orchid blossom
Explorer
The time drags by, with butterflies of nervousness growing in Ruby’s stomach. Finally they make their way to the stage office. Jake goes in the office to purchase the tickets while Chester and Nanuet load up their belongings.
Ruby asks the stage driver, "So how far of a trip is it to Thomaswell?"
The stage driver, an older, grizzled man with a tired look pushes his hat back to look at the person posing questions to him. "Thomaswell? Should be about 6 or 7 hours. That where you folks headed? Hadn't stopped there in quite a while, but this is my second trip there in the last couple days. Just freight last time though. Well, if you're all loaded up then the quicker you get on board the quicker we get going."
Ruby raises her eyebrows, "6 or 7 hours! Ugh. I hope I can sleep."
"Freight you say? I thought that town was fairly empty. Must have been something good with some happy well paying recipients..."
"Didn't bother to check, just left it at the office. I get paid the same either way. I'll try and keep the bumps to a minimum so you can get some shut-eye miss."
Ruby smiles at him dazzlingly and looks up from under her eyelashes. "My, isn't that nice of you! I surely will appreciate it."
The men finish loading the luggage on the coach and no one else shows up to take the southward ride. The coach driver explains that there are a few stops on the way before they reach Thomaswell but he doesn't expect too many if any other passengers.
Once everyone is settled the coach gently pulls forward and begins to head south out of Albuquerque.
Ruby pulls her legs up underneath her and cuddles up to Jake, resting her head on his shoulder.
Her headache is lessened but still noticeable and she ponders if she should let herself fall asleep again. Too quickly her eyes start to droop and Jake can feel her body relax as the rocking motions of the stage put her to sleep.
Once on the stage, Maddie pulled out the little purse she had taken out the night before to put the money she'd taken out with her the night before back with the rest.
"Damn it," she said suddenly, pulling out a very thin fold of bills. "Someone robbed me last night!"
Chester says, "Are you sure? Maybe you packed it?"
"Yes, I'm sure. It's not a lot of money, I just hate to think that Joe went to all that trouble just to rob me. I'm going to assume it was a pick-pocket," she said with a little shake of her head. "Thankfully, Daddy always told me not to carry more money than I need so they only got my fun money. Well, that'll teach me. Next time I keep it down the front of my dress."
"Well, keeping it down your dress will certainly keep it hidden, but who will prevent someone from finding it? It is not safe in these parts for a woman, especially one as striking as yourself," she smiles amiably, "to travel alone. You are welcome to continue to travel with us." She pats Nanuet's hand and eyes Jake and Chester. "I am quite sure that the gentlemen in our party would not mind being escort to one more beautiful woman."
"Nope, no trouble at all. Feel free to tag along with us, always safety in numbers anyway." Nanuet says. "But I am not sure who you are calling Gentlemen!" he adds with a chuckle.
The stage coach ride seems to go on forever. Much of the terrain is similar to what they saw on the train ride, flat open land with mountains in the distance. The road is relatively flat and there is no spot that would be a likely ambush spot. The driver assures the group that they really don't get much trouble on this route.
Shortly before the sun goes down a small town appears on the horizon. "That would be Thomaswell folks. Shouldn't be too long now."
Nanuet takes an observing glance at his companions one at a time, saving Minerva for last. He tried to determine their state of being and attitude. A nervous energy could be felt throughout the coach as the passengers fidgeted and stretched, most eyes fixed on their destination.
Jake stirs awake. The naps weren't long or deep but he managed to sleep most of the ride. He stretches a bit before combing his hair over with his fingers to change the part of his hair. He fishes around in his pocket for the glasses he recently acquired and then straightens out his hat.
