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"Revenge, Renewal and the Promise of a New Year" (Boot Hill/D&D)
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<blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 1967024" data-attributes="member: 8530"><p><strong>Chapter 79, “Wild Chase up the Mountain”, January 10th, 1882:</strong></p><p></p><p>“NO!” Jake yells and pushes the shotgun up. The shot goes high, well above the horses and Jake feels heat from the shotgun barrel through the sleeve of his duster where he pushed the shotgun barrel although there are no burns on the jacket. "Um Jake, care to explain..." Ruby says with a raised eyebrow. He says, "I think that's Sonoma pulling the horses." "What?" Ruby says growing pale. Chester mutters to himself, "Does everyone here have some sort of mystical power?" Jake answers, "Hey, soldier. Worry about the bad guys. I could use some help here." "I hear ya." Chester resumes firing out the side, reloading as necessary.</p><p></p><p>Jake goes back to shooting out the back. Ruby turns her back to the window and slides down onto the floor with the gun in her hand. Kate tells her "Just focus on the ones we can see, Ruby dear, and everything'll be fine." She reached out her hand to pull Ruby up. "We'll have time to be frightened later." Ruby replies, "Frightened? I just almost shot Sonoma...I don't want to shoot anyone that I like."</p><p></p><p>Nanuet is unsure if it was his shot or one of Earp's from the stagecoach roof, but one of the outlaws is shot in the chest and falls from his horse. Nanuet is confused when he sees the riderless horses and Jake's reaction to Ruby firing the shotgun. He takes a quick scan of the area and looks for Sonoma and realizes that he doesn't see her. He yells out her name, continuing to search for any sign of her. Sonoma’s voice begins to sing back from the direction of the two saddled horses, which are now being led closer to the stagecoach, now around 20 feet off to the side. </p><p></p><p>Nanuet gets close to the coach and yells "That's Sonoma on the horses, I think she is OK. Worry about the guys chasing us!" Sonoma’s song now has the words "Thank you" and "Dying is Bad" sung into the lyrics. Nanuet slings his rifle back over his shoulder and heads towards Sonoma. "Are you OK? Did you get hurt?" Her lyrics now contain the words "Just shoot the bad guys." He rides towards the carriage and conveys, “Sonoma said ‘Just shoot the bad guys’. Jake laughs loudly, "I like that girl". He keeps shooting his rifle at the lead rider until he needs to reload. "Seawell, you take a try" and give his spot to while he loads. Nanuet decides to do as she wishes, unslings his gun and continues to load and shoot while riding back to about 20 feet from the wagon.</p><p></p><p>With the sound of new concern in her voice Kate says, "Damn, Jake. Look out there," she said nodding out the window. "That's Billy Claibourne. This is about more than that silver vein." Her left hand is still extended to Ruby. The right takes aim and fires the wand as soon as she thinks that Claibourne is close enough. The beam of light fires across and hits the man who she suspects to be Claiboune. He remains on his horse but drops back a ways. </p><p></p><p>Most of the enemies have closed to within 200 feet when the stage crosses over the peak of the hill. Jake and Ruby have renewed appreciation for the magical horseshoes that the Wells Fargo team had and wish that the Morand Cartage Company were likewise equipped. They then begin to go down a fairly steep drop and increasing the distance between those behind. Zack Morand works the break lever on the stage, which sends out smoke and sparks.</p><p></p><p>Nanuet manages to hit one foe in the shoulder and another in the arm. The one struck in the arm drops his revolver. Kate fires at Claibourne again, until he is either out of range, or falls from his horse. She continues firing as long as there are enemies in range of the wand. She remains very calm and steady, going methodically from one to the next. Four of the light beams strike opponents, including the one who Nanuet had hit in the arm. He slumps over either unconscious or dead in the saddle and the horse stops. Another one is shot in the head by Jake and falls from his mount. </p><p></p><p>Sonoma gets the horses directly alongside the stage and sings "Take them". Chester shouts over the squeal of the brakes, "Who? Us?" Nanuet reslings his rifle and attempts to take the horses from Sonoma. As he approaches he says "What am I to do with these horses, and what happened to just shooting the bad guys?" She sings "Not you, I thought somebody else would want to ride. Never mind then, I'll let them go." </p><p></p><p>"I'll get them." Ruby stands up, leans out the side and tries to reach for the reins. Sonoma is about to release them when Nanuet yells, "Wait! Ruby is trying to grab then, just some confusion there." Nanuet drops behind the wagon, waits until it passes, then starts riding up along the other side. He tries the rifle once again.