[Fanfic] Red West II. - Chapter eight
Title: RED WEST II.
Author: Kasumi
Rating: NC-17
Genre: Western, Drama, Romance
Warning: AKame pairing; vulgarisms, violence; No beta-reading
Summary: Once upon a time in the west... During the wild period of the United States formation, the two guys met, became close friends and lovers, before they had to go separate ways again... Jin is desperately searching for his younger brother Leo, who is wanted for a murder, while Kazuya follows his track, after he had helped the remaining Indians of Blackfeet Tribe to move into the reservation. Will they be able to meet again and overcome the new obstacles? And does the affectionate relationship of the two young men even have any chance in the cruel times?
Thank you: To
seiko22 for always supporting me; And to Kamenashi Kazuya and Akanishi Jin for being who they are...
AN: I keep my promise about the quick update. ^_^
Enjoy; I´m looking forward to comments!
I´m really grateful for every opinion or advice and always happy to know my readers.
Your comments are my best reward and kick me off to try harder and keep writing.
Previously:
Chapter one - On the road // Chapter two - Two surprising captives // Chapter three - Brothers´ reunion // Chapter four - Queen City
// Chapter five - Encounters // Chapter six - Silver King // Chapter seven - Significant information //
Fruits of cooperation
The trees were already leaving the sad greyness of the winter time behind, but they didn´t reach the green freshness yet. The sun was playing hide and seek with the soft clouds, illuminating the wild in one moment, and letting it sink in the shadows in another. There were still some places, where the piles of ice-cold snow resisted the rising temperatures and made the air cooler than it really was. The forest was peaceful and quiet in that manner, which calmed you down, and made you to believe that you were completely alone in the deep of nature, except the animals and some lonely birds, which didn´t gather enough strength for singing out their joy from the upcoming spring yet.
The old north road was located quite far from the operating mines and from the usual track used for the access to Leadville, so there was no disruption from the blasts or other travelers. The dusk was coming and the shadows under the roof of conifers were deepening slowly, but surely.
“It will be difficult to spot anything at all if they are late,” Harvey, observing the road from their position at the top of a steep hill with small binoculars, grunted.
“You know even their time schedule?” Kame, crouching next to him behind a group of boulders, asked curiously.
“Trying to be smart now?” the hunter snorted. “Then what do you think? Will that famous leader himself show up here or not?”
“How should I know?” the younger guy asked back, checking on Ukushi, who was waiting a little behind.
“Well, if you know his brother, you may guess how the younger Akanishi could behave,” Harvey indicated.
Kame stared at the man without a word.
“Come on… I know you don´t trust me, but we cooperate for now, don´t we?” the hunter reminded him grinning, but still focused in the view of his binoculars. “What´s your opinion?”
The younger one changed the position of his legs, to prevent them from going numb, before he replied: “I doubt he would have exposed himself so much, but if this is such a big delivery as you said…”
Harvey smirked in a way, which Kame didn´t like much: “It is a big deal, you can bet… So we assume that Akanishi himself might be part of this ambush, right?”
“Probably…” Kame admitted slowly. “If they appear at all…”
“They will.”
“You are pretty sure of it.”
The hunter just shrugged and didn´t reply. The longer Kame spent with that man, the less he trusted him. He definitely had to stay on alert and switch sides before anything too bad might happen… He really didn´t intend to cause troubles to Jin´s brother, no matter if the older Akanishi was with him already or not.
“And here they go…” his too-much-grinning companion murmured and put the watching thing aside.
Harvey was right; a small coach with the strong wheels pulled by four stallions appeared in the turn approximately half a mile away. Except two waggoneers, it was accompanied by two riders, who were dressed in ordinary clothes, despite they expected the soldiers; it was probably because of the cover. They were moving forward quite slowly, the guards observing the woods at their sides, with two more hours of ride to Leadville in front of them.
“They are slow; it will not be difficult to follow them…” Kame assumed observing the coach rattling on the non-flat road.
“Let´s go then,” Harvey commanded, first on his feet.
*
Kame´s anxiety grew with the each mile the ugly coach rode out on the narrow road. He and Harvey kept following the small company of guards through the woods, keeping their distance, covering themselves in the shadows of densely growing conifers. They had to move very slowly like that, to avoid being spotted by the gunmen, but still it was fast enough not to lose the heavily dragged carriage from their sight.
Fortunately, or maybe not, they didn´t have to wait long for something interesting to happen, as the coach and the riders stopped suddenly. Approaching closer, they found out why. There was a fallen tree right across the road. It might have been a coincidence, but Kame noticed right away that the obstacle was caused by a recent cut, not by a lighting strike or rot.
Without saying a word, both Kamenashi and Harvey led their horses a little further from the road and made sure to be covered in front of any suspicious glances. They took up their positions just in time.
One of the guards dismounted to check on the tree, probably to find an easiest way how to remove it out of their way, when a harsh order was heard: “Hands up, Misters!”
The stagecoach was surrounded by six men in black so abruptly that it seemed as if they emerged right from the layer of old needles resting on the ground. Ukushi whickered uneasily and Kame leant forward quickly to place a hand across her blowholes. At the same time he was trying to see as much from the scene on the road as possible. Harvey´s stallion was feeding itself on some first spring grass, while his master´s eyes were glued to the binoculars again.