They man they know well enough as Jake Cook extends his hand to Madeline. The familiar chin beard now replaced by an overall stubbly growth, his eyes are behind a pair of wire rimmed glasses and his hair falls evenly underneath the brim of a hat that no long slants at the slight rakish angle. "Alistair Jacobs of Denver, pleased to make your acquaintance." The slight Philadelphia accent is gone and replaced with a subtle mid-western one. It wouldn't fool anyone who knew him well, but was just different enough to fool a description of him. "I'll make up what I do for a living when I find out what they need in town." The little smirk that comes to his face ruins the disguise for them but is quickly gone.
Nanuet says, "So do we have any expectations of what we will find when we step off this coach? I mean are we walking right into a fight? Are we ready for this?"
"I imagine it will look like a town. Otherwise the stage wouldn't still be coming here. Other than that, I don't know what to expect." Jake starts changing the rounds in his pistols. "Everyone should have some kind of story to tell about why they are here. I suppose since the stage never comes here just our arrival is suspicious." Jake chuckles. "Listen and learn before you say much. Stepping off the coach and saying we are here to hunt blood sucking monsters is probably a poor plan. If we don't come up with a better plan and I think of something while we are there just follow my lead. I doubt anyone is going to believe all of us coming here together is a coincidence."
"I'm not sure what you're all hiding from, I thought we were going there to confront this guy. I suppose anything that you think will give you an edge is good, just not my style I guess," Nanuet says.
"I'd be perfectly happy if he was standing in the street waiting for me to gun him down." Jake finishes loading the incendiary shells in his long barreled pistol and starts on Pierre's enchanted loads in his fast draw pistol. "I somehow doubt it. Besides, didn't you two," indicates to Nanuet and Minerva, "say he needs to stay out of the sun? That indicates to me he has folks protecting him or he hides or something. I'm not optimistic that we'll be unnoticed by him for long, but why put up a sign and make it too easy?" Jake then loads Ruby's shotgun with the acid shells, then his own sawed off with the same. Finally he checks his Spencer and is satisfied that it is ready to go. "Nanuet, if he is hanging around where we can confront him we can do it your way." Jake draws his favored Colt and spins the cylinder. "I wouldn't mind that at all."
Ruby blinks a few times, as she wakes she is momentarily confused by the shoulder she was leaning on due to Jake's new look.
She is quiet while her friends discuss their arrival in town and tactics.
She sits forward in her seat and stretches her long arms and legs. Then she speaks suddenly, "I told you, he'll know I'm here, that I'm coming, I'm sure of it. It wont be a surprise. He's waiting for me."
The desire to drink from her hidden bottle was strong but not wanting to share her little secret with her friends instead she leans back and starts twirling her fingers in her hair as she gazes out the window.
"Damn." Is all Jake says and leans his head against the inside wall of the bouncing stage.
Without turning her gaze from the window she says, "But he's probably not expecting the rest of you, at least not Minerva, Nanuet, Chester or especially Kate."
"Well then he doesn't know you or us too well. We would never leave you to fight a battle like this alone. It is best if he doesn't know we are coming, and soon he will regret all that he has done."
Minerva says, "There probably isn't a preacher in this town. I'm sure that it will be easy enough to come up with a reason for Nanuet and myself to be here, some sort of Church business...." she shrugs her shoulders. "As for finding who we are looking for. Yes, I think it is reasonable to assume that we will be safe from him during the day. I think our best bet is to discreetly inquire as to the location of the freight that was forwarded here...but we need to be very careful who we talk to and extremely careful after dark. Oh, I almost forgot. I brought us something to help protect us from this abomination," she says, opening up her basket and pulling out what looks like necklaces made of large cloves of garlic. "Here, she says tossing one to each of them. We should all wear these at night. Padre Valdez said that it might keep him away and we need every advantage that we can get."
"I won't lie,” Nanuet says, “so if you want to make up stories you can. I will just try and keep quiet but if confronted directly, I just won't make things up."
Nanuet looks at the bulbs of garlic hanging from twine that Minerva is handing out.
"Now wearing this thing around won't raise any suspicions!" he says trying to stifle a chuckle.
"And it smells bad," Ruby chimes in.
