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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3147862" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter Ninety-nine, “The Goddess Arrives“, Thursday June 8th , 1882, 11:00 A.M. Jake returns the hammer to the weapon without firing. He holds his position, watching and listening for more of the fiends while attempting to ignore the still frantic bats.  Chester looks at the ceiling for more threats. He asks no one in particular, "Who was that guy?" The lawman points to Hildi. "Minerva, check on her. I'll check on Eddie." He props Eddie up and slaps his face. "Eddie, wake up. Can you hear me?"  Eddie is still alive, but Chester recognizes based upon what happened to Nanuet in Thomaswell that some of man's life force has been drained from him. Chester says to Berg, "He's still alive, but in bad shape. We need to get him to the Bishop soon. Grove sucked some of the life out of him. How's Hildi?"  Berg continues to wave his arms to get the frenzy-induced bats to fly away from the side of the cavern.When the vampire releases Hildie, Minerva rushes to her side and drags her out of his reach. She bends over her, checks her breathing and attempts to heal her through the power bestowed upon her by the gods.  Between the crushed windpipe and having her life force drained Hilldi is clearly dead but Minerva still attempts to heal her. Minerva shouts, "Don't die on us, Hildi. Your work here isn't complete. Damn it." The others then notice a second woman materialize out of thin air beside Minerva.  The woman has brown eyes, brownish-black hair tied back in a pony tail and a shapely figure. She is attired in Native American clothing, a deerskin dress and sandals, although she clearly is not elvan. Strapped to the woman's back is a quiver of arrows with an unstrung longbow attached to it. The mesmerizing woman lays her hands upon Hilldi and the room illuminates with light as energy flows from the woman into the dwarf, whose neck begins to heal and the color returns to the priestess's body.Upon seeing the woman, Chester falls to his knees. "Lady Artemis. Your servant is hurt real bad. She fell fighting the walking dead."  The Goddess nods acknowledgement to Chester while continuing to heal the dwarven priestess.   Minerva's faith in the gods prevents her from being startled by the appearance of Diana at such a dire time. She assumes that Hildie has been saved and turns to the apparition with a smile of gratitude.The energy continues to flow from the Goddess to the priestess. Within moments Hilldi is fully healed and her eyes blink awake. She sees who is standing above her and then faints dead away again.  Diana stands and says, "She will be fine, she was just startled." Chester says softly, "Who are we that the gods come to us so regularly?" He clears his throat. "Uh, Lady Artemis? I don't know if he's a follower of yours, but this man has been drained by the vampire. Can you do something for him, too?"She then turns towards Minerva and says in a commanding voice "Tell her I will meet with her and the other priests tomorrow at noon in the local Church of Olympus."  Minerva turns to her and bows respectfully. "I will tell them."  The Goddess nods and begins to fade away.  By the time that Chester's request is uttered she has already begun to fade. In less than a minute's time she is gone. Jake is interrupted in his search of the room by the apparitions words. Taken aback only momentarily, he shakes his head and continues searching. Not a good sign when the gods want to spend time with you.  Jake's right eyebrow pops up at the apparition. He is quiet until the light starts to fade. "There is something else you do not see everyday." He holsters his pistol and starts to search about the room.   Jake manages to find a belt buckle, a metal cufflink and a gold ring. There are also scraps of clothing but no flesh or blood, only an dark black dust.Minerva bends to Hildie and gently shakes her. "Hildie, wake up."  "Now what?" Jake asks the group that is gathered around Eduardo and Hilldi. "We should get those two back. Was there something else here?"   Chester gets up and brushes off his pants. "I feel so blessed." He says to Jake, "We should destroy these coffins. Vampires need them to, er, live, right? And we should make sure there aren't any other secret passages out of this room.""Good plan." Jake replies. He sets about searching through the coffins before using a hammer to break them apart.   