His Cure

The Fine Art of Conversation

[The next day]
"Abigail." I greeted as I walked over to her. "Morning, Elizabeth." She replied as I stood in front of her. "Can I speak with you a moment?" "Oh, sure." She replied before standing up and following on behind me, over to a tree.
"The other day, you said you know where the money is. Is that actually true?" I asked as I turned to face her. "Yeah, it's in a chest behind one of the old, broken wagons in the caves." "The caves?" I asked as I turned and looked at the caves behind camp. "Jesus, he's hiding it that close? I thought he would be smarter than that." "Yeah, well. Why'd you ask?" She questioned as she looked at me expectantly. I contemplated whether to tell her our plan or not but decided it was probably best if she knew.
"Alright, but you have to keep it quiet." I replied, lowering my voice. "Of course." "Okay, Arthur has a plan to get you, John and Jack out of here." I explained. "Out of here?" "Yeah, so you can start a life away from all of this when it goes to shit. John's still thinking about it so maybe you could talk to him? Try and convince him?" "What about you?" She asked, concerned. "I got a family. I'll be fine. Just, please talk to John? He's loyal to a fault and I don't know if he has it in him to run away from all this. You need to convince him." "I will. Thank you." She replied as she took my hands in hers. I smiled at her and gave a nod before turning and walking away.
I needed to speak with Arthur about what she had told me but before I could, I noticed that Trelawny had a bag that he seemed to be packing so I quickly walked over to him.
"Trelawny?" I asked as I sat down at the table with him and he looked up at me, nervously. "Oh, it's just you, Miss Elizabeth." He replied, clearly relieved. "Yeah, what're you doing?" "I... I'm sorry. I have a family back in Saint Denis and I-"
I quickly cut him off. "It's okay. I understand. If I was you I'd be out of here the first chance I got. I won't tell no one." I replied when I realised that he was planning on leaving. "Thank you, Miss Elizabeth. I will miss you." He said with a sad smile. "And I you, Trelawny. Hey, you never know, maybe I could come visit you in Saint Denis in the future?" I replied, trying to cheer both him and me up. "I would like that very much."
"Josiah?" Arthur asked as he snuck up on us, making me jump. "I swear to god, Morgan. You have really gotta stop doing that." "I know, you're gonna get me a bell. What's going on here?" He asked as he looked over at Trelawny.
"I, um, I was, uh..." Trelawny stuttered out. "Leaving again?" Arthur asked. "Yes, just leaving... I'll see you soon." "Perhaps." Arthur replied. "What do you mean?" Trelawny questioned with a concerned tone. "Well, if I was you, I'd disappear too. This is all pretty much over." "Well... I'll be back!" Trelawny exclaimed, trying to cheer us both up.
"No you won't, let's not pretend no more. Get outta here." Arthur insisted. "I'll miss you, Arthur. You've been a fine friend to me." Trelawny said as he stood up. "No, let's not get over sentimental. Go on, place is quiet, get outta here... you go with my blessing." Arthur replied. "Thank you, Arthur..." Trelawny began before turning to me. "Goodbye, Miss Elizabeth." "Bye, Trelawny." I replied as we embraced before he smiled and quickly walked towards this horse.
Arthur sighed as he sat down next to me but just when I was about to tell him about what Abigail had said, we were interrupted by Charles.
"Found a friend looking for you." Charles said as Rains Fall approached us. "Everything okay?" I asked him as I stood up. "Everything's fine, Beth." "Sir." Arthur greeted as he too stood up. "How can I help you?" "I am sorry to impose on you again... but I believe I've made progress brokering peace." Rains replied which caught me off guard. "What?" "You have?" Arthur and I both said simultaneously. "I believe so. Colonel Favours has agreed to a meeting... to discuss, and maybe resolve... his alleged grievances and mine. Now, he has lied to me more times than I care to remember... but maybe this time... He must want peace. Why could he possibly want to humiliate us further?" Rains explained which made my blood boil. "That scumbag doesn't know anything about peace!" I exclaimed.
"Beth, please." Rains Fall shut me down as he looked at Arthur.
