Wolf Dreams
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Chapter Three
~~ Stranger ~~
Vin's return to consciousness was slow. He had his eyes open and just drifted for a long time with his mind completely empty of thoughts before he became more aware and started to take in his surroundings. When he looked around he found that he was in a cave that was warm and dry. Water and wind must have carved it out of some mountain, he could see the tell-tale traces of it in the smooth curves running along each wall. Light filtered down from some crack near the ceiling, painting broad stripes down the redbrown walls and there was also some light coming from a small crackling fire in a pit dug out of the floor.
Vin took a deep breath and found that he could do so without even the slightest twinge now. He sat up slowly and carefully, discovering that he'd been lying on a bed of fresh grass and with a soft blanket for cover. Someone had relieved him of his coat and put it neatly folded beside his head with his hat placed on top of it and his boots beside the pile.
As soon as he moved something rolled off his chest and landed with a muffled thump on the ground near the edge of the blanket. It was the small white stone he'd picked up earlier, it had been resting above his heart while he slept. His hand went reflexively to the wound in his chest but now he could just find a big ugly hole in his shirt there. He pulled the shirt off his shoulder so he could see the skin better but there was no wound, just a fading scar.
This couldn't be. He let his fingers stroke the spot where the wound should have been. Vin could feel the faint ridges of the scar and he could see the red outline but it didn't hurt. It was fully healed and it looked years old instead of just - how long had he been here? Hours? Days? Weeks?
He looked up and quickly covered himself again when a shuffling sound could be heard from behind what looked like a simple fold in the wall. A second later a girl stepped through, bearing a simple clay jug and a cup. So that was the entrance. Vin could hardly see it, even though he was looking straight at it. The girl smiled when she saw he was awake and filled the cup with clear water up to the brim before holding it out to him.
"Thank you," Vin told her as he took it and she smiled back at him. The water tasted cool and sweet on his tongue, it must have been drawn from a well just outside. He studied her as he drank She was a native girl, quite tall and slender from what he could see and dressed completely in doe skin. Her long black hair was neatly braided and tied up with colorful ribbons. She was beautiful, in a timeless sort of way, and he wondered what tribe she came from. He just couldn't figure it out, there were no decorations to guide him on her clothes and her features were a strange mix of every tribe he'd ever seen and none at the same time.
But strangest thing of all was her eyes. The colors of her eyes kept shifting as she moved, like ripples on water. One moment it looked as if she had honey-colored eyes then she moved away a bit and the shadows in the cave darkened her eyes as well until they were a deep dark brown. Vin thought he could see flecks of green, blue and grey in there too when she got near him to pour more water in his cup. He'd never seen eyes like that before. Not on anyone.
"Thank you," he said again. "My name's Vin. What's yours?"
She just smiled a little and shook her head and he thought that it was that she didn't understand him but then she suddenly looked towards the entrance and there was a man standing there and he said, "Her name is Lupe. She does not speak."
He whispered something to the girl and she nodded and disappeared outside. The man sat down on the other side of the fire and studied Vin in silence. Vin swallowed some more water and looked right back at him. Just like with the girl it was hard to try and figure out both how old he was and where he could be from. He spoke good english, maybe he'd been taught by Missionaries.
"Just wanted to thank her and you for the care you've given me," Vin said. "Name's Vin Tanner."
The man just acknowledged this with a small nod of his head and a lowering of his eyes. Then he looked up and said, "I know."
Vin frowned. Was he missing something here? He was sure that he'd never laid eyes on either the man or the girl before, but there was something about him....
"Have we met?" Vin found himself saying.
"Yes," the man said. "But I did not look like this then. Coyote is my brother. Now do you remember?"
If Coyote hadn't already made him search his memory he wouldn't have known what the man was talking about but now faint fragments of a conversation surfaced almost immediately.
"You came to me as Chanu when I lay dying," Vin said with certainty.
"Yes. I did. I am Wolf."
"Why did you heal me?" Vin remembered how hesitant Wolf had been to interfere the last time. What had changed? Why did he help him now? What was going on?
"My brother acted in haste," Wolf reluctantly admitted. "He took you from a place where you would have been found a short time later. You were not to die. Not then and there. So, I've merely put things back the way they should be."
"What about my friend?"
"He's walking a different path right now. You must rest a while here, then I'll see to it that you find him. What happens after that is not my concern."
Vin let himself relax a bit as he heard this. Lupe came back to Wolf's side and gave him a small leather pouch. Wolf saw Vin's curious eyes study her face once more and answered his unspoken question.
