Silver Moon
Adventurer
Chapter 236, “Climax Battle”, Sunday, April 2nd , 1882, 5:00 AM
Maska grips Jakes hand a little firmer with her teeth and then moves it until it is pointing to a sport around fifteen feet in front of the cave mouth. Jake pats the wolfs head a couple of times and looks to see if he can see foot prints of someone standing there. Ruby continues silently and stays to the left. She also tries to watch Jake's footprints and listen for the sound of him. Ruby continues to move silently, staying to the left. She keeps her dagger readied and will get to the rock wall, then slowly move towards the mouth.
Jake moves a little bit closer. There is a slight breeze so he watches closely to see if there is anywhere that the dust doesn't go, soon deducing where one of the invisible person's boot's is. It also occurs to him that with this breeze he and Ruby have the same invulnerability to a keen eyed observer. Jake makes a note of where the person is in relation to some object on the ground. He then looks around for the other guards and gauges if he can get behind his target on the right. If he can, he'll do so silently. Ruby tries to keep her eyes and ears open for Jake and anything else of note.
Ruby reaches the cave mouth and sees the man and woman inside. The woman is seated on a chair-sized rock, a rifle leaning against the rock beside her. The man has a gun belt with two revolvers in it. Both are talking softly to each other. Ruby listens in. Based upon the conversation they are having about "Brother Bobby" she concludes that they are siblings. ake enters the cave from the other side and moves in behind the man.
Jake looks and listens for the Ruby. He especially looks for the tell tale wind and sand around the boots. He has his dagger ready and quietly unbuttons his duster to prepare his sawed off shotgun. Ruby enters the cave, silently moving behind the woman. Once in place she will put her hand over the woman's mouth and try to slit her throat, while kicking the gun aside. Ruby successfully slits the woman's throat, becoming visible. Ruby ducks behind the rock as quickly as she can, grabbing the woman's gun. As soon as there is noise Nanuet silently commands Maska to attack any nearby invisible foe.
The man reaches for his guns. One of the less noble things Red taught Jake was how to open a mans kidneys with a knife from behind. When the man moves, Jake quickly stabs him in the lower back and twists. Jake then lets go of the knife and pulls out the double barrel shotgun He begins making his way closer and shoots both barrels at the invisible cowboy, he then reaches and moves at a hustle with his rifle ready.
Chester keeps a watch on the cave mouth. At the sound of the shotgun blast, Chester raises his rifle and looks for cowboys outside the cave. Jake's foe dies and he fires off both shots from the shotgun out the door. The first brushes the man for a light wound but the second is right on, striking both the man and the wolf Maska who had dived up on him. Both fall the ground, apparently dead. Eighty feet away Nanuet sees his faithful companion fall from the shotgun blast inside of the cave. He senses that the wolf is mortally wounded but still clinging to life. Further back, Minerva follows behind Kate as they make their way down. she has her rifle drawn and has cast magic weapon on it.
"Crap," Ruby whispers. "Nanuet will take care of the wolf. They know we're here now so let's go." Nanuet stifles a cry as he sees Maska get wounded. He changes his direction so that he is headed directly towards her. He kneels down beside her trying to comfort her with Apache words as he begins a prayer. He summons the most powerful healing words he knows and lays his hand on Maska as a single tear rolls down his face.
The cave goes a short distance on a curve and then reaches a "T" intersection. "Mierda." Jake whispers. He drops his roll of rifles and takes out the full length shotgun. "There is no light in there Ruby. Let's go in a little ways out of the twilight, so they can't see us but we won't be able to see anyone hiding in the dark." "You want a light spell lover?" She asks, dusting dirt and blood off herself. She picks up the now deceased woman's rifle and checks the ammunition. Jake says, "We may need that, but not with us. If we hear somebody ahead maybe put it behind them so we can see them and they can't see us. Keep moving but let's defend the T so the others can get with us."
