"Revenge, Renewal and the Promise of a New Year" (Boot Hill/D&D)

[Silver Moon]

Chapter 116, “A Song for Jake”, Thursday, January 12th, 1882:

Pedro stands up on the bar to get everyone's attention. "We not bother Marshall with this. It be an El Parador matter." He is still holding the shotgun in his hands so nobody in the room decides to argue.

He then reaches under the bed and takes the keys to the only remaining unoccupied room in the hotel and hands the key to Sonoma. He tells her in Spanish "Give me the man's gun, wallet and any other valuables and hand them to me. Then have some of your friends bring him to this room and watch the man until Jose arrives. Don't untie him from the chair, it will be easier to carry him upstairs in it. We find out then what this all about."

Nanuet sheaths his knife and then unloads the bullets from the gun that he wrested from the man. He helps Sonoma gather the valuables that Pedro asked for and helps to tie the man up. As he is doing so he asks Sonoma and Kate "First of all... are you OK?" Then addressing Sonoma only "Next, what is this all about? You seem to have an idea about what is going on in this situation."

Nanuet remains astounded that Jake and Ruby are acting as if an armed man did not just walk in and threaten to murder someone right in front of them in cold blood. That Kate is standing in the contents of a broken bottle of liquor and that Sonoma and he were in the middle of tying the violent man up. Nanuet says as he begins to drag the chair with the unconscious man tied to it following Sonoma to the room for which she has the key, shaking his head as he goes.

Jake looks up as Nanuet goes by dragging the chair along. Nobody else seems to be helping so he reluctantly goes over and takes an end as the Indian gets to the stairs. "He wasn't shooting at me." Jake says as they climb. "I don't see the value in fretting about it when good drink is waiting." As they top the stairs, "Perhaps I've seen too many saloon shootings. Fortunately this time no one ended up dead." Jake looks down at the man in the chair. "Yet."

"I guess I am just not accustomed to this stuff yet. I have not adjusted to what you folks call civilization I guess." Nanuet laughs as he drags the dead weight down to the room. "Saloons are", Jake replies dryly, "the white man's jungle. I wouldn't call this the height of civilization, I'm just trying to get along in it." Nanuet asks, “Which room are we headed to Sonoma?" Nanuet and Jake carry the unconscious man into the room that Sonoma points to.

Nanuet says, "Thanks Jake, don't worry about staying here, you have things to do, I will keep an eye on Mr. Jealous Rage over here." Nanuet keeps an eye on the man and puts himself between him and the doorway. He tells Sonoma "Please find out what Pedro plans to do with our friend here. I am not sure he will be too happy when he wakes up."

"OK, partner you got him. I'll be downstairs watching' over that bottle of Tennessee bourbon when you can join me if you care to." Jake eyes the way Sonoma and Nanuet look at each other and leaves the room. On his way down stairs he mutters to himself, "Not very romantic sharing the room with an unconscious man who's tied to a chair. I guess I've seen worse." He takes his seat at their table. Leaning back in the chair he has a sip, sighs and smiles.

Ruby had gone back to her room. The smell is gone, as is the broken glass. Ruby thinks to herself "I should try to keep a better hold on my temper that was a good bottle of perfume!" She throws on her new black dress and fixes her hair. Then she heads over to Mr. Gonzales room. When he opens the door she enters, then tells him about the shooting, although it seems he already knows. She is about to leave then turns back laughing. "I almost left again without that darn jacket. It should be done by now right?"

Mr. Gonzales shakes his head, laughing. "Yes it is ready. Let me go get it." He walks through the magic door into the back to get it. Ruby walks around his room, curiously looking at little things he has laid out, but particularly the bright woven blankets he has on the walls. When he returns he says, "Here it is. I made it black and a few other changes so no one should be able to tell it's the same jacket." He smiles and hands it to her. "By the way, thank you for cleaning up my mess earlier. I was going to clean it with the spell you taught me but wasn't sure if I should do that in front of Jake or not. He's says he's ok with it but I didn't want to take a chance and make him nervous. Anyway, thank you." Ruby gives him a little kiss on the cheek. "I hope you'll think about stopping the Lone Star again tonight!" She doesn't wait for an answer before she sweeps out of the room.

Ruby makes her way to Jake's room to drop off the jacket. The door is locked so she looks around quickly and when she sees no one around she picks the simple lock quickly. She gets into Jake's room and sits on the bed. She takes her time to fold the jacket up nicely and when she is done she leaves it on the bed. She closes her eyes for a moment. A nap would be so nice she thinks. So much for lying around lounging all day like I used to. Tomorrow I will sleep as late as I want. She takes a deep breath and opens her eyes, ready as she is going to be for the night.

Right before she gets up to leave Ruby sees two envelopes sticking out of the shelf of Jake's nightstand that weren't there before. It only takes her about two seconds before she picks them up and looks at them.
She reads them over and shrugs then stuffs them back from where they came. Ruby heads back downstairs and over to Jake at the table. There is still a lot of bourbon left so she pours herself another glass and sits. "I put the jacket on your bed in your room. I don't think anyone will know where it came from now," she says with a smile, "So you should be ok with it."

"Thanks. And thank Senor Gonzales." Jake stops and looks like he is thinking. "Speaking of Senor Gonzales and the foreign looking money, I thought there was a book in the box with the money. One that was hand written. Was he able to tell us what that was?" She says, "I did thank him, but it wouldn't hurt if you thanked him too." He replies, "I will. Figured you would see him first." "As for the book," Ruby leans close to Jake and whispers, "he did say there was one magical one. Did I tell you he is teaching me to read magic?" Ruby leans back. "The rest are mostly histories I think. Kate would know better."

He comments, "That's all beyond me. I'll be lucky to survive Sonoma’s family teaching me Spanish." He snorts a little laugh. "I'll let you and Katherine go over without me when she comes down. I'm just going to sit a while here, I'll meet you all over at the Lone Star later. Figured it would be best if I don't have to hang around the Whipples all that much." He makes a face. "My patience is growing thin with them, so I can be polite easier from here."

"Ok Jake, I know you'll be over later. I don't want to spend too much time with them either. They're boring." Ruby pauses for a long moment then sighs. "I guess while we are alone I should take the opportunity to tell you I am sorry I threw that bottle at you. I was just... upset. Anyway, I am sorry. And I hope you're not too mad about the whole thing. I don't want us to fight." She gives Jake a small smile. He replies, "Nah, I just need to buy you some cheap perfume. So you'll have some for throwing' and some for wearing'."

Ruby's smile grows bigger with Jake's answer. "Have I told you that you are just irresistible?" When she finally looks away from him she sees Kate coming down the stairs. "Time to go!" She gives Jake a quick kiss and says goodbye as she gets up, then turns back; "Oh and take care of that bottle please
Back upstairs Sonoma smiles at Nanuet, "Living with my family ensures that you keep a cool head when things go to pieces around you I still have a few secrets from you, you know. Poor Carlos is always taking the heat that his brother gets him into they actually have a perfect alibi almost no one can tell them apart so there is no way to actually know which one did what. Jose is a major tomcat and has gotten into trouble before like this sometimes I think that Carlos would take Jose out himself if he didn't want to keep the ability to be in two places at once. I'm not sure what we will do with him she says looking at the unconscious man when he wakes up we'll have to do something but right now someone needs to talk to his wife and deal with this situation with her and Jose first.”

Nanuet replies, "Well, if this man Jose has been with his wife, I think that they should deal with it themselves. I understand about the mistaken identity, but now that we have that sorted out Jose should have to deal with the consequences of his actions. I can only imagine how I would act in the same circumstances."

When Jake left to help Nanuet move the unconscious man upstairs, and Kate found herself suddenly alone at the table. Pedro got down from the bar, and people had begun to go back to their dinners. She blew out the candle went over to the piano. "Maggie, are you okay?" Maggie nodded. "Of course. It's not the first time I've an angry husband in a Saloon." Kate replies, "Well, it's a first time for me. I've felt very safe here the last two weeks, I don't like the idea that this would happen here." "Next time," Maggie said sternly, "I would suggest you find cover instead of attacking the gunman with a bottle."

Kate smiled and kissed Maggie's cheek. "I'll take that into consideration. I had hoped we could talk before I went to work, but I guess it will have to wait until after. I hope the rest of your night is quieter." With that she went upstairs to change her clothes again. She would definitely have to take the two dresses from today into the laundry, and soon. She put on the green dress that had started all the trouble with Tom Whipple and cast Prestidigitation to freshen it up. Her hair was quickly straightened up and she went back downstairs.

Ruby walks over to Kate. She takes Kate's arm. "Ready?" Kate nods and they head out the door. Kate stopped Ruby for a moment as they passed Jake on the way out. "Can you have Sonoma meet us at the Lone Star as soon as she's free?" she said quietly. "Thank you."

As they are walking to the Lone Star Ruby seems a bit quiet until she finally speaks up. "Kate, I have to say something to you. I, well, I saw you casting a spell in the Cantina when the whole shooting stuff was going on. Do you know how dangerous that can be? They hang people who can use magic. And in a room that full you will never know who saw you. You have to be more careful than that. I know you were trying to help but I don't want anything to happen to you either."

Kate replies, "I didn't mean to frighten you, Ruby, but I don't think anyone who didn't know what to look for noticed. That was the whole idea of the bottle, after all. Do you really think I'm strong enough to knock a man out, no matter what I use? All anybody really say was a woman hitting a man with a bottle while annoyed and muttering."
Ruby answers, "Kate, pulling out spell components in the middle of all that, I think someone might notice. I also noticed one of your new friends casting a spell too, but he had the benefit of that candle burning. Even without hearing him I noticed it. Look, I have seen what can happen, I just know you have to be so careful. You never know who is watching you and like I said, I don't want anything to happen to you." Ruby gives her a smile. "Another night at the Lone Star," as they walk in the door.

Always eager to please Ruby, Jake does indeed take care of the bottle as she had requested at least another couple of small glasses of it. A little time goes by and he goes looking for Sonoma. He delivers Katherine’s message and then brings the remains of the bottle of Tennessee bourbon to wait upon his pleasure next to an unopened bottle of Kentucky bourbon in his room. That seems to make him happy as he smiles at the bottles while donning the black leather duster, and then leisurely makes his way down the stairs to the cantina's common room. He wastes some time there chatting with the local staff in English and in Spanish before deciding to take a leisurely stroll to the Lone Star.

Before Jake heads out he sees Carlos and Jose Ramerez in the kitchen arguing with Dorita. Pedro is near the bar and tells him "Be like me, stay out of it. Jose be sorry man come here." Laughing, Jake says to Pedro, "He's only marginally safer with Dorita than with the man who tried to shoot him. If you don't need me amigo I'm off." Jake gives him a little wave and heads out.

Chester enters the Lone Star with Comstock, Mizner, and Whittemore. "... then the bear says, 'You didn't come here to hunt, did you.'" The four start laughing. "Anyway, have you started scouting out the area? If I know Buffalo Bill, he'll try pull out all the stops to keep his title." Comstock says sternly, "Son, there is only one Buffalo Bill. And you're looking at him. I intend to regain my name from that... actor." Chester says, "Sorry. Didn't realize it was still a sore subject." He replies, "Well, I've waited fifteen years for this. It'll be a grand hunt. Now let's get us a table."

It is past eight o’clock when Ruby and Kate arrive. Both card games are already in full swing. Teddy and Alexsis are nowhere to be found. Tom looks at his watch and says "About time you two showed up. Where's Louise?" Kate replies, "I'm sorry. Louise is dealing with a personal problem. She'll be along as soon as possible. Do you want me to play for Ruby or wait tables?" He replies, "Jeff has the bar and I've been able to keep up with the tables so far. The crowd is used to hearing your music and haven't heard any yet tonight so I'd suggest you play."

Kate notes that Tom is wearing his regular work clothes tonight rather than the nicer outfit he had on the prior two nights. "Alright. Let me know if you need me to switch. What happened to your suit?" she asked before heading over to the piano. He replies, with an edge of annoyance in his voice, "Had to change. My waitresses didn't show up and I didn't want to get food on my good suit while I did their jobs."

Katherine stepped up closer to Tom, hands on her hips and seemingly taller than usual. The edge in her voice more than matched his. "Thomas Whipple. I have not had a particularly good evening. The fact that it was preceded by several terrible months is not improving my mood. I don't particularly enjoy getting whiskey dumped all over me, but of course, I should have considered your inconvenience before I cleaned up and changed my clothes. I have devoted a great deal of energy that I don't have to spare to helping you and Maggie, including getting Louise to help out. Without Ruby here you wouldn't need waitresses, and if you keep this up you won't have one. Now, would you want me to play that piano, or shall I go back to the El Parador?"

Thomas Whipple is a bit taken back by her forceful speech. "Er, sorry, I'm still a bit nervous with Father watching my every move. Please, just go play, I'll handle the tables until Louise arrives." "Very well," Kate said, her voice still cold. There was enough to worry about, she didn't need Tom on her back as well.

Ruby had already been walking away when Tom started with Kate. She rolls her eyes, it was barely past 8:00! As she walks to the stage she sees Chester sitting with the men from the other night. He looks up at her as she passes and she waves at him but doesn't interrupt. Chester returns the wave. He thinks about asking Ruby about Judge Lacey, but reconsiders. It might make her upset, which wouldn't be a good thing right before she goes on stage. She grabs herself a drink from the bar before she walks over to the stage. While she waits to see if Kate will be accompanying her she sits on the step, drinks her whiskey and gets lost in her thoughts. Kate sat down at the piano and looked at Ruby as she began to play energetically. "I'm sorry, Ruby. Are you ready?" "Huh?" Ruby says looking up a bit startled, "Oh, yes, I'm ready." Ruby finishes her drink and gets up on stage to sing.

Some time around nine o'clock Jake wanders into the Lone Star. He stands in the doorway for a minute surveying the crowd, scanning the poker games, taking in the piano playing and finally focusing on Ruby West on stage. This could be mine in a few days, he thinks. He takes another look, shrugs and enters. He locates an available chair and turns it around so he can watch Ruby. Jake had slowed down his busy pace today, and tonight was no different. "No reason to hurry and no place to be but here," he says to no one. It felt good. He slouches in his chair and smiles.

Nanuet starts to get impatient as time goes by and Jose has yet to show up. He wonders how long this man will remain in this passive state. It is around a quarter-past-nine when Dorita and Carlos finally arrive in the room where Nanuet is guarding the still unconscious man. Carlos says "Thank you for watching him. We'll take over from here." Nanuet walked "Louise" over to the Lone Star before heading back to the cave with Maska to spend the night with Kajika.

Ruby and Kate are wrapping up their first set of songs. Mid-way through the set Louise arrived and took over for Tom with waiting the tables. He heads up stairs and returns dressed again in his suit. Chester and his friends all give them a standing ovation and then each of Chester's three friends heads over to each of the tips cups and deposit a dollar. Jake has been enjoying the relaxation but his eyes keep wandering over to the poker tables. He notices that Tony Lucky is using a few tricks to cheat, not obvious tricks, but things that a gambler knows to look out for.

Ruby glances around the room to make sure Jake has shown up and he is paying attention to her. When she sees that he is, she gives him a smile and makes an announcement from the stage. “So tonight I’m going to sing a new song that I’ve never sung here before and I’m sure none of you have ever heard it. It’s for someone who has become very special to me recently. He knows who he is.” Ruby looks to Kate, “I know you don’t know it and it’s alright, I’ll sing unaccompanied.” Ruby starts singing her song with the most passion that anyone has heard her use and all the while she never takes her eyes off Jake.

The sweet seductive arts
That conquer maiden's hearts
I never knew.
The tender piteous sighs,
And looks from longing eyes,
Soft looks that ladies prize
When lovers woo, when lovers woo;
Soft looks that ladies prize,
When lovers woo;
Soft looks when lovers woo.

My winning word and wooing glance
Are shiver'd sword and shatter'd lance,
And honours wrung from battle's chance,
And honours wrung from battle's chance.
But all, but all from love of you

What need to call you fair,
And praise your beauty rare -
As all men do?
'Tis not the silver tongue,
Soft speech and softer song,
That proves the love is strong,
The heart is true, the heart is true;
'Tis not the silver tongue,
That proves the love is true.

Nay turn and give that palm -
To one who yields before your charm -
A loving heart, a lusty arm,
A life that lives for you.
Nay turn and give that palm -
To one who yields before your charm -
A loving heart, a lusty arm,
A life that lives, that lives for you.

To one who yields before your charm,
A loving heart, a lusty arm,
A loving heart - a life -
A life that lives for you!

She then sings the song through a second time, this time changing some of the lyrics from those originally written by Lionel H. Lewin to those of her own. Ruby’s version is more far more bawdy. William Whipple appeared rather upset during her song and the intimate way that Ruby sang them to Jake.

When Ruby begins the song Jake is a bit embarrassed but is soon taken with the melody, words and emotions. A moment later Jake receives an unusual warm feeling of confidence and inspiration. Rather than being lost in the music, he has an intense feeling of focus. The warm feeling fades shortly after Ruby finishes the song. After the song is over, she gives a little bow and excuses herself for a break. She ignores the stares from just about everyone as she walks over to Jake. "Well, what did you think of your song?"

He gets up to greet her "I, uh, um, it", he stammers a bit, "it was wonderful." He takes his hat off and looks her in the eyes. "I really don't know what to say. Imagine me with my own song." He grins a schoolboy smile. "Thanks." He reaches out suddenly and gives her a quick hug and kiss. Then he whispers, "How in Hades did you do that! Never mind, don't tell me now." She replies, "It is your own song, Jake, and I'll sing it for you anytime you want. As for how I did it, a girl has to have some secrets, right?" She gives him a smile and cocks her head to the side. "But I am glad you liked it."

Tom and William Whipple head outside following Ruby's song. Tom returns shortly thereafter without his father. Chester's friend Whittemore approaches Kate, gestures to the piano and asks "May I?" "Of course," Kate said as she emptied the tip cup into her pocket. "I think we could use a little something more, mmm, familiar. And I could use a bit of a break." She couldn't imagine what Ruby had been thinking. The elder Mr. Whipple had left, hopefully not to fetch Teddy and Alexsis to fill in for the rest of the night. She got the feeling Tom was not pleased.

Whittemore sits at the piano for the next half-hour and plays five English folk song standards singing the lyrics. He has a good singing voice but it is clearly untrained, hitting several lyrics slightly off from where he should. He plays the songs John Barleycorn, Sweet Lovely Joan, Blow Away the Morning Dew, It's a Rosebud in June and The Keys of Canterbury.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter 117, “Jake's Letters”, Thursday, January 12th, 1882:

Kate approached the piano when Whittemore finished his last piece. "Thank you, it's a pleasure to hear those songs. You have a lovely voice. Let me get you a drink, and then I can play something you'd like to hear. As long as I know it, that is." Idly she wondered when Mr. Booth might make his way over. He had his own game to run, of course, so Katherine tried to put aside her anxiety and focused on getting Mr. Whittemore his drink and his request.

Ruby decides she needs some air on her break so she heads outside to get some. Jake keeps an eye open for a break at Job Kane's table. When he calls one, Jake takes him aside for a few private moments. "If the Whipples are still selling the whole Lone Star, Ruby and I are willing to go partners with you. There are still a few details to iron out, but I don't see any obstacles. When the time comes let's talk to Tom together, he'll be less obstinate with you. Job replies, "Sure, but I wouldn't worry about who talks to him. As long as he gets the money he needs he'll be happy to sell. All he's thinking of at this point is Denver and Flossie.”

