Wizards, Whiskey and Wonderful Things - Concluded

Chapter 81, “Heading Out”, Friday, March 17th

Ruby states, “The books are of no matter. If we can get our friends back by giving the books, so be it, I don’t care what kind of value they are, our friends are more important. As for the value of that particular book, we weren’t there, we don’t know exactly what was said. But I don’t fault him for lying about that book, if that is what he did, any wizard would do the same to get something like that back.”

The point of the books is to get our friends back. Who said we would give up the books without getting our friends in return? I thought that was the point, and the instructions were going to be given to Katherine today on how to make the exchange. If we cannot leave Katherine behind then we cannot go at all. Ringo will know we are up to something if Katherine does not show up and can order them killed though magical means before we will even arrive there. It is not a smart plan. So either she stays or we all stay.

Personally I don’t like leaving her alone either and she doesn’t have much experience with dealings with these kinds of people. I would rather burn that book than return it but that was her choice and it is done. But we can insist on being there or we can at least counsel Kate on what to do. Ringo will have to know that without us, or Katherine at least, he will not get the books back ever until our friends come back to us and therefore our friends are valuable and should be kept safe until at least this deal is done.”

“Like I said, they may already be on their way here and not still at the farmhouse, making a trip there worthless. Maska is tired, it is the middle of the night and if we ride hard we will be tired too and not at our best to fight eighteen men, plus the Indians we will come across on the way there, not counting whatever other creatures roam at night. I think we should wait until morning and find out what plan Ringo has for exchanging the books with our friends. Then we decide if we ride out or make the exchange.”

Jake listens intently to Ruby and Minerva. "Ruby girl, I think your instincts are right. We will end up helping the Earps and we ought to go rescue our friends now. I think its go with our heart time. Do the Earps and Isby want the Cowboy gang bad enough to get out of bed in the middle of the night? I'm sure Flint will help Nanuet, and I bet he's itching to use that dynamite of his."

Jake laughs, "We're talking all this common sense and I could only think that Nanuet wouldn't let me rot there. And neither would you. So neither will I. If we can get some more help, we should go." He looks to Minerva. "The gods hate a coward, eh?" Minerva laughs, "I see last weeks sermon made it to your ears, Senor"

Ruby breathes a very heavy sigh. "You two go, find whoever you can to go with you. I'm staying with Kate. Hopefully I'll help her with Ringo tomorrow and Nanuet and Chester will be here safe and Ringo will have his damn books and it'll be over with. If it doesn't go as planned, well, we'll try to find you to help. If you don't see Nanuet and Chester figure they are here and come home, don't do anything stupid." Ruby looks away from Jake, knowing he won't like this plan.

Oh," escapes Jake's lips unbidden. "That definitely shifts the odds against us then, having no magic to oppose Ringo if he is there. We wait then." Jake reaches down and rubs the wolf's fur. "Maska will need a safe place to sleep. Senorita Minerva, you must get some rest too, I don't believe you have had any. I'll be rising before sun up to gather what support I can for tomorrow from Jeff Mills, Flint and Warren Earp. I am now convinced that Ringo will have his war, and that it will do us harm if we take no action. I won't be the recurring victim of his blackmail. Why wait for the barbarians to be at the gate? If he wants war so badly let's bring it to him, let's make it unattractive to be a member of the Cowboy gang shall we?"

Ruby looks at Jake with some admiration. "I like that idea," Ruby says with a small smile, "Make it unattractive to be a Cowboy." She sits next to him. "Jake, I don't know if anything I can do magic or otherwise can oppose Johnny Ringo. I am only worried that if we don't show up at the meeting in the morning, he will know we left and order them killed. I usually follow my instincts but they aren't always right. I'm trying to do the smart thing this time instead of following my feelings and ending up doing something dumb, something that can get our friends killed." Ruby looks down. "I already feel guilty enough for them getting caught 'cause of me."

Jake replies, "Even if Ringo gives them up, who's hostage next. Maybe he just threatens us with blowing up the Lucky Lady every week to keep us in line and doing his bidding. Are you going to live like that? I'm not." Jake takes off his hat and taps his knees with it impatiently. "What if he shows up for the trade and starts renegotiating the deal to get more. Why not, we are the weak victims of blackmail. Are we going to deny him? Sure, we say no to him. Ok, he says, so I'll show you how serious I am. Are you ready for that? I am not." Jake looks her in the eyes. "I am not."

"Running away is easier in some ways, but we decided to stay. Staying means we have to fight or be victims. I will not be a victim. Maybe my idea is a crappy one, but I'm not staying to be a victim. Giving him more power and more power over us is the wrong answer. Don't make me do this without you. Instead of denying what you know in your heart is right, be smart and figure out how to fool or delay Ringo so he doesn't know Katherine is not meeting with him, or at least so he doesn't know we are rescuing them. Your magic does not have to be more powerful than Ringo's, but without you and Katherine we have none on our side. If you think about it I bet you could convince others to help us too." Jake stops the tapping and puts the hat firmly on his head. "I'm out of clever plans, I'll listen if someone has one. I'm for a good old fashioned surprise party and rescue."

Ruby's eyes widen as Jake speaks these words. "Let's go back upstairs...NOW." She grabs Jake tightly by the arm and starts pulling him. When they get back up to their room Ruby closes the door before looking at Jake with some annoyance. "Are you crazy? You just told Minerva that Katherine could use magic. She didn't know and it is Kate's right to decide who she wants to tell. You HAVE to be more careful Jake, don’t you know what can happen?"

"All right, all right, I'm sorry. I know what can happen. I just thought I heard Katherine tell us in front of Minerva that Ringo is more powerful that you two, that the he had a spell book, but he wasn't more powerful than your teacher. I don't think the Senorita is stupid, and therefore understood what Katherine said since you already told her your specialty."

Ruby plops down on the bed and puts her head in her hands. "I don't know what to do. I don't want you going anywhere without me, I really don’t. And if it was just me I probably would be gone already. Maybe we can leave Jeff with Kate?” She looks at Jake confused before shaking her head. “I don’t want to leave Kate. I was also really hoping to NOT give Ringo any answer so he didn’t know we weren’t on his side. But by doing this, we are sending a message, and his anger will be greater. You think staying is going to make him mad? Us not being there in the morning is going to make him madder. Are you prepared for his anger to be taken out on us? How much are you willing to lose when he DOES decide to show us how serious he is? What if Nanuet and Chester are dead now, and because we go Kate dies too. Or Minerva. Or...” Ruby pauses, "Me or you. I don't want to lose you. We need to make the right choice."

"We are going to have to confront Johnny Ringo sometime. We can't wait until he gets more powerful. If we bow down to his blackmail he will just push us and push us until we snap. What will be the blackmail the time we snap, and how much more dangerous will it be?" Jake paces right in front of the bed. "What if they are dead? You told me a few minutes ago they aren't! Yes of course it is dangerous. Believe what you will, but I am certain it is more dangerous in the long run not to go. Yes, I agree it is better to leave Ringo wondering, and maybe we still can if we do it right." Jake stops pacing and sits next to her. "I can make all kinds of arguments for going and for not going. It comes down to this, if it weren't for you and Nanuet I would have been dead that day in the bank. How can I leave his life in Johnny Ringo's hands?"

Ruby sighs. “They WERE alive, when I did my spell just a while ago. But how do we know Ringo didn’t get pissed and give the orders to have them killed.” Ruby starts playing with her hair, unsure of how to proceed. She continues quietly, “You’re right. Nanuet saved your life, I understand that you feel the need to go for him. I want to go for him too. It’s just for once I have more to think of besides myself. And when Ringo finds out what we’re done, after we get them back…” Ruby shudders, “I’m scared Jake.”

"You're scared? I'm terrified." Jake laughs darkly. "I'm scared regularly. What has that to do with anything? This time it is Chester and Nanuet that they have. Next time the Cowboys take you or me or Katherine. Which time does someone not come back alive?" Jake stands up suddenly. "Every ounce of my body screams that letting Ringo make our decisions just delays one of our friends inevitable death. I can't live here and be his puppet."

Ruby stands and faces Jake. She takes his hands in hers. "Baby, I can see you feel really strongly about this. I'm not against what you want to do, I'm just not sure it's the right thing. But what I do know is to stand by your side is the right thing for me, and I'll do it, whatever you think is right.

He replies, "Right or wrong let's do it. Jake Cook stands by his friends. Thanks Ruby, I...." Jake stops talking and hugs her firmly, almost squeezing the breath from her. "Thanks." Ruby lets out a small grunt as Jake squeezes her. After a moment she hugs him back, "You're welcome," she whispers and kisses his cheek. "Now let's go get our friends." He replies, “Come on we have a lot to do.”

Jake and Ruby approach Jeff’s door and explain that they will need his help. He prepares a bag and comes with them. They pick up Minerva at the Comstock House before heading to the El Parador to get Kate. There is no one inside at this early hour except for Dorita and Pedro.

Ruby approaches Dorita. “Senora, a group of us are making a dangerous trip today. Could you pack us some food we can eat while we are traveling?” Dorita nods and heads into the kitchen. She emerges with some packages of food and pulls Ruby aside. “These help you, special tea. You use.” There are nine bottles, three of each tea. Dorita explains what each tea does so Ruby understands. Ruby hugs her tightly. “You ARE the best!” She gives her a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you.”

Ruby excuses herself and asks Jake to go find Flint and Naki-Yaki while she gets Kate. She knocks softly on Kate’s door and waits for an answer. After waiting a few moments with no answer, Ruby went a door or two down the hall and stepped into Mr. Gonzales room, opening the secret door and going inside. There was no one in the front hall, but there was a dim light coming from the library. Ruby stepped inside and saw Kate asleep with her head on an open book, pen near her hand.

Someone shaking her shoulder woke Kate up out of her uncomfortable sleep. She sat up and rubbed her face, leaving a bit of ink across her cheek. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep, I... Never mind, there's news?" Ruby quickly filled her in on the situation and Kate nodded. "I'll get my guns and be ready in a minute. I'll meet you downstairs." Ruby headed back downstairs and waited for Kate, and Jake to return hopefully with Flint and his friend. While she waited she prepared her horse to ride.

Kate tucked away her work and went to her room. She made sure she had both the derringer and Tom's pistol, that both were loaded and that she had extra ammunition for them. Then she took a moment to collect her money from the different places in her room where she kept it and put enough in an enveloped to pay Conrad for the house. She tucked it with her other papers with a note that read only, "You know what it's for." Hat and duster in hand, she went downstairs to join the others for a late night ride.

Jake locates Flint and his Apache friend, and fills him in quickly on the situation. "Come down stairs and meet with Katherine and Ruby as fast as you can." Jake heads back down stairs to meet up with the others. Jake was waiting downstairs when Kate arrived. A few moments later Flint and Naki-Yai also came down. Kate turned to Jake. "So, we're going? Are we getting anyone else as well?"

Ruby walks back into the Cantina with Jeff in tow. "Only one last stop to make, if we decide to. The Marshall's Office. It's that or we go now." She looks around the group waiting for a reply. Kate says, "More is better," Kate said, trying not to grit her teeth. "I'd like all the backup we can get. I forgot something, I'll be right back." She ran back up to her room and grabbed the bag of bandages she'd rolled back when they had protected the Earth spirit, then went back downstairs.

Jeff Mills arrives at the El Parador, a revolver on his belt and his old single-shot rifle flung over his shoulder. Jake says, "I want to tell Warren Earp and Rodriguez, maybe they'll offer help. Is Isby in town, is that something you think would be worth sharing with him? Katherine, can you, Minerva and Jeff rig up something for Maska to give the wolf a rest on the way?"

"Judge Isby is gone now and he won't be back for four weeks. The night he comes back we have a date and I'll tell him then." Ruby looks around at the shocked faces. "What?" She smiles, "Come on let's go to the office. Oh and button up, it's still raining hard out there." Ruby turns on her heel and walks back out to her horse.

Jake follows Ruby out and over to the Marshall’s office. He knocks on the door and says loudly. "It's Jake Cook. I need to talk to you." There is some movement inside and then a candle is lit. Eduardo Rodriguez opens the door. The wood elf is dressed in red long johns and holding a revolver. "What's the emergency?" he asks.

"Can you step out a moment?" Jake then says quietly, "I don't want Gifford to hear. It's the Cowboy gang. They have hostages and we are going to get them back. Thought you and Warren ought to know, and maybe even offer to help." Eduardo says, "Can't leave the prisoner and you won't be let into the Boarding House at this hour to get Warren. Tell me what you know and we can figure this out in the morning."

Ruby states, "We can't wait until morning, I'm sure you understand. But maybe you could send some backups if you think of someone you can trust tomorrow. We might need some help by then." Jake explains that Nanuet and Chester are being held captive, Johnny Ringo is holding them to blackmail us, and Ringo also wants to have a war with the Earps. "Other than that, everything is fine in Promise City. If you can't come with us, at least don't let anyone know we left town. That and keep any Cowboy gang members from coming after us in the morning." He give Rodriguez the rough directions he knows to the ranch. "Any words of wisdom?"

Eduardo replies, “Other than that you're crazy to go I can't think of anything. But if they were my friends I'd do the same thing. Warren and I will keep an eye out for Ringo." They leave the Marshall’s office and head back to the barn. "We'll need extra horses for Nanuet and Chester in case we can't steal any. Flint do you have plenty of dynamite? How are we taking Maska?"

Ruby says, "Maybe Dorita or Grant have some ideas? The only thing I can think of is to pull something behind one of the horses, or bring a cart. I bet there is one around here we can use. If we have to move fast we'll have to leave it though."

Jeff says that he can carry the wolf across his lap, that he's big and strong enough to handle it. He suggests wrapping the wolf partially in a blanket to make her more comfortable. Kate says, "Also to help hide her scent a bit. Horses don't always like wolves. We can ride through the ranch and get a couple extra horses. I have two here in the stables, so someone can ride Meribel and I'll take the stallion."

Ruby says, “"Or we can do that. Maska is that ok with you?" When the wolf doesn't take off Ruby takes that as an ok. "Alright let's go. I have some food and some tea from Dorita I'll tell you about when we get out of here." Ruby mounts her horse.

"Anybody need anything else?" Jake asks as he holsters his shotgun and rifle on the horse. He puts the saddle bags full of ammo across the back and the six sticks of dynamite he had from Flint previously in his pockets wrapped in cloth. He checks his revolvers and sawed off shotgun and mounts up. Kate says, "I can't think of anything else. Let's go."

Minerva finds a blanket to wrap Maska in and packs her saddlebag with some rope she finds in the barn. She also packs enough food and water for both herself and Maska. She straps on her pistol and rapier and places the rifle in the holster of the saddle. Her dagger is in it's customary spot in her boot. She mounts her horse and tucks Luna under her cloak to keep her dry.

The ride west begins uneventfully. The group has traveled the road many times, but never in the dead of night. They hear animals in the distance. Luna alerts Minerva that elves are watching them as they travel south of the Dos Cabezas Mountain range. They continue east towards the Dragoon Mountains as the first light of dawn begins to rise from behind them.

Chapter 82, “Back at the Cowboy’s Farmhouse”, Saturday, March 18th , 1882, 5:45 A.M:

Chester had slept until Nanuet estimated it is just after midnight. He then wakes Chester to watch for the remainder of the night while Nanuet slept. Chester notices the first light of false dawn creeping over the horizon and guesses it to be between 5:30 and 6:00 A.M.

Chester gently shakes Nanuet out of his Reverie. "Psst. Sun'll be up soon. Hopefully it'll be warmer. The blanket helped some. I bet we're both used to sleeping in the cold, though. It's a good time for praying. Only mine don't really have much of an effect."

Nanuet stirs when Chester nudges him. "Yes Chet, it is a good time for praying, I will ask my ancestors for their wisdom and knowledge and see what gifts they are willing to bestow upon us. And although you may not think so, your prayers may have more power than you realize." Chester replies, "Wise words, Nanuet. I'll have to confess to Sister Florencia about my weak faith when I see her. Do you know if Maska has made it back to our friends yet?"

Nanuet begins his morning ritual trying to be quiet enough to not draw attention to those outside the room. Chester listens at the door for the guards. Chester hears snoring coming from the other side of the locked door. Nanuet does not sense Maska.

He tells Chester, "No, I cannot sense her presence, which I believe is a good thing, it means that she is not nearby and hopefully is with our friends. I have completed my prayers for the day, I am not sure if we are willing to risk an attempted escape using what little magic I have. I have prayed for the same spell that formed the mists yesterday, as well as one that may temporarily put fear in our enemies, and one that gives me a chance to force one other to obey my command. The rest are minor spells, utilities at best.

Chester and Nanuet both hear from outside what sounds like a fire crackling. They look through a crack between the window boards and see three guards outside are huddled around a campfire about seventy feet away, drinking from a steaming pot of coffee.

Nanuet comments, “Perhaps sitting tight and waiting for Maska to return with allies is our best course? What do you think?" Chester replies, "Until I can get heeled I'll be pretty useless. Sounds like you can distract only two of the guards out there and even then not for long. I don't like those odds. Plus I can't see the Gatling gun. That would end any escape real fast." He begins pacing the floor.

Nanuet states, "Ah yes, I had forgotten about that gun machine that they also have. That would certainly cut our day short if it were used against us. I am as frustrated as you, but I think we need to bide our time and wait. The only other idea I have is to possibly jump the guards the next time they come with food or whatnot."

Chester stops his pacing. "I know. I know. If the guards don't get lazy, then jumping them would not be wise. They're prepared for that. But, we'll have to keep it in mind if we feel that we're no longer important to them." He lets out a breath. "Got any meditation tricks you could show me?" The Indian replies, "Meditation tricks? Why do you ask? I think humans have a difficult time entering the state we elves call reverie, but I could show you how we do it." Chester answers, "Well. I'm getting antsy, so I can't think straight. Basic stuff would be fine." Nanuet begins showing Chester the basic steps he takes while entering his state of reverie. Chester just begins getting comfortable when the door to the room opening interrupts them.

There are three men this time, two of whom Nanuet and Chester recognize from the road ambush. These two are outside of the doorway holding revolvers while the third comes in with a pair of buckets, and empty one that he replaces the waste bucket with and another half-filled with an amber colored liquid that smells like beer. The men then leave, locking the door behind them.

Chester whistles in appreciation. "They certainly are well-organized. The one with the bucket isn't heeled, so there's no weapon to grab from him. They must have a strong leader, because Claibourne hasn't killed us for killing Blackwell, yet. We better not drink the beer. We should have clear heads."

Nanuet states, "Why beer this time of day? Odd that they didn't say anything about it either. I'm gonna try some." As Nanuet walks to the bucket he continues speaking. "Yes I agree, they certainly must have a leader whom they believe in." He then kneels down to the bucket. Nanuet dips his hands in the amber liquid and then cups them together scooping some of the liquid out. He then takes just a sip. Chester asks, "How is it?"

Nanuet decides that it's not the best beer that he's ever tasted but it appears to be okay. He tells Chester, "Well it really is beer. Just wanted to check. I agree that we should abstain. Now back to the meditation. Sit back down and focus on your recent past. Try and relive those thoughts in your mind. At any point you can freeze the thoughts and examine them closer. That is reverie, except as you progress you can basically relive more and more of your past and learn from it. You must focus completely though."

"OK." Chester sits silently for a while with his eyes closed. Then he shakes his head. "Sorry. I can't concentrate. I'm still trying to listen for the guards." Nanuet replies, "I understand, maybe not the best time to learn how to enter reverie. I am still unsure if humans can even do so. How long do you suppose we wait until we try to get out of here?"

Chester says, "I'll try again later, another day. As far as escape goes, darkness would be nice, but that's half a day away. Maybe when the guards come to take us out of here. They'll have to come in the room. Although, how many guards are there?" Nanuet says, "Good question. We have seen a lot of different faces. I just don't know how much longer I can bear to sit here and just be a pawn in whatever plan they have.” Chester replies, "But without better intelligence, who knows what's out there.

Nanuet says, “They would have killed us by now if they didn't need us, I can't stop thinking about that fact." Chester resumes pacing. "Why are they keeping us alive? And why haven't they asked us more questions. Did they believe us?"

Meanwhile, a mile to the south the others are heading towards the farmhouse. The group traveled more cautiously after they leave the road and traveled northward along the eastern edge of the mountains.

