DISCLAIMER: No profit is made in any way shape or form from this fan fic. All of the Magnificent Seven characters are the property of Mirisch, Trilogy, MGM, CBS, and now TNN. However I would like to state that I do not wish my characters borrowed without my knowledge or consent. If you are not certain a character is canon or mine, I will be happy to let you know. Just ask or look at my list of original characters.
Many thanks to Paula, Wen, and Judy for being such great beta readers.
RATING: PG 13 Some language
It was a sad and sorry night that Vin and Buck took patrol, but there were thieves in the area hitting small ranches and homesteads. They would set the barn or some outlying building on fire in order to draw the people from the house. Then, they would go in and help themselves to anything they could find that they thought of value. Money, watches, jewelry, music boxes, small household items, and finally food would turn up missing. The thieves always struck at night, and with all the rain that had accompanied the winter this year, tracks were all but invisible. No strangers had been seen in town and no one had been turning up with extra money or with stolen goods. The seven peacekeepers were stumped and tempers were running thin. So it was this in mind that had Vin and Buck patrolling a widened perimeter around Four Corners that kept them in their saddles the entire night. This night, however, turned particularly hellacious as both men found themselves in a driving rainstorm that had them take cover in a cave near town because of hail. They returned to town wet and disheveled. Both men had gone to their rooms for dry clothing and then Buck had insisted that they go for a drink at the saloon. That way they could let Chris know they were back and the reasons for it. When the storm let up, they'd go back out.
Vin had followed his friend through the door. He had nodded to Nathan and Josiah and turned to tell Buck he was going to sit with their two friends. He never knew what hit him. One minute he was listening to Buck's tale of Sally Reynolds and the stolen box of sewing thread and needles, he heard a boom, and the next he was lying flat on his back looking up into the concerned faces of Nathan, Buck, Ezra, and Josiah. Well, he thought it was them, but the little black, white, and gold stars obscuring his vision made it difficult to see. Not to mention the fact that he wanted to throw up the entire contents of his stomach.
"What the hell happened?" was the disgruntled question he managed to mutter before the pounding in his head grew so loud oblivion was the only respite. Buck grabbed Seth Jackson by the collar and pulled him up to eye level.
"What the hell were you thinking firing that shotgun at me?"
"You were at my house tonight. Ya stole my wife's pie and then. . "
"I was nowheres near your house. I was at the boarding house eatin' dinner with the boys. Ask anyone, Mrs. Bridger and the boys, ya big fool." Seth looked around and saw several people nod their heads in agreement. "Then I was on patrol lookin' for the thieves who've been hittin' homesteads all over. Nathan?" Buck sounded worried. He ignored the idiot in front of him. This time, Buck was innocent of any involvement with anyone else's wife. Not that Becky Jackson wouldn't have made a nice conquest, but Buck had been too busy lately to make time with Seth Jackson's wife.
"Well, if it weren't you who was it?" Seth Jackson looked at the wounded man on the floor. There was an ugly gash on his forehead and blood gushing everywhere. Nathan was holding a cloth next to the gaping wound in Vin's forehead. The bullet had grazed alongside his left temple. Two more inches to the right and Vin would have been a dead man. As it was he was going to have one hell of a headache and about ten stitches. Chris burst through the doors with JD on his heels to see one of his best friends lying in a widening pool of blood and the others holding their guns on an angry and confused Seth Jackson.
"Nathan?" JD beat him to the question.
"He's all right. That hard head of his is gonna hurt like hell and he's gonna have a concussion that'll keep him down for a couple of weeks, but other than that, he'll be fine." Nathan looked up into skeptical green eyes. "Head wounds always bleed like this. He'll be fine. Won't feel fine for a while, but he'll be fine."
Chris nodded, the knot forming in his stomach easing with Nathan's reassurances. Then he turned cold green eyes on Seth and Buck.
"What happened here? I thought you boys were on patrol." The question made poor Seth nearly swallow the tobacco he had in his mouth. Buck looked Chris right in the eye and explained.
"We were until it started hailing rocks. Vin said nothin' would be out in this for another couple of hours, so we came back for a spell. We came in to tell ya, and this here idiot tried to shoot me in the chest. Bullet went clean over my shoulder and got Vin."
