The fire was built low in the middle of the camp, the small flames heating a pot of water which was being stirred by a little girl no more than twelve. More children were sitting around eating the mystery stew with their mothers. Those women were the same painted ladies from the hotel. The realization of why there were so few men around was starting to make sense, from what Rosalyn had said to what Ms Honey confirmed. The group was made up of the whores and brothel employees and the offspring of such work. Two ladies in their twenties sat holding two tiny children not old enough to be left alone. A teenaged girl was helping clean pots watching as a group of three teenaged boys surrounded Arthur with rifles. A fourth boy barely in his twenties coming up to face him with a pistol on his belt while his hand rested on the hilt. A woman in her younger twenties standing at his side next to a second teenaged girl both armed but not threatening Arthur. Three people sat down with Arthur at the campfire. Honey, Felix and another older woman in her mid-forties he had not met. He remembered her face from the Saloon, but she was no longer dolled up but modestly dressed for travel. They seemed so few and weak before, but here, well this was much more than he anticipated. Everyone had a gun, even the child stirring the water pot. An armed child was not nearly as shocking as catching sight of Henrietta. The brunette who picked a fight with Izzy and was currently sitting with the horses watching from a distance. These heavily armed citizens only looked weak on the outside, and now Arthur felt like a lone wolf surrounded by angry bison. His horse was not far, he could bolt and try to run, but he was exhausted. Having not slept well the night before, being on the run all day and hunted for the better part of the evening it would be a risk. Best do what Hosea and Dutch were always much better at doing, talking.
"Alright, I'll tell you the truth of everything. May I sit down? Preferably not at gunpoint." He asked and motioned to the nearest seat by the campfire.
"Let him sit boys, we mean you no harm Mr Callaghan, but we must be cautious of strangers." Ms Honey motioned to a log and shooed the little child currently sitting on it. Arthur took a seat, and Honey sat across from him. Her son to her right with glaring eyes staring never having left Arthur. One last look around Arthur took account of each gun, each person, each pair of eyes before turning back to Ms Honey.
"Where should I start?" He asked.
"Let start with what happened to Ms Isabella Morningstar." Ms Honey crossed her legs ready to hear a story. Even the children were moving in for details.
"Shot by Colm O'Driscoll. Leader of the O'Driscoll gang" "How did she end up in a shoot out with Gangsters when hunting?" "I believed she had stolen something from me, I went after her to retrieve it but Rose... I mean Ms Bush." Arthur corrected himself. "Followed me riding my Horse."
"You mean Isabella's Horse. She won it fair and square." One of the teenaged boys shouted out. This one with ginger hair currently standing behind him, and Arthur recognized his face from the onlookers around the Poker game the night before.
"Well, she's not around anymore, so the Horse is mine once again," Arthur said coldly, and the teenager went to draw his pistol. "Now Daniel takes it easy. We're not going to take Mr Callaghan's Horse." Honey interjected "My name is not Mr Callaghan. It's Morgan. Arthur Morgan. You're going to find out sooner or later better it come from me. I gave y' all a fake name." "Why would you do that?" Daniel said moving around to stand next to Ms Honey.
"I'm sorry who you are? Last I checked Ms Rosalyn was in charge." Arthur snapped back to the ginger kid. He was barely a teenager with a pimpled face and sunburnt nose. His hair long and unkempt around his oval-shaped face with rather girlish features.
