[Fanfic] Red West II. - Chapter nineteen
Title: RED WEST II.
Author: Kasumi
Rating: NC-17
Genre: Western, Drama, Romance
Warning: AKame pairing; vulgarisms, violence
Beta-reading:
atago4
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; To
atago4 for awesome beta-reading; And to Kamenashi Kazuya and Akanishi Jin for being who they are...
AN: A belated Christmas gift and preliminary New-Year-surprise for all my dear readers.
This new chapter is not very AKame- or action- like, but I hope you´ll enjoy it anyway. It´s a result of a quite hard work. ^^/
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 // Chapter eight - Fruits of cooperation // Chapter nine - A matter of trust // Chapter ten - Gangsters´ voting // Chapter eleven - Whispers in the dark // Chapter twelve - Leo´s decision // Chapter thirteen - The departure // Chapter fourteen - Killing time // Chapter fifteen - Parting in Ohio // Chapter sixteen - Unexpected // Chapter seventeen - Back in the saddles // Chapter eighteen - Bad news //
Alliances
The pen created a faint creaking noise as the man´s hand holding it firmly wrote the precise numbers in the accounting book. The detailed records included incomes and expenses of the quarry, though they were a bit altered, of course. The real book, which mentioned all of their profits, was safely locked under the false bottom of the table´s only drawer and nobody, except its owner, knew where to find the key for this hideout. It was a good precaution in case that some sneaky officer from the government remembered to fulfil his duties from time to time and arrived for the inspection.
The manager of the sandstone quarry in Laporte was almost finished with his work for that day, when the hard stomping was heard on the stairs and shortly after that the door of his office was flung wide open, making way for a furious gunman. The stack of banknotes flew through the air and spread all over the table, half-covering the accounting book, not allowing the manager to finish the last calculations.
“This is not enough!” Grenet literally spat the words out.
Cameron put the pen aside slowly and raised his eyes to the upset gunslinger. He gave the ruddy face a long look; it seemed to him that during the past week, Math Grenet behaved more explosively than usually. He was always quick-tempered, but such a lack of control over own emotions was unusual even for the former first gunman of Raynold Karnaka. And Cameron despised such people.
Anyway, it made him wonder what caused that constant anger and he was quite sure it was the failure of their search party - they were not able to locate Kamenashi yet. Cameron was not satisfied with that himself, but to express it so openly was deeply below his level. Not to mention there was other business to deal with. That youngster would show up again in the end, and the former servant had learned how to wait for something patiently a long time ago.
“Your share is still the same,” Cameron informed the grumpy man stiffly. “You know very well, that our profit wasn´t so big this time.”
“And how am I supposed to pay the men from that?” Grenet continued complaining, and pointed at the notes with his finger.
“There´s more than enough for that. In case you skip some visits in brothels, of course,” Cameron observed the reddening face of his companion unmoved. He didn´t care about how Grenet handled his cash; the gunman could pay to Danny double for what the boy was willing to do for him, or to burn the money in the fireplace, for all he cared. Unless it caused troubles with their subordinates or quarry workers, Cameron was willing to accept that.
The angry gunman was fuming for a while, before he sat down on the chair opposite to him and lit up a cigarette. Cameron watched his action rather disgustedly and carefully closed the book to avoid its damage from the hot ashes.
“We should replace more cargos then,” Grenet hissed his oh-so-much-clever proposal.
Cameron suppressed an annoyed sigh; it wasn´t the first time they discussed the topic.
“Not possible. If we want to avoid Tabor realizing something strange is happening with his deliveries to Wyoming, we need to keep the number low. We´ve already talked about this.”
“Then what about some deduction from the mint master´s share?” his companion insisted.
Cameron almost smirked in a gleeful reaction: “Try to suggest that to him, I doubt that he would agree.”
More precisely, he was pretty sure that the mentioned man would have sent his couple of crazy dogs after Grenet, if the gunman dared to come up with such a proposal. It was more than risky to break the law related to the precious metals processing, to cheat the officers and create more coins in secret for personal profit. Such crime was heavily punished and they were lucky the master was willing to cooperate, for quite a prize of course.
Moreover, Cameron was well-aware that Horace Tabor would find out there was something wrong sooner or later. Lieutenant Governor received too much of profit from various silver deliveries to notice right away, but they had to consider that it wouldn´t last forever. And that very moment they would have to end their little fiddle, when they replaced the carts loaded with raw silver in small nuggets or chips with the ones full of sandstone. It was a difficult and not very cheap exchange, as they had to deal with a couple of mine workers, bribe two soldiers, and create fake documents for both carriages to avoid those stupid taxes the government raised on anything they could think of.
The whole project was Cameron´s idea, Grenet was just dragged along with it and he carried out his orders well. Even though the gunman was harder and harder to control, it was nothing what Cameron couldn´t handle so far.
Grenet was smoking wordlessly for a while, so Cameron used the time to gather the thrown-away cash and shift it over the table back towards the gunman.
“Stop overreacting and manage your expenses more carefully, it would do no harm,” he stated scornfully.
“It´s not so surprising I have more expenses than you - I actually live, Cam.”
“Do what you want, just pay off everyone necessary in the process.”
“Fine!” Grenet snapped and snatched the notes. “But I wanna go on a little trip and I need more for that.”
“A trip?” Cameron repeated, sensing some useless troubles in that idea. “To where? There´s no need to check on the situation in Denver. It´s not convenient for your famous face to appear there.”
“No, not to Denver,” Grenet snorted. “We need to get rid of those stinky red skins finally; I´ll accompany the expedition to the mountains.”
“We´ve assigned more than enough of our men for that.”
“Our men are a bunch of useless idiots, who aren´t able to find one pretty brat!”
And there he went with Kamenashi issue again; Cameron knew he was right in guessing the reason of Grenet´s bad mood.
“It´s not our primary task now,” he reacted calmly.
“I´m quite surprised to hear that from you,” the gunman gritted trough his teeth. “I had a feeling it was your only goal in life.”
“I will get to dealing with Kamenashi, and also Akanishi, eventually,” Cameron stated self-confidently. “Till that time we need to strengthen our position, not to weaken it. So sit on your ass here and learn some patience.”
“You don´t tell me what to do!” Grenet snapped.
“I do and you will listen. No matter how hot-headed you are, Grenet, you´re not stupid and you know I´m right.”
The silent match of their glances ended up with the gunman smirking awfully.
“You piss me off, but you´ve got the point, Cam,” Grenet got up on his feet, shifting the banknotes into his pocket. “Anyway, in the mountains there´s not so many people who could see me, right? And I want to have that transaction in control, selling some workers is quite a sensitive matter, nah?”
“All right…” Cameron agreed reluctantly. “But do not set off before Friday and do not take all the Sioux at once, it´s too risky. If you come across the unit of soldiers or something…”
“Fine, I get it!” Grenet snapped annoyed. “As if I wanted to bother myself with so many dirty Indians at once… Well, now you can continue playing with your boring numbers. Since I´m stuck here for a couple of more days, I need to find Danny and get some fun. Otherwise, I´ll bite myself off from boredom…” the gunman finished his speech and slammed the door behind himself.
