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Wizards, Whiskey and Wonderful Things - Concluded
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<blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 2701885" data-attributes="member: 8530"><p><strong>Chapter 70, “Captured", Friday, March 17th, 1882: </strong> </p><p></p><p>Chester and Nanuet get back on the road and continue west to Tombstone. After around half an hour they hear the sound of gunshots. The shots are well to the north, somewhere in the Dragoon Mountains. There are a total of a dozen shots in all, fired as three burst of four continuous shots. They are then followed by another series of four continuous shots coming from a much closer location, somewhere on the road to the east behind them at a distance that Chester estimates to be between a quarter and a half mile.</p><p></p><p>Nanuet states, "OK, time to ride Chet. Let's see if we can make it to town without any more trouble." Nanuet and Chester spur their mounts forward quickening their pace attemtping to make it to Tombstone. They make good time, covering the next two miles rather quickly. They are still in the last foothills of the Dragoon Mountain range, around five miles east of Tombstone. Storm clouds are starting to accumulate in the sky above and the wind has picked up. </p><p></p><p>As they round a bend they see a horse drawn wagon parked on the side of the roadway around 150 feet in front of them. A pair of horses are hitched to the front of the wagon which is facing in the direction of Tombstone. A pair off saddled horses, each with a rifle sticking out of saddle holsters, are off to the side of the wagon. </p><p></p><p>There are three men, each of whom is wearing a revolver. One is at the front of the wagon and also has a shotgun by his side. The other two are in the back, prsumably the riders of the other two horses. The two in the back are currently securing a canvas tarp over something large, standing four feet high, in the middle of the back of the wagon. The remainder of the wagon appears to be empty.</p><p></p><p>Nanuet slows his horse and motions for Chester to do the same. They cautiously approach the wagon and Nanuet scans the men to see if he recognizes any of them. Chester states, "Let's be extra careful. There's a lot of shooting on the road today and you probably can't pray too often. Sorry about earlier. I thought those two would've been more neighborly since we had the drop on them."</p><p></p><p>Chester and Nanuet continue to ride forward. When they are within fifty-feet of the wagon one of the men in the back of it pulls off the canvas tarp. They find themselves facing the the barrel of a metal cylindrical device first invented in 1862 by Richard J. Gatling, and later updated in 1871, known as a Gatling Gun. </p><p></p><p>Chester is familiar with the heavy machine gun from his time in the United States Army. One of the men in the back of the wagon stands ready with the handcrank on the rear of the machine used to realign each of the twenty separate magazines within the drum, each of which fires twenty rounds, for a total of a four-hundred shot capacity. Chester knows that this gun can fire ten rounds in the same amount of time that he could fire back one from his own weapon, which is still holstered. </p><p></p><p>The man in the front of the wagon stands and turns towards the two. "Why don't you boys stop right there," he says. Neither Nanuet or Chester recognize any of these three men. Nanuet does as the man says and checks his horse. He waits quietly for the man to continue.</p><p></p><p>An uncomfortable two minutes of silence pass by. Nanuet and Chester then hear the sound of horses, not from the road but up on the hill to the north. They see seven mounted riders on the top of the hill a quarter-mile away riding down towards them, one of whom appears to be Billy Claibourne. Chester mutters, "Damn. Out of the frying pan, into the fire." Chester looks over the men manning the Gatling gun, trying to tell if they're soldiers or not. Common bandits wouldn't have the resources for that kind of firepower. </p><p></p><p>Nanuet takes a deep breath and trots forward. He speaks loudly and says "Look, are you guys going to help us or kill us? That there is Billy Claiborne. Either you are with him and you are going to gun us down or maybe you could help us with that contraption of yours. Any bounty money can be yours. What say you?" The man in the front of the wagon tells Nanuet "You boys just shut up. If we'd wanted you dead you'd already be in hades by now."</p><p>Chester thinks to himself, "What do you want? Are you linking up with Claibourne? Or were you reacting to the gunfire?"</p><p></p><p>The seven riders start to close. The one in charge of the wagon tells his two companions "Keep a close eye on these two. The boss will want to find out what they know." Nanuet couldn't decide what to do. Just trying to do a simple errrand he thought. It always turns into a mess. But I know one thing, I won't let them take me without a fight! All the muscles in his body tensed. He tried to keep himself calm but was finding it difficult. He did all he could to try and discern what the men wanted. "Who's the boss? You guys work for that clown Claiborne? Besides, what makes you think I will tell you anything?"</p><p></p><p>He replies, "Claibourne and I both work for the boss. Hey, Billy looks injured. You do that to him? Better tell me what you know before he gets here, otherwise I might just turn you over to Billy Boy and let him finish what he started." Nanuet states, "You should see what we did to Billy's partner. Watch yourself or you'll be next."