Disclaimer: All the characters from the "Magnificent Seven" T.V. series are property of Trilogy Entertainment, The Mirisch Group, MGM Worldwide.
Buck Wilmington walked out of the saloon with deep thoughts running through his mind. The joy at finding out Inez had forgiven him had been quickly eclipsed by the shattering news she had just brought to his attention. He could not believe that she had given him so little time to prepare for such astonishing news, masking her announcement under a flurry of seductive kisses, as if that could ease the burden of the knowledge she was about to impart upon him. He had merely stumbled out of the kitchen, too astonished to say anything with nothing more than a wide-eyed look that spoke volumes more than words ever could.
He needed to think because with her one statement, she had changed his life. Buck supposed it was inevitable that something like this would happen to him eventually. With the number of sexual encounters he had on a weekly basis, it was somewhat surprising that it had not taken place sooner. Well, there was that one time with Lucy but in the end, Lucy's allegation that he was the father or her child was merely a ruse to prompt the man who was really responsible into marrying her. If it were anyone else, Buck would be denying it vehemently, but it was not anyone else. It was Inez.
Even though he was presently staggering down the main street like a battle weary soldier who had just come off the line, he knew that he loved the sultry barmaid. He also knew that he had been the only man to have begotten Inez with child. As much as he wanted to run and the urge was quite overwhelming, he could not. This was not just some fleeting encounter like the others, to be discarded when it became inconvenient. This was Inez. He loved her and did not want her to be ruined as this surely would, when the news got out. Besides, the more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea that there would be a child in this world that came from the both of them.
Once again, Buck found himself revisited by all those old memories of fatherhood that he had considered when Lucy was determined to have him believe he was the father of her child. Back then, his mind had been filled with doubt and hesitation since he had trouble believing he could be responsible in the first place. However, with Inez there was no doubt, not one shred of it. He knew that when she said he was the one, he believed her because despite their fiery relationship, Buck and Inez had the firm rule of always being honest with one another.
Buck did not know his father. He had always wondered what it would be like to have one and knew what it was like to grow up without the strong comforting hand that supplemented the soft warmth of a mother's love. When he was a child, he had convinced himself that fathers played a minor part in the upbringing of a child and that he did not need one to become his own man. Not only until after Adam was born, until Buck saw how much Adam had adored Chris, did he realise that he might have missed something important. Chris had been a great father and in the memories, Buck was certain Chris had driven from his mind from sheer grief, Buck saw how good father and son were together. The adoration was mutual and Buck had been privileged to play the part of Uncle as he was now pleased to fill that role for Billy Travis.
He did not want Inez to go through what his mother did, having to raise a child all alone. His mother had done well by him and he had shed real tears of sorrow when she had passed on but Buck refused to run out on Inez like his own father had done to his mother. It frightened him spitless to conceive what sacrifices needed to be made when something like this was decided upon, however, it repulsed him even more to know that there would be a child without the benefit of his name or his love if Buck chose to turn tail and run.
So perhaps, it had come sooner than he thought, the impetus that would finally make him settle down but he had it better than most men. He knew he loved Inez, he loved her with a passion and warmth that drove him crazy and he had decided long ago, though he told no one about it, that she was the only one he could ever think of settling down with. For the year, he had been gravitating back and forth with what he should do with this knowledge. Now he knew for certain.
Buck had to marry her and do the right thing by her.
Buck had been so intent with his thoughts that he had not been paying much attention over what was happening around him. Upon reaching that momentous decision, the lawmen looked up for the first time since his sudden departure from the Standish saloon. When he did, he noticed that something particularly odd was going on. All the women seemed to be staring at him. It took a moment for him to realise that they were not merely staring; their gazes fixed on him as he moved across the street, no matter where they were on the street, in the shops, with their children in hand and their husbands alongside. The men seemed oblivious to him, going on as they always had but the women were something else entirely.
Buck wondered what was going on and found himself swallowing deeply, feeling somewhat intimidated by those eyes bearing down on him with such intensity. A trio of young women, whom he knew quite well, strolled towards him, actually sashayed would be a better word. There was suggestion in their eyes that indicated a desire to more than just talking to him. Buck for the life of him, could not imagine what was going. He questioned whether it was just him or had the world gone entirely crazy today, from the manner in which Inez had announced her news to the way every woman in town was staring at him like he was something to be feasted upon.
"Hello Buck." The brunette who made up the three greeted with honey in her voice upon reaching him. For the life of him, he could not remember her name. Judy or Trudy....something like that.
"Hi there." He answered, trying to hide the apprehension in his voice.
"Me and my sisters were going for a ride, would you like to come along?" She asked, before all three burst into girlish titters as they closed in around him like vultures on a particularly tasty bit of carcasses. He felt hands on his face, shirt, enclosing his shoulders and offering delights in every caress of a soft palm. No matter how delicious the invitation might be Buck could not help notice that it was being made in the main street, with the entire town taking account. What were these three on? He wondered as he felt someone squeezing his rump.
"Take your hands off him!" Another feminine voice unfamiliar to the three entered the mix.
Buck pulled away from the three, astonished by their action and found that his rescuer was none other than Alexandra Styles. The doctor strode firmly towards Buck and the trio of amorous girls and grabbed him by the hand and pulled him away from their ministrations.
"Come on Buck," Alex said firmly. "You need to get off the street." She replied in that familiar no nonsense tone he had come to know. "You seem to be in demand today."
"You're not kidding," he replied, grateful for her intervention as she dragged him away from the three young woman who would not have left his virtue intact. "What is it with the women today?" He asked, taking note that the others watched his departure with salacious interest. Seeing the hunger in their eyes only made Buck hasten to keep up with Alex as she led him to the direction of the clinic.
"It's your animal magnetism." She looked over her shoulder, displaying no traces of the hunger apparent in the eyes of the rest of Four Corner's female population. "Its been enhanced somehow. I have no doubt that if I were to take the time to do the research, we would discover that your pheromone levels have probably quadrupled geometrically."
Alex lost Buck after the word magnetism but he understood most of what she had tried to put forward to emit a rather stunned exclamation. "You're kidding me."