The attackers with scarves across their faces seemed to be all the same, it could not be tell if there was anyone specific, even if Kame knew those gangsters. None of them seemed any familiar to him.
The second guard, who remained sitting in his saddle, kicked his horse into its flanks in a foolish attempt to escape. But he was grabbed by one of the Riders for the leg and pulled out from the animal´s back. The man fell down with a painful scream, while his horse continued the graceful ride without its rider, rushing around the stump and then further on the road.
The other man just glanced at five rifles aiming at his head; he considered the situation more wisely and let his own weapon land next to his yowling colleague. As for the waggoneers, the both men raised their hands up in the air at the second the Riders popped out from the woods.
“I think Tabor should seriously reconsider the salary of his guardsmen,” Harvey murmured in a taunting whisper. “They do not exactly tear themselves to protect his money, right?”
Kame didn´t join the hunter´s mocking; Harvey was right, of course, but who would be surprised that those men didn´t want to die just like that? Just for money? They surely had families they had to come back to…
The following events occurred so quickly, that it almost amazed Kame. The attackers tied all four men in no time, obviously used to that kind of job, while the two of them dragged four wooden boxes out of the coach. The chests had locks, but these were no match for the heavy hammer. Then the Riders placed the poor guardsmen inside the carriage instead of many small bags, which they took into their hands.
While one Rider watched over the cuffed men, to make sure they would not try anything funny, the rest of the gang removed the tree from the way quite easily. Then they slapped the first two horses heavily, making the animals to start galloping forward, with the terrified guards trying to scream in fear through the gags, as the roof-less carriage was shaking from one side to another so much, it threatened to drop its new cargo off the edge any minute.
The gang waited till the sound of the wheels died out and then they dived into the deepening shadows of the forest, with Harvey and Kame in the hot pursuit after them. Even though the Riders ambushed the delivery on foot, Kame had no doubt that they had their horses hidden somewhere. And the excited neighing, which they could hear very soon, told him he was right. The thunder of hooves led them further behind the thieves then…
*
“We´ve got it, Leo!” Koki whooped loudly, once he pulled the scarf off his face and waved with two bags in his hand so enthusiastically that one of them hit the guy over his jaw, making other three Riders laughed out aloud.
Leo and Jin were awaiting the ambush group just a few hundred meters away from the road, guarding the horses for all of them and both watched their arrival with quite a relief. They were supposed to join the attackers too at first, but once they had spotted just four men accompanying the delivery, it was not necessary and Esler proposed the brothers should remain there as a back-up. Leo didn´t protest much, he knew his companions well enough to know they could handle it without him. Jin assumed that Esler wanted to mainly protect the young leader, but he also sensed that the man still didn´t trust him yet.
The mentioned man appeared among the trees as the last from the five and from behind he threw a cone directly at Koki´s head.
“Have you got a slightest idea what a silent retreat means?” Esler scolded the blonde gangster, staring at the others, who just started to laugh again, before he approached Leo with a shaking head. ”It went without any problems, maybe even too well, I´d say…”
“Don´t be such a grouch, Cullen,” Koki stuck out his tongue.
“Too pessimistic as always,” one of the others, who was called Patrick, if Jin remembered well, joined the blonde one. “They had no idea we might knew about their top-top-secret delivery. They thought they would be stealthy in the small numbers, heh.”
“All of you are too reckless,” the older man snorted, without paying the laughing bunch much attention. “Anyway, I let Ryo cover our retreat, as you wanted,” he told to Leo again.
“Great job, guys,” Leo reacted smiling widely. “We will count it later in safety, now let´s go!”
*
Once the Riders got on their horses, Kame and Harvey had to speed their pursuit up as well, otherwise they would have lost the track of them easily. It was damn hard to do it really quietly, but Kame was used to stealthy movement through the woods, and Harvey was not exactly the noisy one either.
But it seemed that Kame was better at tracking, as he was the one getting them in the right direction twice, spotting some broken twigs or hoof prints in the soft ground. Once he even had to return for the hunter as the man went a little more astray, and found Harvey somehow nervous, at least that was how Kame would describe it.
“Hey… Is anything wrong?” Kame asked rather whispering, when he noticed that the hunter stared at the top of the rock above them frowning.
“Nothing… Just imagining something…” Harvey turned his attention to the younger one. “Look, they seem to keep the west direction, right?”
Kame nodded: “More or less, yes.”
“There is an old mine that way, it might be their hideout. I know the shortcut to it. So what about we split and cover more space?” the hunter suggested. “I can overtake them, while you keep going right after them. You are more than able to, as I see...”
“Well, are you sure about that shortcut?” the younger one was surprised about the hunter´s idea, but it made sense. Like that it was less probable that the gang would slip away somewhere.
“Yes, I am,” Harvey nodded self-confidant. “I did some job there a year ago. Moreover, one will make less noise than two; we should avoid being spotted as much as possible. It´s not far, just two miles I guess. There is a difficult terrain around, they have to pass it. I will wait for you either there or back on the north road within two hours. What do you say?”
“All right,” Kame agreed with Harvey´s reasoning still a little hesitantly.
“See you later then,” Harvey nodded a incited his stallion to climb up among some bushes, parting with the direction Kame was supposed to follow. What the bounty hunter said made sense, but still he watched his figure disappearing between the trees with a strange feeling.