Seeing only his friends rushing further into the cave Chester follows. Minerva and Kate get closer and see the green glow in the distance from Nanuet's necklace and hands as he tries to heal his companion. "Someone is injured. That is the glow of Nanuet's Necklace." Minerva moves faster toward the cave. When he is done Maska's wounds are healed but she appears to still be in pain and lets out a low whimpering sound. Minerva whispers to Katherine " You should not be here get behind me. I will shield you" "I would have stayed in the tent but a couple people went running off," she said and let the Priestess get in front of her as they continued down.
Ruby and Jake reach the T intersection. Ruby states, "Jake, we shouldn't wait for them. Let's go now while we still might have some surprise. Come on, you know the way. There is probably some light in there." Ruby starts edging up while sticking to the wall. She listens intently for any noise coming from ahead. They see two people coming quickly from the corridor to the right.
Ruby takes aim with the cowgirls rifle and shoots at the one on the left. Jake quickly swings his shotgun around the corner and fires rapidly at one and then the other before pulling back around the corner. Ruby's shot is on target and it turns out to be one of the pyrotechnic shells as the man's chest explodes as the fireball engulfs him. The man's companion dives to the ground to avoid the fireball, which is the only thing that saves him from Jake's shot.
Ruby uses a second shot at the guy who dove to the ground. Jake drops his shotgun and fast draws his Colt, he reaches around the corner and fires twice quickly at the man who ducked. Another fireball erupts as Ruby's shot connects. The second burst of fire in the same area causes an already damaged and rotting wooden support timber to break and the tunnel roof collapses onto the two bodies, filling the corridor with a cloud of dust that washes over Jake and Ruby.
Outside, Nanuet says some more soothing words in Apache to Maska and tells her "Go now and be safe girl. Get some rest, you have done your duty." He pets her lightly and then makes his way over to the cave mouth. He thinks "I have no idea what Jake and Ruby are doing, but I might as well use this powder for something. Maybe they will get chased out and it will be useful then.
Nanuet begins shaking out the powder in the area in front of the cave mouth covering the whole width of the entrance and as far in front of the cave as he can go before the powder wears off. He then begins wetting the area with his waterskin making the powder moist as Kajika instructed. Nanuet then takes his position outside the cave and readies his rifle to shoot any enemy that enters the area he made with the powder.
Kate stayed behind Minerva as they arrived at the cave entrance. There are two bodies just inside the mouth of the cave, and a partially invisible dead corpse over near Maska before the cave. "They got past here at least," she whispered. "Twelve more, if the count was right." Minerva checks the bodies quickly for anything useful and she and Katherine make their way into the cave. The crashing sounds are heard from deeper in the cave and cloud of dust then washes over them. Minerva and Katherine silently make their way forward.
Back inside the caves, Coughing, Ruby waves her hand in front of her face. "I guess we go left." She checks the rifle for how many shells are left. As Ruby stands there waiting she says to Jake, "By the way, Judge Isby gave me bullets for my gun, my baby Colt. They paralyze and they're loaded in my gun." She then sees Chester down the hall. "Hey, nice of you to join us. Get ready..." Chester slings the Spencer on his back and draws his six-gun. "Let's go. How many are left?" "How many?" Jake says while reloading, "If I heard correctly fifteen take away three that aren't here. We just dropped five so that leaves seven."
Jake now hears movement from the other corridor that sounds like horses galloping. "They are going to try and ride us down." Jake whispers. "Make a mess Ruby dear when you see them." Chester whispers back, "In here?" He switches back to the rifle and tries to take cover. Jake drops back to retrieve and reload his shotgun and holster his Colt. Ruby nods to Jake and readies the rifle. She will shoot at the riders as she can and continue to shoot as fast as she can. If the horses get close she'll get against the wall.
Jake and Ruby start to see horses ahead. The first three horses come into view, with a rider on the center one and a horse on either side tied to it. Collectively the horses fill the entire corridor and are riding as fast as the tight quarters allow. Other horses are moving further back behind them although Ruby and Jake can't make out how many due to the front three blocking their view. The man has a revolver in hand that Jake recognizes as a Colt Thunderer.
