The Fire Within a Ninjago Cowboy

Chapter 24 - Tuesday at Sunset

Chapter 24 - Tuesday at Sunset

Near sunset, a group of five tired men and their involuntary guest were preparing to end their long, hot day's journey.

Cole and Jay rode on either side of Archer to keep an eye on him. Lloyd had decided that as long as guns and supplies were kept out of Archer's reach, he nor his horse needed to be tethered, especially during their travel in the middle of the desert. Lloyd knew that Archer knew that trying to cross the desert without access to water meant certain death.

Lloyd had been a bit concerned about how Doc Julien would fare during the day, since Doc was more of an indoors man and not used to being in the scorching desert. But Doc merely wiped his brow a little more often and took more swigs from the canteen and did not complain.

Zane used his binoculars to scan the landscape for a suitable place to camp for the evening.

"It appears there was some trouble behind that outcropping of rock over yonder," he reported. "A horse is down."

"Let's go take a look," Lloyd said.

They rode over to the place Zane had indicated and dismounted their animals. A dead horse lay on its side, a bullet hole in its head.

Jay kept an eye on Archer while Cole checked the animal. "This mare's legs weren't broken. Why would someone do this to a healthy horse?"

"That's Bansha's horse," Archer announced.

"What?!" Lloyd exclaimed.

"Check the name under the saddle," Archer urged.

Cole looked. "Yep, he's right."

Doc Julien walked a few feet away and stooped down to examine the ground. He wiped his forefinger on a spot and rubbed his thumb on his finger.

"Blood. Fairly fresh."

For the second time that day, Lloyd grabbed Archer by his collar with two fists. "What went on here, Archer?" he demanded.

"I swear I don't know!" Archer nervously replied. "The last I saw 'em, Morro and the girl were ridin' his mount, and your hothead friend was trussed up on Bansha's horse. I thought they were all headin' to Qubla!"

Lloyd let go of Archer. He cupped his chin with his hand and looked at the ground in thought. "Morro must have shot the horse. Kai didn't have a gun. Even if Kai got a hold of a gun, he wouldn't kill a good horse."

"So why would Morro shoot Bansha's mount? That would leave only his ride, and three people can't fit on one horse," Jay wondered.

"He didn't intend for three people to ride one horse," Lloyd said slowly. He looked up at his friends with wide eyes. "He intended to leave Kai behind!"

"That son of a ... !" Cole exclaimed, not finishing the sentence. "So where's Kai?"

"Perhaps Kai undid his ropes," Zane interjected. "Bits of rope are in a small pile over here."

"Here's some more blood," Doc Julien called from a short distance away.

"All right," Lloyd said. "Kai must have done some walking while he was bleeding from some wound. Let's hurry and follow his trail, before it gets too dark."

Anxious to locate their friend, the posse remounted their horses and kept their eyes peeled on the landscape for further clues as to which direction Kai traveled in.

After a short while, they all noticed that the rays of the setting golden sun were being reflected off an object about several dozen yards away. Lloyd galloped toward it, with the others closely following.

The object was Sam's hairpin, firmly clutched in the hand of an inert Kai, who was laying face down on the ground, his coat in a heap next to him.

Doc Julien was the first of the men to dismount his horse. He grabbed his black medicine bag from his pack and approached the cowboy.

"He's alive!" Doc announced after checking the unconscious man's pulse. At the good news, whoops of joy resounded among the others as they gathered around.

Doc rolled Kai over on his back. "But he's got the signs of heat exhaustion. Can someone get some water, please?" he asked as he unbuttoned Kai's perspiration-soaked shirt. Kai began to mumble unintelligible words, though his eyes remained closed.

Jay knelt down with a canteen, and Doc directed him to lift up Kai's shoulders and give him a drink. Doc grabbed Kai's coat with the intention of using it to prop up Kai's feet.

Underneath the coat was the canteen Morro had given to Kai. Doc picked it up and was surprised at the heaviness of it. It seemed half full.

"I wonder why Kai didn't drink it all," Doc wondered aloud. "He'd be less dehydrated if he had."

Kai moaned.

Doc opened the canteen cap and sniffed. His face turned pale.

Jay noticed. "What's the matter, Doc?"

"That potion I sold to Morro. It's in this water."

Lloyd spoke up. "I'm guessing Kai knew that, too. If the canteen was half-full, he probably had been afraid to drink it. At first. Until he got desperate."

"I suppose it's a good thing he finally did. He'd likely be a dead man by now, otherwise. As it stands, he'll just be a bit loco for a while." Doc poured the canteen's contents on Kai's chest in an effort to cool him down.

"And I suppose it's a good thing he's a bit loco right now, 'cause I have to tend to his foot, and it might hurt a bit," Doc added. "At least now we know where the blood came from."

Jay took Sam's hairpin from Kai's hand. "I'll save this to give to him later," he said.

Just then, Kai began having a hallucination.

At first, his words were unintelligible, but then the men saw him smile when he clearly said...

"Let's find out where else you're ticklish, Sam."

They looked at each other in silence for a second before they exploded with laughter.

Lloyd said, with a chuckle, "I think he's going to be all right."