*
Ryo caught up with the rest of the gang soon, but it seemed to Jin he was rushing his horse more than was necessary…
“Well?” Leo was the first one stopping to face the youngster. “How did it go?”
“The coach got to the crossroad, they will be found soon enough,” the black-haired guy informed them, as he reached his leader, but without his usual smile. “But there is something else. It seems we are followed, Leo.”
Jin was already listening tensely, while the others also noticed something was off and turned their horses back.
“What did you see?” Leo asked frowning, all serious.
“Two riders, slipping behind you into the woods. They came from the other side and crossed the road just at the spot of our ambush…”
“Maybe they had some back-up in the end,” Cullen assumed, already at the side of Leo´s horse.
Ryo shook his head seriously, strangely upset: “They don´t belong to Tabor… I think I recognized one of them.”
“Who was it?” the Riders´ leader asked silently.
“I´m not sure, they were far, but… I think it´s that hunter-bastard. I think it was Harvey.”
“That son of a bitch who was after us in Wyoming already?” Koki exclaimed. “He is still alive?”
“I intend to change that soon enough,” Ryo reacted darkly.
It seemed that the mentioned man was not exactly popular within the gang. Jin´s brother stared at the still silent woods for a while, thinking, before he turned to Esler.
“Do you think they were expecting us to appear and they let us steal that delivery, so that they could follow us then?”
“It is not impossible…” Cullen murmured nodding.
“We should deal with them. Like right now,” Ryo insisted. “That jack is breathing for too long for my taste.”
Leo nodded slowly: “We will definitely not let them find out about our hideout. Even if only because of Oswald…”
“We will take care of it, Leo. You should continue. It´s you, who he is after at the first place,” Cullen stated seriously.
“That´s right, that asshole is a walking moneybox,” Koki snorted.
“All right, we split,” Leo decided promptly. “Cullen, you, Patrick and Todd - sneak back to face them. Ryo, take Jack and Carl - make a turn and try to surprise them from the side. On foot, leave the horses back here, behind that rock. Me, Jin and Koki will continue in the same direction to keep giving them a track. I doubt they would notice the change easily; it will be dark soon.”
Everybody gathered just as Leo said, immediately ready to rush back.
“And guys,” Leo´s voice stopped them yet. “Be careful.”
*
The deeper into the woods Ukushi carried her master, the more doubtful Kame was about Harvey´s previous words.
What made the bounty hunter to change his victorious mood so suddenly and why would he propose to split? It was so convenient to try and overrun the Riders, no matter if they really headed towards the mines or no; it would have been easier to just keep onto their track. So why did Harvey…?
Ukushi snorted a little. Despite the mare didn´t seem nervous and continued moving, Kame pulled on the reins stopping her and scanned the shadows surrounding them. The forest was quiet and no danger in sight.
What might Harvey have noticed before? What if he thought that they had been noticed? That would make the most sense… If somebody from the Rider´s group spotted them and Harvey somehow realized that, he let Kame ride further as a distraction, while he scrammed or hid himself, waiting for a better chance…
Kame didn´t sense or hear anything strange yet, but still… Maybe there was too quiet around, and also darker with each minute.
He dismounted Ukushi swiftly, and led her behind the nearest thick tree, so that her color would not give him out. He let the mare standing there and with all his senses on alert he rushed forward a few meters in the same direction and froze, listening to any possible sounds for a while, before he did the same again.
It was for the fifth time he remained absolutely motionless, letting his instincts work, when his caution paid off. There were no sounds of horses, but the footsteps of more than one man. And he heard it much closer, than he would like to, despite he didn´t see the strangers yet.
Kame glanced around for a convenient spot to hide and he noticed a conifer, which was not so tall, so its branches were low enough, but still could hide him well. As silently as he was only able to, Kame climbed a few meters up the tree. He settled at the branch, which seemed strong enough and remained motionless.
It took less than a minute before Kame was able to recognize the two figures between the trees and hold his breath. Once again he was reminded to trust his instincts…
The men were proceeding forward very carefully, with guns in their hands, communicating only with gestures. They were clothed in black, that was for sure, and they expected somebody in their tracks. Both Riders walked almost right under the tree at which anxious Kame was hiding. He watched them to continue in the direction from which he came, and where he had left Ukushi wisely; she would have exposed him in no time if Kame had continued with her.
Well, it seemed that the sneaky pursuit would be a little difficult now…
Kame waited till the men´s feet were not heard anymore and he retreated from his hiding quickly. There was not much to figure out. He had to hide for the moment with Ukushi and wait until they gave up the search. To hell with Harvey, the hunter was probably long gone. He chose a little different direction than the Riders and climbed over the fallen tree with the intention to get back to his dear mare as fast as possible and…
An awfully loud sound of preparing the trigger made Kame to freeze at the moment his feet touched the ground again.
“Hands up,” the ice-cold voice of somebody, who was probably hiding exactly on that spot, which Kame so unluckily chose for his retreat, hissed with exactly so much threat, which told him that he should rather do exactly what was said.
Kame moved with both his hands slowly up in the air.
“Aren´t you unlucky, boy?” the stranger asked caustically. “I really didn´t expect you come running right into my arms… Turn, and slowly.”
