DISCLAIMER: The main characters in this story do not belong to me. Ezra, Maude and Josiah belong to MGM and Trilogy Entertainment. The concept of immortality belongs to Rysher: Panzer/Davis. I am not profiting off this story.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: It's not betaed, but it's not long either.
Crossover with Highlander. This is part 3. Previous parts were The Bankrobber and the Kid and The Conwoman and the Child. I'm still writing more stories in this universe, a minimum of six with different POVs and different lengths.
RATING: some cursing
COMMENTS: The other plot-bunny for immortality was how I could make as many of the Seven as possible immortal in the most natural way. Josiah is easy of course, since he's already in Highlander. Not that I think any part of the Messenger really happened in this universe. And once again, that's still a century away.
Ezra thumped his feet against the couch impatiently. Mother was talking with her newest mark. She had told Ezra to be nice and quiet, while she talked to the visiting gentleman. The boy rolled his eyes in exasperation. He knew what that meant. Mother was getting ready to begin a new round in her everlasting game.
He may be only six years old, but he wasn't stupid. And he didn't like this new person. The man had mean dark eyes. But Ezra trusted Mother to be smart enough to see that, so he wasn't worried. Mr. Codsworth and Mother could have their fun, and Ezra would have his. As soon as they were busy doing things without him, he was going to go exploring.
Mother and he had just arrived in a brand new town, and the young boy couldn't wait to go look see. Ezra had never been so far out west before, but he had heard all sorts of great stories about cowboys and bad guys and sheriffs and gunmen and a whole lot more. The ride into town on the stagecoach had been an adventure in itself. He hadn't seen any Indians though, Ezra thought glumly. Still, the small town looked so strange to the city boy, that he just had to see it upclose. And who knew when Mother would see fit to take him outside. This hotel just wasn't big enough to keep him occupied like most others they had stayed in.
Ezra knew Mother didn't like it, when he took off alone, but that was just too bad. She obviously didn't care when he didn't like something she did. Why should he always be the one to give in? It wasn't fair and he wasn't going to stay indoors all day when there was a whole different world outside the window.
"Ezra dear? Mr. Codsworth has been so courteous as to invite me to a ride in the country. I'm afraid it will be rather strenuous for a child as young as yourself. Will you be alright here alone?"
Ezra had to keep himself from jumping off the couch in joy at this unexpected chance. He'd been afraid he would have to come up with a way to escape.
"Yes, of course, Mother."
She nodded crisply. "Good. I will expect to see you at dinner then."
And with that she allowed Mr. Codsworth to escort her out of the room.
Ezra waited a whole ten minutes, anxiously staring out the window for any sign of Mother returning, but he finally decided it was safe. Jumping off the chair he ran for the door.
The boy had no trouble exiting the hotel. Wandering around, he took in the town and the people with big green eyes. The town was rather small in comparison to the cities he had seen, but it was all exciting and new. The people here dressed differently, he noticed. The men wore mostly brown, and the kind of clothes they wore were also strange. Ezra glanced down at the bright red jacket Mother had put on him for the meeting with Mr. Codsworth. Well, he liked red much better anyway.
Nobody really bothered Ezra as he walked around and he spent a good hour following all kinds of different and interesting people. One of those was a man with overly large jiggling spurs on his boots. Ezra was curious to see if the man didn't get stuck pinned to the wooden boards. For some strange reason he didn't.
When the boy looked up again he noticed he had entered some kind of drinking establishment, as Mother called it. He was ready to walk back out, when three men around a table caught his attention. Those people were playing cards. Ezra excitedly walked towards them. It had been a long time since he had played cards. All the way two of Mother's marks ago. She often let him play against rich friends of her marks to show how good he was. They usually laughed and praised his skills, when he won the game, since Ezra was really good. The card-playing people weren't usually this loud though. Still, a game was a game.
Ezra watched them intently, trying to see which game it was, and how good the men were at playing it. The boy stood on his toes to see the cards on the table being played. Huh. Poker. Not one of the most difficult games he knew.
Playing poker was easy. Mother had told him to always smile even if he had a bad hand. The game was really to try and find the little habits in the other player that showed if they had good or bad cards. It was a new way of playing hide and seek really. Only you had to find something hidden on someone instead of a whole person. Ezra's eyes shifted attentively between the players trying to find any repeating patterns.
The man with the beard twitched his eye when he had a good hand. The blond man fingered his bandanna, when he was bluffing. And the last guy didn't seem to know how to play poker at all. He always betted on everything. Ezra had to stop himself from telling the man how he could do better. Mother had taught him never to give up an advantage, because the other person certainly wouldn't, and you never know when you might need to do one better.