"She is one of my children and very new in this shape. She is not yet used to words."
The girl brought out a woven blanket and Wolf sat down on it with her by his side. He looked at Vin as he weighed the pouch in his hand before pouring out a small amount of dust-like powder into the palm of his left hand.
"Dream with me a while," Wolf said as he scattered the powder over the fire. The dust settled in a sparkling cloud that sank down and was consumed by the flames. The smell of sage and other herbs rose up and enveloped Vin and the world around him melted away.
He was dreaming now and he knew it was so. Vin could see a man and a woman standing in front of the wall with the rock carvings he'd found in Ghost Country. As the image got clearer he could see that the woman was Lupe, but she looked different somehow. Her hair was curly now and she had on black pants and a blue shirt. And she could speak.
"Can you imagine how old these must be?" Lupe said and then he realized that he was looking at his own face as the man turned towards her. But he'd never worn clothes like that, and he'd never though to have his hair cut that way either.
Then the image suddenly changed and he was standing right near Chris Larabee up on Whisper Ridge. Chris had on the same type of strange outfit and he had dark-colored glasses covering his eyes. They were standing there, looking down into the valley, when Chris looked at him and said, "Have you decided yet, Vin?"
Before he could answer the vision was gone and he was back in the cave with Wolf staring at him from the other side of the fire.
"What was that?" Vin asked, feeling a bit shaken by it all.
"Past. Present. Future." Wolf shrugged. "Maybe they are all the same."
"What do you mean?" Vin said, feeling more and more confused. Did all of them have to talk in riddles all the time? Wolf was trickling more dust into the flames and the fumes from the fire made Vin's head spin.
"It does not matter," Wolf said gently. "It won't for some time to come. Stop thinking. Come join the hunt instead."
Vin's eyes closed but it didn't much matter for another dream took over now and he couldn't shut out the images of snow and pine trees and the pack all waiting for him. With the last bit of resistance he forced his eyes open again and tried to focus on Wolf.
"Will I remember any of this?" he asked and his voice sounded as if it came from far away.
"No," Wolf said, as Vin surrendered and closed his eyes. "You won't."
Vin's bones melted, flowed out in different shapes, solidified again. He threw off his human form and slid into his wolfskin as if he had been doing it all his life. The pack was waiting and he belonged with them.
When the others ran he ran too. All that mattered was running with the pack. Vin howled in joy. Within seconds he was completely lost in the spirit of the hunt.
*******
There was sand under his head. He could both feel and hear the grains shift as he moved his head. He had no idea how long he'd been lying here like this, it could have been just a minute, it felt like forever. The hot dry air he breathed in nearly made him choke and gasping for air made his chest ache.
His ribs hurt. His head hurt even worse. He could see absolutely nothing.
For a moment he wasn't sure if he had his eyes already open and his heart filled with despair at the thought of having been blinded. Then he realized that his eyes were in reality closed and that his lashes seemed to be glued shut. Raising a trembling hand towards his head he blacked out when he inadvertently touched the wound near his temple.
Next thing he knew the faint scent of cool lavender tickled his nose and something wet touched his face. Someone was gently cleaning his face of dust and blood with the help of a soaked piece of cloth and he could taste drops of water on his lips. As soon as he was aware enough he was allowed a single swallow of tepid water and then, when it was clear that it was going to stay down, a little more.
He opened his eyes a crack and saw the shadowy outline of a woman against the burning sun. Keeping his eyes open was too much of an effort and he had to close them again. He wondered about the woman. Who was she? Why was she here? Did he know her?
A name came to him from out of the blue and he called out, "Sarah?"
She became perfectly still all of a sudden and stopped cleaning the blood away from his eyelids. He felt her shift away from him a bit.
"I don't know your name, Mister," she told him. "How come you know mine? Did they say something about me in town? Is that where you've come from?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said groggily.
She was quiet for so long that he was starting to think that she had left, even though he was pretty sure that he could still feel her presence nearby. What was she waiting for? Was she thinking about leaving him here?
He opened his eyes and gave her a burning look. She gasped in surprise when his hand suddenly shot out and managed to grab on to her wrist. "Don't leave me here," he whispered. She stayed silent but she gave his grabbing hand a few awkward but comforting pats until he let go of her arm. When she spoke to him again it was without hesitation.
"Come on. Better get you moving unless you want to stay and feed the coyotes. You're gonna have to help out some, too. I'm not strong enough to carry you."
"All right," he said and with her help he got up on shaky legs. A buck-board stood right nearby and he managed to walk the short distance over to it and lay down on a blanket.