As they are riding along, the heavy rain drips from their hats and coats. Jake suddenly says to Ruby in a quiet voice, "I know this is probably the wrong time to bring this up. When you told me about Eastman proposing, you said you were wearing the ring for fun. And you were looking at it in an odd way, perhaps longingly? You said you tried to turn him down but he wouldn't listen, and I experienced that too later. I had to offer my help a number of times before you would accept it. At the time I was beginning to wonder if I was standing in your way to a better life. We have talked since then, and I'm not asking for more reassurance. It does seem to me now there was something else, something more."

Jake doesn't finish the thought. He does not look up at Ruby as he continues to guide his mount through the mud. He does ride near her. The only noise heard above the constant rain are the sucking sounds made by the hoofs and the breathing of the horses. Ruby starts looking uncomfortable almost immediately as Jake brings up the subject. “You’re right, this is a bad time to bring this up.” She continues quietly, “And you might not like the answers you get.”

Ruby looks around like she wants to escape. Finally she looks at Jake then squeezes her eyes shut. “Fine,” she says tensely. “Look, I didn’t want to ask for your help with Eastman because I wanted to get rid of him on my own. I’m not used to needing anyone, for any reason. I never had a problem getting rid of would be husbands before, but as I’ve thought about it that’s because if they got too persistent I would just leave wherever I was. I didn’t want you to have to help me. I’ve been taking care of myself my whole life, I can take care of myself, even if you don’t think so.”

“As for the other thing,” Ruby starts blushing, “Well, uh, the ring is huge, what can I say, I’m greedy. I wouldn’t mind walking around with a gem like that on my finger.” Ruby can tell Jake isn’t buying her answer. Ok, I admit, I was thinking of what it would be like to be married. I ran away from home so I wouldn’t have to get married to Eastman in the first place. I never thought I would get married, so some man could own me, and tell me what to do and where to go, what to wear, what to make him for dinner. I just never considered it. Until then. But I wasn’t thinking of what it would be like to marry George.” Ruby continues slowly, biting her lip, “I was thinking of what it would be like to marry you.” She is quiet, giving what she said time to sink in.

He replies, "I don't doubt that you can take care of yourself Ruby West. Sometimes problems can turn out to be bigger than one person. Would you rather I didn't worry at all?" Jake finally takes his eyes off the path for a moment to look at her before returning to guiding the horse. Jake chuckles and adds, "I wonder what kind of husband Jake Cook would make."

“No, I like you worrying about me.” She pauses, playing with the reigns in her hands. “What is a husband anyway? I was only thinking of what kind of person you are, how we are together. I was thinking of what it would be like, to know we would always be together, not worrying that one of us would leave or that someone could tear us apart. That we would always love each other and be there for each other, that I could wake up in your arms every day, my favorite thing,” Ruby smiles at the thought, “And that you would take care of me, I wouldn’t have to take care of myself all the time anymore. And that wearing a ring like that would show everyone that I was yours, and you would have one showing everyone you were mine too.” Ruby sighs. “And then you told me you didn’t know how long we could make things last.”

“I know you don’t want to get married, probably ever. You probably don’t even want to be as serious as we are, maybe you wish we weren’t.” She doesn’t let him interrupt, “I know you like having a pretty girl on your arm and the sex is, well, the best I've ever had. And I do adore you. Those things make you happy now. Someday they won’t be enough for you.”

“I had been longing for some stability, which you have given to me. And you’ll never know how much I appreciate it and needed it. And George, while I feel nothing for him, could offer me more stability than I’ll ever have the chance at again in my life. But,” she finally looks up at Jake, “I love you, not him. And maybe there will come a day when what you offer isn’t enough for me either. But I’m taking my chance. I’m taking my chance that I will have a better life, I’m just figuring on it being with you.” Ruby pushes some rain off her face. "Ruby Cooke, what would our friends think?" she says with a small smile.

Ruby shrugs, “You wanted to know what I was thinking of, or longing for you said, and now you know.” "Mrs. Ruby Cookie." Jake says it out loud and then laughs. "Our friends would imagine that Hades has frozen solid and that you have gone totally insane." He shakes his head scattering the small puddles of water from the top of his hat. "Stability? From me? Marriage?" Jake is quiet for a minute. "I did ask, didn't I?" Again quiet and the splashing of mud. "Insane or not, if I must have a woman in love with me, I'm happy it's you. You are like no one else, Ruby, no one comes close."

“Mrs. Ruby Cookie…” Ruby gives Jake a halfhearted smile. “You know what my life was life before I met you. I was tired of moving from town to town. I wasn’t happy having to leave and having no friends. You gave me a home, even though to you it’s just a place to store your gear, to me its home. Jake, you bought me a saloon, for Pete’s sake! You gave me someone I can trust in to look out for me, for us. I even got my puppies. That’s the most stability I’ve had, well, ever.”

“Why am I insane for wanting something better for us? Why am I insane for being in love with you? I don’t think our friends would think what you think they would. Maybe you should ask them.” Ruby is quiet in her thoughts. “Would you be happier if I didn’t love you?” Ruby doesn’t look at Jake as she asks her question.

"Happier? No. I don't think that would make me happier." Jake wipes some rain from his face. "I just never figured anybody in their right mind would want to be married to Jake Cook. It's not like I have been a model of reliability and trustworthiness. I'm just... just surprised."

“You have been to me, reliable and trustworthy. And I have been honest and given my trust to you, something very hard for me to do, but it just seems to come natural with you. I wish I could have lied to you about this, I didn’t want you to know how I felt.” Ruby looks down, the rain falling off her hat and onto her legs. “I feel stupid that I even had these thoughts at all. But I did, and I didn’t ask for any of this.”

"You can drive yourself crazy talking like that." Jake laughs, "Listen to me, I'm calling you crazy again. What I mean is don't lie to me and don't feel stupid. What kind of idiot doesn't tell a beautiful and talented woman that he loves her after she tells him the same?" Silence. "Since leaving home I've gone from one town to another, never staying too long. I made friends, made money, had a life and then lost it all each time. So then I move to another town and started over. I was pretty good at making a new life and even better at losing it. Never a care in the world, Jake Cook the happy wanderer. Except now I am afraid for the first time that I will lose it all again." More silence. "You have something I don't have, at least not yet. Call it confidence, faith, hope or whatever. You have it in me, but I don't think I deserve it. At least not yet. Perhaps I just need some time."

She replies, “You’re not an idiot, far from it. And it only makes you more special that you won’t say something that isn’t true, even if it does, um, well, even if it is what I want to hear. But I don’t need to hear it, I want to feel it, and whether you think it or not I do. I told you I’m a stupid foolish girl, and maybe it’s true and I’m fooling myself. I don’t care, let me be foolish then. Are you afraid to lose this life because of me?” Ruby looks over Jake with wide, curious eyes. He glances at her looking at him and looks back to the trail. "Yes."

She says, “Jake, you have made me happier than I’ve ever been. How is that not deserving?” Ruby gives Jake the smile she has just for him, “And you can’t lose me, if you have to leave, I’m going with you, I thought that was the deal.” Ruby pushes at some wet hair that is plastered to her head, pulling it behind her ear. “I don’t know what I have to do to make you see it. I was never one for hope or faith. Maybe time is all you need; maybe you will never feel the same.” Ruby silently looks across the rainy land for many moments. “I accept that one day things will be the same for me again as they were before. People like us don't get fairy tales and happy endings. But we can enjoy each other now, if that’s all we have.”

"I didn't mean to get you all riled up over it. I may not see what you see yet, but I'm not all doom and gloom either. And yes, if we have to leave we do it together." Ruby's mention of hope makes Jake think about the morning sitting on the porch and wondering if she was alive. What were those last thoughts before drifting off to sleep, was that hope? "We can only play the cards we are dealt, Ruby girl. Now that doesn't mean we just give up and wait for bad things to happen, far from it. Red used to tell me, 'Never play in a rigged game, unless you rig it yourself'. That's good advice. While I may not be convinced that the cards will fall our way, that does not mean I am not doing what I can to improve the odds. Why just wish for good luck when you can make your own, right?"

"So let's enjoy what we have, just in case it doesn't last. But let's not give up on making it last. Ok?" Jake looks at her with a reassuring smile. 'Well, I wasn't sure that was the way you wanted it to go, so that's good to know." Ruby returns his smile. “I’m not giving up, Mr. Cook, far from it. I’ve been known to convince a person or two of wanting things they never knew they wanted. I’ll just have to try harder is all.” She responds confidently as her smile grows wider. “I’m sure you won’t mind.”

Maska has Jeff set him down as they near an area by the northern foothills. At around 7:00 AM when the group is nearing the top of a hill when Maska begins to hunch down and pat at the ground with her paws. Jake signals for all to stop and then be quiet. He and Ruby creep to the edge to look. Ruby moves up quietly with Jake and looks in the direction Maska indicated. Kate held the reins and kept the stallion quiet, keeping watch around the back as Ruby and Jake slipped to the top of the hill.

Chapter 83, “Battle Preparations”, Saturday, March 18th , 1882, 7:15 A.M:

Minerva releases Luna, who immediately flies high over the ranch in an attempt to determine how many men are present. She then finds a hidden spot to land.

Ruby and Jake are now at the top of the hill and see a valley below with a two-acre corral containing thirty cows and ten horses, a barn and a farmhouse. They also see nine men. Three near a fire by the back woods 80 feet from the farmhouse. The farmhouse is two-stories high in the front and a single story high in the rear. Two men are at the right front corner between the farmhouse and the barn's front doors, and another three between the other front corner of the farmhouse and the corral. The ninth man was with the two men out front and heads into the farmhouse. All of the men are wearing western clothing including cowboys’ hats and have both revolvers and rifles.

Looking down, there appears to be two main ways into the valley, a road from the mountains that ends at the barn and farmhouse doors and a smaller foot trail that runs from the rear of the corral into a forested area with a stream. It also looks possible to climb down the lightly forested far hill that leads up to the rear of the barn.

Ruby looks back to Maska, looking her in the eyes. Then she whispers to Jake, "I wonder if Maska has her link with Nanuet, then he'd learn we're here and be ready to help, if he can." Ruby motions to the wolf. The wolf ignores Ruby, looking to be heavily in thought.

Inside the house, Nanuet snaps to attention then appears to be deep in thought as he holds up a single hand for a moment. "Maska is back, hopefully with the others. Snap to it soldier, time to be alert. Things are about to get real interesting' 'round here." Chester says, "Right." He then retrieves the fishing line from under the bed. Then he moves the boards enough so he can see out the window. Nanuet says, "Let me know what you see, I am going to listen at the door."

Ruby turns back to Jake again. "We could also get that pen open and let the animals go, that would get some of the men off guard." He says, "That would be mighty useful if she could. A distraction is a good idea too."

Jake crawls back to describe the situation to the others. "I'm thinking of sneaking down and getting in a better position. It sure would be handy to be able to disable some of those men magically and quietly."

Ruby again looks at Jake with surprise. Jeff didn't know of Ruby's talents yet. Well, I guess there is no time like the present.... "I can only hold one of them for a short period of time. I might be able to sing and distract them though but that isn't quiet. I can try to put some of them to sleep that should work for a group of them. Also there is this..." She pulls out the potions and tells everyone what they do. "But that would require us to get close enough and for them to drink them." She tries to make like the information she just gave out was the most nature thing in the world.

Kate says, "Spooking the animals would be easy enough, and we might be able to open the pen. If we're going to sneak I'd suggest picketing the horses a way back. Gunfire might spook them, and it's just hard to sneak on a horse." Jake says, "Good thinking, you and the others take care of that and I'll watch the valley a little longer." Jake sneaks back to the edge and tries to learn more useful knowledge of the area below and looking for where the boys might be kept.

To Ruby Kate said, "Being able to sound like one of them might be useful, especially like Ringo, if he isn't here. And heightened senses might be good for us as well. Everyone dismount. Jeff, Flint, will you help me take the horses back a bit and we'll tie them to some trees." Kate went with the other two men and took care of the horses, arriving back just a couple minutes later.

Ruby went back up the hill. Ruby asks, "Jake you want me to put some of them to sleep? What should we do?" Jake whispers to Ruby, "Last time someone did that gun fire woke them. So save that for the right time. If we sleep them we have to be able to quickly capture or quietly kill them."

She says, "Well, what did you mean by disabling them magically? You have something else up your sleeve I don't know about?" He says, “No, that is what I was talking about. Problem is the others down there can see them. Looks like fireworks time. Unless somebody has a bold plan, let's go back to the others and decide."

She says, "A bold plan? Can you and I sneak up behind one of the smaller groups? Let the rest of the party come from the front and you and I get them from behind. And we take those potions before we go." He says, "How about if Ruby, Maska and I climb down behind the barn while the others go around and take the trail. We'll need to wait for both sides to be in position and will need a signal." She replies, "Good idea Jake."

As Kate returned with Jeff and Flint she allowed herself to fall several steps behind. She began to mutter under her breath, just to get them used to the sound of her voice behind them. A moment later she added hand gestures and cast the protection spell. Hopefully, since she was already wearing clothes nearly identical, no one would notice the change.

Minerva makes a small clicking noise and Luna silently glides over to the party. Minerva says a short prayer and speaks to Maska. "Tell me which building that Senor Nanuet and Chester are in. How can we get Senor Nanuet his necklace?"

Ruby digs through her bag and takes out the potions. She hands one to Jake and keeps one for herself (the sensory potions). "Can Maska signal? Hum, I don't know if we can get her to. What about Luna? Minerva, can you have her give us a signal when you are in place?" She takes two sleep potions and 1 voice potion and puts all the potions back in her bag, then gives the rest to Katherine and Minerva.

"And just so we're all clear... we're not here to be nice. Last time we left people, well, they're still after us." Ruby has a calm look on her face but a coldness in her eyes. "Got that?" "Yes, I understand. Let's get this over with," Kate said as she pulled out her pistol.

Nanuet becomes unnerved as he and Chester wait. "What do you see out there Chet? Any sign of them? Stupid me, I guess we would know if they were spotted wouldn't we? Well maybe they are able to give us some sort of sign? See anything? Anything at all?" Chester replies, "Nothing yet. But like you said, if Maska is here, then the others are nearby. I bet Jake and Ruby are pretty good at hiding."

Jake takes his rifle from his horse and offers the shotgun to anyone who needs it. He puts some shells in his pocket for the sawed-off shotgun and loosens the duster on his right side to access his Colt for a quick draw. Ruby makes sure her dagger and other tools are in the correct spots in her jacket. She ties some rope around a loop on the jacket. She double checks her pistol and puts it away. She takes the rifle and waits for everyone to agree to the plan.

Jake notices that Minerva is concentrating with the wolf. When she finishes he says, "Anything new?" She replies, “Maska says that Nanuet and Chester are at the rear of the farmhouse.” She asks the wolf “Can you tell them that we are here and don't do anything foolish? We will try to get the necklace to them.” Ruby thinks to herself “Let's hope he doesn't need it.” She says “Luna, I will launch you into the air when we are in position. When the rest of our group is in position fly back to me.”

Jake states, "I suppose we have a plan then. The rest of you go around by the stream, when you are in place use the signal. Ruby and I will make some kind of loud noise and you can take action. Flint, try not to blow us up OK? Let's go" "Jake, before we go, please don't do anything crazy down there." Ruby looks at him seriously for a moment before looking away. "Let's go."

"Alright," Kate said looking at Minerva, Jeff, and Flint. "Let's go. We may not be as quiet as those two, but let's be as quiet as we can." She began to make her way to the trail, the others following behind. With a grim expression of acceptance, Minerva grabs her rifle, ammunition and rope from the horse and follows Kate, Flint and Jeff around out of sight to the woods down the trail. "When we are about to engage these ruffians I would like to take a short moment to pray for the Goddess's blessing on our group." Kate suggests, “I'd do that before we send the signal then, as usually you don't get much warning." Kate led the group as close as they could go down the trail without being seen and waited.

Jake, Ruby, & Maska climb down the lightly forested far hill that leads up to the rear of the barn, trying to stay hidden. When they arrive they search the back of the barn for a way in, and look around cautiously. The barn has a rear door but it appears to be locked from the inside. The only window in the rear of the barn is on the upper loft floor and is currently shuttered.

Inside, Nanuet states "Chester, the others are here, I am sure of it now. Maska has given that much information. I will stay by the door ready to pounce if it is opened. You keep an eye out outside." Chester replies, "OK. Great. I hope they brought enough firepower." His eyes widen in alarm. "Warn them about the Gatling gun. It'll tear them to bits."

I will try and warn them, but I am not sure how effectively a wolf can communicate "Watch out for the Gatling gun." Nanuet focuses on Maska trying to glean as much information from her as he can while also putting the picture of the gun into her head along with a sense of warning about it.

Ruby and Jake arrive at the locked rear door of the barn. Ruby carefully and quietly checks over the barn door, hoping to find a way to use her special tools to get the lock open from this side. Ruby is able to use her tools to get into the crack in the door and lift the inside latch. The barn appears to be dark inside. They open the door a crack and the large wooden building appears to be currently unoccupied. They see a wagon in the center of the room covered over with a tarp. Ruby slowly and again quietly makes her way towards the wagon and peeks under the tarp while Jake looks around the rest of the barn.

Kate’s group reaches their destination. Minerva says, “I'll send Luna up now to signal we're in place.” Jake is watching around and sees the white owl fly by. "They are in place. We are on." He looks around inside the building before entering to make sure there are no animals to make noise. They continue to move silently and checkout the interior and make sure no one is hiding in the wagon.

Jake and Ruby both come to an abrupt stop when they hear the sound of snoring coming from up in the barn loft. The second level of the barn consists of a U-shaped balcony along the sides and rear of the barn, ten feet deep on all sides that has hay bales stacked two high along the entire outer edge overlooking the open center. Jake is in the exposed open area in the center ten feet from the wagon while Ruby is at the wagon.

Listening closer, they pinpoint the sound as coming from the loft towards the rear of the barn. They are equidistant to the two closest ladders up to the loft, in each of the back rear corners of the barn. There are two more ladders up in the front corners of the barn. Each of these four ladders looks to end at a two-foot square hinged door along the loft floor and all four doors are currently closed.

Even though Ruby hears the snoring she continues to very quietly remove her dagger and cut one of the ties on the tarp on the wagon to peek inside. After that she waits for Jake to give her further instructions.

Kate watched as the owl flew out above the farmhouse. More and more now she wanted this to be over, to get back to the El Parador. There was too much going on in too many different places. Was she really of any use here?

Before she could go too far down that line of thinking she turned her mind to the large corral. If she could get close enough, she should be able to spook the animals inside and open the gate. Spooked animals add confusion, and they could use all of that on the other side they could get. She turned to Minerva and said, "Now is probably the time for your prayers if you feel the need to say them. There's no way to know when Jake will start this."

Minerva recognizes the familiar sound of unbelieving sarcasm in the tone of Katherine's words but dismisses them, patiently explaining. "Senora, Senor Jake will send us his signal when all is ready and then I shall ask for the help of the Goddess. It will not take long for her to answer my plea."
Minerva turns to the group. "There are three men between the farmhouse and the corral and another two men at the right front corner between the farmhouse and the barn's front door. Senor Jake said that he would make a large noise to alert us when he is ready. This will also attract attention to the barn. Perhaps we can create another diversion to enhance the confusion. It would be good to get the men to come closer to us somehow without giving ourselves away. Does anyone have an idea as to how we can do this?”

Kate replies, "I had some thoughts about that, but I need to close. Closer than we want to be. I can get the corral open and get the animals excited. It should give these men something else to think about, but to get close enough I'd be in plain sight."

“I am not willing to jeopardize your safety Senora." Minerva whispers. "We will find another way"
She gazes up the trail with a thoughtful expression. "Hmmm, It looks like we might be able to get closer to those men if we go further into the woods to the right. Do you see that spot over there?" Minerva points out and toward the right. "It looks to be about 30 ft closer than where we are now. If we're really quiet perhaps we can get there and when Senor Jake makes the loud noise they will be distracted towards it. I'll say a little tiny prayer" she puts her thumb and pointer finger together to indicate very little and grins at Katherine "and then we will just shoot them!"

A light comes into her eyes as the time for confrontation grows near. "I'm pretty handy with my Papa's rifle" she says patting it affectionately. "It is more than adequate to hit from that distance. I was told that Senor Flint is quite handy with dynamite also." She pats his shoulder and gives him a brilliant smile. "I am sure that he could make quite a diversion if we need one. Eh Senor?" She chuckles softly. "How far do you think you could toss that fire cracker? and how big of a boom will it make?"

