Rescue Mission

Damsel

John reined in his horse and joined you and Charles on the trail that had gone cold.

"Is Arthur back?" You asked, but you knew before you finished asking that he wasn't. John would've appeared happier at having found you if he had good news to share.

John shook his head and said, "Dutch wants you both back at camp. What with Arthur missing he doesn't want you two going missing too."

You huffed and shook your head, "Oh so now he thinks something may have happened to Arthur after all?"

John shrugged and replied in his gravelly voice, "I don't know what he thinks. Maybe he's just try'na save face. You and Charles taking off in a panic set the others to worrying."

"As well they should be, one of our own could be in the hands of Colm. All Dutch wanted to do was sit on his hands and bide his time!" You said in disgust.

"So what are we going to do?" John asked, glancing from you to Charles and back.

"Well, their trail ends here, too mucked up to make it out any further." Charles reported to Marston.

You all sat astride you horses for a long moment thinking of what to do next.

"The O'Driscolls have camps all over the place. In fact they have one not far from here, over behind the ridge by Twin Stack Pass. We could go there, take em' out...all but one, and make him talk. Heck that might even be where they are holding Arthur, since it's close to where the meeting was." John suggested.

"That's brilliant John! I should've thought of it. Guys from that camp have tried ambushing me on the road before." You said. John wasn't used to anyone referring to him as smart, he blushed a little.

"Sounds like our best option." Charles agreed. John took the lead with you and Charles following him towards the O'Driscoll encampment.

"Is it necessary to kill them though?" Charles asked you and John. You both looked over at him with arched brows. Charles shrugged, "Near as I can tell this whole feud is really a matter between just Dutch and Colm. It doesn't seem right, all this killing going on because of two men's vanity."

"Vanity? Dutch killed Colm's brother, and Colm killed Annabel. It's more than vanity." John explained in a gruff and hoarse voice.

"And how long ago was that? Why should Arthur have to pay for a grudge they have against each other? Why should any of us be expected to kill any of them because of what happened years ago between the two of them?" Charles countered.

You knew Charles hated needless death, and you could understand him feeling like it wasn't his fight, he was one of the newest recruits after all. The grudge between Dutch and Colm had been forged long before Charles joined the gang.

"It's gone beyond that now. They are a menace, you know what they did to Sadie's husband-what they did to her! There weren't no call for what they did to her. And now they have Arthur." John shouted to be heard over the galloping of the horses.

"They may have Arthur, we can't be certain. Do we kill them all on the chance that they might have him, or know something?" Charles asked, wrestling with the lack of morality in this.

"Uh, yes we do! Arthur is worth 20 of any one of them! Besides, it's not like we can just go riding up to their camp and take a seat by their fire n' ask them if they know anything. They wouldn't tell us, and they'd gladly kill us before we opened our mouths to ask." You interjected.

"You're right." Charles conceded, then added, "Sometimes the line between right and wrong gets a little too blurry."

"True enough." John agreed.