A search of the room reveals no secret doors, although higher up there are dozens of small passageways to other parts of the cave complex that the bats come and go throughWhile they finish up Jake asks, "What are you going to tell folks? Grove is no problem, folks believed he was dead anyway. No one who counts will miss him. What about Doolie? As the locals would say you are missing el cuerpo muerto, the dead body. Are we just going to keep quiet and let folks wonder where he ran off to?"  Minerva looks at him, surprised by the question. "I don't see why we should say anything at all! We did not kill him. He was not alive to begin with. And as you have pointed out, there is no body"Chester says, "What are we going to say, Jake? I'm sorry, but the piano player was a creature of the night? Oh yeah, one of the guys we shot dead a couple weeks ago is back and not happy about it? We can't say anything. People will think we're nuts or they'll believe us and go into a panic."  Jake replies, "I am certainly happy keeping quiet. Just with three lawmen in the room I figured I would make certain."Berg says, "No, we have to keep quiet about this. And I would also appreciate it if all of you also keep quiet regarding what Wilson said about the magical ammunition. I'm not worried about what Judge Isby will say, Heck, he's the one who gave me some of it. But there are a lot of people in town who feel that wizard magic is the work of witchcraft and that's not something we need to add to the volatile situation the town now finds itself in."   "The Mexican Indians have a saying, Nunca decir la verdad poblar quiénes no son dignos de ellos, it means never tell the truth to people who are not worthy of it." Jake smiles, takes up a stack of boards and makes his way out with them.  Minerva turns to Jake "I'm not sure that's what Senor Berg was implying." Minerva says, in a disapproving tone."You should be familiar with that emotion, Senorita, most folks do not find wizard magic palatable. Even to the point of hanging or burning the undesirable cretin involved." Jake shrugs as he continues to drag the coffin boards out. "I never even believed it was real until I got to Promise City."Chester smiles and says, "Marshall, you know my feeling on the magic ammo. My neck's on the line, too. He turns to Eduardo, "Eddie, can you walk? I can help you if you want. We're getting out of here. You took a whale of a beating, but you should see the other guy." Chester grabs a bunch of boards.  Berg says, "Enough talk. Let's get out of here before someone or something else shows up." He and Chester help Eduardo through the tunnel and out of the caves.After the others leave she says to Jake” I am not suggesting that we should reveal what has happened. I agree that it is necessary to keep certain things concealed." She sighs. "Perhaps I am just being over sensitive, it is just that I am growing weary of the self serving attitude that certain people have no worth. I keep the secret to protect them, not because they are not 'worthy." she shakes her head and walks out of the cave. before she exits she turns back” I apologize, I am drained from the healing and not explaining myself very well." Chester says, "Me too. There's not much more to do here."Jake piles the boards and spills an oil on them. "No offense taken." He removes his dagger, and chuckles at the irony, "Incendie." The oil and boards go into flames.   “I am ready to go back."  Eduardo is assisted down the mountain. Hilldi says that she never felt better, in fact, some injuries that she's had for years now appear to be fully healed. The group get on their horses and ride back to town.Minerva catches up to Hildie. They ride along companionably while Hildie chatters on about how wonderful she feels.  "Oh, by the way, Hildie, I am to give a message to you and the other priests. Diana commands that we meet with her at Church of Olympus. We are to be there at noon "  Hilldi gives Minerva a looks of shock and says, "She...wants to meet with us? What....what did I ever do to deserve such an honor? I am not worthy."  There's that word again Minerva thinks in frustration. "Of course you are worthy! There is no reason why the gods should not favor you."  Hilldi says, "She, she has already done so much. How badly did that monster injure me?"   Minerva replies, "Pretty badly. I don't think that you were breathing. I believe that she actually resurrected you. Try not to think about it too much. I'm sure she'll let you know what she expects in return for such a favor."  Hilldi is quiet for a long while. She then says, "Whatever she expects I will do so and then some. I owe her everything."Chester rides over to Jake. "We're going to have to tell Williamson and Harker. They'll want to know about this."  "When they get back, sure. Perhaps they will tell us they took care of Turner." Jake gives him a wink.  