***
The dawn barely managed to chase the darkest part of the night away and the back yard of the Slabtown´s Tavern was already lively with voices and neighing of horses. The Riders, all dressed in long warm coats, the hats pushed deep into their faces, were trying hard to warm themselves up in the frosty morning, which welcomed them with the tiny sparkles of snow flying in the air. After the unexpectedly warm days, the winter obviously wanted to show them, that it didn´t say its last word yet.
Ryo, Patrick and Carl were stalling next to their horses, almost running on the spot, while Jin and Kame were calculatingly hiding behind Kuro, sharing one huge mug of the younger´s special hot tea. Jin even had an unusually good mood, considering his usual flow of complaints over the weather. This time he seemed to be more concerned with how much rum Kame took with him on their journey.
Finally, the Riders´ leader appeared in the back yard too, already fully armed, as he got up before everybody else and prepared quite a load of weapons, ammunition and food for their mission. Now everybody was gathered; they let the rest of the gang sleep, as they were supposed to leave the city later.
“Everyone ready?” Leo´s voice cut through the freezing air, as he pulled the scarf protecting his face down and threw two heavy bags into Ryo´s and Carl´s arms. “Let´s get moving then!”
He was the first one prepared to leave the yard, but the appreciative whistle of Koki made him turn back his horse again. The surprised fuss among the Riders was caused by Jane.
The tall brunette was fully dressed and armed, looking very impressive in the long coat and hat, her long hair free, falling over the shoulders. The unbuttoned coat revealed her long legs in the tight leather trousers and high boots, beige shirt and dark vest. She looked so attractive that Leo almost forgot the woman was not supposed to be there; she should have stayed in the warm bed, where he had left her early in the morning.
Jane passed them, not giving much attention to their adoring looks and entered the stalls, just to leave them right away, leading her horse out.
“What do you think you´re doing?” Leo finally remembered not to be pleased to see his girlfriend.
Jane mounted her stallion gracefully first, before she repaid his sharp glance.
“I´m going with you, obviously,” she replied calmly.
“I said I want you to stay…” Leo reacted decisively.
“I don´t think I have to take any orders from you, love,” the brunette objected nonchalantly, which made the others turn their faces away, trying to unsuccessfully hide their laughter. “As you like to remind me, I´m not a Black Rider, so you´re not my leader.”
“Fine! I want you to stay here as your boyfriend!” Leo snapped, already quite upset, because he had no upper hand in this morning argument.
“That´s not going to work and you know that,” Jane led her horse closer and kept staring at him defiantly. “It´s not only your responsibility, Leo. I should have done something, because I was here, not you. Even if it would have been only telling Cullen about the robbery in advance. So, I´m going, period.”
The couple was engulfed in fierce staring match, while the others waited amused by the clear fact that Leo was losing this fight.
“You said eight members at the top,” Jin noted, already sitting in the saddle as well. “With us, Jane is the number seven. There´s still one more spot free then,” he reminded his brother gleefully.
Leo stabbed him with his eyes: “Thanks for your brotherly support, Jin.”
“Always at your service, Bro,” the older Akanishi grinned.
“Shall we get moving then, or what?” Ryo urged them. “One more minute and I´ll freeze to the bones over here.”
The young leader sighed, and with a defeated expression he nodded: “Yeah… It´s useless to waste time here. Let´s go…”
***
The streets of Leadville were as lively as ever, no matter the frosty weather. Riding his already a little tired horse, Ralph Harvey watched the citizens hurrying about their business. He kept trying to catch a sight of their faces, which were half-covered with scarves and shawls and hats, to protect them from the freeze.
Harvey pulled his own scarf as high as he could himself, but not because he would feel cold. He didn´t want to risk being noticed by some member of the Riders. As much as he knew their faces now, they knew his. So he carefully studied one passing person after another, looking for a glimpse of familiar features, but during the whole ride through the main street he had no luck yet.
His companion, riding in front of him, didn´t seem to mind the cold at all, as he kept his coat unbuttoned and no hat covered his dark hair with a few strands of grey. Well, Matt Duggan was a pretty hot-blooded personality, as Harvey had already experienced after he reached his livery stable located in the outskirts of Leadville.
It would be an understatement to say that the former Sheriff was not happy about his arrival. It took some time before the man stopped sending all Hell to break loose on that ´annoying rich bastard´, by whom, as Harvey assumed, he meant Tabor, finally packed some of his stuff up and set off to the city center with him.
Frankly, Harvey didn´t give a shit about what Duggan thought or said about Lieutenant Governor; he just considered being paid well-enough to follow Horace´s orders and that meant cooperation with that explosive, after-horse-spore-stinking gunman.
They dismounted the horses right in front of the veranda of Sheriff´s Office. Duggan observed the signboard with a star, looking rather upset, muttering something inaudible. Their arrival didn´t pass unnoticed, as the muscular, around twenty-five-year-old deputy came out from the door and focused quite a suspicious stare on both of them.
“Mr. Duggan,” he noted not very happily. “What an unexpected visit.”
“I´d rather be cutting the trees down right now than be here, believe me, boy,” the man spat scornfully. “I´ve had enough of the others´ incompetence for the rest of my life.”
Harvey ignored the impolite welcome and turned towards the frowning deputy himself: “Is Sheriff in there?”
“Yes,” the younger man nodded reluctantly, while his palm rested on the gun-stock of one of his two colts. “But who are you, Mister?”
“That doesn´t concern you, out of our way,” Duggan ascended the stairs to the veranda first and shoved the surprised deputy aside. “And better stay here,” he recommended him harshly.
“What do you think you...!”
Ignoring the lawman´s objection, Duggan already disappeared inside the building. Harvey didn´t want to bother with the youngster longer than necessary, so he held him back for a shoulder, when the deputy wanted to follow Duggan.
“Mr. Tabor sent us, deputy. Just stay here on the watch, all right?” Harvey asked the young man, though he let it sound more like an order.
Not even waiting for confirmation, he let the baffled man outside and closed the door.
*
Kevin Flow was rushing towards the Sheriff´s office, as fast as his short legs allowed him, tootling a melody of his favorite song. His mother used to sing it to him before sleep, when he was younger. The little boy was cheerful and didn´t mind even the rude swearing he received, when he ran across the street right in front of one of those beautiful rich carriages. He just grabbed the package with the lunch in his hands more firmly and kept hopping towards the building with a huge star.
Kevin believed that very soon he would not have to bring any lunches to the prison and that his Papa would be back at their table in the kitchen. The beautiful lady said that and he trusted her. Those bandits, who were her friends, were scary, but they helped them out during last winter as they promised to, so they were not hungry despite his mother was not able to work. So they would definitely help this time too.
The boy slowed down at the sight of his destination. The sheriff was sometimes moody and he disliked naughty children, so Kevin already knew it was better to behave, otherwise the lunch would be eaten by Sheriff and not by his sad Papa.