"Keep your mouth shut boy the grown-ups are speaking. That's Daniel, don't mind him. He doesn't know his place." Ms Honey tried to calm him down with a hand gesture. "Without Izzy, someone needs to stand up and protect us, and I can do it," Daniel said and drew his pistol. He looked like a kid playing cowboy rather than an actual man. "Can you even fire that thing?" Arthur asked making the hot-headed boy red in the face. "Yes! I can outshoot you." The boy protested, but within an instant, Arthur drew his pistol at him before the boy could flinch and raise his. "Yer dead," Arthur said beating him to the draw. "I wasn't ready!" Daniel exclaimed. "Enough! Put those things away! Right now!."Ms Honey yelled at them both. "What was Ms Rosalyn doing following you on a horse she had no business riding?" Honey stated picking the conversation back up where it left off. "Well apparently! Ms Rosalyn had my property and intended to return it but sent me on a wild goose chase first." Arthur said holstering his pistol as Daniel stormed off to pace around the camp. A couple of kids giggling at him for being slow. "How did the O'Driscolls get involved?" Honey asked keeping Arthur attention to her. "Princess took off, without a proper rider she took Rosalyn out for a ride instead of the other way around, and they stumbled upon the gang camping in the mountains. Izzy and I rode after her and talked Colm into giving her back. Instead of walking away from a fight." Arthur started, but Honey interrupted. "Ms Rosalyn decided to take matters into her own hands and shot first?" She asked, and Arthur stopped. "Yeah, she did." He said suspiciously. "Not the first time. She's as hot-headed as much as Izzy. How many were there?"
"Around Twenty, but I took out a few of them when we ran." Arthur folded his hands together and took a deep breath desperate for a drink. "How did Izzy get shot?" Honey asked again. Arthur looked up at her, this time catching the woman in the eye. Her expression was of concern, and he felt guilty under her gaze. In his uneasiness, he shifted in his seat and looked away to stare at the ground. "She fell from her horse, landed on a branch which went through her gut. Couldn't ride and stayed behind so we could escape." Arthur spoke to the ground. He was the one who made them jump that log if he chose a different path maybe she wouldn't have fallen. They all could have gotten away. "Did you see her get shot?" "Yes."
The camp went quiet looking around to each other as the whispers started to spread. Arthur could hear them, though not clear on what they were saying exactly he knew what they were talking about. He was at fault for yet another unneeded death, he felt the guilt twist in his chest and needed to sigh heavily to try and relieve the pressure. When he finally looked up from the ground, he noticed Ms Honey was also thinking quietly. Felix never took his eyes off him, and that moment the young boy had him in a staring match. The only difference was that Arthur showed none of his inner turmoil on his face. His eyes were hard as stone with a permanent scowl on across his lips. Personal experience from the many troubles he's already had to deal with had left him a hardened man. Felix finally looked away once Arthur sat up straight, and the other boys around him started to look nervous. Arthur couldn't help the little smile crawl across his face as he remembered an anecdote Hosea had once said how he was always the best at scaring decent people.
"You don't scare me, Mister." A new voice said. This one was of the oldest looking boy in camp. "Oh?" Arthur replied and Ms Honey turned to the boy. He had blonde hair, but hints of ginger in his patchy beard. Definitely in his younger twenties and skinny with long arms and legs, but he was tall. By the looks of it, he was already pretty close to Arthur's height maybe an inch or two shorter, but within a few years, he would surely surpass him. "Who are you boy?" Arthur asked sternly making even Ms Honey look to him. Arthur was never good at talking.
"My name is Jeremy Kirkland. You're speaking to my grandmother. That is my brother Daniel, and I rode with Isabella." He said sternly and approached Arthur who stood up.
"Now please don't..." Ms Honey wanted to intervene, but Jeremy was already up in Arthur's face.
"So yer saying Izzy is dead," Jeremy asked, and Arthur saw it. A boy doing his best to be the man these people needed, but there was a tear in his eye.
"Yes," Arthur said softly the best he could.
"He's telling the truth." The soft, elegant voice of Ms Rosalyn called out to them all. Everyone turned and looked to see the distressed mistress. Rosalyn had pulled herself together and had silently approached them all without being noticed. She was very quiet and had gotten surprisingly close for someone wearing such towering heels.
"Rose." Arthur let the name slip and bit his tongue immediately after. "I'm sorry Ms Rosalyn."
"No, it's alright. I should be thanking you. You saved my life back in that field, and you are right. I acted carelessly and foolishly and put everyone in danger. I should have given you back your journal, I should have never ridden your horse, and I shouldn't have shot that gun. This is my fault." Rosalyn just laid it out, and Arthur was shocked. No woman had ever been so quick to accept the blame of a bad situation like that before. Most of the time, Arthur was getting blamed and left to clean up the mess.
"Please, you're too hard on yourself." Arthur tried to protest.