Chester gives a short laugh, "We should be so lucky. I have a feeling we're going to help look for him."Chester and Berg get Eduardo to the church. The Bishop tends to him while the lawmen wait.  The Bishop tells the lawman that Eduardo should stay with him for the indefinite future.   Berg says, "If you feel that's best for him, Bishop. You feel better, Eddie. Come on Chet, let's let him get some rest." They make their way back to the office. Helen gets up from the desk, "Where's Eddie?"  Berg says, "He got hurt in the cave. The Bishop's going to be taking care of him for a while. We killed Phil Grove and Dooley Wilson." She replies, "Phil? But he was shot a couple weeks ago. I saw Rich Lester take him away. And I never took Dooley for a Cowboy." Chester says, "You're not going to believe this, but they weren't really alive. They were vampires." She says skeptically, "Vampires. Like in the stories told around the campfire." Chester says, "Yep. They're real and dangerous. Remember Colin Turner from the festival? He was one too." Berg says, "Anyway Ken Wagner and Jasper Ordway went out to the mountains to guard Nick Thayer. Apparently he was meeting Vaughn Palmer, who's now going by Nick Goudge. I'm not sure where Dooley and Grove fit into this. What's more, Wyatt Earp's mixed up in this somehow."  Helen takes it all in stride, smiles, and replies, "Vampires? And Palmer was a wizard right? Plus Earp as well! Never a dull moment around this place is there? Chet, are you sure you want the job of Marshall here?"  Chester takes off his hat and scratches his head. "Well, I got to admit this stuff is far past anything I'm used to, but I got to try."  The lawmen are interrupted by the arrival of Timothy James Courtright. He says, "Looks like I'll be moving on. They caught two of the New Douglas Gang up in Colorado, Pinto Joe Weems and Shotgun Sally Fox." He takes out a telegram and looks it over stating, "The Gang had checked into a hotel in some out-of-the-way town along the Colorado River, but during the night a boat with Army troops came sailing in looking for them. Didn't take the troops long to find them since there was only one hotel in town.  Word is there was quite a shootout, a couple of soldiers got killed and the gang then split up. The remaining soldiers chased the wrong bunch, cornering Weams and Fox in the mountains, but letting Deadeye Douglas and Mae Clarke get clean away. So I'm off to Colorado. Good luck here in Promise City, maybe I'll stop back again some time."Chester shakes Courtright's hand. "Same to you Marshall. I'm glad they caught Pinto Joe and Shotgun Sally. She shot me in a bank robbery a few months ago, so I owe her one. Say, by the way, do you remember who told you Buckley's killer was on the hilltop? The tip didn't pan out like we hoped."   Courtright replies, "I think the man's last name was Clanton, never caught his first name. Sorry it didn't work out." The former lawman turned bounty hunter departs.Just before 4:00 P.M. once the school had emptied there were only the teachers, Ginnie, and Colleen and Kathleen. She arranged to meet the girls back here, then went to get her stallion from the El Parador and then fetch the buggy from Drover's.  On her way back from Drover's with the horse and buggy Kate sees Chumbley walking around town selling the current day's newspaper and yelling out the headline of “Deputy Sheriff Colin Hunter Murdered”."Mr. Chumbley, I'll take one of those please." She pulled a nickel out of the pocket of her pants and paid. "Thank you."   Kate got the buggy moving again and back to her house before she opened the paper to read it.  The headline takes up most of the front page which is probably intentional as the story that follows is very short on details. It reads: “Town Undertaker Dick Lester brought three bodies into town this morning, apparently killed either late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. The bodies were those of Deputy Sheriff Colin Hunter and two members of the Thayer Ranch, the ranch owner Nicholas Thayer and his ranch hand Jasper Ordway. This makes a total of six ranchers killed during the last two weeks, four from the Thayer Ranch and two from the Crazy-8 Ranch. Hunter and Thayer were both candidates for office on the Liberty Party ticket. Marshall Berg said that an ongoing investigation is taking place but would not give any further details. Cochise County Deputy Sheriff ‘Buckskin’ Frank Leslie will be taking over Hunter’s duties here in Promise City." Kate flips through the rest of the paper. Page five has a full page advertisement for the “Law and Order Party”. It lists the candidates as Mayoral candidate Frank Condon, Town Marshall candidate Ashley King, and Councilmen candidates Zebediah Cook, Doctor James Eaton, Manuel Escobar, Emery Shaw and Dennis Winston. Following the listing of the names is the party’s platform which reads: The Law and Order Party will restore the word of law and need for order to the Community of Promise City. Gone will be the days of fear from cattle rustlers, bank robbers and murderers. This town will become one where families can live in peace. When elected the Law and Order Party promises to: 1. Enact new legislation to discourage potential lawbreakers including long mandatory terms of imprisonment for all violent crimes. 