ON YOUR HORSES, BOYS
Part 11
"Damn," Nathan said, his voice full of worry as he slapped the gambler's face harder. "Don't do this Ezra, wake up."
Vin crawled onto the bed behind the gambler and put his hand on Nathan's arm. "What is it? What's wrong?"
The healer pulled back the light blanket covering his patient's body and leaned over to rest an ear against his chest. He found the heartbeat but grimaced when he realized it wasn't beating as strongly as it should. Ezra's respirations were also sluggish and his skin was entirely too cool to the touch.
"Nate…"
"His body's havin' a hard time dealing with what it's been through, it's tryin' to give out."
Chris rose up off the table and pushed aside Buck's restraining hands. "What do we do?" he asked tightly.
Nathan glanced over his shoulder. "Ain't nothin' you can do, Chris. Buck, get him back on the table and keep him there."
Larabee opened his mouth to argue but Wilmington leaned into him and physically moved him away.
Jackson bent down to take the unconscious gambler in his arms. "Vin, yank those pillows outta there."
"But Nathan, his shoulder," JD warned.
"He ain't feelin' his shoulder, JD. Now go over there and get me another blanket." Carefully he lowered Ezra to the mattress. "Vin, I need ya to loosen the sling holdin' his arm."
Vin did as Nathan instructed as the healer took the cover from JD and gently tucked it around Ezra's unmoving body. He placed his slender fingers against his throat and felt for a pulse… weak, but there. He moved his other hand beneath his patient's nose and waited until he could just feel the shallow exhalations brush his skin.
"Nathan?" Chris asked hoarsely.
"Don't know," was the clipped reply as Nathan sat on the bed and began checking Ezra's bullet wound. He eyed the point of entry carefully before he pulled the motionless body toward him and had Vin check the exit wound.
"There's a little blood, but it looks okay," the tracker advised.
"Good, can you put another bandage against it for me?"
Tanner carefully worked a small piece of folded cloth beneath the wrapping around Ezra's waist and then helped Nathan settle him back onto the mattress.
"What now?" he asked.
"Now we wait. I seen this before. We need to keep him warm and when he wakes up we need to keep him still."
"That's it?"
"You might try talking to him, but keep your voice calm and quiet."
"What about his feet?" asked JD.
"Every time we handle his feet, the pain puts him back with the Nichols. We need to let him recover some before we put him through that again."
"Can we give him more Laudanum?"
"Afraid not, any medicine right now could kill 'im. You've cleaned away a lot of the dirt; let's just hold off 'til this spell passes."
Vin settled close to Ezra on the bed. "He will come outta this, right?"
Jackson went to a basin to wash his hands.
"Nate?"
"He's been through a lot," Nathan answered as he dried his hands.
"Yeah, but its Ezra, he's tough," JD said.
"He's been tortured, JD, they didn't just cut him up and whip him, they messed with his head. Did you hear him? 'This time', 'this time they'd do it.' They must've threatened him with somethin' they knew would scare the hell out of him."
"What do you think it was?"
"Got no way of knowin', but Ezra's mind ain't lettin' it go."
"He'll handle it," the young man insisted.
Nathan saw the fear in JD's eyes and realized how important Ezra had become to him. In fact, every face in the room held the same look of apprehension and he knew every man present would do whatever it took to keep him alive.
"He'll handle it," JD repeated, not sure if he was trying to convince Nathan or himself.
Grabbing the edge of the table, Chris dragged himself onto his side. "And if he can't, we'll help him. Believe it, JD."
Dark eyes glistened brightly as JD accepted Chris' words as truth.
The room fell silent.
"We need to make sure," Chris said around a swallow, "the Nichols are caught. We have to f-find them." He tried his best to pull his way up Buck's arm, but he simply didn't have the strength. He fell back onto the table cursing between pants.
Nathan moved quickly to his side. "Come on, Chris, you ain't goin' nowhere. We're gonna go after that bullet in your gut then you're gonna rest."
The gunfighter would have disagreed, but he didn't seem able to draw in a decent breath. He patted Buck's hand to get his attention. "Send JD back to the jail… Josiah may need help."
"You're right, I've got a feelin' those boys'll come after their brother next," Buck agreed. "JD, you think you can get back to Josiah without any trouble?"
"Sure, Buck."
"Well, do it. And the two of you keep an eye out. As soon as we've helped Nathan take care of Chris and Ezra, one of us'll be over to lend you a hand. We need to see about movin' Nichols some place out of his family's reach. Then we need to go after the three who escaped before they come back here lookin' to shoot up the town again."
"What about Mrs. Nichols, Buck?"
"She ain't gonna be far from her boys -- we catch them, we catch her. Now you head on out and be careful."
"I will. And you won't let anything happen." He motioned to Ezra and Chris.
"Count on it," he said firmly and moved to the door to insure JD's safe departure.
TBC
A/N: There are Chris fans and there are Ezra fans, but what I find interesting is how many Chris AND Ezra fans there are. They're my favorites together with a little dash of Buck and Vin. Let me know who your favorites are. Thanks to all who reviewed!