Seth blanched under the Larabee glare that pinned him to the spot and made him say a prayer of thanks that his shot hadn't killed anyone, especially Buck Wilmington or Vin Tanner. Seth was sorry about Tanner, he liked the man, but he had been so sure Buck was the one tom catting around his wife that he just got his shotgun and went after him. Now Tanner lay on the floor injured and Wilmington was apparently innocent this time. Seth knew he was in big trouble as neither Ezra or Josiah had holstered their guns.
"I didn't mean to shoot Tanner. I was aimin' for Wilmington. Thought he'd been cattin' round my wife and stole her apple pie."
"It wouldn't be your apple pie you'd have to worry about if Buck was cattin' round your wife, Seth." Josiah finally holstered his gun and was preparing to help Buck and Nathan carry Vin to the clinic. "I'm thinking that those petty thieves have moved into town."
Chris looked over at Josiah and had to agree. Who else would steal an apple pie? Now Vin had been shot because some irate husband just assumed Buck was after his wife and settled for the pie instead. If they didn't find out who the thieves were soon, someone was going to get killed.
It was an hour later when Vin finally regained consciousness. The stars obscuring his vision had lessened, but the room swam horribly as he tried to get up and get the man who had shot him. Strong hands pushed him back down.
"Will you lie still? I didn't stitch that hard head of yours up for you to break it open agin." Nathan's face came into focus, finally.
"Nathan, I think. . . ." Nathan was ready with the bucket when Vin emptied the contents of his stomach. He lay back against the pillows holding his head and looking exhausted. "Who shot me an' why ain't I dead?" He heard a chuckle from the corner, and Buck appeared in his line of somewhat blurry vision.
"How ya doin', pard?"
"Like I got shot in the head. Who?"
"Seth Jackson thought I was sniffin' round his wife an' stole the apple pie she'd just made. He took a shot at me and some buckshot grazed that head a yours."
"You was with me lookin' for them thieves. Why'd he think it was you?"
Buck's lopsided grin was all the answer Vin needed. He was tired and felt like hell, his head was pounding, but he had to talk to Buck first. "You ain't chasin' after her now, are ya?"
Buck laughed, relieved to see Vin so alert. "Nope, this time I'm innocent. I haven't even been introduced proper to Miz Jackson."
"You'd best stay away if her husband's that trigger happy with a shotgun." Buck still felt guilty that Vin had been shot, but just seeing his friend sound better than he looked was like music to his ears. He'd been telling the truth. This time he'd done nothing that would warrant Miz Jackson's husband taking a shot at him. He saw Vin flinch as another wave of nausea hit him. This time he held Vin's head as Nathan held the bucket. He helped Vin lie back down once he was through. Then, after a minute or two, he helped the man sit up slightly in order to drink the noxious smelling brew Nathan held out.
"I don't want none of your ditch water, Nathan. I'm sick 'nough as it is." Nathan just shook his head and smiled.
"I reckon it hurts like hell, you got some blurred vision, it sounds like ya got a beehive buzzin' inside yer skull, and jest the thought of drinkin' anything, even water, makes ya want to throw up. Now drink this. It'll help settle your stomach and ease the pain a bit. Coupla more inches to the right and. . . ."
Vin groaned after they forced the ginger and willow bark tea down him. He'd drunk ditch water that tasted better than this. He looked at Nathan's affable face grinning down at him. "An' I coulda been killed." He didn't say any more as it took all his concentration to keep the tea down. It must have worked, because he was out in just a few more minutes. Buck looked over at Nathan as Chris quietly came through the door.
Nathan, having motioned them over to the other side of the room, answered their questions before they could ask him. "He'll be fine. He woke up an' knew us even through his blurred vision. Made sense, too. In a coupla weeks he'll be as good as new. Till then, we just keep wakin' him every few hours and keep that tea in him so's he can hold some food down later tomorrow. He just needs quiet and plenty of rest." Both men looked relieved.
"Buck, you wanta go tell the others while I spell Nathan for a while? Vin was right. With all this rain, I doubt any homestead or ranch'll get hit. But I think Josiah's right, too. They may have moved to town where they can get more quick."