He approached the veranda and looked up to the other man with a star - Sheriff´s deputy, who stopped pacing across the space in front of the door, and pierced the boy with his eyes.
“What do you want?!” the deputy man snapped.
“I brought the meal to my father, Mister,” Kevin replied bravely, determined to get inside. He knew they gave no food to his father behind those ugly bars and he was certainly hungry.
“You can´t go there now, so get lost,” the man denied immediately.
Kevin didn´t know why the deputy was so upset, but he didn´t want to give up so easily.
“It won´t take long, Mister, I must give it to my Papa before it gets cold…”
The gunman snorted something vulgar and grabbed the boy for his collar.
“I said get out!” the deputy shifted with Kevin, just when the door of the office opened.
“Wait!” that strict cold voice made both the deputy and little Kevin freeze.
The deputy turned, dragging the boy with him, so that they faced the dark-haired man with evil eyes. Kevin shivered, when those eyes focused on him.
“Is that the Flow´s boy?” that strange man asked.
“Yes,” the deputy gritted through his teeth. Kevin thought that the younger man definitely didn´t like that stranger.
“Perfect,” the man´s smile made Kevin wish he would have come later. “Come here, boy. You wanna see your father, right?”
Kevin gulped down his fear and nodded.
“Let him go, deputy. And keep the watch,” the man ordered and not waiting for Kevin to start moving, he grasped him for both narrow shoulders and shoved with him inside.
Kevin didn´t even manage to blink and he was already standing in the sheriff´s office, in the room which he had already known. There was Sheriff, sitting behind his table and also one more stranger, measuring him with an intense glance.
“What do you want to do, Matt?” the Sheriff stood up from his chair, when the man dragged Kevin to the back, right towards the cells.
“What do you think?” the man, whom the older man called Matt, snorted caustically. “Something you were not able to do for all this time - to make Flow talk.”
Sheriff Watson frowned in disagreement: “I cannot let you do this, Matt. There´s a law in this building and…”
“Either shut up and let me do my job or get out,” Math interrupted the complaints, not even glancing back at the Sheriff.
The lawman reached for his revolver, but that second stranger was faster and he had already pulled the gun out, letting it aim on the ground for the moment.
Kevin was really, really scared then. He didn´t understand what was going on, but he somehow knew it would have been better if his father stayed hungry on that day…
*
The current Sheriff of Leadville, Ed Watson, who replaced Duggan on the position, was similarly glad about the unexpected guests as his deputy. But Harvey also noticed that the man with a star still had some respect towards his predecessor, and the name Tabor had its effect as well. Though it didn´t prevent Watson from sending the displeased stares towards Harvey´s direction, once Duggan revealed his companion to be a bounty hunter.
No Sheriff was happy about the presence of hunters in their town. They considered it to be an insult to their abilities, when some wandering gunslinger solved the issues with local criminals instead, not mentioning the reward money, which would have stayed in the state budget otherwise, meaning more cash for them.
And now, he was even more displeased about Matt´s idea…
“Be smart, Sheriff and do not complicate the situation,” Harvey stated calmly, but there was a hidden danger in his tone. “We´re going after the criminals. Any means necessary should be used to get them, don´t you agree?”
“Fine!” the Sheriff snorted then. “But I stay here and if you cross the line…!”
“I´m sure Flow will talk,” Harvey assumed. “It´s his only son, you said.”
Ed Watson swore harshly and went back to his table, snatching the cigarettes from the surface. Harvey moved on towards the cell-room, which was separated from the office just by the wall without a door, and he kept his revolver out and ready to remind Sheriff not to try anything stupid.
Walking towards the back cell in the building, he almost regretted his idea though. He was the one asking Sheriff if there was anyone visiting Flow, who was accused from helping out the Riders, in the prison and it was his idea to use the person against him. But Flow´s son was really just a kid and more than cute on the top of it. And Duggan seemed to be capable of anything just to make Flow spill anything he knew.
But since it seemed Flow really had some idea about at least one of the Riders´ locations it was definitely worth of trying. Harvey just hoped the man would talk soon, before he would have to stop Duggan from doing something really nasty to the boy. He himself was able of doing quite many things to get his deserved reward, but torturing children was definitely not among them…
***
Jane assumed Leo would not be very happy about her involvement in the rescue mission, but that didn´t held her back in relative safety of the tavern. Her lover wanted to keep her away from any danger, but when she felt she should do something, nobody could stop her. She was more stubborn in that than him.
It was not like this before they got more intimate; Leo was not so overprotective of her. Jane joined the Riders because she was fed up of sitting on her ass and doing nothing about the ugly acts of one awful man from Denver, who thought that everybody should lick his boots for a couple of coins. Who thought he could do anything without consequences. Who indirectly killed his own daughter and her best friend and cousin.
She cooperated with the gang on setting Leo free and she ran off with them. It was a dangerous life all the time, but she felt like she was doing something significant by being with them. Leo accepted her as a member of the Riders, though they kept reminding her she wasn´t one, because they didn´t assign that title to women. But that changed gradually, when they started dating. Though he never put it that way, he kept her away from most of the actions just to keep her safe.
Leo knew his girlfriend was too proud to handle his overprotectiveness, but he couldn´t help it. He had already lost too many precious people in his life. And being honest to herself, Jane had to admit she was the same. She was damn afraid that their luck would run out one day and something happened to her dearest. But she felt better by his side than anywhere else, no matter what they did, and she believed Leo felt the same way.
In any case, she was relieved only when Leo finally broke his offended silence and took her along to the first survey of their target. That fear was still there, in both of them, but they were in all of this together from the very start, and that made her feel better than she would expect.
Like that, Jane was able to smile despite the ugly place and anxious time, when she felt Leo´s hand on her shoulder, squeezing it, as he wanted to draw her attention. She nodded, when her lover pointed at the high cliff above their watching spot, which was more convenient for observation of the black hole and its surroundings, but hardly comfortable for any man.
She squeezed his fingers shortly, glad that Leo trusted her skills, and retreated from the edge of the low forest, to sneak behind the trees towards the cliff.
*
Jin had no idea if everything what Carl and Patrick told them about the disasters and misfortunes related to the mining, or even rumors about the whispering voices in the dark holes, were true, but the mine definitely seemed to be cursed and fitted its dark title.
The entrance to the deep pit was located near the dry riverbed in the wide valley, surrounded by the poor remains of the forest. Most of the trees within a wide range were chopped down for the carts, fires and simple sheds for the tools or barracks, creating a sad clearing around the campsite of the mine workers. In the irregular spacing, there were also the piles of dark stones and rocks all the way along the road, which was compacted hard to the other end of the valley. The mine itself was a huge pitch black hole surrounded by wooden pillars, which supported the tunnel leading deep down into the ground. Those were the results of three long years of hard rock mining.
Despite that the whole place was crawling with movements of the workers and the air resonated with orders and swearing of the guards, adding themselves to cacophony of the squealing wheels under the heavy loads and the clangs of many hammers, it gave such a dark and gloomy impression, the young gunslinger felt the creeps on his skin. The sharp wind crowned the whole picture, as it whizzed along the bare glades through the whole camp and then up, towards the mountains.
