Disclaimer: All the characters from the "Magnificent Seven" T.V. series are property of Trilogy Entertainment, The Mirisch Group, MGM Worldwide.
People were talking about statehood again.
There were voices for the change and there were voices against it. It was the way of things when something new appeared on the horizon. It had been this way perhaps since the world had begun. Chris Larabee did not allow himself to get involve with the changing direction of the wind because by his reckoning, things that needed changing often did because they were a force of nature on their own, requiring little help from loud voices. Chris believed that statehood would come when folks knew in their own minds that it was needed, not because some politician was screaming that it should be or should not. Although his wife was one of the strongest advocates for the Territory to become a state, Chris made it clear that while he supported her in her endeavours, he had no particular opinion and would not appreciate having to make one.
His job was to protect the town and ensure that the parties against and for did not cause trouble for those who really did not give a damn either way. Unlike the previous drive for statehood, there was no Territorial Governor making his arrival in town on wings of glory. This time it was just talk. Eagle Bend was the central seat of such discussions and like wild fire, the rhetoric of both sides drifted to Four Corners and people started talking about what it would mean to them. Mary had published some articles in the Clarion News, explaining her advocacy but at the same time, expressing succinctly and with as much impartiality as she could manage, the views of those against. Chris admired her for that and loved her for that ability to see two sides of a coin, even though she had clear preferences for one.
Four Corners at this point of time was growing steadily but not so rapidly that Chris would find himself uncomfortable about the influx of too many people. Mostly, the settlers came out to homestead while others built business in correspondence with the railroad but essentially Four Corners remained the same. Yosemite still ran the livery and Gloria Potter still had her store. The hotel was still being run by the German who had paid Maude Standish more money that he ought to have for the establishment and there were still enough saloons in town to keep a former gunslinger like himself happy. The town had grown a little in size but it was the same dust blown place that he had drifted into three years ago and though he expected it would not always remain the same, Chris was grateful for that.
On this particular day, he had opted to remain in town. The talk about statehood was becoming a little more fiery than he would like with more than a few occasions where he and the rest of the seven had been required to break up more animated Ôdiscussions' with a night in jail. This precipitated Chris' decision that some of these political gathering would perhaps run a little smoother if it was not done so in the locality of any alcohol. Even the most indifferent man on the street would become a passionate debater on the subject when he had more than enough shots of whisky running through his veins.
Chris sat outside the jailhouse, watching the small group of men talking across the street, barely listening to the words but rather the mood of the gathering. So far, it was nothing that ought to give him worry and the lawman went back to his reading. Next to him, Vin Tanner and Ezra Standish were playing checkers and the soft click of chips against the board could be heard on the edge of his mind. Buck was presently at the Lucky Seven ranch, checking on the horses and taking of the general house keeping that was required of the place. Business was doing quite well and providing Chris and his partners a little more than the dollar a day they were earning as town protectors. JD and Nathan were out patrolling while Josiah was taking one of his sabbaticals at the Indian Reserve to drop in on Kojay, the tribe's elderly chief.
He returned his gaze to his book again, once it did not appear as if the crowd would get rowdy. Judging from the tone of the debates, the matter was still unresolved for those present and some were downright unconvinced that it was necessary to change things from what they were. Chris tended to agree but he was not about to tell Mary that. Their marriage was fiery enough without bringing the added spice of opposing political views into the arena.
"Are they still going on with that tiresome discussion?" Ezra Standish asked, glancing in the direction of the group gathered outside Gloria Potter's store.
"I guess its important to some." Vin drawled and moved his red piece on the table. "Your move."
"I myself cannot see the difference." Ezra sighed making his move without looking at the board. "It seems that something will be lost either way."
"It will happen when the time is right." Chris remarked closing his book and turning his attention to his friends.
"This crowd does not look like the patient type." Ezra retorted. "There is nothing more debilitating to a good conversation than the topics of politics and religion. It's a good thing I dabble in neither."
"Really?" Vin looked up.
"Swear to God." Ezra grinned and drew a soft chuckle from both Vin and Chris. "Although I did once play a preaching man."
"Now that's a performance." Chris gave him a look.
"I'll have you know Mr Larabee, I was quite convincing before they ran me out of town." Ezra replied, his gold tooth gleaming with as much mischief as the glint in his eye.
"If you were so convincing why did they run you out of town?" Vin asked.
"I attempted to convert the mayor's daughter."
"That does tend to kill the faith in your piety." Chris shook his head, wondering how the gambler ever kept from getting himself tarred and feather in his con man days.
"Yeah, you do get into trouble when it comes to women." Vin taunted as his eye shifted forward to the other side of the street.
Ezra and Chris followed his gaze and saw the tracker was staring in the direction of Diana Belladonna who was waving at Ezra once she saw him looking. The sultry beauty glided down the sidewalk, her dark hair piled on top of her head and was dressed in a low cut blue gown that gave ample view of her assets. Ezra turned his eyes away as soon as she made eye contact, having no desire to give the lady any more encouragement than necessary. As it was, he was happy enough that she was no longer visiting him frequently at the jailhouse much to the amusement of his associates. He had told her in no uncertain terms where his affections lay but something told Ezra that she was feigning understanding at the moment but was not at all convinced of that being the truth.