"Not all," she said as they rounded the corner and approached the clinic. "It happens sometimes in nature, especially where the male of the species is outnumbered by the female. Pheromones are extremely potent stuff; they trigger the most biological impulses in an animal. Humans, no matter how much they might claim otherwise, are a more specialised animal."
"Then how come you ain't affected?" He asked.
"I didn't say I was not," she looked over her shoulder and gave him a perfectly evil smile. "However, I know what is happening and that gives me some ability to fight it. Have you not experienced anything strange this morning?"
Where did he start? Buck wanted to say but gave her words due consideration to come up with an answer. "Yeah, I have. Inez ain't mad at me any more. All of sudden, she was coming on strong, like she hadn't wanted my guts on a platter for the past month."
"I would say that is a definite yes." Alex retorted as they reached the clinic.
Buck was grateful to be indoors, although the sight of a group of women starting to converge upon the clinic horrified him. He noticed that they were coming towards the house in almost trancelike state and was glad when Alex slammed the door shut behind them and locked in. He peered out the window, almost mesmerised by their slow advance. It did not matter how old they were; they were still coming after him. He counted at least twenty of them lingering in the street, trying to decide if they were going to rush the place or not.
"Can you do something to stop it?" He turned to Alex, who had swept out of the waiting room and had disappeared into her examination room.
"I don't know," she called out. "I thought that perhaps if we can smear you with some other pheromone that might counteract what you are exuding at the moment but that's easier said than done. I don't have any of the equipment here that I would need for a procedure of this kind of delicacy."
Buck followed her into the examination room and found her rummaging through the books that she had on the shelf, as if searching for an answer in the volumes before her. Buck really hoped there was. The sight of all those women out there, all clamouring for a piece of him might have been someone's idea of a fantasy but the reality of it was quite frightening. "You gotta do something." He said standing right next to her, looking over her shoulder as she studied the book in her hands. "I can't be fighting of all those women! Besides, some of them have husbands! They ain't going believe for a minute that I ain't tom catting around with all their wives."
Alex closed the book, slamming it shut so loudly that it made Buck jump. She let it drop out of her hands and it fell heavy to the ground, landing on its pages upon reaching the floor. Swinging around, she slipped her arms around his neck and pulled him to her. Buck was too astonished to say a word as Alex's lips met his in a kiss of devastating potency. For a second, he could do nothing but react to the splendour of her mouth on his, kissing him with such brutal passion as her tongue forced his way past his lips. He could feel her hand running through his hair, while the other held onto his neck, pressing her body hard against him. He could feel her passion for him in the softness of her curves and the way her nubile body rubbed up and down his own as her lips took from him everything she wanted. In a brief moment of clarity as Buck Wilmington drowned in the sensation of her, did he understand why Vin Tanner was so completely lost.
Vin.
It was a brief realisation but it was more than enough. "Alex!" Buck pushed her away. "Are you crazy!"
"I'm so sorry Buck," she said breathlessly, smiling at him with a dreamy expression that was so far removed from the doctor he knew. "I tried to fight it," she replied coming towards it again. "But I just couldn't! I just want you so badly, I have to have you."
She reached him again, one hand glided over his chest and the other probed further down, moulding to the part of his anatomy that could not deny how much he was aroused, no matter what he might be saying to her. "You want me too." She said huskily, her hand caressing the hard muscle of flesh that made him groan slightly.
"Of course I want you!" He exclaimed and forced her hand, her exciting, wonderful hand away from him. "A man would be crazy not to want you but not like this! You said it yourself; it's the pheromone thing that's making you feel like this! Nothing else. You love Vin and its him you want and me he'll gut if I touch you!"
When she started unbuttoning the buttons on her shirt, Buck decided the argument was futile and did the only thing he could in a situation like this.
Run.
JD did not know what to do.
He was having a nightmare, a terrible nightmare. It was the only way he could explain with any reasonable explanation what was happening to him. JD knew that he had gone to sleep last night and Buck, Chris and all his friends had been in the realm of the living. He had not killed them. He could not possibly have even imagine such a thing even though Mary Larabee firmly believed he had been responsible for the deaths of Chris and the others. He had almost fled from Mary following the ugly spectacle of their encounter on the street. JD had hurried away, half out of his mind from the sheer horror of what he had been told and knew that it had to be true. What he had seen in the eyes of all those around him when he had made his denials, told JD the truth. They thought he was lying and knew Mary was not.
He did not know where he was going, not until he found himself on the steps of the church. He had been walking blindly and knew he had to find out what had happened because he could not go stumbling around town until someone else came up to him with the same kind of anger Mary Travis had displayed. As he walked through the streets, he realised that the looks of respect that the townsfolk had been giving him all day was not respect at all, it was a darker emotion. Fear.
They were looking at him with fear.
His heart was pounding so loud at this realisation that he was surprised no one else could hear it his breast. JD swept past the shops, driving himself past their accusatory glares because he knew they were all staring at him like he was some kind of murderer. If it was true, if he was truly what they suspected him to be, how could JD live with that knowledge. It was like looking into a box hidden in one's own heart and discovering that a monster had been in existence there all this time. Only a monster could have handed Vin to bounty hunters, allowing the tracker to be taken back to Tascosa and then hanged for a murder he had been innocent of committing. The same monster who would eventually win a gun battle with Chris Larabee and drive Buck Wilmington to take his life from sheer despair.
He looked at the watch still clutched in his hand and wanted to throw it away but could not bring himself to do it because it belonged to Buck. Whatever this twisted dream might have caused JD to be the instrument of Buck's death, he still remembered Buck as his friend and protector, who ensured that he be accepted as part of the seven and guarded for the time it took for him to become his own man. Buck had given that all to him and to imagine that he had been the reason Buck Wilmington had put a gun to his head was more than JD could stomach. He wanted to scream in protest that this was all wrong but he could not even do that much because the horror what was before him could not be denied even with the memories in his mind.
Suddenly, JD noticed Josiah's church in the far end of the street. It looked greatly improved from the last time he had seen it, so far as to having a fresh coat of paint and a new coat. For a moment, JD contemplated going in, almost fearful of what he would find inside. After the news about Chris, Vin and Buck, JD was reluctant to know what horror he had visited upon those close companions, he was afraid to learn how Josiah and the others had fared. Fearfully, he moved past the wooden doors and entered the main body of the building.