Things went kind of hazy after that. He couldn't say for how long they travelled or in what direction. There was no road and the terrain was rough, simply enduring the ride had him exhausted. When they finally pulled up to a house he barely had strength enough to walk inside. After she helped him to stretch out on a bed he was asleep in seconds.
He woke up groaning soon after, when she started to clean his wounds. She kept talking to him in a low voice, telling him of the time when her five-year-old son had brought home a frog with a wounded leg and had asked her to heal it. It must have been a way to try and keep his mind off how much he was hurting but it didn't work very well. Instead he studied her and the unfamiliar room to distract himself and tried to figure out what was going on.
The bed was very comfortable while the rest of the room was plain and bare, except for a chair and a small table. White curtains softened the sunlight that was streaming in through the window. He could see her quite clearly now. There was something about her that he recognized but he couldn't say quite what it was. He thought it was her eyes, the color or the shape. Or maybe her light-brown hair, the way it gleamed in the sun as she moved her head. It bothered him that he wasn't quite sure if he'd met her before or if it was just that she reminded him of someone.
As soon as she had finished fastening the bandage around his ribs he asked her, "How long was I out?"
"From the time we got here, barely an hour," she answered. "Someone must have have taken a real dislike to you, Stranger. What happened to you?"
His mind was a total blank and he had no idea what to answer so instead he asked her, "Who are you?"
The woman was quiet for a little while and frowned as she looked at him.
"You don't know?" she said. "You said my name.""I did? What name?"
"Don't you remember?"
"I don't remember anything," he said and slipped back to sleep as soon as he had finished speaking.
Some of it came back to him in dreams. He was on a horse and going somewhere. It was important and he felt a sense of urgency as he looked around in the dream. There was someone with him as well but he couldn't see who it was. There was nothing more to the dream, at least not anything that was still with him when he woke again in the early hours of the morning.
The sun had just risen and the air still felt cool in the room. He felt much better but still a bit shaky on his legs as he found when he rose from the bed. For the first time he realized that she must have taken his clothes. He had on a man's nightshirt, to save his modesty, he supposed. Other than that there wasn't a scrap of clothing anywhere in the room.
He remembered the woman, how she looked and spoke. He could also recall most of what had happened since he'd met her but nothing from before that. It hurt his head when he frowned but he couldn't help it. He felt a small nagging fear in his gut when he realized that he couldn't actually recall where he came from. A man should know that, shouldn't he?
He walked over to the window and looked outside. The first thing he saw was a small empty corral near the house and the woman was standing beside it with her back towards him. Something was moving within the morning mist that floated just above the ground in front of her.
As he watched the gray shadow grew and became a silver-furred wolf. It came out of the mist and stopped a few feet from the woman but when she held out her hand it came readily so she could stroke it over the head. He could see her scratch it behind one ear and as she leaned down it seemed as if she also spoke a few words to it.
It was such a peaceful and intimate encounter, he felt like he was intruding on something that had always been private and should have stayed that way. It was almost as if the wolf thought so too, for it unexpectedly looked up and right at him. The animal stared at him for several long seconds before turning away and looking up at the woman instead. Its tongue went out to give a lick to the end of her nose and even inside the house he could hear her faint laughter. As quickly as it had come the wolf turned around and bounded back into the morning mist.
He turned around as well and went back to bed before she came back to the house and discovered that he had seen it all. Going back to bed didn't mean going back to sleep, though. He turned slightly in the bed as he thought over what he knew.
Wasn't that much. Didn't know where he was. Didn't know who she was and he really didn't know what to think about that strange meeting with the wolf.
He scratched the stubble on his jaw. Felt like he had at least a couple of days growth of beard on his chin. That must mean that he had been out there for at least that long. Then he realized that he wasn't sure how often he used to shave. Every day? Once a week?
He got out of bed and went over to the window again. The sun had burnt off the mist by now and he could see the full view of the mountain range and the green plain beneath it. Silvery sparks from reflecting sunlight told him there was water nearby, hidden in the green grass beyond the corral. This was truly a good piece of land. Good for raising a small herd of cattle or maybe horses. Probably the best piece of land for miles around.
His thoughts were interrupted as the door opened and the woman stepped inside. She had a pair of pants and a shirt folded over her arm and she was stopped short when she found he was up and about.
"You're awake," she stated the obvious. "Don't think you should be walking around. That head must be hurting some still."
He felt a bit foolish as he admitted that it did hurt a bit. She led him back to bed and looked pointedly at him until he got under the covers.