Whatever her belief, Ezra was not about to ponder it to deeply. Miss Belladonna had seriously jeopardized his relationship with Julia and Ezra was not about to forget that or allow her to be in a position for a repeat performance. Besides, he was accustomed to deceptive females and being able to see past facades and something about Diana told him that she was a creature of masks. After the incident with Diana where she had kissed him unwillingly in front of Julia, he had time to consider her actions since arriving in Four Corners and knew inwardly without having any evidence to prove it that she wanted something of him. If it were not for the fact that Julia would not take kindly to it, Ezra would have even considered expending some time finding out exactly what it was she was trying to gain but for unfortunately, circumstances had made that course of action impossible.
"That my friends," Ezra answered, keeping his gaze averted from Diana. "Is a no man's land I have no desire to cross again. She gives me an unpleasant feeling beneath the skin that is more than just her interference in my affairs with Julia."
"Can't say I blame you." Vin agreed, seeing the same kind of duality in Miss Belladonna's behavior. "Lady ain't what she claims to be."
Chris took a closer look as Diana sashayed by once her wave to Ezra had been ignored. She continued up the street and wondered why a successful performer would indenture herself to such a rustic setting. It did not make any sense. "Maybe we ought to see what Mary can dig up on her." He replied, completely on guard about the woman now that the suspicion had been planted in his head.
"I would appreciate it." Ezra found himself saying gratefully. The time was long past when Chris Larabee did anything but trust him explicitly and if he had a bad feeling about Diana, then the gunslinger was sure to pay it the credence it deserve.
"In the mean time however," Chris turned his gaze upon him and said with a little smile. "Try and stay out of trouble. Your animal magnetism is almost as bad as Buck's."
Casey Well twisted the knob on Alexandra Tanner's door at the same time that Ezra, Chris and Vin were having their conversation. The young woman looked around apprehensively, wondering why she was so afraid of being seen entering the doctor's office when it was not the first time she had visited the premises. Still she felt jittery and knew she had good cause to be afraid, even though at the moment the possibility looming in the periphery of her mind was almost unimaginable. She had waited until JD and Nathan was out on patrol before coming here. Even though she popped into see Alex all the time, her visit today was anything but social. She had told Aunt Nettie that she had asked by the lady doctor to lend a hand at the clinic today and Nettie who knew how close they were, saw nothing unusual about that.
The bell above the door, sounded noisily as she entered and Casey was suddenly gripped with the fear of what would happen if Alex had a patient with her. It was the afternoon and such an occurrence would not be beyond the realms of possibility. Casey walked quietly into the hallway and precipitated Alex's emergence from her office.
"Casey!" Alex exclaimed with a smile. "What a nice surprise. I'm just going up to get some tea, join me?"
Casey nodded mutely, offering an uneasy smile that immediately put Alex on her guard. They proceeded upstairs to the residential part of the building that Alex shared with Vin Tanner. Casey said little as they went to the kitchen and Alex began brewing tea. The young girl sat the table, her hands hidden and she seemed to shift periodically as if she had something to say but did not know how to put. Alex let Casey take her time, aware that since her ordeal at the hands of Neil Blackwood almost six weeks ago; the young girl was in a fragile state of mind. The entire incident had been silenced by the seven and those in their sphere to spare the girl any humiliation while Blackwood himself had been run out of town.
When Alex served her a cup of teeth and sat down to one herself, the doctor waited for a few seconds for Casey to speak, feeling her heart go out to the girl because there was so much fear in her eyes. She wanted to break down and cry Alex was certain but was remaining strong, as only Casey could be. She was a remarkable young woman, Alex thought, so decidedly female and yet unafraid of getting her hands dirty in doing what needed to be done, even when the task was meant strictly for men. She had too much courage for Alex to stand seeing her this way.
"Casey," Alex asked finally. "What is wrong?"
Casey stared at her, eyes brimming with tears, a swell of sorrow that soon spilled onto her cheeks and ran down her face in torrents of despair. "I can't even say it."
Alex held her breath. "Try." She coaxed gently, her hand reaching across the table and grazing Casey's just enough to know that there was nothing so terrible that she could not speak it aloud to Alex.
"I'm never late." She stammered. "Not since I became a woman."
Alex blinked slowly; wishing it had been anything but that. "How late are you?" She asked, not meeting Casey's eyes when the question left her.
"Two weeks." Casey answered. "I ain't never been late before."
"We ought to make sure." Alex hardened herself inwardly; reminding herself that this was a patient who needed her doctor's best performance, not her sympathetic friend. "I'll conduct a few tests."
"I know its true!" Casey blurted out, starting to cry harder.
"Casey, Casey," Alex rounded the table and tried to stem her fears from spiraling out of control but truthfully, Casey had every right to feel terrified. "Its okay. We'll figure this out."
"No it's not okay!" Casey pushed her hands away as Alex tried to hold her. "Its not! I ain't been with JD since Aunt Nettie caught us! I promised her that we wouldn't until we were married!"