Once again, Kame did as he was told and turned to face the dark mouth of a revolver aiming at his head from a really unpleasant closeness.
“I´d stay still to be you, or my finger might slip…” the older man in black clothes warned him with a dangerous smile, before he approached Kame and with one swift move he collected his guns before stepping back again and hid them somewhere inside his coat.
Then the Rider placed two fingers between his lips and a sharp whistle, similar to a screech owl, interrupted the evening´s silence.
It was an awfully tense minute, with neither Kame nor the man saying anything, just the revolver between them was announcing quite clearly who had control over the situation. The other two men came back with much more noise than before, and they were leading Ukushi behind them. The mare didn´t seem much disturbed and she just shook her head, once she spotted Kame.
“He hid it close,” one of the black man´s companions announced. “No sign of the other one though…”
“Clever, boy, but not fast enough,” the man threatening Kame snorted. “Check him for more weapons and let´s move.”
Quite a young Rider, not much older than Kame himself, searched his clothes properly and found two knives. Than they incited Kame to move roughly, in the same direction he was following the gang before.
To say that he was in bad troubles now would be quite an understatement. While trying to keep his balance under the hard pushes forward, Kame was trying to figure out what to say so that they would believe him…
Quite soon their group arrived to the small glade, surrounded with a few huge boulders, where the Riders hid their own horses. Before the oldest man managed to prepare the lanterns for some light, a short singing signal came out of the woods and three more Riders appeared.
“You´ve got him, good,” one of them noted, seeing Kame between his two captors.
“That bastard scrammed though,” the young black-haired guy riding as the last of three snapped angrily, marching towards them. “We saw him racing his horse down the road; it was too late to catch up with him.”
“Damn…” the man, who had his pleasure to seize Kame, reacted annoyed. “Well, at least this one is enough for now,” he hung on lantern on the branch above their heads and placed the second one at the small rock, while the others gathered around and observed Kame with an obvious dislike.
It was almost impossible, but Kame was still trying to stick onto his composure. He had to at least try… They didn´t shoot him right away, so what was there to lose?
“Would you believe me if I told you, I´m not here because of the money?” he stated, looking right into the oldest man´s face.
It was a mistake. In the next moment a hard strike into his stomach made Kame to bend over and gasp for breath. It was the angry black-haired one who hit him and then grabbed Kame for an arm to keep him standing. One of his companions did the same from the other side and they both pushed Kame back and slammed with him on the nearest tree.
Obviously not… Kame thought helplessly, as he raised his head again, to bear the sharp glance of the oldest man.
“How many of you are here?” the man asked the first question.
Kame took his breath and stated obvious: “I´m alone.”
Another hit almost made him to throw his stomach out. Gasping for breath Kame tried again: “I´m telling you the truth…”
This time the strong blow aimed at his neck from the right side, then there was a kick into his left knee and after that he stopped perceiving the affected places on his body. The three Riders beat him hard, before they picked him up from the ground and forced him to stand straight again.
Kame felt dizzy and sore; there was blood in his mouth, and his guts in a hard clutch. Just how could he explain this to them…?
“Let me give you a piece of advice, boy,” the old man snorted. “I do not like liars.”
The rest of the gang kept quiet, with the two youngsters still gripping Kame so hard they almost stopped his blood flow, and all of them just stared at him with hostility in their eyes.
“Where did that hunter go?” there was another question.
Kame was in pain and worried, but also determined not to give in to despair so easily. He was so close; he was sure that Jin´s younger brother was the leader of these gunmen, how could he give up now? He had to fight… He looked right into the eyes of the man interrogating him.
“I´m not a liar. I have no idea where he went.”
At first the man wanted to hit him again, but something in Kame´s face, made him to hesitate.
“We did follow you together,” Kame spoke again hastily, as long as he could. “But we split a while ago. He lied to me about meeting up later…”
“Too bad for you,” the youngster holding his right arm smirked.
“Who are you?” the old man asked suspiciously.
“Not a bounty hunter,” Kame replied firmly. “I´m not after…”
“Then how comes you were with the one?” a young voice cut in once again. The black-haired gangster seemed to be the most upset from all of them.
Kame just cursed in his mind for being so unlucky. If they knew Harvey, they would hardly believe him anything now. The interrogator snatched Kame for his coat and pulled him closer.
“I´ll ask again, boy… Who are you?”
Upset and hopeless Kame tried to shake the hands off him: “You will not believe me even if I tell the truth!”
He even managed to avoid another hit, as he had expected it and with fear controlling his body Kame tried to break free. But he was over numbered.
Two young gangsters shifted with Kame roughly against the bole again, while the older man got a hold of his hair, and with rage in the eyes raised his hand for another painful blow. But the man´s fist never reached its goal, as somebody grabbed the interrogator´s wrist in the last second and hold him back.
“What the…!” the Rider snapped at the tall young man, who glared at him from behind the rim of his hat.
The rest of the gang stared at the newcomer on the scene surprised as well.
“Hands off, Esler,” an angry voice, the voice so well-known to Kame, said with resolution, which allowed no space for objections.
Kazuya forgot to breathe, as he straightened his head from the cowered position in which he was prepared to receive another hit, afraid to believe his ears or eyes, which found that beautiful face so unexpectedly close. The one who came to save him was Jin.