"Um, start running! Get out!" Ruby screams. She takes a shot directly at the man then turns to start running out. Kate hears Ruby's shout from somewhere in the darkness and immediately goes back out into the night, carefully staying out of Nanuet's powder and hiding against the cliff next to the cave mouth. Minerva runs out the door with Kate and moves to the side of the cave
The man takes a shot at Ruby and Jake, the bullet deflecting off of Jake's long-coat as the horses now close to twenty-five feet, still at a swift pace. "Jake!" Ruby screams again and holds her breath until she sees that he is ok. "Move that cute butt of yours!" Jake opens his saddle bags and shakes out the six sticks of dynamite to the floor and runs like crazy. The others are in front of him. As the horses make the turn Jake stops and fires both barrels at the floor, hoping to take out the center horses legs and possibly ignite some dynamite.
Chester starts running for the exit muttering, “Never been on the other end of a cavalry charge before. That's scary.” Minerva and Kate have reached exited the caves when they hear the sound of rapidly approaching horses. They see Ruby and Jake charging through the now clearing dust towards them from twenty feet away with a trio of horses, one with a pistol-wielding cowboy, a mere ten feet behind them.
Kate recognizes one of the rider-less horses as being Johnny Ringo's. Kate whistled the command to stop that she had taught the horse when it had been at her ranch, hoping to slow the trio and perhaps make the man talk so she could hear his voice. The scrolls left were precious, and she didn't want to waste it finding out if this man was Ringo in disguise. Still, she got it out, just in case. Nanuet sees his friends who entered are now exiting. I hope they see the wet ground and remember the plan he thinks. Minerva turns and fires her rifle at the first man she sees on the horse.
In response to Kate's command the horse comes to an abrupt halt, causing the other two horses to stop and preventing the man from firing again at Ruby and Jake, who now start to put some distance between themselves and the animals. The man tugs at the horse to go but it won't budge. Meanwhile, four mounted riders in two side-by-side pairs behind the horse trio also have to stop.
Jake doesn't hear any explosions behind him. He hears two more shots get fired and feels the bullets striking the back of his coat but none penetrate. Once Ruby gets outside the cave she moves to the right side, outside the powder, and pulls out the fireball rod. Breathing hard she also pulls out the scroll, then puts her back against the wall. She waits for Jake and will grab him when he comes out. Chester sees Ruby go left out of the cave. He goes right to avoid bumping into her. He readies his rifle to fire, keeping it pointed away from any of his friends.
"Let them come out!" Ruby calls out. When they don't come out Ruby goes back towards the entrance and looks in. "Damn it," Kate said, and whistled the command to move the horse forward, then watched for it to come out, ready to tell it to turn right when it cleared the cave mouth. Nanuet waits patiently for a target to appear. He is surprised when nobody follows his fleeing friends. He remains focused though and continues to aim at the cave mouth waiting for a target, hoping the powder will do it's job.
Jake drops his shotgun after firing it and draws his long barreled Colt while running. He stops to fire two incendiary rounds at the rider of the center horse. Both of Jake's shots are good, one striking the man and the other the roof above him, showering down rocks and breaking a beam, but not enough to cause a roof collapse. The man and his horse are engulfed in the fireballs and both die. The horses on either side are injured and the blast is enough to spur both of them onward. The two riders immediately behind begin firing their guns at the cave mouth. "Mierda!" Jake zig-zags for the cave mouth and dives outside attempting to tumble out of the way.
Those outside see bullets fly from the cave mouth, some igniting in fireballs where they eventually land. The horse that Kate commands to come forward makes its way out from the cave. When it crosses over the powder nothing is visible. Ruby gets out of the powder again. She tucks the scroll back into her bodice and keeps the cowgirls rifle ready with the rod easily reachable. Jake scrambles to the side away from the cave mouth and draws his fast draw Colt so he has a gun in each hand.
Nanuet see the horse come out of the cave and holds his breath for a moment, then exhales when there is no rider revealed. He watches the horse though and attempts to see if it moves as if bearing a rider before refocusing on the cave mouth. Kate whistled for the horse again, this time to come to her and stand. Between the horse and the wall she would be fairly well protected. She pulled out her pistol with the wand tucked against it and peeked into the caves, sticking her hand inside and activating the wand to hit the head of whatever man she could see. The shooting stops from inside the cave mouth. Nobody exits.
