Fire Wind (10 page)

Glancing to the side I saw the ship right
there flying sideways so that its observation window faced us. Once
again I saw the faces of beings I never wished to see any closer
than I already had.

Drawing my gun I fired it in rapid succession
at them. Hopelessly I watched my bullets smash into the glass of
its observation window to only then bounce off and go pinging off
elsewhere.

My actions though impotent did seem to anger
my enemies enough to the point of distracting them from realizing
the narrowness of the canyon. The vessel bumped hard into the side
of the canyon and then ricocheted over to my side to crash off my
side of the canyon with a metallic chink of grinding metal.

The ship’s progress had slowed radically and
rounding the last corner I saw the mouth of the canyon. The canyon
narrowed to a narrow channel that two wagons would’ve spanned
across and just where it opened up onto the plain it divided into
two channels with an up-thrust remnant of stone dividing the
two.

The channel to the right was higher and clear
of obstruction. It had been the route used by the minors to
transport supplies and gold bullion through. The other route led to
a depression where runoff water collected just before where the
canyon opened up onto the plain.

I reached the turn and swerved the Appaloosa
down the left channel of the canyon mouth. Two power bolts slammed
into the up-thrust of rock that divided the two channels.

The Appaloosa hit the stagnant water pond and
sent muddy scum flying everywhere. We hogged on forward through the
slop tripping the ropes holding the calcium carbide in suspension
above the murky water. Several wooden crates worth of calcium
carbide slid into the stagnant water and immediately a steamy vapor
began to rise up.

We hauled up out of the muck and I barely had
the time to duck under the wooden underside of the mirror wall that
we had constructed out of the room length mirrors of the
saloon.

The mirror had been in ten foot segments of
which there had been three. We’d stacked the three ten foot
sections of the mirror one on top the other to form a ten foot wide
by twelve foot tall wall of reflection.

I rode clear of the mirror wall before
pulling the Appaloosa up. I glanced back just as the enemy craft
peeled around the corner into the left channel of the canyon mouth.
The vessel came to a gravity defying stop over top of the stagnant
pool of water at the sight of what must’ve seemed to them for a
moment to be another ship.

The angel, in the form of the old indian, had
possessed the ability to summon such a ship of a similar design
howbeit one that was grander somehow than the one now before me. My
hope was that in the rush of the chase they would mistake the
reflection in the mirror as that of a ship belonging to their
angelic enemies.

That seemed to have worked, but our plan for
the gas to thin the air enough for the hovering craft to sink
hadn’t!

A cloudy smog rose up and engulfed the craft,
but still it did not sink. The bright power of its weapons pulsed
and the mirror wall shattered to pieces, but that wasn’t the end of
it.

The very air of the canyon channel seemed to
disappear in an engulfing outburst of flame. The shockwave of flame
knocked me off my horse as the Appaloosa bucked in terror.

Looking up I blinked at the sight of the
hovercraft half sunk into the muddy pond of water. I hit the ground
hard with my fist in jubilation!

We hadn’t thinned the air, but what we had
done was create an explosion primarily rooted above the craft,
which had drove it downward into the muck of the pond of water.
Somehow our venture had worked, just not the way we had planned it
though.

Looking to the mesa I prayed Edgar hadn’t
failed on his part of the plan. With an explosion that knocked me
flat again the walls of the canyon and the up-thrust of rock that
had divided the two channels completely disintegrated and spewed
outward to pound down on top of the vessel mired in the mud.

The longest part of our preparations of the
day gone by had been taken up by drilling holes with the drill
steel augers into the sides of the canyon walls. We had packed the
holes full of dynamite and then we had laid the leftover boxes of
dynamite all along the canyon wall’s base.

The air hung heavy with smoke and dust and
coughing on it I felt a massive headache form instantly as I
breathed in the cordite fumes of the exploded dynamite. The wind
blew and the dust drifted back up the canyon.

