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<blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 2813751" data-attributes="member: 8530"><p><strong>Chapter 104, “Shooting on Fremont Street”, Sunday, March 19th , 1882, 3:15 P.M. </strong> </p><p></p><p>Kate exits from the front door of the El Parador just as the door to the Marshall's Office slams shut. The only movement she sees is people scrambling from the street to safety. She then catches a glimpse of movement above her and to the right She looks up to see two rifle barrels pointing from windows along the west wall of the Great Western Boarding House, both pointing towards the Marshall's Office. One is from the same second floor room that she had seen Morgan Earp staying in two months earlier. The other is from a third floor room directly above it. </p><p></p><p>Inside the Marshall’s Office, Ruby yells, “Jake, close that door and get out of the way!" Ruby grabs Ringo by the shoulder and roughly pulls him behind the desk. "Did you see who was out there shooting?" As she talks she takes the hanky that is still in her hand, kneels besides Ringo and presses it against his wound. "Hold that on there." She leans in closer to him so only he can hear, "Is this your little distraction to get this idiot," she nods to Gifford, "Out of jail?" </p><p></p><p>He exclaims "Jupiter and Mars! Woman, are you daft? They're trying to kill me." While he says this to her he reaches inside of his coat to his shirt pocket and takes out a metal flask. Jake dives and rolls to get behind the door to kicks it shut. Two bullets strike him but deflect off of his duster, one lodging itself in the floor the other in the wall. He kicks the door shut. "That's the trouble with these small western towns, it's so hard to be accepted." He then crawls quickly across to a spot under the window. "Senor, some rifles por favor?" </p><p></p><p>Eduardo heads over to the gun rack on the sidewall and take out a key chain to unlock the lock and chain holding the firearms in place. While he is unlocking it Eduardo says "Those bullets struck from a downward angle from almost directly across. They've probably coming from the Great Western Boarding House, probably from a third floor window." </p><p></p><p>Ruby narrows her eyes at Ringo and replies, “I wouldn't put it past you. Why shouldn't we throw you out there and let them have you? See what your friends did to me," She pulls her dress quickly off her shoulder, "They tried to kill me. Maybe we should repay your kindness. What do you think Jake? Why should we risk our lives for him?" Jake is listening for sounds outside and waiting for a rifle, "What? Risk our lives for him? We should just worry about ducking right now." </p><p></p><p>Ringo ignores Ruby and Jake's banter, unscrewing the cap and putting the flask to his lips. He lifts up the flask and continues to hold it up as he is apparently planning to drink the entire contents. Ruby attempts to grab the flask from Ringo. "Are you crazy? You shouldn't be drinking in your condition..." He reaches up with his other arm and grabs her arm to stop her. "Let go of me!" Ruby smacks his arm away. </p><p></p><p>Ruby exclaims, "Who is out there Ringo?" He turns away from her until he has finished drinking the contents of the flask. He then shoves the empty container back into his pocket and says "How should I know? I didn't see anybody. Why don't you go outside and ask them?" Ruby again narrows her eyes at Ringo. "Well, I wonder why anyone would want to kill you, Mr. Ringo." Ruby stands and heads towards Rodriquez. "You'd better give me a gun too, since we don't know who is out there." Jake looks at Ruby and sees the stormy look brewing in her eyes. </p><p></p><p>Kate dashed across the street and into the front door of the Great Western Boarding House, looking for anyone who might still be downstairs. The first floor of the Great Western Boarding House is crowded, with the five members of the Vigilance Committee and Mrs. King still inside the Common Room. As Kate enters she sees Bill Watkins is handing rifles to the other men and saying "..heard a rumor that Arcade's Gang was seen back in town. It must be them out there shooting up the place." </p><p></p><p>Kate took a couple deep breaths and looked around the room. "Mr. Watkins, one is shooting from Morgan Earp's old room on the second floor, the other from the room directly above. I didn't see who was shooting. It seems like only one from each room. You don't know who's up there?" </p><p></p><p>Great