by Gary Jonas
“But how do you know about her?”
“She’s right here. She forgives you because of what you do now. Because of what you...what you didn’t become instead.” Tears rolled down Orela’s cheeks. “Oh, Jack. I’m so sorry.”
The light left Orela’s eyes.
Jade Silk Doll put her head down on Orela’s chest. Nancy put her arms around the girl and hid her face in her hair. The good time gal shook with sobs. Jack placed his hand on one of her shoulders. The hair falling across it was as soft as an angel’s. She didn’t shrug his hand off.
***
They placed Orela in the root cellar next to the trapper. Jack surreptitiously added the canteen. He had given Lily’s hand to Nancy and was surprised when she didn’t add it to this makeshift tomb. Then again, St. Magdalene’s probably had its own boneyard full of fallen soldiers, and Nancy would bring it home and bury it there.
Orela’s funeral was brief but heartfelt. After Nancy said some final words, everyone returned to the cabin. Without the horses, and with all the snow, they had no choice but to wait for the next attack. Jack just hoped Roulette was safe. He had the sense that if anything happened to his horse he’d know it, the same way he was always able to find him. In the meantime, Jack cleaned and polished his Colt. Nancy occupied herself in a similar fashion. Jack asked her if she felt well enough to fight.
“Like I said, Sunny Jim, I lost more blood in a brawl and still won the damn thing. I’ll be fine. This’ll be, too.” Nancy bent and straightened her right arm. “What I don’t understand is why he needs you to turn me, when he can give and take your affliction. Can’t he just do that to me?”
“No. He’s strong, but he still has his limits. I think what he gave me was just an illusion. A lie. I don’t think I was human again. Just felt like it.”
“And that wouldn’t be enough for you?”
“No ma’am. I’d prefer to be true to myself, even if this is what I am.”
Nancy nodded. “I can respect that. When you think the miners’re comin’ back?”
“I don’t know why they let up in the first place. Except...” Jack looked out the window. The icicles sparkled with clear moonlight.
Nancy finished his thought. “They’re gonna wait ‘til dawn, aint they? Maybe high noon, so you can’t fight ‘em out in the light. Damn smart bastards.”
“I can wrap myself up, shoot from the window.”
“Or we can pray for another storm.”
“I’ll save my breath.”
Nancy set her gun down. “Even after all this, you aint a believer?”
“No ma’am.”
“Then why you usin’ a gun’s been blessed?”
Jack stopped polishing the gun in question and looked at Nancy.
“Well it is, aint it?”
“Yes. How did you know?”
She shrugged. “I noticed it when I took it off you. Just felt blessed. Can’t explain that, can you?”
“No, I cannot. It was blessed by a man of the cloth shortly after I became what I am. Doesn’t seem to shoot a man any deader than the other guns I’ve used.”
“We aint dealin’ with a man.”
“No we aren’t, but I’ve had the opportunity to use this very gun against him and it refused to fire at his behest. I don’t think it’s going to be of any particular help if we encounter him again.”
Nancy narrowed her eyes as she studied the gun. Jack went back to polishing it.
They weren’t the only busy ones. Jade Silk Doll had placed a small pot full of pitch over the fire. She went through Orela’s things until she found a silken scarf, which she cut to her liking. Then Jade took up needle and thread, and her fingers flew as she sewed the bones to the silk, wrapping them in thread like a cocoon. She took the heated pitch and brushed it over the thread, and where bone met silk. When she was done, she had herself a fan, bright and delicate silk on one side, ugly and brutal-looking bones and pitch on the other. She folded it up and the beauty was gone, then “fwrrrrap!” and it was open again, revealing both sides. Jade set it to dry by the cold window.
“Now, aint that pretty,” Gemma said. Her voice sounded flat, lacking its usual mocking lilt. Jack had kept one eye on her since Orela’s death. She’d taken over cooking detail and was stirring a pot of beans and salt pork and prodding at potatoes baking on the coals. Jack doubted anyone would eat anything, but he figured it kept Gemma out of trouble. What they all needed was sleep, and it was the last thing any of them would get.
“Think the Preacher’ll make a grab for her again?” Nancy’s voice was low.
“He might. Or try to bribe her. Time will tell.”
“Gem and me, we aint never gonna be friends. Don’t matter, so long as she’s got my back and not shootin’ at my back.”
“I still can’t see her as a soldier.”
“Well, the Prioress can, that’s all that matters to me. Gemma belongs there, same as the rest.”
“Except Orela. The Prioress was wrong about her.”
Nancy’s eyes burned. “You don’t know nothin’ ‘bout her, so I will forgive you your ignorance.”
Yes, but I wonder how much she and yon Preacher actually have in common. Jack wasn’t ignorant enough to say that aloud.
“Soup’s on,” Gemma said. She and Jade tried to eat, but mostly picked at their food. Nancy ate two potatoes and a full bowl of beans, washing it all down with several cups of water. She was recovering nicely. Jack was satisfied with his condition, his hunger temporarily abated.
“So what’s our plan?” Jack was surprised at Gemma’s question.
Nancy put her spoon down. “Well, we aint got horses, so they’d ride us down if we tried to light out now. Jack, you been to Lightning Touch. How many men there?”
“I reckon fifty, and we’ve taken care of a good number of them already.”
“Best thing to do is wait for the rest to come to us, then kill ‘em all and take their horses.”
“Oh, like we done them other times?” It sounded like Gemma was recovering nicely, too. Then she must have remembered Orela. “Sorry, Nance, but that just don’t sound like much of a plan.”
“All’s we got, I’m afraid. But you’re right. Lily woulda thought of somethin’ better.”
“No. Waiting for them is a good plan.” Everyone started at Jade Silk Doll’s voice. “But I will wait for them outside.” She stood up and grabbed her coat.