Jin shivered under the next chilly blow. He breathed out on his stiffed hands, but didn´t let his eyes wander away from the campsite, trying to remember as many details as possible from the arrangement of all buildings, movement of the guards and also from the visible part of the mining process, which mostly included dragging of the useless rubble out of the hole.
His brother Leo, attached to the ground, covered by some poor bushes, right next to him, was focused on the same, he just didn´t cower from of the cold so much, more like he ignored it and his eyes ran from one small visible figure to another. Even from the distance of their spying spot it was distinguishable that most of the workers had their legs connected with the heavy chains. Moreover, there were quite a lot of guardsmen, some with rifles in their hands, some with whips.
Obviously, at least the statement about the mine using slavery was based on reality.
“Crazy bastards,” Carl lying a little farther, whispered disgusted. “Like this, they will kill a half of the prisoners before the spring comes.”
Jin couldn´t disagree; most of the figures were moving slowly, staggering under their heavy load, and stumbling over the chains. This ´work´ was a straight way to Hell.
Only a soft shifting of some tiny stones told Jin someone approached him from behind, and that was at the moment when the sneaking young man was already within Jin´s reach. He tore his eyes off from the dark view and glanced back, when a hand touched his leg. It still amazed him how quietly Kame could move when he wanted.
“The guard is approaching; we´ve got two minutes to retreat,” the younger one whispered so that also Leo and Carl could hear. His voice made the youngest of them flinch in surprise, as Carl didn´t hear him coming at all.
Leo turned towards the member of his group, whom he left on the watch behind them from that very reason, Kame had just mentioned.
“Jane is up there, on that cliff,” the Riders´ leader said in a very quiet voice.
“I´ll get her,” Kame reacted before Leo could say anything else and in that same amazing sneaky way he retreated to the deeper shadow of the trees.
“Where did he learn that?” Carl grunted as they crawled back too, though with more noise. “I almost jumped out of my skin…”
“The Indians,” Jin informed him. “And they are even more incredible, believe me.”
“Those red fellows can be useful from time to time, huh?”
“Yeah,” Jin confirmed, suddenly remembering a certain discussion at the evening campfire, which made him lower his head, so that the others didn´t notice his disturbed expression. “They can…”
*
Once the mining site was out of their sight, it felt somehow easier to breathe. The heavy air caused by the ore processing activities, which were necessary for separating the silver from the rest of useless dirt, surrounding the whole area was so expressive that they had to walk for a good mile to shake that smell off.
On the northern side of the mountain, they reached one of the caves piercing it, which they chose for their cover. Nick, Ryo and Patrick, who were guarding their horses, welcomed them with revolvers in their hands, hiding them only after they made sure about who they were.
“Did you see them?” Patrick asked hopefully, his face darkening when the three of them shook their heads.
“There´s too many of them down there, all dirty and chained up, hard to say who is who,” Carl murmured, reaching for the bottle of water.
“We managed to spot them though,” the woman´s voice cut in, as Jane, followed by Kame, entered the cave. Just in time, Jin had already thought of going back to meet them.
“Really?” Leo turned to her immediately. “How were they?”
Jane shook her head sadly: “Beaten up. In chains.”
“But alive,” Leo frowned.
“Definitely,” Kame confirmed on a deep tone, making Leo focus on him.
“What did you see?”
“Esler attacked one of the guards, when he kept beating that other one - Jack. From what we managed to see, he almost strangled the man with his chains. It seemed they took him away to somewhere, to lock him up,” Kame finished the information and with a gloomy expression he glanced at Jin, who basically mirrored his face.
Leo sighed and suppressed the intention to face-palm himself. Of course, why not to make the situation even more complicated…
*
Silver ore mining was a damn difficult work in general. Digging in the hard rock, searching for any flash of the silver vein or chips in the dark ore, dragging all that stony dirty mess up from the deep stole to the surface, where it had to be destroyed to the tiny pieces and checked carefully…
Forcing the people to do all of it with their legs chained was heartlessly cruel. Not to mention they were poorly clothed and who knew what other harsh treatment except hits and whipping they received. No matter that the workers were the criminals - it was not right to treat them that way. Just during that short minute when Kame could observe the mining site, he saw two diggers to collapse and not get up even after a few kicks by the yelling guards.
The sight of the Cursed Mine made Kame feel sick. He had already heard what insanities people were able to do for gold or silver, but he hadn´t seen it by his own eyes so far. He watched Leo drawing a simple map at the wall of the cave, pondering about their possibilities.
Maybe, that they could stop what was going on in that mine, by setting all prisoners free, but getting two of the Riders out of there was already damn risky. To relate their attempt to the whole mine could have gone wrong too easily; and it would certainly attract more troubles on their heads.
So even though Kame didn´t like the mine of slaves even a bit, he knew it was wiser to ignore his doubts about what would have been really right to do. Those workers were criminals after all…
“The entrance, sheds for the workers, the cottage of the guards. Main assembles of the ore, the loading of silver to the carts,” Leo named the dark spots at the wall one after another, pointing at them with the half-burnt stick. “Probably the supply warehouse, the corral for horses,” he continued, and added a long line in the middle. “The main road. Do you remember anything else?” he turned to the silently watching Riders, Jane, his brother and Kame.
“There was one more building, hidden behind the guards´ house, probably the manager´s office,” Jane said.
“The line of slag heaps on the north side of the main rode,” Jin noted. “Could be used as a cover.”
“Sewage pits,” Carl joined in, while Leo kept drawing more notes at the wall. “Right behind those ugly sheds.”
“Good. Anything else?”
“I´m not sure about it, but there was some strange alcove nearby the mine entrance,” Kame said, not even stopping observing the simple map. “I noticed it because there were two guards, it seemed strange.”
“You mean they kept something hidden there?” Ryo asked.
“Yes, but I don´t know what it could be.”
“Those who don´t want to work?” Carl suggested darkly.
“The detention for prisoners seemed to be somewhere else,” Jane reminded. “They took Cullen away from the mine´s entrance.”
“The armory?” Jin pondered.
“That would be too easily accessible for the workers,” Leo objected.
“Maybe dynamite then?”
Everybody glanced at Kame, who shrugged: “You said they use it for deepening the holes in the rock, so…”
“That would be it!” Ryo supported the younger´s idea. “They need to keep it somewhere dry and cold.”
“That´s right,” also Leo nodded. “We might use that later, good point, Kame. Now, the guards…”
“Twenty,” Carl reacted the first.
“Twenty-two with those in front of the alcove,” Kame assumed.
“Plus those, who are inside the stole,” Jin added. “And probably also in that office, which Jane mentioned before.”
Leo nodded: “Let´s count with thirty guarding men then.”
“That´s a lot,” Ryo murmured gloomily. “And they might be changing shifts.”
“Yeah, a direct ambush is out of the question. We have to do it quietly,” their leader assumed, observing the drawing for a long time, which was filled with silence. “So, any perfect ideas for how the hell are we going to get them out of there, guys?”
