ON YOUR HORSES, BOYS

Part 15

Buck laid a hand across Chris' brow and blew a long sigh of frustration when he realized the gunfighter's fever was gaining momentum. If they could keep him still and quiet he would probably recover his strength within a few days, but Buck had every idea, given his friend's state of mind, 'still and quiet' were too much to hope for. His suspicions were confirmed when Chris weakly swatted his hand away and mumbled something about 'leaving at first light.' The ladies man glanced out the window to see the sun positioned high in the sky and knew Chris was dreaming. The man could be as stubborn as a mule and just as ornery if he was of a mind to – awake or asleep.

Feeling as if the chair he occupied was growing to him, Buck twisted around and slowly stretched the muscles in his back. He spotted Nathan anxiously crossing and uncrossing his arms as he paced back and forth opposite Ezra's bed. Eventually he settled himself on the mattress, but he looked worried, more worried than Buck had ever seen him. "Nathan?"

Oblivious to Buck's attention, Nathan leaned over to tug at some of the bandages across Ezra's chest. The gambler tried to roll away but a firm hand pulled him onto his back again and the examination of the angry red wounds continued. Not for the first time since his fever had developed, Ezra mumbled in unintelligible gibberish. The slurred words intermittently hosted deep groans and occasional terrified cries and the healer knew exactly what demons haunted his patient's mind. Nathan, apparently displeased with his own handiwork, moved down Ezra's body to check the bindings holding his arm in place and the bandages circling his middle.

"Nathan?" Buck repeated.

Jackson looked up to see Wilmington standing next to him.

"You okay?"

"Me? I'm good, but Ezra…"

"His fever?"

Jackson let go the wrappings around the Southerner's waist and for what seemed like the hundredth time put a hand against his cheek to gauge his temperature. "It's much higher than before, he's wearin' out."

"He ain't the only one who's wearin' out. Why don't you go get some rest? I can watch these two."

Nathan didn't answer; instead he stared at Ezra as if contemplating what to check next.

"What is it? What's eatin' at ya?" Wilmington moved to sit on the chair next to the bed.

"It's nothin'."

"I've never known ya to worry over nothing, Nate."

The healer didn't raise his dark brown eyes, but after a long pause, he did eventually speak. "It's somethin' Chris said -- about Ezra not knowin' he's safe."

Buck waited and listened.

"He's right. Ezra ain't come 'round long enough to know where he is. We keep tellin' him, but he doesn't understand. The nightmares he's havin' are keeping him with the Nichols and I'm afraid the longer he's with them the harder it'll be to bring him back in one piece."

"The fever's causing the nightmares, right?"

"Partly, but I have a feelin' there's something else goin' on. I've been listening to him, trying to figure out what he's rememberin', but I can't understand most of what he's saying," Nathan answered, fidgeting with the white bandage around Ezra's wrist.

"You're worried the Nichols really did do something to him we're not seeing."

Jackson's eyes revealed a look of dread. "Maybe, I reckon I won't know for sure 'til he wakes up." Again there was a long pause. "Damn it, what I was thinkin' leavin' him alone with them? Why the hell did I walk outta that hotel when I knew they'd hurt him, that they'd already hurt him?"

"You didn't have much choice."

"I coulda fought back, maybe given him a chance to get a way."

"If you hadn't left when you did they coulda killed him outright. They could've killed you both, and don't think they wouldn't have done it. As it is, we got him back and he's got you to take care of 'im."

Nathan looked away obviously reluctant to let himself off the hook so easily.

"Things could have been much worse if you hadn't come after us when ya did. He was pretty far gone by the time we got to him and you know better than anyone he couldn't have lasted much longer. Be grateful we got him back alive."

"I am grateful, Buck. It's just… they came after me to get their hands on him and he let 'em. He gave himself up to stop them hurtin' me. He did everything they told him, no matter how bad it was."

"Did you think he'd wouldn't?"

"No… I don't know."