Maska grips Jakes hand a little firmer with her teeth and then moves it until it is pointing to a sport around fifteen feet in front of the cave mouth. Jake pats the wolfs head a couple of times and looks to see if he can see foot prints of someone standing there. Ruby continues silently and stays to the left. She also tries to watch Jake's footprints and listen for the sound of him. Ruby continues to move silently, staying to the left. She keeps her dagger readied and will get to the rock wall, then slowly move towards the mouth.
Jake moves a little bit closer. There is a slight breeze so he watches closely to see if there is anywhere that the dust doesn't go, soon deducing where one of the invisible person's boot's is. It also occurs to him that with this breeze he and Ruby have the same invulnerability to a keen eyed observer. Jake makes a note of where the person is in relation to some object on the ground. He then looks around for the other guards and gauges if he can get behind his target on the right. If he can, he'll do so silently. Ruby tries to keep her eyes and ears open for Jake and anything else of note.
Ruby reaches the cave mouth and sees the man and woman inside. The woman is seated on a chair-sized rock, a rifle leaning against the rock beside her. The man has a gun belt with two revolvers in it. Both are talking softly to each other. Ruby listens in. Based upon the conversation they are having about "Brother Bobby" she concludes that they are siblings. ake enters the cave from the other side and moves in behind the man.
Jake looks and listens for the Ruby. He especially looks for the tell tale wind and sand around the boots. He has his dagger ready and quietly unbuttons his duster to prepare his sawed off shotgun. Ruby enters the cave, silently moving behind the woman. Once in place she will put her hand over the woman's mouth and try to slit her throat, while kicking the gun aside. Ruby successfully slits the woman's throat, becoming visible. Ruby ducks behind the rock as quickly as she can, grabbing the woman's gun. As soon as there is noise Nanuet silently commands Maska to attack any nearby invisible foe.
The man reaches for his guns. One of the less noble things Red taught Jake was how to open a mans kidneys with a knife from behind. When the man moves, Jake quickly stabs him in the lower back and twists. Jake then lets go of the knife and pulls out the double barrel shotgun He begins making his way closer and shoots both barrels at the invisible cowboy, he then reaches and moves at a hustle with his rifle ready.
Chester keeps a watch on the cave mouth. At the sound of the shotgun blast, Chester raises his rifle and looks for cowboys outside the cave. Jake's foe dies and he fires off both shots from the shotgun out the door. The first brushes the man for a light wound but the second is right on, striking both the man and the wolf Maska who had dived up on him. Both fall the ground, apparently dead. Eighty feet away Nanuet sees his faithful companion fall from the shotgun blast inside of the cave. He senses that the wolf is mortally wounded but still clinging to life. Further back, Minerva follows behind Kate as they make their way down. she has her rifle drawn and has cast magic weapon on it.
"Crap," Ruby whispers. "Nanuet will take care of the wolf. They know we're here now so let's go." Nanuet stifles a cry as he sees Maska get wounded. He changes his direction so that he is headed directly towards her. He kneels down beside her trying to comfort her with Apache words as he begins a prayer. He summons the most powerful healing words he knows and lays his hand on Maska as a single tear rolls down his face.
The cave goes a short distance on a curve and then reaches a "T" intersection. "Mierda." Jake whispers. He drops his roll of rifles and takes out the full length shotgun. "There is no light in there Ruby. Let's go in a little ways out of the twilight, so they can't see us but we won't be able to see anyone hiding in the dark." "You want a light spell lover?" She asks, dusting dirt and blood off herself. She picks up the now deceased woman's rifle and checks the ammunition. Jake says, "We may need that, but not with us. If we hear somebody ahead maybe put it behind them so we can see them and they can't see us. Keep moving but let's defend the T so the others can get with us."
Seeing only his friends rushing further into the cave Chester follows. Minerva and Kate get closer and see the green glow in the distance from Nanuet's necklace and hands as he tries to heal his companion. "Someone is injured. That is the glow of Nanuet's Necklace." Minerva moves faster toward the cave. When he is done Maska's wounds are healed but she appears to still be in pain and lets out a low whimpering sound. Minerva whispers to Katherine " You should not be here get behind me. I will shield you" "I would have stayed in the tent but a couple people went running off," she said and let the Priestess get in front of her as they continued down.