- To be continued -
Credit for banner:
witchann2
Author: Kasumi
Rating: NC-17
Genre: Western, Drama, Romance
Warning: AKame pairing; vulgarisms, violence
Beta-reading:
atago4
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; To
atago4 for awesome beta-reading; And to Kamenashi Kazuya and Akanishi Jin for being who they are...
AN: A belated Christmas gift and preliminary New-Year-surprise for all my dear readers.
This new chapter is not very AKame- or action- like, but I hope you´ll enjoy it anyway. It´s a result of a quite hard work. ^^/
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 // Chapter eight - Fruits of cooperation // Chapter nine - A matter of trust // Chapter ten - Gangsters´ voting // Chapter eleven - Whispers in the dark // Chapter twelve - Leo´s decision // Chapter thirteen - The departure // Chapter fourteen - Killing time // Chapter fifteen - Parting in Ohio // Chapter sixteen - Unexpected // Chapter seventeen - Back in the saddles // Chapter eighteen - Bad news //
Alliances
The pen created a faint creaking noise as the man´s hand holding it firmly wrote the precise numbers in the accounting book. The detailed records included incomes and expenses of the quarry, though they were a bit altered, of course. The real book, which mentioned all of their profits, was safely locked under the false bottom of the table´s only drawer and nobody, except its owner, knew where to find the key for this hideout. It was a good precaution in case that some sneaky officer from the government remembered to fulfil his duties from time to time and arrived for the inspection.
The manager of the sandstone quarry in Laporte was almost finished with his work for that day, when the hard stomping was heard on the stairs and shortly after that the door of his office was flung wide open, making way for a furious gunman. The stack of banknotes flew through the air and spread all over the table, half-covering the accounting book, not allowing the manager to finish the last calculations.
“This is not enough!” Grenet literally spat the words out.
Cameron put the pen aside slowly and raised his eyes to the upset gunslinger. He gave the ruddy face a long look; it seemed to him that during the past week, Math Grenet behaved more explosively than usually. He was always quick-tempered, but such a lack of control over own emotions was unusual even for the former first gunman of Raynold Karnaka. And Cameron despised such people.
Anyway, it made him wonder what caused that constant anger and he was quite sure it was the failure of their search party - they were not able to locate Kamenashi yet. Cameron was not satisfied with that himself, but to express it so openly was deeply below his level. Not to mention there was other business to deal with. That youngster would show up again in the end, and the former servant had learned how to wait for something patiently a long time ago.
“Your share is still the same,” Cameron informed the grumpy man stiffly. “You know very well, that our profit wasn´t so big this time.”
“And how am I supposed to pay the men from that?” Grenet continued complaining, and pointed at the notes with his finger.
“There´s more than enough for that. In case you skip some visits in brothels, of course,” Cameron observed the reddening face of his companion unmoved. He didn´t care about how Grenet handled his cash; the gunman could pay to Danny double for what the boy was willing to do for him, or to burn the money in the fireplace, for all he cared. Unless it caused troubles with their subordinates or quarry workers, Cameron was willing to accept that.
The angry gunman was fuming for a while, before he sat down on the chair opposite to him and lit up a cigarette. Cameron watched his action rather disgustedly and carefully closed the book to avoid its damage from the hot ashes.
“We should replace more cargos then,” Grenet hissed his oh-so-much-clever proposal.
Cameron suppressed an annoyed sigh; it wasn´t the first time they discussed the topic.
“Not possible. If we want to avoid Tabor realizing something strange is happening with his deliveries to Wyoming, we need to keep the number low. We´ve already talked about this.”
“Then what about some deduction from the mint master´s share?” his companion insisted.
Cameron almost smirked in a gleeful reaction: “Try to suggest that to him, I doubt that he would agree.”
More precisely, he was pretty sure that the mentioned man would have sent his couple of crazy dogs after Grenet, if the gunman dared to come up with such a proposal. It was more than risky to break the law related to the precious metals processing, to cheat the officers and create more coins in secret for personal profit. Such crime was heavily punished and they were lucky the master was willing to cooperate, for quite a prize of course.
Moreover, Cameron was well-aware that Horace Tabor would find out there was something wrong sooner or later. Lieutenant Governor received too much of profit from various silver deliveries to notice right away, but they had to consider that it wouldn´t last forever. And that very moment they would have to end their little fiddle, when they replaced the carts loaded with raw silver in small nuggets or chips with the ones full of sandstone. It was a difficult and not very cheap exchange, as they had to deal with a couple of mine workers, bribe two soldiers, and create fake documents for both carriages to avoid those stupid taxes the government raised on anything they could think of.
The whole project was Cameron´s idea, Grenet was just dragged along with it and he carried out his orders well. Even though the gunman was harder and harder to control, it was nothing what Cameron couldn´t handle so far.
Grenet was smoking wordlessly for a while, so Cameron used the time to gather the thrown-away cash and shift it over the table back towards the gunman.
“Stop overreacting and manage your expenses more carefully, it would do no harm,” he stated scornfully.
“It´s not so surprising I have more expenses than you - I actually live, Cam.”
“Do what you want, just pay off everyone necessary in the process.”
“Fine!” Grenet snapped and snatched the notes. “But I wanna go on a little trip and I need more for that.”
“A trip?” Cameron repeated, sensing some useless troubles in that idea. “To where? There´s no need to check on the situation in Denver. It´s not convenient for your famous face to appear there.”
“No, not to Denver,” Grenet snorted. “We need to get rid of those stinky red skins finally; I´ll accompany the expedition to the mountains.”
“We´ve assigned more than enough of our men for that.”
“Our men are a bunch of useless idiots, who aren´t able to find one pretty brat!”
And there he went with Kamenashi issue again; Cameron knew he was right in guessing the reason of Grenet´s bad mood.
“It´s not our primary task now,” he reacted calmly.
“I´m quite surprised to hear that from you,” the gunman gritted trough his teeth. “I had a feeling it was your only goal in life.”
“I will get to dealing with Kamenashi, and also Akanishi, eventually,” Cameron stated self-confidently. “Till that time we need to strengthen our position, not to weaken it. So sit on your ass here and learn some patience.”
“You don´t tell me what to do!” Grenet snapped.
“I do and you will listen. No matter how hot-headed you are, Grenet, you´re not stupid and you know I´m right.”
The silent match of their glances ended up with the gunman smirking awfully.
“You piss me off, but you´ve got the point, Cam,” Grenet got up on his feet, shifting the banknotes into his pocket. “Anyway, in the mountains there´s not so many people who could see me, right? And I want to have that transaction in control, selling some workers is quite a sensitive matter, nah?”
“All right…” Cameron agreed reluctantly. “But do not set off before Friday and do not take all the Sioux at once, it´s too risky. If you come across the unit of soldiers or something…”
“Fine, I get it!” Grenet snapped annoyed. “As if I wanted to bother myself with so many dirty Indians at once… Well, now you can continue playing with your boring numbers. Since I´m stuck here for a couple of more days, I need to find Danny and get some fun. Otherwise, I´ll bite myself off from boredom…” the gunman finished his speech and slammed the door behind himself.