"I'll take a walk 'round the town an' look for anything suspicious after I tell the boys how Vin's doin'"
"That'll work. JD said he'd help ya keep watch an' Ezra actually volunteered to keep an eye open and an ear out. He and Josiah both think the Jacksons aren't the only ones that'll get hit tonight."
"If they start any fires in town, it might get ugly."
Nathan and Chris both smiled at that. "Then I'd say we're damned lucky it's been so wet lately. Wet wood don't burn as fast or easy." Chris made that statement with a feral grin. "It's only a matter of time till we find 'em, Buck. Nathan, go and get some rest. When do I need to wake Vin?"
"In about two hours. Get him to drink some more of that tea there." He paused as he brought another bucket to the bedside. "You best keep that handy. He's gonna need it for a while." With that he picked up the other bucket and walked to the door with Buck admonishing him as he went. "You be careful. He's a handful enough without you gettin' yourself shot. I don't need to be nursemaidin' two of ya." Chris laughed as he saw Buck start to protest.
"We know, Buck. You're innocent this time." Nathan laughed at the gesture Buck gave Chris as a parting shot. He walked as far as the saloon with Buck. Instead of going in, he made tracks for Vin's room where he could get some uninterrupted rest. He never saw the pair of eyes watching his every move or the other set watching Buck walk into the saloon. Both sets of eyes disappeared into the rain as the two men parted company and reached their destinations.
Chris pulled out a book and settled in the chair recently vacated by Nathan. Looking at his watch, Chris decided that he needed to wake Vin at midnight. He picked up the tea being kept warm on the potbelly stove and sniffed it. Lord but Vin was going to hate this concoction. It smelled like something died and the only way to alleviate the smell and taste was to cover it up with ginger. Too bad Vin had to drink it, but this would teach him not to follow Buck into a saloon any more.
"I tell ya, ain't no darkie doctors."
"Yeah, but if he ain't the doc, then why did those lawmen let him take care a that one that got shot?"
"Don't make no difference. We got to get some med'cine for Jules and Bull. She's been throwin' up all day, an' Bull don't look so good. He ain't ate in two days, not even apple pie an' that's his favorite." The older boy looked at the two boys huddled beneath the empty boxes near the back door of Mrs. Potter's store. "You say those big men left?"
"Yeah, John Henry. But that mean lookin' one in black is settin' with that tracker fella."
"Watcha mean the mean lookin' one?" Little Josh Quinn would have reached JD's waistline standing straight up with his shoes on, if he had any. Wet, matted, blonde hair obscured the big brown eyes that at ten years old had seen more than his share of suffering.
"You know, that one who's got that glare in his eye like he could kill you with just a look." John Henry answered Josh wisely. "That man could scare the devil hisself. You mark my words." Dallas hit John Henry in the arm for scaring little Josh.
Josh's compatriots were Dallas O'Banyon and John Henry Summers. Dallas was thirteen and John Henry twelve. They were runaways. The administrator at the orphanage was a mean old, really old, man who had beaten each boy within an inch of his life.
They would have toughed it out until the old man died, surely an old man that old and mean wouldn't last too much longer, but old man Perkins had taken a special interest in Dallas's fourteen year old sister, Julia, Jules for short. When they had seen Jules flee sobbing from old man Perkins office, they'd taken off after her sure that the old man had beaten her too. But, he hadn't. They found her finally. It was pitch dark, and she was hiding in one of the huge oak trees near the back entrance. She wouldn't tell them anything at all, but finally in frustration because her brother and his two best friends were hounding her, she blurt out that old man Perkins had put his hands all over her telling her she was to be his new vessel of light. She'd bitten him, and run for her life. When they had heard the commotion of the search party, they had decided they had to run or face losing Julia. Old man Perkins was sure to beat her to death for biting him.
They had come across a crusty old miner who had one dilapidated wagon and two stubborn mules he called Bob and Dewdrop. The old man had taken one look at the filthy and frightened children, and he had motioned them under a dirty tarp on his wagon. They'd heard as he'd lied to the sheriff and said he hadn't seen any children, 'didn't like the filthy brats that were no good for nothin' 'cept bear bait.' Josh thought Bull Samson was the biggest, meanest, orneriest old coot he'd ever met. It was, in short, love at first sight. The lonely old man loved those kids like they were his, and he treated all of them, even Julia better than he treated his mules. That was saying a lot for a man who disliked most people and hated the rest.
