ON YOUR HORSES, BOYS

Part 30

"God Almighty," Josiah mumbled when he first laid eyes on the carnage behind the general store. Nathan, along with Joseph and Madeline Hobson, were huddled on the ground around a body the preacher recognized as Ezra by his bandaged feet and bare legs. Buck was struggling with a semiconscious and somewhat argumentative Chris. The body of Peter Nichols lay face down in the dirt, apparently dead. And his mother, whose first name Josiah had never thought to ask, most definitely lay dead in a mangled mass of flesh and bone.

"Josiah," Buck hollered as he made a grab for Chris' floundering hands. "Get over here and help me!"

Sanchez moved quickly. He gathered the gunfighter's hands, pinned his wrists together and pressed them to his chest. "What the hell's been happenin'?"

"Chris has been happenin'," Buck replied.

"I've been lookin' for him. He snuck outta the jail when the men from Eagle Bend arrived but he was so sick I didn't think he'd've been able to make it all the way back here."

Larabee's head jerked back against Buck's shoulder. "Easy, pard," Wilmington said.

Josiah shook his head. "Did he do all this?"

"Most of it from what Hobson told me, but he didn't do that," he motioned with his chin towards Mrs. Nichols. "Two of her boys were tryin' to drive that buggy of theirs 'round to pick her up. Evidently they lost control and ran her down."

"God in Heaven. So how's Ezra?"

"Nathan's checkin' him now."

"And Chris?"

"Passed out right after we got here."

"He ain't out now."

"No, but he ain't quite come to neither."

Josiah put a palm to the gunfighter's face. Fevered eyes shied away but couldn't avoid the touch. "He's even hotter than he was back at the jail. How'd he make it all the way here on his own?"

"You know Chris," Buck answered.

The preacher gave a half-hearted smile before he heard Vin call out from somewhere down the back alley.

"Go on, sounds like Vin's found somethin'. Could be the last two Nichols boys."

Josiah pulled one of Buck's hands over Chris'. "You got him?"

"Yeah, I got 'im. Go help Vin."

Sanchez climbed to his feet, gave the group huddled around Ezra a worried look then took off in Tanner's direction.

"Nathan?" Buck called when he finally got Chris settled against him. "How's he doin'?"

Nathan was on the ground next to Ezra's head checking for a pulse, a breath or any other sign he might be alive. "He's bad, Buck, real bad. They beat him and whipped him again."

"Damn it. You think you can help him?"

"I don't know. His fever's outta control, his wounds from before are lookin' infected and these new cuts on 'im are bleeding pretty bad. He's been hurt so long now, I don't know if he's got it in him to keep fightin'."

Madeline wiped at the cuts on Ezra shoulder with the clean folds of her skirt. "He'll fight, Mr. Jackson, I know he will." Nathan saw Joseph wrap an arm around her and squeeze. She hugged him back. "It seems to me he and Mr. Larabee have each come a long way to save the other. The last thing the Nichols did to him was tell him his friend was dead; we need to convince him they lied. If he thinks Mr. Larabee still needs him, he'll fight."

Nathan stared at her, encouraged by her determination.

"What do you need?" she asked.

He took a deep breath and organized his thoughts. "We need to bathe him. If we could get him to the bathhouse, we could wash his wounds and cool him off at the same time. If we don't get this fever down his body's gonna give out."

"There's no need to take him to the bathhouse," Joseph announced. "There's a tub in storage in the back of the store. I'll get someone to help me move it and have Archie haul in some water."

"You have a tub?"

"One of the perks of running a general store, Mr. Jackson," Madeline said and left it at that.

Nathan looked surprised.

Madeline looked suddenly alarmed. "Oh dear."

"What is it?"

"Your clinic, it was on fire. Although I'm sure we have a few of the medicines and supplies you'll need, I'm not sure we have everything."

"That's alright, Mrs. Hobson. I have some supplies at the jail. I'm sure I can make do."

"Well until we know more about the condition of your clinic, would you like to work here at the store? We have plenty of room."

"That's kind of ya to offer, ma'am, but I reckon it'd be best to tend Ezra back at his place."

"At the saloon?" she asked doubtfully.

