Unshaken

The Sheep and The Goats

The following day Arthur climbed on Trigger, headed to Valentine. He was going to meet John for whatever he was planning they'd do. Liam was walking to the cliff of Horseshoe when Dutch stopped him. "Liam." Liam turned around, "Yes, Dutch?" he asked interested. "Herr Strauss and I are headed into Valentine to meet John and Arthur to discuss business. I want you to join us. Want to get to know you more." Dutch told him. "Of course. I'd be happy to." Liam said as the three climbed onto horses and rode out. He noticed Strauss having some trouble riding. He laughed. He'd decided to drop his resentment towards Strauss over Thomas Downes. Nobody was seriously hurt, so it wasn't that big of a deal to him anymore.

They rode into Valentine and stopped at the small saloon. They climbed off their horses and walked in. Dutch chose the table and they sat. "Herr Strauss, Mr. Parker. Here's to a good time." He said raising his glass. They all three toasted and started talking. "So, I never heard from you how you ended up with us. Would you enlighten me?" Dutch asked. Liam took a swig of his whiskey. "Well, now that the Pinkertons know about it, it ain't a secret no more." Liam said. "Damn Pinkertons are everywhere." Dutch said, balling his fist at the name. "Well, I shot and killed my horrible father and fled the backwards place I lived. I'm from Rhodes, Lemoyne. Seems as I'm wanted there now." Liam informed the two. "Join the club." Dutch laughed. "The first morning I was camping in this fine state, some nasty O'Driscolls threatened me. Told me that if I entered their territory again, Colm himself would deal with me." Liam said. "Bastard." Dutch commented. "Went and found work in Valentine pretty easily, then went into the forest to camp. Unbeknownst to me, Arthur was close to being killed by those same idiots. I shot the first one, the Arthur took out the other guy. Then he brought me into y'all's group. And I couldn't be more grateful." Liam said. "I'm glad you feel that way. And thank you for saving Arthur and killing some O'Driscolls for me." Dutch laughed. "Always a pleasure." Liam said causing Dutch to slap his knee as the three of them laughed out loud. "Tell me, what is this feud between you and Colm O'Driscoll?" Liam asked. Dutch let out a big breath. "Well, it all started when we were young." Dutch then explained everything that had happened between him and Colm over the years. They sat for over an hour discussing this.

Strauss and Dutch started talking about some smart nonsense Liam couldn't wrap his head around so he kept his mouth shut. He toned out for a while listening to another table's interesting conversation. He then heard horse hooves arrive. He saw Arthur and John. "Come on, sunshine. I'll buy you a whiskey." John joked as the two walked in. Strauss' unusual accent rang through Liam's ears. "Not everything... But, in the end, I don't believe in absolutes. Just shades of gray." Strauss said intensely. Him and Dutch were deep in discussion. "Gentleman." Strauss grunted as Arthur and John walked up. "Dutch, Leopold, Liam." Arthur greeted the three. "Where have you been?" Dutch asked, aggravated from Strauss. "Working... Marston's thing." Arthur replied. "Good. And?" Dutch asked. "We're just waiting to get some pay on... a few sheep." Arthur told him. Dutch looked at Strauss. "Leopold, my good friend. As long as you're here, why don't you and John go make sure there ain't no funny business." Dutch ordered. "Of course." Strauss said. Liam saw John roll his eyes having Strauss as company. "I'll join y'all." Liam said getting up and following them out. Dutch and Arthur sat and drank.

"So John, how'd the herding go?" Liam asked as they walked down to the auction pen. "About as good as any. The auctioneer got stingy, but ain't nothing we can do about it." John complained. "I think I may be able to change that." Strauss proposed. "I don't know. He seemed to be onto us about the sheep not belonging to us." John said. "Well, as long as you're getting paid." Liam said. "I guess so." John said shrugging his shoulders. When they made it down to the auction pen, the sheep were nowhere to be found. "What the hell?" John asked. Strauss and Liam looked around but saw no sign of sheep. "That lying-ass auctioneer! When I get my hands on-" John said, being cutoff by a large group of horses riding up to them fast. Before Liam or John could pull out their guns, the group of sophisticated men had rifles in their faces circling the three. "Nice to meet you. We know you're with Van Der Linde. You may know me as Leviticus Cornwall, owner of Cornwall Kerosene and Tar and railroad company." Cornwall boomed. Strauss was visibly shaking in fear. Three of Cornwall's men jumped off their horses and put John, Liam and Strauss in choke holds with knives to their throats. They slowly walked the three to the front of the saloon. Cornwall went to the front. Fear ran through Liam's body.