"I'm not surprised," she said as she placed the clothes on the chair by the bed. "That's a nasty wound you've got there but it seems to be clean and healing well. You've slept for more than eighteen hours and I've yet to see any signs of infection. I'd say you've been real lucky so far. Must have an angel looking out for you."
"Think I'd rate an angel?" he said. He wasn't at all sure himself.
"Maybe," she said and smiled. "Silver would have said something otherwise when he spotted you in the window. He's very protective of me and usually a pretty good judge of character."
"Silver? You mean the wolf?"
"Yes. I rescued him when he was just a cub. His mama had been shot by hunter's up on the mountain and I took him home. Raised him myself until he was old enough to fend for himself. That was six years ago. He comes back to visit now and then. I still lay out food for him whenever I can."
"Ain't that a bit dangerous? Drawing wolves to an isolated place like this?"
"Silver would never hurt me, I'm sure of that. He's never with anyone when he comes here. Always alone. Just like-"
She stopped there. He knew, without being able to say how, that if she had continued she would have said - just like *me*.
Wasn't easy for a lone woman out here. She had mentioned a son but what little he'd seen it didn't look as if there were more people living in the house. Just her. Strange.
"I'm beholden to you, ma'am, for your good care," he said.
"You're welcome to stay until you recover properly. Should be some days yet before you can get on the road. I've brought you some clothes. You can borrow them for a while. Your own need mending and washing."
"Thank you. Won't your husband need the clothes?"
For a second her face got a lost expression then it was gone and she softly said, "No."
She took a deep breath and said once again, "No. You're welcome to use them.""Thank you, ma'am. Your name-"
"Of course, you don't know. It's Sarah. Sarah McKay."
Sarah. It was a name out of the past and it hit him like a bullet, but he never let it show. She could just see his eyes narrow for a second in reaction and nothing more. It was a common enough name. He didn't really know why he acted this way and that made him feel even more uneasy.
"What about your name then, Stranger?"
He opened his mouth but nothing came out. His name - it was .... What was his name?
"I can't remember," he said. He tried again but thinking hard only made his head pound.
"You really don't remember?"
"No," he whispered. There was just a terrible void inside his mind. He didn't know who he was and that was so strange and frightening that he didn't want to think about it.
"Don't worry," she tried to reassure him. "I've heard that it can happen sometimes when you get a wound to the head. It can come back any time, just wait and see."
"You think so?"
"When you feel a bit stronger I can take you into town to see Doc Webster. He's not bad for a small town doctor. We're lucky to have him. I think he'll tell you the same thing I have. Maybe we can help your memory along a bit. Say something."
"What should I say?" He gave her a lost look.
"The first name that comes into your head."
Without thinking he said, "Adam."
"Is that you?"
"I don't know. I don't think so. No. It's not me."
But it was a name that was terribly important to him in some way, and it brought with it such a tremendous feeling of loss that it nearly overwhelmed him. He hid his feelings and like before it didn't seem like Sarah noticed that anything was wrong. So that was another thing he now knew about himself - he was good at hiding.
"I think it'll come back to you," she said once again. "Just need to be patient. In the meantime - what should I call you? Mister? Cowboy?"
"Not cowboy," he quickly replied. "Vin's the only one-
He broke off just as suddenly as he had begun. She waited for more to come but when it was clear that he wasn't about to say anything else she gently asked him, "Who's Vin?"
"I don't know," he said and frowned. She could see dark circles and little furrows of pain around his eyes. His head had to be hurting badly again.
"I think I'll just keep on calling you Stranger, then," she told him to lighten the mood. "Until you find your name again."
"All right," he said and gave her a wry grin.
She left him alone and he slept for a few more hours before she woke him up so he could get dressed and get something to eat. With some food in his belly he felt much better and decided to take a slow walk, despite her protests. He was determined to gain back his strength as soon as he could.
He walked around the small house and noticed how skillfully it had been built. The corral was empty but he stood there by the fence for a long while and felt something stir within. Ghost horses ran through his mind and ended up in a corral much like this one. It felt real. It also felt like it was a long time ago. But he knew without a doubt that at some point he must have been working with horses.
As the sun was beginning to set he finally ended up by the wide stream and sat down on a large stone by the waters edge to take in the sky colors that that seemed almost unbelievably bright and strong out here.
Looking down at his reflection in the water he thought about his name once again but nothing came to mind. Stranger, he thought as he studied his own face. Blond hair, green eyes ... familiar and yet unfamiliar at the same time.