</p><p></p><p>Ruby grabs the reins barely in time as the stage then turns sharply to the right, to go around a sharp drop-off immediately ahead. The stage then goes back up the higher elevations of the mountain, which rises at a steep angle, but the horse team appears to be up to the task of climbing it. Several of the outlaws close to 100 until their horses also reach the steeper area then begin to drop a little further back. </p><p></p><p>"Kate you probably can ride with that thing and you're good with horses. You should go.." Ruby says still leaning out the window. Kate lets Ruby grab the reins of one, and Kate reaches for the others. I can't believe I'm about to do this. She jumped quickly out of the now slowed coach and onto the unfamiliar animal’s back. Another quick glance to make sure the Marshall's attention was elsewhere, and she looked for another target.</p><p></p><p>Two shots sail through the back window openings and into the inside of the stage but do not strike anyone. It continues to climb at the steep angle. Six of the outlaws break off from the others and double back, including Claibourne and one of the wounded ones. Nanuet continues to fire, now from the other side of the wagon. He sees the others double back and says, "Should any of us follow them?"</p><p></p><p>"Chester!" Yells Jake. "You a horse solder? Can you fight better from that thing? Anyone else? Seawell says. "I can shoot and ride." and moves to that side of the coach. Chester says, "Yeah, I used to be in the cavalry. Horseback sounds better than this coach more and more." Chester reaches for the reins of one of the horses. "Hold on, I can take one. Not sure how I can mount up now, though." "You jump," says Ruby trying to not fall out while holding the horse.</p><p></p><p>Chester successfully lands on the saddle of the other horse. The enemies who turned back and ride off in a direction to circumnavigate around the mountain and cut off the stage on the road while the other ten continue their pursuit. One of these ten gets struck by two of Kate’s light beams simultaneous to a shot from Nanuet’s rife and falls. Chester feels the pace of his horse slow. "Driver, slow down some, the horses are getting tired. Where are we going?" The driver does not reply and continues to focus on his path. </p><p></p><p>Looking at the six riding away Chester says to Nanuet, "Let's get 'em. Maybe we can find out where they came from." He slings his carbine across his back, grabs the reins with his right hand and draws his revolver with his left. Nanuet looks for a path that he can navigate that will allow him to intercept the half-dozen riders that rode off without passing through those who are still pursuing. Once he finds that path, he motions to Chester to follow and gallops in that direction. Chester follows the Indian, loading a sixth cartridge into his Remington. Nanuet and Chester break off and ride left and down the mountain. Sonoma’s singing accompanies them, keeping pace and riding between them. The remaining enemies stay with the stagecoach. </p><p></p><p>After Kate and Chester had jumped out, Ruby got back into the coach, picked up the shotgun and sat next to Jake. "They look close enough for me to shoot with this thing yet?" Jake moves aside so they have plenty of room, whoever decides to get on the horses, while wishing he had those riding lessons from Katherine. "Torvald, get that shotgun ready. It's about time." He finishes reloading and starts shooting out the back again.</p><p></p><p>Jake rethinks the plan and says, "No, wait. You and Torvald get down. When I say now you both get up and shoot both barrels." Jake keeps firing and yells now when the horses are 50 feet back. Ruby took the time to reload while Jake told her to wait. When he yelled now, she quickly double checked to make sure she wasn't going to shoot one of her friends and fired at the closest enemy. A horse and rider then get blown away by Ruby's shotgun blast.</p><p></p><p>The stagecoach reaches a particular leveled off area that is also filled with rocks. The horse team and stage have the momentum and sail across the area without any hindrance, tossing up dust and rocks behind them, with the four party riders keeping pace. The enemy riders following have to slow and take more carefully or risk injury to their mounts. </p><p></p><p>The rapid-paced detour through the mountain has started to take a toll on the animals and they are beginning to show some fatigue. Katherine is familiar with animals and wishes that Zack wound turn left and ride back down to the main road. Instead he turns right and climbs even higher. Morand whips the animals to force them onward at the fast pace. "Morand! The horses are nearly spent, they can't keep this up much longer!" Kate shouted up, while taking advantage of the fact that the followers have to slow to take a couple more shots at them.