"You sure? Maybe deep down you expected him to save himself. Come on, Nathan, sometimes we all tend to think of Ezra as a self-serving son-of-a-bitch, but ya gotta know that's just how he likes people to think he is, how he keeps himself safe. Since he's joined up with us though, he's proven he'll do whatever it takes to protect us and this town." Buck rose from his chair, walked to the window and pulled the curtains aside.

"I know I haven't cut him much slack," Nathan finally said, "but I swear he does things sometimes just to piss me off."

Buck almost laughed. "I ain't sayin' he don't deserve a boot in the ass sometimes, but there's no doubt he deserves our faith in him."

The healer's face gentled as he brushed aside the hair matted to Ezra's forehead and pressed a palm to his skin.

Buck could see Nathan mull over what he'd said. "Come on, pard, give it up. You're gonna wear him out checkin' his fever every two minutes. Go on and get yourself some rest. Like I said, I can keep an eye on things here."

Again Ezra tried to pull away from Jackson's touch but soon settled after he rolled himself into what must have been a more comfortable position. Nathan stood, circled the bed and returned his patient's broken ankle to the pillow on which it had been resting. "I wish I could get more of that tea down him. I need him still so he can heal."

"He's taken some of it, hasn't he?"

"Not enough."

"We'll keep trying. Now go, Nathan, lie down for a spell."

"You can't handle 'em on your own, Buck. If Ezra starts yellin' in his sleep you know damn well Chris is gonna be back on his feet tryin' to help him."

"I can call you."

"I'd better just stay here."

Buck was about to insist when he heard footsteps on the landing outside the clinic. Catching sight of Vin, he announced, "Looks like help's arrived just in time." He grabbed the doorknob and ushered the tracker inside. "Albeit very dirty help," he added.

Nathan joined the men near the door as Vin offered him the package he carried and swatted at some of the ash on his sleeve. "I went by the General Store and picked up a few supplies for ya," Tanner said.

Jackson looked him over. "You alright?"

Quickly recognizing Nathan in full doctor mode, Vin stepped deeper into the room and hurriedly reassured him. "I'm fine."

"You look like crap, pard," Buck put in.

Tanner scowled. "I said I'm fine. Ain't nothin' a little soap and water won't fix."

Nathan decided to take a closer look. He reached for Vin's hands and turned them palm up. "Soap and water'll help, but these burns are gonna need some salve. You hurt anywhere else?"

Tanner visibly squirmed under the healer's scrutiny but knew there was no way to avoid it. He shifted awkwardly from one leg to the other, waiting for Nathan to turn him loose.

"Vin, it's been a hard couple of days and I've already had one patient try and hide a wound from me. Just tell me now before I have to scrape your sorry butt off my floor."

Buck came up behind the tracker and spotted a burn hole in his shirt. "Damn, Vin, what happened?"

Tanner sighed. "It's just a little burn, it's not that bad."

Nathan grabbed his friend's arm and pulled him around. He eyed the scorched material for less than five seconds before he began yanking the shirt free of Tanner's body.

"Nate?" Vin asked in surprise, making a grab for his shirt.

Jackson ran his fingers around the burn on Vin's right shoulder blade before he answered. "How'd this happen?"

Vin hung his head. "A piece of wood fell from the rafters while I was tryin' to put out one of the fires. I reckon it must've been burnin' when it hit me."

"I reckon. Well it don't look too bad."

"I told ya."

"But it don't look too good either. I'll clean it up and put some salve on that too."

Vin was about to object, but Nathan had already gone to collect what he needed.

"Just let him help," Buck said. "Keeps his mind off other things."

The tracker surrendered and settled on the stool near the exam table. "How are they doin'?" he asked, motioning to the two sleeping men.

Buck leaned a hip on the exam table. "Chris would be fine if we could get him to rest."

"I take it he's still fightin' Nathan off."

"Yeah, he's tried to get up three times now but he's been too weak to make it."

Vin's eyes went to the man on the bed. "And Ezra?"

"Nathan's really worried about him. His fever's bad and he's not comin' round."

"Damn. Is there anything else we can do?"