- To be continued -
Credit for banner:
witchann2
Author: Kasumi
Rating: NC-17
Genre: Western, Drama, Romance
Warning: AKame pairing; vulgarisms, violence; No beta-reading
Summary: Once upon a time in the west... During the wild period of the United States formation, the two guys met, became close friends and lovers, before they had to go separate ways again... Jin is desperately searching for his younger brother Leo, who is wanted for a murder, while Kazuya follows his track, after he had helped the remaining Indians of Blackfeet Tribe to move into the reservation. Will they be able to meet again and overcome the new obstacles? And does the affectionate relationship of the two young men even have any chance in the cruel times?
Thank you: To
seiko22 for always supporting me; And to Kamenashi Kazuya and Akanishi Jin for being who they are...
AN: I keep my promise about the quick update. ^_^
Enjoy; I´m looking forward to comments!
I´m really grateful for every opinion or advice and always happy to know my readers.
Your comments are my best reward and kick me off to try harder and keep writing.
Previously:
Chapter one - On the road // Chapter two - Two surprising captives // Chapter three - Brothers´ reunion // Chapter four - Queen City
// Chapter five - Encounters // Chapter six - Silver King // Chapter seven - Significant information //
Fruits of cooperation
The trees were already leaving the sad greyness of the winter time behind, but they didn´t reach the green freshness yet. The sun was playing hide and seek with the soft clouds, illuminating the wild in one moment, and letting it sink in the shadows in another. There were still some places, where the piles of ice-cold snow resisted the rising temperatures and made the air cooler than it really was. The forest was peaceful and quiet in that manner, which calmed you down, and made you to believe that you were completely alone in the deep of nature, except the animals and some lonely birds, which didn´t gather enough strength for singing out their joy from the upcoming spring yet.
The old north road was located quite far from the operating mines and from the usual track used for the access to Leadville, so there was no disruption from the blasts or other travelers. The dusk was coming and the shadows under the roof of conifers were deepening slowly, but surely.
“It will be difficult to spot anything at all if they are late,” Harvey, observing the road from their position at the top of a steep hill with small binoculars, grunted.
“You know even their time schedule?” Kame, crouching next to him behind a group of boulders, asked curiously.
“Trying to be smart now?” the hunter snorted. “Then what do you think? Will that famous leader himself show up here or not?”
“How should I know?” the younger guy asked back, checking on Ukushi, who was waiting a little behind.
“Well, if you know his brother, you may guess how the younger Akanishi could behave,” Harvey indicated.
Kame stared at the man without a word.
“Come on… I know you don´t trust me, but we cooperate for now, don´t we?” the hunter reminded him grinning, but still focused in the view of his binoculars. “What´s your opinion?”
The younger one changed the position of his legs, to prevent them from going numb, before he replied: “I doubt he would have exposed himself so much, but if this is such a big delivery as you said…”
Harvey smirked in a way, which Kame didn´t like much: “It is a big deal, you can bet… So we assume that Akanishi himself might be part of this ambush, right?”
“Probably…” Kame admitted slowly. “If they appear at all…”
“They will.”
“You are pretty sure of it.”
The hunter just shrugged and didn´t reply. The longer Kame spent with that man, the less he trusted him. He definitely had to stay on alert and switch sides before anything too bad might happen… He really didn´t intend to cause troubles to Jin´s brother, no matter if the older Akanishi was with him already or not.
“And here they go…” his too-much-grinning companion murmured and put the watching thing aside.
Harvey was right; a small coach with the strong wheels pulled by four stallions appeared in the turn approximately half a mile away. Except two waggoneers, it was accompanied by two riders, who were dressed in ordinary clothes, despite they expected the soldiers; it was probably because of the cover. They were moving forward quite slowly, the guards observing the woods at their sides, with two more hours of ride to Leadville in front of them.
“They are slow; it will not be difficult to follow them…” Kame assumed observing the coach rattling on the non-flat road.
“Let´s go then,” Harvey commanded, first on his feet.
*
Kame´s anxiety grew with the each mile the ugly coach rode out on the narrow road. He and Harvey kept following the small company of guards through the woods, keeping their distance, covering themselves in the shadows of densely growing conifers. They had to move very slowly like that, to avoid being spotted by the gunmen, but still it was fast enough not to lose the heavily dragged carriage from their sight.
Fortunately, or maybe not, they didn´t have to wait long for something interesting to happen, as the coach and the riders stopped suddenly. Approaching closer, they found out why. There was a fallen tree right across the road. It might have been a coincidence, but Kame noticed right away that the obstacle was caused by a recent cut, not by a lighting strike or rot.
Without saying a word, both Kamenashi and Harvey led their horses a little further from the road and made sure to be covered in front of any suspicious glances. They took up their positions just in time.
One of the guards dismounted to check on the tree, probably to find an easiest way how to remove it out of their way, when a harsh order was heard: “Hands up, Misters!”
The stagecoach was surrounded by six men in black so abruptly that it seemed as if they emerged right from the layer of old needles resting on the ground. Ukushi whickered uneasily and Kame leant forward quickly to place a hand across her blowholes. At the same time he was trying to see as much from the scene on the road as possible. Harvey´s stallion was feeding itself on some first spring grass, while his master´s eyes were glued to the binoculars again.