</p><p></p><p>Kate keeps pace with the stagecoach and keeps firing at the men following. Ruby shoots again at the closest rider. Both Kate and Ruby's shots miss. Kate can now see what Morand was up to, as they near the summit of the mountain. It was a hard climb but she decides that it was probably worth is as they see before them a long flat gradual decline that is mostly clear of obstructions. The plain ahead of them stretches down for around a mile-and-a-half. </p><p></p><p>She sees fireplace smoke rising from a valley at the base of the mountain around two to three miles distant and realize that is Promise City. The ride down the mountain will bring them most of the way back towards town and the decline should help to keep them ahead of the outlaws.</p><p></p><p>Ruby reloads the shotgun with the shells from her pocket and shoots, if any enemies seem close enough. They reach the peak to begin the long gradual decline on a straight shot into a valley below. The outlaws are still following, but have fallen back to a distance of around 350 feet. The group that had broken off is nowhere to be seen, nor are Chester or Nanuet in sight any longer.</p><p></p><p>Jake and Patrick keep shooting their rifles to cover Torvald and Ruby reloading the shotguns. Jake hands her the rest of the shotgun shells in his pocket. Ruby takes the shells and puts them in her pocket. "I think they're too far back now. I hope Nanuet and Chester will be ok, there are a lot of them. This Fisk guy means business, huh?"</p><p></p><p>While he continues to shoot, Jake counts how many riders are still following, spotting a total of eight remaining around 400 feet back. At the next reload of the rifle Jake asks to trade with Ruby for the shotgun. "They are gonna get close soon, time for more crazy." She gives him the shotgun, which is still loaded, and takes the rifle. "I'm afraid to ask...Please be careful." Jake can see the worry on Ruby's face. Before he does anything, "How far can I shoot with his one?" "Far." He says. "Just keep shooting." He puts some rifle cartridges in her pocket. Ruby does as Jake says and keeps shooting and loading and shooting. The shots manage to drop two of the distant horses and their riders. </p><p></p><p>The stagecoach crosses the summit it bounces back and hard over the final ledge for a drop of around a foot. As it lands everyone hears the sound of the wooden wagon tongue snapping and cracking. This is the primary mechanism connecting the horse team to the stagecoach’s axle. </p><p></p><p>Zack Morand, in a heroic effort, manages to still steer the team and stage to area where they need to start the ride down, connected only with by ropes and leather straps. The broken tongue is still being dragged by the horses and scrapes along the ground, starting to slow their forward momentum. The remaining six outlaws slow as they apparently notice that something is wrong with the stagecoach.</p><p></p><p>Katherine notices that Morgan Earp is lying wounded on the top of the stagecoach and realizes it has been several minutes since he last fired a shot. As the stage hits the drop off he rolls to the side, apparently unconscious, and is about to fall off the stage on her side of it. "Damn!" She shouts. "Some help here!" She maneuvers her horse underneath where Earp is about to fall. Kate guides the horse with her knees and reaches up to try to control his fall and get him on the horse. Seawell is close to that side so puts down his rifle to see how he can help Katherine. Jake watches what the outlaws are doing closely.</p><p></p><p>Morgan Earp falls. Katherine manages to grab him by his shirt but does not have the strength to hold onto him for long. Seawell opens the door to the carriage and vaults onto the horse behind her and helps to pull Earp up. He sees that Earp is still alive and tells Katherine "You just saved this man's life." "That was the idea," she said grinning. She began to search for Earp's wound, thinking she was about to tear up another shirt.</p><p></p><p>The stagecoach itself was now picking up speed as it continued on the mountainside and without the wooden stick to keep the team the proper distance from the carriage was almost upon the rear two horses of the team. Morand attempts to apply the hand breaks but pulls on them too hard and they disconnect from the carriage and fall off. </p><p></p><p>Morand realizes that the stage will soon overtake the horse team and the animals would get caught up in the front wheels and axle and cause the rig to crash. Not seeing any alternative, he takes out his hunting knife and cuts the ropes and straps holding the animals to the carriage. Holding the reins, he then leaps forward and lands on the rigging connection the horses together and tugs the horses off to the side. Jake, Ruby and MacNaulty are still inside the stage see the horse team move off to the side of the road. The runaway stagecoach passes them by.</p><p></p><p>Ruby feels the coach pick up speed. She looks out the window and sees the situation. She turns to Jake. "I TOLD you we should have stayed in bed today!" She sighs, "Time for one of your crazy ideas..." "Anyone feel like jumping?" Jake asks shrugging his shoulders. "Torvald, take some of that seat material and shove it between the wheels and wagon." Jake does the same and hopes it starts to slow the stagecoach. Jake's brilliant idea just results in shredded burlap and straw covering the mountainside. </p><p></p><p>Further up the mountain Kate, Seawell and Morand see the stagecoach rapidly moving away from them, realizing that there is little they can do for their three friends and associates on board.