Western Boarding House Owner Bill Watkins has handed rifles to banker Frank Condon, Cook's General Store owner Zebadiah Cook and bank teller Derrick Avery, and keeping one for himself. Rebecca King and Doctor Eaton remain unarmed. In response to Kate's comment Watkins says "Morgan's room? That's Warren's room now. The one above it is Wyatt's. They're both in Tombstone, those rooms should be empty!" He looks towards the men and says "Follow me boys," and heads in the direction of the staircase up. Eaton and King remain in the common room. </p><p></p><p>Kate fought the urge to pull the pistol out of its hiding place and follow the men. They would just make her stay downstairs anyway, and beside, she couldn't just run into gunfights now. She probably shouldn't even have left the El Parador. She went over to one of the windows facing the Marshall's office and stood to one side peeking out, watching to see if anyone showed themselves. Kate hears the men head up the stairs rather loudly and thinks to herself "Bulls in a china shop". </p><p></p><p>She hears the men move to the room above. While still looking outside towards the Marshall's Office she hears a "thud" sound right outside of the window she's peering from as the dust on the street right in front of her is disturbed. A small amount of dust settles on the bottom of an invisible shape in front of her so that she can barely make out the outline of a pair boots and the bottom of the legs of the man wearing them. </p><p></p><p>Jake takes a rifle from Rodriguez, sticks his hat on the end of the rifle barrel and pushes on the curtain on the opposite side of the window. Two shots strike the window, breaking the glass although the reinforced wire mesh in the glass keeps any shards from flying into the room. "Seems like someone picked a spot with a good view." Jake looks around the wall and says, "Senor, are there any hidden spots to shoot from in here?" </p><p></p><p>Eduardo says, "No, and there's only one way out, the same way you came in. Smart of the Earps to put in the special glass on the windows." Ruby also takes a rifle from Rodriquez but keeps an eye on Ringo. "We don't even know who is out there." She looks over the rifle then glances back at Gifford. "Maybe someone came for him, he did mention it, didn't he?" </p><p></p><p>Ringo says "The Earps have lots of friends in this town and with the exception of James Earp I've never gotten along too well with them. Could be that someone suspects I had something to do with Morgan's death." </p><p></p><p>At the Lucky Lady, Chester sees Nanuet running toward the gunfire. He thinks “Good, there'll be people I can trust there. Harry Rote is ducked behind the bar with the shotgun in his hands and calls out, "What's going on out there, Chester?" Chester replies, "There're gunshots coming from around the Marshall's office. Rifle fire from the sounds of it. I'm going out there to check it out. Keep your eyes peeled for any of the Cowboy Gang. They've got to be involved in this." </p><p></p><p>Harry replies, "Will do. Your Indian friend just left here, not more than a minute ago." Chester says, "Thanks. I saw him outside. Where are Ruby and Jake?" Harry answers, "Not sure. They left a while ago." Chester says, "I hope they're not mixed up in this. Sit tight." Chester checks to make sure his rifle is loaded and rushes from cover to cover across Main Street and down the alleyway between the Town Hall and the Alhambra. </p><p></p><p>Eduardo head over near the broken window and stands to the side of it while he uses the butt end of his rifle to break out more of the glass and wire. No shots follow. He peers out and comments "The only open windows are in Wyatt and Warren's rooms." Ringo exclaims "The Earps are trying to kill me?" Eduardo replies, "Not hardly, they're both in Tombstone. And they didn't leave their windows open when they left." </p><p></p><p>Kate threw up the window sash, leaned out and trying to grasp an ankle with both hands and yelled, "Down here!" The man manages to pulls back towards the street before she grabs him. Upstairs, two of the men are busy searching the room while the other two are heading up to Wyatt's room on the third floor. Across the street Deputy Rodriguez comments to Jake "What's your friend Kale doing?" Jake sees Kate leaning out of the first floor window of the Great Western and grabbing at the air. </p><p></p><p>Shortly after Chester leaves Minerva hears shots ring out. " What was that!" she says to Luna. She grabs her