April 13, 1870

Oregon. 

This morning, I sat at the bar in the saloon reading over the articles Honey had left in my mailbox, and shook my head. I couldn’t believe the ludicrously of the mayor’s words as I drank my Irish coffee to calm myself down. Honey had interviewed the mayor and I chuckled as I read: 

Honey: What happened that day with the horses that would lead to you being accused of a crime?

She sighed and looked down with a tear in her eye and I could tell this interview would be an emotional one for Braveheart

Free feather Braveheart: Well i was on my way home from the saloon and stopped to do last minute shopping in the genaral store. And then i found sheriff Adder’s horse in the General Store!! And she had eaten a whole crate of apples. The horse had made a mess in the store and there was with baking flour everywhere!!! So i placed her on a lease and brought her back to Adder. He was in his garden and walked over to me. I explained to him what had happened, and i told him he must pay for the damage the horse caused in the store.

Honey:”Uh huh, please go on"

Free feather Braveheart: At that moment he said flat out..."No I won’t”. He did not even want to see the damage in the store. He just simply refused to pay. I told him at that point, then I will take your horse home, and keep it. I explained to him that he could have the horse back after he paid me for the damages in the store.

At this point Mayor Braveheart looks down with her eyes filling with tears. I handed her a cloth and she continued on, holding her hand to her heart. 

Free feather Braveheart: Well then he started yelling at me and called me a thief. A horse thief. He pulled out his gun but I thought he was joking until he shot at me, and I ran! My heart was racing and I couldn’t believe he was shooting at me! I felt something warm running down my leg and I noticed I was shot! he had shot me!

Honey: Oh my

Free feather Braveheart: I tried so hard to keep moving with all my strength but he did not stop until I was on the ground. Then he came behind me and drug me to jail! He told everyone I was a horse thief!

Mayor Braveheart then started to sob uncontrollably. I gave her a few moments to gather herself. This incident had obviously caused her alot of pain.

Honey: Why do you think he did that? Or what prompted the Sheriff to act that way? Have you and the Sheriff had conflict before?

Free feather Braveheart: Well most people know that he has always hated me allegedly, because he don’t like all natives. We were never friends

Honey (leespencer): How did you feel during the trial?

Free feather Braveheart: I was sad that people I thought were friends had said bad things about me

Honey: How hard was it for you to hear those things during the trial and not be able to react?

Free feather Braveheart: It was hard. At first I could not believe it, but then i thought they are getting all those bad things from the sheriff. But Timmie the young boy was working for Ms Trin. He doesn’t want to be around her anymore because of what has happened.

The Mayor dropped her head

Free feather Braveheart: I tried to tell him that she would be good to him. But he said he wouldn’t go.

Honey: So there are some who will say that you used your power as Mayor to escape justice.....what do you have to say to them? And is that true?

Free feather Braveheart: No miss thats not true, we where totally ready for them. We were ready to fight this out in court. But some key people never showed up and in the law we have the right to call for a mistrial. That’s what my lawyer told me

Honey: I see. But there are still some who will say you cheated, what would you like to tell them? This is your chance to let all know how you feel. 

Free feather Braveheart: (Sighs) I don’t know. It feels hard that some people will not trust me anymore you know? But to be honest I think it says a lot about them.

I looked up when I saw Kilyko and Adder walk into the saloon and I couldn’t wait to hear their reaction to what I just read. I looked into Adder’s eyes as he sat down and handed him the paper with the interview on it. “It’s a good thing you’re sitting down. Might as well show that to Kilyko too.”

Adder took it and read the paper. Kilyko yawned and stretched as she looked over with curiosity. When he started to read, he laughed hard and shook his head. “This is priceless…” 

“What is?” Kilyko asked with curiosity. 

“I show up as a key witness against her and expose her assassination attempt on the sheriff, and she DEFENDS me?!” I set my coffee down angrily. “It makes no bloody sense! And how the hell did Timmie know what was going on in that trial? He’s just a kid! Unless she debriefed him before it started which would then go against her oath as a defendant…” 

“Trin, would you be interested in a statement from the soon to be former Sheriff of El Paso County? Or perhaps an interview?” 