Alex's face melted into complete understanding and she felt her own tears filling up her eyes. "Oh Casey," she managed to say as the girl broke down. "I am so sorry."
"I can't tell JD!" She exploded in near hysteria. "I can't tell him that its not his!"
There was no need for her to elaborate on whose child it was because Alex knew it could only be Neil Blackwood's.
Neil Blackwood had arrived in town nearly two months ago with the startling revelation that he was JD Dunne's father. The truth, now buried forever with Elizabeth Dunne, JD's mother and unlikely to be clarified by Blackwood himself, had emerged long enough for JD to realise irrevocably that Blackwood was indeed his father. Unfortunately, Blackwood was nothing like his idealistic son and subsequent investigations by Mary Travis uncovered the unpleasant truth that Blackwood was a gangster in Chicago not to mention a murderer and rapist. In an effort to convince JD to return with him to the Mid West, Blackwood attempted to eliminate all of JD's ties in Four Corners. He started with Chris Larabee and Buck Wilmington and almost succeeded in killing the latter. For Casey however, he played his cruelest card. Stealing into her room on the same night that men were attempting to murder Buck and Chris, Blackwood had raped the girl with instructions for her to abandon JD unless she wanted to face the
humiliation of exposing their liaison with her painted as the seducer.
Fortunately, Casey had the courage to reveal the truth and JD loved her enough to believe it. After nearly killing Blackwood with his bare hands, the young man severed all ties that might exist between himself and his father before Blackwood was promptly encouraged to leave town. However, it now appeared that Casey's ordeal at the man's hands was far from done and as Alex held her in her arms, consoling her from something so terrible, the doctor was frankly at a loss over what to do.
"Oh Alex," Casey continued to sob breaking Alex's heart with her pitiful tears. "I don't know what to do! I'm so scared! I couldn't even tell Aunt Nettie!"
"Casey it's not your fault." Alex said finally, wanting her to understand that first and foremost. "Blackwood is the guilty one here." The words however, felt like ashes in her mouth because Blackwood was not the one who would have to deal with this when the truth finally emerged and it would because there was no way to hide it even if they were to send Casey away. The ordeal of the pregnancy itself would be catastrophic for the young woman, much less having a child borne out of so vicious a crime.
For the first time in her life as a doctor, Alex did not have an answer even though she needed one badly. She needed to talk to someone about this but was bound by her confidentially to her patient. It was an unpleasant feeling and her lack of answers was not helping Casey one bit. It pained her to say it but Alex was not even sure that she was capable of helping Casey because the only course of action she could give to the young woman was one she was certain Casey would not be able to endure.
Just to confirm her suspicions, Casey unwittingly cried out. "I can't go through this Alex!" Casey wept. "I can't!"
Alex closed her eyes and held the girl closer, feeling herself more conflicted then she had ever been in her entire life. What made it all this all the more worse was the fact that Alex's desperation was due to the knowledge that she did have an answer to all this but it was one she was bound by law not to take. She was the only one capable of extricating Casey from her dire situation even though it meant risking everything to do it, her freedom and her ability to practice medicine.
In other words, to save Casey from her terrible fate, Alex would have to risk her future to do it.
Josiah Sanchez had an odd relationship with the Navajo chief of the local reserve.
Their friendship had been forged following the ill-fated marriage of Claire Moselley to the Chief's oldest son Chanu. Claire had been the daughter of Reverend Moselley, a man determined to bring the word of God to the Navajo tribes in the region. Unfortunately, the man's tolerance for the red man extended only to his god, not his daughter and when Claire, a white woman, did the unthinkable by marrying a Navajo Indian, Moselley had murdered the girl. Moselley had then implicated Chanu in the crime. Had it not been for Vin Tanner and Josiah conducting separate but equally vital investigations to uncover the truth, Chanu would have been lynched and the reserve razed to the ground by angry townsfolk quick to believe the worse.
Since then, Josiah often came out to see the old man where they shared a meal together and spoke of their differing views of the world. Josiah found Kojay to be good company and had a feeling that the Chief had reformed his opinion about the white man slightly on the basis of his association with Josiah and Vin, not to mention Mary's advocacy of tribal rights and Alex and Nathan's periodic rendering of medical treatment. Josiah too was allowed into the fold of the Navajo life, a privilege afforded only to the tracker previously. He enjoyed communing with them and seeing the traditions of their life unchanged for generations. It reinforced his beliefs on continuity.
Both men sat on the ridge that faced offered a panoramic view of the land beyond the reservation. The sun was starting to set in the sky, draping an amber curtain of color behind it as it descended into the far off mountains. Kojay and Josiah said little as they basked in all this beauty but Josiah sensed that Kojay had something on his mind. The Navajo chief often seemed all the more silent when he had something important to impart to the former preacher. Kojay had been like this all day and whatever the reason for his distraction, it was one the old man was having a great deal of conflict in attempting to decide what to do about it. Josiah had learn that it was often easier to let Kojay speak in his own good time, rather than to coax it from him.
Kojay smoked his pipe, allowing tendrils of smoke to rise from the spout into the air. Josiah gave the man a sidelong glance and saw Kojay letting out a deep breath. The wizened Indian was definitely troubled and it showed clearly in his marked and lined face. Josiah knew the expression well and recalled how Kojay had told him about Claire and Chano's marriage in much the same way.
