***Part 16
Nathan cleaned and stitched up the knife wound and the gash on Ezra's head. He then spent the rest of the day spoon-feeding the southerner water and medicine trying to get his fever down. They had stripped the gambler down and laid a damp sheet on top of him, hoping to cool him down. Nathan could tell that Ezra's temperature was dangerously high, and he worried about what it would do to his friend's mind.
Josiah and Buck spent all day administering medicine to everyone who could take it. The young ones started to improve by nightfall, and even JD began to rally slightly, lifting away the fear of death.
Nathan nodded as Chris entered the tent. The gunslinger stared down at Ezra's painful form, bruises colored the conman's torso and the gash to his side had taken on an ugly reddish tone. A white bandage was wrapped around his head.
"Is he going to make it?" Chris asked. The gambler looked dead and Chris narrowed his eyes to detect even the faintest hint of life. His blood boiled at what Ezra had been put through and he silently promised revenge for the cardsharp.
Nathan scratched the back of his head and pressed his lips together for a moment. "If I can get his fever down and if he hasn't lost too much blood, maybe. He's holding his own right now and that's a good sign." Nathan wrung out a cool rag and placed it on Ezra's forehead.
"Vin and I are going after the men who did this," Chris explained.
Nate smiled allowing himself a moment of guilty pleasure at the thought of what Larabee and Tanner would do to the men responsible for almost destroying a whole village and for harming one of their own.
tbc