He threw a pebble into the water and watched as the ripples grew until they blurred the image.
Stranger. The name suited him.
Chapter Four
~~ Deadlock ~~
It was well past the middle of the night and JD knew he should have been dead on his feet by now. Instead he was on edge and full of energy, like he had been sleeping for days and only just woken up. He was ready. Yep, he was surely ready for anything.
A muscle in Buck's jaw was twitching. JD could see it clearly from where he was standing near one of the windows of the saloon. The saloon was usually open 24 hours with lots of people coming or going. If anyone was watching them it wouldn't look as if anything suspicious was going on.
Not that there were that many in the room now. They'd gone from house to house, carefully waking the owners and making sure that they knew what was going on. Some of the residents had given them half hearted assurances that they would pitch in when needed but the ones that had definitely decided to help out could be counted on one hand.
Pete Jackson and a few other men had come to the saloon, the rest were at home, guarding their houses and trying as hard as they could to stay out of it.
JD threw a glance around the room. They were nine in here, ten all in all if you counted old Luke protecting the horses back at the stable. If Mary Travis hadn't been away from town he was pretty sure she would have helped out as well.
Just ten .... JD told himself that they'd seen worse odds than that. In that Seminole village, there had been much worse odds than that. Yeah. Much worse. Except it was hard to really tell, since they weren't sure who was out there or how many they were.
The townsfolk had been told as much as it was safe to reveal without telling them anything about Dancer's assignment. The few volunteers stood mostly to the side and waited while the remaining lawmen decided on a plan of action.
"That note was meant to have us shaking in our boots," Josiah commented.
"Well, that just ain't gonna happen," Buck said, sounding coldly determined and irritated at the same time.
"Do you think that Vin and Chris are really gone this time?" JD found himself saying before he knew it.
"I don't know, JD," Buck answered distantly.
"I could go after them," JD offered. "I could sneak out of town. No one would see me." He was surprised when Buck vehemently turned on him.
"No, JD! You can't leave. It's too much of a risk!"
"But-" JD bristled.
"No buts! I won't let you! They'll cut you down."
"What if they're just hurt?" JD went on doggedly. "What if they're lying out there hurt and just waiting for us to come get them. We can't just leave them out there!"
"Don't you think I feel the same way?" Buck exploded. "But trying to break out now would be suicide, JD. It ain't worth the risk! If Chris was here he'd tell you the same thing."
But Chris wasn't there and that was the whole problem. JD and Buck locked eyes until finally JD reluctantly gave in and said, "All right. I won't."
Buck squeezed his shoulder and said, "When this is over we'll go look for them. I promise. We'll bring them home any way we can." He looked at the others and could see silent agreement in their eyes.
"Gentlemen, I think I've found the one we're looking for," Ezra spoke up. He had been sitting at one of the poker tables, going through a stack of old wanted posters. Now he held one up so they could all see a crude drawing of a scar-faced man.
"Raccoon tail and missing some fingers.... sound familiar? I'd also like to add generally ugly to the list."
"Who is he?" Buck said.
Ezra turned that poster back around and read out loud, "Three-fingered Jake Caulder. Not the most original name."
Nathan frowned. "I've heard about him. Didn't he use to run with the Backer gang?"
"Who are they?" JD asked.
"Lyndon Backer's gang," Josiah said. "They've been doing raids in the border country for the past ten years. Ezra, see if you can't find a poster. Should be one. They're a vicious bunch. If it's them we've got trouble."
"How many of them are there in that gang?" Dancer asked.
"Fifteen, twenty men. Most of them hard men. Even outlaws thinks twice before crossing Lyndon Backer, he's a mean one."
"Think you're wrong, Josiah," Nathan said. "Not about Backer, but about his gang. There was some skirmish a few years back and they got beat pretty bad by the army. Backer escaped but he lost most of his men there. They've been pretty quiet since then."
"You're right, Nathan. I'd clean forgot about that."
"Found it!" Ezra waved Backer's Wanted Poster almost triumphantly. Buck stalked over to him and snatched it out of his hand. He studied it in silence for a while then passed it on to Josiah and resumed the conversation.
"So where does all this leave us?" Buck wanted to know. "Could be twenty? Could be more? Less? Is that it?"
"I'd say less," Josiah said. "With twenty men they could have made their move already. Why haven't they? They know we're only five and won't be able to raise much support, no offence-" he cast a glance at the brave souls that had actually agreed to defend the town. It was no secret that the citizens of Fours Corners relied on their hired guns rather than to fight themselves, it had happened before. "They've already taken out our two best shooters, so why haven't they just walked right on in? Only thing I can think of is that they're not sure that they can really take this whole town by themselves. They can't be as many as twenty. Either they're waiting for reinforcements or they're simply bluffing."