"Your people are going to make the Territory like the rest of the land, are they not?" Kojay finally spoke.
Immediately, Josiah guessed the man was talking about statehood. He supposed that with so much talk around, such news was bound to reach even this far out. Statehood was a matter of great concern to the Indians but unfortunately, theirs was seldom an opinion solicited or wanted. Their use in the political arena was merely as fodder by both factions as a means to an end. For those against the notion of statehood, they used prejudice national prejudice against the Indians as a reason for maintaining the status quo. After all, who wanted to admit a state to the Union that was composed mostly of Indian tribes?
"There is talk." Josiah did not lie to Kojay about that although he did not think that the current climate would see the Territory become a state just yet. People were not that concerned about it at the moment. It was just that a minority of loud voices made it seem otherwise. "But that's all it is, talk. Some like to talk to hear themselves speak, other because they truly believe but it doesn't look to be going anywhere at the moment. Why?"
Kojay shifted slightly so that he could look Josiah in the eye. "My people hear things. In this tribe, it frightens us. Our lands are already taken from us more than we like by white men and their guns. We do not want to lose all of it."
"I don't know what will happen if we do get statehood," Josiah answered honestly. He respected Kojay too much to start making assurances he had no idea would come to fruition. In truth, the question of what happened when statehood was reached was as confusing a subject as it was conflicted. There were so many opposing views to what would take place that the truth got lost somewhere in the middle. Could Kojay and his people lose their land? Maybe. Josiah did not honestly know.
"I wish I did." He said genuinely wishing he could give Kojay the answer that he wanted.
"My people fear this but they know that there are things that will happen whether or not we wish it so. It has been this way since your people came to our lands."
To that Josiah could not disagree, not about to relinquish the responsibility of his forebears for displacing so many of the natives tribes that were here long before the landing on Plymouth Rock.
"I am sorry." The big man rumbled but inwardly wondered where this was leading.
Kojay seemed to nod, accepting an apology that did not make one bit of a difference to him or his people, simply out of politeness to his friend. "There are other tribes who fear this even more than we. Tribes who angry and willing to act. They have watched everything they know disappear before their eyes and that anger is a great cloud that does not go away even though they become use to it being there. It sits above their head as reminder of things they cannot change and serves only to make more resentful of your people."
"I can't say I rightly blame them." Josiah remarked, staring into the horizon once more. The taming of this land had at come at a cost of blood, more often of the red man then the white.
"Lately, the cloud seems bigger, more terrible." Kojay continued. "Their voices are angry Josiah, so angry that they may not simple ignore it as they have done before."
Josiah stiffened as the implication of what Kojay was trying to tell him sunk deeper into his understanding. "You're saying that they might riot?"
Kojay did not want to say that but it was clear by the unhappiness on his face that the possibility existed, no matter how unpleasant. "There is something else at work here. Something I do not understand." He confessed. " They have been angry before but not like this and there is no reason for it to have grown so suddenly."
"Like you said," Josiah drawled. "Anger grows. It feeds of hate and all the unhappiness inside the soul until it becomes wildfire, untamed and uncontrollable. It may be the case here. Your people have earned the right."
"Perhaps, but among their voices are the Pueblo. For the Pueblo, even though we have lived on these lands for many years, we are still new comers. Sometimes I think the Pueblo consider us no better than the white man. For many years they were the enemies of the Apache and the Navajo. For them to join with us but also the Commanche and the Ute, is unheard of. I think that there is a greater force that has bound them together, to make them hate a common enemy."
"A greater force?" Josiah asked, looking at him uncertainly. The Pueblos were oldest settlers of the region, preceded only by the extinct Anasazi. Although they composed of several different groups, speaking five distinct languages being Tewa, Tiwa, Towa, Keresan or Zunian, they acted as a united whole and though the coming of the white man had weakened them greatly, they were nonetheless a threat worth taking seriously. The Pueblos were the instigators of the Spanish Indian Revolt in 1680 and though it was two hundred years since that time, it was also two hundred years of oppression first by the Spaniards, then by the French and finally by the Union. If an uprising was coming, it was certainly not through lack of cause.
"They say a man comes among them to speak the truth. To tell them that if the white men of the Territory seeks and gains statehood, then we will lose all we know. He travels among the tribes and speaks to them of freedom and about regaining their lands. He says that we must fight to claim what was once ours or risk losing what we have for all time." Kojay continued. He had no wish to betray the confidences of his people but Kojay had seen the sentiments engendered by the stranger's inflammatory words. Right or wrong, no good could come of an uprising except blood spilled on either side, white and red.
It disturbed Josiah greatly to know that there someone was travelling around the various Indian tribes and inciting violence. In a state where the majority of its inhabitants were Native American tribes, the implications were nothing less than devastating if it were true. Josiah also knew that if the Indians did riot and slaughter any settlers, it would give the Union Army all the excuse it needed to obliterate the tribes from existence. The death of either white men or Indian was unacceptable to Josiah in any shape of form. If there was credence to any aspect of Kojay's story then it was wise to investigate now before things escalated out of control.