"This is no time to worry about how you smell. Besides, between the train ride and the coach ride, I'm not sure we smell much better without it. It's just a simple precaution. If you don't want to wear it just hide it in your pocket or under your clothes." Minerva says firmly.
Ruby waits until Minerva turns her head then scrunches her nose at her.
Minerva watches to make sure that everyone, despite their grumbling, puts on a necklace. She is watching Ruby especially close but chooses to ignore her when she scrunches her nose. "It is important that everyone wear one." she re-iterates as she eyes Ruby.
Nanuet grudgingly puts the "necklace" of garlic over his neck and sits quietly.
Ruby stuffs her garlic necklace in her pocket before looking out the window again as they approach. The sun is setting and orange, pinks and purples fill the sky as the stars try to come out from their hiding spots. She sighs and says a quick prayer to Aphrodite to watch over her, Jake and her friends this evening. She grasps Jake's hand in hers as they near the town.
Jake sniffs at the necklace of garlic. "Whew! That new Italian chef is going to be mighty mad at you stealing all the garlic in town." Jake puts the string over his head and tucks it under his duster. "Heh, I've got it. We are traveling sales people from a company that sells seasoning and we have a special on garlic this month."
Minerva laughs a bit too loudly at the joke releasing some of her tension as she does so. "It's as likely as any other scenario we are bound to come up with. Perhaps we should all speak with Italian accents as well."
Ruby raises her eyebrow. What in Hades is so funny...
She tries to keep her nervousness at bay, having promised Jake she would. She plasters a fake smile on her face and gives a little insincere laugh so no one would notice. She lets go of Jake's hand and keeps to herself, going over in her mind how to be strong and not let him get to her.
Night is falling as the group approaches the desert town of Thomaswell, the sun has all but fallen and the whole area is bathed in red light. The coach pulls up to the edge of town and an eerie sight unfolds. At a crossroads a handful of people have gathered, some of them holding lanterns, as a priest intones funeral rites and a coffin is lowered into a freshly dug pit. Obviously Thomaswell's cemetery is full.
Ruby asks the stage driver, "So how far of a trip is it to Thomaswell?"
The stage driver, an older, grizzled man with a tired look pushes his hat back to look at the person posing questions to him. "Thomaswell? Should be about 6 or 7 hours. That where you folks headed? Hadn't stopped there in quite a while, but this is my second trip there in the last couple days. Just freight last time though. Well, if you're all loaded up then the quicker you get on board the quicker we get going."
Ruby raises her eyebrows, "6 or 7 hours! Ugh. I hope I can sleep."
"Freight you say? I thought that town was fairly empty. Must have been something good with some happy well paying recipients..."
"Didn't bother to check, just left it at the office. I get paid the same either way. I'll try and keep the bumps to a minimum so you can get some shut-eye miss."
Ruby smiles at him dazzlingly and looks up from under her eyelashes. "My, isn't that nice of you! I surely will appreciate it."
The men finish loading the luggage on the coach and no one else shows up to take the southward ride. The coach driver explains that there are a few stops on the way before they reach Thomaswell but he doesn't expect too many if any other passengers.
Once everyone is settled the coach gently pulls forward and begins to head south out of Albuquerque.
Ruby pulls her legs up underneath her and cuddles up to Jake, resting her head on his shoulder.
Her headache is lessened but still noticeable and she ponders if she should let herself fall asleep again. Too quickly her eyes start to droop and Jake can feel her body relax as the rocking motions of the stage put her to sleep.
Once on the stage, Maddie pulled out the little purse she had taken out the night before to put the money she'd taken out with her the night before back with the rest.
"Damn it," she said suddenly, pulling out a very thin fold of bills. "Someone robbed me last night!"
Chester says, "Are you sure? Maybe you packed it?"