Despite the new wooden pews, the greatly restored altars and bright red carpet that ran through the main aisle of congregation hall, JD could still see the familiar features of the church he knew as he entered further inside the building. As a place of worship, it looked very much like the place that Josiah had envisioned it to be and JD marvelled at the amount of work that it must have taken to see that dream realised. No one was present as he walked down the aisle, even though the church was pretty much open to everyone with the candles flickering near the altar and the crucibles for holy water filled to the brim.
JD looked at the cross before him and uttered a silent pray that he might wake up from this terrible dream. It was one thing wishing for a dream where he could be the kind of gunslinger that he used to read about in books but to have it realised at the cost of everything else, was something he had never hoped to endure. He had evolved into a creature that did not see such glory and fame worth the price of all the friends that meant the world to him. Apart of him would always wish for some semblance of those childhood dreams but the rest of him had become happy with what he had and was content to have people in his life rather than foolishness of glory.
"Is it my turn now JD?" Josiah's familiar voice boomed behind him.
JD let out a sigh of relief that was secret in his chest all this time. Turning around quickly, he saw Josiah looking as alive as the last time he saw him, with no discernible ill effects. JD was so happy to see the preacher alive and well that he had not heard the words spoken to him.
"Josiah, thank god you're alive!" JD exclaimed and took a step towards the man. "Everything has gone crazy! I don't know what's happening! Please I know what everyone thinks I've done but I swear to you I didn't kill Chris and the others!"
Josiah held his ground and stared at JD with hard eyes. "You have an extensive list of sins young man," he said with that deep voice of his. "Do not compound your crimes by lying in the house of God. Even I must draw the line somewhere."
JD froze in mid step and felt his heart sink with dismay because Josiah did not believe him. Why should he? If everyone else believed he was the murderer they claimed him to be, why should Josiah be any different. He was asking trust of a man, whose friends JD had gunned down to reach the fame and glory of being the best that he had dreamed of in his youth. JD swallowed hard and felt the fight dissipate from him. "I guess I shouldn't expect you to believe me." He said quietly, moving off the carpet and finding himself a seat the nearest pew.
"What do you want?" Josiah asked, with no affection in his tone.
"I didn't know where else to go." JD said honestly. "I woke up this morning and everything had changed." He spoke like a small child making a confession and considering it was Josiah before him, JD thought it was somewhat appropriate. "I remember playing cards with you and Ezra yesterday, Vin had gone to Sweet Water and came back smelling like a girl. Chris, Buck and Nathan were keeping an eye on Sid at the jailhouse. Everyone was still around."
Josiah said nothing for a moment, trying to see some deception in JD's manner but could find no evidence of it. For an instance, he looked once again like the young man who had once asked him how to court Casey Wells not the stone killer they had come to know in later years. "It has not been like that for a long time JD." Josiah admitted after a long while. "Chris and Vin are dead by your hand. Buck took his own life but you might as well have pulled the trigger. Ezra was smart, he knew what was coming so he and Julia left. With Vin gone, Alex saw no reason to stay in Four Corners so she went too and asked Inez to come along. Inez agreed because she didn't have much a choice with the baby."
"The baby?" JD looked up in surprise. What baby?
"She was pregnant when Buck died, she never had the chance to tell him." Josiah said grimly. "Last letter I got from her was from somewhere in Canada."
"A baby." JD closed his eyes, too filled with anguish to say much else. Buck killed himself, not knowing that he had a child on the way. Did this get any worse? "What about Nathan?" JD asked, almost moved to the point of tears. "Please don't say I hurt him too."
"No you didn't hurt him." Josiah retorted, unable to understand what game JD was playing and battling with his own conscience because the young man before him did not appear to be a ruthless killer. Far from it in fact, he looked like someone had seen something terrible within himself and had no idea how to stomach anything that he had done. "Nathan left Four Corners when Alex took off. He got married to Rain and they live up at the Seminole village now."
At least that was something, JD decided.
He buried his face in his hands, hoping that in this house of God, some sense would come of what he had experienced this morning. However, there was no answer here, not when Josiah was staring him down like the scum he must have surely been for the crimes he could not remember but must have committed for the preacher to look at him with such anger. JD rose to his feet and met Josiah's gaze. "I don't remember anything I did Josiah." He said earnestly. "Not one bit of it. I woke up this morning and everything was like it is now. I don't remember killing Chris, I don't remember giving Vin over to any bounty hunter. I can't say anything to make you believe me except that I'm sorry. I always wanted to the best but not like this."
With that, JD walked out of the church, leaving Josiah behind to stare at the young man in confusion because like JD, he had no idea what was going on.
JD stepped out into the sunshine thinking that nothing could be worse than the encounter with Mary and realised how wrong he was in light of what he had discovered about the others from Josiah. At least the preacher was still alive and his other self, the one who had been responsible for all this death had apparently decided to leave Josiah alone. JD supposed that was some small comfort even though he could not forget how Josiah had looked at him. There was no trace of the friend he had once known, just a stranger who blamed him for a great deal more than he remembered.
The young man left the church behind him, deciding the jailhouse was probably the only refuge left to him since the Silver Star on his chest had not disappeared and he still the sheriff in town. Perhaps when he sat down and took a moment to breathe, he might work out what he was going to do. At present he was still too shocked by everything he had learnt today. There were names that Josiah had not mentioned, like Casey and Nettie Wells. What had happened to Casey? He prayed he had not done something worse to the girl he loved so much. The man who would kill Chris Larabee and Vin Tanner was capable of far worse and JD did not want to know what that could be.
Suddenly, he heard the thunder of riders coming down the street. JD saw four men, riding hard towards the jailhouse. Reaching the building, they dismounted their horses and JD was able to get a closer look at them. He recognised none of the men but decided they looked mean and nasty which gave the young man some concern as he approached them. There was never any question in his mind about not advancing but in his state of mind today, caution was the last thing on his mind. They spotted him almost as soon as he made the decision to face them and took note of the way their eyes followed him as he neared.