"I must add, That you Mr Morgan hid the truth from me. Isabella told me everything about you this morning at breakfast. What she didn't know is that I know more about the Dutch Boys then you think." Rosalyn said quietly to Arthur making the group look confused.
"Wait I thought it was the O'Driscoll boys?" Daniel asked loudly. Arthur just stood quiet, Rosalyn knew about the Dutch Boys, but how?
"Oh I'm sorry, the O'Driscoll boys, I get all these gangs mixed up there are just so many of them," Rosalyn said rubbing her temples as if she had a headache, but Arthur didn't believe that. The tension between them grew, and Arthur crossed his arms closing himself off.
"So, what do you suggest Ms Bush?" Arthur said bluntly walking over to Rosalyn knowing what the next words were going to be coming out of her mouth.
"You sir, owe me a debt. I just lost my protection, and I have a gang on my tail with nowhere to go." Rosalyn toughened up, and the woman who scorned Isabella from earlier had returned.
"What am I suppose to do about that?" Arthur asked.
"I heard Blackwater isn't far from here." Rosalyn glared at Arthur.
"You know they will find you in Blackwater," Arthur whispered coldly at her.
"Here's hoping, because you will be with me and help me kill that son of a bitch who killed my best friend."
"If I refuse?" Arthur asked.
"I let you leave, then I tell Colm where to find you, and your money" Rosalyn smirked at Arthur.
"You play a dirty game, Ms Bush." Arthur couldn't help but enjoy how this silly kitchen whore from St. Denis, was smart enough to defraud him.
"Get some Rest, Mr Morgan, we wake up early to get back on the road." Rosalyn turned around and started walking back to her carriage.
With the upwards of nine guns to his one, Arthur had little choice. He couldn't kill a bunch of mothers and children, and Rosalyn knew it.
"Blackwater isn't all it's cracked up to be," Arthur shouted to Rosalyn as she stopped at the foot of her carriage.
"Good. I'll bring the party." She said with a smile and climbed in.
Arthur turned to the Ms Honey who remained calm during to whole exchange.
"That settles that, come. Jeremy why don't you help Arthur get his sleeping bag set up and some water. Best call it an early night everyone we got a lot of travelling to do tomorrow." Ms Honey went off to put everyone to bed. Arthur left with Jeremy and the eyes of the three teenagers with him as he headed over to his horse.
"I can't believe a bunch of toddlers have taken me, prisoner." Arthur joked with the boys.
"It's worst sir; you been taken advantage of by a woman." Jeremy quipped back.
"That is true indeed, to be honest, it's not the first time a beautiful woman has swindled me." Arthur cracked back making Jeremy laugh. Daniel was soured faced and refused to smile. Meanwhile, Jeremy helped Arthur collect his stuff making sure Arthur did not take any of his guns from the saddle.
"You not going to take my pistol?" Arthur asked.
"That's stupid sir, if we get attacked in the night of all the people here we want to be armed it would be you," Jeremy said even though Daniel looked like he was about to pop.
"You lot are pretty smart then huh?" Arthur asked as he watched Jeremy slowly approach princess, who already showed signs of hesitation when he came near. The boy was careful. Patting the nervous nelly on the neck and relaxing her before trying to mess with the saddle.
"Izzy was the smart one," Daniel said standing guard over Arthur as they watched Jeremy rifle through the saddlebags. "She taught us not ever to let our guard down even when someone seems okay. She said." Daniel was interrupted when Jeremy threw the sleeping bag at him.
"That's enough. Ms Bush doesn't want us talking anymore with him." He said as Jeremy took Arthur's cantine with him. "You need anything else to mister?" He asked.
"No, I'm fine," Arthur said and watched as Daniel pulls Jeremy's attention with a whisper though it was easy to hear.
"Why do you keep doing that!" Daniel complained.
"Why do you think Rosie came out of her carriage? Ms Honey was talking too much, asking too many questions. Izzy said the less you know about dangerous people, the better. We also don't want him knowing nothing about us, so keep quiet you ain't no cowboy."
