His Cure

A Rage Unleased

We arrived back at camp and hitched our horses before walking towards Dutch's tent. I had a feeling that this was not gonna be fun.
"Miss Cheban." Dutch said as he laid eyes on me. "Dutch." I replied as I stared him down. There was a moment of silence before Dutch quickly spoke up, "I understand that they are your family but we have rules here, Miss Cheban." I nodded in response, not wanting to cause another confrontation. "You are one of us now and as such, you do not get to speak to me or Arthur or anyone the way you did yesterday. Is that understood?" I once again just nodded. "Good. Now, apologise and we can move past this issue and deal with the real problems at hand."
I sighed before replying, "I'm sorry." I wasn't too onboard with the idea of me apologising to him but it was best just to do it and avoid any further damage.
"Thank you, Miss Cheban. There is one more person you need to apologise to and then we can move on." He replied. I looked around in confusion, trying to figure out who the hell he was talking about. "There's no way in hell I'm apologising to Micah Bell. I'm sorry but I'm not THAT sorry." I said, clearly very unimpressed. "No, not Mr Bell." Dutch replied before he flicked his eyes over to Arthur. Although the whole apology thing was a tad stupid, the one person I didn't mind apologising to was him.
"She don't have to do that." Arthur replied but Dutch quickly cut him off by raising his hand. Sweet baby Jesus, Dutch was treating me like a toddler.
I turned and looked Arthur in the eyes before adding, "I'm sorry, Arthur." Honestly, that was the one apology that actually did make me feel guilty.
"Good, now, what's this I hear about the military?" Dutch questioned as he turned to face Rains Fall. "They have taken our horses but what I actually came here for was to ask if you could try and convince my son and daughter to leave it alone." He replied, shocking the hell out of me. "Wait what?" I asked as I looked at him. "It isn't wise to fight, Elizabeth. You know that. But... you usually do anyway. I was hoping that Mr Van Der Linde here would be able to convince you otherwise." Just as I opened my mouth to reply, Eagle spoke up. "Father has confused wisdom with weakness. His people, my people, our people, we've suffered too much. Been lied to too much. Now, they've taken our horses." "Who?" Dutch questioned. "The infantry division posted at Fort Wallace." "Why?" "Colonel Favours is a liar and a murderer. His people won't stop until we're all dead! Without horses we cannot hunt, without hunting we will starve. This is another act of war." Eagle continued as an uncomfortable tingle went down my spine. Colonel Favours. A name I knew all too well. A name that made me sick to my stomach. He was the reason my father was dead. He was the reason many others I knew and loved were dead.
"You men have helped me before... and we have money." Eagle tried to convince Dutch as Rains Fall looked on with a pleading look on his face. "Put your money away, son. What do you think, Charles?" Dutch asked. "You know I told your father I will not fight over some horses." Charles replied which made my heart drop. I was sick of just sitting around and waiting. "Well, something has to be done. Whether it's with you lots help or not. Eagle Flies and I are going. Right Eagle?" I exclaimed. "Of course."
"Charles may have told your father that he wouldn't fight... but I made no such promise." Dutch spoke up which caused me to smile. Arthur looked like he was about to interject but Dutch quickly said, "Come along." As he walked away, leaving Arthur, Charles and Rains Fall stood there.

Arthur POV:
"Arthur, we must go with them... to try to stop things from getting... out of hand." Charles said to me as we watched Liz and Eagle Flies follow on behind Dutch. "I know. Let's go." I replied as we began following on after them. "Please, protect my children!" Rains Fall called out to us. "We can get them more horses." I whispered to Charles as we made our way over to them. "I know. I understand Eagle Flies and Elizabeth are angry, but I don't see how this will help anything." Charles replied. "Especially not with Dutch whipping them up into a frenzy." I finished as we mounted up with the others.

Liz POV:
"You're going to let these bastards walk all over you? No, you're not!" Dutch began as Arthur and Charles joined us. "This is all that's wrong with this world. Okay young man, lead the way."
"The horses are on a boat near Van Horn. I have a man waiting for us there with some canoes." Eagle Flies explained. "Surely this can be done without killing anyone?" Charles asked Dutch, clearly annoyed at him for encouraging us but I didn't care. This was the first time I actually respected Dutch. He was helping me and my brother get back at the army and I was extremely grateful.
"Of course. What will be will be. Anyway, son, tell me about this Colonel Favours?" Dutch replied. Even just hearing his name was enough to make me furious.
"He's a vile man. He and his regiment take pleasure in persecuting us. The old are weak and sick but they deliberately withhold medicine and supplies from us." Eagle Flies explained. "He's a fucking scumbag." I added. "This ends today. You have my word on that." Dutch replied which made me nod in respect.
"Why are you getting involved in this, Dutch?" I heard Arthur question from behind me. "You know me... we shoot fellers as need shooting, we save fellers as need saving, feed fellers as need feeding." Dutch replied. "Not this again. It's been quite a while since we helped anyone, but ourselves, and even you know that." "I told you. Noise. We need noise, Arthur. Noise and faith." "I still don't know what that means." Arthur complained. "Stop questioning and think. Just think for a second. The Pinkertons have had time to reinforce. The civilised world is closing on us. Who knows what else Molly told them. We need to move towards a conclusion now." Dutch replied. "Sure, but what's this gotta do with any of that?" "Some good honest conflict between the army and the Indians might be just the distraction we need. Kill two birds with one stone. Cornwall was funding the Pinkertons' assault on us. Why do you think I dealt with him? With Cornwall gone, the government's far more likely to divert them to other issues, especially if there's one more scandal. And then we can slip away. Like I said, we just need that noise and one more score. You know, I went back for the chest I had hidden outside ShadyBelle, and we're close, Arthur. That dynamite, the railroad contract with the army, it was all in those papers Micah found. I have a plan. You just have to trust me." Dutch finished as we rode down the embankment and towards Paytah and, for once, I believed him. I trusted him.