Looking up I confirmed that all trace of the
enemy had been buried beneath a load of rock and debris. I waited
to see if it would pull free of our trap, but no movement occurred.
We’d done it!

Suddenly I was mobbed by screaming people and
I about passed out from the pain of the sound.

“We did it Marshal!” Edgar was screaming.

“Yeah, now easy with the noise will yah.” I
said groaning, as I clutched at my head.

Fresh air was helping the headache go away
and before long I could bring myself to open my eyes. When I did I
beheld a town unified.

Six months later

I made my way down the busy street. Buildings
were going up almost everywhere. In the past several months the
population of the town had swelled by at least four times in
volume. The town of Orlaca was once again a thriving place thanks
to the resurgent supply of gold discovered in a different vein from
the one mined out previously.

Business was booming, but for me it was time
to leave. I hadn’t had much of any trouble in being marshal these
past few months, but with the return of prosperity I knew that
would be short-lived.

Drifters from all over would flock in. Miners
and prospectors would be killed in ambushes for a few pinches of
gold dust. Saloons and their ilk would open up everywhere.

The old saloon was already back up and
running. The first shipment of dance hall girls had just arrived
yesterday and another saloon was going up just down the street not
too far from the church.

Truly the Bible had it right in stating that,
“
The love of money is the root of all evil
.” The town had
been a better place without its newfound wealth for sure.

Perhaps I was old-fashioned, so what if I
was. I preferred life away from the maddening crowd.

I stepped into the general store and Angus
looked up. He leaned down to lift several parcels onto the
counter.

I stepped close to the counter and smiling I
said, “I knew you’d have it ready even though I only gave the list
to you an hour ago.”

Angus shrugged, “A man has priorities and you
are of the utmost priority in my eyes.”

I reached my hand across the counter and
Angus shook it firmly. I’d made good friends in this town. The town
I wouldn’t overly miss, but the friends I had made I would.

Gesturing to one of the new repeating rifles
on the wall I said, “I’ll take that to and about a thousand rounds
of ammunition to go along with it.”

Angus grinned and took the rifle down and
laid it on the counter and then began stacking boxes of bullets on
the counter beside it.

“Fixing to do some shooting Marshal?” The
Widow O’Brien asked, from where she stood off to the side.

Looking to her I smiled, “Maybe. I like to be
prepared anyway.”

Coming to me she grasped my forearm briefly
before saying, “May God be with you in your travels Marshal.”
Before then moving on out the door.

Turning back to Angus I dove into my pocket
for the money to pay, but Angus waved his hand and said, “Your
money is no good here.”

I dug out the bill money in my pocket anyway
and laid it on the counter, “It’s liable not to do me any good
anyway Angus. I appreciate the gesture, but if a man deserved to
profit it would be you.”

Grudgingly he took the money, but then said,
“I’m taking this, but if I run across someone in need I’ll give it
to them.”

“Sounds good to me Angus.” I said with a
nod.

I’d tied a mule I had bought up outside
earlier and now I began to make trips in and out of the store
packing the mule down with supplies. Fully loaded I led the mule
down the street to the stable yard.

Finding the Appaloosa I saddled it up and
then taking a small pouch of gold from my pocket I laid it in a
drawer of Nathan’s desk in the barn. It was a fitting wedding
present for the young man and his new bride.

They’d just gotten married yesterday and of
all people he’d asked me to be his best man. It had a been an
experience that I had cherished and now looking around smiling I
wondered how long it would be before Nathan could manage to drag
himself away from his new bride. Not for a long time was my
guess.

Life went on and so would mine one day. The
wedding yesterday had lit a yearning once more in my heart to
someday try at love again.

Leaving the stable yard I mounted up and
headed for the last place I intended to visit before leaving
town.

*****

My boots sounded loud as I walked down the
central aisle of the church. I’d learned a lot here and experienced
God all over again. The place for me would always be hallowed.

Stopping at the front pew I sat for a moment
and turned my hat in my hands. Pastor Lonigan had been and would
always be one of the most influential people in my life.