"I would listen to him boy. Dangerous men like me beat kids up like you to spill the beans." Arthur threatened. Jeremy was right, and he needed to scare the lesson into Daniel before he understood. The ginger was starting to look afraid of now, but Jeremy laughed.
"Yeah, you sure would." He agreed and motioned Arthur to lead the way back to the campfire. The rest of the walk they took in silence as they all set up their sleeping bags on the wet ground. Arthur was to sleep in the middle of camp away from the children with all the boys. Jeremey and Felix were sitting on watch duty for the night while the rest settled down after a long days ride. Arthur could feel the weight of exhaustion hit him, sitting under the stars which peaked through cloudy skies. The beauty of the night calmed him, and in the dark a soft voice was heard singing across the camp, a lady singing a lullaby to a baby who was crying restlessly.
"In meadows far from here, jumping fences were many deer. They hopped with joy, and they danced with glee. They counted one, two, three." The voice was soft and weak, barely able to make the notes in a sweet, gentle melody. Arthur looked over to where the sound was coming from and saw twins sitting with two babes. The one singing had black hair and was in her younger twenties holding a baby who looked just like her. The girl was pretty, but there was another pair of eyes on her. "They snapped the sticks, four, five, six, Their coats mighty fine, seven, eight, nine." Jeremy was watching her, and his eyes fixed on the girl until Felix smacked him pointing at Arthur who was looking and not sleeping. Arthur chuckled and rolled back over and closed his eyes. That boy didn't miss a thing. "For the last was the leader A crown of antlers, like the king of men, but the man shot the deer. That deer number ten." The crying had stopped; silence fell on the camp as the crackle of fire snapped and whizzed nearby — an owl cooing in the distance was the last of the sounds to put him to sleep. Arthur chuckled to himself picturing the deer in his mind, jumping the fence in the rhyme. The feeling of the rifle in his grip and the calm that came for taking that crucial shot in which sleep finally overtook him.
The moon was high in the sky over the meadow, the flowers getting ready to bloom for the next morn as the rain had nourished the valley of greenery. Munching on the fresh greens was The Duke, the faithful mule who was alone in the field grazing out in the open. Next to the mule on the ground, the body of Isabella was laid out under the rising sun. Blood staining her clothes where the wound on her shoulder and abdomen were. The rain had washed most of the blood away from her skin — a small pool of water gathered in her eye socket. The Duke was sniffing her face, specifically where the water had accumulated and licked her to take a drink. As the rough tongue slid up her cheek, Izzy groaned.
"No, not now Rose." The red-head said softly then jolted awake. The sudden sting of pain rocketing through her as she sat up only to lay back down again with a loud moan. The mule was startled and jumped away from her a few steps but kept looking at her. "Hello." She said to the mule and looked around her surroundings. She looked at the wound on her shoulder and sat back up once again, this time slowly. She peeled back her shirt to look at the wound more closely. "Well, would you look at that, looks like Colm O'Driscoll can't hit the broad side of a barn." She laughed but stopped because each laugh made her body ache with pain again. "Oh ow ow! It hurts to laugh." She complained as the mule approached her again and nudged her. "You think you can take me back?" She asked as the Duke who licked her face again. "Who's a Good." She looked between his legs. "Boy, Who's a good boy." She ruffled his floppy ears, lucky to have woken up next to the same creature she almost shot the day before. Isabella tried to get up, but her left leg was numb. It took a while and all of her remaining strength to pull herself upright with the help of the mule to keep her steady. Taking a few deep breaths, she looked around seeing who or what was nearby. She saw the body of an O'Driscoll not far from her, and the charred marks on the ground from the explosion. Nothing else. She whistled for her dog, and only silence greeted her. "Bijou..." She sighed having no idea what happened to her. Isabella knew she couldn't stay so she hoisted herself into the saddle, and the mule slowly started to walk towards the road. "Good boy," Izzy said again giving the creature a series of long stroked down his neck laying down on his body too weak to ride upright and put herself in a riding position where she just needed to hold on.
"Take me somewhere buddy." She asked feeling the need to pass out again but fought off sleep the best she could. The Duke headed down the road following the trail off back into the trees.