Flint replies, "How big a boom do you want? I brought twenty sticks and can fasten them together if we want. I can toss a single a good 100 feet. I can get a triple up to 150 feet, that weighs more but the shape makes it fly better." Minerva raises her eyebrows. "THAT is very impressive! Senor." she says softly. "Could you use it to eliminate those three men and time its fuse so that they would be unable to toss it back upon us?" He replies, "Sure, I'm an expert at timing my dynamite throws. And if I use a triple that should still be effective even if my aim is slightly off. I could probably even get that other group between the house and barn if I had to."

"And those men by the woods near the fire, are they too far away?" He replies, "From here, I'm afraid so. We can see fine around those saplings in between but they would work as a barrier. Unless my shot were perfect the dynamite would be deflected off them, could even bounce back to us. I could move closer to them but then couldn't either of these groups here in front."

Katherine says "Speaking of that we'd better move if that's where we want to be. Closer is better, I'm a terrible shot." Minerva says, " Do not berate yourself for your lack of skill in this, Senora. The gods who guide us do not bestow all of their gifts upon us. Only those, which we are most suited to. And for the little time I have known you I can see that they have bestowed many upon you. Do not worry for if they desire it you will surely hit your mark. She turns to the others. "Senora is correct, we should hurry and get in position. Lead the way Senora, por favor. We shall follow."

Kate says, "A boom would certainly cause all the distraction we could want. I'd think one would be enough, we wouldn't want you to run out of dynamite, and if we're in those trees you won't have to throw it all that far. if that's where we want to be.

Kate was quiet for a minute, thinking about the teas Ruby had brought from Dorita. She had originally thought perhaps one of them might try to sound like Ringo, but she knew she couldn't pull off his attitude Then it occurred to her that someone else's voice might be just as distracting.

"Where do you think you can most effective, Flint? That's probably where we should be. I might be able to add a little more confusion to our little plan. It might just cause a bit of panic if they thought the Earp's had come for them. I've heard Wyatt speak enough, with that tea I could imitate his voice and shout from out of sight."

Kate was quiet for a minute, thinking about the teas Ruby had brought from Dorita. She had originally thought perhaps one of them might try to sound like Ringo, but she knew she couldn't pull off his attitude Then it occurred to her that someone else's voice might be just as distracting.

"Where do you think you can most effective, Flint? That's probably where we should be. I might be able to add a little more confusion to our little plan. It might just cause a bit of panic if they thought the Earp's had come for them. I've heard Wyatt speak enough, with that tea I could imitate his voice and shout from out of sight."

Minerva explains to Flint that when they hear the signal from Jake he should toss the dynamite and take out the 3 men farthest from them at the front of the barn. "We will shoot the 3 men closest to us. Jeff you aim for the one on the left, Katherine you take the one in the middle and I'll shoot the man on the right. If it looks like someone's going to toss that dynamite back at us I'll shoot them instead of my man. O.K? Is everyone in agreement?"

She continues, “As soon as I hear the signal I am going to say a quick prayer to insure that the Goddess will guide our bullets. If anyone of you should be ready to shoot again before I am be sure and take the opportunity. The men at the fire should come running when they hear the commotion so be ready to take them out as well. Maska counted the scent of 18 men. We have only accounted for 9 so there may be more in the farmhouse or the barn. If they come out of either, shoot them." She turns to Flint with a smirk on her face "Senor Flint DO NOT blow up the farmhouse. Nanuet and Chester are in the back room. If there is enough of a diversion and we have an opportunity, I will ask the goddess for sanctuary. I will no longer be able to fight but I will be protected. We can then sneak around the back and try and get them out. I wish we had that necklace though! "

Kate says, "Senorita, all I have is a pistol, we're about at the limit of how far it can shoot. I'll try, but I wouldn't count on my being able to take him down. I think we should try to clear the way before we try going inside to get Chester and Nanuet. Distraction is good, but for every man still standing when we go to get them, that's another man to go after Jake and Ruby."

"Si, Senora , we must see what doors the Goddess opens for us first. I agree, we should not attempt a rescue unless the opportunity presents itself. But once we have liberated Senors Chester and Nanuet we will have two more allies deal with these murderous rogues."
Minerva looks to Katherine in surprise upon learning that she only has a pistol. "I believe there is an extra shotgun on one of the horses but I do not think that we can make our way back there in time. "Senor Flint, do you have a weapon with more range that the Senora can use while you are tossing your firecrackers?"

Inside the barn, Jake silently steps back under the balcony and looks up to see through the cracks in the floor enough to determine how many bodies are sleeping up above. He also is looking to gauge the strength of the floor against the blast of a stick of dynamite while he looks for possible locations to place sticks that would send to the gods anyone on the balcony. Jake notices that Ruby would be easily visible to anyone looking over the hay bales on the balcony. He noiselessly waves his arms, getting her attention, and motions for her to come to him.

Ruby takes another quick glance under the tarp before heading back to Jake. Once there she points up to where the snoring is coming from. She motions to the ladder and herself, then to the spot where Jake has the dynamite. Then she gives him a questioning look, waiting for some sort of response.

Jake pulls her close, presses his mouth to her ear and whispers faintly into her ear, "Climb the ladder and see if the door is open. Make no noise. if it won't open or is going to make any noise stop and come back. we need to know how many are up there." Jake listens carefully while she does this.

Ruby nods and does as Jake asks. She very quietly approaches the ladder closest to where the snoring is coming from. She places her dagger back in its spot in her jacket, then begins to ascend the ladder. When she gets to the top she inspects the trap door, checking to see if it's locked. If it's locked she will check what kind of lock it is and see if she can pick it, but won't open it, just head back down. If it's not locked she will slowly push up and at the first sign of even the slightest noise she will stop pushing. If there is no noise she will open it just enough to peek up into the loft but won't climb up.

There is no visible locking mechanism on it but it won't open when pushed. Examining around the crack she sees a slight break that she concludes is a swing bolt fastened on the other side. Ruby heads back down to Jake and shakes her head, indicating she can't open the trapdoor.

Jake nods in understanding. He takes out two sticks of dynamite and twists the fuses together in the manner Flint showed him, leaving the fuses long. He places these two sticks on the top of the ladder in one back corner with the fuse hanging down. He makes a similar bundle with the fuses slightly shorter and places them on the other back ladder at the top rung. He holds one finger upright to his lips and takes Ruby's hand. He leads her silently underneath the right side balcony to the front of the barn.

Pulling her close he whispers faintly in her ear, "Watch the balcony, I need to look out front. If the guards are close we'll shoot them, run to the back and out the door. I'll light the fuses on the way out." Ruby nods a bit apprehensively and draws her pistol and watches the balcony as Jake moves silently to the doors holding his rifle. He looks for the largest cracks and peers through looking for the two cowboys between the barn and the farmhouse to determine how far away they are.

The crack in the door that Jake looks though is wide enough for him to peer out but not wide enough to stick a gun through. He sees the same five men as before, the pair 35 feet away between the barn and house and the other three 80 feet away between the house and corral.

The ninth man who he had first seen now comes out of the farmhouse carrying a steaming hot pot of coffee. He approaches the closer pair who each pick up a ceramic mug that are then topped off with coffee. The new man says something to the pair of them while gesturing towards the barn. The man then turns and walks in the direction of the corral and the other three men.

Continuing to be silent, Jake moves quickly under the balcony with Ruby and indicates to the back of the barn. They take Maska with them. Jakes tosses his rifle out the back door and pushes Maska out. He removes the last two sticks of dynamite from his pockets and hands them to Ruby. He then takes cuts two short bits of rope from her coil. He climbs back up the ladders and secures the explosives, and double checks the fuses on the them. Yes they are plenty long enough he thinks.

Jake takes the flame capable dagger out of his boot. He points to himself and then the dynamite on the ladders. He then points to himself and Ruby followed by miming throwing the dynamite in his hands. He carefully to points to the midsection of the balconies on each side of the barn. Ruby nods her understanding. Jake counts off the seconds to walk out under the edge of the balcony in the back, lob the dynamite unhurriedly over the bales on the balcony and sprint out the door. Yes, he thinks, not leaving enough fuse for someone to grab the dynamite and throw it back and not standing under the target in case we miss. Then a few seconds later the dynamite in the back ladders goes off. Here comes the noise I promised.

Using the 'rule of thumb' Flint showed him, he measures the fuses and cuts them with the knife. He plants Ruby under the middle of the back balcony, smiles broadly at her and give her a kiss. He climbs first the ladder with the explosives that have the longest fuse and lights it with the dagger. Then quickly the other. He then rushes to Ruby and lights the dynamite. They take a couple of steps out from under the balcony, toss the dynamite over the bales on each side in the center and run out the back door.

Chapter 84, “Assault on the Farmhouse”, Saturday, March 18th , 1882, 8:00 A.M:

As Ruby and Jake run out and before diving Ruby quickly makes sure her rifle is ready for action. She takes a dive behind cover with Jake and waits for the explosion.

A little more than one hundred feet away Minerva asks Jeff, “Senor Mills, what do you have for firepower?" He begins to reply, "Well Ma'am, I have a.." The conversation is then interrupted by the sound of an explosion in the barn, with part of the barn's sidewall basting out and showering the ground with flaming straw and splinters. It is immediately followed by a louder second explosion and then a third. All six men before them react the same, turning towards the barn while drawing their weapons.

The farmhouse shakes from the explosion. The tremendous explosions break the previous silence and cause Nanuet to jump in fright. "Whoa! What was that?" Nanuet catches his breath and gathers his wits. "My guess is Flint is involved in that!" Nanuet says excitedly. Chester says, "That was some blast. Does Flint have a cannon?"

Nanuet replies, "Chester, rip those boards off and let them know where we are, but don't go getting yourself shot!" Nanuet gets ready by the door should it open he will attempt to grab and push anyone coming in and move across the space of the doorframe. "I'm working on it." Chester starts pushing and pulling the boards off the window, pausing after each one to check if anyone is looking their way.

The first board is no longer gone from the window when Chester sees all three men by the campfire aim and fire their rifles at him. He ducks down as a bullet passes through his left shoulder. Nanuet sees several more bullets then fly through the wall and window boards, several barely missing.

Chester collapses as the bullet strikes. "Ow. Get down! There are at least three guards out there firing on our position. Plus there's a fire in the barn. Let's get away from the outer wall. It's not stopping those bullets."

Kate watched with wide eyes as the barn flew apart in all directions. When Jakes said a loud noise, he wasn't kidding. She lifted her pistol and took careful aim at the man in the center of the group Minerva had indicated. "Now's the time Flint, one or three, whatever you can manage." Not wanting to tip them off before the dynamite flew, Kate held off on squeezing the trigger until Flint made his throw, using the extra time to aim.

Those out front hear the sound of rifle fire from the rear of the farmhouse as the barn begins to engulf with flames from the rapidly catching hay bales. There are now holes in both sides of the barn with flames pouring out. Minerva hears the explosion and immediately begins to pray.

Flint is ready to strike a match to light the dynamite when he hears the sound of gunfire from the rear group firing at the farmhouse. "Cover me," he says as he charges out of the woods towards the side of the farmhouse carrying two three-stick bundles that are both still unlit. Thankfully none of the other six men in the two front groups see him immediately, as their attention still focused on the barn.

Professional football is still a decade away, as it will be 1892 when the Allegheny Athletic Association decides to start a professional team in Pittsburgh, but Flint's toss of the three bundled sticks of dynamite would have made any future football coach proud. Having moved out into the open to clear the potential obstacles posed by the saplings, the bundle sails high into the air and lands perfectly right inside the still burning campfire near three men with rifles.

The men caught the sudden movement with their peripheral vision and knew that something landed into the fire, but none of them managed to see exactly what. So instead of running they just changed targets, turning to shoot at Flint rather than the wall. But only one of the three managed to get his retargeted shot off before the dynamite exploded, and that shot sailed harmlessly above Flint's head.

The tremendous explosion that follows covers the entire area with debris, including flaming embers, coals and red-hot rocks from the fire circle. The man closest to the fire is killed instantly. The second is mortally wounded. His soon-to-be-dead companion shields the third from the brunt of the blast, and none of his wounds would have killed him except for the fact that his shirt catches fire. A combination of gunpowder residue and dried alcohol on his shirt cause it to immediately combust. He panics, so rather than dropping and rolling to put the fire out he instead turns and runs away from the farmhouse and towards the distant hills. He will eventually manage to get nearly sixty feet away before the flames fatally overtake him.

After the barn explosions Jake checks quickly to see that Ruby and Maska are unharmed. As he is grabbing his rifle off the ground he hears another explosion from behind the farmhouse. "Flint," he mutters to himself and laughs. Looking at the barn going up in flames he says to Ruby, "I guess we won't run back in there just yet. How about we go around the backside of the barn? We need to find Chester and Nanuet fast."

Ruby says, "Well, we know they are inside the farmhouse, right?" Ruby says while standing and wiping dirt and debris off. "We can head to the back side of the barn, cross over to the house, shoot anyone in our way." Ruby wipes her face leaving a smudge of dirt across her cheek. "Let's go," she smiles. They quickly make their way to the backside of the barn, staying as close to the wall as they can, avoiding any areas that look like they might have been affected by the blast. They peer around the corner to check out the situation.

A fearless light enters Minerva’s eyes as she turns and shoots her rifle, aiming at the man on the right as planned. Kate kept her eyes very carefully away from the man burning to death and fired at the center man of the group Minerva shot at. Minerva's shot goes through the man's back, puncturing a lung and major blood vessel and he collapses to the ground. Kate's shot totally misses.

Jake and Ruby stay low alongside the barn and see that the two men who are closest are moving towards the front barn doors. Of the other four, they see one collapse. His two companions begin to pivot around. The man who had been walking between the two is now running towards the front door. Jake and Ruby also see rifle barrels now pointing out from two front windows of the farmhouse, one on the ground level and another on the second floor. Ruby holds up her rifle, takes aim at the man running towards the house and shoots at him.

Ruby's shot misses the man, but does draw his attention. He turns yells "They're over there, behind the barn," while pointing towards Ruby and Jake. The two men nearing the barn door move quickly over to the corner of the barn and the one in front peers around the corner while aiming his revolver. Ruby looks to Jake quickly, "Might be time to put that shotgun to use!"

Inside the farmhouse, Nanuet crawls towards Chester staying as low as he can. He then drags the former soldier away from the outer wall and to a corner of the room. "Dang It! Chet, I thought I told you not to get shot!" Nanuet says as jokingly as possible considering the situation.

Nanuet wraps one of the blankets around Chester's shoulder. "You should be alright for now. Looks like the bullet went through you." The pair flinches when the second explosion occurs. Chester says, "This is some rescue. Flint is really cutting loose out there. Do you hear anything?"

Minerva, quickly reloads aims and shoots at the middleman as he starts to run. "Senor Flint, Toss another stick, they are heading for the barn!" Minerva's shot misses. Flint hears her and starts to run back towards the front of the farmhouse along the side wall, the other bundle of three unlit dynamite sticks tucked under his arm. One of the two still standing men nearer to Minerva and Kate turns and fires his revolver twice at Flint, the first shot going wide but the second coming much closer.

Minerva gives an unladylike curse while reloading. Aims and shoots at the man who is trying to gun down her friend. Kate looked at the pistol in her hand. "Oh, forget it," she muttered and began casting the last spell Mr. Gonzales had taught her before he went away. She aimed it at the third man in the group and said, "Jeff, time to work!"

Jake swings out his saw-off shot and lets the man peering around the corner have one barrel, while he tries to dodge the possible shot from the man's revolver. The man fires first but his shot misses. Jake's shot blows his head off. The man's partner opts to not fire. Jake and Ruby then hear the sound of one of the barn's doors opening. Jake rushes to the corner, peeks and let's off the remaining barrel of the shotgun at any opponent there.

A pair of light beams shoots out from Kate's fingers, one striking the man's gun hand and the other on the pressure point of his gun arm. The impact is not enough to incapacity the man but does cause him to drop his weapon. A mask of fear covers his face and he turns around and runs towards the horse corral.

The other man continues to fire at Flint, who has stopped to light the dynamite. The man's first two shots miss. The third shot hits Flint in his left hand. The dwarf ignores the injury and picks up the lit dynamite and prepares to throw it. Meanwhile, the man nears the house fires three shots at Jake, the first two missing and the third hitting Jake's shoulder but deflecting off of the duster for no damage.

"Jake!" Ruby screams as the bullets come flying towards him. She sees the third hit Jake and she momentarily panics before she realizes the bullet deflected off him. She quickly breathes a sigh of relief, uses two hands to aim her rifle, plants her feet and shoots at the man who just shot at Jake.

"I'm Ok." Jake says to Ruby. "I'm going after the guy who went into the barn, we can't have someone behind us." Jake runs across the front of the barn and rolls through the open door and comes up to shoot the man he expects to be hiding behind the door or inside the barn with the shotgun.

Minerva curses again and carefully aiming shoots at the man who is firing at Flint. Kate lifted the pistol again and took another shot at the man fleeing from the magic missiles. Minerva and Kate both miss. Ruby however has great success, shooting the man right between the eyes.

Flint has run out by the corner of the farmhouse looking for a target for this dynamite. He considers tossing it towards the man shooting at him but changes his mind as a triple would probably also catch Minerva and Kate in the debris field. He then sees the rifle barrel protruding from the first floor window. With his right fist he smashes the shutter and windowpane along the other window of the same room and then drops the dynamite inside.

Minerva watches Flint in disbelief "What in Hades is he doing! I told him not to blow up the farmhouse!!!!" "Flint doesn't think very clearly when he's blowing things up," Kate said, trying one more time for the man firing at Flint. Come on Goddess don't fail me now Minerva thinks as she reloads and shoots once again at the man firing at Flint. Kate misses yet again. Minerva is more successful, hitting the man in the arm. The wound does not appear serious, but he stops shooting although he is still holding his revolver.

Jake successfully tumbles into the barn and points his gun where he suspects the man is, but doesn't see him there. It is hard to see as the entire building is filled with dark smoke. The hay bales in the balconies are all fully engulfed with flames. The fire has ridden up to the pitched roof, which is now catching the upper beams and cedar shingles. Flaming pieces of hay are falling all around.

Jake then notices the man, over by the wagon in the center of the room working frantically to remove the tarp. Jake shoots the man at the tarp with the shotgun, then releases it to hang by the lanyard attached to the stock. Jake's second shotgun blasts takes off the head of this man. Enough of the tarp has now been revolved for him to see that the item in the wagon is a gattling gun.

Ruby quickly makes her way over to the barn doors and peeks inside. She sees Jake right there but it's smoky and she can't see anything else, so she keeps her back against the outside of the barn. Instead she turns and looks towards the guns that are pointing out towards them from the farmhouse. Ruby looks for the rifle barrel sticking out and fires. While using two hands and shooting her rifle toward the farmhouse she yells out, "Jake, still have things under control?"

The front corner room of the farmhouse explodes in a massive explosion, which blows the rifle and part of the arm holding it out of the front where the window used to be. The second floor above that room then collapses downward on top of the first floor. A cloud of dust and billows up from that corner of the building. Flint is knocked to the ground by the blast but quickly rises.

Nanuet and Chester hear the sound of the explosion elsewhere in the building. They then look up at the sound of the window boards being kicked in. They see Jeff Mills standing there with a rifle. He yells, "Good, I found you. Let's go." Chester says, "I'm glad to see a friendly face. Where are the others? And are the cowboys taken out?" Jeff replies, "Not yet. There are still some of them in the house. Let's go."

Chester asks, "You have an extra six-shooter on you? They took ours. Probably don't have extra clothes too?" Nanuet and Chester follow Jeff out the window. Chester asks, "So, what's the plan, Jeff? Is there a rally point?" "The plan was to find you. Here," he states and he hands his rifle to Chester, choosing to keep his old cap and ball revolver for himself. Chester laughs, then winces from the shoulder wound. "That's a good plan. Let's not hold it up, then. Lead on." The three scramble back the way Jeff came in.

Minerva looks up to see Luna's ghostly white shape silently gliding toward her. Luna gently lands on Minerva shoulder and a stunned expression comes over Minerva's face. She turns to Senora Kate and with tears in her eyes and tremor in her voice says. "Jeff has gotten to Senor Chester and Nanuet." Katherine notices that Minerva is visibly shaken. "The goddess has granted me a wonderful boon. Luna has never communicated with me before without a spell."