Jake comments, “Hey I also notice Tony was playing to the edge over there, any experienced player would have caught it and call him on it. Does he do that often?" Job answers, "No, never, but Tom suspended his normal rules with both me and Tony for these three days to ensure that he and I both raise enough money for the purchase price. He hasn't asked Tony to partner yet but I'm guessing that he will if he falls short. Personally I'd much rather have you and Ruby. Tony's a nice enough guy but is only a mediocre card player and blows all his money on women so I'm not sure how he'd be as a manager.

I figure I'd better get what I can by tonight. Tomorrow will be a total wash for me since Van Horne plays here on Friday. Saturday will probably be even worse. It's some Dwarven Holiday, Moradin's Day or something like that. Tom's always kept the clientele here to humans but Maggie has this fool idea of letting in all races and she'll be in charge that night. I'll be too distracted keeping the dwarves from trashing the place to focus on my game. But that'll also ensure that Maggie fails her test, since she won't have any poker proceeds to speak of for the two busiest nights of the week."

Jake says, "Ah yes, Van Horne. Later on tell me everything you know about this guy. Obviously he's pulling something, nobody is that good all the time. We both have a vested interest in stemming the loss to him. I think I'll be here to watch him myself, too."

Not long after his conversation with Job Kane, Jake goes over to see Tom Whipple privately. "Assuming things go the way you expect, we are interested in the whole thing. The two of us already have our share. It's just up to Job, and I'm sure he'll be fine." Jake's conversation with him is brief and he heads back to his table.

Conrad Booth arrives at the Lone Star and catches Kate's attention. They sit down and he says "Cole will take the body. He offered $ 50 but I talked him up to $ 75. He says the reward is a lot higher but won't say how high, problem is he saw the papers so knows that the guy's been dead since Saturday. Said if he you saw him then he could have paid a lot more since he could have just put in on a horse. Now but now he'll have to go and buy a wagon, draft horses and casket in order to transport it. Said if you're willing to provide him with the wagon, horses and casket he'd be willing to pay you $ 200 but otherwise $ 75 is the highest he'll go due to his higher expenses."

"It would cost me more than it's worth to cover his expenses. I think I'll take the $75. If Nanuet spent more on the supplies I'll reimburse him myself. Frankly, I'm tired of dealing with this. I'll take a little less to get it over with." She stopped and chuckled. "My Father would be so disappointed. Why don't you stay through the last set? There are some details to be worked out, and I have to get back to work."

Booth tells her to take her time, he's done for the night at the Long Branch other than heading back to speak to Cole again adding "That southern gambler Van Horne is there cleaning the place out. Normally he comes on Wednesday and we've established some low-stakes rules for that night to keep him under control but this week he switched his night and caught us off guard."

"I think he plays here most Fridays, so tomorrow you should be safe. I hope you didn't have too bad a night."

Ruby reluctantly comes back in from her break. She doesn't appreciate the dirty looks from Tom so she makes sure to just stick with plain old boring songs. Ruby knows she isn't at her best but she is tired and getting grumpy. She decides to lay off the drinks as they aren't helping much. She chats with a few customers here and there, spends some time with Chester and his new friends, who do manage to make her laugh, but mostly stays quietly near Jake when she isn't singing. Jake spends the rest of the night chatting with folks in the Lone Star, listening to Ruby singing, and drinking whiskey after whiskey.

Kate had played the last set for Ruby, who was lacking her usual fire. Kate wouldn't have thought Tom's disapproval would bother her friend in the least, but it seemed to have taken the wind out of her sails for the night. After Ruby left the stage the set still felt unfinished. Katherine hesitated. She could carry a tune, and her voice was pleasant enough if not remarkable. A moment later she sang in a light mezzo-soprano a song she had learned from Tom years ago.

Of all the money that ere I spent, I spent it in good company.
And of all the harm that ere I've done, alas was done to none but me.
And all I've done for want of wit, to memory now I cannot recall.
So fill me to the parting glass. Goodnight and joy be with you all.

Oh, if I had money enough to spend and leisure time to sit awhile
There is a fair maid in this town that sorely has my heart beguiled
Her rosey cheeks and ruby lips, she alone has my heart in thrall.
So fill me to the parting glass. Goodnight and joy be with you all.

Of all the comrades that ere I had, they're sorry for my going away,
And of all the sweethearts that ere I had , they wish me one more day to stay,
But since it falls unto my lot that I should rise while you should not,
I will gently rise and softly call, "Goodnight and joy be with you all!"

She walked quietly away from the piano and went back to her work. Once things slowed down enough, she went over to sit with Mr. Booth. "We need to work out how to get Mr. Cole to the body, and of course recompense for your trouble." He replies "Well, I could have him meet you someone but he's one tough hombre so I wouldn't recommend you meet him alone. I could join you if you're willing to wait until early afternoon, I tend to sleep in mornings.

She replies, "I don't mind waiting until afternoon. It will be nice to relax in the morning for a change. I might be able to get a couple others to come out as well, if you think it's necessary. Just come to the El Parador and ask for me. We'll have to ride, will you need a horse?" He replies, "No, I'll just borrow one from Dorita. She's watching the mounts belonging to my friends, Arcade's Gang, and those horses need to be ridden semi-regularly to keep them in shape. I eat my first meal of the day around noontime at the El Parador so we can head out after that."

He then says, “And all the compensation I'm asking for is for you to join me at my table on Sunday night." She answers, "Yes, so you've said, but I still feel you ought to have something more for your trouble than my company for the night. After all, I don't intended to play, so I won't be losing money to you." Not entirely true, I'm spotting you $ 100 in chips so you'll have that to lose. I'm just looking forward to having a classy lady there, especially on Sunday as that's the slowest night of the week. Your presence alone should attract others to play."

Chester approaches Ruby and says, "Hey, Ruby. Something troubling you? You haven't been your normal cheery self tonight." "Chet, you are very sweet to notice. I've had a long day, that was preceded by a long night. I have a lot on my mind AND I have a headache. Pretty boring stuff really. I'm sure everything will be fine soon enough." She gives him a small smile. "So I guess you've made some new friends?" “Yes,” he replies, a wide grin on his face.

William Whipple returns at around 11:30 PM. Booth heads out shortly before midnight, right around the time that both card games wrap up. Most of the patrons head out. Tom Whipple pays Ruby, Kate and Louise their wages for the prior three days. Tony and Job indicated that they have collectively earned over $ 500 that night, passing the $ 100 plus on to Tom. Once all of the patrons and Tony have left William Whipple tells Tom "Congratulations, you've passed," and shakes his son's hand.

Ruby takes Jake’s hand as they walk back to the El Parador. She lets him pull her along as he talks a little about the Lone Star and how they might run it, then about the silver mine. Ruby is too tired to really pay attention, and doesn't really notice he is slightly unsteady and slurring his words a bit. It has been a long draining day, starting with staying up late and drinking too much, then getting up early, the whole Tombstone trip with talking to Morgan Earp and Colby Tucker, Chumbley on the way back, fighting with Jake and finally work. She had a headache since her chat with Chumbley and it has never gone away. Ruby looked forward to sleeping in late tomorrow and just having some time to think.

They get back to Jake’s room and Ruby sits on the bed quietly. Jake turns his back to take off his gunbelt, still talking about something, while Ruby lays on the bed, fully clothed. When he stops talking she says softly, “Jake, you are so smart with all this business stuff. Sometimes I wonder why you keep me around…”

"I'm not so smart, you..." By the time Jake turns his head to look at Ruby she is already sound asleep. "Heh." He takes off her shoes and fumbles with her dress trying to take it off without waking her but gives up. He does manage to get the blankets out from under her and get her covered. He pulls up a chair next to the bed and sits with a thump. Jake grabs the bottle of Tennessee bourbon and just watches her sleep for a while. The room is faintly lit by moonlight coming through the shutters. He watches as the beams delicately journey across her face.

He finally starts to doze off so puts the bottle back narrowly avoiding a spill, gives her a little kiss on the head and whispers "I was going to ask you the same question." He staggers around to the other side of the bed and falls asleep on top of the covers fully clothed.

Chester says goodbye to his friends and the waits outside the Lone Star to walk Louise and Kate back to the El Parador. He then escorts Maggie back to the Lone Star. Everyone turns in for the evening.

After Nanuet walked "Louise" over to the Lone Star he then headed off back to the cave with Maska to spend the night with Kajika. Nanuet approaches the cave and asks Maska if she can smell or sense Kajika. He takes a moment to scout the area looking for recent signs of footprints or the like before entering.

Kajika arrives and casts the "Warp Wood" spell, allowing the two of them to enter. The mentor says "I know you have many questions but before you ask them you first need to learn." He brings him over to a far corner of the cave, where a spider has made a web approximately three inches in diameter. He instructs Nanuet "Sit here and what she has done. See what you can learn from her and what she has made."

The shaman then goes to Maska and walks with her to the far corner of the cave and down a side passageway. Nanuet hears both the wolf and the shaman then softly converse in a language of barks and growls. Three hours pass until the Shaman returns to Nanuet.

Nanuet studies the spider. For what seems like ages the spider does not move. It's web is set, completed, just waiting. More time passes, when an unfortunate fly hits the web and finds itself trapped. The spider, who had been waiting so patiently senses the vibrations across the web and scurries quickly across the strands, unaffected by their stickiness. The spider reaches the now weak and struggling fly and pounces upon it. It then spins the fly in the web until no movement is seen and it is fully entangled in the sticky threads. The spider sits upon its prize triumphantly.

As Nanuet is watching this spectacle he hears Kajika approaching. "Kajika, I have watched the spider as you have asked. I am still not sure what I was supposed to have learned from this? The spider shows much patience. His work is done and then he waits for the right opportunity for action. Is this my lesson? Sonoma has preached patience to me as well, perhaps that is my weakness?" "It is," Kajika replies, "but that you are learning. There is much that you still need to be taught."

They spend the next six hours with the Shaman giving Nanuet specific instruction in the use of a variety of different spells. By the first light of dawn the Indian is physically exhausted but mentally stimulated. "That is all" Kajika states, "We must go before people are about." The mentor warps the wood open and they depart, him then warping it back. His final words to Nanuet are "Rest and think of what I taught you. We will spend time together once more before you are needed for the task that Riley has seen." Nanuet returns to his room at the El Parador and falls to sleep.

Katherine didn't lay in bed too late on Friday morning. Since she planned to ride out shortly after noon, she would want to see Mr. Gonzales in the morning instead. Then there was the deed and her dress to pick up, and some clothing to order.

She sat down at the table with her hairbrush and began to carefully work all the knots out. A bath this afternoon was in order as well. She hadn't had the opportunity to speak with Maggie last night, perhaps she could stop over early this evening to do that. Or maybe it would better if Maggie didn't know. Kate sighed. In three days it would be decided either way. So would a lot of other business. She looked forward to the time when all she had to worry about would be her lessons and her ranch.

Since she was only going to Mr. Gonzales rooms, Kate dressed simply in a skirt and blouse. She penned a quick note to Jake and Ruby and left it with Dorita downstairs, and then Dorita went into the kitchen. Kate slipped up the stairs just as Dorita was coming back holding a large plate of breakfast and looking for Katherine. She went up into Mr. Gonzales rooms, picked up a book, and waited for her mentor. She didn't have to wait for very long. He soon arrived. He is dressed rather oddly, in some type of military uniform with various medals, pins and ribbons on it.

Katherine stood and curtsied formally, coming up with a grin. "What's this all about, professeur aimé? Or shall I call you Admiral?" He laughs "Oh, no need for titles that are twenty-nine years out of date. I guess I just got nostalgic. You know the really ironic thing? The one single event which forced Santa Anna from office and put me out of a job was the Gadsden Purchase. His critics objected to his selling the land that is now New Mexico and Arizona to the United States, and now this is my home!"

She replies, "Is it terribly selfish of me to be glad he made that decision? Without it I wouldn’t have come here, Tom and I would have moved to Nevada perhaps, and I would never have met you." "Well, admiral de professeur, what's the lesson for today? More Transmutation?" "Well, you did very well with those first two transformational spells but starting that third was too much for one day. Why don't we go back to that and have you keep trying until you have perfected it."

Kate spent the rest of the morning working on her spell. Although she did perfect it, there wasn't time afterward to begin another. Instead, Mr. Gonzales gave another lecture, this time explaining how the gestures and words used in spells varied. A spell with a large, flashy effect required large gestures and emphatic speaking. A spell with a subtle effect could be cast under one's breath with minimal gestures. Katherine guessed he had decided on this lecture after her casting the night before. She had taken Ruby's warning to heart, and she was sure Mr. Gonzales had heard about their adventure downstairs.

As the morning light comes through the shades Ruby starts to stir. She could tell she slept deeply as she barely moved in the night. She gave herself a frown as she looked down and realized that she was still wearing her dress. She gives a little stretch and looks over at Jake, who is lying fully clothed on top of the covers. Must have been a good night, she thinks. She smiles as she rolls over to him putting her back up against him and taking his arm and wrapping it over her. Jake doesn’t make a sound as she does. She lays like that for a while, unable to fall back asleep. This Tom Kale business was really getting to her and she knew she was going to have to do something about it and soon.

Ruby sighed as she looked around the room. Right in front of her face were those two letters from yesterday, She hadn’t had the chance to ask Jake about them like she intended. She moved over in the bed and reached out for them, looking them over in her hand. She guessed one letter was to his parents but who was the other letter to? She turned to Jake, letters in hand. “Jake?” she said quietly, “Jake are you awake?” She poked him with her finger, “Wake up sleepy head.” His only response was a louder snore than the previous one. He was out like a light. Ruby smiled as she leaned over and kissed him softly on the lips. Her nose crumpled as the strong smelled of bourbon still lingered there. He was probably still drunk, and he had not moved one bit since she was awake. She was too curious to wait and thinks Jake won’t mind too much if I open them, that is if he ever finds out I opened them, she laughs to herself.

She sits up in the bed with her back to Jake and reaches for her hair clip, which Jake had to good sense to take out the night before. She pulls out the tiny dagger hidden inside and, as she had done a million times before, ever so gently opens the two letters. She glances over her shoulder at Jake, who is still sleepy soundly, then turns back to read the letters. The first letter was a fairly standard boring letter. In crisp, clear and neat handwriting:

Mr. & Mrs. Hiram Cooke
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Dear Mother and Father

It has been some time since my last letter, and I apologize for my tardiness. I am well in body and in spirit. I find myself in the Arizona territory still discovering the country and seeking my vocation. I am fortunate that I have met men in the mining business who are willing to provide me a fair day's wage. They find my skills and experience valuable and have offered to educate me in the mining business. It is not the first time that my training in documents have helped me find work. Arizona is quite unlike Philadelphia in the landscape and the inhabitants. The people are honest and hardworking, but often uncouth and uneducated. The sky seems endless and blue with hardly a drop of rain. I take back many of the foul thoughts I had about Philadelphia's raining weather. I have met some interesting people, and they have treated me well. Perhaps we will become friends. I do not know when I will be in Philadelphia again, but it is unlikely it will be any time soon. I pray that this letter finds you both in good health, and my siblings as well. I trust that my brothers have added much success to the family business, I would expect no less. I will write again soon. Please tell Virginia how much I miss and love her.

My best regards, Jacob.

P.S. I will likely be staying here long enough to receive a letter if you would care to write back.

When Ruby was done reading it she closed it back up and put it back. She marveled at her skill in putting it back together and even she couldn’t tell she had opened it. The second letter was different. She read it over and over again, each time getting more and more upset. She knew she probably shouldn’t be all that upset, she really didn’t know Jake all that long but for whatever reason she couldn’t help herself. The letter reads:

Virginia Claire Cooke
Care of Mr. & Mrs. Victor Carnegie
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

My Dearest Virginia,

I pray this letter finds you in good health. I myself am well, and at least for now, prospering. I continue to make my way with odd jobs and gambling. I know you disapprove but it keeps me well fed and clothed. And I will tell you again, this is my path and I enjoy myself immensely. Yes, I continue to withhold the truth from those who reluctantly admit to be my parents.

When I last wrote you I was in New Mexico and unsure of my next destination. Lacking any reason for one destination over another, I cut the cards and find myself in the Arizona Territory. Although the cards don't always fall my way, over the long run they have looked kindly on me. I have found employment, and am making some investments. Perhaps they will payoff handsomely, there are many opportunities in the wild west to make one's fortune. Right now it is too soon to tell. I have also met some people I have come to trust, and who in time could become close friends. At least for now they are pleasant company and we help each other in our dilemmas.

One of these new friends is a woman from back east who looks and acts remarkably like the light of my life. She reminds me how I miss you terribly. I think of you every day and wonder about your life. Do not continue to blame yourself over past events, it was I who acted rashly. What was done was my doing alone and my choice. I know you too well; you will deny it. Please forgive me and think kindly of me. If you have not already done so, do not let past mistakes keep you from moving on with your life, you can do no wrong in my eyes.

There is reason for me to stay here for now, so I am providing a return address finally. If you can bring yourself to it, please write and tell me of your life and future - but no more discussion of the past, that is behind us. I am entertaining thoughts of coming back for a visit, albeit a brief one. I have not decided one way or another, but will ask your permission before coming back to protect you from any pain or embarrassment it could cause.

I love you always, Jacob.

Ruby throws the letter on the bed and storms out of Jake’s room, slamming the door as she goes. She gets back to her room, closes and locks the door and sits on the bed to try to calm down but it's not working. As the door slams Jake awakes with a groan and his head echoes with pain at the sound. He looks over and sees that Ruby is gone, "Damn, she should know better than to slam the door." He folds the pillow over his head and in a little while his body drags him back to much needed sleep.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter 118, “Angry People”, Friday, January 13th, 1882:

Chester wakes up around 9:00 A.M. with a hangover. Boy, that Comstock can really put it away. He looks at his pocket watch. I better get to the bank, pronto. The ex-soldier dresses quickly and goes downstairs. Chester sees Dorita with a puzzled look on her face. "Is there something wrong, Dorita?" "Well, Mrs. Kale was just here and now she's left without her breakfast."

Chester replies, "Hmm. I haven't seen her since last night, so I don't know where she is. That food shouldn't go to waste. Can I have it instead? If you see her, you can blame it on me." He smiles. "Yes. That'll be fine, señor." "You can call me Chester or Chet, if you'd like. You've been very kind to me." Chester sits downs and wolfs down Kate's breakfast. Then he rushes to the bank.

Chester barely makes it to the bank on time. The tellers Bruce Maxwell and Scott Taylor are already in their places. The Condon brother managing the bank on this particular day is Frank. He lets Chester in, waits until the guard in position and unlocks the door. The first hour of the morning is fairly quiet, with just a few customers. The handyman Jones arrives around 11 for lunch orders. He returns a half-hour later with the food. When he gets near Chester he whispers "Tell Silver Dollar I'm not ready yet, we'll have to wait for next week."

Chester whispers back, "OK. What's the hold..." He winces and tries again. "What's the matter?" He whispers "Didn't get the getaway horse. We'll have to do next Friday instead." "That's too bad. I'll be sure to tell him." Chester waits until everyone else is done eating, before he eats his lunch. Then he checks the stored weapons and thinks to himself “I wouldn't put it past that guy to mess with these.”

It's even later in the morning when Jake finally stirs. He sits up in bed and holds his head in his hands for what seems an eternity. He wanders around the room bleary eyed, changes his clothing and leaves what he takes off around the room on the floor. He does remember to put his derringer in the back holster and strap on his colt, more out of habit than of conscious thought. Just before he crosses the room he notices the piece of paper on the bed. He goes over and picks it up and takes him a moment to realize that it is his own handwriting. He states an exclamation. He finds the envelope and puts it back in, though not as neatly as before. He takes the other envelope and puts them both in his pocket, grabs his wallet off the floor and leaves the room. He forgets his 'other' wallet and heads down stairs.