The attackers with scarves across their faces seemed to be all the same, it could not be tell if there was anyone specific, even if Kame knew those gangsters. None of them seemed any familiar to him.
The second guard, who remained sitting in his saddle, kicked his horse into its flanks in a foolish attempt to escape. But he was grabbed by one of the Riders for the leg and pulled out from the animal´s back. The man fell down with a painful scream, while his horse continued the graceful ride without its rider, rushing around the stump and then further on the road.
The other man just glanced at five rifles aiming at his head; he considered the situation more wisely and let his own weapon land next to his yowling colleague. As for the waggoneers, the both men raised their hands up in the air at the second the Riders popped out from the woods.
“I think Tabor should seriously reconsider the salary of his guardsmen,” Harvey murmured in a taunting whisper. “They do not exactly tear themselves to protect his money, right?”
Kame didn´t join the hunter´s mocking; Harvey was right, of course, but who would be surprised that those men didn´t want to die just like that? Just for money? They surely had families they had to come back to…
The following events occurred so quickly, that it almost amazed Kame. The attackers tied all four men in no time, obviously used to that kind of job, while the two of them dragged four wooden boxes out of the coach. The chests had locks, but these were no match for the heavy hammer. Then the Riders placed the poor guardsmen inside the carriage instead of many small bags, which they took into their hands.
While one Rider watched over the cuffed men, to make sure they would not try anything funny, the rest of the gang removed the tree from the way quite easily. Then they slapped the first two horses heavily, making the animals to start galloping forward, with the terrified guards trying to scream in fear through the gags, as the roof-less carriage was shaking from one side to another so much, it threatened to drop its new cargo off the edge any minute.
The gang waited till the sound of the wheels died out and then they dived into the deepening shadows of the forest, with Harvey and Kame in the hot pursuit after them. Even though the Riders ambushed the delivery on foot, Kame had no doubt that they had their horses hidden somewhere. And the excited neighing, which they could hear very soon, told him he was right. The thunder of hooves led them further behind the thieves then…
*
“We´ve got it, Leo!” Koki whooped loudly, once he pulled the scarf off his face and waved with two bags in his hand so enthusiastically that one of them hit the guy over his jaw, making other three Riders laughed out aloud.
Leo and Jin were awaiting the ambush group just a few hundred meters away from the road, guarding the horses for all of them and both watched their arrival with quite a relief. They were supposed to join the attackers too at first, but once they had spotted just four men accompanying the delivery, it was not necessary and Esler proposed the brothers should remain there as a back-up. Leo didn´t protest much, he knew his companions well enough to know they could handle it without him. Jin assumed that Esler wanted to mainly protect the young leader, but he also sensed that the man still didn´t trust him yet.
The mentioned man appeared among the trees as the last from the five and from behind he threw a cone directly at Koki´s head.
“Have you got a slightest idea what a silent retreat means?” Esler scolded the blonde gangster, staring at the others, who just started to laugh again, before he approached Leo with a shaking head. ”It went without any problems, maybe even too well, I´d say…”
“Don´t be such a grouch, Cullen,” Koki stuck out his tongue.
“Too pessimistic as always,” one of the others, who was called Patrick, if Jin remembered well, joined the blonde one. “They had no idea we might knew about their top-top-secret delivery. They thought they would be stealthy in the small numbers, heh.”
“All of you are too reckless,” the older man snorted, without paying the laughing bunch much attention. “Anyway, I let Ryo cover our retreat, as you wanted,” he told to Leo again.
“Great job, guys,” Leo reacted smiling widely. “We will count it later in safety, now let´s go!”
*
Once the Riders got on their horses, Kame and Harvey had to speed their pursuit up as well, otherwise they would have lost the track of them easily. It was damn hard to do it really quietly, but Kame was used to stealthy movement through the woods, and Harvey was not exactly the noisy one either.
But it seemed that Kame was better at tracking, as he was the one getting them in the right direction twice, spotting some broken twigs or hoof prints in the soft ground. Once he even had to return for the hunter as the man went a little more astray, and found Harvey somehow nervous, at least that was how Kame would describe it.
“Hey… Is anything wrong?” Kame asked rather whispering, when he noticed that the hunter stared at the top of the rock above them frowning.
“Nothing… Just imagining something…” Harvey turned his attention to the younger one. “Look, they seem to keep the west direction, right?”
Kame nodded: “More or less, yes.”
“There is an old mine that way, it might be their hideout. I know the shortcut to it. So what about we split and cover more space?” the hunter suggested. “I can overtake them, while you keep going right after them. You are more than able to, as I see...”
“Well, are you sure about that shortcut?” the younger one was surprised about the hunter´s idea, but it made sense. Like that it was less probable that the gang would slip away somewhere.
“Yes, I am,” Harvey nodded self-confidant. “I did some job there a year ago. Moreover, one will make less noise than two; we should avoid being spotted as much as possible. It´s not far, just two miles I guess. There is a difficult terrain around, they have to pass it. I will wait for you either there or back on the north road within two hours. What do you say?”
“All right,” Kame agreed with Harvey´s reasoning still a little hesitantly.
“See you later then,” Harvey nodded a incited his stallion to climb up among some bushes, parting with the direction Kame was supposed to follow. What the bounty hunter said made sense, but still he watched his figure disappearing between the trees with a strange feeling.