"Well, we got words for his kind, but they're colloquial." Arthur spoke up. "Perhaps I could make one last request... my men are not allowed to carry arms."
"You want us to come and keep the peace?" Arthur asked. "Yeah, it'll be a lot of dull talking and ceremony, but I feel with some non-tribe members present... their chances of lying or worse will be reduced."
"You can't seriously be that naive? Why on earth would that dick agree to anything that isn't him having complete power? And 'peace'?! Are you fucking kidding me?!" I began raising my voice. "Elizabeth, language. Listen to me, you don't understand-" Rains tried to begin but I quickly cut him off. "I don't understand?! That bastard killed my father in front of my eyes! I sat on the ground, crying and screaming for help as I desperately tried to stop the blood flow coming out of his chest! I heard his last damn words and I watched the life drain from his eyes as everything I've ever loved went up in flames! And you're standing here telling me that I don't understand?! My father was the last damn thing I had left! He fucking took him from me! I'm sorry but I think my understanding is pretty damn clear." I snapped. "I know, Elizabeth. I know. It's okay. I understand that you are angry, you have a right to be, but we have to try this. It could save hundreds of lives. It could save many of our men's lives. We have to try and make peace." Rains Fall explained and as I listened I calmed down slightly.
"Alright..." I began after a moment of thought. "Fine, but I ain't happy about it." I added as I picked up my gun off of the table and went to holster it.
"You'll have to leave that here." Rains said as he watched me. "What? Seriously?" I questioned as I stared at him. "Mr Morgan and Mr Smith will be allowed to carry arms but as you are technically one of our men, you will not be able to." Rains Fall explained. I looked at Arthur and then at Charles before replying, "Fine." Through gritted teeth as I placed it back onto the table. I did not have a good feeling about this.
***
After riding for a while, I spotted a small army camp in the distance and that's when it suddenly hit me... I was going to have to come face to face with the man who killed my father. The thought of it made me physically sick, so I took some deep breaths to try and calm my anger as we dismounted our horses.
As we began walking towards the table where a few army men were seated, I spotted him. Colonel Favours. I instantly felt my heart beat increase as my body filled with rage. I knew I needed to stay calm but how could I when he was right there? I also spotted Captain Monroe sat with them but that didn't surprise me as I knew he was helping us while betraying the army and was mainly just here to get inside information we could use to our advantage.
"Colonel Favours, Captain Monroe. We come in peace." Rains Fall greeted as we approached them. "Hello again." Colonel Favours replied and my mind flashed back to when he killed my father... seeing the evil look plastered across his face as he watched me try and stop my fathers bleeding... Watching him smile maliciously as the light left my fathers eyes.
My breathing got slightly quicker as I balled up my fist and dug my nails into my palm.
"Who are these three?" The colonel asked as he gestured towards us which made my blood boil. He didn't even remember me. "These two are friends of my people." Rains Fall explained as he gestured to Charles and Arthur. "Interesting looking fellows." Favours replied. "Yeah, they won't cause any trouble." "Well, I should hope not. And who's this?" He gestured towards we. "That's my daughter." Rains Fall replied as I glared at the colonel with gritted teeth. "Yušná t'Á." I grunted which in English, loosely translates to 'Drop dead.'
"What did she say?" Favours asked, clearly he didn't understand the language. "She says 'hello'. I apologise, she doesn't speak much English." Rains Fall lied.
"Right. Listen, Mr... uh..." Colonel Favours trailed off. "Chief." Rains corrected him. "Yes, uh, Mr... I can't... say that silly name."
I felt myself digging my nails deeper into my skin at his words. How fucking dare he insult our culture.
My heart skipped a beat as Arthur, who must have seen my reaction, quickly opened my fist and interlocked his fingers with mine. I calmed slightly at his touch.