Jake comes down stairs in a foul mood. He sees Dorita and says "Please lightly burn some meat and have a double shot of whiskey waiting for me when I come back." "No, senor, that no good for you in the..."
Jake cuts her off. "Don't argue with me!" Then in a lower tone. "Please." She gives him the note, which he reads: Good morning. I wonder if you would care for a short ride this afternoon? The bounty hunter will be coming out to collect the body. Mr. Booth and I will be riding out a bit after noon and you are welcome to join us if you think it's needed. I'm sure Mr. Booth can provide me with all the protection I need if you are both busy. Love, Katherine.

"Leave this for Ruby" He then leaves the cantina and heads over to the post office. "I need to mail these two", Jake puts too much money on the counter so he doesn't have to listen to the man ask for money.
"Fine day today, you know I..." "No it isn't." Jake cuts him off with a dark look. The man gives Jake his change. Jake sarcastically says "Thanks"

Ruby paces the floor in her room, stopping occasionally to sit on the bed, but always jumping back up to keep pacing. Her mind is racing with thought and she is overcome with feelings she had managed to avoid the past two years. She realizes she is wearing a dress that Jake brought her so she pulls it off and stomps it on the floor. She pulls out her bag and starts stuffing things into it randomly, just as she had done a week ago. She takes a deep breath and pauses and then starts pulling everything out of the bag again throwing it on a chair. She sits on the bed again, head in her hands, trying to decide what to do. Then she gets up, determined, and starts to slowly put everything back in the bag.

Once it reached noon, Kate excused herself and went back to her room. She changed into her riding clothes, braided her hair, got her weapons and went downstairs to wait for Mr. Booth. Booth arrives at around a quarter past twelve. "My, you look ravishing this morning" he states. He joins her at the table and asks "Have you ordered yet?" "I'm not really hungry, thank you. You go ahead. So, what's the plan for this afternoon? It's only a short ride, out to my new ranch, actually," she smiled. "Well, mine with a couple others."

Booth calls Dorita over and orders himself some breakfast. He then asks her "Oh, could I borrow one of the Arcade horses for today?" She gets angry and begins to yell at him. Unfortunately her words are exclaimed at a rapid pace and in Spanish so neither human can understand her. Kate was stunned for a moment. She stood up and took hold of Dorita's hand. "Dorita? Dorita! What's the matter? Please, in English. How can we fix it if we can't understand?"

"Dorita, watch horses. We be back soon they say. Gone two months! When they come back? And so we feed horses. We water horse. We take horses for exercise. I try real hard to make happy. Now they be back someday and Sureshot Sam, man who kill famous outlaws, he will say to me 'Where my horse!' What me tell him?"

"I'm not sure I understand. Did something happen to the horses? Conrad, do you understand?" she asked, unthinkingly calling him by his first name. "It's alright Dorita, we won't take one of them, Mr. Booth can take my stallion." Katherine squeezed the other woman's hand. "They will come back," she said quietly. "It no come back from the dead! Grant borrow horses to ride out to mine with you on Tuesday. Sureshot Sam horse get shot dead! Me no loan out other horses to you if that how you bring things back!"

"Grant didn't go with us Tuesday morning. Did he go with Jake in the evening to bring the miners into town?" Dorita exclaims, “Yes, they go then. Take two horse, bring one back, say other dead." Kate shook her head. "It doesn't matter. We won't borrow any horses, and although you can never really replace a riders horse, I'll provide you with another so he at least won't be without." She leaned forward and hugged Dorita. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." She calms down and says, "Thank you. No know if they ever come back but not want Sam mad at me for killing horse." "I'm sure he wouldn't be. It will be alright." Kate waited a moment and squeezed Dorita's hand again. "Now that that's settled. Mr. Booth and I have an appointment, and he needs to eat first. Would you be so kind?"

Jake walks back to the cantina where he gets his plate, drink and dirty look from Dorita. He goes to sit by himself in the corner telling Katherine as he goes by her, "I'll ride with you, I could use it." He finishes the meat and shoots the whiskey. He walks up stairs, gathers up his hat, coat, extra revolver and shotgun. He heads down stairs and sits with his feet up in the corner of the cantina waiting for Katherine to be ready to leave.

Dorita nodded and went off to the kitchen and Katherine sat back down. "Well, I guess you'll be taking my stallion after all, Mr. Booth." Kate looked over at where Jake was sitting and waved him over. "Jake is going to ride out with us as well. Maybe you could tell us both at once about the details." Booth replies, "Actually I'll just head over to Drover's Livery and rent myself one. They only charge seventy-five cents a day and have half a dozen available. But first let me check over at the Long Branch to make sure that Cole is ready." "If you prefer, but I have two horses, one of which you could ride for free. I don't like making you spend money."

Jake's voice comes out from under his hat across the room to Katherine, "The Indian and I brought back three extra horses the night we chased down the bandits. They're available if we need to replace or borrow one." She replies, "Jake, why don't you come sit over here?" Jake releases a heavy sigh and drops his feet to the floor from the table. He grabs his shotgun off the floor and walks over to where the two of them are talking. He pulls out a chair, slides the shotgun under the table and sits down. "Good day." he says without emotion.

"Apparently not," she answered, looking at him. "Mr. Booth, why don't you eat your breakfast and go see Mr. Cole. Jake, maybe we could go over to the bank and get that money from the wagon?" "Sure." He gets up and puts the shotgun behind the bar. "You don't mind if I leave it here?" but he doesn't wait for an answer. "After you Mrs. Kale."

Jake and Kate head down the street towards Condon's bank. As they are around sixty feet away they see a pair of men ride up to Condon’s Bank and tie their horses to the post outside. One is nicely dressed in a black tailored suit, the suit’s jacket is only waist length and has silver buttons, silver initials D.K.A. monogrammed in cursive script above the pocket, and silver fringe on the jacket collar. The clean-shaven man has on a matching black hat with pearl stone inlayed on its band, a thin black necktie and a white silk shirt. Matching Colt Peacemakers are worn on a gunbelt filled with ammunition.

The man’s companion appears to be a bodyguard. He has on a worn brown leather coat over a flannel shirt, blue jeans, cowboy boots and a wide brimmed tan leather hat. Two guns are on his belt, a long-barreled single-action revolver on his left and a double-action revolver on his right side. He removes a shotgun from a saddleback holster on his horse and slides it into a holster on his pack.

While the bodyguard’s eyes scan the street in both directions the better dressed man removes a black leather satchel from a saddlebag on his horse and then heads towards the front doors of the back followed closely by the other man. Kate and Jake are nearly to the bank at this point. "Maybe we should wait," Kate said, looking at the busy scene in front of the bank.

Ruby had packed and unpacked her things a million times. At the moment her things were strewn all over the bed. She knows leaving is her only choice but doesn’t really want to so she is trying to convince herself it’s not what she has to do. All the plans that they had made were ruined now anyway, she knew she could never go back to the way things were. It is late morning before she heads downstairs to look for Mr. Gonzales. She sees Dorita at the bar and says nicely, “Give me a whiskey.” She doesn’t look up to get her dirty look. “Have you seen your grandfather?" "He waiting for you up in room. Want to talk to you about something."

She takes her whiskey and drinks it then heads back upstairs. Ruby approaches Mr. Gonzales door slowly. She gives a quiet knock and waits for him to answer. When he does she enters his room, closing the door behind her. She turns to him, “Do you know why I am here?” He smiles and replies, "Not offhand, but I'd guess it was probably something that happened between your parents around twenty-two or so years ago."
"I'm 18," Ruby says matter of factly. She isn't smiling or laughing at Mr. Gonzales joke, there wasn't much that was going to get either of those things out of her today. "I never was any good at guessing human ages. Now if you were an elf I would have gotten it exactly right."

She says, "Dorita said you wanted to talk to me about something?" He replies, “Yes, I wanted to ask you when Kate and Dorita weren't around. What is your opinion of Maggie Whipple and her dream of owning the Lone Star? She's been talking to my Granddaughter about it for the last three nights now and is very excited about it. From my one night there as a human and the things I overheard I did not get the impression that her brother or father think much of Maggie's abilities. I am not sure if I should do anything to help her or just consider this a family matter and stay out of it."

She says, "I don't think Maggie has shown me anything that proves she can run the Lone Star herself. I also don't think she can take care of herself to be left alone without her father and brother. Jake," she practically coughs on his name, "and I were going to buy the Lone Star if Maggie fails. I could be wrong about Maggie and to be honest, right now I don't even care. But if you want my advice I'd stay out of it or you'll have to take care of her too after her family leaves."

Ruby realizes that she was very harsh to Mr. Gonzales and could see in his eyes he knew something was up. She takes a big sigh, "I'm sorry, Mr. Gonzales. I didn't mean to be rude to you." She starts pacing the room. “It has come to my attention today that I have, yet again, allowed myself to be used by someone. Well, ok, maybe I did a tiny bit of using too, but really what I discovered today was that I have gotten way too attached to the people here in Promise City. The only way I know how to deal with that is to leave here and find another place to go.”

She looks up at Mr. Gonzales before quickly looking away. “Before I left I just really want you to know how much it means to me that you would tell me some of your secrets and trust me enough to help me learn how to use some of the skills I already have inside me. I am sure it will be helpful for me in the future.” She stops and gives him a knowing smile, then sighs again. “I wish things could be different but they’re just not. I do what I do for a reason and I should never have tried to make things different because then this happens….” Her voice trails off and she does not finish the thought. She quietly continues, “You are one of only a few people in my life who ever believed in me to be more than I am. Even if I can’t live up to your expectations of a golden eagle, it’s still nice to think you thought I had a chance. So thank you.”

Sonoma knocks on her great grandfather's door "I've brought you some coffee, Hi Ruby" Ruby gives her a sad little smile. "Hello, Sonoma. You're not with Nanuet today?" "Ah, my little nightingale. Ruby and I were just talking about Maggie Whipple and her Father's opinions. You've spend three nights there, what do you think of the Whipples?"

The young elvan woman says, “I haven't seen Nanuet yet today but I'm sure he'll be around soon. The Whipples? After spending three days there I have decided that the senior should go home and stay there he treats Maggie like dirt. He has no respect for women or people at all unless he can control them and I truly believe that Tom is just as bad using Maggie and taking all the credit for running the Lone Star when all he really is a bartender. Maggie was the one who realized that Ruby could sing and that would be a huge draw and she hired not only Ruby but Kate as well knowing exactly what she would need for help once the word got out. Maggie has kept the books and stocked the Lone Star.

Tom doesn't even know how to order or where to get supplies he can't really cook and is too busy trying to provide an IMAGE to impress his sexist self-centered father to even realize that without Maggie that he would need more help both in the kitchen and on the serving floor. He has no idea who I am and could care less I could have walked away with the entire night’s proceeds. And he didn't even realize that his kitchen was on FIRE. He's as totally self-centered as his father and hasn't even let Maggie know that he's planning on selling the bar out from under her without even considering consulting her. I believe that if Maggie decides to stand up for herself she could run the Lone Star without any help she knows where the tables stand and is a real business woman and I have a lot of respect for her. As for Tom, he's useless and I want to see him gone he deserves his father.”

"Follow me ladies" Gonzales says and walks into his workshop. Once there he gathers up various components and deposits them in his brazier. He calls the two women close and says "I am going to start and incantation. I want you both to hold hands and when I extend my hands outward each of you take one with your other hand." Sonoma does as she is told watching very closely as her great grandfather casts the spell trying to understand what he is doing as it goes along

"Maybe you didn't hear what I said. I'M LEAVING and I don't care about Maggie or any of the stupid Whipples. Just someone else who wants to use me, thanks a lot..." With that Ruby walks out of Mr. Gonzales room.

Ruby storms down the hallway. When she reaches the end of the hallway she is surprised to see both Sonoma and Gonzales already there blocking her path. He states, "If you want to go I will be willing to help. With the spell I had started the three of us were going to instantly travel 800 miles rather than the 80 feet down the hallway that Sonoma and I went instead. When you calm down and have figured out your destination you know where to find me." With that he and Sonoma walk off.

Ruby watches them walk away. “800 miles”, she thinks…”What was he going to drop me in the middle of the Pacific? I don't need his help anyway!” She goes back to her room and realizes that the one person she thought she could trust, well, she was wrong about him too.

Sonoma walks into Ruby's room and stands at the door "I do not know what has happened to you but you are out of line! My great grandfather took you at face value respected you for who you were and asked nothing at all of you he offered you not only his trust but knowledge and the ability to be everything you could want of yourself and asked Nothing of you in return. I will not have you treat him this disrespectfully there was no reason for him to teach you other than he thought that you needed to learn who you were and what you could do in order to survive without killing yourself.

Maggie has been nothing but kind to you she gave you a job and asked nothing more from you than you perform if you wished to. True Tom and his father are not good people, but if you truly believe that Maggie just wants to use you go ask her yourself. You may be angry at the world right now but do not direct anger to ones that I care about and that includes you!" With that she stomps out of the room slamming the door behind her. Ruby sticks her foot out to keep the door from slamming shut and gets in front of Sonoma.

"You have no idea about me or the life I've lived so don't pretend to. If your grandfather has something to say to me he should come and say it. You weren't there when I thanked him for all he has done for me, told him I was leaving and he didn't say one word about it because he doesn't care. Maggie didn't give me a job out of the goodness of her heart, so don't act like she did. They needed a singer and I auditioned, so what? It was just a job and it benefited them more than it benefited me. I never said anything about Maggie using me, I was referring to your grandfather wanting me to help him with a spell for Maggie. I'm not angry with anyone but myself and don't worry I will be out of your way by tomorrow."

Sonoma looks coldly into Ruby's eyes and says in a tight whisper “You plan to run again. You run because if you leave people can't hurt you. You hurt yourself more because you leave. Thanking someone at the top of anger is just a way to justify that no one really cared for you at all to begin with. You fear people because to really love is to risk. And to risk is to be vulnerable and to gain possible pain.

You still think of me as a child because I seem young. You think I know nothing of the world. I have already lived with humans for longer than your life will last. I may not have lived your life but I have seen it before. You are angry and dangerous. My impression is that you will not stay because you fear someone will touch your heart and make you less self-sufficient. You will only be as safe as you allow yourself to be. It is you who must live with it if you truly believe that these people….the ones who have put their lives on the line for you….who faced bullets and pain….if you think that they only did it for their own personal profit at your expense! I pity you. For you are wrong and will be wrong until you decide to learn to live instead of running from life.”

Sonoma starts to walk away then turns and adds “If you truly think that my great grandfather needed your help with a spell for Maggie you are not as bright as I thought. He is the teacher, not you. He was teaching you not using you. An eagle is a prideful and independent bird and he knows that. He would not cage you to him anymore than he would cage a real Eagle.” Ruby gives Sonoma as dirty of a look as she can muster and stomps back into her room, slamming the door. She throws some shoes across the room before collapsing face down on the bed.

After a few minutes Ruby is calmer and she thinks about what Sonoma said. She never really thought of her as young but she certainly was wise for her years. Ruby had been mad and maybe she did take it out on Mr. Gonzales. She sighs as she gets up from the bed. She slowly walks back down to Mr. Gonzales room. When the door is opened all she says is, "I am very very sorry."

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter 119, “Deadeye Douglas Rides Again”, Friday, January 13th, 1882:

"Maybe we should wait," Kate said, looking at the busy scene in front of the bank. Jake smells opportunity. Not everyone realizes that you can smell opportunity, but Jake can. "No, let's head in. Never learn anything standing in the street gawking." He leads her into the bank.

Once inside the better dressed of the two strange man approaches Chester and asks to speak to the bank’s owner. Chester takes note of the well-armed pair. "The owner? I'll get him for you." Chester walks to Frank's office. He knocks on the door and glances back at two to make sure there's no funny business. Frank tells him to come in. Chester says, "Mr. Condon, there's a man here to see you. He's got on a black suit and hat. Careful, he and his buddy are armed."

"That's what I have you for. That guy looks rich and we can use the money." With that Frank enthusiastically heads forward. Frank Condon shakes his hand, and invites him to sit at the manager’s desk. The man introduces himself as Doug Kingsley Arthur. He holds up the apparently heavy satchel and says “Would you mind having your guard stick close to us until we get this safely into your vault?” Frank replies, "No, not at all. Will your friend be joining us, too? Chester, help Mr. Arthur with his bag." The well dressed man says "Not so fast. I need to find out some things about this bank of your before I decide to trust you with my valuables." He takes a seat in the chair beside the desk while Frank sits in the other.

Jake and Kate enter the bank. Both tellers are behind the main counter. The two men who just entered are over by the desk along with Frank Condon and Chester. Frank and the well-dressed man are both seated in chairs while the two guards are both standing. Jake leads Katherine over to the tellers and positions himself so he can look at her and over her to see the others. "So Katherine, do you want cash or start an account?" She replies, "I suppose I ought to get an account, as much as I don't really care for the idea. Banks tend to get robbed."

A few minutes later a young couple who each look to be around twenty years old enter the bank holding hands. Both are dressed in riding clothes. He has an upholstered single-action revolver tucked into the right side of his belt. She takes several crumpled bills out of a pocket in her coat and hands it to him. He takes the money, kisses her on the cheek and says, “I’ll be right back.” He heads up to the teller’s window and waits in line behind Jake and Kate while she stands in the middle of the room and smiles at Chester.

A woman enters the bank. Those who had attended the court hearing on Tuesday recognize her as Pamela Yeats, the owner of the Trial Dust Saloon whose husband Dudley had been sentenced to five years of prison for shooting at Marshall Earp. She looks in the direction of the desk and says to nobody in particular “Oh, he’s busy. I guess I’ll wait.” Chester looks over at the new arrivals. A man who doesn't use a holster usually means trouble. He sees Jake and Kate at the teller. Chester nods, but otherwise doesn't greet them.

"There you go, sign her up with an account. We'll be transferring $300 from my account to it." Jake steps aside and let's Katherine forward to deal with the teller. I hate people standing behind me, he thinks, and turns to quickly scan the man waiting in line followed by his girl. Kate goes ahead and gives her information to start the account. The more people that squeeze in the more uncomfortable she becomes. "Jake, we should get Flint's money at least, shouldn't we? I need to get his fencing supplies."

The man looks to be relatively harmless, although appearances can sometimes be deceiving. The crumpled bills in his hand consist of a twenty, a ten and a five. Jake notices that the man has on a gold wedding band. Across the room Pamela Yeats begins to pace while waiting for Frank Condon to finish with the other customer.

“Damn it! How much longer are you going to be?” Pamela yells at Frank Condon.” Her outburst causes everyone to turn and look in her direction. Simultaneous to this two men enter the bank. They are wearing jeans, work shirts and leather vests. The smaller of the two men is Dudley Yeats, who should be sitting right now in the Tombstone jail. The man beside him is huge, a good 350 pounds, and most of it appears to be muscle. The only thing detracting from the man’s intimidating appearance is a pair of wire-rimmed eyeglasses on his face. Each is holding a revolver in his hand that they point at the occupants of the room. "I knew we should have waited," Kate whispered.

Jake says, "I see this is a bad time, should we come back later?" At the sight of the armed men the man standing in line at the teller’s window yells to his female companion “Honey, get down.” His hand begins to move towards the gun in his belt. The woman has a look of panic on her face and starts to move towards the desk. Meanwhile, Pamela Yeats reaches into a fold in her dress and pulls out a revolver.