Unfortunately Josiah would need Vin for this since the tracker was more familiar with the local tribes then he was. While the Apache and the Commanche considered Vin Tanner trustworthy, entering Pueblo territory was going to be dangerous no matter how much they needed the information.
"This man that speaks the truth, what tribes does he come from?" Josiah asked gazing at Kojay, trying not to force the man into any uncomfortable revelations but required to draw it forth nonetheless. He knew from experience that forcing Kojay to speak would only make the man withdraw into himself. Josiah could see by the expression on the chief's face that thought he was telling Josiah what he knew, he was not at all happy about it.
"He comes from no tribe." Kojay answered after another lengthy pause.
It took a flicker of a second for Josiah to understand. "A white man?"
"So I have been told." The chief nodded. "He calls himself the Eagle."
"The Eagle?" Josiah's brow crooked upward in surprise. "Your people are letting themselves get fired up by a white man?"
Most of the native tribes distrusted the white settlers, Kojay had been no different until meeting himself and Vin. Josiah was skeptical that a Caucasian could sway the tribes into violence. An effort like that required some level of trust and Josiah could not imagine whole tribes trusting any white man to take them down on a road that could only lead to disaster, not just for themselves but also for the Territory and its European settlers.
"He speak words that reaches us many of us." Kojay stared at Josiah, prickling at the insinuation his people were so prejudiced as to ignore a man's advice simply because he was the wrong color. "He has not come to this tribe but he has visited many others in these lands and he tells them that he can help them. He says that because he is a white man, he knows how to fight your laws and ensure the tribes' right to their own."
"Words like that have power," Josiah was forced to begrudgingly agree. "The question is how much power is he giving the tribes? I get the feeling you wouldn't have brought this up with me unless you thought there was something to worry about, isn't that true?"
Kojay turned away but his response was answer enough. "I do not wish to see my people die. If this man continues to do what he is doing, with his promises to those who have been angry at the white man for a long time, he will not only kill many of your people but will almost certainly destroy mine."
He was right too, Josiah thought to himself. If there was a revolt and settlers were killed, there would always be more to take their place. With the opening of the railroad, settlers were flooding in from the East, eager to stake their claim in new lands. They would come no matter who had died there before. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about the Indians who since European colonization had found their world shrinking around them, a phalanx of steel, gunpowder and violence that made the space of their containment smaller each passing day. Someday soon, they would die out but if there was an uprising, those who had barely tolerated them in the past would demand their extermination unconditionally.
"I don't want to see that happen." Josiah said sincerely. "None of us do."
"Then you will find this man?" Kojay stared at him.
"I will find him." The big man nodded firmly. "I will find him before it's too late."
Kojay faced front once again, his eyes soaking up the setting sun in the distance. "If you do not find him, it will too late for all of us."
It was almost evening when Josiah returned to town. The rest of the seven were congregated inside the Standish saloon as was their habit since they had first come together as a group. Despite the radical changes in their lives since that time, the group nonetheless kept that tradition intact, mostly because it was a way to remind themselves what they meant to each other, as if their deep friendship was not enough. Still, it was undeniable that they were not the men who had first ridden into town almost three years ago. Their friendship had been the impetus for change that allowed them to take the next steps and no matter what, none of them would ever forget that. Even if it meant they shared a drink in the saloon every evening.
Ezra Standish as usual had incited Nathan, Vin and Buck into a game of poker while Chris and JD sat close by, nursing their drinks. The atmosphere in the saloon at this time of night was lively, with clunky music playing in the background from the ancient harpsichord that was more than a few strings off key. Saloon girls were making the rounds of the cowboys and patrons who shuffled in for evening entertainment while Inez stood behind the bar and served her clients, comfortably aware that her husband was keeping an eye out to ensure no one got rowdy. Truth be known, when most of the seven were inside any saloon in Four Corners, things rarely got out of hand. Most of the time, Chris was able to extinguish any bad behavior with the infamous Larabee glare and when that did not work, the six men at his side could offer and even more convincing argument.
"Damn Ezra." Buck swore as he saw what was left of his gambling money disappear into Ezra's side of the table when the gambler lay down four queens against the felt. "You got the luck of the devil tonight."
"Luck Mr Wilmington?" Ezra asked as he grinned broadly, revealing one gold tooth. "I would like to think of it as a gift."
"A gift of an extra deck of cards?" Nathan retorted, with more than a passing belief in his statement.
"Really Mr Jackson," Ezra declared, displaying mock hurt. "I am simply speechless that you would believe me capable of cheating my associates."
"Ezra," Nathan signed putting a hand on the gambler's burgundy colored jacket. "You're great in a fight, you're a good friend and shocked as I find myself saying this, a generally decent human being but when it comes to money, you lose all good sense. You're like a kid in a candy store."