“Like you read my mind, Adder,” I smiled at him. “Let’s expose her for what lies she’s been throwing the town. It’s a war now, Taurus. If I’m gonna go down I’m gonna go down fighting. Tom was right last night, we’ve gotta stand up for what’s right.” 

Adder grinned at Kilyko and she said, “I do not know much about this court thing myself...but I do know a child wound know nothing of it...more so then me.....are we sure he is a child and not a short adult….?” 

“War? You have no idea how apt that is,” Adder said and I chuckled at Kilyko’s suggestion. 

“Time to let the horse out of the bag Sun Stone….” Kilyko said to him. 

“I’m gonna use all resources I have, Taurus. And if that means including a counter interview with your side, then that’s what it means,” I looked at him. 

“Cat. Cat out of the bag,” Adder chuckled. 

“Are you guys with me here? I can’t fight this alone. I know Tom will fight with me, and probably my brother if he ever shows up.” 

“No cat’s are cute...the mayor look’s like a horse.....mule faced…” Kilyko muttered and nodded to me. “I am with you but I will not step foot in that corrupt town again…” 

“I have my own way of fighting. One that I’d rather you weren’t directly involved in,” Adder patted his guns. 

“Then you’ll be able to help provide me moral support when I need to escape to here, which I most likely will,” I nodded. “Then you go at it. I’m gonna use everything in my power. Starting with this interview.” 

“Of course but there is also something more I have helped with… Sun Stone knows…” 

“Helping him get healed after a gunfight?” I winked at Adder and Kilyko laughed. I looked at him. “So Taurus, can you explain, for the record, exactly what happened that day when you saw the mayor with your horse?” 

“Sure. I was in my yard, just watching the roads for bandits. It’s a good spot, because it is right on a crossroads. The Mayor approached, leading my horse, Little Flower. The Mayor claimed that the horse had been making a mess in the General Store. She offered no proof of this. She demanded payment. Naturally I refused. Then she said she’d take my horse. Given her history, I wasn’t going to allow that. I told her to leave the horse, and also revealed to her that I knew she was behind the assassination attempt against me. She tried to take the horse so I fired at her. She ran and I pursued her, as any officer of the law would, and SHOULD do.” 

“Sounds an awful lot like extortion…” I looked at him. 

“Aye, because it is. A good horse like mine is worth a lot of money. And I have, as you know, been investigating the mayor over dealing in stolen horses for a while. That investigation has been hampered by the attacks from the Mexicans she hired to kill me, and also by the war with the Apaches. The very same Apaches that the Mayor ALLIED with in secret, against her own town! I have an eyewitness to it. She worked with them when they were trying to kill us all!” 

“Right... Not to mention that she came to me, your best friend, a fact that is well-known around town, to ask for a hitman to kill you without actually telling me who the target was…” I nodded. 

“Aye, not too bright, is she?” he chuckled. 

“Not to mention the whole initial case that I was first introduced to in coming back to town... With the chief that she and Frank made up in order to cover themselves in a separate horse theft…” I shook my head.

“Aye.” 

“Wait... she ALLIED with the Apaches in secret against the town?!” I looked over my notes and blinked up at him. 

“Aye, she did. I have an eyewitness that saw her sitting round the fire, she was referred to as ‘sister’. She was treated like one of them. They made plans against the town, and also plans against me,” Adder nodded. 

“SHE’s the one who started the war with the apache? Not the chief or the Cheyenne chief or any of them but HER?? The mayor of her own town?!” I raised my eyebrows in shock. 

“One chief does not sit with one who murder’s their people….” Kilyko commented and Adder nodded to her. 

“Whether she started it or not, I don’t know. But she DID plan with them during the war. Just like she DID sell them extra land just before the war started,” Adder said. “She betrayed her town, and all the people in it.” 

“Please tell me you have proof….” I looked at him. 

“I have an eyewitness.” 

