The Savage and the Gunslinger (COMPLETED)

Chapter 14

"Mount up!" Landon yelled. 

All the men jumped on their horse's, quickly following after the savage woman. They both remembered her quite well.

"Let's have us some fun boys!" Jacob yelled urging his horse to go faster.

It didn't take them long to catch up to the woman. Only this time she was ready for them. She had her rifle in her hands as soon as she heard them nearing closer. 

She turned in the saddle as her horse continued to run underneath her. The moment one of the men came into view she shot.

The men were startled when the heard the gunshot. She managed to kill one of the other men with a bullet to the head. It wasn't long before another shot was heard and another man fell off of his horse. Landon was pissed she had managed to take down two men already with little effort.

They began to close in on her as Cheveyo began to tire from running so hard. Using all the shots in her rifle she threw it to the ground and got out her revolver. After all six shots were gone she resorted to her bow. The arrow zipped past the brother's hitting one of the men behind him in the chest. There were only four of them left now.

"Shoot her! Don't kill her, just wound her!" Landon roared. 

Jacob pulled his revolver from his gun belt and began to shoot. After three shots, he saw her grab her shoulder.

She felt the bullet hit her and screamed in agonizing pain. The force from the hit, caused her to fall from her horse.

"Cheveyo, run!" She screamed just before she hit the ground, tumbling into the nearby brush. 

The horse obeyed and continued towards home. The impact from the fall knocked the breath out of her lungs. She could hear horse's stopping near her, then the footsteps walking her way.

"Well, well, well, looks to me like Ashton's gone and married himself a half breed. How sweet." The brown eyed brother hissed.

"You know, Landon, why don't we just kidnap her. You know Ashton will come looking for her. That gives us some time to have her for ourselves again." Jacob said in an all to calm voice as his eye's flickered dangerously.

"I think you might be on to something, Jacob. Tell the boys to tie her up for me. She rides with me." Landon grinned.

"You heard him boys. Tie the savage up. Be sure to tie her tight." Jacob ordered and the other two men roughly pulled her to her feet. She yelped when they pulled against her injured shoulder, causing them all to laugh at her pain.

Landon roughly threw her over the front of his saddle as soon as her arms were bound behind her back and legs were tied at her ankles. He wouldn't give the stupid woman the pleasure of riding normally. He smirked as she hissed from the saddle horn hitting her stomach.

She didn't say a word as the men rode away with her. 

How was she going to escape from them? 

Would they rape her again? 

What about the baby? 

One thing was for sure, she was going to do anything to keep her baby safe from these monsters. She just hoped Ashton would find her soon and before it was too late.

*

The sun was getting lower and lower in the sky as Ashton paced back and forth on the front porch. Aiyanna hadn't returned from town yet. It had been hours and he was beginning to worry. 

What was taking her so long?

The sound of Raven growling stopped him in his tracks. He looked at the dog to see what he was looking at. When he looked into the tree's he saw Cheveyo, walking over to him. The stallions coat was lathered in white sweat, as if he'd been running like his life depended on it. Aiyanna never ran him that hard unless she had to.

When his eye's found the saddle on his back, there was no sign of his wife. The breath left his lungs

"Oh, no!" He said with fear coating his voice. He quickly led the horse to the barn and tended to him as fast as he could. He knew if anything happened to that horse, she would kill him.

Jumping on Beauty, he urged the mare towards town, the dog quickly followed behind. He rode for over an hour before he saw a dead man lying in the path. There was a wound right in between his eye's. Just by the wound alone he could tell it was Aiyanna that had been behind the bullets path.

When he heard Raven growl, he rushed over to the dog. There sat a man against the trunk of a tree, with an arrow in his chest. He recognized the man face instantly.

"George! Where is my wife?" Ashton yelled pointing his revolver at his old gang members head. The man chuckled and coughed as he choked on the blood in his mouth.

"Long gone. They took her. They know you'll come for her, Ashton. They will be waiting for you." He answered with a bloody smile before coughing some more.

"Where did they take her?" He demanded.

"Don't know. They went that way. You'll be lucky if you ever see her again." George's breathing began to get more shallow but his lips still held a smile.

"Goodbye, George." Ashton said before pulling the trigger. He always hated that bastard.

"We need to get some help, Raven." He told the dog, running his hands over his face. The dog barked loudly, running around in circles.

"I don't think the Marshal will be able to help us with this one." As if on cue, he heard a horse approaching. His gun immediately pointed towards the oncoming intruder.

"Don't shoot, Ashton. It's just me." He let out a breath of relief when he heard the Marshal's voice.

"What happened?" The Marshal asked looking at the two dead men.

"They took her. They took my wife." He growled as he saw Aiyanna's rifle laying on the ground.

"Aiyanna? Who took her?" 

"The Ricketts brother's. My old gang and I have to find her." He stated after picking up the rifle and jumped back up on Beauty, riding her back towards the cabin.

"I'll help you. That girl is like my sister." Ashton just nodded as the Marshal followed him back to the cabin.

*

Cheveyo was stomping and snorting, as he ran along the corral fencing when Ashton returned home to get himself ready for the search. The stallion seemed to recover well from his tiresome ride earlier, and sounded like he was going to tear the fence down. 

After Ashton and the Marshal hitched their horse's, Ashton made his way over to the horse he didn't even recognize right now.

As he approached him, his ears were pinned back against his head and he tried to bite and kick at him. This was not the same horse he had come to know over the past few month's. This horse had seemed to return to being wild, all in a matter of hour's.

"Easy, boy." Ashton said in a calm voice, slowly inching closer to the black beast. "Settle down now. I need you to help me find her. Please help me find her. We need to bring Aiyanna home." He begged as held back the tears beginning to form in his eye's and closed them. 

He felt as if everything was falling apart now.

Hearing him say Aiyanna's name, the horse stilled in his tracks. That name soothed the stallion, and he came back to his sense's. He only wanted his master, but now understood the man in front of him, was the only one that could bring her back.

Ashton was startled when he felt the stallion's warm nose touch the palm of his hand. Opening his eye's he sighed in relief.

"Come on, boy. Let's go find her." He said leading him out to the barn and saddled him.

The two men gathered everything they would need for their journey, putting it all in their saddle bags. They both mounted up getting ready to set off.

"We should get another man to come with us." The Marshal stated. 

Ashton thought it over for a brief moment and nodded in agreement.

"I think you're right and know just the man to help us." The Marshal gave him a curious look, but didn't dare ask who.

He would find out soon enough.