The Magnificent Seventh
Chapter Six Range War
"The Wild Bunch has terrorized this skyway for too long – it's time to fight back. They want a range war? We'll give them one!" Sly Winkum said at the front of the bar as the Magnificent Seven and my crew sat inside the Desert Rose saloon, and they cheered.
"Hunt the Wild Bunch down like the dogs they are. Don't stop until you catch Buck Bronco and bring him to justice." Sly Winkum said, and in less than an hour, the Aquila had set sail into Tumbleweed Skyway with the Magnificent Seven aboard.
"The Wild Bunch is on us, captain!" Richard Clutterbuck shouted from his perch atop the starboard railing as a flotilla of paddle steamers approached us, crewed with members of the Wild Bunch.
The men loaded the cannons with round shot and fired at the bows of the six paddle steamers in a raking fire maneuver.
Although each shot in a raking fire maneuver was more likely to miss the target ship than a standard broadside attack, any cannonball that hits would pass through more of the ship, increasing damage to the hull, sails, and crew, not to mention that the enemy ship wouldn't have any guns to return fire.
Knocking great big holes in the bows and hulls of the front three paddle steamers, the Seven assembled on the starboard side of the quarterdeck to return fire at the Wild Bunch.
Not to be outdone, the men hurled grenades and fired grapeshot onto the decks of the other two damaged paddle steamers, thinning out the enemy crews.
With half of their flotilla disabled, the other three moved from the back to try and board us. As the Wild Bunch leapt aboard the Aquila, I drew my sword and pistol. "Make them regret they came after us!"
The men shouted as they took up arms against the Wild Bunch, and leaving the pilot's wheel with one of the swivel gunners, Rena and I leapt from the helm on opposite sides of the pilot's wheel into the fray.
Stunning a desperado of the Wild Bunch with my pistol, I blunted the blade of my sword with blue energy and took on another desperado, and our blades clashed as he swiped at me with knives.
Pulling out a pistol from a holster on the back of my waist, I aimed my pistol and fired, stunning the Mustang desperado before moving on to another target.
Bonnie, Calamity Jane, Wild Bill, and several men armed with rifles had climbed up the rigging, and they now wreaked havoc among the Wild Bunch with their sharpshooting.
Soon the Wild Bunch was divided into two small groups, both held at gunpoint near the port and starboard railings on the quarterdeck.
Some decided to charge headfirst into a firing line of muskets, while others decided to take the easy way out and jump overboard. The men returned to their battle stations to reload their guns and sink the two paddle steamers to our sides before the Aquila began pursuing the last fleeing paddle steamer.
"It's the Wild Bunch!" David Clutterbuck shouted from his perch atop the port railing as he pointed to an incoming flotilla of six paddle steamers, crewed by Mustangs and Goats wearing green sashes and armed with revolvers.
Several crewmen from below decks had set up some mortars on the quarterdeck, and after loading them, they fired the mortars to bomb the decks of the paddle steamers to our broadsides, thinning out the enemy crews and allowing us to save a precious broadside to use on the next two paddle steamers.
As the two paddle steamers sunk beneath clouds under our dual broadside, the pair of undamaged paddle steamers moved in so that their crews could leap onto the decks of the Aquila.
I nodded at the men on the rigging, and as they all whistled, everyone withdrew to the bow and stern so that the men on the rigging could hurl grenades down onto the Wild Bunch while the men at the bow and stern fired their muskets.
Throwing the bodies of the Wild Bunch to clear the quarterdeck, I scanned the skyway with my spyglass to see the last two paddle steamers limping away, one trailing far behind the other.
Despite their head start, we had the wind at our backs, and I shouted, "Give me everything you've got, full sail!"
As the Aquila's sails were fully unfurled, the Aquila sped towards the closest paddle steamer, and the port side sunk her in one broadside before we moved on to the last one to board her.
The swivel gunners fired upon the paddle steamer's starboard paddle wheel, and we came about around the paddle steamer's bow to destroy the other one.
"Hook us in! Bring her close!" Rena shouted as she pointed her sword at the paddle steamer, and the men threw grappling hooks onto her railings to pull her closer so we could board her.
On the starboard side of the Aquila, Richard tossed each of his men a musket to aid in the defense of the men throwing the grappling hooks, led by his brother David, who fired a pistol at a Mustang desperado. "Man the swivels! Cover from the quarterdeck!"