“How many? Just being prepared for any retort they’ll throw back in our faces.” 

“One. Most Apache seem to think I’m the devil himself. No idea why….." 

“People have been deceived, that’s why,” I shook my head. 

“While I have the opportunity, I’d like to address a little myth that the Mayor and others have created.” 

“Go ahead.” 

“I have no issue with natives. I treat them just the same as anyone else. However, when any group of people declares war on the town I am sworn to protect, then I will oppose them with extreme force. Colorado Springs exists under a heavy, heavy cloud. One of corruption. A corrupt mayor presides over the town. When I attempted to bring her to justice, first she tried to have me murdered, and when that failed and I finally got enough on her to get her into court, she used treachery and abused her position to declare a mistrial. A mistrial declared by the defendant? What more proof does the town need of her corruption?” 

I smiled at his words of revelation and wrote them down as I could tell he was continuing. 

“She colluded with the Apaches who would have murdered us all. They declared that intention themselves. She sold stolen horses to the army, and made up a Chief, one we could never find, as a cover story. For six months now I have shot and been shot at, all in the line of duty. I have spilled blood and lost some of my own. I have done my job to the full extent of my abilities. Along with my deputies and the US Marshals, I’ve turned back numerous gangs, The Vipers, Wild Bunch, and more. Colorado Springs went from a lawless, near-ghost town, where good people feared to enter, to a thriving town. However the corruption remains. I have done all I can, within the limits of the law. So, with immediate effect, I resign my post as Sheriff.” He pulled out his cigar and lit it, a grin slowly spreading on his face. “And now, I’m going to have some fun.” 

I nodded, not being surprised by the announcement, and put my hand on his knee. I looked from Adder to Kilyko and she said, “And Sun Stone is right if he hated native’s I would be dead now not alive...he helped me he did not have to do that….. I will need to stock up on the fire water then….” she laughed at Adder. 

“Adder, something else you should know.... Since we’re revealing things and you’re not sheriff anymore…” I nodded. 

“Yes?” 

“A while ago... my brother discovered that we had Apache in our background... four generations back…” I looked at Kilyko for support. “He was looking through our fathers’ documents…” 

“At least you’re not Welsh,” he shrugged. 

“I didn’t know how to tell you enlighten of your threat to arrest me if I hung out with them, so I left it alone…” I said. “I thought it would get me to be on good terms with the Apache, but apparently they still wanted me to choose, so I chose to stay with you, and with the town… Guess we all know where that got me,” I sighed. 

“Sun Stone understands most thing’s if you but tell him and it be the truth…” Kilyko nodded. 

“Aye. It got you exactly where I said it would,” he grinned. 

I nodded and glared playfully at him. “You can say ‘I told you so’ now.” 

“Reckon I already did.” 

“They do not treat outsider…” Kilyko said. “Is with any sort of respect even me...when I lived with them… I am not Apache by birth or blood...but I know I was often not allowed to leave the village....which displeased me…” 

“And when I tried to go back and forth between the town and the village, they told me I had to chose. Then they just let their women and children roam free around Colorado as if it were no big deal. It was a double standard and I finally chose.” 

“Yes.....they were allowed to roam free I was not and I was treated worse then a dog...I guess because I was not full blood native…” Kilyko nodded. 

“Likewise,” I sighed. 

“I saw how they treated you when you would come...and they would talk in riddles about you saying you were a friend then you were not and that you lie...but I know their truth’s and I know who is the liars…” 

I nodded and took another bottle of whiskey. I continued to write articles and we talked. 

We looked around at houses that we could stay in with the three of us, with the goal of me having a safehouse. 

A few hours later, after publishing the paper, I rode back to Oregon and asked, “How are things around here?” 

“Quiet so far. Plenty time for that to change though.” 

“Been around town but there’s no one there.. Can’t believe I’ve got no response from the paper. Usually there’s a few notes in my mailbox with people replying… Especially after this one... I would have thought…” 

“Maybe the four people left in town who can actually read, haven’t seen it yet?” Adder shrugged. 