*
Ryo caught up with the rest of the gang soon, but it seemed to Jin he was rushing his horse more than was necessary…
“Well?” Leo was the first one stopping to face the youngster. “How did it go?”
“The coach got to the crossroad, they will be found soon enough,” the black-haired guy informed them, as he reached his leader, but without his usual smile. “But there is something else. It seems we are followed, Leo.”
Jin was already listening tensely, while the others also noticed something was off and turned their horses back.
“What did you see?” Leo asked frowning, all serious.
“Two riders, slipping behind you into the woods. They came from the other side and crossed the road just at the spot of our ambush…”
“Maybe they had some back-up in the end,” Cullen assumed, already at the side of Leo´s horse.
Ryo shook his head seriously, strangely upset: “They don´t belong to Tabor… I think I recognized one of them.”
“Who was it?” the Riders´ leader asked silently.
“I´m not sure, they were far, but… I think it´s that hunter-bastard. I think it was Harvey.”
“That son of a bitch who was after us in Wyoming already?” Koki exclaimed. “He is still alive?”
“I intend to change that soon enough,” Ryo reacted darkly.
It seemed that the mentioned man was not exactly popular within the gang. Jin´s brother stared at the still silent woods for a while, thinking, before he turned to Esler.
“Do you think they were expecting us to appear and they let us steal that delivery, so that they could follow us then?”
“It is not impossible…” Cullen murmured nodding.
“We should deal with them. Like right now,” Ryo insisted. “That jack is breathing for too long for my taste.”
Leo nodded slowly: “We will definitely not let them find out about our hideout. Even if only because of Oswald…”
“We will take care of it, Leo. You should continue. It´s you, who he is after at the first place,” Cullen stated seriously.
“That´s right, that asshole is a walking moneybox,” Koki snorted.
“All right, we split,” Leo decided promptly. “Cullen, you, Patrick and Todd - sneak back to face them. Ryo, take Jack and Carl - make a turn and try to surprise them from the side. On foot, leave the horses back here, behind that rock. Me, Jin and Koki will continue in the same direction to keep giving them a track. I doubt they would notice the change easily; it will be dark soon.”
Everybody gathered just as Leo said, immediately ready to rush back.
“And guys,” Leo´s voice stopped them yet. “Be careful.”
*
The deeper into the woods Ukushi carried her master, the more doubtful Kame was about Harvey´s previous words.
What made the bounty hunter to change his victorious mood so suddenly and why would he propose to split? It was so convenient to try and overrun the Riders, no matter if they really headed towards the mines or no; it would have been easier to just keep onto their track. So why did Harvey…?
Ukushi snorted a little. Despite the mare didn´t seem nervous and continued moving, Kame pulled on the reins stopping her and scanned the shadows surrounding them. The forest was quiet and no danger in sight.
What might Harvey have noticed before? What if he thought that they had been noticed? That would make the most sense… If somebody from the Rider´s group spotted them and Harvey somehow realized that, he let Kame ride further as a distraction, while he scrammed or hid himself, waiting for a better chance…
Kame didn´t sense or hear anything strange yet, but still… Maybe there was too quiet around, and also darker with each minute.
He dismounted Ukushi swiftly, and led her behind the nearest thick tree, so that her color would not give him out. He let the mare standing there and with all his senses on alert he rushed forward a few meters in the same direction and froze, listening to any possible sounds for a while, before he did the same again.
It was for the fifth time he remained absolutely motionless, letting his instincts work, when his caution paid off. There were no sounds of horses, but the footsteps of more than one man. And he heard it much closer, than he would like to, despite he didn´t see the strangers yet.
Kame glanced around for a convenient spot to hide and he noticed a conifer, which was not so tall, so its branches were low enough, but still could hide him well. As silently as he was only able to, Kame climbed a few meters up the tree. He settled at the branch, which seemed strong enough and remained motionless.
It took less than a minute before Kame was able to recognize the two figures between the trees and hold his breath. Once again he was reminded to trust his instincts…
The men were proceeding forward very carefully, with guns in their hands, communicating only with gestures. They were clothed in black, that was for sure, and they expected somebody in their tracks. Both Riders walked almost right under the tree at which anxious Kame was hiding. He watched them to continue in the direction from which he came, and where he had left Ukushi wisely; she would have exposed him in no time if Kame had continued with her.
Well, it seemed that the sneaky pursuit would be a little difficult now…
Kame waited till the men´s feet were not heard anymore and he retreated from his hiding quickly. There was not much to figure out. He had to hide for the moment with Ukushi and wait until they gave up the search. To hell with Harvey, the hunter was probably long gone. He chose a little different direction than the Riders and climbed over the fallen tree with the intention to get back to his dear mare as fast as possible and…
An awfully loud sound of preparing the trigger made Kame to freeze at the moment his feet touched the ground again.
“Hands up,” the ice-cold voice of somebody, who was probably hiding exactly on that spot, which Kame so unluckily chose for his retreat, hissed with exactly so much threat, which told him that he should rather do exactly what was said.
Kame moved with both his hands slowly up in the air.
“Aren´t you unlucky, boy?” the stranger asked caustically. “I really didn´t expect you come running right into my arms… Turn, and slowly.”