"His room's not so bad. It may be over the saloon, but it's quiet and clean and large enough for me to take care of both him and Chris. It's also familiar to Ezra, so if he wakes up he might fret less if he's in a place he knows."

"If?"

"When," Nathan corrected himself.

She smiled.

"Besides, now that the threat of the Nichols is over folks are gonna need you and Mr. Hobson to supply them with goods." He eyed the gambler sadly. "We just need to get Ezra, the tub and the water to his place."

Madeline jumped to her feet and ran inside the store. When she returned she carried two patchwork quilts. "Here, Mr. Jackson," she said and once again knelt down. She handed Nathan one of the quilts and spread the other on the ground. She then tugged at the filthy sheet clinging to Ezra's hips and pulled it away. If she was affected by the condition of his body or his lack of clothing, she never let on. She merely rested a hand to the side of his head and spoke to him as if to a child "Now you listen to me, young man. We're going to take good care of you and you're going to get better. I've bragged to your friends how tough you are, so don't go making a liar out of me." She patted him gently before she turned to her husband. "Joseph, would you ask Archie for the use of his wagon? We'll move Ezra to the saloon first then we'll move the tub." She turned back to Nathan. "Let's get him onto the quilt now."

Together, Nathan and Madeline raised and shifted the unconscious gambler so that he still lay on his stomach atop the clean cloth. While Madeline shook out the second quilt and gently covered his naked body, Nathan tried to situate his injured shoulder and stop the bleeding from the bullet hole in his back. A frightened look flashed across is face.

"What is it?" Maddie asked.

"This old wound is bleeding pretty heavy."

"And that worries you more than his other injuries?"

"Yes ma'am, it does. This bullet hole goes all the way through, front to back. I'm afraid the Nichols might've busted somethin' inside."

"If they did, can you help him?"

"Nathan'll fix him right as rain," Buck said. He had tried not to interrupt their conversation, but felt compelled to remind the healer of his skills.

"I'll try," he replied, " but he's weak. I just don't know how much more he can stand."

Madeline folded her hands in her lap and fell silent. It wasn't until she saw Vin and Josiah emerge from the shadows with one of the Nichols' boys in tow that she spoke again. "Mr. Jackson, look."

Nathan stood.

"Look what we found," Vin said. He pulled Luke Nichols along by the rope binding his hands.

"Where was he?"

"In that buggy of theirs. It came to a stop a ways down the alley. He was out cold on the floor."

Buck tugged at Chris and settled him against his shoulder. The gunfighter had given out and become dead weight. "What about the one doin' the driving? Where's he?"

"Dead. I spotted the coach after it got away from us at the livery and was able to get a shot off."

"Appears you hit the mark."

"Yeah, except the shot didn't kill him right off. Looks like he bled out before he died."

"That'd explain how he managed to run over his own mother. He was too messed up to control the horses."

Luke shook his head and wiped at the blood trickling down his brow, obviously dazed. "Ma?"

"Let's go, Nichols," Vin said, at the same time drawing the man away from the broken body lying in the dirt. He had no love for the large thug, in fact, quite the opposite, but it wasn't in him to rub Luke's nose in his mother's hideous demise.

"Where is she? Where's ma?"

"I said 'let's go.'"

Josiah took Luke by the arm. "I'll take him back to the jail, you stay here and help Nate."

"I ain't goin' to no jail. Now tell me where ma is?"

"Son, you keep your mouth shut, come with me and I'll tell you all about your ma."

"I told you I ain't goin'!"

"And I," Josiah said just before he spun the man around and punched him hard in the face, "said you are!" He jerked him hard by the arm and threw him over his shoulder. "If you gentlemen will excuse us, Mr. Nichols here has a date with the law." He turned a quick look toward Ezra. "I'll be right back."

Madeline heard Ezra groan. He didn't open his eyes or offer to move, but he did push an anxious moan past bloody lips. "I think he heard that Nichols boy," she said worriedly.

Nathan reached under the quilt to lay a hand on the Southerner's overheated skin. "Rest easy, Ezra, it's over. Ain't nobody hurtin' ya again." He watched Josiah disappear into the shadows. "Nobody."

TBC

A/N: A special THANK YOU to glitterfairy11 for suggesting the means of Mrs. Nichols' demise way back when! Thanks, girl!