</p><p></p><p>At this point Claibourne and his six companions are now around 300 feet away, each with a weapon in hand. The man says "Look, I'm not playing games here. We have you outnumbered five-to-one and outgunned fifty-to-one. If you want to live you'd better give me that message you were bringing to the Earps."</p><p></p><p>Chester leans toward Nanuet. He whispers, "What is he talking about? Have any ideas on how to get out of this. There's not much chance for running away. That Gatling gun would cut us to pieces. Unless we go in opposite directions. But one of us would likely die." Nanuet turns to Chester and says, "The only way I know how to handle things is to tell the truth. I don't know about you, but they won't get me alive."</p><p></p><p>Nanuet then turns to the man who gave him the warning and responds calmly. "There must be some mistake, we have no message for anyone. We are simply looking for the halfling newspaper man because he wants to publish a story that is incorrect. And as for your threats, I am not afraid to die."</p><p></p><p>One of the two men standing beside the gatling gun says "He's lying. I was in the Palace Saloon last night when this Indian and his friends helped the Elf Deputy arrest Gifford. He's in tight with the Earps." The spokesman of the group says, "We want to know what information Gifford spilled. Tell us now or you'll find I'm not just making threats. Not being afraid to die is a different think than wanting to die." The other riders are now around 200 feet away and closing.</p><p></p><p>Nanuet states, "Yes, I was there when they arrested Gifford. He killed my friends partner. I have no idea what he told anybody after they took him away. Why would I? I am not the law and neither is he."</p><p></p><p>The man by the gun says "You weren't just there. The Palace doesn't allow non-humans so you're lying about that. You were working with the law. Your story about that halfling is a pile of cow excriment." The leader says, "The Earps seem to have trained you well. But you're taking the wrong side on this one Indian." The seven riders close to 100 feet.</p><p></p><p>Nanuet states, "You're right, I wasn't just there, we were looking for the man who killed my partners friend and that was one of the places we looked. And if you really knew what was going on you would know I never went inside the Palace, because as you stated, they don't allow non-humans. Say what you want about my story, I never lie. We simply want to make sure a story gets straightened out before it hits the papers is all. I don't work for or with the Earps. So say or do what you wish with me, I have no information for you and neither does he."</p><p></p><p>The riders reach the wagon. Billy Claibourne is visibly bleeding from the two wounds. "Good you got them. Why are they still alive?", he asks. The man towards the front of the wagon says "The boss will want to find out what they were planning to tell the Earps. Looks like Gifford talked. If he spilled the plans we could be walking into an ambush." </p><p></p><p>Claibourne says, "Then what Frank? I get to kill them for shooting me?" The man replies, "That'll be up to the boss, but right now you'd better get to town and see a doctor. Robby, you go with him to make sure that he gets there." Claiboune nods. He and the one other rustler start to ride off to the west.</p><p></p><p>Nanuet states, "So, just what exactly do you plan on doing here? I told you we have no information and we have no idea what Gifford said. So if you want to kill us then get it over with because we have no information." He says, "You hard of hearing Indian? I'm taking you to go see the boss. You may not talk for me but you will for him." </p><p></p><p>He gestures up to two of the riders that just rode up and says, "Get their weapons." The two men ride up alongside Nanuet and Chester. Nanuet is seething with anger at this point but he looks over at Chester and realizes it would not be fair to him if he was to try anything stupid at this point so he reluctantly lets them approach and offers no resistance.</p><p></p><p>Chester and Nanuet's weapons are removed. The man on the wagon tells tells the two men in the wagon. "Secure the gun but stay close. If these guys try anything or have friends who try to stop us we may need it fast." He tells the other five "We're going back to the ranch. A pair of you should ride alongside each of them, one to each side, the other take up the rear. We'll lead."</p><p></p><p>Nanuet rides along, paying attention to his surroundings. He tries to look at the men closely as they ride so that he can remember them if he needs to in the future. He awaits anxiously for the trip to end counting the horses steps as they trot along.</p><p></p><p>They ride north, circumnavigating around several mountains in the Dragoon range. They then head a bit to the northeast and soon arrive at a valley with a two-acre corral containing thirty cows, a barn and a farmhouse. They ride down to the area and approach the farmhouse. The man in charge gets out of the wagon. </p><p></p><p>"He tells the four men nearest Nanuet and Chester "Get them off the horses and bring 'em inside." He tells the others "Put the wagon and horse into the barn." Nanuet continues to do what the men say, offering no resistance. Again he looks the men in the face whenever possible trying to imprint them into his memory. Chester also looks around trying to recognize his surroundings. How far will these guys go to get this information they think Nanuet has? When will the others wonder where we are? He snorts. Where's George Eastman when you need to raise an alarm?