Kansas.
This morning I rode into Kansas and called out looking for anyone at Hawk’s village. I found Betty and talked to her about how I was worried about the area and how I was afraid of the Black Brothers being there.
“They were here, yes,” she said.
“They were here?! In the village?!”
“Yeah. Shoot natives.”
“When, Betty?”
“In my village. Last night and in the night.”
“This is not good, Betty.”
“They will probably again.”
“I know they will. What do they want?”
“Burning village. Kill natives.”
“Were you here?”
“I always help Hawk.”
“Was... Red Braveheart here..?”
“I think. Not sure.”
“I hope he’s okay...” I swallowed.
“We were many.”
“Was anyone injured? Captured?”
“Yes, many injured. My tribe with.”
“I’d better wait here for Hawk or them to come back... This is getting worse, Betty.”
“I know,” she nodded.
“There was a young baby running around here yesterday... I’m not sure what happened to her. She couldn’t have been a year old.”
“Ya. Children are safe.”
“I hope so...” I said.
“We protect the most.”
“Of course.”
“I have friends who will help with this.”
“Oh?”
“They were six in the night here. Three natives. Alpha Wolf helps too.”
“Okay well... I guess I’ll sit by the fire... wait for Red or Hawk or someone to come by.”
“Yeah. If I meet I’m talking about searching,” she smiled. “Okay, I go to Colorado. See if I can hear something about bandits.”
“Good luck. Safe paths.”
“You too,” Betty said. “I’ll see you again.”
I continued to ride around and then saw Betty again about an hour later. “Welcome back, Betty. How are things out there?”
“Dangerous.”
“Really? Who did you meet?”
“One of them attack village.”
“What village?” I gasped. “Your village?”
“White Arrow not afraid,” she laughed. “By Hawk’s, they attack.”
“Close to here?”
“In Colorado and Wyoming. I’ll probably attack tonight.”
“Where on earth are Hawk... Sasha... Red...”
“They will probably get here.”
A man named Bear came in then and Betty said, “Bad guy set fire to a sign in their own city.”
“Which sign was it, Betty? And you said it was Wyoming?”
“Yes. It was a billboard to a store.”
“Which store?”
“Along down the street in Colorado. I asked for a store only.”
“Well I think I’m going to go home until I hear from Hawk or Red. If you see them, let them know I’m looking for them?”
“Yes,” she said and I waved, riding back to Nebraska.
Nebraska.
I saw a woman across the bridge and went over to her. “Hello ma’am...”
“Oh, you scared me,” she said. “Hello.”
“Am so sorry to scare you. I was wondering if you’d seen Charles anywhere this morning?”
“Charles? Who that?”
“He’s a marshal in these parts. Dom’s son? I suppose you haven’t?”
The woman gave me a blank expression and then walked off so I headed back to my house.
After a while, I rode around again and headed back to Kansas to see if anyone was around. I gathered some supplies in the area around the village and then headed home. While sitting in front of the house Sasha rode over and I greeted her. “Hello Sasha!”
“Hey neighbor! All stetled in?”
“You bet! Want to come in and look around?”
“Sure, would like that.” She walked into the house with me and looked around. “Oh, this is nice and cosy!”
“I was going to get a cooking station but everything is at your village or at the store next door so I don’t really need much of a kitchen.,” I chuckled and showed her into my office. “In here is my office... Back here’s where I’ll interview people... If I ever become a lawyer or detective again.”
“Very nice.”
“Nice and private. Do you like my new dress by the way?”
“It’s very nice, looks quite comfy.”
“I figured out how to do my hair differently too. Let’s check out the upstairs. The bedroom is very comfortable up there I think.”
“Love the braids,” she smiled. “Oh yes, this is very nice,” she said, looking around the bedroom.
“This house is everything that I wanted. And it’s so close to your village. I came out there this morning but you weren’t there... I spoke with Betty... She told me the Black Brothers were there last night.”
“No. We were attacked twice by Harley Buu and Turner.”
“She insisted the Blacks were there too,” I said and sat on the couch with her. “And I thought you said Trevor, not Turner...”
“No, those two and two women.”
“Hmm...”
“Maybe it was her village they attacked. Was not ours.”
“Perhaps. That makes more sense.”
“We can go back over to your village if you like? Or sit downstairs? Either way. I’m guessing you haven’t heard from Red?”
“Not today, no. I believe he’s in the storms path still.”
“Oh, I see. Shall we head over to your village?”
“Sure, that would be nice.”
“Lead the way,” I smiled and followed her out of the house.
Kansas.
When we got to the village I looked around and said, “Hmm... Neither of our men are here.”
“Hawk will not be home for three and a half hours yet.”
“So it was Turner and Buu who attacked you twice?”
“Yes with Jolene and another.”
“Is Jolene the red head or the blonde?”
“They were defeated, but came back an hour later with more people and attacked again.”
“So that’s three times total.”
“Yes. I do hope they stay away tonight.”
“I do too for your sakes. It’s getting redundant.”
“Barely time enough for us to resupply,” Sasha nodded.
“Was Hawk here either time last night?”
“First time yes, the second time we were away.”
“Is why they were defeated that first time then,” I smiled and she chuckled at that. “I wonder, Sasha... Is this a personal attack on Hawk perhaps or do you think they’re just attacking for the sake of it?”
“It probably is. I believe they are just bored,” she said and I wasn’t sure which option was better. “It’s difficult to deal with.”
“I can’t even imagine, Sasha.”
