Red West II.

Chapter twenty seven - Bloody conclusion

Ralph Harvey cursed vulgarly, when yet another protruding root tried to slow him down. As if it wasn't difficult enough to determine the correct direction only according to the broken twigs and faint noises their fugitives created, because of that damn fuss which the sheriff's men from Leadville made in his steps, including that asshole Duggan. If he didn't decide for them that they would try the direction toward the road first, down from the hill, they would be still up in the camp, arguing.

It was almost impossible to wake up all of them. When that strong feeling, which was screaming at him that something was wrong, interrupted his own sleep, Ralph himself felt somehow dizzy. But there was not much time to think about it, as he found their captives missing. How the hell they got out of the ties, which he had checked himself, didn't matter at that moment. What angered him the most was the fact those so-called men of law were not able to watch over them.

He should skin those idiots for being so reckless, but it was weird they all dropped off like that. One thought popped up in his mind while he was running through the sparse forest – was it possible that Akanishi's girlfriend put something in their food the evening before? But where would she get anything like that? They didn't have anything left in their pockets, they had checked them carefully enough...

Anyway, Ralph realized he should not have underestimated her just because she was a woman. There had to be something about the brunette, that secured her position in the Riders' company. But he could think and complain about it later – now, there was another burning issue to deal with – they had to recapture them.

Dashing across the damp surface of the forest floor, Harvey admitted to himself that Leo Akanishi surprised him again. The youngster managed to steal one of his own revolvers, which pissed him off quite a bit, even though he couldn't use them both at once, since one of his hands was still temporarily out of order. Not to mention, that the young outlaw didn't even try to get rid of at least one of them while they were asleep, though he had to be aware of a great disadvantage in case they would have been chased. Why would Akanishi let such a chance slip away? Was it against his code of honor, or what? An honest bandit – it was laughable.

Luckily, his hunch was right, and they were closing up on Akanishi and his precious girlfriend. They were getting closer and closer to the main road quickly and Ralph had already glimpsed both runaways between the trees a few times – something was slowing them down.

The bounty hunter jumped over an annoying fallen tree, which was in his way and turned to call over to the others, who followed behind him in a wide line.

"Everybody move! We almost got them!"

And one of his dumb underlings took it as an order to open fire.

***

After agreeing upon a slower and even more careful advance, they divided themselves as before – with Kame and Jin riding ahead again, there was almost half a mile between them and Esler with Ryo and Koki. They had already left a greater part of the steep descent behind and the surroundings of the road was peaceful, interrupted only by early birds singing from time to time. There was no sign of anyone else's presence, except the scattered hints of tracks left after a group of riders.

Until the rising sun separated from the ground, setting off for yet another journey across the sky, they encountered nothing suspicious. Only then, like a bolt out of the blue, a not very distant gunshot disrupted the peaceful nature.

No matter that the young Riders and their temporary leader had all senses on alert, when that shot cut through the chilly morning air, it made everybody – both men and their animals – wince and look around with a fright. Ryo and Esler had to calm down their startled horses, while Koki almost fell from the saddle, this time for real, hooking both arms around the animal's neck only in the last second. Jin was the quickest in reaching for the revolver and Kame straightened up from the knee-bend, as he was observing some tracks in the ground.