"In English they call me Rains Fall." Rains replied, tensions high in the air. "Yes, yes, I'm... I'm sure they do." Colonel Favours began as he and Rains Fall took their seats around the table. "Listen... we're all Americans here... and, we... want an outcome. But quite frankly... quite frankly, I-I'm confused. Your men are... little more than criminals, in my opinion." I went to dig my nails further into my skin at his words but remembered that Arthur was holding my hand so I squeezed it instead. "Keep breaking our peace treaties... we've made. Causing disturbances in everybody's lives. But... I pride myself on being a gentleman. Really, I do. But there are limits," The Colonel continued as I felt my blood pressure rising and rage filling my body as I noticed that he kept glancing over to me. "I'm sorry, I swear I know you from somewhere? Have we met before?" He asked as he turned to face me. He wasn't expecting an answer as he assumed I didn't know English but enough was enough. I had to say something.
"Yes. We've met. You murdered my father." I grunted. "I thought you didn't speak English?" He asked, clearly confused. "Oh no, I speak perfect English. They just don't want me to speak because they know what I'll say." "And what is it you want to say?" He asked with the same malicious smile he gave me when my father died and I just snapped.
"What do I want to say?!" I exclaimed, raising my voice. Arthur quickly put his hand on my shoulder to stop me but it was too late. My rage was already unleashed.
"You murdered my father in cold blood in front of me all because you wanted our land! OUR land! Not yours! We were here first you piece of shit! You say you pride yourself on being a gentleman?! I've seen turds with more gentlemanly qualities than you! You're a greedy, money hungry, asshole and I'm gonna take great pleasure in killing you!" I continued to yell as Rains Fall turned around and gestured for Arthur to take me away. As Arthur grabbed me by the shoulders to lead me away I quickly pulled him off. "You took everything I'd ever loved from me! You ruined my damn life! You deserve nothing but pain and misery for the rest of your pathetic excuse of a life! Which, trust me, won't be long because I'm gonna fucking kill you! I'm gonna make you suffer! I'm gonna show you the exact same amount of mercy that you showed my father, NONE!" I screamed as Arthur mumbled, "Okay, come on." And placed his hands on my hips before lifting up and carrying me away over his shoulder. "Get off of me!" I shouted at Arthur as I pounded my fists on his back. "I'll fucking kill you!" I continued to scream as Arthur carried me into one of the empty army tents before placing me down on the bed.
"What the hell, Morgan?!" I shouted as I hit the bed below me. "You need to calm the hell down, woman." He demanded as he looked at me. "You need to mind your own damn business!" I screamed back as I stood up and walked towards him.
[Arthur's thoughts: I didn't mind her taking her anger out on me. She was hurting. I understood.]
"Elizabeth, listen to me-" Arthur began but we were cut off by voices coming from round the back of the tent. "No, no. You know he's going to have Monroe... court martialled. Or, attempt to..." the voice said. I quickly shut up and walked to the back of the tent, listening closely, Arthur doing the same. "He's going to make a disgrace of him." "Monroe?" Another voice said back. "Seems likeable enough for a West Pointer, Why?" The other man asked. "You know what Favours is like... because he thinks it's right. Because he thinks Monroe is a patsy, or a spy..." Arthur and I both gave each other shocked and concerned looks. "He's convinced he had something to do with those vaccines getting stolen... He thinks, Monroe is gonna force him into making a concession with the Indians. So he removes Monroe." The man explained. "Removes how?" The other asked but I had a horrible feeling in my gut that I knew what he was going to say.
"Favours wants him tried for treason... and hanged."
Both Arthur and I looked at each other with an expression that could only be described as 'Oh shit.'
"Why does... Favours care about the Indians?" One man asked. "Because he doesn't want to back down... his whole professional life... You know what they say about him. You heard what that girl said to him just now. He's high-tail Favours. The man who missed a battle." The first man explained. "Poor Monroe... I kind of liked him." The other man replied.
As Arthur and I heard footsteps coming towards the tent, we quickly sat back down on the bed.
"Everything okay?" One of the soldiers asked as he stood at the entrance to the tent. "Yeah, I apologise for my outburst." I lied. We had to get Monroe out of here and to do that, I had to act civilly.
"It's okay, Ma'am. Come on, we can go back out if you promise to keep a level head?" The soldier asked. "Of course." I replied but that was the last thing that I planned on doing.