2. Maintain the sanctity of the holy day by prohibition of the sale and consumption of all alcoholic beverages on Sundays except for that used during religious ceremonies run by clergy of the Roman-Greek Church. 3. Make all gambling and prostitution illegal within the town boundaries of Promise City. 4. End all displays of public nudity such as those from the midnight dance at the festival as well as those done nightly at the Gay Lady Dance Hall and Saloon and Palace Saloon. 5. Establish reasonable hours for all drinking establishments with closing times of 9:00 P.M. on Monday through Thursday and 10:00 P.M. on Fridays and Saturdays. 6. Prohibit the carrying of firearms on public streets except for authorized law enforcement officers and members of a town militia. 7. Encourage new families to come and establish homes within Promise City. The paper ripped as Kate's grip tightened. I don't know why I'm surprised, I really should have known. She was still angered by that list. They were not living back east, and in face some of these ideas were more draconian than any you'd find there.   There were not enough families in Promise City for that platform to carry the vote, and Kate herself certainly wouldn't give it her support. She sighed. Nothing was going to change that platform. She tied the horse to one of the porch posts and went inside with a stormy expression.After around ten minutes Conrad Booth walks up to her, a copy of the newspaper in his hands. He says, "Terrible news about Sheriff Hunter. I don't know what's going on but I'm now really worried about your ranch. I'm glad that Cattleman's Association got started up when it did."  "I'm not in any danger," she said absently. "From what I've been seeing this is political. I don't have anything in common with Thayer and we've improved the security. When we're out today I'll talk to the others about getting hands hired, and soon. It's this that's made me angry," she said, thrusting the ad into his hands. "We have a hanging judge here, and they think long sentences will deter criminals? I would love to see prostitution end, but it's not going to end just because we pass a law. And making gambling illegal? You can't legislate morality! If you close the saloons early, you're just going to have a lot of miners looking for another way to have fun.   And if I want a glass of wine on Sunday I'll have one! I'm not a follower of their church. And If they think I'm going around this town unarmed they've got another think coming. I thought the idea of working with them was to moderate some of this idiocy."Conrad says, "But look at it on the bright side! Once they are swept into power and outlaw gambling I'll have to take up acting as a profession! We can convert all of these closed saloons into theaters! I'm sure that if the miners and ranchers can't go anywhere to get a drink they'll be happy to watch a production of Shakespeare instead."  She gave him a half-hearted smile. "At least you'd be doing something you'd truly enjoy. Somehow I don't think the miners will appreciate Shakespeare more than every now and then. We should go before they make it illegal for me to wear pants or show my arms."  Conrad replies, "Kate, I was joking. Somehow I doubt they will be swept into office with that platform. In fact, I think I'll go check to make sure that Kate Higgins has seen this. I'll be back in a bit."She put her hand on his sleeve to hold him there for a minute and said, "I know you were, I'm just not finding much to laugh about. I'm overreacting, I know. This isn't really a surprise. I guess I had just hoped for better. We'll be ready when you get back."Jake buys a paper when Chumbley comes round to the Lucky Lady.  Jeff Mills looks over his shoulder and comments, "Hunter, huh," when he finishes with the lead story. "I guess he will not be following me around anymore." Jake scratches his beard and grins before turning the page.  He spies the Law and Order platform and spits out, "Hermes! Those fools." He folds the paper under his arm and heads over to the Gay Lady in search of Burton Lumley.</blockquote>

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