"Well, I sincerely hope they're bluffing since we definitely can't get any reinforcements," Ezra muttered, just loud enough to be overheard.
"Buck?" Josiah said calmly and Buck answered, "Yeah?"
"What do you want us to do?" Josiah asked and the question hung unanswered in the air while Buck thought it over.
The burden of command. Never had Buck encountered a more accurate expression. It felt like an actual weight suddenly dropped on his shoulders. All he really wanted was to get the hell out of there.
He remembered watching Chris in much the same patient way they were all watching him now. He'd seen Chris do this hundreds of times before, knowing their lives depended on his next decision and still showing no hesitation when he told them what to do. Chris was a born leader but Buck wondered briefly how he could stand it, having all their eyes on him while he came up with a plan.
It wasn't the very first time Buck had ever had to take command and times were when he'd welcomed this chance. Just not this time. This time his heart was torn into so many pieces and each one wanted to go in its own direction.
What would Chris do... Buck hoped he'd still get a chance to find that out.
"All right," he said and put a map of Four Corners on one of the poker tables. The others gathered round him as he studied the map.
"We need to set up some lines of defence here-" he pointed at the map, "- here and here. Don't let anyone cross these lines. Put a man high up, on the roof or the second floor to cover you. They've already divided up their forces to keep us in, that much we know. They'll most likely attack when it's darkest, try to take us when we're most tired and can't see how many they are. But the dark gives us shelter too and I think we'll have some hours yet to prepare things. First of all we need to make sure that they're not already in town so they can't hit us from behind. Then wait. Let them make the first move. Don't let them draw you out, draw them out instead. When they come - just do what you can. JD talked to Mrs Potter earlier and she's agreed to let us have every scrap of ammunition we need from the store. Just make sure it counts for we don't know how long this is gonna be. Everybody make sure you've got plenty of extra rounds, might not get a chance to make a supply run. Well, that's it. Take a good look at Backer's poster so you know his face. If you can, then take him alive. Whatever you do don't let him get away. Or you'll answer to me."
He looked around to see if there were any objections but there didn't seem to be any.
"I think Josiah's right," he added with a certainty he was far from feeling inside. "Have to be less than twenty, probably no more than we are. When the light comes the odds will be on our side instead. Just hold on till daylight and then it'll be our turn."
********
Just two more hours till dawn. The outlaws had made their first move half an hour earlier. Josiah waited behind some barrels some way back from the first line of defence, hearing the continuous gunfire but not participating. He watched for something out of place to see if someone had gotten by that shouldn't be there. Small fires were lit along the street so they could see if the outlaws were coming.
Josiah felt on edge, but it wasn't just the thought of impending battle, no. Something felt wrong. Everything went quiet suddenly and he listened intently but only thing he could hear was the silky sound of wings in the night air as some creature flew by him right above his head.
The guns started up again and Josiah suddenly realized something important. The gunfire wasn't coming any closer. He'd expected that the outlaws would try to get further and further into town and that they would concentrate their fire to the center of town. But that wasn't what was happening now. Instead the outlaws were staying at the outskirts of town.
Instead of moving in it was almost as if they were trying to draw the defenders out of town. They had expected the outlaws to pull something like that but they had also expected them to give it up and change strategies if it wasn't working but they just kept at it. Why?
Either they were particularly vicious and stubborn or they were up to something else entirely. Josiah frowned as he thought this over. If the outlaws were doing something to try and divert their attention then they should all take an extra look in the opposite direction from the diversion.
Josiah quickly made up his mind. His time would definitely be better served to go check on Dancer who was holed up in the Sheriff's office, guarding the printing plates. Unless they all got killed there was no reason for Dancer to be in trouble back there but Josiah's instinct told him that the real battle would be fought there. He moved quickly and quietly through the shadows.
The faint but unmistakable call of a crow sounded from the direction of the Jail house and Josiah felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck. The enemy was already among them.
No more time. He started to run.
*******
Dancer looked up as he heard a careful knock on the door. He picked up his gun and walked over towards the door, asking, "Who's there?"
"It's Jackson, Mr Dancer. Buck sent me."
Dancer opened the door and let the man in. He looked excited.
"I heard gunfire," Dancer said. "They're here, aren't they?"