Kate tried to note where everyone was in the room. This wasn't like last night. Any attempt at using a spell here would be noticed. Tom's pistol was in her pocket, these men wouldn't know she was armed. She tried to get her hand closer to her pocket while keeping them in plain sight. Chester ducks behind the desk and draws his Remington. He tries to think if he can reach the long-arms without getting shot. Chester feels the barrel of a revolver pressing against the back of his head and the bodyguard for the man sitting at the desk says, “Don’t try to be a hero.” He thinks, “Damn. They got the drop on me. Now what?” He drops the Remington and puts his hands up.

The man at the teller’s window turns and points his gun at Scott Taylor ands says, “One move and I blow your head off.” His female companion near the desk casually walks around the desk and removes the shotgun from the back of well-dressed man’s bodyguard. She then points it in the direction of Jake and Kate and says "Don't any of you think of being heroes either. They don't call me Shotgun Sally for nothing."

Jake whispers to Katherine. "Faint." Kate started taking short gulping breaths, let her eyes roll up in her head, and collapsed to the floor, hoping she was at least a moderately convincing actress. Jake makes a little move toward the ill Katherine, but stops and looks around at all the guns pointed at him. He feigns a look of distress over her condition.

The well-dressed man at Frank’s desk now stands up and says, “Please don’t any of you be foolish.” He looks towards Frank Condon and then says in a voice loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. “I haven’t been entirely honest with you Mr. Condon. My name really isn’t Douglas Arthur, it’s actually Arthur Douglas although most people know me by my nickname Deadeye.” If she hadn't needed to continue to pretend to be unconscious, Kate would have laughed. Deadeye and his "twin" together in the same room. But if what she had read was true, no one would be hurt if they were cooperative. She still went though her available spells to see if there was anything she could do.

Douglas continues “Now unless you’d like to discover firsthand how I got that nickname I would suggest that you and your guard go and unlock the door to the vault.” Condon looks towards both Chester and Jake. Chester looks at Frank with a questioning gaze that indicates the question of “What do you want me to do?” Condon tells Chester "We'd better do as he says." "If you say so, Mr. Condon," Chester replies. Douglas removes Frank's gun from its holster and picks up Chester's from the floor. Douglas puts both revolvers into a desk drawer, which he then shuts. He then directs both Frank and Chester towards the vault. Douglas says "I would suggest that you open it and don't delay. My satchel contains several sticks of dynamite so we're going to get in it one way or the other."

Chester and Frank head towards the vault followed by Deadeye Douglas and his bodyguard. Dudley Yeats puts up the "closed" sign on the bank door and watches the street. Shotgun Sally keeps her double-barreled firearm pointed at Jake and Kate (who is still lying on the floor), assisted by Pamela Yeats who is acting very uncertain about this whole thing. The man near Jake keeps his gun pointed at the tellers and tells them "Okay, both of you, keep your hands where I can see them and get out of there. Head over to the vault. The oversized man near the door walks closer in the room to Jake and says to him "You too, go help bring out the money."

Katherine rubbed her fingers against the floor, gathering enough sand to cast a sleep spell. She opened her eyes just a slit, looking for a place to center the spell that would only affect the robbers, but mostly to make sure Jake isn't affected. She made sure her hands were where they couldn't be seen, and started making some moaning noises. At the first hint from Jake, those noises would hopefully hide the casting. Then she waited. Jake nods at the man, and coughs a little cough. He starts to move in the direction the man is indicating and coughs a little harder. He continues to move but now is coughing loudly and leaning slightly against the bank counter. "Do you 'cough, cough' smell something?"

Jake certainly knew how to make his cue unmistakable. Kate took a deep breath and muttered rapidly under her breath, making the sinuous finger moments that comprised the spell. She directed it to the most concentrated pocket of robbers and away from Jake. The pinch of sand between her fingers disintegrated and fell away as the spell completed. She prayed she hadn't been seen and slipped her hand into her pocket.

Frank Condon and Chester are over by the vault door and Condon places the key in the vault lock then reaches for the combination spinner. Both Deadeye and his large guard are beside them as the two tellers, Maxwell and Taylor, approach. Jake begins coughing which annoys Shotgun Sally who yells over to her boyfriend that Jake is still armed. At that point the man is halfway between the teller’s window and the vault, his gun trained on the two tellers. He looks to the very large man who is now approaching Jake and says “Get his gun Mongo”.

The man reaches over to grab Jake’s gun from the holster. He no sooner has his hand on the weapon and has begun to pull it out when Kate completes her incantation. Shotgun Sally, Pamela Yeats and the very large man all collapse onto the floor simultaneously. Dudley Yeats charges away from the door to check on his wife.

Jake’s gun was mostly out of the holster and starts to drop along with the man’s hand but the end of the barrel catches the top of the holster and hangs precariously there as Deadeye takes aim at Jake, almost daring the gambler to reach for it. Jake ignores the urge to lock eyes with deadeye and instead feigns a lack of focus and coughs again. He keeps his poker face not responding to the challenging look on the famous outlaw’s face. He is careful to not move towards his colt, but tries not to move to cause it to fall.

The room was still ignoring Kate as she lay on the ground. Apparently despite her moaning they still assumed she was not a threat. With her hand inside her pocket it was easy to grab a bit of wool. Jake needed Deadeye to be distracted for just a moment. She muttered again, making the movements with her free hand and used the Daze cantrip on Deadeye, hoping he was not of such a strong mind that it wouldn't affect him. She then turned slightly and pointed the pistol still in her pocket toward the man with his gun on the tellers. She didn't fire yet, waiting to see if her spell worked and how Jake would react.

Katherine's spell seems to have no effect, as Deadeye continues to stare down Jake while he instructs the man by the teller's gate "Pinto, Get his gun." Dudley Yeats reaches his wife and is relieved to find her still alive. He splashes water onto her face from a canteen on his belt while shaking her and she starts to stir. The man, apparently named Pinto, walks up to Jake and grabs for the Colt while Deadeye continues to point his gun at Jake.

Deadeye's companion keeps his own gun leveled at Condon, Chester and the two tellers. Condon finishes the combination and announces "It's unlocked." Deadeye says "Step away and don't think about setting off any more magical gas traps. I've let you get away with that once but my patience is over." Dudley looks up and says "Gas trap?" Deadeye replies "Probably contained in the leg of the table. He must have activated it while he was still at the desk. Your wife will be fine once it wears off."

Jake thinks “Pinto, it's payback time.” When Pinto leans to grab the gun, Jake pushes Pinto's gun slightly to the side and grabs his own colt while stepping closer to Pinto to place him between Deadeye and Jake. Jake fires once into the very close Pinto and springs up and tumbles over the counter. As Katherine sees Jake move, she moved the gun in her pocket as Condon and Chester backed away from Deadeye and fires at Deadeye's companion. Kate's shot at Deadeye's bodyguard misses and he fires back into her, grazing her gun hand for a minor wound.


Jake's shot hits Pinto in the chest. He wasn't expecting it and staggers backward, unable to fire a shot. This also leaves Jake totally exposed and Deadeye's first shot hits deep into Jake's left shoulder and partially incapacitates that arm. Jake's tumbling move does catch Deadeye off guard and his second shot strikes the side of the counter where Jake had been a millisecond before. Deadeye continues to track Jake's movement. Jake makes it over the counter but as he is dropping down gets tagged in the chest by the outlaw's third and final shot for a near mortal wound. He lands unconscious on the floor.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter 120, “The Bank Robbery”, Friday, January 13th, 1882:

Gonzales nods in response to Ruby’s apology. Ruby now notices that Sonoma is also in the room. The young wood elf heads towards the door and says "Talk to my Great Grandfather. He is a good listener. This much anger does not come from nowhere." She then adds "And when you are done with him you may talk to me if you wish. I listen well too." She then departs. Gonzalas says "Come in. Let me get you something to drink, although I think something non-alcoholic would be in order. Have you ever sampled Birch Beer?"

She replies, "No I've never had that. I usually drink whiskey." He finds a corked ceramic bottle and pours her some. Ruby tastes the beverage. It doesn't taste like a beer at all but does have an odd flavor. It is also bubbly, like champagne. He says "I've always liked this myself, and you don't have to worry about a hangover in the morning."

He then says "My Great Granddaughter speaks from the heart but the truth is that whatever is now bothering you may not be for my ears, although a short break from the rest of the world may indeed be what you need. If you would prefer, rather than talking with me, you might just want to find a book in the library and sit and read until you feel better."

"Read?" she repeats back in disbelief, "I'm not Kate. Reading doesn't make me feeling better as a matter of fact that is what started off what is turning out to be the worst day I've had in a long long time." She looks down to her birch beer. "This stuff is pretty good. It's sweet."

Ruby starts talking and barely takes a breath as she tells Mr. Gonzales all about Jake, ending with the letters, and her coming to Promise City and some of the things that happened in her past and things she has done. Ruby pauses then says finally, "I'm sure you didn't want to hear all that. You know I will admit that Sonoma may be right about some things she said to me, but it still doesn't change what I have to do. I hope you understand and I don't want to leave with you being mad at me."

Gonzales ponders this for a minute. He says "So it's basically the letter to the woman in Philadelphia, possibly a current or former wife, that has you upset. First of all, has Jake lied to you? Did he tell you that he wasn't now or ever married? For that matter, did you tell him about all of your past relationships?

I believe that he and you should speak about this, although given what I've seen of your temper I would also recommend that you be unarmed when you have that discussion with him, I'd rather not have to clean up any more messes around here. And my earlier offer to travel still stands. If you wish to go I will take you to where ever you might wish for a destination. We could even travel to Philadelphia if you want to tackle this problem at the source, provided that you first promise me that you will not kill this woman."

“I’m not going to shoot Jake,” Ruby says shaking her head. “And I’m not going to kill his who ever she is. I must be an awful person for you to think that.” He replies "If you could see yourself right now, how angry you are at the moment, I think you'd understand. I don't think you are an awful person but at the moment you are not acting all that rational." Ruby stops to wonder why people think bad things of her before continuing. “Well, tomorrow I’ll be gone and won’t be causing you any more messes or causing any more trouble for anyone.”

“No, Jake didn’t tell me he had a wife, and honestly I don’t care if he has ten wives. But something that important he should have just told me because I trusted him. Ruby pauses and catches herself, “I er, was starting to trust him. I never lied to him about anything. I did actually tell him about the one real relationship I had. I haven’t gotten close enough with anyone since then to have any other relationships.”
Ruby smiles a small sad smile. “The thought occurs to me that he might not even be talking to a wife but someone else…” Ruby doesn’t finish this thought.

She continues, “But you and I both know that leaving out a truth is just as much a lie as telling one.” Ruby stops to pull her hair off her face. “And I don’t think there is any talking for us to do. I’m not going to believe him anyway and what could he say to change things? Plus he won’t want to talk to me, I’m sure he’s mad I read his letter. I would be. I do owe him a promise though, if he still wants it. No, I am only mad at myself for allowing myself to get close to anyone, and Jake isn’t the only one, he’s just the one who made me realize it.”

Gonzales asks, "And are you also mad at yourself for getting close to Kate? She values your friendship and when you calm down I think that you'll realize that the feelings between you two is mutual." She says, “Yes, I was referring to Kate too. She is going on with her life, with her ranch and her dreams and eventually she’ll tire of me too. Kate has been kind to me, that is true, but you showed me how to use magic, and no matter what happens to me that will always be useful.”

Ruby continues, “I don’t want to meet Jake’s wife or whoever she is. He wants to go visit so maybe you can help him out with your offer. That might make him happy.” He replies "I have no desire to do anything with Mr. Cook. He is not one of my 'little birds' and if he is the cause of you being this upset then I'm not sure if I even like him any more." She says, “Don’t be mad at Jake, it’s not his fault I snooped in his letters.”

Ruby says, “Although I am curious, where were you going to take me that is 800 miles away?” He answers, "Dallas, Texas." Ruby continues curiously, “What is in Dallas, Texas?” Mr. Gonzales can tell that Ruby doesn’t want to look too interested. He replies "The original Lone Star Dance Hall and Saloon. Seeing it, and talking to a few people there, would have answered several questions about the Whipple family. But there's little point in going there now since, well....." and he then waves his fingers in a certain way and she then hears her own words in her own voice from twenty minutes earlier stating "I don't care about Maggie or any of the stupid Whipples." Ruby blushes. "I am sorry I said that. I guess I just felt like you didn't care that I said I was leaving. But I understand..."

Ruby stops to rub her eyes and takes a deep breath. “I’m going to go to Tombstone and I will take the stage tomorrow morning. Then I will decide in a few days what I will do from there. It won’t be anything different from what I always do. But I do appreciate your offer to help. As I said earlier you have been kind to me, kinder than anyone I have known probably.” She says, "Thank you, although I still believe that Kate's kindness to you far exceeds mine." Ruby gives him another smile. "Goodbye Mr. Gonzales." Ruby heads back to her room, thinking about her bad behavior.

She decides to head to the bank to try and get her money out of there before they close for the day, since they will be closed tomorrow. Ruby walked to the bank lost in her thoughts. She was confused about what she wanted to do and Sonoma’s thoughts echoed in her mind, as did Mr. Gonzales. She had been so mad at those stupid letters and the reason was starting to sink in, as much as she didn’t want to admit it.

As she arrives at the bank her thoughts are broken by gunshots. She looks up startled and realizes the shots are coming from inside Condon’s bank. “Poor Chester,” she thinks, “It’s only his first week.” She considers for a moment that she should not get involved but if there was any chance she could help Chester she should do it. He had been very nice to her after the wagon incident. Plus, she did want to get her money and not let some bandits get away with it. She sees the “Closed” sign on the door and shakes her head. She pulls out her gun, preparing it for action. She slowly turns the handle on the door and peeks in.

By the time that Nanuet awakens it is after noon. He goes down to the Cantina and Pedro gives him some food to eat. He asks about Sonoma and is told that she is out by the stable. He heads that direction and finds her caring for one of the horses and talking to herself in Spanish. He does not understand what she is saying but makes out the name 'Ruby' a few times. "Hello Sonoma" he states so as not to startle her. She is happy to see him and gives him an embrace. They start to take a walk together in the alleyway outside of the stable. "What were you talking about?" he asks.

She replies "Oh, Ruby got myself and Great Grandfather totally upset, it's a long story." Nanuet looks up and says "Speaking of Ruby...." The two see her marching west on South Street with a very determined look on her face. "Should we stop her?," he asks. She replies "No, but it might be a good idea to follow and see what she is up to." They follow down the street a safe distance back. They then hear gunfire further down the street and see her head up to the door of the bank and cautiously peer through the window.

At the first shot, Chester dives into the vault. Neither Deadeye or the other outlaw attempt to stop him, being preoccupied with Jake and Kate. Condon and the two tellers quickly follow Chester into the vault in their attempts to get out of the line of fire.

Kate leaps to her feet and is about to vault over he barrier as the man who grazed her yells "The last was a warning shot. Don't make me kill you." She sees his revolver pointing squarely at her head. Deadeye's gun is still trained on the wall where Jake went over and she realizes that he would also be able to take a shot or two at her before she made it fully over the wall. Four feet in front of her she sees the man Pinto slump against the wall holding his wound and moaning. "I know when I'm outnumbered," Kate said as she lowered Tom's pistol.

Chester grabs one of the shotguns. Using the vault door as cover, he moves to fire at Deadeye. While Kate is debating her next move she sees Chester in the vault now with a shotgun. Before he can actually get into a position to fire he first sees the woman Shotgun Sally still lying on the floor and taking aim for a direct shot up at him and the other three in the vault with her own shotgun. Thinking fast and realizing that she'll shoot before he can get his own shotgun raised and pointed, Chester ducks back behind the door, pulling the inside handle of the vault with him to start to shut the vault door. Her shotgun blast goes off, most of it striking the front and side of the metal door but also hitting and wounding Chester on his left side.

Kate sees Chester starts to leave and then pulls back, trying to close the vault door as the woman on the floor fires her shotgun, some of the shot hitting Chester. Simultaneous to this, Dudley and Pamela Yeats both scamper across the floor and behind the desk. Chester thinks “It hurts but he's had worse.” At least the combination of Chester's body and the metal door managed to totally shield the other three bank employees from the blast. The shot had also hit the door with such force that it was pushed further shut, the door now being open only around three inches.

Twelve feet behind Katherine and on the other side of the door Ruby peers around the "closed" sign and through the bars and glass of that comprise a small window on the door. The glass is frosted so she isn't able to get a clear picture of what is going on inside but she does manage to see the vault door moving. Sally's shotgun blast go off, and a woman standing by the tellers window wearing a dress the same color as one that Kate owns. Two more men are near the bank door but she doesn't know if they are friend or foe.
“This doesn’t look very good,” Ruby thinks. “And I HOPE that isn’t Kate. Good thing Jake slept late today.” She sees Sally take a shot at the vault and hit Chester. She is about to shoot at Sally but then realizes Chester is hurt.

Frank yells "Just shut it. Morgan can let us out later!" Chester winces in pain. "Damn. That stings. Mr. Condon, you stay in here. I'm going back out there. Close the door behind me." Louder, he says, "I'm coming out to check on the man you shot. I'm unarmed." Chester leaves the shotgun in the vault. He opens the vault door.

Deadeye pulls the door all the way open with his left hand, his Colt still in his right. Shotgun Sally is standing up and pointing the gun inside. "Yeats, get that shotgun and give them the bags." Dudley Yeats is on his feet again and is walking heads towards the vault door holding two large canvas bags with rope tie stings." Douglas tells all four bank employees "All of you fill those with the moneybags as quickly as you can and none of you will get hurt."

Ruby realizes that more than one person is hurt. Nanuet had only taught her some simple healing but it would still be better than nothing. So she decides to take a chance. She quickly picks the lock . She then pulls the holster off her leg and drops it next to the door. She sticks her gun far down the front of her dress and hopes no one notices it in the craziness of a gunfight.

Chester is standing before the open bank door with his hands in the air. The left side of this shirt and upper end of his pants are ripped up saturated with blood. A woman with a shotgun has Chester covered and another man is walking towards the vault doors holding two large canvas bags. A second man, clean- and neatly dressed, stands near the open back. He is the only one talking and she hears him say "....can and none of you will get hurt." Another woman is on the floor pouring water from a canteen over the face of a very large man lying unconscious on the floor. Another man is sitting on the floor with his back against the teller's window holding his hands over a chest wound and moaning. She is unsure if any of these three are outlaws or bank customers.

Then she pushes the door open and walks right in. She sees that it is definitely Kate at the tellers’ window and she had seen Chester walk behind the barrier. “Er, I’m just here to make a withdrawal…” Ruby says putting her hands up. Looking around she says, “But I think you might have beaten me to it.” She furrows her eyebrows, “I heard my friend is hurt, if you are going to take my money can I at least help him?” Deadeye pivots around as the door opens and points a Colt revolver directly at Ruby.

"Step inside and shut the door" the neatly dressed man exclaims to her. As she enters the room she now sees another outlaw, this one behind the teller's window. He has a gun in one hand, which is pointing downward. He tells his leader "I think the one back here is dead." "Oh, Jake," Kate whispered covering her mouth with her hand. Her vision went blurry as tears filled her eyes, and the taste of blood was sharp in her mouth. She had been holding the pistol two-handed and the handle was becoming slick with blood in her hand. For the first time, the thought of shooting someone did not turn her stomach.