“Maybe so,” I chuckled. 

We talked about the house and Kilyko showed us a foal she’d found and was planing to keep with her other horse. I sat on the chair on the deck of the house by the water and pulled out my notebook, getting some more writing done. Tom came over and joined us on the deck when we’d finished furnishing the house. 

“Kilyko I would so love to have a place here with Tom…” I looked over at her. “We’ve never really had a place that’s.. actually ours. Other than the places he’s moved into.” 

“Well we can talk to Amy…” she said, referring to the mayor’s wife. 

“What do you think, darlin’? I have the feeling that after this issue my welcome around Colorado will be wearing thin,” I reached over for Tom’s hand. 

“I agree. There any doctors out here?” 

“Oh a doctor, he can even practice here,” Tomas, the mayor of Oregon who was helping us set up houses, said. 

“Yes, Tom here is a great doctor. One of the best,” I winked. 

“Yes we can say yes,” Tomas nodded. 

“There you go darling!” I said excitedly. 

“I guess he would be working with me..” Kilyko said and we chuckled. “I seen the way’s Miss Ida heal and she seen me...it will make a good clinic to have both way’s available…” Kilyko said. 

“I think I might do something different than the paper around here.. I need a change…” I said. 

“Aye. I’ve been patched up by both types of healing, they’re both good,” Adder nodded. 

“Trin, here is everything still possible for jobs,” Tomas told me and showed us around the businesses in town, including the hotel. 

“ hotel owner could be an interesting job... I’d still meet lots of new people and get inspirations for my books that I write.” 

“Is first suggestion… No rush,” Tomas smiled at me. 

We looked around with the mayor and then he headed for bed. I led the way to the saloon and Tom and I headed to the saloon. 

*** 

Colorado. 

This afternoon I went into the grocery store and saw Jack and his wife. “Did ya’ll see the paper today?” I asked. 

“No Miss Paige. I am sorry I have not. I would like to though,” Jack shook his head. 

“Is there important news?” Moria asked. 

“Very important,” I nodded and handed them each a copy. They thanked me and I met a woman named Annalyn. “Ya’ll haven’t seen Marshals Despres or Seetan around, have you?” 

“No, I haven’t seen them,” the woman shook her head. “Well, we sure will tell them if we run into them.” 

“I appreciate it. Love what you’ve done in here by the way,” I shifted on my feet nervously and talked with Anna while they read. 

“Pretty far north but there is always some trouble from the border, I suppose,” Jack commented about the Mexican raiders. 

“Them Mexicans like to bother us often,” I nodded.

“You seems to be real nervous today Trin...has something got you upset,” Moria observed. 

“The last few articles... about the trial…” I nodded and paced the store. 

“What happened?” Jack looked over and started flipping faster. 

“No way to describe it other than for you to read it yourselves. I just ain’t heard anything all day in response to this from anyone. Not even the mayor and she usually says something…” I told Jack. 

“This is concerning,” Moria shook her head as she read.

“Now you know why I’m so nervous,” I looked at her. “You were at the trial for the mayor and sheriff the other day, I’m assuming?” 

“You know my husband Jack is Apache.” Moria paused as she read. 

“I have Apache in my blood as well. Doesn’t mean they’re my favorite people,” I nodded. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand. Is there a major problem here with Apache?” she asked and I looked at her. You didn’t finish reading the paper did you…” 

“No...I was just asking about the war ...what is he referring to?” 

“They declared war on our town and set fires and kidnapped people. Then they moved out of the area to have their own land,” I said. 

“Oh, was this their land before the settlers came?” the woman asked. 

“So they claimed… They’ve got their own land and are perfectly happy now,” I said with some bitterness. 

“Well, it seems the Kiowa and the townsfolk get along pretty well,” she said. 

“Give it time,” I sighed. 

“We are from New Mexico, so things are different there. Jack was a scout for the military. Things don’t have to be bad between the whites and native folk....more and more things seems to be settling down.” 

I said goodnight to her since Jack seemed busy, and headed home.