"Yes," Jackson said. "Buck thinks that they might get by the barricades, so he sent me here to help you out in case they get this far. They're many more that we thought. I think they're gonna be here soon."
Dancer closed his tired eyes for a second, breathing out a sigh. Damn! He'd hoped Buck and Josiah would be right and that things might be going their way for a change.
No time to think about that now. He moved over towards the window and looked out at the still empty street.
"Make sure you've got them square in your sights before you start firing," Dancer told Jackson over his shoulder. He heard Jackson move in closer behind him and heard a click as the gun was cocked. Then Dancer suddenly felt cold steel against his neck
"You know-," Jackson said,"- I don't think that's gonna be a problem at all."
"Jackson? What is this? What are you doing?" Jackson took Dancer's gun and put it in his own waistband before the gun was removed so Dancer could slowly turn and face the man.
"That should be obvious, shouldn't it?" Jackson replied.
"But you were shot!" Dancer still grappled with the betrayal.
"Yes, and it really hurt, I can assure you," Jackson grinned. "But it was worth it since it did wonders when it came to making you all trust me."
"Is Jackson even your name?" Dancer said. There was a bitter taste in his mouth.
"Nope. Just call me Jack. It'll do."
"What is your full name?"
"What do you care?"
"I always want to know who I'm doing business with," Dancer said, trying to buy time. "Why not be polite when you have the upper hand? Won't cost you a thing."
"You've got guts, I'll give you that," Jack said with a reluctant grin. He touched the brim of his hat in a gesture of respect. "Jack Gray at your service. Maybe you've heard of the Gray clan. We take care of our own."
"Then why are you running with the Backer gang?"
"We're cousins, Lyndon and me. Closer than brothers they've called us."
They must have been planning this for a long time, Dancer thought. And worse - to be able to place a man here they must have had substantial inside knowledge about his affairs.
"We heard rumors about your undertaking several months ago," Jack continued. "Not all your people were as loyal as you thought, Dancer. It's always surprising how little money it really takes to find out exactly what you want to know. Didn't quite know your full route, though, but we knew what territory you'd be crossing so I came to Four Corners because it was smack in the middle. I was just to pass messages along to Lyndon but now here you are, like a gift from the gods. Couldn't have planned it better myself. Now, if you'd be so kind as to open that safe, Mr Dancer."
"I don't have the combination."
"You think I'd believe that a man like you wouldn't have made sure that he knew it too? There are some places a body can be shot that will cause a man great pain but won't kill him. Do you want me to try them out on you? "
"But it's true," Dancer said. "I'm telling you that I don't have the combination."
"And I still don't believe you."
"I can't open the safe!"
"Then I've got no use for you," Jack said. Dancer could see his finger starting to pull the trigger and knew he had only a second left to live. A shot rang out deafeningly loud in the room but Dancer didn't fall. Instead he watched in near disbelief as Jackson pitched forward to end up in a heap on the floor.
Josiah shook away a piece of glass that had landed on his arm when he'd fired from the outside right through the window. He threw open the door and stepped forward, gun still aimed carefully at Jack's still body.
"Those are the wages of sin," he said under his breath as he bent down and closed Jack Gray's staring eyes.
"You just saved my life," Dancer said. "Where did you come from?" he wondered as he shook Josiah's hand enthusiastically. "How did you know anything was wrong?"
"A little crow told me," Josiah said cryptically and smiled. Dancer grinned in return. He didn't understand what Josiah was talking about but then, at that moment, he really didn't care. Being alive was all that really mattered.
*******
Where the hell was Jackson? He should have been here covering their backs but he seemed to have gone up in smoke. Had he been hurt? Was he dead?
Buck crouched down behind a wagon and looked over towards the still body of Theo ... what was his name again? He searched his mind as he fired some shots at the shadow riders. Man had volunteered and died for them. Buck should have been able to at least remember his name. A rider crashed into the wagon with full force and Buck had to jump away, narrowly avoiding getting crushed. The outlaws were concentrating everything they had into breaking down the two barriers hastily built to keep them out.
The first one couldn't hold any longer. He knew it a split second before the rider broke through. By sheer luck Buck managed to throw himself it into the shadows on the boardwalk to find shelter behind a water barrel. There was no way he was going to make it over to the second barricade where the rest of them had retreated to but now the defenders had an excellent opportunity to fire at the outlaws from two directions.
Four riders broke in and moved in a circle around the opened area, firing continuously.
Buck looked carefully over the top of the barrel and in the light of the fires he saw that one of them could be none other than Lyndon Backer. The fury that had burned in him all night suddenly burst into full flame and he was filled with such rage that he could no longer think.