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Silver Moon, post: 1967024, member: 8530"] [B]Chapter 79, “Wild Chase up the Mountain”, January 10th, 1882:[/B] “NO!” Jake yells and pushes the shotgun up. The shot goes high, well above the horses and Jake feels heat from the shotgun barrel through the sleeve of his duster where he pushed the shotgun barrel although there are no burns on the jacket. "Um Jake, care to explain..." Ruby says with a raised eyebrow. He says, "I think that's Sonoma pulling the horses." "What?" Ruby says growing pale. Chester mutters to himself, "Does everyone here have some sort of mystical power?" Jake answers, "Hey, soldier. Worry about the bad guys. I could use some help here." "I hear ya." Chester resumes firing out the side, reloading as necessary. Jake goes back to shooting out the back. Ruby turns her back to the window and slides down onto the floor with the gun in her hand. Kate tells her "Just focus on the ones we can see, Ruby dear, and everything'll be fine." She reached out her hand to pull Ruby up. "We'll have time to be frightened later." Ruby replies, "Frightened? I just almost shot Sonoma...I don't want to shoot anyone that I like." Nanuet is unsure if it was his shot or one of Earp's from the stagecoach roof, but one of the outlaws is shot in the chest and falls from his horse. Nanuet is confused when he sees the riderless horses and Jake's reaction to Ruby firing the shotgun. He takes a quick scan of the area and looks for Sonoma and realizes that he doesn't see her. He yells out her name, continuing to search for any sign of her. Sonoma’s voice begins to sing back from the direction of the two saddled horses, which are now being led closer to the stagecoach, now around 20 feet off to the side. Nanuet gets close to the coach and yells "That's Sonoma on the horses, I think she is OK. Worry about the guys chasing us!" Sonoma’s song now has the words "Thank you" and "Dying is Bad" sung into the lyrics. Nanuet slings his rifle back over his shoulder and heads towards Sonoma. "Are you OK? Did you get hurt?" Her lyrics now contain the words "Just shoot the bad guys." He rides towards the carriage and conveys, “Sonoma said ‘Just shoot the bad guys’. Jake laughs loudly, "I like that girl". He keeps shooting his rifle at the lead rider until he needs to reload. "Seawell, you take a try" and give his spot to while he loads. Nanuet decides to do as she wishes, unslings his gun and continues to load and shoot while riding back to about 20 feet from the wagon. With the sound of new concern in her voice Kate says, "Damn, Jake. Look out there," she said nodding out the window. "That's Billy Claibourne. This is about more than that silver vein." Her left hand is still extended to Ruby. The right takes aim and fires the wand as soon as she thinks that Claibourne is close enough. The beam of light fires across and hits the man who she suspects to be Claiboune. He remains on his horse but drops back a ways. Most of the enemies have closed to within 200 feet when the stage crosses over the peak of the hill. Jake and Ruby have renewed appreciation for the magical horseshoes that the Wells Fargo team had and wish that the Morand Cartage Company were likewise equipped. They then begin to go down a fairly steep drop and increasing the distance between those behind. Zack Morand works the break lever on the stage, which sends out smoke and sparks. Nanuet manages to hit one foe in the shoulder and another in the arm. The one struck in the arm drops his revolver. Kate fires at Claibourne again, until he is either out of range, or falls from his horse. She continues firing as long as there are enemies in range of the wand. She remains very calm and steady, going methodically from one to the next. Four of the light beams strike opponents, including the one who Nanuet had hit in the arm. He slumps over either unconscious or dead in the saddle and the horse stops. Another one is shot in the head by Jake and falls from his mount. Sonoma gets the horses directly alongside the stage and sings "Take them". Chester shouts over the squeal of the brakes, "Who? Us?" Nanuet reslings his rifle and attempts to take the horses from Sonoma. As he approaches he says "What am I to do with these horses, and what happened to just shooting the bad guys?" She sings "Not you, I thought somebody else would want to ride. Never mind then, I'll let them go." "I'll get them." Ruby stands up, leans out the side and tries to reach for the reins. Sonoma is about to release them when Nanuet yells, "Wait! Ruby is trying to grab then, just some confusion there." Nanuet drops behind the wagon, waits until it passes, then starts riding up along the other side. He tries the rifle once again. Ruby grabs the reins barely in time as the stage then turns sharply to the right, to go around a sharp drop-off immediately ahead. The stage then goes back up