He’d taught me so much and I’d wished for
years of instruction by him, but a month ago he had gone on to be
with the Lord in his sleep. I missed him deeply.

The sound of shoes had me looking up into the
eyes of the new pastor. He was a young man. I really hadn’t formed
an opinion of him yet. My prayer though was that he’d grow into the
man of faith his predecessor had been.

I patted the pew beside me, “Take a seat
Pastor.”

Hesitatingly the man responded as I had
commanded and sat. Letting my arm lay along the back of the pew I
regarded him with an unwavering stare. The man stared back at me
nervously, but to his credit he didn’t break the stare.

“You have a great responsibility before you
Pastor in the spiritual management of this growing town.”

Nodding he said, “I know.”

“You’re not going to be able to do the work
that needs done in this community on your own. I wish I could stay
to help you, but my place is elsewhere. There are good men and
women in this town that will be your friend through thick and thin,
but your help doesn’t lie with men alone but in God.”

The man nodded resolutely and looking away I
said, “Battles have been won in this place and wars fought, but one
day, even perhaps this day, evil will return. It is your duty as a
shepherd over this community to stand in the gap as your
predecessor did.”

“God so help me I will!”

Nodding I stood up and stepping forward I
emptied most of the rest of my money both gold and paper into the
offering plate. I turned away and putting my hat on I came to a
stop before the still seated Pastor and fixing him with my hardest
stare I said, “If I hear of you misleading the flock entrusted to
you into any heresy of belief outside of the Bible laying beside
you on the pew so help me I’ll be back to put an end to you myself.
Understand?”

The man nodded and I headed for the door my
boots loud in the still atmosphere of the church. I heard the
Pastor stand up and I stopped as he called out, “Where are you
going?”

“I don’t rightly know, but if I had to say it
would be somewhere that’s in need of deliverance.”

“Well then you better take this.” He said
rushing forward with one of the church’s Bibles.

Smiling I accepted it and said, “I already
have one packed, but I don’t suppose it would hurt to have more
than one to take along with me.”

I patted him on the shoulder, but he grabbed
a hold of me and looking into his face I saw the sincerity to be
seen in his eyes of the words that he spoke, “I’d like to pray over
you before you go.”

The last bits of unease over leaving the town
unchaperoned went away and smiling I said, “I’d like that very
much.”

*****

The town behind me, I headed westward. At the
sound of hard riding I looked back to see a rider fast approaching.
Now what?

It was Edgar. Pulling even with me he gave me
a smile and said, “Going West?”

Looking over the supplies strapped to his
horse and the out of place looking gun belt around his waist I
asked, “What of Elizabeth?”

He shrugged and looked away with a pained
look to his eyes, “She’s taken a liking to another.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I thought you two
were all but hitched.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Patting him on the back I said, “Better you
find out now instead of later once you were married that she wasn’t
the one for you.”

“You were married?” Edgar asked with keen
interest.

“Once.”

“What happened?”

“If you’re going to ask questions all the
time then feel free to go back to town. If you want to go along
with me I suggest we keep the personal stuff to a minimum.”

Edgar remained silent and I immediately felt
bad for my harshness. He’d stumbled across a still raw issue for me
though.

Sighing I said what I knew would make him
happy, “I was raised in the South, but there in the hills things
were different. I never had a slave and I didn’t hold with the
South fighting to keep men of color still bound up in the yoke of
slavery. Besides the moral objection to it I have as you’ve noticed
a darker complexion than many so-called whites. My wife came from a
high society family, which owned several plantations. When it was
suggested to her by others that I had slave blood in me things
changed. She left me and went back to her family. I went to get her
and her family ambushed me and carted me off in chains, while she
stood there saying nothing. I managed to escape, but even the
mountains weren’t safe, because there are a lot of desperate people
there and her family put a bounty on my head to be paid in gold. I
packed up and went north and joined the North in the fight against
slavery. At least I thought that was what the war was about, but
now I know different.”