People on the street immediately seemed to fade behind doors, disappearing into the background like they always seem to do when trouble was brewing. JD instinctively dropped his hand to his gun even though he felt some measure of fear pounding inside his chest. For the first time in his life, he would be facing four men alone, to kill them if that was their plan for him, without the aid of Buck and the others. It would almost be poetic if these four strangers killed him. At least, that was something JD could stomach.
"Can I do something for you?" JD asked, almost wishing that they kill him. He had nothing to lose now.
"We're looking for the Sheriff." The leader, a man in a black duster not unlike Chris Larabee's retorted, even though he possessed none of the presence of the gunslinger.
"Look no further," JD said coldly. "You found him."
"You're just a kid!" The man to the left of the leader exclaimed, spitting tobacco following that statement.
"So they tell me." The young man responded. "You going to stand there looking at me with slack jaws or you're gonna tell me what you want?"
"You remember Jonah Carlisle?" The leader demanded, glaring at JD as he asked that question.
"Should I?" JD replied, deciding that he was not even going to bother denying anything any more.
"You ought to," the man growled back. "You killed him."
"Can't place him." JD answered, his fingers poised over his gun. "But I'll take your word for it."
"You can take my word for it that I'm gonna kill you boy." He sneered.
At this point, JD hardly cared. If he had been responsible for the death of everyone he cared about then he preferred it this way.
Nathan sat next to Zeus, one of the few trusted slaves in Serfonteine's plantation at Avalon who was allowed to go into town on his own. This was partly due to the fact that Zeus was almost seventy years old and far past the days when escape was anything he dreamed about. Nathan tried to remember what he could about the man, knowing only that Zeus had not been born in America and were one of the few slaves who had been born free from far away Africa. It was said that when he first arrived on the plantation, when Mr Serfonteine's father had bought him, he could not speak a word of English and often sought to escape during his earliest years. It had taken fifty years to turn a free man into the bonded slave that he was now, silent and complacent, saying very little to Nathan as they made their way to Reidsville.
Periodically, Nathan would glance over his shoulder at the grey canvas that covered the back of the wagon, hoping that what remained hidden beneath it would go unnoticed until their journey back to the plantation. When the sun had finally set on the day and the blackness of twilight had covered the land in darkness again, only then could Nathan make his desperate plan of escape work. He prayed that everything would work out the way he remembered with the only difference being that Rebecca would accompany him on the exhaustive journey ahead. He could not endure the knowledge of what would befall her tonight if she returned to Avalon even if this escape attempt failed and they were both made to suffer dearly for the actions.
At the moment, escape was impossible with the sun high in the morning sky. By the time they reached town it would be noon and Nathan hoped their business in town would take long enough for it to be early evening when they started home. Once it was dark, Nathan and Rebecca's chances of escape would improve significantly from what it would be had they attempt to make their bid for flight during the day. The only obstacle that remained in their way was Zeus but Nathan was pretty sure he could knock the old man out without hurting him too badly. Unfortunately such a violent departure was the only way Nathan could ensure that Zeus would not suffer any repercussions from the master for their actions. Knowing how brutal Serfonteine could be, Nathan was unwilling to risk the man's life for their sins.
To keep Zeus from noticing anything strange, Nathan decided to make conversation, hoping that he would be oblivious to all until it was time for Nathan and Rebecca to make their escape. Until this point, Nathan had never really had much to do with the former African, although he did wonder what it must have been like to be born free, to know where he had come from or having the knowledge of ancestors far in the distance past.
"Do you remember much about being free Zeus?" Nathan asked.
Zeus was a dignified man, his dark curly hair had become snow white but he retained his height and his authority and dignity was always present. Every other slave respected Zeus even though he said little and most of the time kept counsel to himself. He turned to Nathan with a peculiar look as if he were regarding the youth for the first time.
"Who told you I was born free?" He asked. Even his voice did not sound the same as the other slaves. There was an accent to it that was unfamiliar and exotic.
"I hear things." Nathan answered. It was the truth, he had heard about Zeus past that way.
"You see a lot of things too don't you, Ajax?" Zeus stared at him with an expression in his eyes that did not seem old or feeble but as sharp as any man Nathan had ever known. In that moment, Zeus' hard penetrating gaze reminded him a little of Chris Larabee's. "You see a lot but you pretend to know nothing."
"Ain't it safer that way?" Nathan returned his gaze with a look of his own.
"After 50 years, I've learned so." Zeus retorted and kept his eyes on the track ahead. There was no one else on the road as the wagon continued forward and thick trees surrounded them on either side. The day was hot and Nathan felt for Rebecca who was hidden underneath the canvas covering, hoping that the balmy heat was not too insufferable for her.
"So what was it like, being free." Nathan asked again, since Zeus had manage to evade the question earlier.
"Nothing like it." The man replied, his voice a little softer than normal. "You walk where you want to walk, you stop if you want to and you sleep if you're tired."
Nathan could see Zeus' eyes clouding over as he was returned to the past of his youth. To a place where he had been a boy child running across hot savanna plains, hunting game in the tall grass, watching and listening to sounds completely alien to the one he had lived for almost half a century. Its beauty reflected in the longing Nathan saw in the older man's face, still as clear and vivid as the day he had manacled and torn from his home in what must have seemed like a different life time ago.
"It must be good knowing where you come from." Nathan remarked.
"I know it all." Zeus said firmly, as if he had locked everything he had been in a fortress deep inside himself where it could remain impenetrable to the master and men like him. "I remember my father's tribe and the stories of his youth. I know where my tribe goes during the wet and what they do for water during the dry. It is inside me and part of who I am and the master cannot take that from me."
"My name is Nathan." Nathan found himself confessing. "They call me Ajax but my father gave me the name because Nathan means 'gift' because my mama always said that a child was a gift unto the world black or white. My family name is Jackson. My pa says that his grandfather was called Jackson and that's how we got a family name, so we'd always knew where we started from."
"It is good to know where you come from." Zeus said understanding completely. "You hang onto that Nathan because some day, things will change and you can speak it openly."
"Things will change sooner than we know." Nathan replied, not intending to speak of the war that was coming but felt he could trust Zeus for some reason. "There is a storm coming Zeus. A war that will change everything in our world."
