finally found his strength and he had been able to get on the horse. He was galloping away, the last one of the group.

"He's getting away." Schultz reminded Django.

Django replied without taking his eyes of the target. "I got him."

"Big Daddy is getting away."

"I got him." And then, he fired one bullet. Followed by Big Daddy falling of his horse. He was dead before he hit the ground.

Nera briefly raised her eyebrows at the perfect shot. "He's got him." She marvelled, amazed by Django's newfound skills.

She wasn't the only one who was surprised to find out, that they had a natural shooter in their midst. "The kid's a natural." Schultz laughed. "Let's get out of this tree."

"Now we're talking!" Nera muttered happily, exited get out of there at last. She would most likely never willingly admit it to anyone, but she was a little bit afraid of heights. The Blackjack and the explosion had taken her mind of her current position. Now, all she wanted to do, was getting the heck out of the big oak tree.

She was able to descend almost seven meters, before one of her feet slipped. "Whoa!" She yelped in the act of losing her balance and plummeting to the ground.

"Nera!" Schultz yelled as he tried to grab her hand to no avail.

Lucky for her, the height of the fall was less than three meters. She also had been able to turn around to save her back from a very painful fall and her guitar from being smashed into a million pieces. Instead, she fell on her feet, but it wasn't a flawless fall.

"Aagh!" She groaned as she clutched her right ankle in the fetal position.

Schultz and Django descended the tree as quick as they could and approached her worriedly. "Where does it hurt?" Schultz calmly asked Nera as he supported her back and took her hand in his, without thinking about it.

She grunted. "My right ankle! I just lost from the ground. Ground 1, Nera 0."

He smiled as he fondly squeezed her hand. "Well, at least your sense of humour is still intact."

"Yay me."

Django took her ankle in his hands. "Hold still." He ordered. He carefully moved her foot in several directions, causing her to hiss in pain at certain angles. After a minute, he released her foot. "It's not broken. Probably just sprained. You're lucky that it isn't more serious. "

"Yes, I feel so very grateful right now." She scoffed sarcastically. "Sorry Django, pain makes me even more sarcastic. How did you know that it's sprained?"

"I've seen my share of broken and bruised bones. You would be crying out in pain like you were about to die, if it was really broken."

The two men helped her up on her feet. Schultz put her arm around his shoulder and he supported her as she wobbled to her horse. Nera made a first effort to get on her horse, which didn't work out.

Schultz tried to assist her, but she refused. "I can handle it." She told him in a kind, but firm manner. But when she tried to get on her horse a second time, and failed again, she felt like a helping hand would be necessary. She sighed and turned around to face Schultz. "Alright, I cannot handle it. Would you please help me get on my horse?" Swallow the pride Nera, swallow the pride.

"But of course Fräulein." He helped her up by her waist.

"Thanks." She took the reins in her hands, just as she felt someone get on her horse behind her. She turned her head sharply and took in the features of a certain German, sitting close behind her.

"Hey! I can perfectly ride on my own horse, thank you very much."

"Well, we wouldn't want you to fall of your horse after you just fell out of a tree, now would we?" He replied most innocently as he took the reins.

Oh, that's low buddy. She grumbled some incoherent words, Schultz spurred Toek and off they went. The man had a smug smile plastered on his face over his little victory.

Nera couldn't help but notice the ridiculousness of the situation and how very cliché it was. "I feel like a fucking damsel in distress." She blurted out, making the man behind her laugh. But she did accept her defeat, since she let Schultz spur Toek, unsure of how she felt being this close to this man.