A Life Of 'Shine - Lem Fike

32

"Go right." Nora whispered, her hands firmly grasped on her Lancaster repeater. "Harry take the left." Her brother nodded at the instruction, pulling his own rifle from his back ready to fight.

"And I'll hide back here, snipe from the tree line and cover you. Do not kill that horse and do not get killed yourselves, understand?" The two boys nodded at her instructions, ready to run off before Nora called them back with a quick 'hang on.'

"The horse we're lookin' for is a Norfolk Roadster, speckled grey coat, female. Got it?"

"Can we go now?"

"And shoot after I've shot first." They both nodded, agreeing with her so they could get the job over and done with.

"Be careful." One final instruction from her before she ran a little further back away, leaving the two to go to their own positions.

She waited, looking through the scope to survey who they were up against. The derelict building they were hiding in was strange enough but their mannerisms and how they acted with eachother was a lot more strange than the usual gang.

Sure she had seen people bicker with eachother just like how the people in the Van Der Linde gang weren't always friends, but these people looked as if they were forced to cooperate and work with eachother, all to steal a horse.

They were sloppy, hardly noticed Harry approach from the road or the white, snake skin excuse James wore for a coat. That was why it was easy for her to shoot two of them from where she stood.

All it took was to find two members of this opposing gang and seeing as two stood out to her, that being they were stood next to eachother arguing rather than acting as guards as she presumed they were meant to be doing, all she needed to do was shoot one of them and while the other stood stunned she was able to take out the other one.

Now bullets rained, three of them, who had previously fought armies trying to break a woman's nephew out of jail, against a small gang. Well, the fight was easier than it should have been for them.

Realising that they didn't have a chance, the opponents began to flee once they noticed their numbers beginning to drop, those wanting to live ran for the trees while those who were foolish decided to stay and defend what they could.

The fight must have lasted for a couple of minutes before the siblings were sure they were in the clear to go and look for that horse, searching all locations that a horse could be hidden.

"Find it?"

"They hid her in the forest, out of sight. Just seen her while I was lootin' bodies." Harry announced, approaching his sister while leading the horse. She smiled, approaching the animal carefully so not too startle her.

"She's gotta be the horse. Arthur and Trelawny said to take her to the caravan near Rhodes." Harry nodded, listening to his sister while at the same time fussing over the horse.

"Alright." Nora smiled, mounting Annabelle as Harry climbed onto the Norfolk Roadster, "Let's head out."

She spurred the horse forward, gently moving to the road before kicking the horse into a gallop once they were a considerable distance from the derelict building the rivals had camped in.

"Tell us, why did Trelawny send you after the horse?" James asked, riding up front to join his sister.

"Asked me for a friend, I s'pose since we had done it before for him he trusted us enough with it. Which, well, it doesn't make sense given there are other people he knows who could have helped."

"Others?"

"Yeah, a group of people. Ain't allowed to tell you too much, James otherwise I would have happily shared every secret I've been forced to keep with you." This wasn't suspicious in the slightest to James but he knew better than to question his sister, instead he decided to give a gentle nod and leave the conversation at that.

"How's that horse treatin' ya, Harry?" Nora called, glancing briefly over her shoulder to better look at her brother as he stayed behind.

"She's good."

Nora nodded, not choosing to speak to the others once more so they could continue their journey in a more comfortable silence.

Rhodes was a good distance away from Valentine, a journey that wouldn't take a mere five or so minutes, but it was closer than most towns and wasn't as far as Armadillo or Tumbleweed, Nora was just glad that she wouldn't have to travel that far just to deliver a horse.

"Ah, Splendid!" They didn't even need to ride to the front of the wagon before Trelawny came rushing around the back. Nora raised an eyebrow, looking at the magician as he approached them with a large grin on his face.

"This right here is the horse! I knew you were the right woman for the job Miss Morgan." He cheered, patting the horse on the kneck while the siblings dismounted their own animals.

"It was a joint effort, between us three."

Trelawny nodded in thank towards her brothers, briefly disappearing inside his caravan before returning the the money he promised.

"Exactly twenty." He smiled, handing it over to Nora who gratefully took it.

She counted it, making sure before splitting it into half, handing over ten dollars to her brothers.

Harry looked confused, "What about you?" He asked.

"I don't need money." She smiled, mounting Annabelle once more.

Harry had taken to mounting on the back of James' horse, apparently his own animal was no longer good enough to him once someone else had rode her.

"We're gonna go back to the shack, if you need us well, look there or at the house okay?" Trelawny nodded, waving goodbye as he took the rescued horse over to Arthur who had stood by waiting further instruction.

The sidings rode away, no longer seeing the need to stay and chat and so they left.

Back up North to where Nora's moonshine shack was located, hidden amongst a bunch of trees in the heartlands.

Like most journey's this one was also quiet, aside from the occasion chirp or song from passing birds but silence lingered between them, a sheet that fell over them that they struggle to get out of.

When they got to the moonshine shack they had expected to hear that welcoming murmer from inside of Maggie screaming at Marcel to keep quiet, or even see the smoke rise from the chimney from the fire Nora had cooked many pots of stew over; but there was nothing.

No welcome, no people.

Maggie had left, taking Lem and Marcel with her and leaving without a goodbye.