Ruby and Jake reach the T intersection. Ruby states, "Jake, we shouldn't wait for them. Let's go now while we still might have some surprise. Come on, you know the way. There is probably some light in there." Ruby starts edging up while sticking to the wall. She listens intently for any noise coming from ahead. They see two people coming quickly from the corridor to the right.
Ruby takes aim with the cowgirls rifle and shoots at the one on the left. Jake quickly swings his shotgun around the corner and fires rapidly at one and then the other before pulling back around the corner. Ruby's shot is on target and it turns out to be one of the pyrotechnic shells as the man's chest explodes as the fireball engulfs him. The man's companion dives to the ground to avoid the fireball, which is the only thing that saves him from Jake's shot.
Ruby uses a second shot at the guy who dove to the ground. Jake drops his shotgun and fast draws his Colt, he reaches around the corner and fires twice quickly at the man who ducked. Another fireball erupts as Ruby's shot connects. The second burst of fire in the same area causes an already damaged and rotting wooden support timber to break and the tunnel roof collapses onto the two bodies, filling the corridor with a cloud of dust that washes over Jake and Ruby.
Outside, Nanuet says some more soothing words in Apache to Maska and tells her "Go now and be safe girl. Get some rest, you have done your duty." He pets her lightly and then makes his way over to the cave mouth. He thinks "I have no idea what Jake and Ruby are doing, but I might as well use this powder for something. Maybe they will get chased out and it will be useful then.
Nanuet begins shaking out the powder in the area in front of the cave mouth covering the whole width of the entrance and as far in front of the cave as he can go before the powder wears off. He then begins wetting the area with his waterskin making the powder moist as Kajika instructed. Nanuet then takes his position outside the cave and readies his rifle to shoot any enemy that enters the area he made with the powder.
Kate stayed behind Minerva as they arrived at the cave entrance. There are two bodies just inside the mouth of the cave, and a partially invisible dead corpse over near Maska before the cave. "They got past here at least," she whispered. "Twelve more, if the count was right." Minerva checks the bodies quickly for anything useful and she and Katherine make their way into the cave. The crashing sounds are heard from deeper in the cave and cloud of dust then washes over them. Minerva and Katherine silently make their way forward.
Back inside the caves, Coughing, Ruby waves her hand in front of her face. "I guess we go left." She checks the rifle for how many shells are left. As Ruby stands there waiting she says to Jake, "By the way, Judge Isby gave me bullets for my gun, my baby Colt. They paralyze and they're loaded in my gun." She then sees Chester down the hall. "Hey, nice of you to join us. Get ready..." Chester slings the Spencer on his back and draws his six-gun. "Let's go. How many are left?" "How many?" Jake says while reloading, "If I heard correctly fifteen take away three that aren't here. We just dropped five so that leaves seven."
Jake now hears movement from the other corridor that sounds like horses galloping. "They are going to try and ride us down." Jake whispers. "Make a mess Ruby dear when you see them." Chester whispers back, "In here?" He switches back to the rifle and tries to take cover. Jake drops back to retrieve and reload his shotgun and holster his Colt. Ruby nods to Jake and readies the rifle. She will shoot at the riders as she can and continue to shoot as fast as she can. If the horses get close she'll get against the wall.
Jake and Ruby start to see horses ahead. The first three horses come into view, with a rider on the center one and a horse on either side tied to it. Collectively the horses fill the entire corridor and are riding as fast as the tight quarters allow. Other horses are moving further back behind them although Ruby and Jake can't make out how many due to the front three blocking their view. The man has a revolver in hand that Jake recognizes as a Colt Thunderer.