"I hear the talk." Zeus agreed. "Sometimes, when I'm driving the carriage for Master Serfonteine, I hear them talking about war and abolitionists. How they want to free us slaves up in the north."
"It will happen." Nathan said firmly because he had seen it. He had seen the blood spilled in the war that was fought between the states where friends found themselves divided because a change of map had decree that they were enemies. He saw the south struggle to keep itself entrenched in the old ways while the north brought progress with the aid of artillery and fire.
Zeus did not ask him to elaborate but said something just as surprising. "Is that why you and the girl are fixing to run?"
Nathan froze. He had hoped that he had provided enough of a distraction earlier on for Rebecca to slip onto the wagon unnoticed but had not evidently been as successful as he had thought. "I don't know what you mean." He tried to lie even though he was certain Zeus was perfectly aware of the truth.
"I seen in her the back Nathan." Zeus said as if he was bored by the whole concept of denial. "Now you plan on killing me when you run?"
"No!" Nathan exclaimed, horrified by the idea. "I was going hit you to knock you out but only so the master won't think you let us get away."
"It's a dangerous thing you plan on doing." Zeus pointed. "As someone whose tried and failed, I'm telling you the master will punish you bad if you're caught."
"We can't stay," Nathan said firmly, steeling himself to attack if Zeus chose to turn them in. "Tonight he comes for Becky and I know he'll do more than just take her." He did not want to have to say that Serfonteine would beat her so badly that Rebecca would die, when she was so close to hearing their conversation.
"It's the way things are." Zeus said grimly, his lips a thin line of distaste because he knew what it was like to feel the anguish that Nathan must be feeling, to watch a loved being used in such a personal and demeaning way, only to be discarded when the deed was done.
"To hell with the way things are!" Nathan snapped, feeling his anger boil at the acceptance of another man's brutality simply because the colour of one's skin was different. It was not fair! "I can stand the whipping, the way we're worked to death like dogs, I can even stand that we ain't got no choice with where our children go or the fact that we ain't no more rights over them, then a cat does over her little but this is different! It ain't right to force yourself on a girl no matter what colour her skin! Damn, she's just a child for Lord's sake!"
"I hear you but the evil done to her body can be forgotten, death cannot." Zeus tried to convince the youth even though it was impossible and they both knew it.
Nathan had to convince Zeus. Now that the old man knew about Rebecca, his assistance was absolutely essential. He had to cooperate or else Nathan would be forced to take extreme measures and the future healer was prepared to do that to save his sister. He would not be proud of himself after doing it but remembering the image of Rebecca in his arms, all bloody and bruises after Serfonteine was done with her was enough to make him commit any act of savagery. He had not meant for Rebecca to hear this but he had no choice, he had to reach Zeus somehow.
"If I told you that Serfonteine would kill my Becky because his idea of pleasuring himself with a woman is to beat her so bad that she'd bleed to death, would that make you understand why we have to go?"
An audible gasp escaped the canvas where Rebecca had heard and Nathan closed his eyes, wishing he had not been forced to reveal that particular truth.
"You don't know that." Zeus retorted.
"Yes I do." Nathan swallowed hard. "The same way I know that three months from now, there will be war between the north and the south. It will go on for five years and the south will fall and we will be free at last. All of us except my Becky because she would have died tonight." He met Zeus' eyes with a secret plea for help. "I need you to turn the other way Zeus and let us go. I don't want to hurt you but to save my sister from the Master, I'm willing to do anything."
Zeus looked at the young man before him, wondering if Nathan had not gone quite mad but the belief in his eyes at what he said made Zeus reach deep within him own heart to make a leap of faith in the impossible. "You really believe what you're saying don't you?"
"I do." He nodded.
Zeus did not answer and Nathan took his silence to mean that the old man was contemplating his request and thus Nathan did not push for an answer at the present time. He understood what it was he was asking of Zeus and knew that it was no light request. Even if Nathan did knock Zeus out and promoted the fantasy that Zeus had not let them go willingly, there was nothing to say that Serfontaine would not punish him just out of anger and a desire to take his vengeance out on someone. Zeus was not a young man and his ability to take corporal punishment was not what it was. In any case, it was a big thing to ask of any man and Nathan could understand if Zeus refused just as he hoped Zeus would realise what that would mean if he did.
Reidsville was like any other southern town in Georgia and when two black slaves made their entrance into town, whether or not it was permissible, there was always white folk keeping a close eye on them. Nathan stayed close to Zeus, knowing that the residents of the town would be used to seeing the old man out on his own from previous errands that he would have run for the master. Meanwhile, Zeus kept silent, keeping Nathan on tenterhooks as they carried the list of tasks that needed doing. Their day saw them visiting several places in town, getting supplies from the hardware, grain and general stores. All of it was loaded into the back of the wagon, where Rebecca remained safely out of sight.
It was permissible for Zeus to be out on his own and even tolerable that he should have an assistant in Nathan but for Rebecca to be out in the open would immediately rouse suspicion and they could not afford that while the sun was still out. As it was, Rebecca had avoided going to the house by telling Milly, another house slave that she was required to accompany Mrs Serfonteine to the Lamont residence. Mrs Serfonteine was due to be gone for most of the day so it would be awhile before Rebecca's disappearance was discovered. Nathan hoped to be well on their way before the Master could organise a search party to go looking for them. With any luck, Serfonteine would wait until after Zeus had returned with Nathan so that he could be questioned on his sister's whereabouts before proceeding on the search.
The sun was starting to set in the horizon when the wagon finally left Reidsville and began its long journey towards Avalon once again. Zeus had still not given him an answer and Nathan was starting to get worried that the man might have changed his mind about helping them. They were almost an hour into the journey when Zeus finally turned to him. The old man had brought the wagon to a stand still near a particularly remote track of road flanked by a dense growth with the sounds of a river rushing somewhere in the distance.
"Get out." He told Nathan. "You too Rebecca."
As Nathan climbed off the wagon, Rebecca emerged from her hiding place under the canvas. Zeus did the same thing and peeked under the canvas to the supplies stored in the back tray. He rummaged through the content before surfacing a moment later with a bundle of stores they would need on their journey, including a rather heavy horse shoed that had rusted and been discarded in the back for some time.
