 | ||||||||||
 |  | |||||||||
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | |||
Four Corners............
Vin Tanner was hoping to get a ride before the rain started, but it seemed that wasn’t going to be possible. He had been stopped by everyone person he passed, just to ask how he was doing. This was definitely strange for a loner like himself, but in a way it felt good.
“Mr. Tanner.”
Vin turned to see the telegraph operator running toward him.
“What can I do for you, Mr. Greely?”
“This telegraph just came for you. It looked urgent so I rushed it over.”
The bounty hunter nodded his thanks and began to read the lines, ignoring the departure of Mr. Greely.
“Damn.”
He had given up recieving any response to a friend up near Fort Laramie, but this wasn’t what he expected.
“I’ve got to tell Chris, but this ain’t gonna be pretty.”
The tracker turned and almost ran to the saloon, dreading the impending doom about to befall the seven. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Saloon.........
“Any day now ‘kid’. I’m not getting any younger.”
Buck Wilmington was holding what he hoped was a winning hand of a full house, but until J.D. Dunne bet, he was stuck.
“Look Buck, this is my last dollar. Its gotta feel right.”
“If you don’t hurry, your gonna feel something alright.”
“Okay, okay. Don’t get so huffy.”
The young sheriff finally decided to bet, only to be sorry. But he didn’t lose to Buck. Once again, the fancy dressed gambler, Ezra Standish, won with four queens.
“Damn, Ezra. If your cheating, I sure can’t figure how.”
Wilmington grumbled, trying to come up with an explanation how he lost Josiah Sanchez’s money.
“I told you, you shouldn’t have borrowed that money. Now you owe Josiah.”
“Well hell ‘kid’ I wasn’t plan on losing.”
“We were playing with Ezra, Buck. I would think that was a given.”
“Once again you are showing your growing wisdom, Mr. Dunne.”
“Thanks, I think.”
Before any conversation could continue, Vin came rushing through the swinging doors.
“You boys seen Chris?”
The tracker had barely stopped before the question was out of his mouth.
“Yeah, he’s over at the church with Josiah and Nathan. Why? Something wrong?”
Buck had the sneaking suspicion Tanner was hiding something from them.
“Nope. Just need to talk to him is all. See you boys later.”
The bounty hunter was gone as quick as he had come.
“I wondered what is bothering, Mr. Tanner. His usual aloofness was showing signs of fraying.”
“I was wonder that myself, Ezra. Whats say we mosey over and see if we can find out.”
“Lead on Mr. Wilmington. Are you joining us Mr. Dunne?”
“Uh, oh yeah. Right behind you.”
The three got up and exited following the wake of their recently departed friend. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Four Corners Church...............
“Josiah, why we doing this again?”
Nathan Jackson, the town healer, asked in between hammering nails.
“Because Brother Nate, the Lord needs a place for his congregation to gather for the holidays.”
“Okay, I’ll take your word for it.”
“You know if we don’t help, we’d never hear the end of it.”
Chris Larabee had stopped his task to grab a drink of water.
“I have no idea what you are suggesting Brother Chris.”
A faint smile creased the gunslinger’s lips. It was rare for the black clad man to participate with the others, but he had been feeling at ease lately and decided to see how long it would last. He was about to return to his work when the lanky tracker walked through the front doors.
“You done riding already?”
Vin glanced at Nathan shaking his head no, and turned his attention back to Chris.
“We need to talk.”
Chris gave his friend a puzzled look but knew not to ask questions. He would find out in due time.
“Alright. Whats up?”
For the first time since they met, Vin Tanner looked downright nervous. He swiveled around to look at Josiah and Nathan and then back to Larabee. He didn’t know if he should discuss this in front of the others. It was gonna take all the tracker’s strength just to control the fury he was expecting from Chris. He didn’t know if he could take the brunt of the others.
“Vin, something wrong?”
The soft question from the older man decided for him. He’d probably need the backup.
“Yeah.” Vin took a deep breath and then forged ahead, but not before the doors opened again and the seven were not gathered. Waiting only long enough for them to get quiet he began. “After we found Fowler, I sent an inquiry to an old friend in Fort Laramie. He has been a bounty hunter for about as long as I been alive. I figured if anyone would know about Fowler’s employer it would be him. I didn’t even know if he was still alive. So, after a few weeks I gave up waiting.”
Vin stopped to let everybody catch up and let it sink in.
“So, why you telling us this now?”
Buck’s question was laden with anger. Tanner didn’t know if it was directed at him or for the dead Fowler. He hoped it was the latter. He looked into Chris’s eyes and wished he wasn’t the one to deliver this kind of news. Larabee’s face was impassive but Vin could read the underlying fury.
“I’m telling you now, because I recieved a reply today.”
“And?”
Chris’s raspy voice almost made Vin rethink the whole situation.
“He asked around and found out who had hired Fowler to kill you.” A grim silence had settled inside the church. “A man by the name of Colonel Edmond ‘Butch’ Regal.”
Vin watched numerous expressions pass over his friend’s face and wished he could take some of them for him.
“I’ll be ready to ride when you say.”
Chris finally looked at the faces around him and knew they would all ride if he said the word.
“No. This is my fight and I have to take care of it alone.”
“Damnit, Chirs. I was there too. I ain’t gonna let you go alone.”
“Yes you are Buck. I have waited three years to finish this.”
Josiah walked over and placed his hand on the troubled man.
“You may have started out alone, my friend. But now you have six to stand beside you.”
Chris was about to refuse again when he caught the look in Vin’s eyes. Even if he left Four Corners alone, him and the others wouldn’t be far behind.
“Alright. We’ll do this together.”