the higher elevations of the mountain, which rises at a steep angle, but the horse team appears to be up to the task of climbing it. Several of the outlaws close to 100 until their horses also reach the steeper area then begin to drop a little further back. "Kate you probably can ride with that thing and you're good with horses. You should go.." Ruby says still leaning out the window. Kate lets Ruby grab the reins of one, and Kate reaches for the others. I can't believe I'm about to do this. She jumped quickly out of the now slowed coach and onto the unfamiliar animal’s back. Another quick glance to make sure the Marshall's attention was elsewhere, and she looked for another target. Two shots sail through the back window openings and into the inside of the stage but do not strike anyone. It continues to climb at the steep angle. Six of the outlaws break off from the others and double back, including Claibourne and one of the wounded ones. Nanuet continues to fire, now from the other side of the wagon. He sees the others double back and says, "Should any of us follow them?" "Chester!" Yells Jake. "You a horse solder? Can you fight better from that thing? Anyone else? Seawell says. "I can shoot and ride." and moves to that side of the coach. Chester says, "Yeah, I used to be in the cavalry. Horseback sounds better than this coach more and more." Chester reaches for the reins of one of the horses. "Hold on, I can take one. Not sure how I can mount up now, though." "You jump," says Ruby trying to not fall out while holding the horse. Chester successfully lands on the saddle of the other horse. The enemies who turned back and ride off in a direction to circumnavigate around the mountain and cut off the stage on the road while the other ten continue their pursuit. One of these ten gets struck by two of Kate’s light beams simultaneous to a shot from Nanuet’s rife and falls. Chester feels the pace of his horse slow. "Driver, slow down some, the horses are getting tired. Where are we going?" The driver does not reply and continues to focus on his path. Looking at the six riding away Chester says to Nanuet, "Let's get 'em. Maybe we can find out where they came from." He slings his carbine across his back, grabs the reins with his right hand and draws his revolver with his left. Nanuet looks for a path that he can navigate that will allow him to intercept the half-dozen riders that rode off without passing through those who are still pursuing. Once he finds that path, he motions to Chester to follow and gallops in that direction. Chester follows the Indian, loading a sixth cartridge into his Remington. Nanuet and Chester break off and ride left and down the mountain. Sonoma’s singing accompanies them, keeping pace and riding between them. The remaining enemies stay with the stagecoach. After Kate and Chester had jumped out, Ruby got back into the coach, picked up the shotgun and sat next to Jake. "They look close enough for me to shoot with this thing yet?" Jake moves aside so they have plenty of room, whoever decides to get on the horses, while wishing he had those riding lessons from Katherine. "Torvald, get that shotgun ready. It's about time." He finishes reloading and starts shooting out the back again. Jake rethinks the plan and says, "No, wait. You and Torvald get down. When I say now you both get up and shoot both barrels." Jake keeps firing and yells now when the horses are 50 feet back. Ruby took the time to reload while Jake told her to wait. When he yelled now, she quickly double checked to make sure she wasn't going to shoot one of her friends and fired at the closest enemy. A horse and rider then get blown away by Ruby's shotgun blast. The stagecoach reaches a particular leveled off area that is also filled with rocks. The horse team and stage have the momentum and sail across the area without any hindrance, tossing up dust and rocks behind them, with the four party riders keeping pace. The enemy riders following have to slow and take more carefully or risk injury to their mounts. The rapid-paced detour through the mountain has started to take a toll on the animals and they are beginning to show some fatigue. Katherine is familiar with animals and wishes that Zack wound turn left and ride back down to the main road. Instead he turns right and climbs even higher. Morand whips the animals to force them onward at the fast pace. "Morand! The horses are nearly spent, they can't keep this up much longer!" Kate shouted up, while taking advantage of the fact that the followers have to slow to take a couple more shots at them. Kate keeps pace with the stagecoach and keeps firing at the men following. Ruby shoots again at the closest rider. Both Kate and Ruby's shots miss. Kate can now see what Morand was up to, as they near the summit of the mountain. It was a hard climb but she decides that it was probably worth is as they see before them a long flat gradual decline that is mostly clear of obstructions. The plain ahead of them stretches down for around a mile-and-a-half. She sees fireplace smoke rising from a valley at the base of the mountain around