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Chapter 8

Arthur slept till dinner, and it was Susan who gave him something to eat and checked his bandage. Nora had decided to stick with Charles for the rest of the day, and he'd put her to work on making arrows. She'd joined him in happy silence. When Susan walked over, catching her attention Nora tensed a little.

"His fever is back, but it's not bad," Susan said.

"I'll go check on him," she sighed, nodding her head. "Probably the last of whatever he's fighting off."

Finishing her arrow, Nora set it neatly in the pile with the others. Charles gave her a nod, and she left him. Arthur was sitting up when she walked into the tent, and he was clearly uncomfortable. Nora focused on him, taking in the way he was sitting and the tension in his body.

"Is it the shoulder?" she asked, walking up to him. "Susan said your fever was back."

"Nothing hurts more than usual," he grumbled, letting her lay her hand on his forehead.

"Well, it's not a bad one," Nora murmured. "Let's hope it doesn't get worse."

Nora noticed that he swallowed, holding back something he'd wanted to say. Probably something snarky, or nasty. He was grumpy again. Arching her brow toward him, she turned and looked over what she'd had on his table.

"Do you need anything?" she asked shortly.

"No, thank you," Arthur managed several moments later.

"All right," she nodded, and decided to leave him to his brooding.

"Nora?" he asked, making her turn. "Are you all right?"

"Yes," she answered. "I can take care of myself. It's you who is grumpy."

"Shit…" he muttered, and slowly sat all the way up.

"Don't do that," Nora grunted irritably, making him smirk.

"What happened?" he asked, when she approached him again.

She adjusted his pillow, but he kept his feet firmly on the ground. Nora grunted, and then sat down slowly in the chair. Giving him an irritated look, she moved her braid over her shoulder. Arthur met her gaze calmly.

"Nothing I can't handle," she said. "It was Micah. But Dutch came to the rescue. Micah creeps me out."

"I hate that man," he muttered. "And I don't say these things lightly. He pisses me off just for existing."

"He's been pretty persistent that I'm the bad guy, but Dutch shut him up," she mused, and it made Arthur laugh.

"The man gets angry that no one likes him, and he never stops to think why," he muttered, and Nora snorted.

"And you call yourself dumb," she teased, and he laughed again.

"I've hung around with Charles today, who's made it a point to be around," she added. "Micah doesn't bother Charles."

"Charles is a dangerous man," Arthur rumbled. "Probably the scariest out of us."

"Well, I like him," she said firmly.

"I do too," he chuckled. "He is a good man."

"Well, since you don't want to brood alone, let me check the stitches since I'm here," Nora grinned, and he frowned with displeasure.


Nora found herself stuck with the gang for just over a month. Charles had taken her out hunting on several occasions, and she'd been able to make a few runs into Rhodes. She'd been able to sell a few hides for some money, and had helped at the stable in Scarlett Meadows as well. Dutch had made sure to send someone with her each time Nora left camp. It had never been Micah, and was usually Charles, so Nora couldn't complain. The stitches in Arthur's shoulder had come out just after about two weeks, and he was looking much better now. By the end of that second week, he'd taken up light work and had begun keeping watch in camp. Arthur was never seen lying around once he'd been able to get out of bed. He refused to be useless.

She'd been waiting for him to be fully recovered before she left. In the last month, she'd learned a lot about him and the others at camp. Nora had known that Arthur was much smarter than he'd let on. Why he played that game she wasn't sure. Maybe it was because he didn't want to be more bothered than he already was. She knew that if he'd unleashed what he was fully capable of, Dutch would immediately feel threatened. If that ever happened, the gang leader would only have himself to blame. Part of her wished it'd happen, while the other half knew that it was too dangerous. Maybe it was just the way Arthur liked things, or it was because he had trusted Dutch to lead them.

Over the last several weeks, Dutch had tasked the gang with playing the two families of Rhodes against each other. Nora knew that wasn't going to last long. She was surprised it had gone on this long. They were doing too much too fast. No one ever got away with what they were doing for long. She felt it in her gut.

The women at camp had done their best to make Nora feel welcome, going as far as trying to set up a separate area for her to sleep. Nora had politely declined, since she hadn't planned on staying. However, she did work hard at keeping the place up for them. Sadie, the widow from the mountains turned out to be one of her favorite people out of the whole group. She was rough around the edges, and didn't sugarcoat a thing. She was someone Nora wanted at her side in a fight. Same went for John Marston and his wife. Their son, Jack had taken a particular liking to her, so she often found herself with a shadow. Especially when she went to see the horses. It was easy to see why these people banded together. They were outlaws, but half of them were decent people, and that meshed well for them to be the family that they'd become.