Ruby assumes that the person he is talking about is one of the bank tellers. Then she notices a familiar looking hat lying on the floor not far from Kate's feet. It might have fallen off the head of the man with the chest wound but it might also be Jake's lucky hat. The neatly dressed man tells the man behind the counter "Just grab the cash and get out here."

Wyatt Earp is sitting in his office watching the clock. He looks at the cold remains of a cup of coffee and decides against it. His stomach begins to rumble and he is glad to break the monotony with lunch. He starts to rise out of his chair when he hears a faint gun shot. Then more, gun shots. He moves quickly to the doorway and stops, remembering that Morgan is in Tombstone. He turns and heads back to grab a rifle and bolts out the door. Once in the street he looks and listens. A shotgun blast brings his attention around to the direction of Condon’s bank. "Not a bank again." he says followed by a curse he runs quickly down the street and sees that troublemaker Ruby West entering the bank some distance ahead of him.

Nanuet hears the gunshots from the vicinity of the bank and then sees Ruby enter. "What is she doing?" he says to Sonoma as he begins sprinting towards the building. He sees Ruby step in and as she does she raises her arms over her head. The door closes behind her. As he runs Nanuet begins a prayer to protect himself from anyone who might decide he would make a good target. Sonoma begins to bolt right next to Nanuet, she starts singing as she runs.

“Chester how hurt are you?” Ruby asks. He responds, "Not as hurt as the guy back there," pointing behind the barrier. Ruby is trying to stay calm and walks over towards the teller's wall to look behind the counter, hoping that more than one person has the same hat as Jake. The color drains out of Ruby’s face when she sees it is Jake who is the other injured person, the one who they think is dead. Katherine turned her head slightly as Ruby entered the bank. It was bad enough Jake and Chester were here and hurt, she didn't want Ruby hurt as well. Still, she was comforted by Ruby's presence.

The man behind the counter with him is busy stuffing the paper money from the two teller's cages down into his shirt. Ruby looks towards the neatly dressed man and says "Let me try to help him. He may still be alive." Deadeye says "Go ahead but don't try anything." He gestures to the man back there and says "Keep her covered." Rather than taking the long way around to the gate she puts her hands on the counter and jumps over.

While this is going on the bank employees finish loading up the moneybags into the two canvas sacks. The large man on the floor wakes up and stands. "Cover the door Mongo" the leader exclaims and the big man picks up a gun on the floor and heads towards the door.

Behind the counter Ruby is oblivious to the man pointing a gun at her. She pulls open Jake's shirt and sees where the wounds are and her stomach churns. It hasn’t been too long ago that she had been kissing that spot and now… She had seen wounds like this before and she knows that not too many people can survive it. She puts her hand to her mouth to stop from getting sick but she can’t stop the tears that start falling out of her eyes.

Ruby takes Jake’s face in her hands and whispers, “Jake, I know you can hear me, you have to listen to me now, I’m going to sing for you, just listen if you can.” Then she leans in close to his ear and whispers even softer as she continues to cry, “And don’t you think of leaving me damn it, I don’t care of you have a wife or whatever you did in your past, I don’t care, just don’t leave me here alone …” With that Ruby starts to sing softly, the same lullaby she sang to the little bird she healed.

Ruby has never attempted anything like this before. She sees a scab form over the open wound and the bleeding temporarily stops. She contemplates casting a second spell when the man near her yells out "She's a priest!." Meanwhile, both canvas bags are now filled with the smaller moneybags. Shotgun Sally continues to cover the four bank employees as Dudley Yeats drags the bags over towards the door. Pamela Yeats and Mongo are both already at the door. Pamela opens the door a crack and throws something out.

Eighty feet away Nanuet and Sonoma see a quick flash of multicolored light in front of the door. Nanuet continues running towards the bank and is now thirty feet away from the bank. As Wyatt Earp gets further down the street he becomes more cautious not hearing any more gun shots. He moves to the same side of street as the bank and stays near the buildings so he can duck for cover if necessary. He cocks the bolt on his rifle as he is about 150' from the bank and sees the cantina owner’s daughter and the Indian headed across the street towards the bank. "What in Hades are they doing'?"

Deadeye says "Both of you women, into the vault." Kate moved slowly toward the vault and saw that Ruby wasn't moving. The other woman's shoulders were shaking slightly. "Ruby, honey? Come along now," she said holding out her hand. “No,” replies Ruby, still crying, “I have to stay here with Jake.” She looks up at Deadeye, waiting rather impatiently, and realizes that something worse could happen to Jake if she stayed then if she went. Shotgun Sally backs up to give Kate room to get into the vault, also telling her "drop that revolver".

The man behind the teller's counter exits while still keeping his gun still trained on Ruby and orders her to head towards the vault as well. She gets up reluctantly and slowly takes Kate’s hand. . She carefully steps over Jake. As Kate guides her into the vault she gives Deadeye the nastiest look she can muster. Chester stands there helplessly. He clenches and unclenches his fists in apparent fury. Dudley sees this and grips his gun more tightly, ready for any move Chester might make. Chester mutters under his breath, "Pull through. Pull through."

Over by the door the man called Mongo loops each of his arms through the ropes of the canvas bags and flings them up and over his shoulder. Pamela Yeats then fastens some metal clips and leather straps, securing the two bags both together and onto his his leather vest, basically turning the loot into a large canvas backpack. Dudley Yeats peers out the window and says "Uh oh, some Indian and a Mexican girl are heading this way.

Deadeye walks more towards the center of the room, pointing his Colt in the general direction of the men in the vault as well as Kate and Ruby. The badly wounded man Pinto looks at him and says "Help me up Deadeye." Douglas replies "Sorry Pinto, that wound's too bad. You need to stay here for the town's Doctor." Pinto pleads "Please Deadeye, they'll hang me." Shotgun Sally goes over towards him and says in a soft voice (that Ruby is now close enough to also hear) "Don't worry Joe, I'll come back for you."

Ruby walks quietly to the vault led by Kate. She gets inside and looks quickly around to see what is inside the vault, particularly if there is light and what kind of lock is on the door. Finally she turns and looks back at Jake. Without taking her eyes off Jake, Ruby asks, "Kate, who shot him?" Katherine held onto Ruby's hand for a few moments after they were locked into the vault. Nothing seemed real. She didn't feel like the same woman who sat with Conrad Booth in the El Parador that morning. She took a deep breath and answered the question Ruby had asked while still outside the vault. "Deadeye shot him." The door to the vault shuts and they hear the locking mechanism spin.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter 121, “The Getaway”, Friday, January 13th, 1882:

Ruby wiped her face with her hand, leaving a smear of Jake's blood. "Good to know," she says with no emotion to Kate in response to the information. It is dark inside the vault but Condon soon manages to light a lantern on the wall. He tells them "Don't worry about the air, I had some thin vents put in here, we should be fine for a while." "What's a while?" Ruby asks. Condon replies, "A few hours at least. My brother will have us out of here long before then." Ruby's tears are still falling down her face while she speaks. "When do you think your brother will be here? Because I don't want to sit in here while Jake dies out there." Condon replies, "Once he knows that our bank is being robbed I'm sure he'll come right away. Look, there's nothing we can do about it now, we're locked in."

Ruby keeps her back to the rest of the men and sits on her feet facing the door. "So how much money did they get?" Condon laughs and says "Very little. Those bags from this vault were all dummies. There were two-dozen stacks of bills in each bag but only the top three bills and bottom bill from each bundle in the top tier and top bills in the second tier were real U.S. currency. The rest were all old Confederate bills. So the dummy bags only had a grand total of around $ 200 total in real money. I had also emptied the teller cages at lunchtime too, so they probably only got around $ 100 from there. That Deadeye Douglas will be real disappointed."

Blood was still seeping thick from the wound on Kate’s hand. "Well, that's some comfort at least." Katherine stated. She began destroying yet another shirt and wrapped a makeshift bandage around her hand. Chester paces back and forth in the vault. He seems to pay no mind to his wounds at this point. Katherine moved over to Mr. Martin and began to check over his wounds, bandaging as she could. Chester remains standing as she checks him. Kate puts his arm in a makeshift sling. "Ow. Ow. Thanks, Mrs. Kale. You're dreadfully kind. I'll be fine." Once she's done, he resumes pacing.

Frank says, "Martin, stop that. You'll wear a hole in the floor. And the ladies will get nervous." "Sorry, Mr. Condon. It's just that Jake got shot over worthless money. He must have forgotten that." Chester sits down next to Ruby with a thump. He says to the air, "Damn. Damn. Why'd you do it? We were outgunned and outnumbered. You didn't have to try to be a hero." He turns to Ruby, "I'm so sorry. I should have fired when the other two came in the door. Then Jake wouldn't have gotten hurt. I failed all of you." Still crying Ruby turns to Chester and says numbly, "It's not your fault, Chester. Banks get robbed all the time. I told him to be careful." She puts her head on his arm. "I just wish we could get out of here..." Chester drapes a comforting arm around Ruby's shoulder. “I know you're worried about Jake. Hopefully Mr. Condon's brother heard the shots and will let us out soon."

Ruby sighs. "And how are you Chester? I know you are hurt too." He replies, "Well, it's starting to hurt more now that the action is over. But Mrs. Kale did a bang-up job of patching me up." Ruby stays staring forward. "Yes I am sure Kate did a good job. But I am certain the action isn't over yet Mr. Martin." "No. I guess you're right, it isn't. We'll get them, Ruby. That you can count on. I'm going to check on Mrs. Kale now." Chester removes his arm for Ruby's shoulder and wraps it around Kate.

Chester says, "Mrs. Kale, how are you doing? Wait. You're bleeding. Let me help you with that." "No, don't get up. It's not serious. I'm alright." She gestured with her bandaged hand. "Although Ruby may need another accompanist for tonight." Katherine slid down against the wall and pulled her knees up to her chest. She rubbed her arms then laid her head on her knees and closed her eyes.

Nanuet and Sonoma had continued west on South Street and got to the front of Hoover's Wholesale liquor and Saloon, approaching the alleyway between it and Mason's Feed and Grain Store. Nanuet stops and moves into the alleyway between the liquor and grain stores, a spot with some cover nearby where he can still see the door to the bank. He turns to Sonoma and says, "Looks like whoever is in the bank might be coming out soon. We'll never be able to do anything with them inside, they have the advantage in there. Let's see what happens when they come out into the open. If that is a horse for each man then we'll be out numbered. Take some cover." Sonoma nods and ducks into the alley so that she can still see the bank door but has some cover still singing/chanting softly

A mounted rider then charges out twenty feet beyond them from the alley between the Grain Store and Condon's Bank. He is pulling ropes with six more animals, five horses and an ogremount. The horses stop immediately before the door and people begin to file out. One is a woman holding a shotgun who points it down the street causing Marshall Earp to duck into the nearest alleyway. The other rush the horses and start to climb on. There are six total, four men and two women. Sonoma recognizes two of them as Dudley and Pamela Yeats, owners of the Trail Dust Saloon and recalls reading that he should be in jail right now for shooting at the Marshall. One of the men is neatly dressed in dark clothing with silver embroidery. Even with the man's beard now shaved off Nanuet still manages to recognize Deadeye Douglas from the picture on the wanted poster he saw at the Deputy Sheriff's Office.

As the robbers leave the bank and mount Sonoma’s song changes to the language of old wood elvish:

To the ground you mighty horses, throw the rider as you run,
to the ground you mighty horses, toss your riders have some fun

As the riders begin to get on their mounts, Nanuet begins a chant. The dry earth in a 30-foot square area around the horses begins to churn and bubble. After a moment the once dry earth is now loose sand and soft mud. (Soften earth and stone)

As the ground beneath the horses turns to muck the two rider-less horses stop. The Ogremount manages to force its way through without much difficulty. Two of the other five horses, those with Dudley and Pamela Yeats, get caught up in the muck and begins to panic. It soon becomes obvious that he does not know much about horses and riding. Of the other three, and Deadeye Douglas's mount appears to be a trained war-horse that trots it's way forward at an albeit slower path. The other two men follow their lead, one being able to make it over to the wake of the ogremount to follow its trail out of the muck. Once the outlaws have climbed out of the muck they begin to ride off. Shotgun Sally's mount then throws her. The others make no attempt to stop to help her, heading east down the street in the direction of Boot Hill and the Breakheart Stamping Mill.

Nanuet steps out and tries to make a quick judgement as to which the leader of this group is. "Ancestors guide me now" he says under his breath. He then points his finger at the one who he determined to be the leader and says "Eneoestse!" (which means “Stop”). He sees the man freeze still for a moment, but only if his ancestors are behind him will the prayer fully work.

A rifle shot rings out from the alleyway that Marshall Earp had ducked into and Dudley Yeats clutches his chest and falls from his horse. Deadeye and the large man on the Ogremount manage to ride behind a two-story clapboard house that runs parallel the east wall of the cemetery. The other two male outlaws finally make their way out of the muck and begin to follow the way the others went.

With the mounts and riders either bogged down or making their get away Nanuet looks at Sonoma "You think you can keep an eye on those two while I take a look inside the bank? I think we should try and keep those two for further questioning." With that Nanuet cautiously but quickly makes his way to the bank. He tries to look into the window first before entering. There appears to be no one in the bank at that moment so he makes his way inside. He takes another quick look around before closing the door behind him.

Nanuet sees some bloodstains on the floor over near the bank. He spots one man lying on the floor in front of the teller's window with a gunshot wound in his chest. At first he appears to be dead but then Nanuet notices the man's eyes blink open. Nanuet searches the area cautiously. He knows Ruby is somewhere inside the bank because he saw her enter. He thinks about calling out her name, but then realizes that may put her in danger so until he gets a better idea about what is going he remains silent. He approaches the man and checks to see if he has any weapons. The man appears to be unconscious. Nanuet notices that the gate to get behind the teller's counter is open. Nanuet continues behind the teller's counter to check out the situation.

Outside, Wyatt Earp fires off two rifle shots at the two men riding away. One is hit but is able to keep riding. They head off behind the same clapboard house that the other two had gone. Wyatt runs to the south off of Main Street on Allen Street in order to hopefully get another shot or two. Once the Marshall moves out of sight Shotgun Sally jumps up and runs north down the alleyway between Condon's Bank and the Indian Head Saloon. She has a slight limp but otherwise appears uninjured from the throw from the horse. Pamela Yeats jumps down from her horse and through the mud over to her fallen husband. Sonoma decides to follow Shotgun Sally. She steps further back into the alley and casts an Invisibility spell onto herself.

Nanuet enters the tellers area and sees a body lying on the floor. His initial thought is that it is one of the tellers, then he takes a step closer and sees who it actually is. Nanuet realizes that it is Jake lying on the floor. He rushes over and immediately makes an attempt to assess the wounds. Once he sees the severity of the shots in the chest and shoulder he does not hesitate and immediately removes one of the 4 inch stones (heal spell) from his necklace. He places it on Jake's chest and speaks the command word. He steps back and adds his own chants hoping to do whatever he can to help his companion.

Katherine eyes wandered around the vault and finally focused on Ruby and Mr. Martin. Ruby's eyes were staring, her face expressionless. Was that what Colby Tucker had seen the day he met her at the train station? A blank face, hiding a broken woman inside? But Ruby was stronger than Kate was, and there was still hope for Jake. How much harder would it be to go on when a death was so violent? When you knew that the person you cared about had died as a direct result of someone else's will? Kate closed her eyes again. Best not to think about that sort of thing until they knew for sure.

Kate's thoughts are interrupted when head teller Scott Taylor speaks up. "Mr. Condon. I've decided to tender my resignation effective immediately." "With respect to Mr. Condon," Kate said dryly, "I can't say I blame you." Ruby still doesn't turn her head from facing forward. "And Jake quits too," she says quietly. "He's not working here anymore."

Chester asks, "Mrs. Kale? How are you holding up?" "I'm fine," she answered, resisting the urge to stiffen up and pull away. "I just want to get out of here so we can....," she glanced at Ruby. "Well, you understand." Kate was quiet for a moment, spinning her wedding ring around her finger. Her eyes closed for a moment, then opened. "And I have an appointment," she said absently.

Kneeling over the dying body of his friend, Nanuet's necklace begins to glow a bright silver-goldish color followed by a lighter aura of light surrounding his entire body. The stone atop Jake then begins to glow brighter. A turquoise light then moves out and over Jake's exposed chest. Nanuet then notices the shoulder wound as well and cuts away at Jake's shirt to expose that as well, the turquoise light on his hands flowing off in the process and over the wound. Much of the blood on the body and floor has already dried or soaked into the floorboards and his clothing, but that on the body that is still in liquid form begins to flow back into Jake's body.

A water-like stream of turquoise light flows into the hole and damaged muscle in his chest as well as the less severe shoulder wound. Both the chest and shoulder glow even brighter. They then begin to fade except for the entry holes, which now glow a much deeper shade of green. The metal bullet drops from the shoulder wound rather quickly. The chest wound however takes a considerably longer time and Nanuet sees the blood within the wound hole swirling like a whirlpool around the wound.

The wound then changes from a deep green to a deep blue color. Nanuet has to pull back quickly as the bullet actually ejects from the body, flying up in the air around eight inches above the chest and deflecting off to the side, bouncing on the floor. Both wound holes then begin to close, but then both stop and scab over. The color of the wound then changes to that of a purplish color as one would see in a bruise. The light then fades from the wound although the necklace and Nanuet's hands continue to glow with a turquoise light. Nanuet starts talking to Jake softly to see if he will wake up or respond. "Jake, are you alright?" Jake does not speak.

Nanuet physically touches his friend and the necklace glows brighter. The colored light on Nanuet's hands then flows off the ends of his fingertips and Nanuet watches as the ten streams of light run off of him and appear to actually flow into Jake's body in several places. Nanuet then feels an unusual sensation as he senses the light moving through Jake's arteries and veins. Nanuet realizes that the light is directly interacting with the blood in Jake's body, attempting to increase the man's blood supply.

Nanuet watches in amazement as this process occurs. He realizes that his time spent with Kajika has been much more valuable than he originally thought. He watches as the process continues and hopes the best for his friend. Nanuet finally feels the light begin to fade and the necklace returns to its regular state. Jake still does not wake but Nanuet can see that he is now breathing normally and that his natural coloring has returned, the pale pallor of death no longer present. Nanuet now feels physically exhausted himself. He hears voices talking and realizes that there are now other people besides him inside of the bank, although none can see him or Jake at the moment due to the counter.

Nanuet says, "I am unarmed, don't shoot." He stands slowly to see who has entered the building while keeping an eye on Jake. Nanuet glances at the clock on the wall and realizes that healing Jake took him between ten and fifteen minutes. There are six people in the room, five men and one woman. He recognizes one of the men as Marshall Wyatt Earp. One of the men has a scar across his face and moves behind the counter, yelling out "This Injun was part of it."

Another man says "Relax Danby, he came in after it was over." The Marshall says "The Indian is a friend of both of the guards, wherever they might be." Another man says "I can guess" as he heads over towards the vault. The man with the scar moves up behind him. Nanuet is trembling with exhaustion. He realizes the Marshall can take it from here so he collapses to his knees to rest, next to Jake, still watching him carefully. Then he calls out, "I know Miss Ruby came in here."

Frank Condon hears a sound and says "That's the combination lock. Morgan's here!" Kate straightened her jacket, trying to cover herself where her shirt was once again in rags. Her hand brushed against the Derringer still inside it's hiding place. She moved it to her jacket pocket as the door opened. Then she pushed herself to standing with her uninjured hand.