loaded Rifle and Pistols shoves them in her skirt and heads for the sound. As she is running up the street she sees Kate leaning out the window of the Great Western grabbing at something unseen and yelling "Down here!" Minerva pulls into the shadow of the building and focuses her attention on the ground outside the window where Kate is grabbing and says to Luna "Can you tell what she's grabbing at?" </p><p></p><p>Jake's first thought is Katherine is seeing things again. Jake yells, "Katherine, what in Hades are you doing? Didn't you hear the gunshots?" Ruby turns her back to the front window and looks at Ringo while speaking. "Jake, what is Kate doing out there? Do you see who was taking the shots?" She keeps her eyes trained on Ringo, occasionally glancing at Gifford, her rifle readied. </p><p></p><p>Nanuet follows Chester around the back of the jail. "What's going on in there Chester? Seems like someone is shooting at the jail! I don't have a weapon on me other than my knives." Chester replies, "I don't know. I was visiting Clarisse when I heard shots coming from near the Marshall's office. I wasn't heeled so I went to get my rifle. I don't know where the others are. Do you? Try to get the attention of whoever's inside. I'll sneak down the alley here to look for where the fire came from." Chester slowly crawls down the alley north of the office. He peeks his head out and sees Kate grabbing at thin air. "What is she doing?" </p><p></p><p>Kate yells across the street, "Jake? I heard a thud outside the window and dust kicked up! I think the shooter jumped out. We've seen this before, when we were chased back from the mine remember? The invisible rider?" Smoke begins to pour out of the open third floor of the Great Western Boarding house. </p><p></p><p>Ruby starts to smell smoke, "What the heck..." Ruby moves over to Jake quickly and whispers in his ear, "Keep an eye on Ringo, and don’t let him cast a spell." Jake turns his body and does what Ruby says. "Let's find out if the shooter is still out there. Everyone get back" Once everyone clears the path of the door Ruby turns the door knob, stands to the side and kicks the door back open. </p><p></p><p>Eduardo says, "The rifles seem to be gone, but now Wyatt's room looks like it's on fire." Ruby, Chester, Nanuet, Jake and Minerva all look up to see the window curtains in the room are burning with black smoke billowing out of the room. "That can't be good," Ruby says flatly. "Maybe whoever it was thought Ringo here was Wyatt or Warren." She sighs, "And we have no fire truck... What will they do about the fire?" </p><p></p><p>Kate sniffed the air for a moment, looked up, then pulled her head back inside and addressed Dr. Eaton and Mrs. King. "There's smoke coming out of the third floor window; I think Wyatt's room is on fire. They'll need help to get it under control before it spreads. We'll need buckets. Where's the nearest water source?" </p><p></p><p>Ruby question about what will be done about the fire gets an immediate answer to her question as Bill Watkins and Zeb Cook both reach Wyatt's room. They find Wyatt's clothes had been piled on the bed, coated with kerosene and then lit on fire as well as the window curtains. First the two men grab the corners of the curtain rods and fling the whole flaming thing out the window. This is followed by them doing the same with the yet unburnt corners of the blanket on the bed that haven't caught yet. Pieces of flaming cloth, burning wool and various items of torched clothing rain down upon Fremont Street. Kate heard the something else hit the ground and spun back to the window to see the pile of burning clothes and bedding. She mutters, "Or maybe not." </p><p></p><p>Ruby immediately turns back to Ringo and walks slowly towards him. "You still trying to say you and your friends had nothing to do with this...?" She continues to walk towards him slowly as she speaks. Ringo yells, "Damn you woman. You're as bad as your friends the Earps, trying to blame me for everything that goes wrong. I come in here to pay my respects and try to uphold the law, get shot for my troubles, and now get falsely accused." </p><p></p><p>"Damn me?" Ruby continues walking towards him. "As far as I know, the Earps don't like us either...Only a week ago Jake was in jail to further their own plots, so don't be acting like we're best buddies with them. It was YOU that put us in the middle of your..." Ruby's voice trails off but her eyebrows shoot up. "You KNOW what I'm talking about, don't play