"The ship is yours, Rena!" I shouted as I let go of the pilot's wheel for Rena to seize, and drawing my sword, I joined the boarding party on the quarterdeck.
Shouting battle cries and obscenities, we leapt aboard the paddle steamer to fight the Wild Bunch. As I turned around to deflect the knife of a desperado, I saw the rest of the Magnificent Seven leap into the fray, with guns blazing.
"Let's get them, guys!" Billy the Kid shouted as he drew his revolvers, and as he sped around the paddle steamer, Mustangs and Goats started dropping like sacks of potatoes to the cracks of Billy's revolvers.
"Let us see how you like Jobu's breath!" Bat Masterson shouted as he summoned the same glowing green skull from before to breathe purple gas onto the Wild Bunch.
"Move out of the way!" Buffalo Bill shouted as he lowered his horns and bulled his way through the Wild Bunch, blasting baddies with his shotgun as he went.
Duck Holliday actually launched himself in the air, spinning as he fired at the Wild Bunch without hitting any of our number, and Wild Bill gunned down several desperadoes as Calamity Jane shot one and thrust the barrel of her rifle into the stomach of another.
As the last of the Wild Bunch were knocked out, we began searching the bodies for any clue to Buck Bronco's whereabouts. A few minutes later, Bonnie cried out as she held up a piece of paper.
"Look – this desperado has a note. It says Buck Bronco's hiding out in a cave by the abandoned wagon train down in the canyon." Bonnie said, and Rena looked up from the money pouch of an unconscious desperado to look at her. "Then what're we waiting for? Let's go!"
We returned to the Aquila to set sail northwest to Arroyo Grande, where we dropped anchor in Junction to go down into the canyon.
Following a set of boot prints made recently, Bonnie led us to the mouth of a dusty cave, where we drew our weapons as we sneaked into the darkness.
As we got inside the cave, the lights went on above us, and we looked to see a patrol of outlaws led by a Bison armed with knives, who shouted deeper into the cave. "Buck! The law's here!"
Then turning to us, the Bison outlaw twirled his knives in his hands and said, "You come for Buck Bronco, strangers? Well, you can't have him!"
Suddenly, there was a bang, and Buffalo Bill sniffed as the Bison outlaw fell to the floor, stunned by his shotgun. "Let's go, partners."
The three outlaws were hopelessly outnumbered at almost a five-to-one ratio, and we soon had them stunned on the dusty ground. We then heard an unfamiliar voice speak. "Well, well! Looking for me? Well, come and get me!"
Bonnie Anne and Calamity Jane both took aim and fired, just barely missing the white hairs of Buck Bronco's tail, and they both scowled. "Get after him!"
We chased Buck deeper into the cave, overpowering patrols of Mustang outlaws as we came and went, and we soon stopped in a cobweb-covered part of the cavern to look at a trembling spider egg sac on the wall of the cavern, with a golden treasure chest on the floor in front of it.
"What's that on the wall there?" Bonnie asked, but Ratbeard pointed at the chest. "What's this, some kind of trick?"
The chest then suddenly disappeared in a flash of black smoke, catching us by surprise, and then we heard a hissing sort of laugh. We then slowly turned to see the biggest spider I've ever seen, and it was the size of an entire sloop.
Another slightly smaller spider appeared to our right, and the egg sac on the wall burst open for smaller spiders the size of Buffaloon calves to crawl out.
"Look out!" Ratbeard shouted as the spiders moved to separate us from one another, and I soon found myself surrounded by the smallest spiders as I drew my two swords.
As one spider released a string of web onto the blade of my left sword, I seized the chance to pull it closer to me so I could stab it in the abdomen.
Tearing my sword away from the web, I turned around just in time to spear a spider mid-pounce and slash the leg of another.
The two remaining spiders both pounced at the same time, and I speared them both on my swords. Drawing my swords from the spiders' bodies, I regrouped with the others before chasing after Buck.
We soon found Buck Bronco standing at the bottom of the ladder, surrounded by four thugs armed with revolvers and knives. "I said, come and get me! I thought you were supposed to be some kind of hero! You're nothing but a lot of talk and a badge!"