***
The dawn barely managed to chase the darkest part of the night away and the back yard of the Slabtown´s Tavern was already lively with voices and neighing of horses. The Riders, all dressed in long warm coats, the hats pushed deep into their faces, were trying hard to warm themselves up in the frosty morning, which welcomed them with the tiny sparkles of snow flying in the air. After the unexpectedly warm days, the winter obviously wanted to show them, that it didn´t say its last word yet.
Ryo, Patrick and Carl were stalling next to their horses, almost running on the spot, while Jin and Kame were calculatingly hiding behind Kuro, sharing one huge mug of the younger´s special hot tea. Jin even had an unusually good mood, considering his usual flow of complaints over the weather. This time he seemed to be more concerned with how much rum Kame took with him on their journey.
Finally, the Riders´ leader appeared in the back yard too, already fully armed, as he got up before everybody else and prepared quite a load of weapons, ammunition and food for their mission. Now everybody was gathered; they let the rest of the gang sleep, as they were supposed to leave the city later.
“Everyone ready?” Leo´s voice cut through the freezing air, as he pulled the scarf protecting his face down and threw two heavy bags into Ryo´s and Carl´s arms. “Let´s get moving then!”
He was the first one prepared to leave the yard, but the appreciative whistle of Koki made him turn back his horse again. The surprised fuss among the Riders was caused by Jane.
The tall brunette was fully dressed and armed, looking very impressive in the long coat and hat, her long hair free, falling over the shoulders. The unbuttoned coat revealed her long legs in the tight leather trousers and high boots, beige shirt and dark vest. She looked so attractive that Leo almost forgot the woman was not supposed to be there; she should have stayed in the warm bed, where he had left her early in the morning.
Jane passed them, not giving much attention to their adoring looks and entered the stalls, just to leave them right away, leading her horse out.
“What do you think you´re doing?” Leo finally remembered not to be pleased to see his girlfriend.
Jane mounted her stallion gracefully first, before she repaid his sharp glance.
“I´m going with you, obviously,” she replied calmly.
“I said I want you to stay…” Leo reacted decisively.
“I don´t think I have to take any orders from you, love,” the brunette objected nonchalantly, which made the others turn their faces away, trying to unsuccessfully hide their laughter. “As you like to remind me, I´m not a Black Rider, so you´re not my leader.”
“Fine! I want you to stay here as your boyfriend!” Leo snapped, already quite upset, because he had no upper hand in this morning argument.
“That´s not going to work and you know that,” Jane led her horse closer and kept staring at him defiantly. “It´s not only your responsibility, Leo. I should have done something, because I was here, not you. Even if it would have been only telling Cullen about the robbery in advance. So, I´m going, period.”
The couple was engulfed in fierce staring match, while the others waited amused by the clear fact that Leo was losing this fight.
“You said eight members at the top,” Jin noted, already sitting in the saddle as well. “With us, Jane is the number seven. There´s still one more spot free then,” he reminded his brother gleefully.
Leo stabbed him with his eyes: “Thanks for your brotherly support, Jin.”
“Always at your service, Bro,” the older Akanishi grinned.
“Shall we get moving then, or what?” Ryo urged them. “One more minute and I´ll freeze to the bones over here.”
The young leader sighed, and with a defeated expression he nodded: “Yeah… It´s useless to waste time here. Let´s go…”
***
The streets of Leadville were as lively as ever, no matter the frosty weather. Riding his already a little tired horse, Ralph Harvey watched the citizens hurrying about their business. He kept trying to catch a sight of their faces, which were half-covered with scarves and shawls and hats, to protect them from the freeze.
Harvey pulled his own scarf as high as he could himself, but not because he would feel cold. He didn´t want to risk being noticed by some member of the Riders. As much as he knew their faces now, they knew his. So he carefully studied one passing person after another, looking for a glimpse of familiar features, but during the whole ride through the main street he had no luck yet.
His companion, riding in front of him, didn´t seem to mind the cold at all, as he kept his coat unbuttoned and no hat covered his dark hair with a few strands of grey. Well, Matt Duggan was a pretty hot-blooded personality, as Harvey had already experienced after he reached his livery stable located in the outskirts of Leadville.
It would be an understatement to say that the former Sheriff was not happy about his arrival. It took some time before the man stopped sending all Hell to break loose on that ´annoying rich bastard´, by whom, as Harvey assumed, he meant Tabor, finally packed some of his stuff up and set off to the city center with him.
Frankly, Harvey didn´t give a shit about what Duggan thought or said about Lieutenant Governor; he just considered being paid well-enough to follow Horace´s orders and that meant cooperation with that explosive, after-horse-spore-stinking gunman.
They dismounted the horses right in front of the veranda of Sheriff´s Office. Duggan observed the signboard with a star, looking rather upset, muttering something inaudible. Their arrival didn´t pass unnoticed, as the muscular, around twenty-five-year-old deputy came out from the door and focused quite a suspicious stare on both of them.
“Mr. Duggan,” he noted not very happily. “What an unexpected visit.”
“I´d rather be cutting the trees down right now than be here, believe me, boy,” the man spat scornfully. “I´ve had enough of the others´ incompetence for the rest of my life.”
Harvey ignored the impolite welcome and turned towards the frowning deputy himself: “Is Sheriff in there?”
“Yes,” the younger man nodded reluctantly, while his palm rested on the gun-stock of one of his two colts. “But who are you, Mister?”
“That doesn´t concern you, out of our way,” Duggan ascended the stairs to the veranda first and shoved the surprised deputy aside. “And better stay here,” he recommended him harshly.
“What do you think you...!”
Ignoring the lawman´s objection, Duggan already disappeared inside the building. Harvey didn´t want to bother with the youngster longer than necessary, so he held him back for a shoulder, when the deputy wanted to follow Duggan.
“Mr. Tabor sent us, deputy. Just stay here on the watch, all right?” Harvey asked the young man, though he let it sound more like an order.
Not even waiting for confirmation, he let the baffled man outside and closed the door.
*
Kevin Flow was rushing towards the Sheriff´s office, as fast as his short legs allowed him, tootling a melody of his favorite song. His mother used to sing it to him before sleep, when he was younger. The little boy was cheerful and didn´t mind even the rude swearing he received, when he ran across the street right in front of one of those beautiful rich carriages. He just grabbed the package with the lunch in his hands more firmly and kept hopping towards the building with a huge star.
Kevin believed that very soon he would not have to bring any lunches to the prison and that his Papa would be back at their table in the kitchen. The beautiful lady said that and he trusted her. Those bandits, who were her friends, were scary, but they helped them out during last winter as they promised to, so they were not hungry despite his mother was not able to work. So they would definitely help this time too.
The boy slowed down at the sight of his destination. The sheriff was sometimes moody and he disliked naughty children, so Kevin already knew it was better to behave, otherwise the lunch would be eaten by Sheriff and not by his sad Papa.
He approached the veranda and looked up to the other man with a star - Sheriff´s deputy, who stopped pacing across the space in front of the door, and pierced the boy with his eyes.