innocent." She stands right in front of him. "I pulled you in here to be nice, maybe I should have left you outside for whomever it is to finish the job they started. We don't want to be enemies with you, looks like you got enough of those on your own." </p><p></p><p>Deputy Sheriff Colin Hunter makes his way down the street, gun in hand. He stops at the door of the Marshall's Office and asks "What's going on?" Eduardo says, "Somebody shot Johnny Ringo," gesturing to the man. Hunter asks "Should I get the Doc?" </p><p></p><p>Ringo replies, "Nah, it's not that bad. Just get somebody to go fetch me my horse from the Papago Cash Store and I'll be on my way." A crowd begins to gather outside by the burning debris. They move back as the men upstairs push the burning mattress out of the window. That appears to be the last of it, as the smoke from the room above dissipates. </p><p></p><p>Chester sees Hunter walking down the street, gun drawn. He turns his head. "Nanuet, take my rifle and watch for trouble. The deputy thinks it's safe, so I'll going to the boarding house. Maybe Kate knows what happened." Nanuet says, "OK, Chester. Be careful." He replies, "I will. Just watch where you point the rifle. The law's probably nervous." Chester pushes his way through the crowd. "Excuse me. Coming through.” Colin Hunter tells a man he knows to head up the street to the store and get Johnny Ringo's horse. Eduardo asks him "Watch the office please while I find out what happened." </p><p></p><p>Dr. Eaton and Mrs. King continued staring at her as if she had two heads. They hadn't spoken a word to her, even when she'd told them the building could be on fire. She waited a moment and then walked out the door into the street. As she leaves King says to Eaton "Who does she think she is?" He replies, "Thinks she wants to be a school teacher." </p><p></p><p>Kate stopped and turned slowly on her heel to face the two still inside the boarding house. Each step was slow and deliberate, she almost seemed to grow taller with each step until she stood only a few steps in front of them. She stood straight and looked them each in the eye. "Who do I think I am? I think I'm the kind of person who gives you nightmares. Maybe even more so than Miss West or Mr. Cook. Them you can put a neat little label on, at least in your mind. 'Bad sort,' and fight a noble crusade against them. But me... My crimes aren't obvious, just insidious. I have friends who aren't human, and worse, some who aren't considered decent. I ride astride and run my ranch with my non-human partners, I play piano in a saloon. </p><p></p><p>And yet I can be counted on to help my neighbors when I can, for no reason other than it's the right thing to do. I will help this town in every small way I can. And I couldn't care less about your approval or the approval of your Committee. I have a question for you. Who do you think you are, trying to force your version of morality on everyone else? Does people having charge of their own lives make you that afraid?" Kate didn't wait for any kind of answer. She turned away again and walked back out into the street. </p><p></p><p>Ruby starts walking towards the door when she stops suddenly and turns head, looking back to her shoulder, narrowing her eyes and throwing Ringo a nasty glance. Then she flips her hair and continues out the door. Jake stays in the office and on alert when he sees Rodriquez leave. He brushes his Colt unconsciously while he looks around for trouble. </p><p></p><p>Chester is alongside the west wall of the Great Western as Kate exit’s the building. He says, “Kate, do you know what happened? I heard gunfire and now someone's room caught fire?" Kate replies, "There were men in Warren and Wyatt Earp's rooms, taking shots at the jail." </p><p></p><p>Ruby makes her way over to Kate and Chester. "What the heck was that all about? Someone just shot Johnny Ringo and Jake almost got shot. I pulled Ringo in to get the door shut but now that I think about it I should have left him out here." Ruby shudders. "I don't know what I was thinking." Kate says, "I don't know what it was about, I think the shooters got away. It was the right thing to do Ruby, pulling Ringo back. Tempting to leave him though." </p><p></p><p>"Very tempting indeed," Ruby said without much emotion. The adrenaline was starting to wear off and Ruby was growing weary. Not physically, except for the pain of a bruise her wound seemed better. It was more emotional, and not something Ruby knew how to handle well. "Um, do you have any guesses to who it was Kate?" She replies, "No, I didn't see either of them." She dropped her voice and added, "I think one of them jumped. I heard the sound when he landed, and the dust he kicked up seemed to show a pair of boots. Invisible, using magic."