“They really tired to anger Hawk last night. Pretended they were here for me. Jolene was saying how she only wanted me for the night and Harley kept offering to buy me.”
I rolled my eyes and said, “I can’t imagine how Hawk would react to that.”
“He didn’t get angry, just told them to leave.”
I smiled proudly and said, “As he always told me to deal with them... Don’t give them a reason to fight back harder.”
“When DD and Romey came in the village then, they let me take them away to my house,” Sasha said.
“Good.”
“The fighting started right after.”
“At least they had the decency to let you take the children inside.”
“I was not going to give them a choice.”
“Of course not,” I nodded.
“Romey was still injured from a random bullet he got yesterday morning at the first attack.”
Maryam came into the village then and sat down by the fire to join us. We talked about how she visited Mr. Allan’s new farm in Iowa and how some animals had ruined his green garden. Maryam and I talked about her bread selling and how I was interested in buying more. She said she was not going to move anywhere but she couldn’t live in the Cheyenne village.
“So you now in Nebraska?” Maryam asked me when Sasha had gone off to take care of something at the other side over the village.
“I found a house in Nebraska, just over the bridge there... Not far from here. I need to talk to Charles about becoming a detective.”
“Who is Charles?”
“Or I suppose Brent... Charles is a marshal, brent is the sheriff. I miss the work. I’m feeling restless.”
“Yes me too. I am anxious that soldiers come to work on shooting them.”
“Moving out of Amiville was the hardest thing I ever had to do. Because I knew that work would not be the same speed anywhere else.”
“No way you can go back there?” she giggled.
“No. I went back last week just to visit Gramps but... it felt so wrong.”
“Aw.”
“It just doesn’t feel like home anymore, Maryam.”
“Yes, I know the feeling.”
“So many rumors and lies about me there... I can’t show my face there again.”
“God, but what happened?” she asked and I shrugged. “Why they said lies about you?”
“Bill’s gang bullied me out of town by spreading lies about me that I was spreading lies about them.”
“Aw...”
“He finally shot me down and I said fine, I’m not going to stay in a town that won’t protect or defend me against him or his bullies.”
“Complicated thing.”
“Was so hard, Maryam... I left so many friends... My routine... The paper...”
“Aw... I like going to Amiville,” she said and I looked at the fire, throwing a rock into it. “But always felt I must not spend too much time there. I feel people are a bit strange.”
“It’s more peaceful out here. Here I feel home.. I feel safer, even with all the attacks lately... I know Hawk is a good man. And... they sort of set me up with someone in their village...”
“Yes Hawk is a very good man. I like it here too.”
“But I haven’t seen him around today... It’s still very new. But we’ll see what happens.”
“Well here it is very calm if you want some action...”
“For the most part,” I nodded.
“What we do is ...we come here and feel at home. Then we go around causing and looking for trouble,” she said and we laughed. “But shelter is here. We have a very good friend here. Two Spirits. Have you met her?”
“I have yes. Nice lady,” I nodded again.
“Yes we know her for long time. It is good to have a fixed place where we feel comfortable and then explore around.”
“I like to come here and write.”
“Now I remember, I have to pay a visit to the Cherokee tribe soon. I have been waiting for Miss Coral to come with me.”
“Ah, I see,” I nodded.
“We have some unfinished business with Cherokee woman,” she laughed. “I also know Cherokee chief for long. Nice man too. Colorado so empty lately.”
“Is another reason I moved here.”
“Don’t know what happened there.”
“More has happened here in the past few days than in the past few weeks living in Colorado. I think I’m going to head home. It was nice talking to you.”
“Nice seeing you too. Safe paths.”
“Have a good evening,” I waved and headed home.
Nebraska.
I saw two people on the bridge on the way home and talked with them in Spanish. I then ran into Quiet-Water and told her I was looking for the sheriff.
“Not see him today,” Quiet signed to me and I was grateful I knew sign language. Dom walked over and we greeted him.
“I was just telling Quiet I was looking for the sheriff. I need to work, Dom. I’m going crazy.”
“I haven’t seen our unofficial sheriff around in days but our official head us marshal should be around tonight.”
“We need place for healing folks in town,” Quiet signed.
“Oh... is there a saloon by the way? Tessa was mentioning one but I haven’t found it.”
“Yup. Right across the street from the church,” Dom nodded.
“Pat say he like be a barented,” Quiet signed.
“Can we go see?” I asked and we walked around the town, looking at all the buildings and talking about the area. “I might run a small private investigators office from my house. For the time being. Consult with Marshal Charles about cases if they come.”
“Okay. Just seen yer horse down by the livery at the end of the street,” Dom said.
We continued to talk about the clinic and Quiet signed, “Last night we had a shootout here and there was like three folks and a horse hurt.”
“From the attack on Betty’s village? Or from the attack on Hawk’s village? I asked.
“Both,” she replied.
“I heard about both today.”
“Marshal here need help too,” Quiet signed.
“Marshal Charles can’t do it all on his own,” I said.
“Yeah, Red has already volunteered,” Dom said and I smiled proudly. “And he has me too. I taught him everything he knows. He is our son after all.”
“Did Red say he’d be back tonight, Dom? I haven’t seen him all day.”
“I don’t know. Charles might know.”
“I haven’t seen Charles either.”
“I not se son...” Quiet signed.
“Well folks I should head in and get my paperwork in order if I’m going to be investigating again,” I said then. “I want to have all my details together for when I speak with Charles later. Have a good evening, folks!” I said and headed inside my house.
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