10 Lords a-Leaping

True watched the clergymen step off the stage and onto the boardwalk. She looked on in awe as they just kept coming, one after the other, until she counted 10. How in the world did they fit that many into that tiny stagecoach? One of them stopped and stared directly at True, causing every warning bell in her body to go off.

"True! Come on! Miss Willis rang the bell."

True gave them one last glance, then hurried inside. "Did you see that?" She asked Creed.

"The priests? Yeah. Why?"

"I have never seen so many in one place. What do you think they are doing here?"

"No clue."

"Well I'm gonna find out."

True struggled to keep her thoughts on her studies. For some reason it bothered her that so many showed up at once. She had not had much exposure to servants of the Lord other than Josiah, but these felt off. "True! That is the second time I have had to call your name. If there is a third I will be contacting Mr Larabee." Miss Willis warned.

True winced at the thought. Vin, Josiah, Nathan and Rhianna went to the Indian Village and JD and Buck were taking some prisoners over to Ridge City, leaving only Chris and Ezra in town. That meant she was really under Chris's supervision as Ezra was either in his Saloon or asleep. She managed to pay enough attention to avoid any additional censure and hurried outside when school was finally over for the day.

"Hey, wait for me!" Creed ran after her, catching up to her outside mercantile. She slowed but he still had to grab her arm to get her to stop. "Hey, what's going on?"

"Those priests we saw. They are bad news."

"They are men of God True. How can they be bad?"

Sometimes True forgot how naive her best friend could be. "Not everyone you see is who they appear to be Creed."

"I'm sure if anything…"

"Shhh." True pulled Creed towards the door to the mercantile. She peeked in and saw Mrs Potter talking to two of the clergymen.

"I am sorry gentlemen, but the bank owner, Mr. Schmidt had to close early today. It will reopen tomorrow morning."

"That's ok ma'am. We will be staying a day or two to gather supplies and such before heading to start a new mission. We can collect the donated money in the morning."

"Wonderful, Do you require any other supplies or will this be it?" She asked gesturing to list in her hand.

"No, that will be all."

"I can have these ready for you tomorrow then."

True dragged Creed away and around the corner of the building.

"Donated money my ass." She said. "I bet they are going to rob the bank."

'WHAT? How did you even come up with that?"

"Someone donated so much money it had to be stored in the bank? I don't think so."

Creed was speechless. He had no idea how True made that jump in logic.

"C'mon. I gotta get to the jail before Chris thinks I got in trouble and comes looking for me."

After supper that evening, True threw herself down onto the settee by the fire and let her head fall back onto the cushion. Chris looked up from the paper he was reading and saw her furrowed brow. "Everything all right?"

"Yeah." True looked over at him. "Did you see all them priests that came to town today?"

"Yes."

"Know why they are here?"

"Heard they were starting a mission and needed supplies." He set the paper down. "Something wrong?"

"I don't like how one of them looked at me."

"What do you mean?"

"I dunno. Just gave me a weird feeling." She wasn't about to tell Chris what she overheard, not after all of the 'discussions' she had with him about eavesdropping.

"I'm sure they are fine but I will keep an eye on them just in case. If anything is wrong I will take care of it. Understood?"

"But…"

"I said, Am I understood?"

There was only one answer when he used that tone. "Yes Sir."

He stood and pulled her to her feet. "Time for bed."

"Aw Chris. Can I stay up a bit longer?"

A raised eyebrow was all it took for her to sigh and throw her arms around his waist. "Good Night."

Chris dropped a kiss onto her head. "Night sweetheart."

The following morning, True thought about the priests as she walked to school. There was no way Chris would be able to watch them all and keep an eye on the town. She was going to have to help him and the only way to do that was to do some reconnaissance. She would never get away with cutting school though, so she slipped into an alley and explained what she needed to a few rabbits. Once she was sure they understood and were willing to help, she hurried to school.

True managed to pay enough attention in class to avoid any attention from Miss Willis. Once they were dismissed for recess she ran for the door to find her furry friends and hopefully information about the priests. The intel they provided let her know that they would be going to the bank before it closed today then heading out of town. After hearing yesterday that they planned to go in the morning and stay for a few days this only solidified her suspicions. She had to do something!

Chris stepped outside the jail and lit a cheroot. School would have let out a few minutes ago and he expected to see True and Creed running down the walk. What he did not expect to see was a smoking wagon with ten servants of the Lord grabbing what they could and leaping from it. He ran over and was able to grab the horses to stop the wagon and several townspeople threw water on the fire before it could spread too far.

"What happened?"

"We went to the bank to get the donations we were sent and once we all got into the wagon with our supplies something caught fire. We didn't have anything flammable so I am not sure what happened."

Chris caught a glimpse of True peeking from her hiding place and sighed. He had hoped his warning last night would have been enough. He should have known better.

"Thank goodness you stopped them!" Mr. Schmidt said as he hurried outside.

Remembering True's comment from last night, Chris dropped his hand to his gun. "Why?"

"They forgot to sign that they received the funds."

It was almost time for supper by the time Chris and Ezra helped the priests clean up the mess, replace the damaged goods and and see them off. When he got to the boarding house, he was not surprised that True had made herself scarce. He set his hat and gun belt on the table and took a seat on the settee. "C'mon on out."

True had been hiding behind the large grandfather clock in the hallway and peeked around it. "Now Chris…"

"Get over here."

True slowly moved to stand before him.

"Didn't I tell you I would watch them and take care of anything if there was a problem?"

"Yes Sir."

"Then why?"

"I thought they were gonna rob the bank."

"So you used your powers to set their wagon on fire?!"

"I didn't want them to get away." She muttered.

Chris pulled his belt off. "Well, I'm about to start another fire." Once he was sure True would think twice before doing something like this again, he dropped the belt and pulled her up into his arms.

When she calmed down, she looked up at him. "I didn't know servants of the Lord could leap like that!"

Chris couldn't stop the smile at her words. "Neither did I."