"This will last you for a few days," he said handing the bundle that contained some bread and dried meat. "Stick to the river, the dogs won't pick up the scent and move by night. Less people see you that way."
"Thank you." Rebecca said embracing Zeus hard for the kindness he was bestowing upon them. This would severely upset his privileged standing with the Master and she hoped Zeus would not suffer too much for this. "How can we thank you?"
Zeus tried not to smile but he knew of her sunny disposition and could well understand why her brother would do anything to protect her. "I don't know whether I'm doing the right thing by you. I ain't doing you no kindness if you're caught."
"Thank you, Zeus." Nathan said genuinely appreciative of the advice and the stores. "We'll never forget you."
"Well don't be so quick to leave," he handed the horseshoe and turned his back to Nathan. "You know what to do."
Nathan nodded and took a deep breath. "I reckon I do."
"I'm stronger than I look," Zeus explained. "You put enough of a dent in my head and I can tell the master I was knocked out for some time, maybe I can throw them off your trail a little."
"Don't go doing more than you got to," Nathan said. "You done enough for us."
"Don't you worry," Zeus said quickly. "There ain't much more he could do to me and I'd be happy knowing your sister is away from him."
Nathan nodded in understanding and swung hard. He slammed the piece of metal against the back of the man's head. Zeus let out single gasp of pain before he dropped to his knees and collapsed on the side of the road. Nathan quickly went to examine him, hoping that he had not hurt Zeus too badly. There was a sizeable lump on his back of his head and a little bit of blood where the skin was broken. Zeus would be out for no more than a few minutes and the bruise would lent support to Zeus story. Lifting the old man, he placed Zeus back in the wagon before joining Rebecca who was hiding in the safety of the thick wood.
"Come on," he said taking her hand as they started the long journey to Kentucky where salvation awaited in the form of a preacher who had a little trouble turning the other cheek and went by the name of Josiah Sanchez.
Inez finally dared to climb out of bed when her mother was gone.
She did not know what was happening but she knew she did not like it. While she liked the idea of being home again, of having everything that had happened in her life since Don Paulo's son took an interest in her, erased from existence, she knew that this was not how it should be. Without Paloma's presence, she was able to make careful examination of her room, unhindered by worrying how it would look to her mother. As she scoured through her belongings and studied the trinkets that branded this place as her own, Inez knew without doubt, she was exactly where she appeared to be, at home.
Paloma had gone off to work in the Don's house with Calla and Inez was grateful for the solitude. The sultry bar maid still had no idea how she had come to be home, despite her mother's insistence that she had never been away. Yet the memory of all that had transpired since the night of the festival was clearer in her mind than the reality her mother claimed was real. However, it was not simply that she had lost the friends acquired since her departure or the life she had made for herself in Four Corners that bothered her most but the child she had been carrying inside her body for some weeks now.
Even though her mother claimed she had never been to Four Corners to conceive the baby, Inez could still feel its loss permeating through every corner of her being. Her insides felt empty after the constant worry she had felt over its existence. When Inez thought of all those nights when she had lain awake in her bed, trying to decide what to do only to have it mysteriously vanish this way, she found that there was no joy to be had in that. With shame, she realised that however this had happened, impossible as it was, she had been the direct cause of it. Did she not in her darkest hours of despair wish the innocent babe within her gone?
Well now it was gone and she wanted it back.
She wanted it back so badly she could not imagine how she could have wished it gone in the first place. It was not just her child but Buck's as well and while in comparison, the child she had carried was probably more mature than its father, Inez felt as if she had stolen his right to know with the wish that had allowed this to happen. At this moment, Inez would have given anything to have this child back even if it meant finding Buck in Four Corners and doing it the old fashioned way. In any case, she could no longer remain here.
This town was apart of a past that should have been left behind. She did not know how she had come to be here but she knew she could not stay. Whether or not it was a fool's hope to return to Four Corners, to seek out the people she cared about even if they had no idea of who she was, Inez knew she had to try. Even now, she found herself missing Mary Travis and the privilege of knowing the widow was not something she would trade for anything. Sure becoming acquainted with Mary had brought her more grief that humanly possible since the widow attracted trouble with more ease than any person Inez had ever met, but it did keep her life somewhat interesting. From burning down old decrepit mansions, running for dear life from mad cultists who were determined to shake the walls of heaven and earth, not to mention blowing up the occasional bank or hiding out in a brothel, Mary had always kept things exciting.
Inez never realised how much she valued their friendship until it was gone, or in this case, never been. She looked around her room, her gaze taking in the sight of her room and made the decision to leave at dawn the next morning. Although she was eager to return to her old life, she wanted to spend some time with her mother and sister. Inez made a note to herself that if she ever woke from this insane dream that she found herself, perhaps a visit to home be in order.
Stepping out of her bedroom, Inez moved through the rest of the house that she shared with her mother and sister, Calla. Theirs had been one of the few homes in town that was made of real brick and mortars not the mud huts occupied by the rest of the villagers. Her father had served with Don Paulo in the war and the house had been a gift in appreciation of their service together. Later on, when he passed on, Paloma had been convinced that the reason why so many men had asked for her hand was so that they could get the house.
Inez left behind the nostalgia of being home for the moment and ventured out into the village, wondering if anything had changed in the past two years of her absence, although as far as any one was concerned, she had never really left. She made her way down the winding track that led into the heart of town, passing by Rosita Alvarez, the old woman who always sat on her front step, smiling at anyone who passed by with her toothless grin. No one even guessed how old Rosita was any more but the town would not be the same if she was not sitting in the front step.
Inez waved at the old woman as she walked by, marvelling in all the sights of home that would have been common place once upon a time. She saw the square where the children played their games, giggling and chattering as she and Calla had when they were young. The heat of sun made her squint as she examined the familiar surroundings and Inez realised just how much she missed being apart of this world, even though she had felt it to be a place in her past.
"Hello Inez." She heard a voice behind her.
Inez looked over her shoulder and to her shock, saw it to be Raphael. Raphael was one of Don Paulo's hired guns. Like her father, he had served with the Don and had taken up residence in town after the end of the war. For Inez, it was hard to look at him and not feel pensive, after all she remembered him as the man who had aided the Don's son in his relentless pursuit of her across the border. However, Raphael had always been a man of honour as he had so proved when he had saved her life and Buck's after the duel.
