Chapter 23

 

Gil rode up, pulling hard on the reins as he reached us.

He was hurried and disheveled, but alert, as he commanded, "Horses. From the East. Not ours. I want the cabin surrounded, take your positions. Talan, get to the vegetable cellar." He waited for a split second of confirmation from us then thrust his horse around and rocketed back toward the cabin.

I took up my Navy pistol and moved to Talan, who was still clutching the rifle.

"Wait!" Hugh stopped us, looking at Talan. "Didn’t Gil give you a derringer?"

Talan looked confused. "Yeah… but…"

"Do you have it?" Hugh pressed.

Talan placed a hand to his chest where the inside pocket of his coat was located. "Yeah."

"Use the gun Gil gave you." Hugh took the rifle from him. "Sophie, try to get to the ravine so you have a good watch on the cabin and the smokehouse. The rest of us will take positions to the South. Now, go!"

Talan and I sprinted off. The last glance I caught over my shoulder was of camp and James, who slid a revolver into the holster he had been wearing, that up until then had been empty.

For Talan to get to the vegetable cellar, and for me to get into the ravine at the back of the homestead, we had to cross the open yard around the cabin. As we pounded toward our destination, I hoped with every searing breath I took into my frenzied lungs that we would make it before the authorities arrived – but we were too late.

As we emerged through the line of trees I could make out a group of six or seven men on horseback in the moonlight gathering by the cabin. Instead of heading across the yard, I veered further to the right and dove to the ground in the darkness, the only effort I could make to not be seen.

Navy pistol clutched in my grasp, I army-crawled several feet forward to get a better look. Each beat my heart pounded into the ground was a prayer that I had not been seen.

Talan had dropped down behind me and he was implementing the same technique I had used to avoid being seen – pretend to be invisible while creeping along in the dark just on the outskirts of the men’s vision. Unfortunately, in Talan’s case, it didn’t work.

"You!"

Talan froze as one of the men on horseback rounded up to him and I shrank back into the night.

I assumed the man that approached Talan was Nathan Stephens, finely dressed with gray hair that had a silver sheen in the night. His horse was well groomed and all his accoutrements were polished and reflected the high moonlight.

Stephens was dangerously close to my spot on the ground, but I didn’t risk moving.

He looked down at Talan as he spoke to him, "You know where it is – the second root cellar? Benjamin showed you?"

Talan’s hand shot for his breast pocket but he stopped himself in time, feigning fatigue, he pretended to be holding his chest as he caught his breath and rose to his feet. "I… Uh… Hm. Yes. Benjamin and I have been taking turns watching it."

"And what exactly were you doing just now?"

Talan coughed. "Heard riders approaching, Benjamin’s been gone for too long, went to see if it was trouble."

This response was adequate enough for Stephens as he barreled on, "Trouble. Well, go to it, trap them, keep the fugitives for us after we’ve got Ezra."

Talan nodded wordlessly and took a few steps in the general direction of the smokehouse. Stephens turned his horse back to the scene unfolding at the cabin. Talan took one last look to the group of men in the yard and sprinted toward the smokehouse in the night. I crawled back further as another man who I recognized as Lucas Holly pounded on the cabin door.

I had to get back to the ravine, or at least maneuver myself to a spot where I had a decent view of the smokehouse. Still, I couldn’t take my eyes away from the cabin as I tried to make out as much of the conversations as I could. Someone had opened the door since Holly had tried to bang it in – I assumed it was Clara. Clara was in there with Edgar and probably Gil, but it was too dark and my wishes to hear exchanges were not granted. I didn’t dare move closer.

Another man dismounted, shoved Holly out of the way and began talking into the open cabin door. After a minute, the man nodded to the men and, to my surprise, they retreated back about twenty feet. Once they were in place, they waited and soon Clara emerged with Edgar. She was obviously upset, walking quickly and irregularly with her head down. Her son had an arm around her shoulders, ushering her toward the woods beyond the yard.

I started making my way back, crawling toward the ravine. Clara and Edgar were moving to safety. Hugh, James, Walter, and Jasper were hiding in the darkened woods to receive them and serve as backup to Gil.

After crawling a good fifty feet, I was certain the men were more concerned with Gil and the cabin as I heard shouting from that direction. I chanced it, got to my feet and dashed toward the ravine.

I stopped and hit the ground halfway between the smokehouse and cabin, along the ravine where I had a clear view of the smokehouse but could still see the back of the cabin. I crouched down low in the dark; everything was quiet except for the gentle rushing of water in the creek. The smokehouse sat still and silent in the moonlight. If anyone were to look at it, he or she would be completely unsuspicious of the life the building was harboring beneath it.