The man at the horse corral has now opened up the gate and jumps barebacked onto the nearest horse. Kate patted her arm quickly. "Cover me, I need to get closer," Kate said and ran for the gate, hoping to get close enough to cast a Daze spell at the man trying to escape.

Kate realizes that the man is a bit too far out of range for the spell, but notes that he is having trouble controlling the horse without any saddle, tack or harness on him. She also notes Chester's horse, which she helped train, is now only fifteen feet away from her. Kate ran for Chester's horse and threw her arms around its neck, pulling herself up. She felt better as soon as she was on horseback. She gave a quick command and they began toward the man on horseback, hoping to get close to him, between him and the gate.

Jake quickly looks around and listens for any evidence of others alive in the barn. If he is sure there are none he leaves the barn quickly. "Got him," he says to Ruby. He then scans the outside for opponents. "Good job baby," Ruby says giving him a quick kiss. "I think this is a big enough distraction. Now, onto the house to get Nanuet and Chester?" Up front, the rifle pointing out from the second floor window is pulled in

"That's what we came here ..." Jake doesn't finish the sentence when he notices the wounded gang member with the revolver and begins to unload his draw weapon at him. "Alright then." She watches Jake unload his weapon but only for a moment. Knowing there are still men in the farmhouse she takes a good look before starting a full on run to the house. She keeps her eye on the upper window, ready to dodge any shots that might come from there.

Jake's first shot is a wound to the man's chest. The man starts to stagger as Jake's second shot goes into his abdomen. Amazingly the man has enough stamina to turn towards Jake and start to raise his gun. Jake then calmly fires his third shot into the man's forehead.

Minerva sends Luna out to locate Maska, Chester and Nanuet. She continues to watch the farmhouse and Notices Ruby run inside. She looks in the upper windows and shoots if she sees someone who isn't Ruby at the window.

Out back, Jeff helps to get Nanuet and Chester get away from farmhouse, which is now burning in the right front corner. They head in the direction of the stream and woods 60 feet to the side of the farmhouse rear. Chester sits down against a tree. Nanuet asks, "Where are Mr. Jake and the others? Are they coming here soon?"

Ruby runs until she reaches the door of the farmhouse. Ruby pulls out her pistol, then kicks the door in, ducking to the side after she does so. The room to her right is now on fire. before her is a hallway running back, with rooms off to the left. She hears the sound of footsteps rapidly descending down a staircase further back. She will not be able to see who is on the stairs until he reaches the bottom of them, twenty feet further down the corridor.

Ruby quietly and slowly moves down the corridor, towards the stairs, with her gun raised. She waits to see who is there and if it isn't a friend she will shoot. A man reaches the bottom of the staircase and turns. Ruby immediately recognizes him as the man who Johnny Ringo had signaled to the previous night in the Lucky Lady. He has a rifle in his hand that he begins to raise. She fires and misses.

Jake just manages to see Jeff, Chester and Nanuet heading away from the house and yells, "Ruby, get out of the house they are out here!" He holsters his Colt while he runs to the corner of the barn to retrieve is dropped rifle. Then he walks towards the farmhouse watching all the windows. Minerva waits a moment but doesn't see anyone in the windows. She runs down the hill watching for shooters and into the front of the farmhouse in search of Ruby.

Kate and the man she is chasing both ride along the roadway leading to the farmhouse. She is far more familiar with riding this way than he is and soon manages to close within distance to cast her planned spell. It is successful and under the influence of it he is no longer able to keep balance on the horse and falls from it. Jake notices this and calculates whether he has a shot at this man without endangering Katherine.

Kate knew that the spell would only confuse the man for a few seconds. Kate rode close to the prone man and waited until his eyes cleared. "Try to run away and I'll run you down," she said, pistol in hand. He looks up at her and looks like he is about to say something when Jake's shot enters his side. The man slumps over dead.

Back inside the burning farmhouse Ruby sees the man raise his rifle. She tries to duck into one of the rooms in the hallway, while taking another shot at him. Ruby grazes the man in his lower abdomen before ducking into a room. She yells out, "So, how do you like it when someone comes to YOUR home and threatens you?!?" He jumps back to the bottom of the staircase out of her line of fire. She then hears him beginning to utter an incantation that Ruby recognizes as the same one that Sonoma uses to make herself invisible.

Crap! thinks Ruby, I have to get him now or he'll kill me... While he is still reciting the words to his spell she comes back out of the room, moves into the hallway to where she thinks she can hit him and based on where his voice was she fires her gun to the area until it is empty. Ruby sees him fading out as she fires her first shot, which barely misses. She hears him starting to move from where he was and continues to fire where she believes him to be. Her fourth and fifth shots both connect and she hears him slump onto the floor, although she is still unable to see him.

Kate gasped as the bullet entered the man. She turned her head and saw Jake. "Jeff got them out, it's time to go! Where's Ruby?" After Jake fires he hears the shots in the farmhouse. He drops his rifle and charges for the farmhouse door, drawing his Colt again and dagger in the off hand. Jake does not respond to Kate as he had already turned and run into the house after hearing several gunshots. Kate hesitated, unsure what to do.

"Damn it!" Ruby says out loud to no one. She pulls out her dagger and she starts moving towards the stairs, which are closer to the middle of the house. "Nanuet! Chester!" She starts calling out, hoping to hear an answer. As she gets near where she thinks the invisible man fell she will use her foot to kick around before heading up towards the stairs.

Jake enters the farmhouse, the fire now beginning to spread. He sees Ruby down the hallway holding a smoking gun in her hand. He does not see who she was shooting at. "Ruby, let's go. The boys are outside!" Jake continues to scan for opponents and steps aside so Ruby can run out the door while he covers her back.

She startles when she hears Jake behind her. "They are? Thank your god Jake. There is a guy right there," she points to the area where she thinks the man fell. "He went invisible but I think I shot him anyway. I don’t' know if he's dead or not." She takes another look at the burning house and dodges some falling rubble.

She manages to kick his rifle away from him, it then becoming visible. She locates where he is on the floor. Ruby grabs his rifle and gives him a swift kick. "Time to go!" She grabs Jake hand and they run out of the farmhouse.

Once Ruby and Jake get outside Ruby runs around until she finds Nanuet and Chester. She dives onto both of them, a look of relief coming over her, "Oh, I cannot even TELL YOU how happy I am you are ok!" She hugs both of them tightly and repeatedly. Chester replies, “"Probably as happy as I am to see all of you. I was worried what those cowboys were going to do with us.”

"I believe this is yours," Ruby says to Nanuet, handing him back his necklace at the same time Maska comes running over to Nanuet and tackles him. Then she turns to Jake. "Good job, Mr. Cook, I'm impressed," she says while wiping some dirt off his face. "You didn't even lose your lucky hat."




DM's note: This was the first full-party combat sequence of the module, I hope you all enjoyed it. Reader's comments regarding the module are always welcomed!

Chapter 85, “Assessment”, Saturday, March 18th , 1882, 8:15 A.M:

Once Ruby and Jake came running out of the house, Kate urged the horse back into the corral where she located Chester's horse and whistled. She took both back to the trail where Minerva had stayed and met with the others.

Chester exclaims, “They thought we were going to Tombstone with a message for the Earps. Did you get all of them?" He starts shivering. "Anyone have jackets we could borrow. They took our clothes." He grins sheepishly. He shakes hands with Jake, "Thanks for coming to get us. Wasn't sure how long they were going to keep us around."

Kate slid down to the ground and smiled at her friends. "I have a whole new appreciation for dynamite. It's good to have you with us again," Kate said looking to Chester and Nanuet. "There's a lot to catch you up on. Nanuet, I hope you don't mind I borrowed your horse, I..." Her face turned suddenly crimson as she looked at the men. She dug into her coat pocket, pulled out several rolled bandages and handed them to Nanuet. "Maybe you could, um...

Kate says, "We need to stop that fire from spreading. The buildings can burn to the ground for all I care, but we don't want to be the cause of a wildfire. If we clear those saplings and any loose stuff from around the buildings it should be all right. And we should try to get the animals away from the heat."

On the subject of the fires and heat, the barn roof now collapses, causing sections of both sides to also cave in. The thirty cows and eight horses in the corrals begin to panic.

Luna flies back to land on Minerva's outstretched arm and communicates the location of the rest of the party. In awe of this new gift and with gratitude that her friends are safe Minerva raises her eyes to the heavens and gives thanks. The aftershock of battle is upon her and she begins to shake as the adrenaline drains from her system.

At she realizes how close she has come to losing her new friends it is replaced with a slow burning anger. Fueled by her fear, her anger increases as she races up the hill, swearing like a cowboy on a cattle herd." Spying Flint and Jeff she quickly closes the distance and begins yelling as she stalks toward them. Her temper is in full swing as places herself in Flints face.

"ARE YOU CRAZY!!? I TOLD YOU NOT TO BOLW UP THE DAMNED FARMHOUSE!!”
Wheeling around she turns her wrath on Jeff poking a finger in his chest as he backs up. "AND YOU!!! WHAT IN HADES DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING RUNNING OFF LIKE THAT WITHOUT TELLING ME WHERE YOU WERE GOING?!! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!!" She stands there with balled fists and with an impotent fury continues " WE HAD A PLAN! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO FOLLOW THE PLAN!! YOU ARE BOTH MUEY LOCO!!!”

Her dark eyes smoldering she turns in search of another target and sees the others staring at her as though she is the one that has gone loco. The haze slowly clears from her eyes she notices Chester and Nanuet. A small sound like a sob escapes her lips as she hurries over to hug them both fiercely. "You are safe.. I thought you were in that burning farmhouse.. I thought I lost you.... If Luna hadn’t told me.... " She is overcome with relief and hugs them harder. "Ah, Thank the goddess we are all safe. Chester flinches as she hugs him "Senor, You are hurt! Sit down. I will tend to you . She takes a calming breath to regain her composure and casts heal upon his wound.

As she stands back up she suddenly realizes that they are all but naked. "Well at least you two still have your dignity. I seem to have misplaced mine" she laughs and places her cloak around Chester. "Ah I think you need this more than I , Senor." Nanuet accepts the embraces from his friends and offers a quick but sincere "Thanks." Once that he sees that Chester is being tended to he heads to the corral and begins attempting to calm the animals and get them away from the fire. Minerva suggests,” Perhaps there is some clothing here that Senors Nanuet and Chester can wear. It is a long ride back to Promise City "

Kate watched Minerva run from hot to cold, knowing she herself had done the same from time to time. "I'm going to need some help," Kate said and then began to run down the road, leaving Chester's horse where it was. She stuck her hand in her pocket, checking to see how many bandages she had left. It might be necessary to blindfold the horses to stop their panicking. Once she got there, she began the work of getting the animals out of the corral and up the trail.

Jake organizes collecting up the dead bodies, belongings and guns of the fallen gang members. He secretly asks Ruby to check to see if anything here is magical. "If we are going to have a war let us not leave any useful tools behind." Jake then checks them himself for valuables, information or useful items. Once all items they are interested in are removed Jake asks the group, "Should we toss them in the barn? It would keep the vultures off them."

Katherine brushed herself off and moved the rest of the animals up the hill. It was a relief to get away from the smell of burning flesh that occasionally wafted over from the burning barn. She wasn't sure how much longer she could keep her stomach under control, especially as she moved around the burning building, removing any loose debris that could catch fire and allow it to spread from the buildings to the countryside.

Once the bodies were nearly cleared up, Kate recruited Jeff and Flint to help clear the saplings. She hated to see the young trees cut, but better those few than the whole hill. She finally joined the others on the trail, pale-faced and exhausted.

Jeff, Jake, Chester and Nanuet are busy carrying the bodies to the barn to create a funeral pyre when a large quantity of gunshots then ring out. They quickly realize that the shots are coming from the burning barn debris, as literally hundreds of bullets fly out in all directions from there. Four bullets hit the body that Jeff is carry across his chest. Two barely miss Nanuet. One gazes Chester's shoulder. Three deflect off of Jake's duster and another plugs a hole through his Lucky Hat. Jake's skull is untouched, but the bullet does manage to knock the hat from his head and leaves a steak of gray across his hair where the bullet parted it.

Everyone dives to the ground as all of the 400 rounds of ammunition from inside the overheated and split gattling gun continue to go off. When things finally quiet down they find that the only real casualty is one of the cows that took a stray shot in his neck.

"Will this day ever end?" Nanuet hollers out in frustration once things settle down. He picks up Jake's hat and hands it back to him. "You're gonna need a new one of these to cover up that new hairdo of yours." Nanuet says, a smile naturally coming to his face. "Is everyone OK? I still have a few healing prayers I could use today."

Jake rubs the burned bullet track in his hair and wrinkles his nose at the burnt smell. "That was a bit close, wasn't it. I'm fine Indian, nothing a couple of shots of whisker can't cure." After they gather up themselves and spoils of this battle, but before they head up the hill to their horses Jake says, "So now what? We did what we came to do and the Cowboys no longer have this hold on us. Johnny Ringo is off trying to arrange Chester and Nanuet's release, and will not be very happy. Do we just head back to Promise City or what?"

Kate says, "I'm not certain. I myself want to get back to Promise City. You're right, Ringo was expecting quite a lot this morning and I'm sure is very disappointed. Who knows what has happened? We didn't tell anyone what we were doing, and Dorita thinks Ringo is a friend of Tom's. They could tell him things without realizing the damage he could do with them. That doesn't necessarily make going right back to Promise City the best course. We aren't that far from Tombstone, and the Earp's need to be warned."

Chester comments, “The Cowboys thought we had a message for the Earps. That's one reason they caught us. Now we do. If there are more of that bunch still alive, we're going to need the law's help."

Minerva looks to Jake while futilely brushing the red dirt from her riding skirt. "Well, I for one, would like to get back in time for Sunday Sermon. I have a point or two that I'd like to get across to the Vigilance Committee and I'd like to gather more support for the Festival as well. She looks pointedly at each of them. "Now I know that most of you here are not "Church Goers" and some of you are down right skeptics. That's o.k. BUT I could really use all of your support at this one sermon."

Katherine and Ruby look away uncomfortably and Minerva puts up her hand." Now I don't usually take this tact to get people to church on Sunday but in all fairness I have more than proven my friendship and loyalty by blindly following you all into more than one precarious situation in the short time since we've met. Now I ask that you do the same for me."

Jake laughs and laughs. "Si Senorita, going to church is a precarious situation for many of us." Jake laughs again but seeing that the priestess does not seem to think it is as funny as he does he tries to contain his laughter. "Si, I will go. This one time anyway. I would argue that my presence is not going to help you, but Jake Cook stands by his friends. So I'll brave the dangers of this Sunday's sermon." He says in mock seriousness.

Chester nods his head in agreement. "Of course sister. I'd be glad too. Although in my current state of dress, I may cause more problems for you. Thank you for your prayers. One of the Cowboys got me good." He asks Jake, "Any chance you found my and Nanuet's weapons?" Jake replies, "I don't know what they look like, but we have a pile of weapons here. Hopefully you can find something you like."

Chester picks through the pile hoping to find his old weapons. He carried them through his time in the Army and would be sorry to find them gone. After sorting through the pile, he hoots in triumph. "Got 'em. Here's your rifle, too Nanuet." Chester grabs another single action revolver, a Colt, this time from the pile. "It's always handy to have a second gun around here."

Nanuet says, "At the very least I think we may need to get back to Promise City to regroup. My horse is dead, although I think I may be able to find a suitable replacement, but my weapon and clothes are gone as well. Chester is injured and weaponless; and you all have to be exhausted. Oh, and Miss West, I believe I owe you $50, sorry about that ma'am."

Nanuet stops for a moment, then continues speaking: "The problem with that plan is Ringo is there and doesn't know about this mess we made for him here. So it might be a better idea to try and get to him now, surprise him a bit. I am sure we could stake out the road between here and Promise City, he will have to come back eventually, but that leaves him there, unchecked until he decides it is time to come back. Guess I didn't clear much up with those thoughts did I?"

Kate says, "Yes you did. We go home. Who knows what Ringo is up to and we are too tired to keep running around like this. The Cowboys have decided to finish it with the Earps one way or another, and for some reason they aren't letting us stand aside. You'll all excuse me for a moment?" Kate asked, her face an ugly shade of green. Chester comments, “Wonder how he'll react to seeing us free and clear? That'd be something to see."

Kate walked away from the group and into the trees until she felt reasonably private. It took a moment to unclench her fists and reveal the bloody half-moons in her palms. What Tom had not managed to accomplish in five years of marriage, Minerva now would by manipulating her sense of obligation. Kate finally lost the battle for control of her stomach and was sick behind one of the trees. After another minute or so, when both her stomach and temper were under control she went back to the group on the trail. "I'm sorry, it's been a long day. We should go, wherever it is we're going."

Kate asks Chester and Nanuet, “Can either of you ride bareback? We have plenty of horses now but no tack for them. I don't mind riding without if one of you would rather ride my stallion back.
As long as there's no objections to going back to Promise City, we should get moving. It will take us longer trying to drive those cows.”

While everyone talked over the plan, Ruby also searched, then detected for magic on the items that Jake had piled up. While the spell is still going and her friends are discussing what to do she wandered around the entire area looking for any other magic that might be in place. She reloaded both her guns and also the new rifle she picked up inside the farmhouse. She deliberately kept herself out of Minvera's conversation, making no comment on attending church services.

Finally Ruby pipes up, "I can ride back with Jake on his horse and either Nanuet or Chester can use my horse. That should help. And we should get going, we might be able to get back before Ringo knows what happened here."

Jake reloads his weapons while the group is deciding what to do. "I am happy to get back to Promise City, if that is what everyone wants to do. That's my preference. I'm no cowpoke but it seems to me it will be much slower driving cattle. I'm not complaining, and I'm not suggesting we should split up either. I agree it would be foolish to leave these head behind." Jake idly fingers the hole in his hat while he talks.

Ruby finally sees the hole in Jake's hat, "What happened to your lucky hat?" she says with a pout forming. Jake flings his hat over to Ruby and runs a hand through his hair. "I probably needed a haircut anyway. Next time I'll have the barber do it. Know anybody who can fix the hat?" Jake grins and shrugs.

Ruby looks horrified from Jake's hat to his head. "Oh Jake..." her voice trails off and she looks back at the hat in her hands. "If something would have happened to you...." her voice trails off again. She kicks some dirt with her boot and doesn't say anything else.

Chester says, "I can ride bareback. Been a while, but it shouldn't be too hard." Kate interjects, "That sounds fine Chester. Nanuet, why don't you take my stallion since I didn't see your horse among the others? I'd like to ride one of the new horses and see how their training is. Since we're all agreed, lets get started. I'm not really anxious to see Johnny Ringo today, but it will have to be done eventually." Kate made sure she had everything and then headed back on the way to the horses.

"Sure thing Kate, I'd be honored to ride your fine mount. First let me see if I can fix Mr. Jake's hat." Nanuet takes Jake's hat from Ruby and begins a simple prayer, concentrating on patching the hole. He asks, "So, where exactly are we headed? Bringing these cattle somewhere close by or trying to make it all the way back to Promise City?"

Jake walks over to Nanuet and examines the hat. "You're a pretty handy guy. Glad we decided to rescue you, otherwise I'd have to buy another hat. On the way back don't forget to tell us what happened to get you here." Then he turns to Ruby. "Everything is fine now, I ducked and the hat took one for me. Pretty lucky, huh?"

Jake works his arm around Ruby, who is carrying the rifle she took from the man in the farmhouse, and addresses the group. "Looks like we agree to head back to Promise City. Gather up those weapons, and if anybody needs something take it now. Katherine, you and Flint you may want keep the livestock out of town for sometime. There are two ranches I know about on the way back. One is the King's Bar-W Ranch, which is closer but a little out of the way; and the other is Shaw's Lazy-S Ranch, which is farther but closer to a straight line back to Promise City. I don't know the King's very well. They are a bit uptight. I'd recommend going to the Lazy-S. Shaw has had long struggles with the Cowboy gang and seems to think very highly of anyone who goes up against them. That and he rather enjoys Miss West's company." Jake gives her a little squeeze. "Besides, he might have information about the gang's latest activities that we could use. What do you want to do?"