“What do you want?!” the deputy man snapped.
“I brought the meal to my father, Mister,” Kevin replied bravely, determined to get inside. He knew they gave no food to his father behind those ugly bars and he was certainly hungry.
“You can´t go there now, so get lost,” the man denied immediately.
Kevin didn´t know why the deputy was so upset, but he didn´t want to give up so easily.
“It won´t take long, Mister, I must give it to my Papa before it gets cold…”
The gunman snorted something vulgar and grabbed the boy for his collar.
“I said get out!” the deputy shifted with Kevin, just when the door of the office opened.
“Wait!” that strict cold voice made both the deputy and little Kevin freeze.
The deputy turned, dragging the boy with him, so that they faced the dark-haired man with evil eyes. Kevin shivered, when those eyes focused on him.
“Is that the Flow´s boy?” that strange man asked.
“Yes,” the deputy gritted through his teeth. Kevin thought that the younger man definitely didn´t like that stranger.
“Perfect,” the man´s smile made Kevin wish he would have come later. “Come here, boy. You wanna see your father, right?”
Kevin gulped down his fear and nodded.
“Let him go, deputy. And keep the watch,” the man ordered and not waiting for Kevin to start moving, he grasped him for both narrow shoulders and shoved with him inside.
Kevin didn´t even manage to blink and he was already standing in the sheriff´s office, in the room which he had already known. There was Sheriff, sitting behind his table and also one more stranger, measuring him with an intense glance.
“What do you want to do, Matt?” the Sheriff stood up from his chair, when the man dragged Kevin to the back, right towards the cells.
“What do you think?” the man, whom the older man called Matt, snorted caustically. “Something you were not able to do for all this time - to make Flow talk.”
Sheriff Watson frowned in disagreement: “I cannot let you do this, Matt. There´s a law in this building and…”
“Either shut up and let me do my job or get out,” Math interrupted the complaints, not even glancing back at the Sheriff.
The lawman reached for his revolver, but that second stranger was faster and he had already pulled the gun out, letting it aim on the ground for the moment.
Kevin was really, really scared then. He didn´t understand what was going on, but he somehow knew it would have been better if his father stayed hungry on that day…
*
The current Sheriff of Leadville, Ed Watson, who replaced Duggan on the position, was similarly glad about the unexpected guests as his deputy. But Harvey also noticed that the man with a star still had some respect towards his predecessor, and the name Tabor had its effect as well. Though it didn´t prevent Watson from sending the displeased stares towards Harvey´s direction, once Duggan revealed his companion to be a bounty hunter.
No Sheriff was happy about the presence of hunters in their town. They considered it to be an insult to their abilities, when some wandering gunslinger solved the issues with local criminals instead, not mentioning the reward money, which would have stayed in the state budget otherwise, meaning more cash for them.
And now, he was even more displeased about Matt´s idea…
“Be smart, Sheriff and do not complicate the situation,” Harvey stated calmly, but there was a hidden danger in his tone. “We´re going after the criminals. Any means necessary should be used to get them, don´t you agree?”
“Fine!” the Sheriff snorted then. “But I stay here and if you cross the line…!”
“I´m sure Flow will talk,” Harvey assumed. “It´s his only son, you said.”
Ed Watson swore harshly and went back to his table, snatching the cigarettes from the surface. Harvey moved on towards the cell-room, which was separated from the office just by the wall without a door, and he kept his revolver out and ready to remind Sheriff not to try anything stupid.
Walking towards the back cell in the building, he almost regretted his idea though. He was the one asking Sheriff if there was anyone visiting Flow, who was accused from helping out the Riders, in the prison and it was his idea to use the person against him. But Flow´s son was really just a kid and more than cute on the top of it. And Duggan seemed to be capable of anything just to make Flow spill anything he knew.
But since it seemed Flow really had some idea about at least one of the Riders´ locations it was definitely worth of trying. Harvey just hoped the man would talk soon, before he would have to stop Duggan from doing something really nasty to the boy. He himself was able of doing quite many things to get his deserved reward, but torturing children was definitely not among them…
***
Jane assumed Leo would not be very happy about her involvement in the rescue mission, but that didn´t held her back in relative safety of the tavern. Her lover wanted to keep her away from any danger, but when she felt she should do something, nobody could stop her. She was more stubborn in that than him.
It was not like this before they got more intimate; Leo was not so overprotective of her. Jane joined the Riders because she was fed up of sitting on her ass and doing nothing about the ugly acts of one awful man from Denver, who thought that everybody should lick his boots for a couple of coins. Who thought he could do anything without consequences. Who indirectly killed his own daughter and her best friend and cousin.
She cooperated with the gang on setting Leo free and she ran off with them. It was a dangerous life all the time, but she felt like she was doing something significant by being with them. Leo accepted her as a member of the Riders, though they kept reminding her she wasn´t one, because they didn´t assign that title to women. But that changed gradually, when they started dating. Though he never put it that way, he kept her away from most of the actions just to keep her safe.
Leo knew his girlfriend was too proud to handle his overprotectiveness, but he couldn´t help it. He had already lost too many precious people in his life. And being honest to herself, Jane had to admit she was the same. She was damn afraid that their luck would run out one day and something happened to her dearest. But she felt better by his side than anywhere else, no matter what they did, and she believed Leo felt the same way.
In any case, she was relieved only when Leo finally broke his offended silence and took her along to the first survey of their target. That fear was still there, in both of them, but they were in all of this together from the very start, and that made her feel better than she would expect.
Like that, Jane was able to smile despite the ugly place and anxious time, when she felt Leo´s hand on her shoulder, squeezing it, as he wanted to draw her attention. She nodded, when her lover pointed at the high cliff above their watching spot, which was more convenient for observation of the black hole and its surroundings, but hardly comfortable for any man.
She squeezed his fingers shortly, glad that Leo trusted her skills, and retreated from the edge of the low forest, to sneak behind the trees towards the cliff.
*
Jin had no idea if everything what Carl and Patrick told them about the disasters and misfortunes related to the mining, or even rumors about the whispering voices in the dark holes, were true, but the mine definitely seemed to be cursed and fitted its dark title.
The entrance to the deep pit was located near the dry riverbed in the wide valley, surrounded by the poor remains of the forest. Most of the trees within a wide range were chopped down for the carts, fires and simple sheds for the tools or barracks, creating a sad clearing around the campsite of the mine workers. In the irregular spacing, there were also the piles of dark stones and rocks all the way along the road, which was compacted hard to the other end of the valley. The mine itself was a huge pitch black hole surrounded by wooden pillars, which supported the tunnel leading deep down into the ground. Those were the results of three long years of hard rock mining.
Despite that the whole place was crawling with movements of the workers and the air resonated with orders and swearing of the guards, adding themselves to cacophony of the squealing wheels under the heavy loads and the clangs of many hammers, it gave such a dark and gloomy impression, the young gunslinger felt the creeps on his skin. The sharp wind crowned the whole picture, as it whizzed along the bare glades through the whole camp and then up, towards the mountains.
