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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 2856339" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter Thirty-six, “Guns Blazing”, Saturday, May 27th, 1882, 10:30 P.M.Minerva's anger is tempered by fear for Nanuet's safety. "We must get in a position where we can help Marshall Berg without being seen." She scans the area looking for a building with a second story window that would be suitable to shoot from if it should become necessary.Minvera motions for Nanuet to follow her to Rixton's furniture across South Street from the Marshall's Office south wall. They look around to be sure that they are not noticed carefully make their way over to the building. During the long period of silence with the lawmen Berg is giving instructions to his Deputies. They telepathically hear him say, “Deputies, I’m going to tell them that they have until a count of ten to lay down their arms. Any who are planning to comply should start to do so by the time I reach five or six. I figure the others will try to shoot at us on ten, or on nine if they have any brains in their heads. We’ll all fire together on eight. Shoot to disarm, not to kill. Leave Adair and his boys for Helen, the rest of you focus on whoever is directly in front of you. I’ll take the ones in the back, I've got some special ammunition that will just put them to sleep. Once you’ve fired your first shot shift two steps to your right to throw off their aim. Get into the building if you’re hit or when you’re empty, Eddie will have the door open and he’s got loaded weapons for you to grab once you’re inside.” The Marshall finally speaks up to the mob. He loudly states, “What I’m going to do is give you all to the count of ten to lay your weapons down in the street and walk away. You can reclaim your guns tomorrow.” Once inside the furniture store, Nanuet and Minerva race up the stairs and into a room overlooking the street. They have an excellent view of the front of the Marshall’s Ofice from this vantage point. Minerva opens the window and places magic rounds in her new rifle. She carefully aims her rifle at Adair and waits.At the Marshall's mental command, Chester takes a deep breath and cocks both pistols slowly so as to not draw attention. He glances left and right to make sure the others are ready. He picks out a couple men from the group of six to shoot at. He'll slowly release his breath as the Marshall prepares to count down and thinks to himself “Stand down, you idiots. This'll tear the town apart.”Kate held her breath as she scanned the crowd without seeing the telltale glow of an invisible person. Her father and the other men continued resolutely forward and she tried not to imagine the worst. She was too far away now to affect the outcome with magic, and so could only keep her eyes open and shout warning if it was necessary.Bob Skull yells out a profanity to which Berg’s reply is that he begins the count.  The Marshall loudly states, “One…..….Two..……” Evan Adair smiles and his men remain firm, as do the group of cowboys standing near Ike Sherman who Kate had focused upon. A few men begin to comply with the request, placing their weapons on the Street.  Seeing that, Ike Sherman yells out over Berg’s count of three and four, “He’s bluffing, he doesn’t have the guts.” “But she does,” one miner says noting the broad smile that Helen Barker’s face is now wearing. “She’s just plain nuts,” another miner states as he sets his rifle down onto the ground. A few more follow his lead, trying to save face by muttering about how they don’t feel right shooting a woman. Berg has now reached the count of “Six”.Minerva and Nanuet are in position in the northeast corner of Rixton's second floor bedroom overlooking the intersection of Main and South. They hear the Marshall counting. He is at "Six" when Chester yells   "Here we go. Drop your guns while you still have time." He notes several losing their nerve. "There you go. That's it. You too Adair. Like you said, I dealt with Deal and Ringo. I'm not going to hesitate."   While Chester was speaking Berg stated “Seven". Chester finishes by the time the Marshall exclaims "Eight".Compete pandemonium immediately follows the discharge of the weapons from the Marshall and his five Deputies. Berg fires the first barrel of his shotgun above the crowd and to the left, with what appears to be an explosion of buckshot going off a few feet immediately above the heads of ten or so men to the north rear of the group. Kate notes a magical nature of the confetti-like sawdust pieces that rain down upon the men. Hoover fires his shotgun low, intentionally striking between two men standing in the front with enough fragments hitting the closest legs to cause both men to fall down. The other four Deputies all fire their revolvers, with Calhoun managing to get off one shot, Cassidy and Martin each getting off two shots and Barker getting off four before any shots start to be returned from the mob. Calhoun’s shot misses his intended target but hits the man behind him, Porter Norris, in the side. Neil Cassidy manages to hit the gun arms of both men before him causing them to drop their weapons, one of which discharges when it hits the ground with the shot hitting the wall of the adjacent County Claims Office. Smoke billows from Chester's Remingtons as he fires at the cowboys near Sherman. Chester's skill shows as both shots hits their marks. The wounded men grab at their bleeding arms and drop their weapons.  