The rest of the men at the table eased back into their seats, in a gesture of impartiality as Nathan and Ezra once again launched into their moral debates. When they had first met, Ezra could see Nathan as nothing more than a colored man from a race of former slaves while Nathan's perception of Ezra had decided the man to be not only a bigot but a dishonest cheater. However, through the years of their association, those barriers had lowered and their friendship was a strange mix of antagonism and respect. Nathan had always been the moral center of the group. For the healer, his world was not as ambiguous as those inhabited by the rest of the seven. Nathan had no difficulties distinguishing what was the right thing to do and when those around him, in particular, his friends forgot it, he was always there to give them a gentle nudge in the right direction. Ezra had somehow been Nathan's pet project though he never said it to the man or the rest of the seven. He acted as Ezra's conscienc
e and Nathan knew he effected the gambler on some level because Ezra Standish though maintaining some of his baser instincts, was a far different man than he had been when they had first met.
Nathan's remark drew a chuckle from his friends and Ezra smirked in the direction. "I'll have you know that in such establishments, I show remarkable restraint Nathan."
"Sure you do." Chris responded with a completely straight face. "That's why you start to twitch whenever we have to escort the pay for the railroad workers from the bank."
"I do not twitch." Ezra said feigning outrage, aware that the gunslinger was having some amusement at his expense.
"He's right," JD agreed.
"Now see? Out of the mouth of babes." Ezra looked at the other faces at the table in vindication.
"Ezra doesn't twitch," JD repeated himself, a little smile widening across his face. "But he does get that far away look in his eyes like he was day dreaming or something."
"Thank you Mr Dunne." Ezra retorted sarcastically. "Always nice to know that I can rely on my associates for support."
JD was about to respond when suddenly Josiah made his appearance through the bat wing doors. The preacher had ridden straight to the saloon following his arrival in town, aware that at this time of the evening the rest of the seven would be congregated there. Josiah removed his dust covered hat as he made his way to them, making eye contact with Inez long enough to let the lady bartender know that he was there and that he would like his usual. A chorus of greetings met him when he reached them and Buck helpfully pulled a vacant chair from another table for him to join them.
"How's things at the reservation?" Chris asked when he was settled in.
"Peaceful enough for the moment." Josiah answered. However there was something in his voice that made the hairs on the back of Chris' neck stand on end. It was usually a pretty good gauge for the gunslinger to ascertain that there was trouble looming in the nearby distance.
"For the moment?" Vin looked at him from beneath the brim of his hat as he took up his cards from the latest game of poker they were playing. "What does that mean?"
"Exactly what I said," Josiah responded. "Kojay told me that we may have trouble brewing with the Indians around here."
Chris sat up immediately in his chair and while the quartet playing cards did not stop their game, Josiah knew he had their undivided attention.
"What sort of trouble?" Chris asked in that voice not unlike grated glass, lethal and all business.
"Someone is firing up the tribes." Josiah explained. "Frightening them with stories about statehood and what that would mean for them."
"Someone?" Buck asked. "Who'd be stupid enough to do that?"
"Kojay says this someone calls himself the Eagle and he's white." The preacher returned automatically. "Apparently, he's been travelling to most of the tribes, Navajo, Commanche, Ute, Apache and even the Pueblo."
"The Pueblo listening to a white man?" Vin raised his brow skeptically. "They don't trust anyone who ain't one of their own. Can't say I blame them. They've been in the Territory longer than anyone, then come the Navajo and Apache who start claiming Pueblo land for their own, taking slaves and God only knows what else. They spend the next two hundred years fighting a war with both the Navajo and the Apache before they get overrun by Commanches and Ute. They get through all that and then they've got to deal with Spanish missionaries before we take our turn at them."
"Well they're listening to him, according to Kojay." Josiah met the tracker's gaze. "You know Kojay, he isn't one to speak his mind unless he knew it was the truth."
Vin could not disagree with Josiah on that score. Kojay was honest and forthright, neither was he prone to exaggeration or making false claims.. In an age where everything he knew was slipping through his fingers, Kojay tried valiantly to guide his people through the difficult transition of the world they knew and the one they would have to survive in if they were to survive. "I know that but I can't see the Pueblo trusting any white man enough to go to get all fired up about it."
"Depends on whether or not he has the right words." Nathan remarked. "They've been angry for a long time, it doesn't take much for that to burn out of control if someone has the right spark."
"The thing that worries me most is that Kojay believes that the man's words are uniting the Indian tribes in the area. When push comes to shove, there are more of them then there are of us. Settlers are coming in all the time but the Territory's mostly Indians. If they got it in their mind for an uprising, we could be in a world of trouble." Josiah pointed out his most prevalent fear.
The table went silent at the possibility because it was a horrifying thought indeed. There had been Indian massacres in the past and the stories of the bodies left behind were nothing to dismiss, especially when there was a possibility of it happening again. Vin had seen such massacres when he played tracker to the army some years back and the horrific images were still imprinted on his brain. While he bore them no malice over what had been done because much worse had happened to them in kind, Vin had no wish to see Four Corners in that kind of danger. Alex immediately came to mind and his stomach knotted at the thought of his beautiful wife falling prey to such a horrible death.
"We need to find out for sure." Chris said decisively because if any of this could be remotely true then they had very little time to talk. He glanced at the tracker, "Vin you know where the tribes are in Territory, you think anyone of them trust you enough to talk to you about what might be going on?"
Vin considered the question for a few seconds and then nodded. "I reckon there are a few. What you got in mind padre?"