two to three miles distant and realize that is Promise City. The ride down the mountain will bring them most of the way back towards town and the decline should help to keep them ahead of the outlaws. Ruby reloads the shotgun with the shells from her pocket and shoots, if any enemies seem close enough. They reach the peak to begin the long gradual decline on a straight shot into a valley below. The outlaws are still following, but have fallen back to a distance of around 350 feet. The group that had broken off is nowhere to be seen, nor are Chester or Nanuet in sight any longer. Jake and Patrick keep shooting their rifles to cover Torvald and Ruby reloading the shotguns. Jake hands her the rest of the shotgun shells in his pocket. Ruby takes the shells and puts them in her pocket. "I think they're too far back now. I hope Nanuet and Chester will be ok, there are a lot of them. This Fisk guy means business, huh?" While he continues to shoot, Jake counts how many riders are still following, spotting a total of eight remaining around 400 feet back. At the next reload of the rifle Jake asks to trade with Ruby for the shotgun. "They are gonna get close soon, time for more crazy." She gives him the shotgun, which is still loaded, and takes the rifle. "I'm afraid to ask...Please be careful." Jake can see the worry on Ruby's face. Before he does anything, "How far can I shoot with his one?" "Far." He says. "Just keep shooting." He puts some rifle cartridges in her pocket. Ruby does as Jake says and keeps shooting and loading and shooting. The shots manage to drop two of the distant horses and their riders. The stagecoach crosses the summit it bounces back and hard over the final ledge for a drop of around a foot. As it lands everyone hears the sound of the wooden wagon tongue snapping and cracking. This is the primary mechanism connecting the horse team to the stagecoach’s axle. Zack Morand, in a heroic effort, manages to still steer the team and stage to area where they need to start the ride down, connected only with by ropes and leather straps. The broken tongue is still being dragged by the horses and scrapes along the ground, starting to slow their forward momentum. The remaining six outlaws slow as they apparently notice that something is wrong with the stagecoach. Katherine notices that Morgan Earp is lying wounded on the top of the stagecoach and realizes it has been several minutes since he last fired a shot. As the stage hits the drop off he rolls to the side, apparently unconscious, and is about to fall off the stage on her side of it. "Damn!" She shouts. "Some help here!" She maneuvers her horse underneath where Earp is about to fall. Kate guides the horse with her knees and reaches up to try to control his fall and get him on the horse. Seawell is close to that side so puts down his rifle to see how he can help Katherine. Jake watches what the outlaws are doing closely. Morgan Earp falls. Katherine manages to grab him by his shirt but does not have the strength to hold onto him for long. Seawell opens the door to the carriage and vaults onto the horse behind her and helps to pull Earp up. He sees that Earp is still alive and tells Katherine "You just saved this man's life." "That was the idea," she said grinning. She began to search for Earp's wound, thinking she was about to tear up another shirt. The stagecoach itself was now picking up speed as it continued on the mountainside and without the wooden stick to keep the team the proper distance from the carriage was almost upon the rear two horses of the team. Morand attempts to apply the hand breaks but pulls on them too hard and they disconnect from the carriage and fall off. Morand realizes that the stage will soon overtake the horse team and the animals would get caught up in the front wheels and axle and cause the rig to crash. Not seeing any alternative, he takes out his hunting knife and cuts the ropes and straps holding the animals to the carriage. Holding the reins, he then leaps forward and lands on the rigging connection the horses together and tugs the horses off to the side. Jake, Ruby and MacNaulty are still inside the stage see the horse team move off to the side of the road. The runaway stagecoach passes them by. Ruby feels the coach pick up speed. She looks out the window and sees the situation. She turns to Jake. "I TOLD you we should have stayed in bed today!" She sighs, "Time for one of your crazy ideas..." "Anyone feel like jumping?" Jake asks shrugging his shoulders. "Torvald, take some of that seat material and shove it between the wheels and wagon." Jake does the same and hopes it starts to slow the stagecoach. Jake's brilliant idea just results in shredded burlap and straw covering the mountainside. Further up the mountain Kate, Seawell and Morand see the stagecoach rapidly moving away from them, realizing that there is little they can do for their three friends and associates on board. [/QUOTE]
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"Revenge, Renewal and the Promise of a New Year" (Boot Hill/D&D)
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