So Ezra just memorised all the little signs in the poker game, and nodded happily to himself. He could do this. He spoke up.
"Can I play?"
Three pairs of eyes turned to him. They didn't look very friendly, but Ezra ignored that.
"This isn't a kid's game, boy. Beat it!" The blond man said.
Ezra grappled in the pocket of his jacket. Mother never left him without money. Ezra normally used it to buy dinner, when she failed to return at night. But she had said she expected him at dinner, so she would be there today. He hoped.
"I've got money. See? And I know how to play poker."
The bad player shrugged. "Let him. Maybe I'll even win something for a change."
Ezra eagerly climbed on a chair and sat on his knees, so he could see the table better. The next couple of hours he spent playing cards. He kept smiling, and he made sure not to bounce. Mother said he bounced when he got excited, and that was not good in a poker game. So he was determined not to bounce when he had a good hand.
All in all, he won a fair bit of money. He wasn't exactly sure how much. Mother had taught him counting, but multiplication above ten was still a bit too difficult without paper. The stakes were smaller than usual, but he had played a lot longer, so there were a lot more bills on the table.
Suddenly panicked Ezra threw a glance at the window. It was getting dark outside. Mother would kill him if he were late for dinner. The boy put down his cards and grinned at his opponents.
"Well, gentlemen, I win."
He expected them to laugh and say he could play pretty well for a kid. For some reason these men didn't do that. They looked angry. Ezra blinked, slightly confused.
"We don't like being cheated, do we, boys?" The twitch-eyed man said.
Ezra slowly pulled his legs out from under him, because he suddenly wondered if he would have to run for it. This was not good. And what to do about the money that was fairly his? He didn't cheat!
"I did not cheat, sir!" Ezra said angrily. He started to pick up his money from the table in a burst of activity.
A large hand came down on top of his. The boy's eyes shot up to the blonde.
"Leave that and you might get out of this!"
Ezra tried to pull his hand away, but the man was much too strong. "Let go! That's mine. I won it and I didn't cheat!" He shouted angrily. The boy was too angry to be scared right now. He just knew he was not leaving without that money.
"Why you cheating little devil!"
Twitch-eye raised his hand to hit Ezra, but the green eyes just flashed at him defiantly, daring him to do it. The hand never hit its target.
A loud booming voice came from behind Ezra.
"What kind of man hits a child?"
The child in question looked from the hand that had suddenly appeared around the wrist of the twitch-eyed man up towards the man standing behind him. He had to look up and further up. Ezra didn't think he'd every seen a person so big. Or so angry.
"The boy cheated us out of all our money." The blonde man stated, with a lot more caution than before.
The big man looked down into Ezra's upturned face. "Did you cheat?"
The boy was about to become angry again at the accusation, but he noticed the man's eyes seemed very friendly. The anger drained away, leaving him feeling a bit light-headed.
"No, sir, I just play better." He smiled widely at his new friend.
The big man returned the smile with a big grin, then turned it at Ezra's opponents.
"If the boy says he didn't cheat, then he didn't cheat." The grin faded a bit. "Now I suggest you folks get on out of here, and don't underestimate the person you're playing with next time."
The three men slunk away chagrined, apparently not willing to take on someone that large. Ezra went back to the task of gathering his money and putting it away. Once he had done that he turned to his rescuer and offered his hand.
The big man grinned amusedly as he shook hands with the child. Ezra's small hand almost disappeared in his own.
"Thank you for your assistance, sir." The green-eyed boy said the memorised and often used sentence very seriously, before smiling widely. "They were scared of you, weren't they?"
"They sure were. Glad I could help. A bit of advice though, son. The next game you play? Try not to take all their money." The big man tipped his head, and moved towards the bar.
Leaving his rescuer to get a drink, Ezra happily left the saloon to get ready for dinner with Mother. All in all, it had been a very good afternoon. Playing cards was always fun, and he had won a fair bit of money as well. He didn't really see why the men had been angry that he played better, but he made sure to remember his rescuer's advice for next time.
Josiah smiled as he saw the pre-immortal little boy in the red jacket leave the saloon. He wondered what would become of him. The child would need a teacher eventually, once he became immortal. While the ex-preacher had watched in amusement as the boy cleaned out his unfortunate opponents, he had briefly considered taking him in. But the boy was too well-dressed to be an orphan, and growing up with a loving family in happy ignorance was better than the life Josiah could give him.
Besides, Josiah had the nagging feeling that he hadn't seen the last of that boy.
Continued in: The Conwoman and the Challenger
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