Helen Barker expertly hits Evan Adair’s hand, breaking his trigger finger. Her second shot manages to incapacitate two of his men, going through the vein of Dave Carleen’s gun arm and continuing on into Deacon McCoys’s right shoulder. Her third shot hits Nick Karp’s gun hand but he had moved it just enough that although bleeding he still has control of the gun. Her fourth shot take’s off Bob Scull’s right thumb causing him to drop his shotgun and howl out in pain.When the lawmen begin to fire Minerva squeezes the trigger.   Kate gasped as the gunfire began. She kept her eyes on the crowd despite what was happening, concentrating on the shot Mitchell Berg had made, trying to decipher what it was.  As ordered, Chester takes a couple steps to his right. He re-cocks the hammers and looks for more armed men in the crowd. He sees one and fires at him with both guns.Evan Adair moves in reaction to Helen's shot, causing Minerva's to strike his right shoulder rather than the head she was aiming for.  Four of the men in the mob panic, drop their weapons and run. Another three dive to the ground for cover.   Around a dozen men are still standing and return fire at the law officers. Most of the shots miss. One shot hits Neil Cassidy in the upper thigh. Two bounce off of Chester’s coat. Nick Karp’s aim is on target, hitting Mitchell Berg in the center of his chest.  Berg staggers back and then fires off the second barrel of his shotgun before collapsing against the wall. Helen Barker peripheral vision saw Berg get hit. She has only one bullet left in her gun, which she fires directly into Nick Karp’s heart. “I’ll just tell Mitch he moved,” she says softly to herself. Berg’s second shotgun blast has exploded with the start of another rain of magical confetti. One of the men standing beneath the blast, the one who Kate saw was covered in a magical disguise, is waving his hands and stating gibberish. One of Chester's shots misses completely. The other shot harmlessly bounces off of the leather vest of the cowboy that it hits.Cassidy grunts in pain. Chester asks, "Are you OK?" He hears Berg fall to the ground. Without turning his head, he yells, "Eduardo, Berg's been hit. Get him inside, on the double." He continues to fire at the same man. Chester grimaces, I guess me and you go to the same tailor.  Still tucked behind her brother, Kate cast another spell. Her finger pointed at her father and then at Chester and she began to whisper. "Papa, the man in the magical disguise is casting magic. Stop him!"The war veterans are still around forty-five feet from the scene and moving forward very quickly. Frederick Seagram hears his daughter's message. He stops, raises his gun and fires. His shot hits the man waving his arms who collapses onto the ground but the man's spell has already begun, with a short gust of wind rising up and blowing the magical confetti away from the group of men. Michael Seawell turns his head and says in an angry tone "Seagram, I didn't give the command to fire yet." On the porch, Eduardo has opened the door and immediately moves forward to drag the Marshall inside. Travis Calhoun also moves back to help move Berg inside. Helen Barker is barely missed by another two shots, with one ripping through the fabric of her skirt, as she dives through the open doorway into Marshall’s Office. Calhoun and Rodriguez drag Marshall Berg through the doorway right behind her. The men who had been in the area of effect of Berg’s first shotgun blast lose consciousness and collapse. The walking wounded begin to flee the scene, with Deacon McCoy and Dave Carleen huddled around the wounded Evan Adair.Kate paused, waiting to be see if the gunfire was over. The bag of bandages felt heavy in her hand and she considered running around the block toward the Doctor's office to get to the Marshall from the back, but she wasn't certain there was a back entrance into the office.  Chester watches Kate's father shoot the wizard. "OK, gents. It looks like we have some help. Neil, Niles, if you want to go inside, go. This is more dangerous than you signed on for."Nanuet can't believe the mob scene exploded so quickly into so much violence and mayhem. "Minerva, I have to go check on Berg, keep me covered from up here."  Nanuet makes his way back down the stairs as quickly as possible. Before heading outdoors he begins the prayer for the spell hold person and then opens the door. He keeps to cover as much as possible and will attempt to use the hold person spell on anyone he sees aiming at him. Minerva keeps her eyes on the scene below and protests "It's much to dangerous for you to go..." but Nanuet is already gone. .." out there." she finishes. "Meirde!" she mutters and stomps her foot before turning back to the window to watch for Nanuet's exit of the building.The area of Fremont Street is now so filled with gunpowder smoke that it is starting to get hard to see. That actually works against the cowboy wizard's attempt to keep Berg's magic away, as the gust of wind clears the smoke around the fallen wizard's five companions and Ike Sherman, making them most visible and easier targets. The three lawmen standing on the porch fire at them, with Hoover starting to back up towards the door at Chester's urging. Four members of this group are struck by bullets from the lawmen but only one falls. The other five then let loose at the three remaining lawmen standing on the porch. Neil Cassidy gets struck in his gun arm but remains on his feet, transferring his gun to his other hand. Several bullets fire towards Chester. One nicks his right ear and makes a very nasty hole in his hat, another bounces off of his coat and the most serious strikes hits him in the inner thigh of his right leg. It is painful but like Cassidy he remains on his feet. With both Cassidy and Martin facing forward and the sounds of battle around them they do not notice when Niles Hoover gets hit by a pair of bullets and collapses onto the porch.  