We were back to business as usual. Mr. Crane was overlooking the slow, but steady, construction of his school just by the Sleepy Hollow burial grounds. We were only a field away from where we had our single encounter with the Headless Horseman. I was beginning to feel a bit safer now that the fear had been faced. Valen, however, was starting to come down with fever. It was similar to how he got sick when we first returned to the ranger enclave, but this time it was worse. Now Valen was too sick to get out of bed. Katrina Van Tassel tended to him the day he couldn’t stand.
That just left Lloyd and I to watch over Mr. Crane while he deliberated with the local workers. He had definitely come prepared, because he was able to pay whatever expenses came up. I was beginning to see why we would need to keep him protected. He must have had a lot of money. There wasn’t much opposition of the project. Even Abraham Van Brunt, who must have suffered some kind of back injury, only passed by the worksite once. He had a spiteful look on his face. He must have not been happy that we were still here.
“He’s jealous of Ichabod,” Lloyd said to me, regarding Van Brunt.
“Jealous, of what?” I asked. Mr. Crane was a tall lanky fellow who dressed like a Hurstings nobleman. Van Brunt could easily beat him death if he wanted to, so long as we weren’t here. “His money?”
“No, its Katrina Van Tassel he’s after,” Lloyd clarified. Now things were starting to become clearer. Abraham must have been eyeing Miss Van Tassel for some time and was probably going to make his move, until we showed up. Now he had to compete with Mr. Crane for her affection. There was also Valen, Lloyd and I, but with our mentor lying in bed sick, I don’t think we were going to be able to protect Mr. Crane from Van Brunt. “With Valen down, he’s probably going to move in to get rid of us and then Ichabod.”
“We’ll need to be ready for him,” I said. Looks like Degamux’s training about being prepared for anything was going to be put to the test. “And his friends. When do you think they’ll make their move?”
“He’d have to separate us from him first,” Lloyd theorized.
I was thinking of how that would work. There were two of us and three or more of them. They could easily flank us from behind if we took them head on. We would easily be overwhelmed if they caught us divided and on our own. One for each of us - Mr. Crane, Lloyd and myself. But that was only if we didn’t use deadly force.
“Do you think we would have to kill them?” I asked. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to kill Abraham Van Brunt or his friends. We wouldn’t be very well liked in town. And I was all too familiar with what it felt like to be chased out of town. I was keen on repeating it. Still, was I ready to do what had to be done? Was it necessary to be done? I wasn’t sure.
“Hopefully it won’t have to come down to that,” Lloyd said.
“Yeah, I hope so too,” I said after sighing.
We kept working until the harvest festival was only a couple of days away. The school was scheduled to be completed around the same time, making it ideal for the grand opening to be the premiere event of the festivities. Valen wasn’t getting any better. His health just seemed to slope close and closer to death, but hovered right over it. He wasn’t drinking either, so the withdrawals must have been making him feel worse. Still, he didn’t kick the bucket, much to my disappointment. I was surprised he was able to hold on for so long.
“Well, my young friends, looks like we are nearing completion of this admirable undertaking,” Mr. Crane said to us the day before the harvest festival. The school was looking pretty good, considering how far out we were from a factory or professional work crew. It was humble, but looked like it could hold up. “I guess you and your mentor will be returning once this is over?”
“Yeah, probably,” Lloyd answered.
“Or it would be us two if Valen dies,” I commented. I wasn’t hoping for his death, but it was a possibility. And if a ranger was anything, it was that they were prepared for anything. Valen may have been trained to be ready for the death of Howard and Carter, but the follow-through ended up with him dealing with his depression with an alcoholic addiction. I wasn’t sure what would happen to Lloyd and I if Valen died.
“You don’t plan on possibly settling down here in Sleepy Hollow?” Mr. Crane asked us. He asked it in a way that sounded like he already knew the answer. “I suppose not. In any case, I am truly in debt to your services. Perhaps these children will grow up to admire you brave and honorable folk.”
“Thanks, but we haven’t finished the job yet,” Lloyd said. “But there is something we’ll need to go over before tomorrow’s festivities.”
“Of course, what is it?” Mr. Crane asked. We went over to a more secluded area to talk.
“We think Abraham Van Brunt and his colleagues are going to make a move on you during the harvest festival,” I summed up. Lloyd and I gave him some of the logistics we had gathered up for the past couple of days. This included everything from vantage points, blind spots, and other points of interest. “When it comes down to it, its gonna end up being us or him.”
“This is... troublesome,” Mr. Crane said after hearing what we had to say. “Well if the brute Van Brunt wants a fight, he shall have it then. Its a shame, though. I was beginning to think that this was going to be a pleasant stay here in Sleepy Hollow.”
Tell me about it.