Kate replies, "That sounds fine to me. I was a bit worried about taking these animals back to the ranch myself, and we'll move quicker without them." Kate went over to the weapon pile and pulled out a shotgun, then slid it behind the saddlebags on the stallion Nanuet would be riding. "I need all the advantages I can get," she said with a shrug.

Chester says, "Sounds good, Jake. Mr. Shaw can vouch for us, incase there's a question of ownership with the livestock." He mounts his horse. "So, anyone ever drive cattle before?" He notices Kate's green look and trots over. "You feeling OK there, Kate? You look a little green around the edges." She replies, "I'm fine, it'll pass. This isn't the way I usually start my day."

A short while later, Jake takes a quiet moment with Katherine. "Since you are the horse expert, I wonder if you wouldn't mind making sure that anybody who would like a horse from this bunch gets one. I don't need anything, you and Flint keep all the livestock left for the ranch. I know Senorita Florencia needs a horse, it might be a nice gesture of thanks if you helped her select a suitable one. I know you'll take care of Nanuet. I don't know if any of the others have any horse needs." Jake stops and looks around before continuing, "Are you alright?"

"Should I be?" she asked before she took a deep breath and said, "I'll pull horses from the ones already on the ranch. These horses are even more recognizable than the cattle, we should leave them with the Shaws as well. Since I'm already familiar with the horses on the ranch I can make better choices."

"Thanks. And yes, you should be. Nanuet and Chester are alive and free. I'm glad for you, that you will never be accustomed to what you just did." Jake turns to go back to Ruby, " I guess I meant that I hope you are OK. I didn't mean to further upset you." "You didn't," she said dully. "I'm just.... I'm tired, that's all, and there's no rest to come."

Ruby comments, "I like Mr. Shaw and I'm sure him and his daughters will be helpful. We can stop there, it's a good idea. Don't forget that Ringo is in Promise City, maybe even waiting for us. I don't know anything about moving cattle and how long that will take, so I won't be helpful with that at all."

After the conversation continues on Ruby puts her head on Jake's shoulder and nuzzles him. She puts her lips to his ear and whispers, "The only thing I found that was magical are the bullets in this gun," she nods to the rifle in her hand. "Could be helpful against Ringo's spell."

"Yes." Jake says thoughtfully. "Yes, that would be just the thing. Oh and here." He says removing from under his belt a six shot double action revolver. "It's in decent shape, you should have an extra just in case. The former owner has no more use for it."

Ruby takes the gun and puts it in her saddlebag. "Thanks for looking our for me baby." She gives him a kiss. "Let's get going now before more Cowboys show up, ok?" Ruby hops up onto her horse and waits for the others.

After retrieving his rifle from Chester and as much ammunition he can find in a minute or so Nanuet hops aboard Kate's horse and joins Ruby in waiting for the others.

Minerva keeps a concerned eye on Katherine from a distance. "Well that was an interesting shade of green. Not the affect I usually have on people. she chuckles to herself as she reloads and straps her rifle to her mount. "Well whatever the problem is the sooner she face's it the sooner it will go away. Hmmm, Looks like Ruby is avoiding me also. "

Kate pulled herself up on one of the extra horses, her stomach still a little off. None of them really knew how to drive cattle, Kate wasn't sure how she'd gotten them this far. It wasn't long before she was thinking that perhaps cows just weren't worth this much trouble.

A wave of tiredness had overcome Ruby. They hadn't slept much last night and the adrenaline of the situation had worn off. Her friends were struggling with moving the cattle and she was trying not to fall off her horse as her eyes started to close.

Jake rides over to Ruby and pushes his horse up again hers. "Hey, ride with me for a while. You can nap and I'll hold you. It's not like we are going anyway fast with these cattle. I've seen cat herds more organized than this." Jake ties Ruby's horse behind his and slowly follows the group as they chase the stray heads that sadly seem to out number the few that are acting like a herd.

Ruby slides over carefully to Jake’s horse while he holds hers close. She nestles back into Jake, getting comfortable once he puts his arms around her. She leans her head back, turns her face to his neck and almost immediately falls asleep with a small smile on her face.

Chapter 86, “Cattle Drive”, Saturday, March 18th , 1882, 9:00 A.M.

Back in Promise City, Dorita is unsure what to do about the man waiting for Kate. Kate had left in the middle of the night with Ruby and Jake on what Ruby had called "a dangerous trip", but no further details.

Dorita calls Ginnie aside and tells her "See that man sitting there. He a friend of Kate's late husband. She has drink with him last night. He here now looking for her. She leave during night with Ruby and Jake. I not know why. Ruby say dangerous, me think they looking for my grandfather. Could you please go talk to that man?"

Ginnie replies, “I'll see what I can do ma'am but if you hear some things that might be umm... a little off the mark don't worry about them. I'm going to find out who he is and what he really wants first, I have learned not to trust anyone who sets foot in this town looking for Ma'am Kate or any of her friends.” "Thank you," Dorita says, "How should I introduce you to him?"

Ginnie states, “Don't worry about it I think I can take it from here I'll let you know what happens.” With that she picks up a pitcher of fresh milk and a coffee cup and heads over to the gentleman's table. "Good morning my name is Ginnie would you like milk in your coffee?

He smiles a friendly smile and says, "Yes child, that would be fine. And could you ask the woman to prepare me a simple breakfast while I wait?" She replies, "Sure Dorita makes the best food in town what are you waiting for? Oops… Shouldn’t have said that Ma'am Kate says I'm always sticking my nose in business I don't have any mind in"

He smiles, "Did I hear you say Ma'am Kate? Would that perhaps be Mrs. Katherine Kale you are speaking of?" Ginnie replies, “Yes sir, she's my teacher and other things. Sometimes I help Dorita in the morning before lessons. Why do you know Ma'am Kate? Um sir do you have a name I should call you by?”

He replies, "I am John Peters, I was a friend of Katherine's late husband Thomas. I came to this town on an errand and wanted to visit with her. Do you know where she is? She said that she would join me for breakfast this morning."

Ginnie states, “Well, she was gone when I got up this morning so I'm figuring that she may have headed out to the ranch before lessons start. So you knew her husband? She doesn't talk about him much except for the times before they came out west. What was he like?”

Peters replies, "Tom was a friendly man. He has asked me about investing in the ranch that he was planning to build. He was sick when he first came to Tombstone but got better. He often played cards with me and some of my friends. Spoke mostly of his Katie. After meeting her for the first time last night I can see why, she's quite the woman."

He drinks a sip of his coffee and says, "I'm sorry that I missed her. I had thought we would be meeting for breakfast, but I guess that wasn't definite. So you say she is probably out at this ranch of hers. Is it far? I would like to get a chance to say goodbye to her before I leave town. Maybe I could ride out there if you could give me directions. Or better yet, maybe you could show me. I'd pay you for the errand."

She answers, “It's a ways but let me get your breakfast first and I'll see what I can do.” With that Ginnie scampers into the kitchen. She tells the middle-aged wood elf “Dorita, his name is John Peters. He says he was a friend of Ma'am Kate's husband but I don't trust him. No one came to the burial when it happened other than Ma'am Kate and me. Or for that matter I don't trust anyone who ever came from Tombstone. Get Ricky in here for me.” Ginnie waits while Dorita gets young Ricardo Hueseca, a wood-elf the human-equivalent of four who is the son of one of the El Parador working girls.

Ginnie tells him, “I need you to go to the Post Office to check to see if that man John Peters is wanted for anything. Then if you don't find anything out go to the wood elf at the Marshal's office, only the wood elf, to see if this man is a bounty hunter of any kind or something else that might cause Ma'am Kate trouble. If nothing comes up check with the Deputy Sheriff to see if he knows anything about this man. If you find anything at all get back here fast before you go to the next place. Let Dorita know she'll flag me down. This is really important.”

Ginnie waits until Ricky flies out the door. She tells Dorita, “I let him think that Ma'am Kate might have ridden out to the ranch and he wants me to take him there. If I need to keep him busy I'll want someone to go with me as I don't trust him as far as I can throw him. I'll bring out two plates when I get his breakfast and see what else I can find out from him while he eats. As long as I'm still pretending to be a silly little talkative girl he'll think I'm babbling so he'll pump me for information while I try to get some from him. I'll let you know what else I come up with as I go back and forth to the kitchen. If I think there's trouble I can't get out of I'll drop my knife.”

Dorita tells Ginnie to be careful. She advises against taking this man to the ranch out of concern for her daughter Sonoma, who is the only one out at the ranch at the moment since Flint had gone with the others. Ginnie brings the food back to the table.

Peters thanks her and starts to eat while asking again about Kate. Ginnie says, “Ma'am Kate came here to make a ranch but she's also a good teacher. So what were you looking for Ma'am Kate for? It's been a while since her husband died. Where were you when they had the stone laid or the burial? Ma'am Kate was told that no one showed up when he was buried and the same thing happened when the marker was put in place.”

John Peters replies "I was out of town at the time of the first burial and I believe that the stone marker was placed when I was in jail. That was just a misunderstanding between myself and the Earps and I was let go. From what I hear similar things have happened here in this town. I'll never understand why people decided to put badges on that family. What do people in this town say about that?"

Ginnie replies, “Well, I know that the Earps aren't in the school and they don't have kids that might be taking classes with Ma'am Kate but they didn‘t stop her from putting the school together. What where you in jail for? Lots of people seem to get caught doing things they get tossed in jail for. you must not have made a lot of money at cards if you were in jail as the judge almost always gives people the chance to pay their way out of their terms. So what do you actually do for a living?”

He replies, "My being in jail was just a misunderstanding. They thought I was involved with something that I wasn't and the Judge made them let me go. Perchance did Mrs. Kale leave any sort of note for me? She was going to check with her friend Mr. Cook about a potential business matter and said she'd have an answer."

John Peters and Ginnie continue to talk. He asks her more questions about the ranch and she is vague in her answers. He asks about other places that Kate has been and how she went about getting the ranch. Ginnie quickly states something about it being "an idea that she got at the deed place", meaning the County Claims Office.

He then mishears her and says, "D-place, what D-place are you talking about? Do you mean Denver?" Ginnie says, "No, I'm not sure what I meant. I don't know if she's ever been to Denver. Have you?" He says that he has and she immediately exclaims "Really! What's it like?" He spends the next twenty minutes telling her about Denver Colorado. Ginnie continues to ply her companion with coffee and keep him talking at the El Parador for as long as possible while she waits for Ricky to return with some information.


Meanwhile, some thirty-odd miles to the west, Nanuet rides across in back of the herd while trying to gather up a rather obnoxious dark brown beast with one broken horn. Jake tries to imagine where a rib eye comes from but can't figure it out. "Hey Indian! Why don't we shoot them all and drag them to the ranch, it might be faster."

Jake then rides over towards where Katherine is looking rather exasperated. "I think I told you about that old coot, Caleb White? He used to say to me," Jake changes his voice to sound old and gravelly, " Silver Dollar, if you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin. Katherine, if you can gather them all together I can beat them in a game of poker. And I never met a rib eye I didn't like. Outside of that I don't know what to do with these bloody beasts."

Kate looked around at the straying animals and the others trying to keep the slow moving cattle from wandering off in all directions. Flint seemed to be taking special delight in slapping them on the backside with his reins. "I don't know either. I never signed up for cows you know, horses are a lot more manageable. We can't afford the time it's going to take to move them, but I hate to just leave them to wander."

A moment later Jeff approached and said, "Why don't we send someone ahead to one of the ranches? They could get some experienced people to drive these cattle." Kate nodded. "Jeff, either you're a genius, or you got more sleep than the rest of us last night. That's a good idea, Jake. You and Ruby could go ahead, you already know the Shaws. I wouldn't mind letting them keep an extra animal or two for moving these beasts if it gets us back to Promise City faster."

He replies, “"That always happens, I open my mouth and I have to do work. You'd think I'd learn by now." Jake smiles to Katherine. "All right princess, wake up. We have to ride." Jake shakes Ruby gently. They take a few minutes to get ready, including have a quick bite to eat and drink. They bid their companions well and ride off to the Shaw ranch in search of some assistance.

Minerva rides zigzag along the back of the herd with Nanuet as they struggle to keep the herd from scattering in all directions. She is tired and giddy from lack of sleep and exertion but manages to keep her humor as she yells over to Nanuet "I feel about as useless as teat on a bull!" She giggles as a particularly belligerent bull suddenly decides to stop for a snack. She makes ineffective clucking noises as she tries to persuade the stubborn brute to keep moving.

She exclaims, "Gods, these beasts are about as cooperative as the Olympus Church congregation on a Saturday night! It's going to take a miracle to move this herd. Unfortunately I'm fresh out! Any idea's?" She laughs uncontrollably, overcome by the ridiculousness of their situation."

""Saying 'Ya ya' might help." Chester shrugs. "Well, it might." The cattle mill about in the middle of the road. "Come on. Get moving or we'll turn you into steaks right here. Never thought I'd be half-naked and herding cattle."

" Minerva closes her eyes to the sun and stretches her arms up to the heavens. She arches her aching back and yawns. With her dark hair streaming behind her and her breasts swelling over her bodice she is oblivious to the affect her movement has on the two men. "
"Perhaps you could demonstrate for me, Senor Chester. I am so tired, I think my ya ya may be broken!"

Well everybody is a comedian today aren't they!" Nanuet says shaking his head while wearing a smirk. "I see Jake and Ruby are riding off to get some help, somebody who knows what they are doing I hope. I guess for now we just try and keep them together and heading that way. It never looked too hard when I saw cowboys doing it, but these beasts have a mind of their own for sure." Nanuet says before riding off to wrangle up a pair of cows who have wandered off in search of their own path.

Minerva looks back in response to Nanuet's comment and starts laughing all over again. She point's behind him. " It looks like Maska and Luna want a part in this circus too!" Maska is trotting in the rear with Luna perched at attention on her back. "What an unlikely pair!"

Nanuet turns to look at the "unlikely pair" that Minerva mentioned and couldn't help but laugh. He was about to start speaking about his perplexity concerning how the owl was perched on the wolf without causing Maska severe discomfort when Minerva began responding to Chester so he deferred his attention to her. He turns and notices her stretching and immediately turns red. "Yes, I am sure we are all tired and need rest, but the more we concentrate on the task at hand the sooner we can get that respite we so desperately need."

Katherine pulled off her hat and wiped the sweat off her forehead. The sun was getting warmer by the minute, and it wasn't long before she peeled off the duster and vest. She was quiet as the others joked and laughed, trying to keep her mind distracted from the events of the last day by focusing on moving those damn cattle.

She turned to look at Maska when Minerva pointed out the odd pairing and saw the stretching the so unnerved the men. For a moment she looked down at her own neat and slim but petite figure and sighed. The next moment a sudden giggle escaped her lips.

In the last half day Chester and Nanuet had been kidnapped, Johnny Ringo had told them they were to be in a war whether they wanted to or not, and they had fought a battle. Johnny Ringo was probably in the El Parador night now, and her friends were trying to move this stubborn herd of cows more than a few feet an hour, and she was worried about the size of her bust? Kate buried her hands in the horses mane to keep from falling off as she shook with helpless laughter.

Chester, Flint, Jeff, Kate, Minerva and Nanuet continue to try to herd the cattle southward in the direction of the main road, still more than a mile away. The morning sun is bearing down on them, bearing no resemblance to the clouds and showers of the previous evening.

Ruby and Jake barely reach the main road when they hear the sound of approaching horses coming from the direction of Tombstone. It is too late to hide so they reach for their weapons and prepare for the worst. They then relax when the Wells Fargo Stage comes into view, their friend Chuck Nevers driving the stage and Newton Gilly riding shotgun.

Jake now recalls that on weekends the stage does an extra Friday night run, staying overnight in Tombstone, and then returning to Promise City in the morning. Jake checks his pocket watch, reading 9:45 A.M., which would be just about right for the stage's schedule assuming that it left Tombstone at 9:00 A.M. As he sees Jake and Ruby, Nevers slows the stage and then brings it to a halt as he reaches them. "Hello, what are you doing way out here this early in the morning?" he asks.

"Yes, a god awful time to be out if you ask me." Jake takes a deep breath and realizes just how tired he is. "We are helping out some friends who were worried about the Cowboy gang. We are headed to the Lazy-S Ranch right now. Have you fellas seen any trouble from the gang this morning or yesterday?"

Chuck says, "We saw a few guys yesterday who we didn't like the look of but none today. You're welcome to ride alongside us to the Lazy-S, more safety in numbers. If you want you can tie your horses to the coach and ride inside, we only have one passenger with us on this run. Although you may find him to be a bit talkative."

Ruby looked at Jake, "Oh please let's ride inside. I'm so tired, even if Chumbley is in there. Besides I been meaning to talk with him anyway." Ruby looks at Jake with big pleading eyes, the ones he can't say no to. "Good!" She says with a smile. "Thank you Mr. Nevers, we really appreciate it."

Ruby and Jake get off their horses and tie them to the back of the stage. They get inside and take a seat. She exclaims, "Hello, Mr. Chumbley, how are you today?"

The halfling looks up, sees Ruby, and all the blood drains from his face. He then faints dead away. Ruby then notices the two stacks of newspapers on the floor of the coach with the headline "Ruby West Murdered!"

Chapter 87, “Chumbley’s Surprise”, Saturday, March 18th , 1882, 9:45 A.M.

Chuck Nevers bursts out laughing. He says, "Wish we could do that on all of the runs, I swear, he scares away our customers with his chatter." Nevers then adds, "Too bad he won't stay that way for the trip. We could really give the rig a good run, although I doubt your horses would be able to keep up."

Ruby laughs. "Poor guy, we can't leave him like that! We're the only ones on the coach for today anyway, let me help him. You guys can get going if you'd like." Ruby kneels on the floor and leans over Chumbley, her long hair brushing his face. She gently shakes him and says softly, "Chumbley, come on Chumbley wake up..." She runs her fingers over his cheek as she speaks, trying to get him to wake up.

Ruby bounds into the stagecoach before Jake can even say a word. "Sure Ruby," He says to himself, "that is a good idea." He shakes his head and dismounts. He quickly ties the horses to the back of the stage, grabs their rifles and shotgun off the horse and climbs inside just in time to see Ruby leaning over the prone halfing.

"Maybe you should let him rest for a bit, it might be the only sleep you get." Jake says to Ruby as he closes the door and pounds on the side of the stage twice. "All set here Chuck. Thanks again, and don't forget to wake us in the unlikely event we manage to get any sleep back here." Ruby looks up from her position over the halfling. "Oh sure... I get it." She smiles at Jake as she gets up off the floor and takes a seat on the bench, patting the seat next to her.

"You get it, huh." Jake leans back on the seat and closes his eyes. "Explain it to me someday. I wonder how half pint's paper sales will be?" Ruby furrows her brows. "Oh you mean you really want to get some sleep?" Ruby starts to put on her pout but stops. "I guess I am still really tired."

She snuggles up next to Jake, putting her head on his shoulder and pulling her feet up. "I do want to talk to him though, about the other newspaper," she says with a yawn. She leans forward and grabs a paper, "Maybe I should read about my murder, might be an interesting story." She holds the paper up and starts reading.

A while later the Wells Fargo Stage reaches the turn in the road that heads south a few miles to the Shaw's Ranch. Taking the turn jostles all three sleeping individuals inside the coach awake. Chumbley stands up on the coach floor and stares in awe at Ruby exclaiming "You're Alive!" Once she blinks her eyes open he pounces on her and gives her a big hug exclaiming "I though...oh....You're Alive!"

Ruby had started to wake up in her usual way, slowly opening her eyes and making soft moaning 'do I really have to wake up' noises when she was suddenly pounced upon by the enthusiastic halfing.

Ruby giggles and wraps her arms around the halfling, returning his hug, although a bit sleepily. "Yes, I'm alive. It was all a big misunderstanding," Ruby smiles. "And I'm glad to know that you were so concerned!" Ruby fakes a frown as she lets Chumbley go, "Although I'm afraid your newspaper got the story wrong, I hope you won't get in any sort of trouble." He says, "Oh, that, yes I guess I'll have to take this stage back to Tombstone on the round trip to print up a new front page and head back to Promise City tomorrow with the revised copies."

She asks, "Did you distribute any of these in Tombstone? I wouldn't think anyone there would care to hear of news of my premature death anyway." He replies, "Oh no, this is the Promise City Edition. The only stories that would hit both town's papers would be things of mutual interest. Say, what's been happening in Promise City since I left yesterday morning? Anything of interest that I could use for a new front-page story? And tell me about your supposed death! Oh, I'm so glad that you are alive. I would have missed you terribly. Indeed I would have."