Buck rose from behind the barrel and fired as he went into a death-defying run straight towards Backer on his horse. He could see the leader of the outlaws take notice of him and stop for a second to aim directly at him. But at that same moment there came a volley of shots from the barricades and Backer vaulted off his horse with a strangled cry as he was hit. The two outlaws flanking him started to back away rapidly and when they saw Buck getting close and the cover fire was getting heavier, they chose that time to get away.
A lone rider was making a run along the street, holding out his hand for Backer to grab. The firelight shone on the scar running along the whole left side of his face and Buck knew it was Jake Caulder. Backer was getting to his feet already and holding out his hand towards Caulder but their hands had barely met before Buck was upon them and he quickly wrestled Backer to the ground.
A wordless roar rose from the position of the defenders and the remaining fighters were now up on the barricades and ready to come to Buck's defence. Caulder didn't seem to like those odds and he quickly turned his horse around to ride out of town. Buck looked up over Backer's body and saw Caulder stop at a slightly safer distance and give them one final look. Then he silently turned and disappeared into the night. JD rushed up by Buck's side and threw a few shots after the last outlaw but none met their mark.
Faintly they could hear the dying echoes of gunfire coming from the other side of town but then that fell silent too. For better or worse the battle seemed to be over, at least for now.
Buck bent down over Lyndon Backer and pulled him up by his collar onto his knees.
"What did you do to them?" Buck said. "What did you do to Chris?"
Backer stared at him. His breath wheezed in his chest and there was blood on his chin. He looked at Buck and gave a short barking laugh.
"Wouldn't you like to know," he whispered mockingly and then his eyes glazed over and his jaw got all slack. Lyndon Backer had gotten away for good this time.
"No!" Buck cried out and stumbled back a bit when he suddenly found himself holding on to nothing but a dead weight.
"Bastard!" he hissed in desperation and struck out at the corpse. Someone grabbed him from behind and tried to wrestle him off Backer but he resisted with everything he had left. He wasn't about to let go again.
"He's dead, Buck!" Nathan shouted near his ear. "He's dead! You don't need to do this! You have to stop!"
Buck froze and slowly came to his senses again. As soon as he showed signs of being calm enough Nathan let go of him and backed off. Buck looked up to find that JD was staring at him as if he didn't know him and wasn't sure he wanted to either.
"JD," Buck said. "Get me something to drink, will'ya?"
Wordlessly JD disappeared to return with a canteen full of water that he held out to Buck. Buck drank deeply to rinse the taste of gunsmoke from his mouth and then gave it back to JD. "Thanks," he said. JD nodded in return, still silent.
"JD," Nathan said and JD slowly turned his eyes away from Buck to look at Nathan instead.
"Things are handled here. Why don't you go check on Ezra and Josiah," Nathan suggested and JD nodded and walked away without uttering a single word.
"He was sure quiet," Buck said and walked over to sit down on the boardwalk. He leaned back against some wooden crates and rested for a while. He felt like he had lived a thousand years in a single day.
"Think you scared him good, Buck," Nathan said as he sat down beside him.
"Didn't scare you," Buck said.
"Hell, yes, you did," Nathan said and gave him a short laugh. "But I've seen some ugly things before. Way more than JD has."
"Ugly, huh?" Buck said with a rueful smile.
"Sure was. I've never seen you act like that. It was -" he stopped, at a loss for words to describe it.
"Ugly," Buck supplied dryly and Nathan shrugged, then said, "Wasn't sure for a second if I could stop you or not. And making that rush at Backer ... what was you thinking?"
"Wasn't. Wasn't thinking much at all."
"You know," Nathan said. "When I was a stretcher bearer I saw some strange things. One time this man was brought in and he was covered with blood from head to toe, his clothes soaked with blood, his hair matted. Had to wash him off to see where he was wounded but he just had some scrapes here and there. Had him a deep wound in his arm but it hardly bled at all, all that blood belonged to the enemy. Couldn't remember a thing when he woke up but his friends told him he'd killed ten men all by himself. Doctor said it was a true case of something, think he called it berserker rage, some sort of fighting madness."
"Think that was what I had?"
"Don't know. Never seen it, it's not that common. Think maybe you came real close. What did it feel like?"
Buck thought it over. "Felt ugly," he said finally.
They sat in silence for a bit and then Nathan said. "Look, it's getting lighter. The sun is rising. We did it, Buck."
"Yeah," Buck said. He leaned his head back a little further and closed his eyes. Within seconds he was fast asleep.