Once again, Kame did as he was told and turned to face the dark mouth of a revolver aiming at his head from a really unpleasant closeness.
“I´d stay still to be you, or my finger might slip…” the older man in black clothes warned him with a dangerous smile, before he approached Kame and with one swift move he collected his guns before stepping back again and hid them somewhere inside his coat.
Then the Rider placed two fingers between his lips and a sharp whistle, similar to a screech owl, interrupted the evening´s silence.
It was an awfully tense minute, with neither Kame nor the man saying anything, just the revolver between them was announcing quite clearly who had control over the situation. The other two men came back with much more noise than before, and they were leading Ukushi behind them. The mare didn´t seem much disturbed and she just shook her head, once she spotted Kame.
“He hid it close,” one of the black man´s companions announced. “No sign of the other one though…”
“Clever, boy, but not fast enough,” the man threatening Kame snorted. “Check him for more weapons and let´s move.”
Quite a young Rider, not much older than Kame himself, searched his clothes properly and found two knives. Than they incited Kame to move roughly, in the same direction he was following the gang before.
To say that he was in bad troubles now would be quite an understatement. While trying to keep his balance under the hard pushes forward, Kame was trying to figure out what to say so that they would believe him…
Quite soon their group arrived to the small glade, surrounded with a few huge boulders, where the Riders hid their own horses. Before the oldest man managed to prepare the lanterns for some light, a short singing signal came out of the woods and three more Riders appeared.
“You´ve got him, good,” one of them noted, seeing Kame between his two captors.
“That bastard scrammed though,” the young black-haired guy riding as the last of three snapped angrily, marching towards them. “We saw him racing his horse down the road; it was too late to catch up with him.”
“Damn…” the man, who had his pleasure to seize Kame, reacted annoyed. “Well, at least this one is enough for now,” he hung on lantern on the branch above their heads and placed the second one at the small rock, while the others gathered around and observed Kame with an obvious dislike.
It was almost impossible, but Kame was still trying to stick onto his composure. He had to at least try… They didn´t shoot him right away, so what was there to lose?
“Would you believe me if I told you, I´m not here because of the money?” he stated, looking right into the oldest man´s face.
It was a mistake. In the next moment a hard strike into his stomach made Kame to bend over and gasp for breath. It was the angry black-haired one who hit him and then grabbed Kame for an arm to keep him standing. One of his companions did the same from the other side and they both pushed Kame back and slammed with him on the nearest tree.
Obviously not… Kame thought helplessly, as he raised his head again, to bear the sharp glance of the oldest man.
“How many of you are here?” the man asked the first question.
Kame took his breath and stated obvious: “I´m alone.”
Another hit almost made him to throw his stomach out. Gasping for breath Kame tried again: “I´m telling you the truth…”
This time the strong blow aimed at his neck from the right side, then there was a kick into his left knee and after that he stopped perceiving the affected places on his body. The three Riders beat him hard, before they picked him up from the ground and forced him to stand straight again.
Kame felt dizzy and sore; there was blood in his mouth, and his guts in a hard clutch. Just how could he explain this to them…?
“Let me give you a piece of advice, boy,” the old man snorted. “I do not like liars.”
The rest of the gang kept quiet, with the two youngsters still gripping Kame so hard they almost stopped his blood flow, and all of them just stared at him with hostility in their eyes.
“Where did that hunter go?” there was another question.
Kame was in pain and worried, but also determined not to give in to despair so easily. He was so close; he was sure that Jin´s younger brother was the leader of these gunmen, how could he give up now? He had to fight… He looked right into the eyes of the man interrogating him.
“I´m not a liar. I have no idea where he went.”
At first the man wanted to hit him again, but something in Kame´s face, made him to hesitate.
“We did follow you together,” Kame spoke again hastily, as long as he could. “But we split a while ago. He lied to me about meeting up later…”
“Too bad for you,” the youngster holding his right arm smirked.
“Who are you?” the old man asked suspiciously.
“Not a bounty hunter,” Kame replied firmly. “I´m not after…”
“Then how comes you were with the one?” a young voice cut in once again. The black-haired gangster seemed to be the most upset from all of them.
Kame just cursed in his mind for being so unlucky. If they knew Harvey, they would hardly believe him anything now. The interrogator snatched Kame for his coat and pulled him closer.
“I´ll ask again, boy… Who are you?”
Upset and hopeless Kame tried to shake the hands off him: “You will not believe me even if I tell the truth!”
He even managed to avoid another hit, as he had expected it and with fear controlling his body Kame tried to break free. But he was over numbered.
Two young gangsters shifted with Kame roughly against the bole again, while the older man got a hold of his hair, and with rage in the eyes raised his hand for another painful blow. But the man´s fist never reached its goal, as somebody grabbed the interrogator´s wrist in the last second and hold him back.
“What the…!” the Rider snapped at the tall young man, who glared at him from behind the rim of his hat.
The rest of the gang stared at the newcomer on the scene surprised as well.
“Hands off, Esler,” an angry voice, the voice so well-known to Kame, said with resolution, which allowed no space for objections.
Kazuya forgot to breathe, as he straightened his head from the cowered position in which he was prepared to receive another hit, afraid to believe his ears or eyes, which found that beautiful face so unexpectedly close. The one who came to save him was Jin.
- To be continued -
Credit for banner:
witchann2