The Gift

Chapter Five

We met back up with the men later that evening.  As soon as the wagon approached, they rushed to greet us.

“What took so long?” Samuel demanded as we got out of the wagon.

“It takes a little longer to travel by wagon than horseback, Samuel.  And we met some bounty hunters.  Freyla took care of them though,” Daniel informed him.

“Regardless of how she looks, she knows how to use those knives,” Stephen added.  He handed his horse over to Jonathan who took him over to where the rest were tethered.  The others took over unloading the tents from the wagon and setting them up.  By watching them, I tried to figure out which one was which man.

Although none of the others were as burly as Brandon, they were all hard built and muscular, which I judged was just from being a rogue.  I even had muscle definition, from years of being a rogue and fighting.

There were two who looked similar in their facial features.  They had the same brown hair and blue eyes as they pushed each other back and forth while setting up their tent.  One was a little taller than the other and had a scar that crossed his left eyebrow.

“That’s Dylan with the scar,” Daniel told me, leaning against the wagon next to me.  “He got it on a job when he was still in his teens.  He got caught and would have lost his eye if Peter hadn’t been with him and killed the guy before he could hurt his brother any more.  Peter’s older by two years.  They’re pretty close.”

“They look like it,” I commented.  “Who’s the one trying to start a fire?” I motioned toward one that had red brown hair.  His green eyes were darkening with frustration as the fire was refusing to catch.

“That’s Kyle.”

“That wood is too wet.  It rained here recently.”

“He’s determined if nothing else.”

“Who’s that?” I gestured toward a man with a shaven head and tattoos adorning his arms who was talking to Samuel.  They seemed to be staring intensely at the ground.  I could tell by their conversation that they were examining some kind of track.

“Edwin.”

“He’s the other tracker.”

“Yes.  And over there is Mark.”  He nodded toward a man who was inspecting a plant.  He was one of the tallest of the men and had light brown hair.  When he looked up, I saw that he had bright blue eyes.  “I think you’ve already met the others.”

“Samuel, Stephen, Seth, and Damien,” I pointed toward each of them as I named them.

“That’s the whole band, then.  I’d better get this tent set up.” He patted the tent that was leaning against the wagon on his other side.

“After that, I’d like to talk to you in private.”

“Of course.”  He picked up the tent and went over to where the others were already being set up.

“Not scared, are you?” Brandon asked as he came over to get something out of the wagon.

“Why should I be scared?” I answered.

“Some people find us intimidating, but I don’t bite, y’know.”

“That is not a concern of mine.  You are Brandon.”

“That’s me.”  He smiled.

“You work with weapons.”

“Yep.  I can handle any weapon put into my hand ten times better than anybody else in this band.”