"Yes, I'm sure. It's not a lot of money, I just hate to think that Joe went to all that trouble just to rob me. I'm going to assume it was a pick-pocket," she said with a little shake of her head. "Thankfully, Daddy always told me not to carry more money than I need so they only got my fun money. Well, that'll teach me. Next time I keep it down the front of my dress."
"Well, keeping it down your dress will certainly keep it hidden, but who will prevent someone from finding it? It is not safe in these parts for a woman, especially one as striking as yourself," she smiles amiably, "to travel alone. You are welcome to continue to travel with us." She pats Nanuet's hand and eyes Jake and Chester. "I am quite sure that the gentlemen in our party would not mind being escort to one more beautiful woman."
"Nope, no trouble at all. Feel free to tag along with us, always safety in numbers anyway." Nanuet says. "But I am not sure who you are calling Gentlemen!" he adds with a chuckle.
The stage coach ride seems to go on forever. Much of the terrain is similar to what they saw on the train ride, flat open land with mountains in the distance. The road is relatively flat and there is no spot that would be a likely ambush spot. The driver assures the group that they really don't get much trouble on this route.
Shortly before the sun goes down a small town appears on the horizon. "That would be Thomaswell folks. Shouldn't be too long now."
Nanuet takes an observing glance at his companions one at a time, saving Minerva for last. He tried to determine their state of being and attitude. A nervous energy could be felt throughout the coach as the passengers fidgeted and stretched, most eyes fixed on their destination.
Jake stirs awake. The naps weren't long or deep but he managed to sleep most of the ride. He stretches a bit before combing his hair over with his fingers to change the part of his hair. He fishes around in his pocket for the glasses he recently acquired and then straightens out his hat.
They man they know well enough as Jake Cook extends his hand to Madeline. The familiar chin beard now replaced by an overall stubbly growth, his eyes are behind a pair of wire rimmed glasses and his hair falls evenly underneath the brim of a hat that no long slants at the slight rakish angle. "Alistair Jacobs of Denver, pleased to make your acquaintance." The slight Philadelphia accent is gone and replaced with a subtle mid-western one. It wouldn't fool anyone who knew him well, but was just different enough to fool a description of him. "I'll make up what I do for a living when I find out what they need in town." The little smirk that comes to his face ruins the disguise for them but is quickly gone.
Nanuet says, "So do we have any expectations of what we will find when we step off this coach? I mean are we walking right into a fight? Are we ready for this?"
"I imagine it will look like a town. Otherwise the stage wouldn't still be coming here. Other than that, I don't know what to expect." Jake starts changing the rounds in his pistols. "Everyone should have some kind of story to tell about why they are here. I suppose since the stage never comes here just our arrival is suspicious." Jake chuckles. "Listen and learn before you say much. Stepping off the coach and saying we are here to hunt blood sucking monsters is probably a poor plan. If we don't come up with a better plan and I think of something while we are there just follow my lead. I doubt anyone is going to believe all of us coming here together is a coincidence."
"I'm not sure what you're all hiding from, I thought we were going there to confront this guy. I suppose anything that you think will give you an edge is good, just not my style I guess," Nanuet says.
"I'd be perfectly happy if he was standing in the street waiting for me to gun him down." Jake finishes loading the incendiary shells in his long barreled pistol and starts on Pierre's enchanted loads in his fast draw pistol. "I somehow doubt it. Besides, didn't you two," indicates to Nanuet and Minerva, "say he needs to stay out of the sun? That indicates to me he has folks protecting him or he hides or something. I'm not optimistic that we'll be unnoticed by him for long, but why put up a sign and make it too easy?" Jake then loads Ruby's shotgun with the acid shells, then his own sawed off with the same. Finally he checks his Spencer and is satisfied that it is ready to go. "Nanuet, if he is hanging around where we can confront him we can do it your way." Jake draws his favored Colt and spins the cylinder. "I wouldn't mind that at all."
Ruby blinks a few times, as she wakes she is momentarily confused by the shoulder she was leaning on due to Jake's new look.