</p><p></p><p>Nanuet and Chester are locked in one of the bedrooms. Chester says, "I don't suppose you can pray for a way out of here. We're in some bad trouble. We don't have what they want and we killed one of them." Nanuet replies, "I don't have any prayers that can help us."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Silver Moon, post: 2701885, member: 8530"] [B]Chapter 70, “Captured", Friday, March 17th, 1882: [/B] Chester and Nanuet get back on the road and continue west to Tombstone. After around half an hour they hear the sound of gunshots. The shots are well to the north, somewhere in the Dragoon Mountains. There are a total of a dozen shots in all, fired as three burst of four continuous shots. They are then followed by another series of four continuous shots coming from a much closer location, somewhere on the road to the east behind them at a distance that Chester estimates to be between a quarter and a half mile. Nanuet states, "OK, time to ride Chet. Let's see if we can make it to town without any more trouble." Nanuet and Chester spur their mounts forward quickening their pace attemtping to make it to Tombstone. They make good time, covering the next two miles rather quickly. They are still in the last foothills of the Dragoon Mountain range, around five miles east of Tombstone. Storm clouds are starting to accumulate in the sky above and the wind has picked up. As they round a bend they see a horse drawn wagon parked on the side of the roadway around 150 feet in front of them. A pair of horses are hitched to the front of the wagon which is facing in the direction of Tombstone. A pair off saddled horses, each with a rifle sticking out of saddle holsters, are off to the side of the wagon. There are three men, each of whom is wearing a revolver. One is at the front of the wagon and also has a shotgun by his side. The other two are in the back, prsumably the riders of the other two horses. The two in the back are currently securing a canvas tarp over something large, standing four feet high, in the middle of the back of the wagon. The remainder of the wagon appears to be empty. Nanuet slows his horse and motions for Chester to do the same. They cautiously approach the wagon and Nanuet scans the men to see if he recognizes any of them. Chester states, "Let's be extra careful. There's a lot of shooting on the road today and you probably can't pray too often. Sorry about earlier. I thought those two would've been more neighborly since we had the drop on them." Chester and Nanuet continue to ride forward. When they are within fifty-feet of the wagon one of the men in the back of it pulls off the canvas tarp. They find themselves facing the the barrel of a metal cylindrical device first invented in 1862 by Richard J. Gatling, and later updated in 1871, known as a Gatling Gun. Chester is familiar with the heavy machine gun from his time in the United States Army. One of the men in the back of the wagon stands ready with the handcrank on the rear of the machine used to realign each of the twenty separate magazines within the drum, each of which fires twenty rounds, for a total of a four-hundred shot capacity. Chester knows that this gun can fire ten rounds in the same amount of time that he could fire back one from his own weapon, which is still holstered. The man in the front of the wagon stands and turns towards the two. "Why don't you boys stop right there," he says. Neither Nanuet or Chester recognize any of these three men. Nanuet does as the man says and checks his horse. He waits quietly for the man to continue. An uncomfortable two minutes of silence pass by. Nanuet and Chester then hear the sound of horses, not from the road but up on the hill to the north. They see seven mounted riders on the top of the hill a quarter-mile away riding down towards them, one of whom appears to be Billy Claibourne. Chester mutters, "Damn. Out of the frying pan, into the fire." Chester looks over the men manning the Gatling gun, trying to tell if they're soldiers or not. Common bandits wouldn't have the resources for that kind of firepower. Nanuet takes a deep breath and trots forward. He speaks loudly and says "Look, are you guys going to help us or kill us? That there is Billy Claiborne. Either you are with him and you are going to gun us down or maybe you could help us with that contraption of yours. Any bounty money can be yours. What say you?" The man in the front of the wagon tells Nanuet "You boys just shut up. If we'd wanted you dead you'd already be in hades by now." Chester thinks to himself, "What do you want? Are you linking up with Claibourne? Or were you reacting to the gunfire?" The seven riders start to close. The one in charge of the wagon tells his two companions "Keep a close eye on these two. The boss will want to find out what they know." Nanuet couldn't decide what to do. Just trying to do a simple errrand he thought. It always turns into a mess. But I know one thing, I won't let them take me without a fight! All the muscles in his body tensed. He tried to keep himself calm but was finding it difficult. He did all he could to try and discern what the men wanted. "Who's the boss? You guys work for that clown Claiborne? Besides, what makes you think I will tell you anything?" He replies, "Claibourne and I both work for the boss. Hey, Billy looks injured. You do that to him? Better tell me what you know before he gets here, otherwise I might just turn you over to Billy Boy and let him finish what he started." Nanuet states, "You should see what we did to Billy's partner. Watch yourself or you'll be next." At this point Claibourne and his six companions are now around 300 feet away, each with a weapon