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Silver Moon, post: 2813751, member: 8530"] [B]Chapter 104, “Shooting on Fremont Street”, Sunday, March 19th , 1882, 3:15 P.M. [/B] Kate exits from the front door of the El Parador just as the door to the Marshall's Office slams shut. The only movement she sees is people scrambling from the street to safety. She then catches a glimpse of movement above her and to the right She looks up to see two rifle barrels pointing from windows along the west wall of the Great Western Boarding House, both pointing towards the Marshall's Office. One is from the same second floor room that she had seen Morgan Earp staying in two months earlier. The other is from a third floor room directly above it. Inside the Marshall’s Office, Ruby yells, “Jake, close that door and get out of the way!" Ruby grabs Ringo by the shoulder and roughly pulls him behind the desk. "Did you see who was out there shooting?" As she talks she takes the hanky that is still in her hand, kneels besides Ringo and presses it against his wound. "Hold that on there." She leans in closer to him so only he can hear, "Is this your little distraction to get this idiot," she nods to Gifford, "Out of jail?" He exclaims "Jupiter and Mars! Woman, are you daft? They're trying to kill me." While he says this to her he reaches inside of his coat to his shirt pocket and takes out a metal flask. Jake dives and rolls to get behind the door to kicks it shut. Two bullets strike him but deflect off of his duster, one lodging itself in the floor the other in the wall. He kicks the door shut. "That's the trouble with these small western towns, it's so hard to be accepted." He then crawls quickly across to a spot under the window. "Senor, some rifles por favor?" Eduardo heads over to the gun rack on the sidewall and take out a key chain to unlock the lock and chain holding the firearms in place. While he is unlocking it Eduardo says "Those bullets struck from a downward angle from almost directly across. They've probably coming from the Great Western Boarding House, probably from a third floor window." Ruby narrows her eyes at Ringo and replies, “I wouldn't put it past you. Why shouldn't we throw you out there and let them have you? See what your friends did to me," She pulls her dress quickly off her shoulder, "They tried to kill me. Maybe we should repay your kindness. What do you think Jake? Why should we risk our lives for him?" Jake is listening for sounds outside and waiting for a rifle, "What? Risk our lives for him? We should just worry about ducking right now." Ringo ignores Ruby and Jake's banter, unscrewing the cap and putting the flask to his lips. He lifts up the flask and continues to hold it up as he is apparently planning to drink the entire contents. Ruby attempts to grab the flask from Ringo. "Are you crazy? You shouldn't be drinking in your condition..." He reaches up with his other arm and grabs her arm to stop her. "Let go of me!" Ruby smacks his arm away. Ruby exclaims, "Who is out there Ringo?" He turns away from her until he has finished drinking the contents of the flask. He then shoves the empty container back into his pocket and says "How should I know? I didn't see anybody. Why don't you go outside and ask them?" Ruby again narrows her eyes at Ringo. "Well, I wonder why anyone would want to kill you, Mr. Ringo." Ruby stands and heads towards Rodriquez. "You'd better give me a gun too, since we don't know who is out there." Jake looks at Ruby and sees the stormy look brewing in her eyes. Kate dashed across the street and into the front door of the Great Western Boarding House, looking for anyone who might still be downstairs. The first floor of the Great Western Boarding House is crowded, with the five members of the Vigilance Committee and Mrs. King still inside the Common Room. As Kate enters she sees Bill Watkins is handing rifles to the other men and saying "..heard a rumor that Arcade's Gang was seen back in town. It must be them out there shooting up the place." Kate took a couple deep breaths and looked around the room. "Mr. Watkins, one is shooting from Morgan Earp's old room on the second floor, the other from the room directly above. I didn't see who was shooting. It