The Cowboy of Coledale Fief

Chapter 5

Will woke just as the sun was coming up. He quickly rubbed the sleep from his eyes and regretted that he wouldn't be having a cup of coffee to start the day off. He eyed Tug, and realizing that his horse was awake and munching on the grass, decided to leave him be. He approached Jess' camp again, as he had done last night, and was slightly surprised to see that she was already awake. She was untying the lead rope that was attached to the tree. He watched as she led him over to the river and allowed him to drink. Will was glad, Jess appeared to take good care of her horse. Will decided to watch her for a little longer before approaching her, just to see if he could learn anything else about her. He watched as Jess led her horse back and tied him to his tree, loosely so that he could eat the grass, then she walked over to where the saddle was leaned up against the tree. She took the saddle pad down and picked up the saddle with one hand. She carried them over to where Colorado was tethered and set them down. Then she retrieved the bridle and put it on over the halter, leaving him tied to the tree. After bridling him she set the saddle pad on his back, and lifted the saddle up after it. Will realized he would have to approach her soon, or she would leave. After tightening the girth, Jess went over to where the saddlebag was tied up in the tree. As she was bent over, untying the knot, Will stood and started walking towards her. As she straightened, her back was to him and she didn't hear him coming. She was lowering the bag down when Will called out a greeting.

"Hello there," he said experimentally. Jess jumped and dropped the bag. She whirled around, slipping a small knife out of her pocket at the same time. "Hey, its okay, I promise I won't hurt you." Will held out his good arm to try and calm her. He wasn't entirely certain he could take her if she attacked, what with his busted arm and all and he was certain there was no chance of her trusting him if it came to fight.

"Who are you and how did you find me?" Jess was clearly trying to make her voice sound hard and in charge, but there was fear in her eyes, pure fear. She was just a girl and now this man had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, Will had to admit, she had every right to be nervous. Jess was crouched down and had picked up the saddlebag, the rope hanging down touching the ground, she was slowly backing away towards her horse, knife outstretched in front of her.

"My name is Will. Will Treaty." He backed up a little too, to try and reassure her. "I was in the tavern yesterday, and followed you. It looked like you were new around here and needed help." Jess wasn't retreating as quickly now, but Will could tell she was very nervous. She was fiddling with the rope in her hands, and staring fearfully at Will.

"I don't remember seeing you at the inn. How do I know you won't hurt me?" Jess asked.

"I'm a ranger. We don't hurt normal people, just thieves, and you aren't a thief. As far as I can tell. You have my word." Will said.

"What's a ranger? Who do you work for?" Jess sounded suspicious, and hesitant, but she had stopped backing up just a yard or two away from her horse. The rope was bunched up in one hand, knife in the other, but both were lowered a bit. Her hands were still clenched tight around the objects though.

"We work for the King, we enforce laws and keep order. I can tell that you are not from around here, do you want to come with me? We can figure this out." Will took a tentative step forward. Jess was instantly on alert again.

"I am not going anywhere with you. I don't need your help." Jess was clearly not ready for this, but Will needed to tell King Duncan about this strange girl, who didn't even look like she was from this planet.

"Please, I promise I won't hurt you!" Will took another step forward. "Besides, it is unwise to resist rangers." Will took another step forward, then another. Jess couldn't take it anymore.

"No!" she yelled, and hurled the knife at Will. It was poorly thrown, but Will still blanched, and was distracted for a moment. He hadn't actually expected the girl to do anything. He straightened, thinking that this girl was even more different that he thought, just in time to realize the knife had just been a distraction. While the girl had been fiddling with her rope, just nerves, Will had thought, she had actually been tying a loop. He realized this in the split second it took for the coil drop straight over his head and down by his legs. It happened so fast that Will didn't even have time to react before Jess pulled sharply, causing the rope to tighten and pull him off balance. He let out a small cry and attempted to put his hands out in front of him to break his fall, but the outstretched hand just caused him to land heavily on his already broken arm. He cried out again, this time from pain instead of surprise, and a sickening jolt went through his arm. Ow, was all he could manage to think. He tried to sit up, but it took him a couple tries, his arm hurt so bad. He blanched as he realized the fall had pushed something out of place. At this rate his arm was never going to heal! Will was able to look up just in time to see Jess pull the knot of lead rope undone, unclip it, and leap up onto Colorado's back, all in the space of about three seconds. She was already riding away, back towards the road, by the time Will was standing. Dang, she can move fast, I'll give her that, Will thought as he ran back to Tug. As soon as he reached his horse he tightened the girth and unhooked the lead rope, jumping up on to Tug's back even faster than Jess had. He was confident they would be able to catch up to her. Tug didn't even have time to comment before they were off at a dead gallop, following the train of broken branches and trampled grass towards the small road. Will knew they were more than halfway to the next town and at this pace they would reach it in about five minutes. They rushed through the undergrowth, leaping over fallen trees and ducking under branches at a full gallop. Finally they reached the road and burst out into the sunshine. He could see Jess down the road a ways to the left, but already they had closed the gap some. He turned Tug to the left, and they raced after them. They were closing fast, but Will still had time to admire how fast Colorado was going, he was clearly train for quick bursts of speed, but he didn't have the endurance of a ranger horse. Before long, Will was drawing level with Jess. And he pulled up beside her, he saw a brief moment of surprise and panic flash crossed the young girl's face before it was replaced with hard determination. Will urged Tug forward more, figuring to swing him around and cut her off. Jess had apparently seen this trick before though, because she was edging her horse closer to Tug, to make it harder for him, but the ranger horse was too fast, he pulled ahead quickly until he was ahead of her. He looked over his shoulder at her.