in hand. The man says "Look, I'm not playing games here. We have you outnumbered five-to-one and outgunned fifty-to-one. If you want to live you'd better give me that message you were bringing to the Earps." Chester leans toward Nanuet. He whispers, "What is he talking about? Have any ideas on how to get out of this. There's not much chance for running away. That Gatling gun would cut us to pieces. Unless we go in opposite directions. But one of us would likely die." Nanuet turns to Chester and says, "The only way I know how to handle things is to tell the truth. I don't know about you, but they won't get me alive." Nanuet then turns to the man who gave him the warning and responds calmly. "There must be some mistake, we have no message for anyone. We are simply looking for the halfling newspaper man because he wants to publish a story that is incorrect. And as for your threats, I am not afraid to die." One of the two men standing beside the gatling gun says "He's lying. I was in the Palace Saloon last night when this Indian and his friends helped the Elf Deputy arrest Gifford. He's in tight with the Earps." The spokesman of the group says, "We want to know what information Gifford spilled. Tell us now or you'll find I'm not just making threats. Not being afraid to die is a different think than wanting to die." The other riders are now around 200 feet away and closing. Nanuet states, "Yes, I was there when they arrested Gifford. He killed my friends partner. I have no idea what he told anybody after they took him away. Why would I? I am not the law and neither is he." The man by the gun says "You weren't just there. The Palace doesn't allow non-humans so you're lying about that. You were working with the law. Your story about that halfling is a pile of cow excriment." The leader says, "The Earps seem to have trained you well. But you're taking the wrong side on this one Indian." The seven riders close to 100 feet. Nanuet states, "You're right, I wasn't just there, we were looking for the man who killed my partners friend and that was one of the places we looked. And if you really knew what was going on you would know I never went inside the Palace, because as you stated, they don't allow non-humans. Say what you want about my story, I never lie. We simply want to make sure a story gets straightened out before it hits the papers is all. I don't work for or with the Earps. So say or do what you wish with me, I have no information for you and neither does he." The riders reach the wagon. Billy Claibourne is visibly bleeding from the two wounds. "Good you got them. Why are they still alive?", he asks. The man towards the front of the wagon says "The boss will want to find out what they were planning to tell the Earps. Looks like Gifford talked. If he spilled the plans we could be walking into an ambush." Claibourne says, "Then what Frank? I get to kill them for shooting me?" The man replies, "That'll be up to the boss, but right now you'd better get to town and see a doctor. Robby, you go with him to make sure that he gets there." Claiboune nods. He and the one other rustler start to ride off to the west. Nanuet states, "So, just what exactly do you plan on doing here? I told you we have no information and we have no idea what Gifford said. So if you want to kill us then get it over with because we have no information." He says, "You hard of hearing Indian? I'm taking you to go see the boss. You may not talk for me but you will for him." He gestures up to two of the riders that just rode up and says, "Get their weapons." The two men ride up alongside Nanuet and Chester. Nanuet is seething with anger at this point but he looks over at Chester and realizes it would not be fair to him if he was to try anything stupid at this point so he reluctantly lets them approach and offers no resistance. Chester and Nanuet's weapons are removed. The man on the wagon tells tells the two men in the wagon. "Secure the gun but stay close. If these guys try anything or have friends who try to stop us we may need it fast." He tells the other five "We're going back to the ranch. A pair of you should ride alongside each of them, one to each side, the other take up the rear. We'll lead." Nanuet rides along, paying attention to his surroundings. He tries to look at the men closely as they ride so that he can remember them if he needs to in the future. He awaits anxiously for the trip to end counting the horses steps as they trot along. They ride north, circumnavigating around several mountains in the Dragoon range. They then head a bit to the northeast and soon arrive at a valley with a two-acre corral containing thirty cows, a barn and a farmhouse. They ride down to the area and approach the farmhouse. The man in charge gets out of the wagon. "He tells the four men nearest Nanuet and Chester "Get them off the horses and bring 'em inside." He tells the others "Put the wagon and horse into the barn." Nanuet continues to do what the men say, offering no resistance. Again he looks the men in the face whenever possible trying to imprint them into his memory. Chester also looks around trying to recognize his surroundings. How far will these guys go to get this information they think Nanuet has? When will the others wonder where we are? He snorts. Where's George Eastman when you need to raise an alarm? Nanuet and Chester are locked in one of the bedrooms. Chester says, "I don't suppose you can pray for a way out of here. We're in some bad trouble. We don't have what they want and we killed one of them." Nanuet replies, "I don't have any prayers that can help us." [/QUOTE]
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