seems like only one from each room. You don't know who's up there?" Great Western Boarding House Owner Bill Watkins has handed rifles to banker Frank Condon, Cook's General Store owner Zebadiah Cook and bank teller Derrick Avery, and keeping one for himself. Rebecca King and Doctor Eaton remain unarmed. In response to Kate's comment Watkins says "Morgan's room? That's Warren's room now. The one above it is Wyatt's. They're both in Tombstone, those rooms should be empty!" He looks towards the men and says "Follow me boys," and heads in the direction of the staircase up. Eaton and King remain in the common room. Kate fought the urge to pull the pistol out of its hiding place and follow the men. They would just make her stay downstairs anyway, and beside, she couldn't just run into gunfights now. She probably shouldn't even have left the El Parador. She went over to one of the windows facing the Marshall's office and stood to one side peeking out, watching to see if anyone showed themselves. Kate hears the men head up the stairs rather loudly and thinks to herself "Bulls in a china shop". She hears the men move to the room above. While still looking outside towards the Marshall's Office she hears a "thud" sound right outside of the window she's peering from as the dust on the street right in front of her is disturbed. A small amount of dust settles on the bottom of an invisible shape in front of her so that she can barely make out the outline of a pair boots and the bottom of the legs of the man wearing them. Jake takes a rifle from Rodriguez, sticks his hat on the end of the rifle barrel and pushes on the curtain on the opposite side of the window. Two shots strike the window, breaking the glass although the reinforced wire mesh in the glass keeps any shards from flying into the room. "Seems like someone picked a spot with a good view." Jake looks around the wall and says, "Senor, are there any hidden spots to shoot from in here?" Eduardo says, "No, and there's only one way out, the same way you came in. Smart of the Earps to put in the special glass on the windows." Ruby also takes a rifle from Rodriquez but keeps an eye on Ringo. "We don't even know who is out there." She looks over the rifle then glances back at Gifford. "Maybe someone came for him, he did mention it, didn't he?" Ringo says "The Earps have lots of friends in this town and with the exception of James Earp I've never gotten along too well with them. Could be that someone suspects I had something to do with Morgan's death." At the Lucky Lady, Chester sees Nanuet running toward the gunfire. He thinks “Good, there'll be people I can trust there. Harry Rote is ducked behind the bar with the shotgun in his hands and calls out, "What's going on out there, Chester?" Chester replies, "There're gunshots coming from around the Marshall's office. Rifle fire from the sounds of it. I'm going out there to check it out. Keep your eyes peeled for any of the Cowboy Gang. They've got to be involved in this." Harry replies, "Will do. Your Indian friend just left here, not more than a minute ago." Chester says, "Thanks. I saw him outside. Where are Ruby and Jake?" Harry answers, "Not sure. They left a while ago." Chester says, "I hope they're not mixed up in this. Sit tight." Chester checks to make sure his rifle is loaded and rushes from cover to cover across Main Street and down the alleyway between the Town Hall and the Alhambra. Eduardo head over near the broken window and stands to the side of it while he uses the butt end of his rifle to break out more of the glass and wire. No shots follow. He peers out and comments "The only open windows are in Wyatt and Warren's rooms." Ringo exclaims "The Earps are trying to kill me?" Eduardo replies, "Not hardly, they're both in Tombstone. And they didn't leave their windows open when they left." Kate threw up the window sash, leaned out and trying to grasp an ankle with both hands and yelled, "Down here!" The man manages to pulls back towards the street before she grabs him. Upstairs, two of the men are busy searching the room while the other two are heading up to Wyatt's room on the third floor. Across the street Deputy Rodriguez comments to Jake "What's your friend Kale doing?" Jake sees Kate leaning out of the first floor window of the Great Western and grabbing at the air. Shortly after Chester leaves Minerva hears shots ring out. " What was that!" she says to Luna. She grabs her loaded Rifle and Pistols shoves them in her skirt and heads for the