The four outlaws opened fire on us as Buck made his escape up the ladder, forcing us to leap out of the way before we could return fire.
I was one of the first to recover, and in rapid succession, I drew my four pistols and fired each one before dropping them on the ground, stunning the four thugs. "Come on, this way!"
We hurried up the ladder to a dusty mineshaft filled with gunpowder kegs, where another patrol of thugs was waiting for us.
"Matt!" I heard Rena shout, and a second later, one of her strikers struck a gunpowder keg so hard, it fell over and spilled black powder. Drawing my pistol, I shouted, "Everyone, get down!"
I pulled the trigger, and the burst of electricity that was fired ignited the gunpowder, and a series of explosions followed. Grabbing Rena, who was the closest to me, I held her close to shield her from the blasts until it was over.
As we stood up, we saw that the Wild Bunch, having been the closest ones to the gunpowder kegs, had taken most of the damage, and amidst the weak groans, a voice spoke up.
"You got us, strangers. But Buck, he's going to eat you for breakfast! Turn back now if you got any sense." A thug said, coughing as he sat leaning against the walls of the cave, and I regarded him coldly as we passed by.
As an afterthought when I passed him, I loaded my pistol and without looking, shot him before continuing on to another part of the mineshaft, where Buck Bronco was standing atop a lift.
"You lost? I thought the Magnificent Seven always got their man! What are you, yellow? Come on!" Buck Bronco shouted. As he pulled the lever near the hoist to drop him down, I managed to draw, aim, and fire at his left calf, causing him to nearly fall.
We ran to the lift that rose as Buck Bronco was lowered, and we pulled the lever again to lower us down into another part of the cave, which glowed aquamarine from the crystals that rose out of the water on the floor that reached to our ankles.
Buck Bronco stood in the center of the cave, along with more thugs armed with revolvers, knives, and pickaxes, probably taken from some abandoned mine.
"You think you can take down Buck Bronco, strangers? Come and get me!" Buck challenged, but I noticed how he winced slightly every time his weight shifted to his left leg.
"You're a horse with a limp, Buck. I will put you down." I said in a low but clear voice, and Buck seemed unnerved as I looked him straight in the eye. "Stand back, everyone. This one's mine."
Buck Bronco then aimed his two revolvers at me and fired twice, but I ducked to avoid the shots, and I ran towards him, drawing my sword and pistol as I went.
One of Buck's thugs, a Chicken miner, swung at my head with a pickaxe, but I sliced the wooden handle in half with my sword, and the heavy and rusty blade of the pickaxe dropped on the Chicken miner's helmet, creating a nice dent and causing the Chicken to fall onto the floor, unconscious.
Dropping my sword, I drew another pistol and held both out to my sides so I could shoot the other two thugs armed with revolvers at my sides before they could shoot me.
"Where did Bronco go? The coward didn't run away, did he?" I heard Bonnie cry as I holstered my pistols and picked up my sword, and then I heard Old Scratch cry out. "Captain my captain! Look! The Bronco is back!"
I looked to see Buck Bronco hiding behind some bales of hay on the only section of dry land in the cave, and I leapt over the hay bales at him with my sword.
In a last throw of the dice, Buck emptied both his revolvers at me, but I simply blocked them with a Valor's Shield, and I landed on top of him, my toes digging into his skin and the edge of my sword pressing lightly against his throat.
"You think you've won something, stranger? You've started something you can't finish! You just called down the thunder!" Buck Bronco said before spitting in my face. I calmly wiped his spit off my face before speaking. "Well, that wasn't very nice."
I then suddenly seized his collar and slammed the hilt of my sword in between his eyes, and I could see him going cross-eyed as he fell unconscious. Stepping off his body, I sheathed my sword and threw Buck over my shoulder. "We should go."
We took the long way back to the entrance of the dusty cave, and we took the lift up to Junction, where the Aquila was waiting for us.
We sailed southeast back to Tumbleweed, where as we trudged through Main Street to the jail, we saw that the entire town looked a mess like a first-rate had bombarded it, and as we entered the prison, we saw Sly Winkum standing outside of a cell with a great big hole in the back wall.
Sly Winkum turned to face us and to look at Buck Bronco, and he looked troubled. "You caught Buck, I see. I'd celebrate, but I don't have it in me. A lot happened while you were away, and none of it good."