"I want you and Josiah to talk to them. See if what Kojay is saying has any truth behind it. I'm hoping he's wrong but you need to get a whiff of the wind."
Vin understood completely what Chris was instructing him to do. "First light Josiah?" He glanced in the direction of the older man.
"Sounds good to me." Josiah drawled after a saloon girl served him his drink and he took a deep sip of beer.
"We'll sit tight for the moment," Chris continued formulating his strategy. "If there is any truth to this then we'll start alerting the towns and I'll get send a wire to the army."
"The army?" Vin flinched unhappily. "Do we have to?"
"The army would be the prudent course of action against those numbers if they are coming at us, Vin." Ezra pointed out.
"I know," Vin shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "But it may also give them an excuse to do more harm to Indians around here. I mean most of them have had their tribal lands taken from them until it ain't a patch of what it used to be. The Army don't like the Indian much and I've seen the slaughter of entire tribes. I just don't want the idea of a possible attack to give the Army a reason to wipe them all out, especially women and children."
"Nobody wants that Vin," JD agreed with the tracker's concern but he could not deny that the idea of this entire town being overrun by vengeful Indians was frightening him as well. They all had loved ones here. They all stood to lose a great deal by such an attack.
"I know what you mean," Buck said gently. "But we got to be realistic of our chances without the army if the Indians have been stoked into an uprising."
"Its only if we are sure about this," Chris assured him. "If it will be make you feel better, I'll send the wire to the General first."
Nobody needed clarification on who the General was. They all knew that it was Chris' way of referring to his father, General Marcus Larabee. Until some months ago, father and son had been estranged for almost 20 years until the crisis involving Hannibal Julius brought them together. The General was now very much apart of Chris' life, often coming to Four Corners to visit Chris and his young family. The General was very much like Chris himself, although none of the others would ever say it to the gunslinger. Both possessed that keen intellect that always had a handle on things, not to mention an insight into knowing immediately what had to be done and had more than enough presence to ensure that it did get done.
"Thanks pard," Vin said gratefully. In truth, the tracker did not believe that there was anyone out there who had the power to unite the different Indians tribes to follow such a destructive cause, especially a white man.
However, if Kojay was right and someone had inspired an uprising; then God help them all because Vin had no idea how any of them would survive.
After Ezra Standish had spent another half hour at the Standish saloon where he continued cleaning out the rest of his companions of their hard earned cash before choosing to retreat wisely to Julia Pemberton's home, where the lady had prepared supper and was awaiting his arrival. The others had done the same, scattering to the four winds and to the company of their families and paramours. Chris was undoubtedly breaking bread with Mary and his two boys. Vin would be doing the same with Alex. JD would most likely be sharing a repast with Buck and his family, while Nathan would grab something before retiring to his infirmary above C&D Smith Livery & Feed for a long night of studying for his accreditation to being a fully-fledged doctor. Josiah was no doubt at his church on in the company of Audrey King and it appeared more and more lately that the preacher would be the next one of them to make a matrimonial commitment.
Ezra arrived at Julia's wondering why he had not taken that step with her already. They had been lovers long enough. He did know that he wanted to marry her for he had never remained with any female so long and still be devoid of the need to run when it appeared he might be feeling too much for her. Of course, that had never been the case for him when it came to Julia. Ezra had tumbled headlong for Julia Pemberton the moment he had met her. For one as jaded as he and with as much experience with the opposite sex, far more than he would like to admit, Ezra knew the feeling was genuine when he had been hit so hard.
"What's on your mind Ezra?" Julia asked.
They had just shared a meal from the confines of Julia's four poster bed. Ezra lay in the sheets with her not only sated but completely satisfied. She nuzzled against his chest, planting soft kisses across the smooth skin, her red lips playing havoc with his control even in the aftermath of their astonishing love making. The lady, much to his intense gratitude, was insatiable and when they pleasured each other, it seemed as if they were creating another milestone in pleasure. He ran his fingers across her hair as she let her silken lips graze his collarbone.
"What makes you believe there is anything on my mind, my dear?" He asked languidly, his eyelids heavy from her whispery touches against his skin.
"Oh you seem rather distracted." She paused a moment and cast her emerald colored eyes on him. "Well not during of course," she chuckled, "but certainly before and after."
It amazed him how she was one of those few people, other than Chris Larabee and Vin Tanner who could read him so easily. Still, he had no wish to lie to her especially when what preoccupied his mind involved her as well.
"I have been thinking about us." He stated meeting her gaze.
Julia stopped short what she was doing and raised herself to her elbow so that she could carry out this conversation on something of an equal footing. "And?" She urged him to continue.
"How long have we been together?" He asked. "I would think a little over a year?"
"A year and a little bit more." She agreed, wondering where he was going with this.
Julia loved him deeply but she had no illusions that commitment as a whole scared him. He was a man used to leaving no ties, travelling from one place of another in search of the perfect card game and the equally perfect con. However, buried in all that wanderlust was a secret desire to belong, to be trusted and to be apart of something greater than himself. Being one of the Magnificent Seven had given Ezra that and though he did not like to admit it, it had changed him.