"Raphael." She greeted, trying not to sound apprehensive at the sight of him.
"You are feeling better?" He said as he fell into step beside her. "Your mother said that you are not well, that perhaps you were with fever."
"No," she shook her head in response. "I was not feeling well but it was nothing as serious as all that. I just needed to rest a little."
"A breath of fresh air always helps." He smiled at her and Inez was somewhat surprised at how different Raphael looked when he was not wearing the sombre expression he often did when riding with the Don or the rest of the men in his employ.
"I have a confession to make," Inez replied, "I'm feeling better but I don't feel like working today." She flashed him a look tinged with a little guilt.
"I think we all have days where we just want to disappear somewhere." Raphael answered, his smile settling back into a casual manner that Inez had never noticed before. Before the ugly incident with Don Paolo, she had often seen him around the main house. He always seemed distant and solitary, a far cry from Guillermo and the other men that worked for the Don. He was a source of much speculation to the women of the village, who saw him as one of the most eligible men in town. Inez had to confess to never being one of those but now that she thought about it, she felt a certain level of curiosity about him.
"Where do you disappear to?" She asked.
"Out there," he looked towards the horizon beyond the village. "Where it is quiet and a man can just become lost in all that space."
"That sounds nice." Inez sighed, following his gaze as they both walked through the heart of town, neither appearing to have any particular destination. "There's a big world outside this place. I think I would like to see some of it."
"No dreams of being a good wife and mother?" He teased slightly.
Inez laughed, unable to blame him for such assumptions because traditionally that was the ultimate goal of most women in town, to snare themselves a husband and raise a household of children. "Not at this moment." She replied, even though she knew it was a little bit of a lie because she wanted dearly to have back the child she and Buck had conceived.
"I noticed," Raphael admitted after a long pause, unable to deny that he had always been attracted to Inez. She was without doubt the most stunning woman in the village but she had no concept of using that beauty to better her situation. Women like that were to be admired because they had virtue and strength of character that elevated them beyond the ordinary. "You do not seem to me the kind that likes the quiet."
Inez found herself blushing under the penetrating gaze of his dark eyes. It was so easy to see why the rest of the village's female population was so enamoured when he looked at her so. He was very compelling and it pained her to think that in the reality she remembered, his devotion to honour would make him a hunted man. However, Raphael had wanted to find his own path after the death of Paolo's son and leaving Four Corners seemed like the best way to do that even though Inez always had the impression that Chris Larabee would have liked him to remain.
"I do not wish to be living a life fraught with constant danger either," she found it necessary to point out after a few second of reflection. After all, is that not what her life had been since arriving in Four Corners? She had known the worst of men and she had also known the best of them from that little town in the heart of the Territory. Her rape surfaced most acutely then and Inez felt a slight shiver of cold running through her spine as the memory of that terrible day flashed in her mind. "Perhaps a little bit of excitement every now and then would make me appreciate the boring days."
"I cannot offer much in the way of excitement," Raphael said turning to her. "However, would you like to go for a ride?"
Inez did not know what to say for a moment, staring blankly at him because the offer was so unexpected. It never occurred to her that his interest was that way inclined. Inez had always thought Raphael was merely being polite, not at all motivated by some deeper emotion. Her first impulse was to refuse him but as she gazed into his eyes and saw that it had taken a lot of soul searching for him to make the request of her, she found that she could not.
"Yes," Inez found herself agreeing and hope she knew what she was doing. "I'd like that very much Raphael."
God, she really hoped she knew what she was doing.
Josiah tried to remember the conversation.
He had found himself a secluded corner of the greenery surrounding the church so that he could gather his thoughts and decipher the clues left behind in his memory. It was a long shot, he knew that. However, for the moment, it was the only explanation he had of how this could have happened and he had to focus his mind as he had never done before. As a man of the cloth, it had always been a contradiction that Josiah believed in neither magic nor fairy tales when the entire course of his life was based on the absolute faith of what could not be seen. Yet he had learn in recent years that there were things unseen that were very real indeed.
In the incident that none of the seven would discuss openly, they all remembered Darien Lambert who had come across time from the future to save the human race from genocide. Like others, Josiah had seen the mechanical monster that had sought to end Chris Larabee's life. If that alone was not proof of greater things beyond their understanding, nothing was. This was not so hard to believe even he was basing his entire theory on how he had come to be a preacher on the strength of one conversation. Until the thought had crossed his mind only a short time ago, Josiah would not have given the conversation second thought but the fact was, it seemed to be the only explanation for what had taken place....
It had been his watch at the jailhouse and rather then spend the entire day indoors, when it was perfectly beautiful day outside, Josiah had opted to sit out in the sun, reading a good book with his feet up. Josiah was lost in the adventures of Don Quixote when he saw Billy Travis crossing the street, headed towards the jailhouse. At first, the preacher had believed Billy had come in search of Chris since the gunslinger was now the boy's stepfather, although Billy still called Chris by name. Josiah had a feeling that was probably at Chris' behest rather than Billy's.
He had grown an inch or two since his last visit to Four Corners and Josiah felt inordinately old that time was passing so quickly when the youth before him seemed to transforming before his very eyes. Billy approached the preacher with purpose and immediately inspired Josiah's curiosity at what could possibly make an eight-year-old so serious about anything. Of course, Billy was not a normal eight-year-old child. Billy had seen more than any child his age ought to have given witness to, what with seeing his father killed and later on, keeping the burden of that guilt inside his heart for so long. It had made him grow up faster than he should have and it was evidenced in his eyes which seemed old by normal standards.
"Josiah, can I talk to you?" He asked upon reaching the preacher turned lawmen.
"Certainly," Josiah answered, properly intrigued. "Why don't you pull up a chair?"
Billy nodded and pulled the chair that was almost the same size as him next to Josiah as if what was to be discussed was extremely important and could not be held lightly. After sitting down and getting comfortable, Billy turned to the preacher once more and said in a very quiet voice, as if he was afraid of anyone paying attention. "Josiah do you believe in magic?"