"We need to get some more of Nate's medicines in him, but he keeps fighting us too. The last time he was close enough to being awake to give him something, we ended up holding him down and pouring it down his throat. I think more of it splattered on us than went into him."

"Well Mr. Hobson gathered up a few medical supplies for me, maybe there's something there that'll help," Vin said, pointing out the package Nathan laid on the bed stand.

"Maybe so."

Jackson returned with a basin of water, a clean cloth and a tin of salve, and quickly went to work on the tracker's hands and back. To Tanner's credit he endured the attention with minimum fuss. Fortunately for both men however it didn't take long to treat the injuries.

Vin reached for his shirt. "About John Nichols," he said as he pulled it over his head, "Josiah got a wire back from Judge Travis. He's sendin' a special jail wagon out of Eagle Bend for him sometime late tomorrow. It seems he and his brothers are suspected of killing some town officials there and the new sheriff's anxious to get his hands on them."

"Now why doesn't that surprise me," Buck replied. "Maybe we can catch his brothers before that wagon gets here and cart off the whole family."

"We've been lookin', but so far we can't figure out where they're hiding."

"They gotta be close to be settin' these fires you been puttin' out. Where exactly were the fires?"

Tanner leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "The Boarding House and the Stage Company."

"The north end of town," Nathan observed. "There's no place outside o' town in that direction to hide out. We know two are wounded, Peter and his mother, so they've got to be resting up somewhere here in town."

"But where?" Wilmington wondered. He stood and walked to Ezra's bedside. "Where would those boys take the old lady to hide out?" Coming to no conclusion on his own he turned to the tracker for ideas. The look on Tanner's face surprised him. "Vin?"

"Hunh?" Vin looked up.

"What is it? You think you know where they might be?"

"No, I just keep thinkin' about those fires."

"What about them?" Nathan asked.

"Something about them don't feel right."

"You just figurin' that out, pard?" Buck chided.

Vin grinned, he should have seen that one coming. "Just hold on a minute. Since the Nichols pulled into town, have you known them to do anything by halves?"

"What d'ya mean?"

"I mean they barrelled in on a mission of vengeance, went after Chris the minute they realized he was hiding Hank, tortured Ezra for refusing to tell where Chris and Hank had gone, and threatened everyone else who got in their way. They came with a purpose and they've backed up their threats with every bit of meanness they could pull outta their hats."

"Meanness is right. I looked inside that coach of theirs when I put it away – you wouldn't believe the things they had hid there. Things that had no other purpose than to hurt, maim and kill," said Buck.

"Right, they mean business. When they play, they play for keeps."

"So?"

"So these fires are not what I'd expect from folks who have a reputation for not holding back. Something's off. A fire ain't a good thing no matter what, but these fires didn't do the damage I would have expected. Me and the others saved most of the buildings that were burning and no one was hurt or killed. It just don't seem their style."

"Maybe they just haven't had much experience with arson," Buck suggested. "Or maybe there's too few of 'em left to do serious harm."

Vin gave the ladies man a sour look. "You really believe that?"

"Hell no."

Jackson listened to the two men and went back to check on Ezra. "Well, I don't care why they didn't kill anyone else, I'm just glad they didn't." Once again, he felt the gambler's face for fever.

"Nate, he's probably no cooler now than he was fifteen minutes ago. Go get some rest. We'll take care of him," Buck said firmly.

The healer looked ready to crumble.

"Go on," Vin added, "sleep for a couple hours. We'll call you if anything happens we can't handle."

Nathan couldn't squabble with them any more. "If either one of 'em wakes up, get some of that tea I brewed into them. And water, they both need water."

"We'll see to it," Buck said reassuringly. When the dark man hesitated, he prodded him again. "Go!"

Vin watched the healer begrudgingly make his retreat and head to the back. He smirked at Buck. "And he says we're difficult."

The two men took up chairs alongside the bed and the cot and settled in for the night.

TBC

A/N: So sorry for the delay in posting, but Real Life just can't seem to take a hint!