sound. As she is running up the street she sees Kate leaning out the window of the Great Western grabbing at something unseen and yelling "Down here!" Minerva pulls into the shadow of the building and focuses her attention on the ground outside the window where Kate is grabbing and says to Luna "Can you tell what she's grabbing at?" Jake's first thought is Katherine is seeing things again. Jake yells, "Katherine, what in Hades are you doing? Didn't you hear the gunshots?" Ruby turns her back to the front window and looks at Ringo while speaking. "Jake, what is Kate doing out there? Do you see who was taking the shots?" She keeps her eyes trained on Ringo, occasionally glancing at Gifford, her rifle readied. Nanuet follows Chester around the back of the jail. "What's going on in there Chester? Seems like someone is shooting at the jail! I don't have a weapon on me other than my knives." Chester replies, "I don't know. I was visiting Clarisse when I heard shots coming from near the Marshall's office. I wasn't heeled so I went to get my rifle. I don't know where the others are. Do you? Try to get the attention of whoever's inside. I'll sneak down the alley here to look for where the fire came from." Chester slowly crawls down the alley north of the office. He peeks his head out and sees Kate grabbing at thin air. "What is she doing?" Kate yells across the street, "Jake? I heard a thud outside the window and dust kicked up! I think the shooter jumped out. We've seen this before, when we were chased back from the mine remember? The invisible rider?" Smoke begins to pour out of the open third floor of the Great Western Boarding house. Ruby starts to smell smoke, "What the heck..." Ruby moves over to Jake quickly and whispers in his ear, "Keep an eye on Ringo, and don’t let him cast a spell." Jake turns his body and does what Ruby says. "Let's find out if the shooter is still out there. Everyone get back" Once everyone clears the path of the door Ruby turns the door knob, stands to the side and kicks the door back open. Eduardo says, "The rifles seem to be gone, but now Wyatt's room looks like it's on fire." Ruby, Chester, Nanuet, Jake and Minerva all look up to see the window curtains in the room are burning with black smoke billowing out of the room. "That can't be good," Ruby says flatly. "Maybe whoever it was thought Ringo here was Wyatt or Warren." She sighs, "And we have no fire truck... What will they do about the fire?" Kate sniffed the air for a moment, looked up, then pulled her head back inside and addressed Dr. Eaton and Mrs. King. "There's smoke coming out of the third floor window; I think Wyatt's room is on fire. They'll need help to get it under control before it spreads. We'll need buckets. Where's the nearest water source?" Ruby question about what will be done about the fire gets an immediate answer to her question as Bill Watkins and Zeb Cook both reach Wyatt's room. They find Wyatt's clothes had been piled on the bed, coated with kerosene and then lit on fire as well as the window curtains. First the two men grab the corners of the curtain rods and fling the whole flaming thing out the window. This is followed by them doing the same with the yet unburnt corners of the blanket on the bed that haven't caught yet. Pieces of flaming cloth, burning wool and various items of torched clothing rain down upon Fremont Street. Kate heard the something else hit the ground and spun back to the window to see the pile of burning clothes and bedding. She mutters, "Or maybe not." Ruby immediately turns back to Ringo and walks slowly towards him. "You still trying to say you and your friends had nothing to do with this...?" She continues to walk towards him slowly as she speaks. Ringo yells, "Damn you woman. You're as bad as your friends the Earps, trying to blame me for everything that goes wrong. I come in here to pay my respects and try to uphold the law, get shot for my troubles, and now get falsely accused." "Damn me?" Ruby continues walking towards him. "As far as I know, the Earps don't like us either...Only a week ago Jake was in jail to further their own plots, so don't be acting like we're best buddies with them. It was YOU that put us in the middle of your..." Ruby's voice trails off but her eyebrows shoot up. "You KNOW what I'm talking about, don't play innocent." She stands right in front of him. "I pulled you in here to be nice, maybe I should have left you outside for whomever it is to finish the job they started. We don't want to be enemies