"Van Der Linde!" Cornwall yelled to Dutch. "Get out here! Get out here now! Van Der Linde! You don't know me, but you keep robbing me! My name is Leviticus Cornwall. I am not a man to be messed with by the likes of you! Get out here! Before I have these men killed!" Cornwall threatened as John, Liam and Strauss were walked into view. "Get out here you depraved piece of trash!" Cornwall demanded. Liam was getting nervous. They were outnumbered by Cornwall's men. "You think I got where I am by letting scum like you rob from me? Van Der Linde, you're done! Now get out here, now!" Cornwall demanded. Dutch and Arthur did not come out. "Deal with this nonsense." Cornwall demanded and rode off. Liam heard guns cock and saw them pointed at him and his companions. He clenched his jaw. He was relieved when he saw Dutch and Arthur slowly walk out of the door.

"Please, gentleman. This is a terrible mistake. This is a case of mistaken identity." Dutch started. Liam knew exactly what Dutch and Arthur were doing. He quickly tuned out Dutch and focused on Arthur. Arthur shot him and John a look that they both understood completely. The man's grip on him grew a bit looser with being distracted by Dutch. Arthur quickly pulled his gun out and shot the man off of John, then Liam. John then grabbed a gun and shot the man that was holding Strauss. Liam quickly grabbed a revolver on the ground and took cover. Loads of Cornwall's men started pouring into Valentine. Liam shot repeatedly at them, hitting most of his shots. "Push up! Stay with me!" Dutch yelled. "Where are you going? That's right at them!" Strauss asked frantically amidst the shootout. "We don't run Mr. Strauss!" Dutch yelled in an almost challenging tone to Cornwall's men. This gave Liam a rush of energy to shoot faster.

"Good God!" Liam heard an agonizing scream come from Leopold. "They hit Strauss!" John yelled. Liam hoped it wasn't fatal, but didn't let it distract him. John went and immediately grabbed Strauss with Dutch and Liam's help. "Cover us!" Dutch yelled to Arthur. "John and Liam, we'll push the wagon. Arthur, shoot someone!" Dutch commanded. "I'm trying!" Arthur yelled back. "Get behind the wagon as we push, Arthur. You can use it as cover." Strauss looked around frantically as the three started to push the wagon. "What are we doing?" He asked. "Getting out of here!" Dutch yelled to him. They all were shooting at Cornwall's men who infested Valentine. Dutch laughed with pride. "We are just gonna walk outta here!" He yelled. Strauss cried out and held his wound in his leg. "Shut up, it's just a scratch!" John yelled angrily at him. "You can talk. We all heard you whine about a little knick from a wolf." Arthur said to John. "Would you shut up and kill these bastards?" Dutch yelled at the both of them. "This is madness!" Strauss yelled. "You're on the front line now, Mr. Strauss!" Dutch joked as they were shooting. Liam couldn't quite multitask while shooting yet, but he knew he'd improve. "I can't do this!" Strauss complained. "Least you ain't pushing this thing!" John yelled. "Exactly!" Liam agreed.

"That's our horses over there! Come on, grab Strauss!" Dutch ordered Arthur. He grabbed Strauss and met them at the horses, still shooting. Arthur put Strauss on John's horse. "You make sure nobody's following us. We'll get back to camp... we're gonna gather the troops and get 'em to start packing up." Dutch told Arthur as he climbed onto The Count. "Sure. We can't stick around after this." Arthur said. "Let's go!" Dutch yelled as he, John and Strauss rode off. Cornwall's men started shooting again. Arthur took cover. Liam took cover beside him. "You were supposed to leave!" Arthur told him. "I ain't leaving til you do." Liam yelled as they started shooting. They quickly took down his men together and rode out. After they were sure they weren't followed, they rode back into camp.

Horseshoe Overlook was now unrecognizable to Liam. Everything, including his tent was packed up and being loaded onto wagons. Liam saw Hosea and Dutch inside Dutch's tent arguing. "When are we gonna stop heading east, Dutch? When we reach Paris!" Hosea yelled angrily. Liam quickly walked away. He didn't want to head east, but he was gonna do whatever the gang did. He was one of them now. He saw Arthur enter the tent and Hosea angrily storm out. Dutch and Arthur talked for a moment and Arthur walked out of his tent and yelled for Charles. They rode out and headed east. Liam wondered where they would camp next. Anywhere but Lemoyne.