She is quiet while her friends discuss their arrival in town and tactics.
She sits forward in her seat and stretches her long arms and legs. Then she speaks suddenly, "I told you, he'll know I'm here, that I'm coming, I'm sure of it. It wont be a surprise. He's waiting for me."
The desire to drink from her hidden bottle was strong but not wanting to share her little secret with her friends instead she leans back and starts twirling her fingers in her hair as she gazes out the window.
"Damn." Is all Jake says and leans his head against the inside wall of the bouncing stage.
Without turning her gaze from the window she says, "But he's probably not expecting the rest of you, at least not Minerva, Nanuet, Chester or especially Kate."
"Well then he doesn't know you or us too well. We would never leave you to fight a battle like this alone. It is best if he doesn't know we are coming, and soon he will regret all that he has done."
Minerva says, "There probably isn't a preacher in this town. I'm sure that it will be easy enough to come up with a reason for Nanuet and myself to be here, some sort of Church business...." she shrugs her shoulders. "As for finding who we are looking for. Yes, I think it is reasonable to assume that we will be safe from him during the day. I think our best bet is to discreetly inquire as to the location of the freight that was forwarded here...but we need to be very careful who we talk to and extremely careful after dark. Oh, I almost forgot. I brought us something to help protect us from this abomination," she says, opening up her basket and pulling out what looks like necklaces made of large cloves of garlic. "Here, she says tossing one to each of them. We should all wear these at night. Padre Valdez said that it might keep him away and we need every advantage that we can get."
"I won't lie,” Nanuet says, “so if you want to make up stories you can. I will just try and keep quiet but if confronted directly, I just won't make things up."
Nanuet looks at the bulbs of garlic hanging from twine that Minerva is handing out.
"Now wearing this thing around won't raise any suspicions!" he says trying to stifle a chuckle.
"And it smells bad," Ruby chimes in.
"This is no time to worry about how you smell. Besides, between the train ride and the coach ride, I'm not sure we smell much better without it. It's just a simple precaution. If you don't want to wear it just hide it in your pocket or under your clothes." Minerva says firmly.
Ruby waits until Minerva turns her head then scrunches her nose at her.
Minerva watches to make sure that everyone, despite their grumbling, puts on a necklace. She is watching Ruby especially close but chooses to ignore her when she scrunches her nose. "It is important that everyone wear one." she re-iterates as she eyes Ruby.
Nanuet grudgingly puts the "necklace" of garlic over his neck and sits quietly.
Ruby stuffs her garlic necklace in her pocket before looking out the window again as they approach. The sun is setting and orange, pinks and purples fill the sky as the stars try to come out from their hiding spots. She sighs and says a quick prayer to Aphrodite to watch over her, Jake and her friends this evening. She grasps Jake's hand in hers as they near the town.
Jake sniffs at the necklace of garlic. "Whew! That new Italian chef is going to be mighty mad at you stealing all the garlic in town." Jake puts the string over his head and tucks it under his duster. "Heh, I've got it. We are traveling sales people from a company that sells seasoning and we have a special on garlic this month."
Minerva laughs a bit too loudly at the joke releasing some of her tension as she does so. "It's as likely as any other scenario we are bound to come up with. Perhaps we should all speak with Italian accents as well."
Ruby raises her eyebrow. What in Hades is so funny...
She tries to keep her nervousness at bay, having promised Jake she would. She plasters a fake smile on her face and gives a little insincere laugh so no one would notice. She lets go of Jake's hand and keeps to herself, going over in her mind how to be strong and not let him get to her.
Night is falling as the group approaches the desert town of Thomaswell, the sun has all but fallen and the whole area is bathed in red light. The coach pulls up to the edge of town and an eerie sight unfolds. At a crossroads a handful of people have gathered, some of them holding lanterns, as a priest intones funeral rites and a coffin is lowered into a freshly dug pit. Obviously Thomaswell's cemetery is full.