"Um, start running! Get out!" Ruby screams. She takes a shot directly at the man then turns to start running out. Kate hears Ruby's shout from somewhere in the darkness and immediately goes back out into the night, carefully staying out of Nanuet's powder and hiding against the cliff next to the cave mouth. Minerva runs out the door with Kate and moves to the side of the cave
The man takes a shot at Ruby and Jake, the bullet deflecting off of Jake's long-coat as the horses now close to twenty-five feet, still at a swift pace. "Jake!" Ruby screams again and holds her breath until she sees that he is ok. "Move that cute butt of yours!" Jake opens his saddle bags and shakes out the six sticks of dynamite to the floor and runs like crazy. The others are in front of him. As the horses make the turn Jake stops and fires both barrels at the floor, hoping to take out the center horses legs and possibly ignite some dynamite.
Chester starts running for the exit muttering, “Never been on the other end of a cavalry charge before. That's scary.” Minerva and Kate have reached exited the caves when they hear the sound of rapidly approaching horses. They see Ruby and Jake charging through the now clearing dust towards them from twenty feet away with a trio of horses, one with a pistol-wielding cowboy, a mere ten feet behind them.
Kate recognizes one of the rider-less horses as being Johnny Ringo's. Kate whistled the command to stop that she had taught the horse when it had been at her ranch, hoping to slow the trio and perhaps make the man talk so she could hear his voice. The scrolls left were precious, and she didn't want to waste it finding out if this man was Ringo in disguise. Still, she got it out, just in case. Nanuet sees his friends who entered are now exiting. I hope they see the wet ground and remember the plan he thinks. Minerva turns and fires her rifle at the first man she sees on the horse.
In response to Kate's command the horse comes to an abrupt halt, causing the other two horses to stop and preventing the man from firing again at Ruby and Jake, who now start to put some distance between themselves and the animals. The man tugs at the horse to go but it won't budge. Meanwhile, four mounted riders in two side-by-side pairs behind the horse trio also have to stop.
Jake doesn't hear any explosions behind him. He hears two more shots get fired and feels the bullets striking the back of his coat but none penetrate. Once Ruby gets outside the cave she moves to the right side, outside the powder, and pulls out the fireball rod. Breathing hard she also pulls out the scroll, then puts her back against the wall. She waits for Jake and will grab him when he comes out. Chester sees Ruby go left out of the cave. He goes right to avoid bumping into her. He readies his rifle to fire, keeping it pointed away from any of his friends.
"Let them come out!" Ruby calls out. When they don't come out Ruby goes back towards the entrance and looks in. "Damn it," Kate said, and whistled the command to move the horse forward, then watched for it to come out, ready to tell it to turn right when it cleared the cave mouth. Nanuet waits patiently for a target to appear. He is surprised when nobody follows his fleeing friends. He remains focused though and continues to aim at the cave mouth waiting for a target, hoping the powder will do it's job.
Jake drops his shotgun after firing it and draws his long barreled Colt while running. He stops to fire two incendiary rounds at the rider of the center horse. Both of Jake's shots are good, one striking the man and the other the roof above him, showering down rocks and breaking a beam, but not enough to cause a roof collapse. The man and his horse are engulfed in the fireballs and both die. The horses on either side are injured and the blast is enough to spur both of them onward. The two riders immediately behind begin firing their guns at the cave mouth. "Mierda!" Jake zig-zags for the cave mouth and dives outside attempting to tumble out of the way.
Those outside see bullets fly from the cave mouth, some igniting in fireballs where they eventually land. The horse that Kate commands to come forward makes its way out from the cave. When it crosses over the powder nothing is visible. Ruby gets out of the powder again. She tucks the scroll back into her bodice and keeps the cowgirls rifle ready with the rod easily reachable. Jake scrambles to the side away from the cave mouth and draws his fast draw Colt so he has a gun in each hand.
Nanuet see the horse come out of the cave and holds his breath for a moment, then exhales when there is no rider revealed. He watches the horse though and attempts to see if it moves as if bearing a rider before refocusing on the cave mouth. Kate whistled for the horse again, this time to come to her and stand. Between the horse and the wall she would be fairly well protected. She pulled out her pistol with the wand tucked against it and peeked into the caves, sticking her hand inside and activating the wand to hit the head of whatever man she could see. The shooting stops from inside the cave mouth. Nobody exits.