Ruby pats the little halfling on the head. "Thanks Chumbley, I really mean it." Ruby proceeds to tell him of her "death", her side of it anyway. She laughs as she tells it but notices Jake doesn't think it's so funny. "Jake can tell you the other part of the story, like what happened while I slept the night away at Laurie's." Again, Jake doesn't look too happy with Ruby.

"Er, um, hum... what else has been going on?" Ruby starts changing the subject, "Well, Johnny Ringo is in town. I'm sure that'll get people stirred up." He says, “"Ringo. In Promise City? He's never gone there before. What's he doing there?" She replies, "Why Chumbley, what makes you think I would know that?" She watches the halfling's face turn dejected. "Course, if I had to guess, it might be because a certain friend of his is in the jail, a man by the name of Gifford perhaps?"

He states, "Lane Gifford! I've heard about him. He was partner to Pinto Joe Weams, probably had a hand in Weams escape from jail in January. Does that mean that Deadeye Douglas is back too? I heard he was up in Wyoming." Ruby's eyes widen. "I haven't seen Deadeye and I haven't heard that he was around. I HOPE he's not around, you know he shot Jake the last time he was here." Ruby looks at Jake nervously.

She shakes her head, shaking off the thought. "Listen, I do want to hear the news from you, what's going on in Tombstone and stuff, but I also have some business I want to talk to you about. A business opportunity for you to think about. Interested?"

Jake is careful not to interrupt the conversation between Ruby and Chumbley. He is perfectly happy letting Ruby do all the talking to the diminutive newspaperman. He's really not a bad sort, thinks Jake, so why can I clearly see my hands around his throat? Jake shakes his head and continues to listening without giving any indication he is going to answer.

Chumbley states, "Business? What type of business? I might be interested, but I already have a job that I enjoy. What's happening in Tombstone you say, lots going on there. They have a new acting company that just came to town. Putting on shows starting tonight in Schieffelin Hall. The headliner of the acting troupe is Miss Josephine Sarah Marcus of California, you may have heard of her. All the prominent folks in town are going to the big premiere tonight. So I guess my having to go back to Tombstone to reprint the front page is actually a good thing, since I'll get to see the show."

Ruby exclaims, "An acting company? Oh I wish I could go too! I have heard of Miss Josephine. I'll be very jealous of you Mr. Chumbley, getting to see her act. As a matter of fact, if you can keep a secret," Ruby looks around like she is watching for people spying, "You can't tell anyone, no one knows yet. I want to do a play at the Lucky Lady. I'm going to do a play, Jake said it was ok. You'll come and see me, won't you?"

"As for the business, it has to do with your newspaper. You once mentioned opening an office in Promise City. I know of someone who you absolutely HAVE to hire! But now is not the time for talk of this business. I want to save some time when you're at the Lucky Lady so we can speak of it."

He states, "Oh, of course I'll go to the play. I'll also spend all the time you want me too at the Lucky Lady. I really enjoyed that room you let me stay in a week ago. You should turn it into a regular hotel, it's far nicer than the Promise City Hotel. And your entertainment is top notch. The acting company will be in town for a week or two so there will be other opportunities for you to see them if you come to Tombstone at some point. As for the Promise City Office, I would like that as all this traveling gets old after a while. But that's not my decision, it would be up to my boss John Clum, and he isn't likely to want to make the investment in a building, printing press and all of the equipment. One reason we have this set up is it makes better use of what he already owns."

"Ask Mr. Clum," Jake says suddenly, "what kind of investment it would be worth to see Baxter out of business." Ruby adds, "Oh yeah, that is what I meant to get at but you distracted me with all this talk of fun! We, Jake and I, have been on a little mission, you know, to help you out. And we decided that it would be in everyone's best interest if you, and your boss, bought out Baxter's newspaper," Ruby states matter of fact.

Chumbley exclaims, "BAXTER! Oh, that's a whole new issue altogether. He'd love to drive that guy out of business. You should probably talk to him the next time you're in Tombstone. He's no longer Tombstone's Mayor so has more time on his hands these days so might be interested in more business ventures." Jake comments, “I must have missed that story in your paper, who's mayor now?" Chumbley replies, "That would be John S. Carr, who is also the town's main blacksmith."

"Oh Jake, can we go to Tombstone to see the show, can we? I really want to..." Ruby grabs on to Jake's arm and squeezes. "It would be so much fun!" "We have a few odd jobs to take care of before we could go," Jake says pleasantly but with a serious look on his face. "I would enjoy it. I'd be happy to take you after we handle our business." Ruby giggles and claps her hands together. "It's been a long time since we went out on a real date, it would be so wonderful..." Ruby's voice trails off and her eyes go unfocused as she starts daydreaming.

"Jake you can find a way to turn anything into business can't you?" Ruby says, snapping out of her daydream. "Well, we can make a visit to Clum while we are in Tombstone."

She turns back to the halfling, “Chumbley, thanks for the compliments. We thought about possibly turning the Lucky Lady into a hotel in the future. We just don't know much about the hotel business and would need to find someone who did to help us out. So, anything else interesting going on in Tombstone? Better tell us quickly, we're almost at the Shaws."

Chumbley states, "No, things have been quiet. Almost peaceful like. Look's like Tombstone's wild and lawless days are now behind us." She says, "Oh yeah? And why do you think that is? The Earps?" Chumbley replies, "Of course the Earps. They've driven the Cowboy Gang out of business. I'll bet that's the last we've ever heard of those cattle rustlers."

"Really?" Ruby replies with an edge to her voice, "I don't think that's the last we've heard of them by far... As a matter of fact I think..." her voice trails off before she finishes her thought. "Hmmm....You'll bet, huh." Jake smiles at Chumbley. "That probably explains why I'm the gambler and you are the newspaper man."

Ruby and Jake have been gone for two hours, during which time the other six manage to finally coax, prod and maneuver the twenty-nine cattle to the main road. They feel proud of the accomplishment, although in truth the wolf and owl did far more of the wrangling than the humans and elf.

Chester is turning red due to the sun. He explains once again, "Er. Um. Miss Florencia. You sort of yell at the cows and try to guide them with your horse. You're definitely a better preacher than the previous one." Not understanding what the connection could be between preaching and cattle herding, Minerva opens her eyes and glances in the men's direction.

She is startled by their red coloring and begins to scold. "By the god's Senors you will get the sun stroke! You must drink more water in this heat! You are both getting quite overheated!" She digs in her saddlebag and rides over to Chester and hands him her water skin. "Yes, cold water would be good. Thank you miss." Chester awkwardly avoids Minerva's gaze. After taking a long drink, he hands the water-skin to Nanuet. "You heard what she said. Drink up."

"Oh, uh sure Chester." Nanuet replies, unable to take his eyes off Minerva. "I could use some water, sure." Finally snapping out of his "trance" Nanuet exclaims. "Hey look, we made it to the road. Hopefully it will be a little easier now."

Katherine finally got her laughter under control and slipped down off the horse, intending to switch to another. At this rate, she'd have the chance to try most of these new animals. Nanuet and Chester were still fascinated by Minerva. Kate laughed again. With those reactions, you'd think they hadn't seen a woman in months. She stopped near Jeff's horse. "Thank you, Jeff. You did well back there, and you're very patient to help us move these animals."

He replies, "Not a problem, but that's not my real concern. It's been four hours since we attacked the farmhouse and we're now only two or three miles from there. How long will it be until some of the Cowboy gang arrive and find what we've done. We're a bit safer now that we're on the main road as far as having all of the animal tracks behind us, but we're still far from safe. Do you really think heading east is the best idea? Promise City is still thirty miles away, Tombstone is only eight miles west from this point."

She says, "I don't know, Jeff. I didn't expect these animals to slow us down this much. Honestly, I wouldn't mind abandoning the cows to their own devices, but Flint might object to that. If we switch routes now, Jake and Ruby won't be able to find us when they come back, and there are some people in Promise City I need to get back to. Still, if we get attacked on the way back and never get there.... What do you think?"

Jeff answers, "I don't know what to think. You're right about Flint, he seems a little...single focused. Let's see what Chester, Nanuet and Minerva think. It's their lives on the line too." Kate nodded and walked next to Jeff's horse as they went over where the others were sharing a drink. She waved Flint over. "Jeff and I have been talking, and I think we need to reconsider our strategy." Kate quickly sketched out what Jeff had mentioned. "We're not going anywhere fast, we're going to be easy to find if any Cowboys go to that house. If we abandon the cows we can move a lot faster. We could head for Tombstone, or move faster toward Promise City."

Chester states, "You don't need the cattle for your ranch? If we leave them here, they might just stay where they are. Then we can pick them up later. But we should head for the Lazy S Ranch. It's on the way to Promise City. We don't want to miss Jake and Ruby. If any surviving cowboys find them..."

Kate states, "We could use the cattle out at the ranch, but cattle are no good to the dead. Which we very well could be if we stay out here in the open. Flint, Nanuet, it's your ranch too. Minerva?"

Minerva listens to Katherine’s arguments. She states, “I think it's to soon to consider changing the plan. There is no reason to think that anything has happened to Senor Jake and Senorita Ruby. They know where we are and they are expecting us to be on this route. If we head in another direction they won't know where to find us. I vote that we continue heading toward the ranch.” "I'm hesitant to change direction myself. What about abandoning the cows? Flint?" Flint just nods.

Jeff agrees but adds, "I think we need to be a little better organized about this cattle driving, we might be able to get much better speed. Let's group them closer together, using the road itself to help herd them. Nanuet, your wolf seems to keep them moving, why don't you and her take up the rear to keep the stragglers headed forward.

Kate, you seem to do best with the horses and these horses seem willing to take some direction. Get these new horses lined up and keep them moving on one side of the road next to the cattle, that'll keep the cattle from heading off to that side. Chester and I can ride on the other side to keep them going. Flint, you take the lead but your job isn't the cattle, it's to watch out for trouble and be the first line of defense. Actually, take point, a few hundred feet out ahead. Minerva, I don't know you and your skills as well. How do you think you and your owl can best help this operation?"

Minerva replies, "Well Jeff, I’m going to send Luna aloft to warn us of trouble coming down the road. I do have some skill handling animals and so I'll just keep flanking the cows and help keep them moving unless Katherine needs help with the horses." Jeff says, "Good.” Minerva instructs Luna to fly ahead in search of riders and continues to "Ya! Ya!" in an attempt to get the cattle moving again. sure wish I cold still talk to the animals she thinks.

Kate listened closely as Jeff outlined his idea, then moved to round up the horses. She pulled herself up on a different horse than she'd been riding before. The horses responded well to verbal instructions, and she got them into the line with only a little trouble. She placed herself near the front of the line and waited for the others to be ready.

Chester gets into position opposite Kate. He checks his rifle and pistol to make sure they're loaded. "I'm ready." Jeff says, "Okay, everybody has their assignments. Flint, fall out and take point. Let's ride troops." Chester calls back to Jeff, "Spent some time in the service, too? I didn't know that."

Jeff actually blushes and says, "Well..err...yeah, I guess you could say that. I'd rather not talk about it." Chester replies, "Oh. OK, then. I know what that's like. But I figured I couldn't hide from it for long. Where'd you learn to handle cattle?"

Jeff replies, "I've never handled cattle until today. But I've learned over time how to organize and take charge of a disorganized mob. Doesn't really matter the setting, the Army, construction of the Lone Star-Lucky Lady, or organizing this cattle drive. It's all the same, figure out the objective, organize everyone's strengths and tackle the problem. Hell, even that arrogant William Whipple took orders from me." Kate adds, “"He needed to take them from somebody. I'm not sorry to have seen the last of that man." Chester adds, "That was a sight to see. He must have been surprised that someone stood up to him like that."

Nanuet falls to the back of the small herd and does his best with Maska's help to keep the stragglers from falling to far behind. "We must look like a bunch of fools... especially myself and Chester and the owl and wolf." he says out loud but to no one in particular. Chester says, "We do, but we're out of the cowboys' grasp. I'll make that trade any day. Before I forget, thank Maska for me. We'd probably still be in that house if it wasn't for her."

Kate turned her head and smiled at Nanuet. "I'm sure I look just as foolish as you do. Well, not quite as foolish, I have more clothes than you. You're going to have a harsh sunburn." He replies, "You're going to have a harsh sunburn. I may, but I have spent my entire life out in the sun, in hardly more clothing than this. " Nanuet turns for a moment "Ooops, let me get that one over there, Maska seems otherwise occupied."

Chapter 88, “Help from the Lazy-S”, Saturday, March 18th , 1882, 11:30 A.M.

Nanuet wheels his mount and gallops back to round up another slow moving bovine before returning to his conversation with Kate. "Well, if this works out it should be a nice addition to the ranch. It will definitely change the schedule of things around there, I mean with this many heads of cattle we may be able to start earning some money soon."

Kate answers, "I hope so. Sonoma thinks we should be able to do well in the birthing department. I never imagined we'd have so much stock so soon. Of course, that depends on how many of these head of cattle we can find proper owners for and how many we actually keep. I need to get the word out about horses soon. With these and the ones the Apache brought us, we're going to have over two dozen. I want our ranch to be known for well-trained horses, but the ones that were already trained I'm almost ready to call acceptably trained to sell."

Nanuet comments, "Sounds like you have been working hard then. Sorry, I haven't been around the ranch much, Jake and Ruby seem to keep me pretty busy around the Lucky Lady. I am sure we will have little trouble selling horses that have already been trained, especially well trained. Did we ever name our ranch? We're going to need a name if we are going to start doing business."

"Flint named his twenty original acres Pete's Ranch in honor of his partner. It might upset him if we changed that. But maybe a second, more public name? I don't know... It's something to think about. And don't worry about not being around much. It's been quiet enough so far that we've been able to handle it. Now, when planting time comes we expect to see you out there sweating like the rest of us!" Kate finished with a laugh.

He answers, “"Sweating is something I can do, never hid from work. I will be around more often I promise, and Pete's Ranch sounds good to me, just figured we needed a name." Kate replies, "I know you'll be there when we need you. I'd like to be able to work something into the name in honor of Tom as well. I wish I could move his resting place from Tombstone to the ranch," she finished quietly.

Nanuet says, "Sounds like a grand idea Miss Kate, the name that is. Not that I am an expert, but if you need an extra hand with moving your late husband, I would be honored if you consider me." She states, "I'm not sure it's even possible. And imagine what the Earp's would do if I wanted to move him. But if it does look possible, I'd be glad of your help." Chester adds, ""Am I welcome, too? It'll do me good to do some outdoors work." She states, "Of course you're welcome. We can always use an extra hand."

The events of the last few days begin to catch up to Minerva as she plods along listening to the friendly banter of her comrades. She occasionally looks to the sky in search of Luna as she drowsily hums a tune that she heard recently. Something about deer and antelope playing.

Meanwhile, fifteen miles to the east the stagecoach pulls into the Lazy-S ranch. Ranch hand Tim Kilpin meets the stage. Ruby steps off the coach and greets Tim. "Good morning. Is Mr. Shaw around? Can you tell him Miss Ruby West would like to speak with him?"

It takes very little time from when Tim heads into the main house with the message until Emery Shaw arrives. His son Humphrey and daughter Tricia follow him outside. Nevers and Gilly help start unhitching Jake and Ruby's horses from the stage. Chumbley says goodbye to Ruby. The stage gets ready to head back to the main road for the remainder of their trip to Promise City.

Jake gathers the weapons and takes the horses from the back of the stage that was just untied. He puts the rifles on the horses, and leads the horses following Ruby. "Thanks again Chuck. We'll see you soon in Promise City."

Ruby extends her hand to Shaw. "Mr. Shaw, how are you? We have a little problem and we are hoping you can help us, you've been so generous with your help in the past." He smiles and says, "Why certainly Miss. West. What seems to be the problem?" She replies, "Maybe we should go inside or somewhere more private? What we have to talk about is a, uh, sensitive subject."

He answers, "Why certainly. Humphrey, make sure that the hands feed and water their horses. Miss West, Mr. Cook, if you would please follow me." Tricia wasn't invited but follows along. Shaw leads them back into the main dining room where they had met before. He heads over to a liquor cabinet and takes out a bottle of good whiskey and three glasses. Tricia stays further back by the doorway to the room.

Jake takes the glass and says, "Sir you are a gentleman and a life saver." Jake smiles and takes the whiskey from Shaw. "To your health and your family." Shaw says, "Well speaking of family, if you're going to stand there listening you might as well come in Tricia." She says, "Don't mind if I do." She helps herself to a glass from the cabinet and pours herself some of the whiskey.

Ruby takes a sip of whiskey before beginning her tale. "Mr. Shaw, what we have to tell you is sensitive information and could put us at risk." She looks up at him from under her eyelashes, "But I feel like we can trust you. You've been so generous with your help to us, to me."

"We've been thrust into a war, a war in which we want no part of. A war between the Earps and the Cowboy Gang. Johnny Ringo had some of our friends kidnapped as a way of blackmailing us into helping him. We decided to take matters into our own hands. We rode out early this morning and rescued our friends, killing many Cowboys in the process. I believe Johnny Ringo was or is waiting for us back in Promise City." Ruby stops to casually run her hand through her hair.

"We believe we left none alive back at their farmhouse. We didn't want to leave the animals with no one to take care of them. We want to take their cattle and horses as payment for trouble they have put us through. The problem is, we don't know how to move a herd of cattle. That is where we would like your help. In return, we'd be happy to give you some of the stock for your help."

He replies, "I've had four cattle rustled from my ranch last weekend, so some of that stock might be mine already. Honestly, I think we'd need to get the law to help find the rightful owners of the animals, to keep them would make us no worse than the Cowboys. How far away is this farmhouse that the cattle are at?"

"I have no problem with getting the law involved. To tell you the truth, I could care less about the cattle. I'm more worried about the Cowboy Gang right now." Ruby describes how far away the farmhouse is and the route the rest were supposed to take.

Jake savors the whiskey before responding. "I have no personal interest in the cattle, and I agree with you but I'll let you work that out with Katherine Kale. I just don't want the Cowboy gang to keep them to fund their foul activities."

Shaw exclaims, "I agree. You started something, I'll help you finish it. Tricia, go tell Humphrey, Tim, Jude, Jeff and Abner to get their gear. Full coats, side arms and rifles for this one, just tell 'em cowboy gang. Just show us where to go Mr. Cook and we'll help you out. Tricia will help to keep Miss West safe here."

Jake says, "Thank you Mr. Shaw. Don't underestimate Miss West sir, she is more than capable." Jake turns to Ruby, "Do you want to rest here or come back along. Don't forget we need to get to Promise City after this." "I'm not staying behind!" Ruby says forcefully. "I'm coming with you."

Tricia follows up Ruby's exclamation with "I am too, Ellen and the other hands can handle things around here until we're back." Shaw starts to protest but his daughter is defiant. He looks to Jake and says "Do you want to help me with this discussion?"

Jake laughs, "I imagine that your daughter inherits her spunk from her mother, and you probably never won an argument with her either." Jake turns to Tricia, "We'd welcome your company if you can follow directions if there is trouble." Jake looks her hard in the eye. "If you promise me." Tricia stares back, a slight smile coming to her lips. She lowers her voice an octave and replies, "I'll promise you whatever you'd like Mr. Cook."

Ruby raises an eyebrow. "I think she should STAY. We don't have time to be babysitting." "Babysitting! I'm older than you are Miss West!" Tricia exclaims. Jake interjects, "No, Ruby, I think she should come along." Jake turns to Emery and his daughter. "The only promise I want from you Miss Shaw is that you'll listen to your father or myself it there is a problem. Fair enough? I think we should refresh ourselves for just a few minutes before we head out."

"What?" Ruby says is disbelief. She narrows her eyes at Jake, staring at him for a moment before stomping outside. The Shaws both head off to get ready and organize the men. Jake chuckles to himself and downs the rest of his whiskey. He helps himself to another drink from Shaws bottle and says out loud, "Damn wildcat that woman." He chuckles again. Jake located the outhouse, then finds some clean water to refill his water skins and washes his face before returning to his horse. He passes the time by drawing and twirling his Colt in and out of the holster until the others are ready to go.