I was startled by a blast in the distance that punctured the quiet. It hadn’t been a loud sound, rather a deep, guttural boom, like the gun had been blasted into a hole. I held my Navy pistol in front of me, aimed into nothingness, cocked the weapon and held my finger trembling against the trigger. There was silence, then a sudden eruption of gunfire followed the initial blast. Seven – ten – fifteen shots, until I lost count. I felt my grasp tighten on the pistol in my hand, the trigger giving way by millimeters that felt like eternity, but I managed to loosen my hold before the gun fired. There was no one in sight.

The sudden outburst of gunfire was stifled just as quickly as it had exploded, and my ears searched the freezing air for sound, even an echo. I made out shouting, the pounding of horse hooves. I stared with all of my might into the darkness and made out the forms of several riders on horseback retreating to the East.

Silence.

Several agonizing minutes passed.

I stood up. Hugh appeared around the cabin, revolver in hand, motioning toward me. I ran forward, covering the distance a great deal faster than I had crawling.

"C’mon," he said to me. "Gil’s left with Walter. We have to reload and get back to the ravine."

"What happened?" I asked, moving forward in the dark.

"I don’t know," Hugh whispered. "Things got crazy real quick. I lost track of our men. But we have to move. They might be back with reinforcements. Get any ammunition that was discarded. There’s extra inside." Hugh ducked into the open cabin door and I turned my attention to the yard, the stench of discharged black powder swirling through the air.

I hadn’t even scanned the whole yard when I saw a figure in the moonlight – a person, lying on the ground.

There had been a casualty. And I knew who it was without taking a single step closer.

No. Please no.

When my consciousness found its way outside of this thought, I realized that I had crossed the yard and had fallen to my knees beside the lifeless body of James Leander.

I reached out and gripped his shoulder, hoping that he was still holding on – holding on long enough for me to take his hand, to tell him one last thing, to do anything. But it was too late. Without blinking, hot tears overflowed and spilled from my eyes, like a sudden, hot rising of steam, burning my face.

"Sophie, I − Oh!... No." Hugh was behind me. Quickly taking in the sight, he tried to dismiss it. He spoke calmly and quietly. "Sophie. Give me your pistol, I’ll take it from here."

"No." I wiped the tears away with the back of my hand. Somehow, autopilot had initiated, sending a nervous energy that pulled at my muscles and urged me to move. "No. They’re coming back." I groped around the freshly forming frost until I found my dropped gun. "We’ve got to get them out, to Gil, before they come back."

Hugh’s voice remained quiet. "Sophie, I can do this."

"No you can’t!" I heaved a breath and tried to keep my volume down. "Just tell me what to do."

"Sophie, this…"

But Hugh was cut off as a second voice erupted in the dark.

"James? No!"

I cast a look over my shoulder to see Jasper, laden with spent pieces of ammunition.

Somewhere out of the sinking chamber of grief and rage, our eyes met, and I felt the connection of devastation that made it hurt even more to breathe.

Hugh looked to Jasper, then me. Turning, he grabbed Jasper by the shoulders. "Listen to me. I’ll get Clarence and his group to Gil. Clara and Edgar are waiting for me beyond our camp. I want you to meet them and get them safely to Turner Plateau. I’ll head there after. All right?"

At first Jasper pulled away, but he tripped, heavy with the extra weapons. He kept from falling by thrusting hard into Hugh’s hold, a strangled sound of defiance breaking away from within him. Hugh held his ground, shoving his friend upright again with ferocious guidance.

"Clara’s safety means a great deal to all of us, you know that," Hugh said vehemently. "I’ll take it from here. Go." He shoved Jasper away with more force than I thought Hugh was capable of, but Jasper got the message.

Jasper issued a quietly sharp, "Fine," then disappeared into the woods.

Hugh turned to me. "Get as much unused ammunition as you can." He heaved the rifle up and two extra holsters he had procured from inside the cabin. "I doubt there will be much. These have been used, there’s fresh at camp. Hurry, we can’t go unarmed. Get the ones here." Hugh motioned. "I’ll get the rest."

I shoved the pistol into the waist of my pants and picked up a second rifle Hugh had pointed to that had been dropped. I slung it over my shoulder and then, internally turning off all emotional connections, I reached down and pulled the pistol from James’s holster.

I turned and ran away from the yard, coming upon a discarded revolver on the ground that I recognized as belonging to Walter. No doubt it had been cast aside when out of shots. I picked it up just as Hugh met me, and we started quickly and wordlessly up the hill.