Just as Hoover falls to the porch Minerva aims and fires toward his assailant releasing another magic bullet into the fray.Chester curses as he gets hit. He coughs from the billowing gunsmoke. "Neil, Niles, fall back. The office is a more defensible position." He says over his shoulder, "Eduardo, hold the door open, we're coming in. Helen, cover us." As he's backing up, Chester realizes that he can't see Hoover in his peripheral vision. "Hades! Neil, Niles is down, help me get him inside." He drops his guns and bends down to grab the fallen man.Minerva's shot is on target and strikes the man who shot Niles Hoover in the forehead, the man falling dead into the street. This leaves four members of the mob standing and still returning fire at the lawmen, Ike Sherman and the three cowboys beside him. They each fire again at the three remaining lawmen, with Neil Cassidy being struck again, this time in the left elbow, causing him to drop his gun. "I'm with you Chester," Neil says, but the smoke is so thick they don't immediately see Hoover. "Henry, I'll be back," Kate said, unable to stand by passive any longer. She darted across the street toward the Alhambra and into the alley next to it that should lead to the alley between the Marshall's office and the Claims Office.  Mollie Caudell follows Kate.Kate waited until they were through the alley and moving toward the Marshall's office before she spoke. "I'm about to do something that could get me hung, and I'm trusting you to keep it a secret. If I tell you to run, run."  Mollie laughs and says, "I'm good with secrets. I'm also good at breaking society's rules."  Kate nodded although her nerves still showed in her face. "I believe you."  They made it to the back corner of the Office, and Kate looked around to make sure no one could see her, aware she was directly behind Doctor Eaton's office.“DROP 'EM, RIGHT NOW!” bellows the voice of Michael Seawell as the row of seven ex-soldiers charge onto the scene, stopping just shy of the pile of bodies lying in the street. Several of the still standing shooters swing their weapons to the right to deal with this new threat.  Emery Shaw locks eyes with the group’s leader and yells “Don’t do it Thayer. You’re facing two generals, a colonel, two majors, a lieutenant and a first sergeant, every one of us combat veterans.” The man Shaw was talking to lowers his weapon. His companions do likewise with Ike Sherman being the final one to do so. “I’ll remember this Lacey,” he exclaims while glaring at the store owner. “You do that,” Judge Lacey replies.  The shooting has no sooner stopped when Helen Barker charges out of the office with a Colt Revolver in hand. She smiles at the war veterans and says "Good job, thanks for your help." She then tells Chester and Neil "You're both wounded, get inside, we'll keep things under control out here." The crowd gathered over by Rixton's includes Roger and Janet Fly, who had been enjoying a late dinner at the Promise City Hotel with his brother Camillus Sidney Fly known as 'Buck' and Mary Edith Goodrich Fly known as 'Mollie" as well as Roger and Janet's friends Doctor James Eaton and his wife Beth. Eaton has already retrieved his bag from his office and charges forward with Roger and Buck Fly heading towards Niles Hoover and Doc Eaton going towards the man who Frederick Seawell had shot. Nanuet has made his way across the street as well. Roger Fly tells him "Please go help those in the Marshall's Office, if these idiots see an Indian out here they might start shooting again. We'll deal with this."   Kate Kale and Mollie Caudell now reach the alleyway between the Marshall's Office and the County Claims Office.  Minerva cover's Nanuet as he makes his way over to the Marshall's office and then hurries down the stairs to assist the wounded. She kneels in the dirt and begins to tend the wounded.Nanuet listens to Roger Fly's instructions and nods in acknowledgement. He continues to stay behind as much cover as possible and heads into the Marshall's Office. "I'm here to help, I'm a healer. Who's got it the worst?"    Deputy Rodriguez is holding Marshall Berg. Berg's chest is covered with blood and he is now unconscious. "He's barely with us," the Deputy states. Nanuet immediately heads to Berg and casts cure moderate wounds on him. He then removes the regular three-inch stone on them to cast the Cure Critical Wounds spell from the necklace.  Kate heard Seawell shout and the shooting stop just as she was getting ready to cast a spell. "Oh thank heavens. My secret will have to wait for another time. They'll be needing us now," Kate said breathlessly and ran out with her bag of bandages.  She moved toward the Marshall's office, looking for the lawmen first. "Thank you, Papa," she whispered, knowing he'd hear. "I'm not sure if he's wearing something that's hiding who he is or if he used a spell. Either way, he shouldn't be allowed to leave until we know who he really is." Even as she spoke she was rolling up her sleeves and looking for someone to help.He then finishes checking the man who Seagram had shot, telling some gawkers to "Get this one over to my office. Find a wagon, I don't want him losing more blood." Kate concentrates and casts a minor spell that Gonzales has showed her, concluding that the unconscious wizard is wearing a magical disguise that is contained in his belt buckle. Minerva has arrived on the scene and assists with the wounded sprawled out on the Street as Eaton heads up to the porch where Roger Fly is with Niles Hoover. "How is he?" the Doctor asks. Fly looks up at his friend James Eaton and states, "He's dead Jim."</blockquote>

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