They have been locked inside the vault for twenty minutes at this point but to Ruby it felt more like twenty years. The door then opens. Ruby jumps to her feet and out of the vault, hurrying over to Jake. She sees Nanuet looking pale and utterly spent. She drops to her knees next to Jake and looks him over, tears still coming. She looks to Nanuet. "Is he going to be alright?" "Yes... well, I think so" Nanuet stammers trying to give her some space so that she can see Jake.

She pauses and says to Jake, "Are you going to be alright?" She looks back to Jake waiting for the answer. Jake's eyes open slightly and he says in a faint voice, "I've felt better."

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter 122, “The Bounty Hunter”, Friday, January 13th, 1882:

"Oh Jake, you had us all so worried..." Ruby voice trails off as she wipes her face. Jake attempts to get up but doesn't even begin to lift his body weight. "ouch" He takes a couple of breaths. "Getting shot is a poor cure for a hangover." He closes his eyes. Ruby shakes him gently. "Hey, you aren't dying on me are you? I think we need to get you back to your bed."

The woman standing in the middle of the bank bursts into tears as the people file out of the bank. She rushes up to head teller Scott Taylor and the two lock into a deep embrace. She sobs "Oh Scott, it happened again. We can't keep living like this!" He cradles her head on his shoulder and says "It's okay Mona, we don't have to. I've already given Mr. Condon my resignation. We can be out of this town tomorrow if you'd like." Wyatt Earp walks up to Frank and begins to get the details as to what happened. Doc Eaton is examining the man Pinto and tells the other two men that were in the room. "Get him into a wagon and get him over to my office. I can still save him."

Behind the counter Nanuet exclaims, "Who else is here? What happened? Wait, first off" as he gets back to his feet "Is everyone else OK? I am a shaman, I can heal." "Mr. Martin has need of you, Nanuet," Kate said from where she and Chester were exiting the vault. She wasn't really tall enough for him to lean on, but she tried to support him anyway. "And was that Jake I heard talking?" she said with a bit of a smile.

Ruby calls out over the counter, "When you are done we need to bring him back to the El Parador to rest." Chester helps Doc Eaton lift Jake to a seated position. "Mr. Cook, you got real lucky." He looks at Nanuet, who nods. "I don't know what you were thinking. You could have been killed. Nanuet, take a look at Mrs. Kale. She got hit in the hand." Chester leans heavily against the vault door. "I might need some help too."

Jake opens his eyes and looks at Ruby but his voice is still weak, "I'm not dying." he coughs. "Nice to see you." He closes his eyes again. "Are the others alright?" "It's nice to see you too," she says smiling at him. "Well, Chester did get shot pretty bad. And Kate got shot too, but not so bad. They'll be ok. Nanuet knows what he is doing, obviously. Jake, you were almost... gone." Ruby looks away for a moment. "What were you thinking? Oh, forget it, you can tell me later." Jake opens his eyes a little wider, shrugs his shoulders faintly and coughs. He gives her a little bit of a smile that he can only hold for a moment and closes his eyes again.

Katherine wanted to go over and check on Jake, but she didn't want to get between him and Ruby at the moment. Instead of staying for the healing which he needed far more than she did, Mr. Martin moved over to sit Jake up. Before going for healing, Kate moved over to the drawer where the robbers had put the others weapons, opened it, and retrieved Tom's revolver.

Nanuet nods to Chester and heads over to Kate. "Miss Kate, let me see your hand." He leans closer to her and says quietly "I feel I only have enough strength for one more healing, maybe two but that is risky. I used a few prayers outside and I am beginning to weaken. I feel Chester's wound may be more serious. Tell me the truth, with proper bandages will you be OK for now? The necklace has few precious stones left, but I will not hesitate to use them if there is need."

Kate nodded. She hadn't really noticed the pain in her hand before. Now that things were beginning to settle down she could feel the sharp pangs running through her hand. "Help Mr. Martin. I'll be fine. I can bandage it properly back at the El Parador, and see the doctor if need be." She smiled slightly. "You must be exhausted," she nodded toward Jake. "Thank goodness you got here in time."

"Jake, just rest," Ruby says with a whisper, leaning over to give him a small kiss. Then she stands up. "Jake needs to get back to the El Parador soon. Is everyone ok?" Nanuet nodded to Kate then makes his way over to Chester. "Miss Katherine will be fine, let me look at you, Martin." Nanuet looks him over, assessing his wounds, then uses his last healing prayer to help comfort him. Chester says, "OK then. That tingles. Wow. I feel worlds better. Thank Asclepius." Nanuet gives Chester a look. "Or whoever. Ahem. Sorry," Chester states.

After that Nanuet agrees, "Let's bring Jake back to the Cantina." He walks over to Jake and with Chester’s help plans to carry him back to the El Parador. Chester comments, "That's some powerful healing power you have, Nanuet. Mr. Cook, I would have sworn you were a goner. You took that shot full in the chest. Watch your step there."

Scott and Mona Taylor have left and the other two men that were in the room have taken Pinto out. Wyatt Earp is at the desk getting a statement from teller Bruce Maxwell. Doc Eaton helps Chester with a bandage for his wound. He gives Chester an elixir to drink that doesn't do anything to help but does make he wish he had a real drink instead.

Morgan Condon tells Ruby "I called for a wagon. We'll get Mr. Cook back home." The wagon soon arrives and the two Condon brothers help Nanuet carry Jake out. Morgan Condon tells Ruby and Kate "I hear that Jake actually started the shooting in there. When he wakes up tell him that he doesn't have to worry about any charges being filed against him for that. He may have resigned his guard job yesterday but that isn't public knowledge.” "He did?" Ruby says to herself looking back down at Jake with a small smile. She pushes her hair off her face and tries to straighten her dress.

Condon continues, “So I told the Marshall that he still worked for me as a guard and was just doing his job. Heck, after what he just did I think I'll pay him full wages for this week instead of just partial." Kate says, "Thank you Mr. Condon. It's a relief to know we won't have trouble with the law over this. And I'm sure Jake would appreciate the 'bonus.'" Kate turned and hugged Ruby for a long moment without saying anything. There were no words.

After a few moments she pulled back and said, "I should see the doctor before I leave." She then went over to Doc Eaton. "I'm sorry, I know you have to go quickly, but could you look at my hand for a moment? I just want to make sure I can care for it correctly." Doc Eaton looks the hand over then has her wiggle her fingers and turn her wrist. He says, "Looks just superficial. Keep some ice on it for an hour or two and try not to do anything strenuous for the next day or so and it should be fine." She replies, "Thank you. I knew it wasn't serious, but I've never been shot before so I wasn't sure. I'll be sure to take care of it."

Before they leave she quickly approaches Mr. Condon and speaks to him privately. She walks over to Kate. "How are you feeling? I noticed that Nanuet was exhausted. I might be able to help with your hand when we get back to the El Parador. I'm going to stay with Jake and get him cleaned up and make sure he is ok. But first we'll head up to your room." Ruby grabs Kate's hand. "I’m glad you are ok, Kate."

Kate says, "I'm feeling tired, and a bit numb. And I'm glad I'm ok too. The doctor says I shouldn't do anything strenuous, so if you want your accompanist tonight, I'll need your help." Kate squeezed her friend’s hand. "Thank you." She tried to straighten her jacket and what was left of her shirt. "I suppose its time to face that crowd." Indeed, a crowd has gathered around on the street.

"Oh, I didn't even think of that. Just ignore them." Ruby tells the men that the wagon has arrived so they can get Jake on it. She gathers Kate, Chester and Nanuet and they get back to the El Parador. She directs them to bring Jake to his room while she goes with Kate to hers.

When they get back to her room, Ruby takes a look at her wound. "Not sure if this will do any good, but I'm going to try anyway." Ruby takes Kate's hand and sings her lullaby, trying to concentrate as hard as she can. After that, she looks up at Kate. "I'm not going to the Lone Star tonight. I'm going to stay with Jake. I know you understand and I hope Maggie will too. I am hoping that Louise can sing there tonight." Kate replies, “"I understand, and I think Maggie will too. I'm not sure Dorita will be able to spare Sonoma tonight without having someone to replace her, but perhaps she will.”

Ruby starts heading to the door but turns and walks back. "I'm going to have some quiet time while Jake sleeps. Why don't you give me those jewels so I can look them over while I have the chance." Kate removed the box from its hiding place and opened it. She pointed out the one piece that Mr. Gonzales had said was magical. Then she closed it and handed it to Ruby. "Try to get some rest yourself, Ruby." Ruby took the box and smiled at her friend. "There IS no rest for the wicked, Kate." With that she turns, walks out the door and heads back to Jake room.

When she gets back to Jake’s room, Ruby makes sure they have carefully put him on the bed. She places the box with the jewels in it on the table. She gets some long underwear out and fills a basin with warm water from the kitchen. She takes her time cleaning off the blood carefully so she doesn’t hurt him while trying not to wake him and she gets him in fresh clothes, leaving the bloody ones on the floor. She is still concerned and also exhausted from the emotional hysterics of the day and she moves in what feels like slow motion. She gets him under the covers and props his head up with some pillows. When Jake is settled in Ruby sits in the chair that is out of its spot and next to the bed. She pulls her legs up in the chair and falls asleep.

Sonoma had followed Shotgun Sally for two blocks, keeping a distance of about forty feet. Sally went to Drover's Livery. A man rode up to return a rented horse and put it in the corral. He no sooner climbed off when she opened the corral gate. She walked up to the man giving him a wide smile and flirted with him. She then got up close, punched the man in the stomach, grabbed his gun and then stole the horse.

Sally quickly rode north of town. Sonoma followed after her on foot until the horse is out of sight, following the trail left by it until the trail became distinct from any other horseshoe trails in the area, to enable the group to later track it if they wish.

She then returns to the El Parador, staying invisible. A crowd had followed the wagon with Jake and the others back to the Cantina. Dorita and Pedro are busy dealing with the crowd, serving up food and drinks to them. Handyman Grant Keebler is standing on the staircase holding a shotgun and preventing anyone from going upstairs and bothering any of the others. A annoying halfling reporter named Chumbley is arguing with Keebler, insisting that Jake Cooke is a personal friend of his who would welcome his visitation.

After Ruby left, Kate got herself cleaned up and dressed in a fresh shirt. She had no desire to be riding out now, but it still had to be done. Angering the bounty hunter might drive the price even lower, or end the possibility of him taking the body altogether, especially if he heard that Deadeye Douglas was nearby. She sighed and checked herself in the mirror. At least she didn't look like someone who had just been in a bank robbery.

On her way back downstairs, Kate opened Jake's door a crack and peeked inside. The sound of snoring came to her from across the room. She closed the door softly and went downstairs to look for Mr. Booth or Nanuet. Booth comes into the front door and sees Kate across the room. He heads over to her and says "Sorry for the delay, I hope you haven't been waiting too long. Did you hear the news? Deadeye Douglas robbed Condon's Bank!"

Katherine looked quickly around the room and moved away from the crowd, bringing Mr. Booth with her. She kept her voice low so it wouldn't carry. "Yes, I know, I was there. Jake and I went over to run an errand. There were six of them. I took a shot to the hand, and Mr. Martin was wounded. Douglas shot Jake and nearly killed him, and I...." Kate covered her face with her hand for a moment, rubbing her forehead with her fingers. "I'm sorry. I'm still a little rattled, but at least our names aren't circulating widely. Obviously, Jake won't be able to ride out with us. There is someone else I'd like to ask if you can wait a few minutes."

Booth seems more than a bit surprised by her comments. "You were there? Incredible! Jake faced down Deadeye Douglas and lived to tell about it? I dare say that news will be all around town, heck, all around the country would be more like it. Under the circumstances you don't seem rattled at all. Of course we can wait, Cole won't be ready for a little while longer himself."

She answers, "Well, I guess I'm a good actress then. I still feel like my heart is trying to pound it's way out of my chest. And Jake lived because someone with healing magic arrived before he died. It was a close thing." She stopped and took another deep breath. His excitement was getting on her nerves. "I hope the news won't be all over, none of us really wants that kind of attention. I'm sure you'll help us keep it that way. Would you do me a favor and have Dorita bring a couple of whiskeys over? I'm just going to go look for my friend and I'd love a drink or two when I get back."

Kate scanned the Cantina again, then went out to the stables to see if Nanuet was there. On her second trip through the cantina, Kate finally saw Nanuet doing a good job of being inconspicuous at a corner table. She sat down across from him. "You did some fine work on Jake. It must be wonderful to be able to heal someone like that." Kate paused. "I hate to ask it of you, but I wonder if you could do me a favor, if you're not too tired, that is," she added quickly.

"I've made an arrangement with the bounty hunter to take Curly Bill's body. I'm to ride out with him soon. Mr. Booth is going to accompany us, but I would feel better if someone I knew better were along too. It's just out to the ranch. Would you be interested in going? We can pick up the deed for our new land when we get back. I'd be glad to have Sonoma along as well, but I haven't seen her."

Chester walks slowly up to his room. He pats Keebler on the shoulder as he passes. "Thanks. Glad to see someone not pointing one of those at me." When Chester gets up to his room, he sheds his ruined clothes. He mutters to himself, "Ow. I'll have to watch stretching for a while. That healing prayer worked wonders, but it left the skin a bit tight. I bet Jake's feeling worse."

The wiry man wipes the dried blood from his body and pulls on a new shirt and pants. "I better ask Dorita what to do with these. I don't think she'd like the smell of blood filling the air. Let me check on Jake. Then I really need a drink." Chester goes to Jake's room, but hears the snoring. Better let him rest. He's had a hard day.

Chester comes back down the stairs. He looks over the large crowd before he sights Kate and Nanuet. Chester winds his way through, hoping no one will recognize him. Easing himself into a chair at their table, he says, "Afternoon, folks. Is anyone else hungry? No? OK, then." He calls Dorita over. "Ma'am, could I get something to eat, please. Thank you." Chester whispers to Nanuet, "Getting healed like that takes a lot out of a guy. Thanks again. By the way, have you checked on Jake since we came back?"

Kate replies, "I peeked in just before I came downstairs. He was sleeping, which I imagine he needs very much right now. If you're feeling up to it, Mr. Martin, I was just asking Nanuet if he and Sonoma would like to go for a little ride this morning. Mr. Booth and I are going out to our ranch with the bounty hunter to get rid of something we acquired on Saturday. I'm sure you remember us speaking about it. I'd feel better with people I know along."

Conrad Booth joins Kate, Nanuet and Chester to ride out to the ranch. An invisible Sonoma also sticks with them. They go to the stable and saddle up their horses, letting Booth use of the of the recently acquired rustler horses and tie ropes to the other two to bring them out to Pete's Ranch. Sonoma manages to get herself up onto one of the extra horses.

They ride over to Drover's Livery where Irby Cole has purchased a wagon and horses. The back of the wagon now has a casket sitting in it. Livery owner Austin Blake tells all of them "You all be careful out there. A woman in the new Douglas Gang stole one of my horses. No telling where those outlaws may have holed up." She replies, "Thank you, Mr. Blake. We'll take care."

Cole looks up and says "Ready?" Kate answers, “Yes. I'll be glad to have this all taken care of." Cole is not what they would have expected a bounty hunter to look like. He is short and thin with long gray hair. He has a three-inch long beard but no mustache. He has on regular jeans and a flannel shirt and no visible weapons. A leather coat is in the front of the wagon. His appearance is more what would be expected from a farmer than a man who hunts outlaws. Chester realizes that the non-threatening appearance must help the man do his job, as he could easily blend into most settings without raising suspicion. Chester also notes various small bulges on the man's shirt, pants, coat and saddlebags and concludes that that man is probably very well armed.

Kate and Nanuet led the group out on the short ride out to Flint's cave, and Kate kept an eye on Cole as they rode. She had imagined a large, burly man; toweringly tall and young. As Mr. Booth rode up alongside her she leaned over and said quietly, "This is the man you didn't want me alone with? I'm certain he's competent at his profession, but he doesn't look like one for random violence."

Booth whispers back to Kate "Don't judge a book by its cover. He's one of the most ruthless and underhanded killers ever to walk the earth. He's not right in the head, he enjoys killing, and it’s his favorite thing in the world, if you can believe that. He won't even go after bounties unless they state dead or alive because he has no interest in ever bringing back someone alive. Get this, he's a Civil War veteran from BOTH SIDES. After the Union army kicked him out he went and joined the Confederate army just so he keep up his killing streak.

Katherine shook slightly. "My Father fought for the Union Army, he lost most of his left arm." She kept her eyes steadily away from Cole. "You're right, this is not the kind of man I deal with." Conrad says, “Never ask him how many people he's killed unless you have three hours to spare, because he'll recount every one of them for you in detail and will not allow listeners to interrupt or leave. I dare say Mrs. Kale that you'll be treated very well over at the Long Branch for finally getting rid of him."

Kate says, "Others at the Long Branch know of this? I really don't want to be a local celebrity Mr. Booth. Is there any chance it won't spread any farther?" Booth replies, "Err, well, I haven't told anybody yet. I can keep your name out of it and say that those Cartwright folks were the ones instead. I'm just saying that the Long Branch will be very glad to see him gone, so why shouldn't you get the credit since you are the one responsible." She says, "I see where you're coming from, but I think it's best if we keep this quiet. We have reason to believe some of the survivors from last Saturday may still be looking for revenge. If our names get back to them, it becomes that much easier for them to find us." Booth replies, "I understand your concern. Fear not young lady, I will keep this between us."

Chester rides next to Cole. He makes the mistake of saying, "So, Mr. Cole. How did you get into the bounty hunting business? You must get to travel a lot." "Uh oh, now he's done it" Booth tells Kate in reference to Chester's question.

Cole starts to alternate his attention between the front of the wagon and Chester as he says "After the war I needed to keep up my skills. It was either become a lawman or a bounty hunter. Most lawmen lead boring lives, sitting around waiting for something to happen. Not so with bounty hunting, never a dull moment. I've been doing this for the last seventeen years now and a rewarding life it has been.

The first person I went after was Ritchie Burritt. He had been a guard at Andersonville Prison and was wanted for his brutality. The Union Army put a bounty of only $ 400 on his head but it was worth it. Before heading out for him I talked to over a dozen prisoners who suffered at Burritt's hands, finding out all of the details. When I caught up with Burritt, in a small town in Louisiana it was payback time. Before he died I made sure he relived every single suffering that he had inflicted.

The next bounty was in September of '65, that was for Artemis and Maurice Francois, two brothers from New Orleans. They had murdered the owner of a bordello. I found them....." and the conversation continues like that until they reach Pete's ranch, by which time he is only up to 1873 and by this time Chester thinks that Cole is stark raving mad, a sadist and a psychopath. Booth and Kate stay further away attempting to not get involved. Once they arrive at the cave Katherine calls out to Flint and asks if he would like to come out with them to get the body.

Booth, Nanuet and Flint get the body and load it into the coffin while Cole continues to regale Chester with his bloody history. Booth calls Kate over to join the dwarf and the Indian in a drink, stating "He has another hour to go in his tale before he'll be ready to pay you. Might as well just relax until he is done." Kate accepted one drink but no more. She didn't relax, frequently scanning the countryside. Her nerves were still wound tight from this morning, and this waiting wasn't doing them any good.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter 123, “Recuperation”, Friday, January 13th, 1882:

Ruby wakes after a couple of hours. She stretches and then slowly gets out of the chair. She shuffles around Jake’s room looking at the mess. She decides to do some cleaning. She throws the bloody clothes into the trash basket. She picks up some of her various items that are strewn around the room, mostly stockings and shoes she has been looking for. She picks up Jake’s clothes from the night before and is about to throw them into the closet when she feels something in the pocket. She searches and there is no pocket where it should be so she turns his pants inside out and finds a small hidden pocket sewn in. She finds a small wallet inside that pocket. Ruby knows there is usually only good stuff inside hidden pockets but is hesitant to look inside after what she found this morning. She looks over to Jake, who is still sleeping peacefully. She looks back to the wallet in her hand. She sighs and opens it anyway.