Now he and Julia were both real sick. They'd come to some town where Bull had come out of the store quicker than a fox runnin' from the hen house. He had said something about an epidemic, and then they had left with no supplies. He'd taken sick with a fever several days later, and then Julia two days after that. That's when the boys had resorted to petty theft to survive. While Dallas had started small fires that would distract but not harm, John Henry and Josh had run into the homesteads and grabbed what little they could. They knew Bull would beat them worse than old man Perkins, but they hadn't wanted to ask anyone for help. Some nosy sheriff had asked Bull where he had gotten the kids from, and they were scared someone might take them from him. So, until Bull and Julia got better, the boys were calling the shots. They'd take whatever punishment Bull thought was appropriate when he got better. They refused to think the old man might not recover. He wouldn't leave them or Julia while she was sick, he'd promised.
Dallas looked at the two younger boys. "I'll go see what kinda dieverzun I kin make, an' you two go an' get some med'cine. Okay?" He stopped before he lit out in the rain again. "Make sure the man in black is gone 'fore ya go in the doc's place. Understand?"
"Sure thing, Dal." John Henry was a good follower,
"We won't tangle with that mean 'un. We promise, Dal." Josh could always be counted on, too. With that the two younger ones took off to wait under the stairs for the man in black to be drawn from the injured man's side by Dal's diversion. Josh whispered to John Henry.
"You think that tracker fella is dead? He got shot in the head."
"Nah, I reckon he must be barely alive what with being shot in the head and all. He won't give us no trouble. You jest stick with me, Josh. We'll get the med'cine and get Jules and Bull back to their old selves. You jest wait an' see." He patted the younger boy on the shoulder for comfort, and they both fell silent watching and waiting.
Vin was asleep, and Chris had little over an hour left before he had to wake him when he heard people yelling. He strode first to the window and then the door, but all he could see through the rain were shadows running back and forth. He hated not knowing where the enemy was coming from or what they were doing, but he didn't want to leave Vin unattended while he was out.
"Give me a gun." Chris looked over. Vin was awake and trying to sit up. It only caused him to get sick again, and Chris reached him just in time to place the bucket near enough for Vin to miss the floor.
"You can't even sit up without pukin' your guts up. What makes you think you can handle a gun?"
"Then I'll stay put here facin' the door. Just go an' help. Someone might get hurt this time." Chris hesitated for a minute, but Vin knew how to convince him. "If you don't go an' help, I'll just try to get up agin, an' then you get to tell Nathan why I fell flat on my face with you in the room." Chris smiled at that.
"Here, take this gun and lie still. I don't want Nathan on my butt cause you can't stay still."
Vin managed a lopsided grin. "You got my word, cowboy. Lock the door, an' I'll stay put till you get back."
Chris took one final look at Vin trying to decide if he should stay or not, but when Vin made a move to get up, he gave in.
"I'll be back soon as I know what's goin' on. Stay down. I'd hate to have to shoot ya." With that he was out the door pausing long enough to lock it. He knew someone could break the door down if they wanted to, but Vin was no longer worth a hefty bounty any more, so why would anyone bother trying to get to him. So far the thieves were only after loose money, food, and small trinkets they could carry fast without notice. Carrying an injured man out a busted door was sure to bring unwanted attention. Vin wouldn't go quietly. Chris would be back as soon as he knew what was going on.
It didn't take long to find out, and Chris thanked God for the rain they had been complaining about earlier. The livery was on fire, or at least someone had set a fire somewhere inside. By the time he got there, the fire had been put out. There were plenty of men there, all of them wet and all looking angry and tired. Buck and JD had been handling the people, and Nathan and Josiah were checking for minor injuries. Ezra nodded to Chris as he proceeded to placate the men who had helped put the fire out and sent them home to check on their families. Chris watched from the overhang as he spoke to the livery owner. Someone had started a fire in the back in one of the empty stalls. There had been water poured all over the hay so as not to let the fire get out of hand. It had been easily put out, but the smoke had been horrendous. The horses were out in the corral nervous from the smoke and activity. It didn't help that there was a thunderstorm in the distance moving parallel to the town. It made it difficult to hear. Chris looked over at the rest of his men.