Jin shivered under the next chilly blow. He breathed out on his stiffed hands, but didn´t let his eyes wander away from the campsite, trying to remember as many details as possible from the arrangement of all buildings, movement of the guards and also from the visible part of the mining process, which mostly included dragging of the useless rubble out of the hole.
His brother Leo, attached to the ground, covered by some poor bushes, right next to him, was focused on the same, he just didn´t cower from of the cold so much, more like he ignored it and his eyes ran from one small visible figure to another. Even from the distance of their spying spot it was distinguishable that most of the workers had their legs connected with the heavy chains. Moreover, there were quite a lot of guardsmen, some with rifles in their hands, some with whips.
Obviously, at least the statement about the mine using slavery was based on reality.
“Crazy bastards,” Carl lying a little farther, whispered disgusted. “Like this, they will kill a half of the prisoners before the spring comes.”
Jin couldn´t disagree; most of the figures were moving slowly, staggering under their heavy load, and stumbling over the chains. This ´work´ was a straight way to Hell.
Only a soft shifting of some tiny stones told Jin someone approached him from behind, and that was at the moment when the sneaking young man was already within Jin´s reach. He tore his eyes off from the dark view and glanced back, when a hand touched his leg. It still amazed him how quietly Kame could move when he wanted.
“The guard is approaching; we´ve got two minutes to retreat,” the younger one whispered so that also Leo and Carl could hear. His voice made the youngest of them flinch in surprise, as Carl didn´t hear him coming at all.
Leo turned towards the member of his group, whom he left on the watch behind them from that very reason, Kame had just mentioned.
“Jane is up there, on that cliff,” the Riders´ leader said in a very quiet voice.
“I´ll get her,” Kame reacted before Leo could say anything else and in that same amazing sneaky way he retreated to the deeper shadow of the trees.
“Where did he learn that?” Carl grunted as they crawled back too, though with more noise. “I almost jumped out of my skin…”
“The Indians,” Jin informed him. “And they are even more incredible, believe me.”
“Those red fellows can be useful from time to time, huh?”
“Yeah,” Jin confirmed, suddenly remembering a certain discussion at the evening campfire, which made him lower his head, so that the others didn´t notice his disturbed expression. “They can…”
*
Once the mining site was out of their sight, it felt somehow easier to breathe. The heavy air caused by the ore processing activities, which were necessary for separating the silver from the rest of useless dirt, surrounding the whole area was so expressive that they had to walk for a good mile to shake that smell off.
On the northern side of the mountain, they reached one of the caves piercing it, which they chose for their cover. Nick, Ryo and Patrick, who were guarding their horses, welcomed them with revolvers in their hands, hiding them only after they made sure about who they were.
“Did you see them?” Patrick asked hopefully, his face darkening when the three of them shook their heads.
“There´s too many of them down there, all dirty and chained up, hard to say who is who,” Carl murmured, reaching for the bottle of water.
“We managed to spot them though,” the woman´s voice cut in, as Jane, followed by Kame, entered the cave. Just in time, Jin had already thought of going back to meet them.
“Really?” Leo turned to her immediately. “How were they?”
Jane shook her head sadly: “Beaten up. In chains.”
“But alive,” Leo frowned.
“Definitely,” Kame confirmed on a deep tone, making Leo focus on him.
“What did you see?”
“Esler attacked one of the guards, when he kept beating that other one - Jack. From what we managed to see, he almost strangled the man with his chains. It seemed they took him away to somewhere, to lock him up,” Kame finished the information and with a gloomy expression he glanced at Jin, who basically mirrored his face.
Leo sighed and suppressed the intention to face-palm himself. Of course, why not to make the situation even more complicated…
*
Silver ore mining was a damn difficult work in general. Digging in the hard rock, searching for any flash of the silver vein or chips in the dark ore, dragging all that stony dirty mess up from the deep stole to the surface, where it had to be destroyed to the tiny pieces and checked carefully…
Forcing the people to do all of it with their legs chained was heartlessly cruel. Not to mention they were poorly clothed and who knew what other harsh treatment except hits and whipping they received. No matter that the workers were the criminals - it was not right to treat them that way. Just during that short minute when Kame could observe the mining site, he saw two diggers to collapse and not get up even after a few kicks by the yelling guards.
The sight of the Cursed Mine made Kame feel sick. He had already heard what insanities people were able to do for gold or silver, but he hadn´t seen it by his own eyes so far. He watched Leo drawing a simple map at the wall of the cave, pondering about their possibilities.
Maybe, that they could stop what was going on in that mine, by setting all prisoners free, but getting two of the Riders out of there was already damn risky. To relate their attempt to the whole mine could have gone wrong too easily; and it would certainly attract more troubles on their heads.
So even though Kame didn´t like the mine of slaves even a bit, he knew it was wiser to ignore his doubts about what would have been really right to do. Those workers were criminals after all…
“The entrance, sheds for the workers, the cottage of the guards. Main assembles of the ore, the loading of silver to the carts,” Leo named the dark spots at the wall one after another, pointing at them with the half-burnt stick. “Probably the supply warehouse, the corral for horses,” he continued, and added a long line in the middle. “The main road. Do you remember anything else?” he turned to the silently watching Riders, Jane, his brother and Kame.
“There was one more building, hidden behind the guards´ house, probably the manager´s office,” Jane said.
“The line of slag heaps on the north side of the main rode,” Jin noted. “Could be used as a cover.”
“Sewage pits,” Carl joined in, while Leo kept drawing more notes at the wall. “Right behind those ugly sheds.”
“Good. Anything else?”
“I´m not sure about it, but there was some strange alcove nearby the mine entrance,” Kame said, not even stopping observing the simple map. “I noticed it because there were two guards, it seemed strange.”
“You mean they kept something hidden there?” Ryo asked.
“Yes, but I don´t know what it could be.”
“Those who don´t want to work?” Carl suggested darkly.
“The detention for prisoners seemed to be somewhere else,” Jane reminded. “They took Cullen away from the mine´s entrance.”
“The armory?” Jin pondered.
“That would be too easily accessible for the workers,” Leo objected.
“Maybe dynamite then?”
Everybody glanced at Kame, who shrugged: “You said they use it for deepening the holes in the rock, so…”
“That would be it!” Ryo supported the younger´s idea. “They need to keep it somewhere dry and cold.”
“That´s right,” also Leo nodded. “We might use that later, good point, Kame. Now, the guards…”
“Twenty,” Carl reacted the first.
“Twenty-two with those in front of the alcove,” Kame assumed.
“Plus those, who are inside the stole,” Jin added. “And probably also in that office, which Jane mentioned before.”
Leo nodded: “Let´s count with thirty guarding men then.”
“That´s a lot,” Ryo murmured gloomily. “And they might be changing shifts.”
“Yeah, a direct ambush is out of the question. We have to do it quietly,” their leader assumed, observing the drawing for a long time, which was filled with silence. “So, any perfect ideas for how the hell are we going to get them out of there, guys?”
- To be continued -
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witchann2