In it is one $100 bill. Ruby's sensitive fingers notice a hidden flap and in that hidden section is a small photograph with edge worn from handling. It is of a slight young woman with dark eyes, long dark hair and a milky-pale complexion. Ruby notes that she looks somewhat like Kate. Hand written on the back is 'I love you Jacob, Virginia'; In with that photograph is a second $100 bill folded neatly in quarters. When Ruby opens it she recognizes that it was inscribed by herself. Ruby sighs again as she puts the picture and the money back into Jake’s wallet just as she found it. Ruby is not surprised to find the picture of the girl but is surprised to see the similarities to Kate. She was curious about keeping the $100 she gave him in there, but then again it was a good spot to hide money. She leaves the wallet on Jake’s nightstand where he can find it.

Ruby grabs the bottle of Tennessee Bourbon. There isn’t much left and she decides to work on finishing off the bottle. She takes a drink and thinks about this day. Promise City had the longest days she could ever remember having. She had so many questions for Jake and didn’t have much time to ask them. She has 2 more drinks then sits on her feet on the bed next to Jake looking at him, holding the bottle. She gives him a gentle poke. “Jake, wake up. I want to know how you are feeling.” She pauses before continuing, “I need to talk to you,” she says grimly. “You feel up for it?”

Jake opens his eyes at the poke, although they are a little unfocused at first. He looks at Ruby and then around the room. Apparently satisfied with whatever he sees he smiles a little. "I feel better." He puts his hand on his chest feeling it in several spots and gives a little sigh. He turns slightly to face her and his eyes retreat to a half-lidded position. "Sure, we can talk a bit."

“You know I read your letter I’m sure. And I know you have to be mad.” She looks Jake straight in the eyes. “Who is Virginia?” She looks down and away from him before he gives the answer. His face doesn’t change expression but it does take a slightly redder hue. He doesn't blink and breathes a few slow breaths in and out. "If I was sure I wouldn't start bleeding all over the place I might yell at you for opening my letter." He takes a long slow breath before continuing. "I've never told anyone about what happened with her." He looks away from her eyes. "She's..." he pauses to lick his lips, "she's my sister."

“Sister?” Ruby just blinks. “Your sister…” She repeats back slowly. She pauses to think over Jake’s revelation, rubbing her neck. She looks back at him struggling to stay awake. “Maybe now is not the best time, but I want to know, what happened with your sister?”

Jake looks back at Ruby and doesn't speak for a long moment. "All right." He suddenly says. He speaks slowly and quietly. "Virginia was having a marriage arranged by father to a better class family. The Grosvener's son was a boor, a brute, and a bully. Virginia begged with father not to force her to marry the man, but no amount her tears could dissuade him. Mother was not pleased but would not stand up to father on this, for he was unyielding in his desire to further the family. A few days before the engagement the Grosvener patriarch stormed into our household and called the marriage off. He claimed that 'your hooligan son Jacob' had threatened their boy, scared him witless, and promised 'retribution of the foulest kind' if he were to go through with the marriage to Virginia. I denied it of course. No amount of pleading by father could change Grosvenor's mind, the wedding was off."

"Father and I had a violent argument afterwards that concluded with Jacob Alistair Cooke becoming homeless. I was fifteen. That was the last time I saw my family, and the second last time I saw Virginia." Jake looks away from Ruby again and closes his eyes. "Both times she was in tears." Ruby took a moment before responding. “I know something about arranged marriages myself,” she said slowly. “But what happened the other time you saw your sister?” Jake sighs again still not opening his eyes, his lips drawn thin and tight. "Let's just leave it that she snuck out of the house to convince me not to leave Philadelphia, but I had to." Jake's breathing is slow and regular but Ruby can tell it is forced.

Ruby reaches out to touch Jake’s face. “I’m sorry for opening your letter, more sorry than you can know. And if you feel better later you can still yell at me,” she says with a small smile. “But for now you’d better get some more rest, you need it.” Ruby gently strokes Jake’s hair. “You are a good man,” Ruby says with sincere admiration. “Your sister is very lucky to have you Jake Cooke. How about I sing to you for a bit?” Ruby continues stroking his hair and she sings to Jake until he falls asleep, which doesn’t take very long.

After Jake falls asleep again Ruby leaves his room. She takes the basin with water and goes back to the kitchen. She asks Dorita to please send up some food for her and Jake to his room around 7 o’clock. Then she takes the basin and goes back to her room. She cleans herself up, horrified at the amount of blood on her clothes. Instead of getting dressed in clothes she pulls out her white nightgown. It is crisp and unused. She pulls her green velvet bathrobe on over her nightgown. She sits down on the bed and brushes her hair, making a long neat braid that reaches all the way down her back. Then she packs up the rest of her belongings into her bag. Still out is her traveling outfit for the next day, her green dress and 3 of Jake’s shirts that she has worn out of his room each day this week.

Ruby looks at the dirty shirts and decides to try something new. She had used this spell long before she had gotten to Promise City but Mr. Gonzales had given her a better idea how to control it. Ruby took the first shirt and concentrated on it. The shirt rose into the air and spun around before landing back gently on the bed. It looked cleaner and had less wrinkles but not completely clean. She tries again on the second shirt and this one is more successful than the last. She tries the third shirt and it looks completely cleaned and pressed by the time she is finished. Ruby smiles over her success. She tries the first shirt again but realizes that she is too exhausted and has no reserve left to cast the spell again. Ruby carefully takes the shirts and folds them up the best she can, leaving the not really clean one on the bottom.

She goes back to Jake’s room. She checks on him first and he is still sleeping soundly. She looks at the
elaborately carved jewelry case behind one with the name "Consuela" written on the lid in gold leaf. The box contains four gold rings, three with stones in the center, four pair of gold earrings of various designs, Two gold necklaces, two pair of gold wristlets and a gold and diamond tiara. Ruby sits at the table, opening the box with the jewelry in it. She takes her time looking them over carefully. She also carefully searches the box for hidden compartments, finding none. The box itself she guesses is worth between $100 and $150. She figures that the total value of the jewelry is about $1750.00. She intently studies the ring that Manual said was magical and she can detect a faint magic. She puts the ring on her finger and notices nothing so she takes it off and puts it back in the box.

At almost 7:00 sharp there is a knock at the door. Dorita has brought up a tray of food for them. Ruby gently wakes up Jake so he can eat. He notices her nightgown and neat hair, two things out of place on Ruby. It makes her look younger and more fragile and delicate than Jake has ever seen her look. They are mostly quiet and Ruby only picks at her food but makes sure Jake has enough to eat. After they eat, Jake seems to be feeling a little better. Ruby walks over to the table and grabs the bottle of Kentucky Bourbon. “I think we could both use some of this tonight.” She opens the bottle and fills two glasses generously. She walks over to the bed again and sits next to Jake “So, should I ask, what in Hades made you shoot that guy in the bank? What were you thinking?”

"I'm a damn fool." Jake says with a wince. "I was hung over, angry and not thinking straight. My first instincts were to shoot but Chester wasn't ready and Katherine didn't react quick enough. Then Katherine did some, ah, you know, what you two know how to do. I covered the noise with coughing, and that sort of worked. Her, ah, thing, ah, worked a little and a few of them fell asleep." Jake swallows, and takes a couple of breaths. "It still looked bad but she started to pull her gun. I was going to try and draw attention away from her somehow, I was getting worried that Deadeye's gang would get the money that we needed for the Lone Star, and the other's money too. Then he said the other guy's name. Pinto. I guess I snapped when I heard that. All of a sudden I figured I could take Pinto out, draw attention from Katherine, use Pinto as a shield so I could hop over the teller counter and Chester or Condon could grab the other guy." Jake stops again to swallow. "I was wrong." Jake stops talking.

"Money’s not worth dying for. You can always get more money. But I know you were trying to do the right thing. Thank goodness Nanuet was around.” Ruby pauses for a long time before continuing slowly, “So do you know why I went to the bank today, Jake? I was getting my money,” Ruby sighs, “I’m leaving, tomorrow actually. So…” she holds up her glass, “I’m keeping my promise, I bring the bourbon you make the toast.” Ruby can’t even look Jake in the eyes.

Jake loses his poker face, first looking shocked and then perplexed. He looks like he is going to say something but doesn't. He looks at his glass for a long time before he looks up. "I don't understand," he says. Then quickly, "No, a promise is a promise. You're keeping your part." He stares at her for a minute before he raises his glass. "To the great wide open spaces west of the Mississippi, thank the gods that they are just the right size. Any bigger and I would have some difficulty finding you no matter where you go." The expression on his face has no humor in it as he leans his glass closer to hers. "What, you aren't going to drink to my toast Miss West?"

Ruby looks up from her drink and stares at Jake. She slowly stretches out her glass, hand trembling, to meet his. She takes a big breath in before bringing the glass to her lips. She stops before taking a sip. “I like your toast Jake, I really do. I…” She doesn’t finish what she is saying. “Look, I know you don’t understand. I don’t understand either. But when I read your letter today I, well, actually cared about who it was meant for. I didn’t know if you had a wife at home or something and it’s not like I never slept with a guy who had a wife, but I was hoping so much that you didn’t have a wife but it made me realize that I… I..” Ruby stops her rambling and is quiet for what seems like an eternity. “Jake if I care about you then I am weak. If I am weak then I can’t survive. I don’t have anyone to take care of me but me. I know you at least understand that.” She stops to pull at her braid. “Would you really come looking for me?”

"Weak? I guess I never thought of it that way. I will have to disagree with you on that." A small hint of a smile crosses his face and is gone in an instant. "Admit it Ruby, I have all the advantage." She looks at him funny. "How hard can it be to find you?" Jake changes the expression on his face and furrows his brows. "Excuse me, I'm looking for a woman. She's about five and a half feet tall, maybe a tad taller. She has deep red hair that shines like gold in the daylight. Her eyes? They are a beautiful hazel color that laugh when she's happy and turn cloudy when you should stay away." He reaches out and takes her hand. "Sometimes she does this funny little prance when she walks that makes you just smile, and the way she moves her hips could just drive you mad." He starts to pull her towards him, not hard but persistent. "You know she has this generous figure that just looks gorgeous in everything she wears. Her skin is soft and warm to the touch." He reaches for her other hand. "She sings like song was invented for her and when she smiles it's like the sun bursts out from the clouds." He pulls her very close. "And you know she has the most sensuous full lips that are just perfect to kiss." Her face is only inches from his and he whispers, "Have you seen her?"

"Hum, have I seen her?" Ruby says with a smile growing, "Maybe I have..." Then getting serious, “You do have all the advantage, Mr. Cook, which is just the problem…” Ruby whispers while leaning in the rest of the way and letting her lips brush Jake’s. “But,” she says even softer barely moving away, “You should be resting right now not looking for trouble…”

Jake gives her a long full kiss on the lips. "I should be resting. I should also not need to worry about you running off on me." He turns his hands over so that their palms are touching and he is no longer restraining her. "It's ironic, but when I was, um, unconscious I dreamed you were talking to me. You told me 'And don’t you think of leaving me damn it' and 'don’t leave me here alone'. I guess that was wishful thinking on my part." His eyes go unfocused and he is quiet for a several long deep breaths. "Yes," his eyes come back to focus sharp and intense on Ruby's "I will come looking for you. And I won't leave you alone until you convince me that you really don't want me around. And you haven't done that yet. So why don't you save the lives of those poor horses I'm likely to run into the ground and just agree to stay here?"

“Do you know how many men have told me they will come for me? Or that they love me? But they never do. So I don’t believe those words anymore.” Ruby closes her eyes for a long moment. “You’re not wrong; I did say those things to you. I was so scared you were going to die...” She grasps Jake’s hands tighter in hers. “I don’t want to be alone anymore. I don’t want to leave Promise City. And most importantly, I didn’t,” she pauses before continuing, “I don’t want to lose you before I really have you.” She guides Jake’s hands under her bathrobe, leaving them on her waist. She wraps her arms around his neck. “I want us to buy the Lone Star so I can sing and you can play cards whenever you want and we can live there and maybe for once we can just be happy for a while, not worrying about leaving or getting left.” As she talks she slowly pushes Jake back on the bed so they are laying facing each other. She looks away for a moment then a smile starts to form on her face. “Oh and a puppy, I always wanted a puppy,” she says with a little laugh.

“I’m going to take a chance and trust you Mr. Cook, take a chance and say that I’ll stay here, with you.” "Good. No more talk of leaving today." He takes her hand and kisses the back of it. Then he starts to laugh, and laugh hard. "A dog? Seems like a small price to pay. Somehow I'm sure it will be a troublesome mutt." He just looks at her and smiles. Ruby smiles back. “A puppy, a cute little furry puppy. What could be troublesome about something so cute and innocent looking?” She puts her head on Jake’s shoulder and snuggles up to him. After a long silence she says softly, “A puppy…and a saloon, a place to call home and a …” She doesn’t finish as she drifts off to sleep. Jake watches her sleep for a little while before he too nods off.

After some time goes by Ruby starts to stir. Her eyes flutter open and she sees Jake just staring at her. She stretches her arms over her head and yawns. “What are you looking at?” she says with a sleepy smile. "You just looked peaceful. I was enjoying it." Jake sits up and stretches a bit too. "I don't think I ever look peaceful like that. Not in my nature." He laughs in a friendly way. “You know what? Nanuet had asked me where I find some peace and I told him I didn’t have any but then he told me it was a moment when nothing else matters and everything felt right.” Ruby has a slight blush on her face. “And I do have that, when I lay here with you.” She reaches out her hand and puts it on Jake’s back.

Ruby is quiet for a few moments. “So, when I was locked in that vault, not knowing what was going to happen to you, well I decided that you weren’t working at that bank anymore and I told Mr. Condon that you quit. But he said you had already resigned. Is that true?” "Yes, I never got to tell you. I did it first thing Thursday morning. Gave him Chester instead." Jake laughs again. "Figured I would surprise you this morning. Didn't work the way I expected." He says shrugging his shoulders and making an almost grimace.

She sits up and puts her arms around him. “That would have been a nice surprise, well, it is a nice surprise, especially because I’m going to tell myself you did it for me.” Ruby gives Jake a kiss on his neck. “How are you feeling?” "I did. At least I rushed it for you. Or maybe for me so I could have you." He gives her a wicked smile. "I'm feeling good. Maybe a bit weary, seems like I'm back to normal." ”Oh that is what I like to hear,” she says kissing Jake, before flopping back down, her head landing near the middle of the bed, close to his lap. “You know, your sister is very pretty. You two do look a bit alike. Are you really thinking of going home to visit her? I think you should go, you obviously miss her greatly, although I would miss you while you were gone...” Ruby furrows her brow. “Why isn’t she living with your parents?”

"I haven't heard from any of them in five years. Yes I miss her, but I don't know if I can go back. There is a little matter of the local law. And what affect I might have on her and them if I was seen. It's complicated. Since I think I'll be here for a while I asked them to write back." He gives her a look. "But you know that don't you." The look passes as he continues. "I don't even know where Virginia is for sure. I send her letters to the parents of a close friend of hers, that way I know my parents won't see it. She was living at home when I left."

“I can’t imagine that. I was glad to leave my parents and never looked back.” Ruby takes Jake’s hand, “I do hope they write back to you, at least you can find out about your sister. If you ever think you can use my help to help get to her or any of your family, I hope you’ll ask me. As long as we aren’t talking about a wife…You don’t have a wife back in Philly or anywhere else for that matter do you?” Ruby is smiling but Jake detects a slight hint of truth to her question.

"You want to know about my wife?" Jake says with a raised eyebrow. As Ruby's expression starts to change he rushes, "I'm joking!" He quickly continues, "No I never picked up a wife along the way. I'm not married." A grin comes to his face unbidden and his hand goes to stroking his beard. "There was Rachael though, heh. If she'd had her way I'd be married." He laughs again. "No, I'm not married." He pauses a moment and brings the conversation back around. "I appreciate the offer of help. I really don't care about seeing most of my family, I guess I'm curious about what they are doing but not more than that. It would put my heart to ease to know about Virginia. For now I'm content to wait and see if any of them write back."

“Jake!” Ruby gives a little yelp as she lightly hits Jake in the good arm. She slowly takes the pout off her face, happy to hear his explanation, and a smile takes its place. “You’re teasing me! I know you are SUCH the ladies man that you have broken hearts waiting for you all over this country…They are all just going to have to wait because for now you are all mine and I told you I’m not sharing you…” Ruby laughs and throws her feet up on the wall behind Jake’s head. “But I had to ask so we can avoid anymore drama like what happened this morning. I even caught myself by surprise.” "If you are right I hope they don't decide to stop waiting and come looking for me all at once." He gives her a mock look of horror. “Me either,” Ruby replies, “That’s a lot of ass kicking to do…” Ruby smiles devilishly then settles down.

She stays quiet for a long while, just looking at Jake. Finally she takes a deep sigh. “You know we have to go after Deadeye, right? He may be faster than us but we can be smarter than him. And that Sally said she was going to come back for Pinto, Joe she called him, so that is where we start. You know I can’t let him come here and try to kill my man and not do anything about it…”

"Pinto Joe Weems if I am not mistaken. According to the outlaw we let go that's who was handing out $20 bills to stop us coming back from the mine. That's why I sort of snapped." He looks at her. "And no, we don't have to go looking for Deadeye. He didn't come here to kill me, he just reacted to my idiot move. He could have made sure I was dead before leaving." Jake has an uncomfortable look on his face and a little shudder. "Interesting though, Sally says she's coming back? Either way I'll bet Wyatt Earp would be interested to know that he has the guy who paid the outlaws who shot his brother. Now if I can only convince Wyatt to help me squeeze out of Weems who paid him..... but I have a guess or two...." Jake seems to be thinking.

“I’ll do whatever you think is best. So we go and tell Wyatt, and get him to help us, but then what else? Maybe you should take some time and think about it, on a day that you didn’t almost die. But if we are ever to relax we have to find out what is going on, who wanted us dead… It’s hard being such a wanted woman!” Ruby gives Jake a wink.

Suddenly, Ruby jumps up from the bed and goes over to the table. Jake can’t see what she is doing but when she turns back to him she is wearing the tiara from the box of jewelry. She walks back to the bed with the box in her hand. “While you were sleeping I took some time to look at these.” She hands Jake the box to look at. “They are very valuable as far as I can tell, worth almost $2000.” She gives a little spin before falling back on the bed. “So, is it me?” she asks with a grin. "I have to admit, you look good in jewelry. I like it." Jake opens the lid of the box. "You never have to worry about being upstaged though, you shine brighter than any gem. Every stone in this box must be jealous." he finishes by closing the box and placing it between them.

“You always know what to say, don’t you?” Ruby slowly sits up halfway leaning back on her elbows. “So…Mr. Cooke…” Ruby says slowly, “Earlier you disagreed with me about caring about someone and it making you, well, me weak. What do you call it then, when you care about someone so much it makes you do stupid things? Like very stupid things, things that are bad for you…When they can make you crazy or make you cry and there is nothing you can do about it?”