"Let's do a sweep of the town and see who they hit. This was definitely one of their diversions." They all nodded and took off in different directions. Buck and Nathan were the last two to go. Buck raised only an eyebrow, but Nathan waited somewhat impatiently for Chris's answer.
"That stubborn mule of a tracker threatened to come out here if I didn't come to check it out myself. He promised to stay put till I got back. I left him with a gun and the door locked." Buck shook his head and grinned as he took off to join the others. Nathan stayed longer.
"What say I go with you an' we checked this side of the street till we get to the clinic. I'll check Vin out while I'm there." Chris motioned him out into the rain. He followed.
"He'll be there, Nathan. He gave me his word." Nathan snorted and Chris laughed. "He'll be fine. I threatened to shoot him else." That got the healer laughing, and they swiftly checked the businesses along the way to the clinic. Josiah stopped them as they were two doors down from the clinic.
"Mrs. Bridger is missing a pot of beans she had simmering for tomorrow. The Tysons are missing the money the missus kept in the honey jar. Other than that, no one else has been hit."
"No one on this side either, so far. Why start a fire on one end of town and bypass most of the best places to steal petty cash from?" Chris looked puzzled until Nathan looked over at him.
"Less'n they wanted somethin' from the other side of town. What's furthest from the livery?"
Buck had joined them at this time followed by JD and Ezra. The six men looked at one another and started running for the clinic.
He heard them before he saw them. It was the lock being manipulated that alerted him. He was expecting a shadow in the doorway of a man or men, but there was nothing. Then as the effort of keeping his eyes opened and the gun steady took its toll on him, he lowered his line of sight. That's when he saw the two shadows. The light was dim in the room as Chris had lowered the flame on the lamp before he left. Vin couldn't believe his eyes, and at first thought the concussion was playing tricks on his mind as well as his sight. But no, he really did see two shadows. He slipped the gun under the pillow and closed his eyes until it appeared he'd fallen asleep. He forced his body to relax as the shadows moved into the room. Sure enough, it was two young boys. One had to be around twelve or thirteen while the other one could not have been more than nine or ten. Vin waited to see what they would do.
"Look over there, but be quiet." John Henry decided to look at the table by Vin. Surely anything he had near him had to be medicine. He took the cup that held the ginger and willow bark tea and sniffed. Vin nearly started laughing at the look of disgust that came over the boy's face.
"Try drinkin' it. It tastes worse than it smells."
The two little boys jumped like Vin had shot them, but seeing he was making no effort to get up from the bed and stop them, their curiosity won over their fear and they moved closer to him.
"What is it, Mister?" John Henry was certain it was some kind of medicine. Little Josh wasn't worried about the noxious concoction. He wanted answers.
"How come ya got shot it 'n the head and ya ain't dead?" Josh pointed to the bandages Nathan had wrapped around Vin's head.
If he stayed really still and didn't move about much, Vin discovered he could control his nausea and his blurry vision somewhat. He answered slowly so as not to jar his already queasy stomach. If Buck hadn't been innocent, Vin would have whacked him over the head just to teach him a lesson. He sure wasn't going to follow Buck into any place any more, innocent or not. Buck could just follow Vin through the door. Better yet, Vin would wait a few minutes before he entered any building Buck was in, just in case.
"It's some tea made outa willow bark and ginger. Helps the pain and keeps ya from pukin' yer guts up." Josh and John Henry nodded wisely. "Nathan keeps it in that jar over there." Vin lifted his hand and pointed to the cupboard where Nathan kept his powdered medicines. John Henry walked over to the cupboard and stood on the chair next to it.
He started rifling through the jars. He caught one as it tumbled from its place. He looked at Vin and Josh for their reactions.
"Now don't go makin' a mess a things. I can't stand long 'nough to come over there and get it for ya. One jar says G I N G E R on it an' the other says W I L L O W." John Henry found them much faster now he knew what letters he was looking for. Josh looked at his new hero and smiled. This man got shot in the head and not only was he still alive, but he could spell, too. "You boys want to tell me what ya need it for?"