The Shaws are soon ready to go. Emery reintroduces the hands to Jake and Ruby by name, not remembering which ones they have met before. The men are Tim Kiplin, Jude Gleeson, Jeff Hummel and Abner Mingle. Adding Ruby and Jake and along with Emery, Humphrey and Tricia Shaw that makes nine. Ruby smiles and nods to each hand. She doesn't speak to Jake. She turns up her nose then trots her horse up near Mr. Shaw.

They head out, covering the three miles to the main road rather quickly and then turning west. During the ride out, Jake manages to get his horse along side Emery Shaw's for a short time so they can talk. Jake says, "I know you have been a bastion against the Cowboy gang for some time out here. Being involved with us on this one may be far more dangerous than you first imagine. Back when you hosted the Cartwrights everyone believed that they raided the Cowboy's rustler cave. Well the truth of the matter is we were there and were every bit as involved as the Cartwrights were, maybe even more. I kept it quiet to keep the women safe. It wasn't the Cartwrights that killed the McLaury brothers and Curly Bill."

Jake is quiet for a moment. "Anyway, believe what you like. Just know the truth of the danger and keep your family safe." Jake looks over at Ruby. "I intend to remove any threat to those I care about."

Shaw replies, "We're of the same mind there Mr. Cook. In case you haven't noticed, I happen raise cattle for a living. I'd be doing everything in my power to rid the world of those rustlers even if your and my paths had never crossed. As for what you've accomplished, that's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm proud to ride by your side." Jake just nods and says to Emery Shaw, "I'm long overdue to come out to your ranch for a night of poker."

He smiles and then rides over to Ruby. "What do you think?" He says to Ruby who is looking away from him. "Seems like that Tricia Shaw likes me." Jake looks straight ahead and tries not to laugh. "I'll bet she is mighty jealous though, the word is that Jake Cook's girl is the prettiest on the continent."

Ruby keeps her nose in the air. "There is NO good reason why she had to come, Mr. Cook. We don't need to be worrying about her boy crazy ways on this trip. And you had to disagree with me in front of everyone..." Ruby keeps her face turned away from Jake but doesn't ride away from him.

"Boy crazy?" Jake laughs out loud. "Yessem, this po' boy is just shua confounded over all this attention." He laughs some more. "That Jake Cook is some pain in the behind, ain't he? You just never know what he's likely to do. I just don't understand what you see in him. Why don't you ditch that boy and come with me behind the barn? How about it?"

Ruby looks down and tries not to crack a smile. "I don't know what I see in him either sometimes." Ruby flips her hair from one side to the other and finally looks at Jake. "And just what exactly would we do behind the barn sir? I'm not sure I'm that type of girl." Ruby's full lips start to show the sign of a smile forming.

Dark storm clouds begin to form on the western horizon but appear to still be an hour or two away, although the smell of rain is in the air again. Dark storm clouds begin to form on the western horizon but appear to still be an hour or two away, although the smell of rain is in the air again. Jake eyes the storm clouds as he talks to Ruby, "I don't mean to sulley your honor fair maiden, but I would sorely like to get you out of those leathers."

"Oh." Ruby replies. "Then I'm exactly that type of girl," as she bites her lip. "And you must be my knight in shining armor." Finally she lets a small laugh escape her lips. She looks up at Jake and stares him in the eyes, "You know I hate when you do that."

“I really like it when you smile like that," Jake pushes his horse right along side Ruby's. "and I especially like it that you hate it when I do that." He leans quickly across and kisses her and then puts his horse in a gallop towards the head of their group.

Ruby shakes her head as she watches Jake ride away. That boy is going to be the death of me, she thinks. She watches as the angry rain clouds gather and says out loud to no one, "Glad I wanted these pants tight." She laughs. As they ride on she makes sure her guns are all ready and easily reachable.

Another hour has now gone by for both groups, with it now nearing 1:00 P.M. The Shaw group has covered ten miles west along the main road while the cattle wranglers have now gone three miles east on the road. Five miles now separates the two groups.

Nanuet, Minerva and Kate all notice when Luna flies back down from her higher elevation. Nanuet says, "Hey Minerva, there is your friend. Any news?" As Minerva scans skies in search of Luna she notices the ominous clouds moving in. she continues to sing in an effort to keep the cows calm knowing that a thunderstorm would almost surely cause a stampede.

As I was a-walking one morning for pleasure
I spied a cowpuncher a-riding along,
His hat was throwed back and his spurs was a-jingling,
As he approach'd me was a-singing this song.

"Whoopee ti-yi-yo, git along, little dogies,
It's your misfortune and none of my own.
Whoopee ti-yi-yo, git along, little dogies,
For you know Wyoming will be your new home.

Early in the spring we round up the dogies,
Mark and brand them and bob off their tails,
Round up our horses, load up the chuck-wagon,
Then throw the dogies upon the North trail."

Luna descends on her shoulder. "Hola Luna, did you see anything out there?" After a minute she announces, "Si, Senor Nanuet, Luna says there are two separate groups of riders heading towards us. One group of nine riders is five to six miles ahead riding west towards us and another group of seven riders is two to three miles behind them also riding towards us. They are all too far away for her to tell if Jake and Ruby are part of either group."

Chester looks up at the sky. "Hmm. Looks like rain. I hope cows don't mind getting wet." Minerva says, “Sound like we're in for some pretty dark weather! A good thunderstorm could cause this beef to stampede. We should find ourselves a place to hide in the event that the riders coming toward us aren't friendly." Nanuet suggests, "Let me send Maska to do some scouting. She should be able to get close enough to see if our companions are with either group."

Minerva states, "Sending Maska is a good idea. I would send Luna up but there is no place for her to hide and I would not want her to get too close. The wind is picking up but we should have at least another hour before the storm arrives. I do not see a place where we can readily hide twenty-nine cattle and a pack of horses. I will have Luna scout it out so that we can move the cattle off the road. Chester states, "If the cowboys are coming, then I'll be ready to pay back their hospitality. Once they find out what we've done, there will be no quarter given."

Minerva smiles and suggests, “In the meantime perhaps we should keep singing." Chester says, “I don't know many songs. Maybe you can teach us some." She says, “Well, Senor Chester, I don't know may cowboy songs either but I find that when I sing it helps my English. Perhaps music would soothe the beasts. I know that Luna love it when I play." Minerva reaches into her saddlebag and takes out her flute." Please, everyone, sing if you are familiar with the words." and she begins playing The Yellow Rose of Texas

Kate says, "I doubt my singing would soothe anything, Miss Florencia. It's not among my talents. Luckily for us it is among yours." Kate wiped her forehead and put her hat back on. That coming storm was trouble, but at least it would cool them off. Hopefully the first group of riders was their friends. They were going to need the extra help. She was low on any kind of spells and they were all tired.

Minerva laughs lightheartedly, "I am sure that you can sing at least as well as most cowboys, Senora Katherine. Besides I don't think that the cows are very critical. It's not talent that soothes them, it's the heart of the singer and you have plenty of that!" She smiles affectionately at Kate.

Minerva looks up as Luna flies toward her. She holds out her arm as Luna lands on it. Minerva appears to be listening and the look of wonder reappears on her face. Nanuet tells Maska to scout ahead to see if Ruby and Jake are with the nearest group of riders. Either way she is to return after she spots the first group. He will keep in contact with her for as long as he can.

Chapter 89, “All Together Again”, Saturday, March 18th , 1882, 2:00 P.M.

Minerva turns to the others and announces, "There really doesn't seem to be a good place to hide. The closest would be that small rocky hill over there." she says pointing into the distance. It's around a seventy-foot elevation and a few hundred feet wide. It's only about a quarter mile diagonal from here. and it would provide some cover from the road but we would have to keep the herd close together on the other side to keep them from being seen from all parts of the road. I'm not sure if we are capable of that, but perhaps we could leave the animals here as a distraction and we could hide there. What do you think?"

Chester states, "Sounds like a defensible position, Miss Florencia, er Minerva. We can't control the cows well enough to hide them as well, so leave them in the open. They won't go far. A couple of us can climb the hill to spot the other groups before they find us."

Minerva states, “Maska should be returning with more information soon. We must have faith that help will arrive but in the mean time it is not wise to depend too much on the charity of gods. Let us ride over to those rocks and see how defendable they really are." Expecting Chester to follow, Minerva turns her mount and heads for the hills. Katherine looked back at Jeff and laughed. "Your troops are getting disorganized again."

Minerva, Chester and Jeff check out the hill. The western side has a low incline so getting up would not be a burden. The back side of the hill has a wide "V" shape to it, so it looks like it would be more possible to hide the herd than originally thought, although time was running out to do so before visitors arrived. Chester manages to find several large boulders on the top of the hill that would provide reasonable cover to fire rifles from.

Minerva states, "Well I suppose this is the best we can do." Minerva say's peering down at the road from their position in the rocks. “Senor Chester, you were a professional soldier, were you not? What do you think? Can we adequately defend ourselves from here?" She then turns to Jeff "Do you think we have enough time to get the cattle and horses up here and hidden in that V? It took us a very long time to get them from the ranch to this point. I would rather leave them in the road than give ourselves away before we are ready."

Jeff says, "I don't know. We have no idea who these people coming are. We won't be able to get them moved before the first group gets here but we might for the second group." Minerva considers Jeff's response. "Well, if we can't move the herd in time than we should just leave them where they are and get ourselves into position up here. As Senor Chester has pointed out, they aren't going anywhere and I'm not inclined to get caught with my pants down." she says, raising her eyebrows and grinning widely at Chester.

She says, "If we find that it's the cowboy gang coming back this way then perhaps we can trigger a stampede." Let's go back down and discuss this with the others. I have a feeling that there's more than a storm brewing here and we're running out of time."

The others were not gone very long before they were heading back to where Kate, Nanuet and Flint had stayed with the herd. Between the three who had gone to the hill the terrain and ideas were quickly summed up. She says, "Maska will be back soon and able to let us know if Jake and Ruby are in either group. Couldn't we start moving the cattle toward the hill? If they aren't with the first group we can abandon them and hide when Maska tells us. If they are in the first group, we'd have time to hide them. Don't mistake me, I'm not willing to risk our lives for these cows. If you all think it's best we abandon them now, that's what we'll do." Chester is the first back and caught the tail end of her comment. He says, “"If we move them toward the hill and don't get them hidden, the herd will make it easier to find us."

A short distance east, Ruby kept her horse in the back, trying to stay away from Tricia. Ruby wasn't actually worried about her, or about Jake. She just more ticked that Jake had disagreed with her in front of everyone. Why it bothered her so much, she wasn't sure.

She watched Jake ride up front, so confident and sure of himself, talking with Emery, no doubt trying to win him over. She knew she wouldn't stay mad at him, as much as she wanted to. He just had an easygoing way about him, one that made you want to be his friend and, more importantly, trust him. And Jake did stand by his friends, that was for sure. She had been confused about what to do, but getting Nanuet and Chester back was the only real goal and they had accomplished that. Hopefully soon they would be finished with this little excursion. She had one errand to do this day and she wanted it over with.

She looked back up at Jake, he was smiling and chatting with anyone who would listen. A little shiver ran though her as she watched him and she smiled to herself before looking off into the distance as they rode on.

Less than two miles away, Maska came loping up behind the group who had left the road to examine the hill. Nanuet smiled to see her safely return. He concentrated on her thoughts. She had definitely recognized people in the closer group. Jake and Ruby were with them for sure. He says, "Well, we have time if we want to move the cattle. Jake and Ruby are approaching with that first group. If you ask me I say we stay on the road and keep moving. Moving the cattle off the road is only going to delay us and if we need it we have some allies coming should the second group prove hostile."

Chester states, "That sounds good. The people from the ranch should help better the odds if the other group is from the cowboys." Minerva says, " I am hesitant to keep moving down the road. Luna did not see any real cover farther ahead." Minerva says thoughtfully. "She said that Jake and Ruby are bringing seven people with them to help. If there are seven riders in the second group that will be fourteen against seven in our favor if they do prove to be hostile but I still do not want to risk our lives by being caught in the open."

The priestess taps her finger on her lips "Assuming that they are bringing experienced cowboys with them and assuming that the second group is still two or three miles behind them, then we may have time to move these cows but it is cutting it very close. I agree with Chester. We don't want to move them half way and not be able to finish the job. We could wait until help arrives. They should be here very soon since they were only a couple of miles out when Luna spotted them. If they don't think they can move them in time than we leave the herd here and head for the rocks. What do you think?"

Kate states, "It sounds fine to me. We'd probably still be standing here in the road discussing it when they get here anyway," she laughed. "And I could use a break." Nanuet exclaims, "OK, so that's settled. We make our stand here, and hope that the second group is friendly. Jake, Ruby and the others should be here soon, we can take a break like Katherine suggested until they get here."

Nanuet dismounts and grabs a water skin. He drinks deeply then pours a bit on his head to help cool him off. He offers some to Maska as well. After his drink and feeling a bit refreshed Nanuet makes his way over to Minerva who is sitting on the side of the road resting. "I didn't get a chance to say thanks. I hardly know you, I mean you have only been in town for about a week, and here you are risking your life to help rescue me and Chester. I, uh, I really appreciate that. I just hope you know what you are getting yourself into."

Nanuet smiles as he speaks but his posture is slightly awkward and a bit uncomfortable and he avoids eye contact with Minerva. Minerva gives Nanuet an easy smile.” I must trust that the goddess knows where she leads me but it does seem odd, does it not, that our lives should have become intertwined so quickly? I do not usually run off risking life and limb so readily but I could not risk losing such a fine dancing partner.” She teases.

Nanuet laughs heartily. The teasing note suddenly leaves her voice as she looks into his eyes. "I know that we did not get off to a very good start, Senor, but I feel that we are somehow connected, and I could not stand idle, knowing that you were in danger." She glances over at Luna, her head tucked under her wing, asleep on Maska's back. "They share a special bond also. We are no more an unlikely pair than those two."

He says, "Yes, I still feel bad about that initial meeting of ours. I was just in a bad mood, and I am glad to see that we have moved past that. Possibly the connection has something to do with our spirituality and love for the outdoors and animals. I am sure we could find many interesting things to talk about." They hear Jeff announcing the distant arrival of Jake and Ruby.

"Looks like break time is over Senorita" Minerva gives him a crooked smile as he helps her up off the ground. "We will make a deal then. she says. When we return to town we will take the time to become better acquainted. "I would love to hear how you and Maska came to be." She holds out her hand to Nanuet. He smiles and takes her hand. "Deal", he says as they shake on it. A mile away the nine riders now come into view. While they are still a distance off to make out specific people the light reflecting off of Ruby's flowing hair is unmistakable.

Ahead, Jake notices that his and Ruby's horses are getting tired and in hindsight he thinks that they should have probably left them at the Shaw ranch and borrowed fresh ones instead. He figures they must be close and that assumption is then confirmed when they round a bend in the road and see the group of animals and riders a mile ahead.

Nanuet states, "Well, Miss Kate, doesn't look like our break will be lengthy, there they are now." Nanuet points towards the approaching riders, specifically at Ruby. "No way of hiding that head of locks is there?" Kate replies, "Indeed there is not. I'm glad they're back, I'll feel a lot more comfortable with a few more people around us. I just hope that other group coming has nothing to do with us and we can get home today."

As they get closer Jake waves and hails his companions. When they are all together he introduces the Shaw's and their ranch hands all around. He leaves Katherine to speak with Emery Shaw, and attends to his and Ruby's horses. "I think we pushed our horses a bit too much in the last day." Jake says to Nanuet, "Can you give me a hand picking out two horses from these others and moving the saddles over?"

Kate says, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Mr. Shaw. Mr. Cook and Miss West have told me such nice things about you, which must be true, seeing you're here to help us out. Once we reach your ranch, we'll have to go through these cattle and see if any of them belong to you. We've been keeping our eyes open, and there is another group of riders coming down the road, perhaps two miles behind you. That hill over there has a surprising amount of room behind it, enough to hide the herd. Is there any chance we could get them there before the riders pass? If they're not friendly I don't fancy being in a firefight in the middle of a herd of cattle."

Shaw is in the middle of listening to Kate when he stops abruptly as he notices Jeff Mills. He points and Jeff and exclaims, "What is HE doing here and why is he armed? You allow this Sucesh Bastard to carry guns and fire at Americans?"

Ruby hears Shaw's outburst and walks over to him, placing her hand on his arm. "What's the problem, Mr. Shaw?" He exclaims, "The problem is that you've given a gun to this stinking traitor. I'd sooner stand alongside the Cowboy Gang than the likes of him." Ruby raises her eyebrows, "What do you mean, a traitor? I don't understand.." Ruby's voice trails off as she looks at Jeff. Chester says, "Jeff can't be a Reb. He's not much older than I am."

Jeff walks right up to Shaw’s horse and says to the man, "Sir, I work for Mr. Cook. The Cowboy Gang kidnapped two of my coworkers and he asked me to help rescue them. When an employer asks for help it is the obligation of his employees to assist, especially for a noble cause. I didn't fire any weapons back at the ranch, all I did was help to free my coworkers from the building. I'm not planning to shoot at anybody now, I won't give the Army an excuse to sting me up. I only brought this old pistol for self-defense, but you can take it if that will make you feel better."

Ruby cuts Jeff off, "What is he talking about Jeff? You have been nothing but helpful and loyal to us. What does he mean traitor?" Ruby scans around for Jake. "Jake! Get over here please!" she calls out. Kate states, "Mr. Shaw, I don't understand. Jeff can't be more than a few years older than me, and I was only a little girl during the war. He could not have been...." She looked over at Jeff, waiting for Shaw to take his weapon. "Why would the Army want to hang you?"

Shaw looks at Kate and says, "So, he hasn't told you? Mills served under Sherod Hunter, the Reb Officer that fought the Union Army right here in southeastern Arizona. Sherod Hunter refused to accept that the war was over back in '65 and hopped the border to Mexico to regroup. Still is as far as anybody knows, and Mills here is a key part of Hunter's New Confederacy. Isn't that true Mills?" Jeff just stands there and does not answer either Kate or Shaw's questions.

Chester listens as Shaw explains who Mills is connected to. He states, "I haven't seen him do anything untrustworthy. He helped rescue me and Nanuet. That's all I need to know. We can talk about this later. Right now we have to set up an ambush."

Kate's eyes focused on Jeff for a minute, trying to understand how he could have served under this Hunter in the past or the present, and why he wouldn't explain. Finally she pulled her eye away and looked at the rancher. "Mr. Shaw, I can't say I understand any of this, but I do know there is another group of riders coming down that road toward us. Mr. Mills is here now and that can't be changed. Perhaps we can delay this discussion until after the danger is past?"

Shaw says "Fine, give me that gun Mills." Jeff hands it over without hesitation. Shaw then turns back to Kate and says, "What were you saying earlier?" Kate waited until Jake arrived to answer, although she was fairly certain he'd been close enough to hear at least the last moments of the conversation with Shaw. "There are riders coming up the road, but we don't know if they're friendly. They were a couple miles behind you when you arrived, they are probably closer now. That hill over there has more room behind it than it appears to. We could hide the herd there if there's time. I don't think a firefight in the middle of all these cattle is a good idea."

Shaw says, "A couple of miles? Not sure if there would be time to move the herd even if we wanted to. How do you know they were following us?" Jake finishes moving the saddle onto another horse and comes back to Shaw and Katherine to see what was all the commotion. He arrives just as Shaw ask Katherine how she knows about someone follow them. "Someone is following us?"

"She didn't say someone was following us," Ruby butted in, "She said there were riders on the road behind us. Which doesn't mean they weren't following us. It could be someone from, uh, Promise City. Maybe we should just get off the road already. Are we prepared for another fight, if that is what is coming?"

"Why would we get off the road?" Jake asks. Ruby states, “All I'm saying is we aren't going to stand in the middle of the road to fight them, if it is them, are we?" Ruby rolls her eyes. "Let's at least make a plan..." Her voice trails off. "Ok fine, forget it." Ruby walks back to her horse, grabs her rifle and waits. He replies, "No, you are right as usual, we need a plan. But this time we can spend our time working on the plan instead of deciding to do something or not." Jake walks over to Ruby and whispers in her ear.

Jake comments, "The only riders we should be worried about would be the Cowboy gang. Do we know how many riders are coming up the road? If they are not the Cowboy gang we have nothing to worry about, and if they are we should finish what we started. What do you say Mr. Shaw?" The rancher replies, "I didn't come this far to hide from the Cowboy Gang. Let's load up."