"We should solidify our relationship with something more permanent." He looked at her.
"Are you talking about marriage?" She said with surprise.
"Well we have been telling the good people of Four Corners that we are engaged. Marriage is the natural progression after that." He retorted, taking great delight in her surprised expression. It was not often that he saw that look on her lovely face and was enjoying it immensely.
"I thought you didn't want to get married." Julia managed to say.
"I had thought you felt the same way." He returned.
"I used to," she said honestly, "but things have changed. When I first got to Four Corners, I'd spent a life where everyone looked after me. My father made all my decisions, even to the point of whom I would be marrying. Four Corners gave me a chance to be my own person and I think I've done alright but I do know that I love you," she smiled at him. "I love you enough to trust you would never treat me like a possession."
"Well I have always admired strong women." He replied, brushing a strand of copper hair from her face and relishing the softness of her skin against his fingertip. "I knew it was important to you so I did not press the issue but I have always wanted to marry you, no matter how anxious the subject might make me feel some times."
"So are we setting a date?" Her eyes twinkled with challenge. "Is that what this is about?"
"If it was not, my elocution would need work." He joked.
"You can be funny but I will hold you to anything you say after this point." She said firmly. "I'm ready to be tamed and domesticated."
"Strange," he offered with a glint of mischief in his eye. "I was thinking likewise."
"Shall we get married in town?" Julia pressed on, deciding to see how resolved he was about this.
"I do not know." Ezra sighed, remembering what a crowded affair Chris Larabee's wedding had been. He would prefer not to have that many people but knew the choice was really out of his hands. Once the rest of the ladies in their circle of friends heard about a wedding, it would snowball very quickly out of proportion. Ezra was hoping for something small in the way that Alex and Vin's had been but supposed that was hoping for too much. Besides, he would like his friends to enjoy one of the most important days of his life with him.
"It doesn't matter," Julia sighed happily as she resumed kissing his flesh and Ezra felt the stirrings that enabled him to respond to her overtures. "We'll work it out later."
"I heartily agree," he remarked as he took her face in his hand and allowed her lips to become his world once again.
It was in the small hours of the morning when Ezra finally departed from Julia' home to return to his lodgings. He was still smoldering from the effects of hours of love making and found himself looking forward to the day when he would not have to make these twilight departures for sake of keeping her virtue unblemished. The intimacies of their relationship had been conducted this way for so long that Ezra wondered how he would cope with the bliss of actually having her in his arms when he awoke in the morning. For a man who thought that marriage was not for him, knowing that he was taking this vital step did not inspire the trepidation that it normally did. It was that fact more than any other that convinced Ezra he was ready to become a husband.
At this time of the night, the streets of Four Corners were deserted and quiet. With the night sky casting an indigo shade over the uneven skyline of single to double storied buildings, the whole town had an iridescent luster that stoked the sentimentalist inside of him. Ezra knew that his starry gaze had a great deal to do with the way he spent his evening but he did not care. He was exactly where he had always wanted to be, surrounded by friends and a woman he loved dearly, not to mention having a business though not booming was doing well in its own right, he also commanded a certain level of respect from the townsfolk and his associates.
He walked across the space that existed between Julia's house behind the Emporium to the first store on the main commercial strip in town. There was no one on the street and as he continued across the gravel could hear nothing from the saloon either. At this time of the night, if there were any drunks left, they would most likely be under the bar rather than soliciting fresh orders. It was a warm summer's night and Ezra's pace was relaxed, just as the rest of him. His lodgings were only a few hundred feet away and though he appreciated the sleep after his session with Julia, he was in no particular hurry to get there.
Stepping onto the boardwalk, his boots amplified his footsteps as he walked down the paneled wood surface. Gloria Potter's store came and went as Ezra made it across one block of shops and prepared to begin down another when suddenly, a fist came out of nowhere from the narrow gap in-between and struck him on the jaw. Ezra staggered sideways at the attack and went for his gun when suddenly, hands took hold of his shooting arm before he could reach it and the audible click of a gun hammer, ended any further attempts.
"Make a sound and we'll blow your head off." Ezra's blood chilled when he realised the voice was female.
"Diana?" He strained to see as she appeared out of the darkness.
"I am so honored that you deigned to call me by my first name, Mr Standish," she said coldly as her men tightened their grip on Ezra. He felt one of them relieving him of his gun. "After all, you were the one who insisted on keeping up the formalities."
"What do you want from me Madam?" Ezra demanded angrily.
"Don't forget the derringer." Diana ignored him momentarily to impart that small instruction.
Ezra cursed inwardly at his only advantage being taken from him. No sooner than she had spoken the words, her cohorts were removing his trusty derringer from under his sleeve.
"I'm sorry to waylay you in this manner Ezra," she looked at him with a sinister gleam in her narrowing eyes. "But you need to take a ride with me."
"Thank you but I should like to decline." Ezra returned smoothly, not about to show he was at all concerned.
"I wish I could oblige you," Diana answered just as expertly. "However, I'm afraid I must insist." She nodded slightly.
Ezra had just enough time that the gesture was not for him because the realization was followed by an explosion of pain from the back of his skull before the world went black.