with you, looks like you got enough of those on your own." Deputy Sheriff Colin Hunter makes his way down the street, gun in hand. He stops at the door of the Marshall's Office and asks "What's going on?" Eduardo says, "Somebody shot Johnny Ringo," gesturing to the man. Hunter asks "Should I get the Doc?" Ringo replies, "Nah, it's not that bad. Just get somebody to go fetch me my horse from the Papago Cash Store and I'll be on my way." A crowd begins to gather outside by the burning debris. They move back as the men upstairs push the burning mattress out of the window. That appears to be the last of it, as the smoke from the room above dissipates. Chester sees Hunter walking down the street, gun drawn. He turns his head. "Nanuet, take my rifle and watch for trouble. The deputy thinks it's safe, so I'll going to the boarding house. Maybe Kate knows what happened." Nanuet says, "OK, Chester. Be careful." He replies, "I will. Just watch where you point the rifle. The law's probably nervous." Chester pushes his way through the crowd. "Excuse me. Coming through.” Colin Hunter tells a man he knows to head up the street to the store and get Johnny Ringo's horse. Eduardo asks him "Watch the office please while I find out what happened." Dr. Eaton and Mrs. King continued staring at her as if she had two heads. They hadn't spoken a word to her, even when she'd told them the building could be on fire. She waited a moment and then walked out the door into the street. As she leaves King says to Eaton "Who does she think she is?" He replies, "Thinks she wants to be a school teacher." Kate stopped and turned slowly on her heel to face the two still inside the boarding house. Each step was slow and deliberate, she almost seemed to grow taller with each step until she stood only a few steps in front of them. She stood straight and looked them each in the eye. "Who do I think I am? I think I'm the kind of person who gives you nightmares. Maybe even more so than Miss West or Mr. Cook. Them you can put a neat little label on, at least in your mind. 'Bad sort,' and fight a noble crusade against them. But me... My crimes aren't obvious, just insidious. I have friends who aren't human, and worse, some who aren't considered decent. I ride astride and run my ranch with my non-human partners, I play piano in a saloon. And yet I can be counted on to help my neighbors when I can, for no reason other than it's the right thing to do. I will help this town in every small way I can. And I couldn't care less about your approval or the approval of your Committee. I have a question for you. Who do you think you are, trying to force your version of morality on everyone else? Does people having charge of their own lives make you that afraid?" Kate didn't wait for any kind of answer. She turned away again and walked back out into the street. Ruby starts walking towards the door when she stops suddenly and turns head, looking back to her shoulder, narrowing her eyes and throwing Ringo a nasty glance. Then she flips her hair and continues out the door. Jake stays in the office and on alert when he sees Rodriquez leave. He brushes his Colt unconsciously while he looks around for trouble. Chester is alongside the west wall of the Great Western as Kate exit’s the building. He says, “Kate, do you know what happened? I heard gunfire and now someone's room caught fire?" Kate replies, "There were men in Warren and Wyatt Earp's rooms, taking shots at the jail." Ruby makes her way over to Kate and Chester. "What the heck was that all about? Someone just shot Johnny Ringo and Jake almost got shot. I pulled Ringo in to get the door shut but now that I think about it I should have left him out here." Ruby shudders. "I don't know what I was thinking." Kate says, "I don't know what it was about, I think the shooters got away. It was the right thing to do Ruby, pulling Ringo back. Tempting to leave him though." "Very tempting indeed," Ruby said without much emotion. The adrenaline was starting to wear off and Ruby was growing weary. Not physically, except for the pain of a bruise her wound seemed better. It was more emotional, and not something Ruby knew how to handle well. "Um, do you have any guesses to who it was Kate?" She replies, "No, I didn't see either of them." She dropped her voice and added, "I think one of them jumped. I heard the sound when he landed, and the dust he kicked up seemed to show a pair of boots. Invisible, using magic." [/QUOTE]
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