Josiah tried to hide his surprise because he had expected the subject to be of a spiritual nature and to some extent important enough on an adult level because of the manner in which Billy had conducted himself until this moment. "It depends," he said neutrally. "There are many different kinds of magic. Some men say that looking into the eyes of a good woman is magic, while other believe there is magic in seeing the stars twinkle."
"I mean real magic." The boy said impatiently. "You know," he looked around to see if anyone was about before he revealed any more. "Like with witches and stuff."
"Oh that kind of magic." Josiah nodded in understanding. "Well, I don't know." He answered, trying not to sound condescending. "I believe there is a lot we do not know about the world. Witches are greatly misunderstood by people. There was a time that any woman who was smarter than she ought to be was immediately branded a witch because she knew things about herbs and medicines."
"My friend Lily says that magic is real and that there are good witches and bad witches." Billy pointed out, wanting clarification on this matter because he attended church on a regular basis, either with his mother or his grandparents and the general consensus had been that witches were agents of evil. Yet his friend Lilith claimed to be a witch and she did not seem to be evil so this only serve to confuse him even more.
"I think she is right." Josiah agreed, wondering how the school mistresses daughter could have such strange ideas. Of course, Josiah had never met Audrey King himself, even though she had been much talked about during the weeks since she had settled in Four Corners. The woman had high flouting ides, they said. Josiah had the impression that the more rigid citizens of Four Corners found Audrey somewhat flamboyant for their tastes. Meanwhile, Julia and Mary had found the woman to be perfectly fascinating. Although if she was somewhat eccentric, it was no wonder she permitted her daughter believe herself to be a witch when a more Christian woman would be sending the child to a nunnery to purge her of such unclean thoughts.
"I think that magic is just magic and a witch is just a witch." Josiah replied, answering Billy's question. "What she uses the magic for makes her good or bad."
Billy sat there in silence for a moment, ruminating on what Josiah had told him. "So it's not a sin if you use magic for something good."
"I don't think so," Josiah remarked, understanding why Billy had come to him about this question. Obviously, the child wanted to know whether or not it was spiritually sound to dabble in such things. Of course the whole thing was nonsense and merely the kinds of fanciful beliefs that made childhood such a time of wonder. There was no harm in the boy believing in such superstition. Besides, the realities of life would strip him of such innocent marvels when he grew older, Josiah saw no reason to make that happen any sooner than it should. "Nothing is a sin if you believe in your heart you are doing the right thing and harming no one by doing it."
"I ain't gonna harm no one." Billy said with a smile. "I just wanted to know that's all."
He had just wanted to know because he was going to do something, Josiah realised now.
A part the preacher still believed this was a dream. That it could be nothing else. However, the proof lay all around him and even though he had no reason to belief a child's wish had brought about this shift in reality, Josiah had nothing else to go on. His life was far from perfect and here, he was the kind of preacher he always wanted to be. To have a congregation, to be respected by the community and to do the Lord's work with nothing more than unyielding faith to assist him, it was all Josiah ever wanted in his life.
Except he had not done this himself.
He was here because a child had wanted him to have his fondest wish. Josiah understood that now. This place was what he had always wanted and what he now had. Somehow, something had allowed that dream to be a reality. Unfortunately, it was reality that should not have been. How could he appreciate anything here or be the man the flock needed him to be when he had not journey the path that led him here but had been merely thrust into the role. The dreams that were best savoured were the ones accomplished through sheer force of will. It meant nothing when it was simply given. Josiah had not become the preacher he always wanted to be, he had merely been presented the fruits of what might have been.
Josiah wanted his life back. He wanted his friends and the church he had been trying to restore to its former glory. He took pride in the filling of every crack in its pitted walls, in repairing the old pews left to become dilapidated with time. Bringing that place to life with his own hands had been the closest that Josiah had come to feeling fulfilled and he did not want it replaced with this idyllic reality that held no more substance for him than a fading dream he woke up with in the morning. Unfortunately, he had no idea how he was going to change things back to normal.
Josiah was tempted to go find Billy, to make the boy undo what he had done but somehow, instinct told him that was not the answer. Billy had merely brought the wish to the altar. Josiah believed his participation did not extend beyond the desire. The girl child Lilith, with her grand ideas of being a witch was most likely the culprit who had brought Billy's wish to bear and created this fantasy that Josiah now found himself trapped within. It was likely that the others were suffering similar ordeals or pleasures, depending on what their dreams might have been.
Billy, like all children believed that adults had wishes like they did. A horse, a toy, the return of a loved one, these were the scope of a child's imagination. Unfortunately, adults were another thing entirely. Their dreams were darker, more potent and experience clouded the sheer honesty of a child's wish with neurosis and traumas gathered from a lifetime of existence. Without even knowing what the others were dreaming about, Josiah knew he had to free them as much as he needed to free himself. For if the world he now found himself appeared seemingly pleasant for him, it may not be necessarily so for the others.
The others might be enduring nightmares that he could not possibly imagine.
Realising this only made Josiah more determined to get a start on finding some way out of this present predicament. As he had already guessed, Billy was not the key to this even though it was his will that had brought this insanity about. It was Lilith King's knowledge that had transformed a simple wish into something terrifying. Perhaps not for Josiah himself but certainly for the others. As he left the calming influence of the scenery around him, Josiah made his way back to his church.
He had to think of this logically if he was to be any help to his friends. If Josiah was to assume that he had never strayed from the path and kept faith with the life that he had chosen for himself, then he would never have taken that trip to the north almost fifteen years ago. His stomach hollowed at the thought because the ramifications of that had more far reaching consequences then he realised. If he did not take the trip north, then he would not have found Nathan Jackson, half-dead from his master's whip and exhausted from an escape attempt. Nathan would have died where he had fallen, ravaged by fever until he was killed by the sickness or the master who found him.
If Nathan died fifteen years ago then Chris Larabee and Vin Tanner would have never saved him from a lynching and the seven would cease to be. All the lives and people they had helped would evaporate as surely as if Josiah had put a bullet to their heads and pulled the trigger. Josiah felt his throat dry from the enormity of that realisation. Somehow, all that had to take place again or Josiah would never again know peace.
Somehow, he had to find Lilith King.