The tension eased some, but only became a controlled fury. Colonel Butch Regal was a walking dead man, with seven of death’s angels knocking on his door. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Fort Laramie Saloon..............
“When’s your friend suppose to be here, Vin?”
“He’ll be along. He wasn’t expecting us for another couple of hours, so we got time.”
The seven had settled into a table at the back facing the batwing doors. Words had only been spoken when necessary since the church. None of them knew what to say. They just hoped that once this was done, they could see their friend have a little peace.
“You figured out if you know this Regal, Chirs?”
Buck had lost all of his jovial mood and now wasn’t much different then the sullen Larabee.
“No. I thought maybe we might have crossed paths in the war, but I don’t remember no Colonel by the name of Regal.”
The quiet fell around them once again as they waited.
“Tanner.”
A tall, gray haired man had stopped in front of the table.
“Happy. How ya been?”
“Better than you from what I’ve heard.”
The two men clasped hands briefly as Vin introduced the others.
“Mr. Larabee, I was sorry to hear about your family. I just hope now some justice can be served.”
“Me too.”
“So what can you tell us about this Regal, Happy?”
Vin’s tone was light but his eyes were cold as ice.
“He’s a big land baron in this area. He owns everything, except your land, Mr. Larabee. If he can’t buy it, he’ll steal it. He used Fowler to scare most folks away. I hadn’t heard he had killed no body until Vin sent me that telegraph.”
“But why did he go after Chris?”
J.D. had kept quiet in respect to the older men, but his curiousity was getting the best of him.
“Because he wanted his land.”
“What?!”
The question was asked in unison from Chris and Buck.
“I found out from one of the old timers that while you was out of town one day, Regal’s men were passing over your way and stumbled onto a cave in which they found some gold nuggets. It seems they brought their find to their boss and he had it tested. They told him it was from a huge vein. It was a few months after that your place burned.”
The old man stopped when he saw the hatred emenating around him.
“Where’s Regal now?”
Josiah’s quiet voice rang with fury.
“He’s on his way into town with some of his boys. The telegraph operator is one of his men and told him you boys were headed this way.”
“Thanks Happy.”
The black clad gunslinger had lost some of his anger and now looked reserved.
“Just glad I could help. I’d be happy to stand beside you if you need it.”
“No, thanks. I’ve got all the help I need.”
Larabee gave each man around him a knowing stare. They may get out of this alive and then maybe not, but they had made the choice to join him and he would forever be grateful. His gaze paused a moment longer on his oldest friend and then ended on his new best friend. The message sent between them was similar to the one they shared the first day they met. It spoke of a bond that no matter what they would always be by the other one till the end.
“Let’s do this.”
Happy left the seven gunmen to prepare for the impending fight, praying that Regal got what he deserved. And as he glanced back, he knew he would, even if it meant the death of everyone of the seven. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
High Noon, Fort Laramie.................
“Larabee. I know your in there. Come out so we can settle this once and for all.”
Colonel Regal wasn’t a tall man, and didn’t look to be much older than Chris. But one glance into his eyes told of the devil underneath.
First one, then another, then another, until finally seven granite faced men stood side by side on the dusty street. The townsfolk had sought shelter at the first yell. So, now it was Regal and his men facing the seven. The odds seemed almost fair, although the enemy outnumbered the others by two, but that didn’t worry any of them in the least.
“Is it true you killed my family for gold?”
The icy words could have sliced wood.
“Well, you know how it is Larabee. If you want something in this world, you have to do everything in your power to get it. I’m just sorry you didn’t die with your wife and little boy.”
The words stopped and deathly silence blanketed the street. Their eyes never waivered and their gun hands were poised and ready. The shot sounded and no one knew from which direction it came. The fight lasted all of 3 minutes, but as the smoke cleared, seven men stood with pistols drawn.
“Everybody alright?”
Chris Larabee was afraid to look beside him, daring to even think one of them may be gone.
“I seem to be still in one piece, Mr. Larabee.”
“I’m good, Brother Chris. How about you Nathan?”
“Yeah, I’m feeling real good right now. J.D.?”
“I got a hole in my hat, but the rest of me’s fine. Buck?”
The ‘kid’ turned quickly to his right.
“I’m fine ‘kid’.”
Some of the softness of Wilmington’s face was trying to return, but it was slow.
“Vin?”
Chris finally turned to his right and saw his friend still standing beside him, although looking very pale.
“Don’t worry about me, cowboy. It ain’t nothing Nathan can’t fix.”
Larabee put his gun back in its holster and went to stand facing Vin, noticing the blood oozing from his right arm. Chris pulled his bandana from his throat and wrapped on the younger man’s wound.
“Next time, I think you should stand behind me.”
Vin’s slow grin told the older man he understood the true meaning of Chris’s words.
“Naw, the side seems fine to me.”
Chris didn’t know what to do or say. His three year battle was finally over and left in its wake was a new family, he hadn’t realized was forming. A gambler, a healer, a preacher, a kid, an old friend, and a tracker. Brothers. A smile long hidden from the world emerged into the sunlight, as the gunman noticed two figures walking into the light behind Vin. The taller one turned and blew a kiss, while the smaller person waved to his father.
“See ya soon.”
“You say something, pard?”
Buck was standing next to Chris while Nathan tended Vin’s wound.
“Just goodbye.”
Larabee blinked and the images were gone, so he gave his attention to his friend’s.
“He alright to ride?”
The healer was about to suggest they stay a couple of days, but the looks around him said they would all rest better when they got home.
“He’ll do.”
“Then, lets go home.”
Seven men stood side by side and walked to gather their horses, ignoring the looks around them or the dead bodies they past in the street. A new kind of peace had settled and they knew they were exactly where they needed to be. Together. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