"It's called being alive." Jake cocks his head a little and looks at her sympathetically. "I'm going to disappoint you if you think I have an easy answer." He runs his hand through his hair and scratches the back of his head. "I may regret how things turn out sometimes, and I certainly do my share of running. But I wasn't running from commitment, I was running from the consequences of a decision. Maybe you don't think that is different." His tone is not condescending or preachy, but conciliatory. "I'll never regret how I feel about my sister. I would have done anything, I mean ANYTHING to have prevented her from that unhappiness. And then I just have to deal with the consequences." He reaches across and touches her hand gently and withdraws. "The people I have chosen to care about, and there aren't many, have made me stronger not weaker. At least I believe that. Then again you're talking to the prince of stupid decisions." He chuckles.

“Maybe I should give you this then,” Ruby says pointing to the tiara, giggling, but then her face gets serious. “It’s easy. If you don’t commit yourself to someone then you don’t have to deal with consequences. But as Kate has told me many times in the past two weeks, it’s lonely not to trust anyone or let yourself get close to them, not like I don’t know that. So I'll try your way this time and maybe it’ll make me stronger too. I'm going to trust you, to not lie to me or use me,” she pauses in thought then continues very softly as she looks away, "Or hit me or hurt me on purpose."

A moment of silence falls between them before Ruby sits up and faces Jake. “Besides, how stupid can you be, you chose me, right?” She pulls her braid over her shoulder, then leans in close to Jake and kisses him slowly. “So… what do you want to do for the rest of the night, now that you are feeling better?”

Jake gets that trademark faint grin and half-lidded eyes for a moment before he reaches up and adjusts the tiara upon Ruby's head. He opens the box of jewelry and selects a pair of gold earrings and hands them to her. While she's putting them on he deftly adorns her wrists with a pair of gold wristlets. She smiles but with a what are you doing look that he ignores. He takes the two gold necklaces out, holding one and then the other in front of her and eyeing them carefully. He chooses one and puts it around her neck giving her a kiss as he does so. "There." He says simply and begins to unbutton her nightgown and his grin gets a little broader....

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter 124, “Negotiations with a madman”, Friday, January 13th, 1882:

Kate updated Flint on what had happened in the bank, let him know that the wagon had been sold, and discussed the timber needs with him. "How is the stock doing so far?" she asked finally. "Seem to be doing okay, not that I really know what I'm doing. So far I've just been getting them food and water. Now if you're going to be helping me with the ranch I have one big favor to ask. Tomorrow night is Moradin's Day, one of the high holiest days on the Dwarven Calendar, where we celebrate our race's top deity. All dwarves are supposed to congregate and celebrate together on that day. It would be sacrilege for me to spend it here watching a bunch of horses and cows, but I'm afraid if I go off and leave them they won't be here when I come back. Could any of you guys help me out?"

Kate feels a hand lightly press on her shoulder, even though nobody is there. She then hears Sonoma’s voice whisper into her ear "Our teacher wanted to come check out this land that we have purchased. I'm sure that he could to watch the animals." Kate's heart nearly jumped out of her chest when Sonoma's voice began whispering in her ear. She hoped the shock didn't show on her face. "I think we can arrange that, Flint. I've been wanting to take some time and check the horses health and training, and tomorrow is the first day in quite a while that I don't already have plans for. When do you need someone here in the morning, and until how late?"

Flint replies "Well I doubt the celebrations in town will get started until mid to late afternoon and will probably last until all the bars in town are closed. I'll probably stay in town overnight so it would be Sunday morning until I make it back here. "We'll manage it. It will be nice to be out here where it's quiet for a while." Kate looked back over toward poor Mr. Martin and Cole. "I'm not sure which part of his day was worse. Getting shot, or starting that conversation."

Booth replies "Could be worse, at least Martin started by asking about bounty hunting, so Cole skipped the whole part about his war years. That will cut down his tale by at least an hour. At least Martin has been perceptive enough to not try to end the conversation. That could prove to be dangerous." The others spend the next forty-five minutes walking around the ranch and seeing the improvements that Flint has continued to make. There is no question that this grizzled and scruffy drawf has a strong work ethic and is very industrious.

Cole finally finishes his tale and Chester then excuses himself to find the nearest outhouse or equivalent thereof. Booth take the lead and heads back over. He tells Cole "While you were talking to Martin we took the liberty of loading up the corpse in the casket. We also filled all of your water jugs and loaded on two bales of hay." Cole just nods. He then heads to he back of the wagon to check the body and compare it to the picture on the wanted poster. He holds the poster close so that the others do not see but the invisible Sonoma manages to get a glimpse of it. She returns to Kate and whispers "The reward is for $ 500".

Katherine took a few casual steps away from the others, trying to look as if she were just bored. She then began whispering, hoping Sonoma had followed. "I already agreed to accept $75, but that is a paltry percentage of $500. I'm not certain about trying to renegotiate though. Mr. Booth has indicated this is not a man to be trifled with, and at this point I'm sure Mr. Martin would agree. Let's see. He had to purchase the wagon and horses, so I'll allow about $100 for that. The remaining $400 split evenly would then make $200 for him and $200 for us. What do you think?"

“That should be fair, "Sonoma says, She stops speaking for a minute humming slightly so that Kate knows that she's still there..." unless we want to make a deal with him that if any of our pictures ever come up for bounty that we get his word that he will never come for us... that may be worth more to all of us in the long run than the money especially with the stories he’s been telling us.

Kate replies, "I would hope none of us would ever show up on a wanted poster. But considering what happened today at the bank, I can see how it might happen. If the Condon's weren't willing to say Jake was still working for them, he'd be recovering in a jail cell. That might be easier to negotiate as well. I doubt he'd be amenable to giving us more money. Beside the fact that I don't know what cut Mr. Booth has factored in for himself. We'll have to cover the cost of more supplies for the Apache ourselves, they should get something closer to the real value of the bounty. Do you think Nanuet will mind that?" Sonoma says, “I think we can find a way to cover the bounty ourselves. I really think making sure that this man will never come after us is worth far more than the bounty itself.

Kate nodded, took a deep breath, and walked over to the wagon. She spoke with all the confidence she could find. "Mr. Cole. After we made our arrangement I was able to learn the value of the bounty. I am willing to continue our financial arrangements as is, but in return for that disparity I would ask that you give me your word on something. If you should ever see any of the people who made this trip today, or Miss Ruby West, Mr. Jacob Cooke, or Miss Sonoma Figueres on a bounty poster, you will not seek those bounties. It is a small promise, as it is unlikely any of us ever will appear on a bounty poster. With your agreement to this, I would consider our arrangement a bargain."

Cole scratches his chin while he ponders this. He replies "You people seem like honest enough folk, but I hope you realize that a deal is a deal. Ain't no time for you to try adding extra conditions onto it now. But I'm in a good mood today what with collecting Curly Bill so I'll agree not to hunt down any of the five of you in the future. I didn't catch the names of the Indian and dwarf here so let me know 'em and I'll add you to my 'no hunt' list."

She replies, "Nanuet and Flint Greymountain. I appreciate your good mood, and although I'm not accustomed to making deals I do realize the additional request is unusual. But if we ever find ourselves in such a situation again, I'm sure we'd remember your generosity in agreement. Is there any way I could improve your good mood to extend over the other three I mentioned?" He replies "I think you're pushing your luck there Mrs. Kale, but I'm willing to do this. If one of those three who you mentioned is the person who has been hanging here under the magical cover I'll include them if they decide to show themselves."

Sonoma removes the invisibility and is standing near the horses quietly with her hands folded. "I believe that this agreement will benefit all parties. $425 is not a bad profit for transporting a corpse nor for us is the assurance that a man with such an ability in your chosen profession leave us to do as we need to with our lives. I will also offer you some other information if you choose to add that other names of my friends that have been listed that could become very profitable bounty for you in the direction that you are traveling.”

"I'm listening" he says. Sonoma replies, "There is an individual who many people have attempted to remove from power. He is dangerous and would likely be a target that other people would not be willing to attempt. However there are secrets that I know of that would be very beneficial to you, if you choose to attempt his bounty. The bounty would be enough to allow you to do what ever you choose for the rest of your life, however the names must be removed from your list first."

He replies, "Sounds like a good enough deal to me. I assume you are the Miss Sonoma Figueres that Mrs. Kale spoke of. I have no reason to suspect that Jacob Silver Dollar Cooke will actually wind up on a wanted poster. The police in Kansas City were looking for him a while back, but that was just for questioning, there weren't any charges against him. And your friend Constance Grace West seems to have been clean until now. But since we're now adding onto the deal I'll include one more thing too. There's a gambler in town by the name of Cornelius Van Horne. I've been sticking around town to find out who he really is under that magical disguise that he wears. If you find that out, and it turns out that there is a price on his head, then I expect you to wire me in Houston, Texas care of the Lucky Eight Saloon and let me know. "

She replies, “Agreed. The current leader of Mexico Manuel Gonzalas is not what he seems. The "person" in power is the result of a magical mirror. He will have some fairly powerful magical abilities and because of who he is will surround himself with men that he knows he can control but not trust. He will not wish women around him at all and his biggest weakness will be underestimating those that he sees as unimportant which seems to me to fit the persona that you have created for yourself. Information useful for you I am sure.”

With that Conrad Booth interjects "Well, now that we have reached agreement we'd best get on our separate ways. I know that these ladies have things to do back in town as have I." Cole gives Booth a dirty look, then shrugs his shoulders. He takes out a wad of money and peals off $ 75, which he hands to Katherine. While this is going on Flint collects Cole's riding horse and ties it to the back of the wagon. They all watch as Cole rides off to the east, to join up with the south road that heads on to New Mexico and then Texas.

Once he is out of sight Booth breathes a sigh of relief. He then turns to Katherine and Sonoma and says "Are you two insane!" Katherine's knees felt weak, and she sat down on the ground with a thump. Her shoulders and her voice were both shaking. "Insane is the word I'd use. But a little luck pushing adds excitement to your life, don't you think?" she joked weakly.

Sonoma replies, "What do you mean? The man is not very stable true but he wanted a challenge, other wise he would not be waiting for the Arcade Gang. Mexico is as far away as I could think of. It may take him years to realize a plan to even try to attack the President of Mexico and who would really believe the story that the president is some magic creation except for a person like him. He will not be around here for a very long time and if he does succeed I will find a way to pay him so there was nothing for me to truly loose except a dangerous man who already had us in a bind for not researching the bounty ourselves first.

Also there was no real reason to kill us we out numbered him and he does not want to be on a bounty poster himself especially for killing women. there was more profit for him in the negotiation and if we don't look to see who the magic covered man is we are not going to be able to report back to him are we? we have lost nothing and gain quite a bit I think it was a good deal” Conrad Booth just shakes his head "You two are just plain nuts! Go talk to your friend Martin, he's been listening for two hours worth of reasons why you don't want to play games with people like Cole." Kate replies, "Sonoma's right. We had the advantage. But I offer you my apologies, Mr. Booth. I shouldn't have involved you in this."

Nanuet who has been a silent guard up to this point laughs at Booth's comments. "Sonoma, there you are!" Nanuet rushes over and gives the wood elf a suffocating embrace. He separates himself from her, and stares into her eyes. "I had been wondering where you had gone off to. I haven't seen you since the bank. I could feel your spirit, but had no idea where you were." Nanuet pauses, wipes sweat off his brow, then continues "At least we got that chore out of the way. The money can be used on whatever we wish, I have already paid for the Apache supplies as well as the fencing for Flint. With all the rush for supplies after that silver claim was made I figured I had better take care of that. With the sale of the wagon and that money split up I have enough to live on for a while."

Kate says, "I had intended to give you this money to cover those supplies, Nanuet. But if you would rather it went into the ranch, that can be done as well. I didn't know you'd already paid for the fencing as well. I was waiting to get the wagon money, it's why we went to the bank this morning. Thank you for doing that." She sat quietly for a few moments more, taking deep breaths and putting herself back together. "Meribel," she called, and the mare walked over. Kate pushed herself up off the ground and climbed onto Meribel's back. "I'm ready to go home."

Sonoma interjects, “Me too. it is going to be a long night at the Lone Star with Ruby not going and Kate with a hurt hand I believe that "Louise" is going to do a lot more performing than she expected.” Kate says, "I'll be able to play tonight, Ruby took care of my hand. Although I should still take it easy. But with Maggie there tonight she can do some of the playing."

The five say goodbye to Flint and ride back to town. Booth goes to return the horse and says that he might see the others at the El Parador later for dinner if they are around. The other four ride back to the El Parador and secure the mounts in the stable. They head into the Cantina at approximately 4:30 PM. Kate slipped through the Cantina and back up to her room.

Sonoma heads to the kitchen as she is starving and begins to whip up a huge meal for all of them especially Kate as she doesn't remember the last time she sat down to a full plate. While there she talks to Dorita about the upcoming night and asks if she will be willing to help Maggie out as Sonoma really wants Maggie to succeed and she's worried that with the bank robbery and no Ruby things may get a little busier than she can handle by herself tonight "although Kate thinks she'll be able to play I'm not sure about waiting tables and cooking too."

Dorita says to her daughter (in Spanish) "All taken care of that. I will be running the kitchen at the Lone Star tonight so that you, Kate and Maggie never have to leave the main floor. Grandfather is heading out for the evening with his South American friends but before he goes he will stop by the Lone Star and toss some protection spells onto the back door and windows so that a guard will not be needed. Your main challenge tonight will be to keep that Alexsis woman from trying to take over the singing. And don't you worry about things back here without us. Jose and Carlos have promised to make sure everything runs smooth tonight and tomorrow. They have a lot to make up to me for. Estaban can cover the music by himself and both Pepita and Angelica can help Pedro with the cooking."

Kate quickly removed the riding clothes and got into a dress. Her hair was carefully brushed and pinned up, and she began to feel better. There was still the deed and a new dress to be picked up, and then she could rest. She went back downstairs to see if Sonoma or Nanuet wanted to go with her to the land office. Kate didn't see Sonoma or Nanuet downstairs. Before heading out, she peeked in the kitchen intending to ask Dorita if she'd seen either of them. Sonoma was there with her mother cooking a large amount of food. "Sorry to interrupt. Sonoma, I was just going to go over to the land office to pick up our deed. Did you want to come?"

Sonoma and Kate head over to the land office. The place is much more organized than when they were there last. Dennis Winston has all of the paperwork ready for them. "Good afternoon, Mr. Winston. If you'll just show us what we need to do, we can finish this up and let you get back to your work. Although it looks as if you've caught up. Has the rush slowed?" He says, "I'm doing okay. It has been a busy week. I'm looking forward to taking the next two days off. I'm glad you came by now. I was looking to close up early and get a quick bite before the evening stage leaves for Tombstone." She replies, Katherine took a pen and began filling out the paperwork. "You're going to Tombstone for your days off? It seems to me you'll spend a great deal of your two days traveling."

Nanuet comes into the land office a little behind the two women. "Sorry, I was taking care of the horses, I must have just missed you" he says gasping for breath. "Is everything ready with the deed?" Winston says to Nanuet, "Just fine, we need your signature too. You can write can't you?" He then turns to Kate and says "I have to go to Tombstone to register all of these transactions. That's where the County Seat is located. All part of the job, but I'll at least be able to bill the Territory for the transportation and lodgings."

Kate replies, "I see. Well, I hope you enjoy your trip and have a quiet ride back and forth," she said, passing the pen to Nanuet. "We should have waited for you, Nanuet. I'm sorry." Nanuet looks a little uncomfortable handling the pen, but he is able to make his mark. "There you go" he says holding the pen and paper out for Winston. "I do feel strange owning land" he says. "It will be nice to have a place to call home though." Once Nanuet, Sonoma and Kate return to the El Parador she makes sure to serve them all up a good full meal. Chester arrives and joins them. Dorita then brings a tray of food up to Jake's room for him and Ruby, knocking gently on the door.

Kate looked down at the full plate, certain that if she ate much of anything it wasn't going to stay put. Her stomach was still in knots from the day. The others were eating heartily, obviously hungry. Katherine picked at the meal, probably not swallowing more than a mouthful or two. She began talking about the ranch, asking Sonoma about building with adobe and how they go about it, and about how and when they would bring the sheep over. Sonoma exclaims, you need to eat! I will tell you the answers to your questions only if you are putting food in your mouth! you are wasting away to nothing and I will not have you getting sick because you refuse to eat! Oh my I'm sounding just like my mother.” Kate replies, "Sonoma!" she said, softly but surprised. "I really don't feel well. If I eat I'll be sick." Kate laid her hand against her stomach. Her clothes did seem to be getting a bit looser, but she just didn't have an appetite most of the time.

Sonoma begins, “Adobe is very simple to build with and mix all it takes is mud and straw and sun all of which we have in abundance and some... um "things" that my great grandfather has shown me will make the work go very quickly. The sheep should be due soon to arrive we may have to pick them up but they are really not a hard animal to deal shake a corn or grain bucket and they will follow you just about anywhere, we will want to make sure that there is an area prepared for them in Flint's cave where they will need to stay for a few days after we move them so that they will know where to go home to but other than that we do not have to worry about shearing or lambing for another couple of months.” Kate replies, "We should get started on the building. I'd say this week, but something is supposed to happen. So the week after perhaps?"

Dorita returns with Manuel. She says "We're off to the kitchen of the Lone Star." She turns to Kate and Sonoma and says "I'll see you both in an hour or so." The two wood elves head into then kitchen. Sonoma follows them and then returns. They soon come back out, him carrying a wooden box with assorted foodstuff and her with a large wicker basket full of spices and various little bottles of liquids and powders. They head out the front door. Kate watched Mr. Gonzales and Dorita leave, astonished. "Sonoma, do you know what those two are up to? Well, obviously they're going to help Maggie somehow, but what are they doing?"

Sonoma says, “Well ummm....Mama is going to run the kitchen and my great grandfather is going to make sure that she isn't um.. disturbed doing it.” Kate answers, "I know better than to ask for more details. But who will take care of things here?" Sonoma replies, “The food has already been mostly prepared a couple of the girls will wait tables that mama trusts. And the twins owe her so I can't see there being any problems and papa is still here too.”

Manuel Gonzales soon returns and hurries upstairs to his room, with a smile on his face and a skip in his step. Sonoma follows her great grandfather up stairs and knocks on his door. "OK what are you up to? I've seen that look before and it usually means trouble and I'm not ready for any more trouble today." He opens the door and is wearing a three-piece suit, silk shirt with cuff links and silk bow tie and brand new and freshly shined black leather shoes. Sonoma tries to penetrate the illusion and then realizes that it isn't a magical illusion, the clothing is real. He says, "Well, do you like it?" Sonoma replies, “You look wonderful but what is the occasion and what is her name?”

He replies, “Oh no, nothing like that. I haven't taken up with any lady friends in weeks. I'm going out to dinner this evening with Simon and Antonio. In fact, Antonio was kind enough to purchase this clothing for me. I can't tell you any more right now but please ask Katherine to check with me in the morning. Thank you." And with that he hurries out the door and down the hallway to the series of rooms that the South American guests are staying in. Sonoma shakes her head at her great grandfather and goes and changes for the Lone Star.

Nanuet enjoys the hearty meal that Sonoma had prepared for them. He was still tired from the events of the day and decided that some rest would do him good. Sonoma seemed very busy anyways, so he gathered his things and headed to the grove where he called Maska. The two played together for a while, then Nanuet settled into an early reverie.

As the dinner hour wrapped up, Katherine invited Mr. Martin to spend his evening at the Lone Star again and went upstairs to put her bustle in place. On a whim she decided to brush her hair out and let it hang loose. She was tempted to peek into Jake's room, but she knew Ruby was with him and if anything was wrong they would have heard about it. She continued on her way downstairs and met Sonoma for the walk to the Lone Star.

 

[Steve Jung]

Ah. Good ole Irby Cole.