The two boys looked at one another. They were torn in their loyalties to be quiet to protect the others and the fact that this man had not tried to stop them but offered to help. Vin showed them the butt of the gun under his pillow. They knew he could have summoned help any time he wanted to, so it must mean he was willing to help them.
"Why you ain't called fer nobody?" John Henry was still cautious although little Josh was ready to tell Vin anything. "We don't know ya, an' we cain't pay ya none."
Vin smiled at his fierce independence. "Been there myself at your age. Ya look like you're getting' somethin' for someone else, an' that means you're a good friend to have. I'm Vin Tanner." He held out his hand to the young boys. Josh grinned and leaned up against the bed and patted Vin on the arm. John Henry hesitated just a minute before he shook Vin's hand. He was still a little skeptical, though.
"Dal ain't gonna like this."
"Well, we ain't gotta tell 'im. Vin ain't his friend. We found 'im first." Josh had no such scruples. He liked this Vin Tanner, and nothing Dal could tell him would change his mind. "Tell him, John Henry, 'fore that mean man in black shows back up. You said he could scare Loosifer hisself."
Vin grinned at Josh when he described Chris Larabee. He'd already figured out that all the petty thefts had all been perpetrated by these boys, three if Dal was short for the other one's name. It was apparent that they were doing it to help someone else out, and Vin couldn't fault them for trying to survive. There'd been times in his young life that he'd had to resort to petty theft just to keep from starving. He hadn't liked it, and he'd never tried to do it if he could hunt for himself, but sometimes a little kid had no choice.
"Well if he's John Henry, what's your name, boy?"
"I'm Josh Qu. . . ," John Henry put his hand over Josh's mouth before he could tell Vin the rest. No sense telling their last names. Vin pretended not to notice.
"Josh, that's a right fine name. An' you're John Henry?" He ignored John Henry's scowl. "Since we're friends, an' friends don't tattle on one another, you give me a cup of that ditch water over there, an' I'll try an' help you get what you need."
Josh ran over to the pot warming on the stove. He was too short to reach it, so John Henry reluctantly poured a cup of the warm brew for Vin. Then he carefully brought it over to him without spilling a drop. Vin drank it and actually welcomed the healing effects of the ginger and willow bark for his stomach and head. It was getting to be an hour since Chris had left, and Vin knew he would be returning soon.
"You boil some water and then steep that willow bark in it and make a tea if the person that's ailin' has any fever or pain. If they're sick to their stomach then put a little bit of this ginger in it. Don't put too much, cause they won't stand for it. Just a little in it will do the trick." Since the boys were listening so carefully, he figured that whoever they were stealing the medicine for must have been feverish, in pain, and puking like him. "Anything else wrong with them?"
The two boys both shook their heads from side to side. This ditch water Vin told them about sounded like the right stuff for Bull and Jules. And Vin hadn't asked very many questions at all. He seemed like a pretty good fellow to the two boys. John Henry decided that Josh was right. Dal didn't have to know and approve of all their friends.
"Thanks, Mister Vin." He finally smiled shyly at the man in front of him. "Me an' Josh, we ain't gonna forget how you helped us here." He looked around nervously like he knew they needed to leave now. "We don't forget friends, never." He put his hand out and shook Vin's vigorously. "C'mon, Josh, let's get 'fore that Lucyfer man gets back." Josh didn't leave until Vin shook his hand as well.
Vin listened as the two boys made for the door before his rescuers figured out Nathan's clinic was the reason for all the ruckus. He didn't know yet what he would say to the others about the boys, but he just couldn't shake the feeling that the boys were doing this out of desperation and not mischief. "Hey, put that stuff in those saddle bags right there. It'll keep it dry."
Vin didn't tell them that his saddle bags had over forty dollars in them that he'd won playing cards with Ezra the night before when the gambler had enlisted Vin's help with a drifter who smelled worse than he cheated. Why some folk thought bayberry would cover up the smell of sweat and dirt, Vin would never understand. Scruffy was one thing. Filthy was quite another; course he'd never tell Ezra that. He lay back against the pillows waiting for the inevitable. If they thought he'd slept through it all, then they wouldn't ask him any questions. He let the gun drop from his hand to the floor and let the exhaustion caused by the effort to stay awake and lucid finally take over. He really was asleep when his friends burst through the door to save him.
Continued in Part Two
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