Kate pulled out Tom's pistol and replaced the bullets she had used at the farmhouse. "I thought that's how you'd feel about it, I was more worried about the gunfire scaring the cattle and causing a stampede. But I suppose it took dynamite to really get them worked up earlier." Ruby pulls out the rifle she picked up at the farmhouse while she whispers back to Jake.


Ranch hands Tim Kiplin and Jeff Hummel ride up to Emery Shaw. Tim says, "Three of these cows have the Lazy-S brand on them." Shaw says loud enough for the others present from his ranch to hear "Well, if there was ever any doubt before that settles it. They took our cows, this is our fight, and they started it. Rifles ready folks."

He turns to his daughter and says, "Tricia, you ride over behind Mr. Martin there. He may not look it based on how he is dressed now, but he has Army training behind him that you don't have. Do as he tells you to."

Chester comments, "Nice to see you again, Miss Shaw. Too bad it isn't at a better time. Sorry about my state of dress, but the cowboys took my clothes." He spits at the ground. "Don't leave my side and everything should be OK." Chester speaks up. "There's a hill over yonder. We should take advantage of it. We'll have some cover. If we can't get the cows behind the hill before the other riders get here, then we'll have to leave them here. We don't know who's coming this way. Don't shoot unless you're sure it's the cowboys."

Shaw's mention of the rifles reminded Kate of the shotgun she'd picked up at the farmhouse. She rode over to the stallion and pulled the shotgun out. The men at the farmhouse hadn't had much opportunity for shooting, so hopefully it had a couple shots in it.

Ruby wriggles out of her jacket. "That's better," she says moving around. It was easier to move with the jacket off. She puts her dagger in her boot and her pistol on her gunbelt for easier access.
Ruby and Jake walk back over to the group. Ruby looks to Shaw, "If it IS the Cowboys, be ready for uh, untraditional means of fighting."

Shaw, his two children, and four ranch hands each load a dozen cartridges into the magazine of the identical bolt-action repeater rifles that they brought. Jake has never seen this particular long-barreled rifle before. Shaw notices his interest and says, "It's the Swiss Vetterli 1881 Model, the best long-barreled rifle ever made. The Swiss Army now uses them for border protection. It shoots accurately for almost a mile."

Jake gives a low whistle. "Very impressive. How far would you say that hilltop is from the closest point on the road?" Jake scratches his beard. Shaw estimates just over a half mile. "On the other hand though, perhaps one of the ladies fell off her horse when a rattler made it rear up. She could be resting off the road on a blanket and that would give us a reason for stopping the cattle drive here in the middle of the road."

Minerva calls Luna and places an image of Ringo in her mind and communicates "Fly to the approaching group and tell me if he is with them. Try and stay out of sight." Luna flies off.
She turns to Jeff and whispers in his ear. "Senor, you should be armed." and she discreetly hands him her pistol and walks away. She then calls Flint over" I am going to sit on the side of the road and act as though I am hurt. I would like you to attend to me..and be prepared to throw your sticks if I give you the word." Minerva sits forward of the cattle and places her shotgun on the ground under the fold of her skirt.

Jake examines the road up ahead eighty feet or so from the men and cattle for cactus, brush or trees that might be enough to conceal a person on either side who was skilled in hiding from sight, not finding anything closer than the hill. Kate states, "It may already be too late to get to the hill, and I don't like the idea of that group coming into sight while our backs are turned. The hill would have been nice, but I think we'd better prepare to meet them here."

Jake says, "I suspect we want them to get as close as possible before they know how many we are and who. Ruby, cover that pretty hair of yours and get lost in the cattle. I am going to stay hidden in the cattle as well so they don't recognize me." Jake takes his rifle off the horse and crouches among the milling cattle. "I didn't realize just how bad these beasts really smelled," he mumbles to himself.

"Cover my hair?" Ruby repeats, shaking her head. "Uh, my hair might not be the only recognizable thing on me," she says glancing over her shoulder at her butt. "And that I can't hide."
Jake chuckles and quietly says, "Girl, they are not going to recognize your behind from a mile away no matter how famous you are." Ruby raises another eyebrow in Jake's direction but smiles as she speaks, "You sure about that?"

Ruby goes back to her horse and gets her hat, stuffing her hair up in it as she walks over to the cattle to hide. She keeps herself in position, facing the road in the direction from which they came and the new group is approaching. She keeps her rifle readied. Kate stuffed her braid up under her hat, and put the leather vest and duster back on. The jacket, as well as sitting on the horse should disguise the roundness of her hips, and she was small enough on top that she should be able to pass for a boy unless someone looked directly at her. She laid the shotgun crosswise in front of her, keeping one hand on it. Then she moved the horse back to her original position on the side of the herd and hoped the group would just pass them by.

Nanuet prepares his rifle that Chester had retrieved from the pile back at the farmhouse. He listens to the discussions about the plan while moving to the front of the group, keeping his eyes on the road ahead looking for a cloud of dust or anything else that would show how close the approaching group was. He also tells Maska to get herself and Luna off the road and find a suitable spot to wait.

Ruby turns back to the direction of the others, "Let's just stay in our positions and wait. If it's Cowboys we take them out. Enough talking about it."

Chapter 90, “The Return of Billy Claibourne“, Saturday, March 18th , 1882, 3:00 P.M.

Luna flies up and forward. She is little more than a half-mile away and 600 feet in the air when she returns and lands on Minerva's arm. Luna returns and lands beside Minerva on the ground. Minerva calls the others over and translates for Luna.

The seven riders come around the bend. All are wearing traditional western attire - cowboy hats, cotton shirts, blue jeans. Two have chaps, four have leather jackets, and three have bandanas. All also appear to have either a rifle or shotgun sticking from the horse's saddles. They are still to far away to make out faces, which would also be true of the group.

Minerva communicates that the man who had gone upstairs at the Lucky Lady with Jake is not among the seven men riding towards them, who she saw to be no more than a third-mile from the bend in the road. She does recognize one of the men as having been at the Lucky Lady last night, playing at the other gambling table. Kate nodded and urged her horse back to her spot next to the herd, keeping her hand on the shotgun where she could raise it quickly if needed.

Minerva continues to translate as she listens to Luna. " the clothing on one man is identical to the man Lennie Wagner that I spoke with. He was at Tony Lucky's table the night before." Nanuet turned back and headed towards the cattle and mounted Kate's horse again. "Looks like it is going to be trouble folks. I am almost certain that one of those folks is Billy Claibourne and another one looks just like one of the fella's that detained Chester and myself yesterday. Be ready for a fight."

"Claibourne? I let him live once, I won't make that mistake again," Jake says to no one in particular. He moves himself around to make sure he can get to the horse he saddled earlier just in case he needs to give chase. The seven riders are now around seven-eighths of a mile distant and still riding forward.

Emery Shaw commands "Lazy-S's, Geronimo Drill Pattern B. Stow on two if they break." Ruby looks at Jake from her hiding place and whispers quietly, "Seems Mr. Shaw knows what he's doing huh? Poor Billy," she says sarcastically, "He doesn't know what's coming."

"Ruby," Jake calls out quietly, "you might want to save the best bullets for Ringo if he really isn't here." "I was just thinking the same thing," she whispers back. Ruby also moves near her horse. She loosely ties him down to a nearby shrub that is surrounded by the cattle. She makes sure the farmhouse rifle and her shotgun are easily accessible from the side of the horse and takes her regular rifle in her hand. Then she continues to wait until they get closer.

Minerva continues to sit on the ground, looking deceptively innocent, her skirt fanned out around her. However, She has her finger on the trigger of her cocked rifle, which is hidden, under the edge of her skirt. At three-quarters of a mile distance the riders begin to slow while still moving forward. Minerva watches the riders approach trying to discern what they will do and says to herself, "If it looks like there's a spell caster in the bunch, by the goddess, I will shoot them before they can act."

Kate's horse was growing restive beneath her. She consciously relaxed her body, trying to communicate calmness to the animal. Even though she was ready, Kate would not fire before they did. Looking around, she thought she might be in the minority on that.

They continue to get closer, now at around 3,000 feet distant (roughly five-eights of a mile). They continue forward. Billy Claiborne's facial features can now be made out to those who have met him before. He is riding slightly ahead of the other six. Three of the riders pull their revolvers out of belt or harness holsters.

The lead rider reaches the half-mile point. One of the men points at the group and says something to Claibourne. Claiborne raises his hand and the group stops, now around 2,500 feet away. Once Kate could see that Nanuet was right and Billy Claibourne was part of that group, she gave up any hope she'd had of getting through this without a fight. The thought that this could finally be the last time she ever saw him at least gave her some grim satisfaction, even as she wished her protection spell was still active.

The Cowboys charge. Three have revolvers in hand. Claibourne and two others grab repeating rifles from their saddle holsters. The final one falls further back behind the others and removes what looks like a two-foot long metal rod from his saddle holster. Kate had an idea what that metal rod was. Mr. Gonzales had once lent her one that wasn't much different. She snapped the shotgun up, took aim, and fired at the man with the metal rod.

Trisha Shaw pushes a stray wisp of hair out of her face with one hand, and strokes her horse's neck with the other. Then she raises and aims her rifle with a lopsided grin. "Let's do this." Nanuet gives a war cry and aims his rifle at Claiborne from his horse, taking one shot. He then moves his horse in a defensive maneuver. Trisha, straw-blonde hair flying behind her, aims at Claibourne, sighting down the barrel of the gun, and squeezes off a shot.

Nanuet's shot is true to its mark but deflects off of Claibourne's leather coat, in the same manner as he's seen them do to Jake's magical duster. The Cowboy gang all lets off a weapon's volley, but the distance between the group is very great and only one hit is one of the cows, taking a bullet in the rear flank. Surprisingly Kate's shot is close, hitting the horse that the man with the rod is carrying. The horse is wounded and stops, rearing up. The man does all he can to control the beast without dropping the rod. The other six riders continue to close, now at a distance of 1,600 feet.

Minerva quickly kneels, rests her elbow on her knee and shoots at the man with the metal rod. Then scrambles up and moves behind a cow. Ruby decided hiding behind the cattle was too much trouble. Now that the fighting began there was no point in hiding really. As soon as she hears Nanuet confirm the charge she gracefully hops up on her horse. She swings her hair to one side, out of her vision. She puts Claibourne in her sight but sees Nanuet's shot deflect off his duster. She quickly switches rifles, now using the one from the farmhouse. She grasps her rifle with two hands and takes careful aim at Billy Claibourne, letting off a shot that rings out loudly.

Minerva and Ruby both miss. Claibourne yells off a loud yell and kicks his horse forward into an even faster gallop. Three of the five riders behind him do likewise. The other two ride off to the side of the road and stop, raising their rifles. The front four are now 1,200 feet away, the two with rifles are 1,400 feet away, and the one with the rod is around 1,700 feet away.

"Oh damn!" Kate muttered under her breath, more sorry that she'd hit the horse than missed the man. She tried one more time to hit the man with the metal rod. Jake moves over between two cattle, kneels and steadies his arm on his knee. He aims carefully at the man to Claibourne's right, a brief holding of the breath and squeezes off a shot. He repeats until the man is down. Minerva's eyes go unfocused as she says a quick prayer to the goddess. Asking her to bestow her Blessing upon them.

Nanuet takes aim and fires again, this time aiming for Claiborne's horse, hoping to stop his charge. Ruby waits a moment, watching her shot miss. Ignoring the fact they are getting in position to shoot at them, Ruby again steadies her gun and with two hands and shoots at Claibourne. Minerva prays for Divine Favor and shoots at the man with the metal rod again.

Moving targets prove difficult, as Nanuet, Ruby and Kate all miss. The four charging forward all let off volleys with their firearms, one hitting and killing ranch hand Tim Kiplin's horse. Trisha is the only one from the Shaw Ranch to have fired yet. "Left Pair" Shaw yells, as he, his son, and three other ranch hands take aim and fire at the two riflemen further back. One of the riflemen is hit twice, one being a headshot, and he slumps over in the saddle. Jake manages to hit the man on Claibourne's side in the shoulder.

Trisha yells something inarticulate, spurring her horse forward, and fires at Claibourne a second time. Chester thinks, “What in Hades does she think she think she's doing? All the women around here must be crazy. I better get after her. Shaw will kill me if anything happens to her.” He urges his horse forward, since he lost his spurs to the cowboys. On the way to Tricia, he raises his rifle and squeezes off a couple shots at Claibourne calling out “That's for taking me hostage. I am not your pawn.”

Tricia's shot misses, as do both that Chester fires. He spurs his horse forward to keep up with Chester, feeling rather unprotected in just his underwear. Minerva's shot also misses. “What is that stupid girl doing?" Ruby mutters to herself, watching Tricia charge off. She switches rifles, back to her own, and begins shooting at Claibourne again, using two hands to steady the gun, aiming more towards the area of his head.

The man with the wand point it upward and a beam of light shoots high in the air. It then descends. It lands well to the left of the group, erupting in a massive fireball. This causes the cattle and rider-less horses to begin to panic. “Holy mother of Zeus“ Minerva yells, when the fireball goes off. "Flint use a stick! Minerva aims and fires at the wizard again. "Meirda!" Jake exclaims. "Shaw, kill the bastard with the metal rod." Jake continues to fire at the same man.

Nanuet sees that the others have targeted the man with the rod, which was producing balls of flame so he continued to target Claibourne's mount and fires another shot. Kate threw the shotgun to the ground, and drew her pistol. She broke off from the side of the now panicked animals and took a shot at the closest Cowboy.

Ruby manages to hit Claiborne, but it is only a minor wound to his leg. He has closed to 900 feet and she can see that Jake's shoulder shot to the man on Claiborne's right poked a hole in the leather coat and blood is oozing from the wound. Shaw and his men let off another volley into the remaining riflemen further back, who had managed to successfully hit Humphrey Shaw for a minor wound in the upper leg. The rifleman is hit in his arm and shoulder, causing him to drop the rifle. He dismounts to retrieve the weapon.

The man with the Rod uses it again, this time causing the fireball to erupt on the road 200 feet ahead of the party. Chester and Tricia's horses are closest. She manages to stay on and calm her mount, but as Chester was riding without reins and saddle he is thrown from his animal. He appears to be okay, although a little worse for the wear.

Ruby exclaims, "Damn!" When the huge fireball goes off Ruby can feel her horse start to get jittery. She squeezes her thighs tighter on the horse, to calm the animal and so she doesn't fall off. She starts talking to herself out loud, "You know, I really want that thing, it could be useful," she says to her horse. "And it does seem that if we can't hit him while he's moving, he won't be able to hit us either. Maybe Tricia isn't as stupid as she looks."

With that Ruby spurs her horse forward and uses her legs to keep him moving but not in a straight line. She rides slightly off the road. She takes another shot at Claibourne as she rides towards him. If he tries to shoot at her she attempt to move her horse out of the way.

Minerva manages to hit the man with the rod in the upper arm just under the right shoulder. Her prayer seems to have been heard and blood squirts from the wound like water streaming from a fountain. Nanuet manages to hit Claiborne's horse. The animal lets out a yell and stops, reacting to the wound. Kate misses as does Ruby. The two non-wounded enemies charge forward and ire at Tricia, both missing.

"Damn It Ruby," Jake yells, "We are going to be blow to bits! Can you think of anything?" He looks for Ruby but sees she is already gone, riding towards Claibourne. He then grabs the reins of the horse he saddles and leaps on. He puts his rifle in the holster and pulls out his sawed-off shotgun from under his duster. "Did I ever tell you how much I hate blasted heroes?" Jake screams as he rides off to the right side and out towards the Cowboys gang, going out far enough so that he isn't blocking any shots from the group.

Shaw and his men, including Tim Kiplin who is now back on his feet, let off a final volley at the rifleman who had dismounted. One shot hits and kills the horse, two other shots strike the man who falls to the ground. Ruby rides hard to get closer to Claibourne while his horse is faltering. She slows her horse and stops, again uses both hands and aims at Claibourne while his horse is stopped.

Kate spurred her horse on faster, already chiding herself for stupidity, but there was no way she was going to hit anyone from so far away. As she rode she took another shot at the man with the metal rod. As he is riding Jake keeps low on the horse and to the opposite side to keep as much cover as he can from the horse. He directs his horse parallel to the incoming Cowboys but in the direction of the man with the metal rod. Trisha veers towards Claibourne, then stops as his horse stops. Like Ruby, she aims two-handed at him. She's smiling, just a little.

Ruby and Tricia simultaneously strike Claibourne. Tricia's shot hits square in the middle of the chest but appears to have no effect. Ruby's however is just below where the leather coat ends, causing a serious wound to the abdomen. Claibourne fires back, hitting Ruby in the shoulder.

"#*&(#*^(%^%$$" Ruby screams out in pain, some very un-lady like explicative. She drops her rifle to the ground, not being able to hold the weight of it. Instead she pulls out her pistol and again spurs her horse forward in a fast gallop.

The man furthest away with the rod pulls a blue cloth from his coat pocket, which he slaps onto the wound, causing the flow of blood to immediately stop. He turns back towards the group and raises the rod again. "To Hades with you!" Minerva yell and shoots at the man again.

Guided perhaps by the gods, Minerva's shot enters his left eye and blows out half of his brains. Kate watched as her target's head exploded, but not from her doing. She kept riding and shot at the nearest Cowboy. Minerva laughs "A gift from me to you Hades, Let's see if we can give him some company." She picks the next closest target and shoots again, missing the opponent.

Jake sees the man with the rod go down so starts to focus on the Claibourne and the men charging. He tries to keep his horse zigzagging as much as possible. He holds his shot until he can get within 100 feet of them, at which time he will cut his horse a hard left and shoot both barrels of the sawed-off shot gun at the largest concentration of them.

Trisha curses loudly and in Claibourne's direction as she once again fires right at him. Wincing in pain, Ruby uses the arm that hasn't been shot to shoot again at Claibourne when she is close enough. She aims for his head and continues to shoot until her gun is unloaded. Ruby lets off the first three shots from her pistol at Claiborne, all missing horribly. He in turn fires on Tricia, hitting her left hand that is steadying the rifle for a minor wound and preventing her from being able to fire off a shot this round.

Shaw points to the man who Jake had hit, as he is closest to Ruby and Tricia's location and orders a volley there saying "Mount". The horse is hit by multiple shots and falls, rolling over and crushing the rider. The two unwounded riders have now closed to 300 feet and both appear to take aim at Nanuet with their revolvers.

Kate cut back and spurred the horse at top speed toward the uninjured men getting ready to fire on Nanuet. She fired the pistol at the closer one and kept riding at speed, intending to run full speed into the man’s mount. "Mierda! Nanuet, Look out!" Minerva turns and shoots at one of the men aiming at Nanuet. Kate and Minerva both miss.


Nanuet spurs his mount, heading off the road, hoping he is in time to provide the riders a moving target. He then wheels his mount and charges right towards the men, attempting to use the butt of his rifle like a lance to knock the closest man from his horse. Four revolver shots ring out around towards Nanuet from the two horsemen. Three shots miss but one hits him in the lower arm.

Kate gave up on shooting but didn't stop her headlong charge at her target, intending to use the horse as her weapon. With the pistol still her hand she'll try to hit the man with it like a club when she gets there.

Ruby looks down at her own arm, blood quickly seeping through her white shirt. She winces again. "This ends now," she says out loud. “Yeah, before I pass out…”, she thinks. She rides her horse hard again, gets a bit closer, then stops and unloads the final three shots in her pistol. Trisha shouts another curse and wrings her hand angrily. She carefully shoots again, wincing.

Tricia's shot is well aimed, the bullet penetrating Billy Claibourne's head and the corpse falls from the horse. The other two Cowboy Gang riders now notice that nobody is alive behind them and break to the side, with Kate, Jake and Ruby all charging towards them. Shaw has his men fire on the furthest away of this fleeing pair, three bullets fatally hitting the man in the back and neck. The remaining gang member kicks his horse into a gallop.

Ruby decides against giving chase to the last man. Kate however, spurred her horse to match his speed and tried taking another shot. Considering how many times she'd missed, by sheer probability she'd have to hit sometime. Although it is still farther away than he wanted to be, Jake shoots off both barrels of the shotgun at the last man, mostly because he doesn't want the loaded double barrel shotgun bouncing around when he draws his pistol.

The law of averages proves itself out as Kate's shot enters through the man's back and heart, exiting out of the front of the chest. The body begins to slump over as the first barrel of Jake's shotgun blasts the body's left side and part of the horse. His immediate follow up shot finishes off the horse.