“Don’t be silly, child,” Nancy stood up to stop her.
“No, I was a silly child before. Not now.” Jade took her fan and, weaponless, walked out into the snow.
“Let her go, Nancy. That girl’s just plum crazy. Them Orientals, I do declare.” Gemma tucked into her bowl of beans and made another attempt to eat them.
After that, Nancy stood watch while the others pretended to sleep. Jack watched her as she peered out the window, probably trying to spot Jade, who disappeared as completely as the miners. For all they knew, she was as gone as Lily. Jack finally got up and came to the window. A few fat clouds lazed in the sky, which was starting to lighten.
“Haven’t prayed us up a storm yet, have you?”
Nancy turned and just looked at him. Pre-dawn light did not suit her. Neither did waiting. She sighed and looked back out the window. She’d used rags to stuff the hole Gemma knocked out of it, but Jack could tell Nancy was still cold by the way she had her coat pulled tight around her throat and her hat pulled down. He went over and built up the fire. Gemma lay on the floor in front of it, not wanting to return to the bed where Orela died. She smiled up at him, and the smile was a lot more genuine than the first one she’d given him. He smiled back.
They stayed quiet and alert through the dawn, then through high noon. It was a bright day, and Nancy pulled the curtain as closed as she could for Jack’s sake. He kept to the shadows, waiting. Gemma and Nancy traded off and Nancy lay down by the fire for a while.
There was no sign of Jade.
By afternoon, Jack had made his decision
. “I’m going out there.”
“That’s suicide, Jack,” Nancy said.
“That’s my name.” He put on his coat. “It’s something the Preacher won’t suspect. He wants me in here where I can’t fight him. Out there, I have the element of surprise.”
“Then let me add to that element.” Nancy told Jack what she had in mind.
“I don’t think that’ll make any difference,” Jack said after.
“Well if it don’t, you shouldn’t mind then.”
Jack finally agreed.
He picked up the remnants of the scarf Jade Silk Doll used to make her fan and draped it over his head, letting it hang down in front of his eyes. He wrapped his bandanna over it around his nose and mouth, then put his hat on. The silk was sheer enough to see through. He hoped it would also be enough to protect his eyes. Jack tossed on a couple of bandoliers and a pair of leather gloves and he was ready to head out into the full sun.
Which suddenly dimmed. Nancy looked out the window up at the sky. “Well, what do you know? An errant cloud covering the sun.” She grinned at Jack. “Aint a storm, but it’ll do.”
“Coincidence,” he said.
“Coincidence is just God’s way’a workin’ in disguise. Best get out there before that coincidence moves on.”
Jack did. The light still hurt bad, but it didn’t kill or blind him. He wished he could thank Orela for the scarf protecting him. He moved quickly to a copse of scrub oak chaparral topping a low rise about fifty feet southwest of the cabin, and had enough time to dig into the snow under it before the sun came back out. Filtered through branches and snow, the light was still a weight that made him feel more mortal than immortal. He pulled his hat down over his eyes, readied his rife and listened for horses. Jack wondered if Jade Silk Doll was in a similar position close by and what she had in mind.
The sun fell lower, creeping closer to the mountains. The light turned orange and shone straight into the western-facing cabin. Jack wouldn’t have been able to shoot through the window in that direct Jack-O-Lantern light. It also prevented Gemma from noticing the line of horses right away. They were almost to the cabin when Jack heard her shout, “We got us company!”
The horses rode past the copse. Jack took count and came up with forty men. Not every man had a horse, but each one carried a weapon of some sort. Two men carried bows and arrows. Jack imagined there were a few stakes tucked away, too. The Preacher rode at the front like a general. He stopped within yards of the cabin and his men spread out behind him.
“Marshal Jack Talon!” the Preacher called. “Is the whore in your particular form of custody as I have requested?”
“You know damn well I aint and never will be,” Nancy hollered back.
“Then this deal has been rendered null and void, Marshal. You will like the next one even less. My boys have orders to stake you and bring you to me. I have given up on this whore, but there will be others. And you will be there beside me to turn the next one. Gemma! How’s my girl?”
“I aint your gal,” Gemma’s voice was full of fear, but it was steady.
“Gemma, now, I know you want to do the right thing by my Lord. And he is ready to offer you salvation, if you will just turn your rifle on the dirty whore standing next to you.”
Jack braced himself for the worst, but no shot came.
The Preacher shook his head and spread his arms. “Gemma. Come on now. Be a good girl and shoot that whore.”
Gemma screamed and thrust the rifle through the window, aimed at the Preacher. Still nothing happened. The gun had jammed.
“No!” Gemma sobbed.
“Wrong choice, Gemma!” the Preacher said. “Though I must confess that poor judgment displayed by a dumb whore such as yourself does not surprise me. Boys!” The miners dismounted and Jack listened to dozens of ‘clicks’ as they prepared to fire. Others pulled out stakes, knives pick axes and hatchets. Jack readied his own rifle when another movement caught his eye. Jade Silk Doll rose out of the snow behind the line of miners, folded fan in hand. She was careful to approach from behind a horse. Its long shadow would not give away hers.
“Miners of Lightning Touch!” Nancy shouted. “I know some of you aint here by choice. Shake off the damnation that calls itself a preacher! Y’all can return to your camp right now and we will not fire. Nobody needs to get hurt.”
Some of the miners hesitated. One lowered his gun. Jack watched the Preacher clench his fists. The rest of the miners answered Nancy with a rain of bullets.
I guess it’s their decision to die. Good time gal’ll be happy about that. I know I am. Jack fired and dropped the nearest miner who’d shot at the cabin. Then he watched several things happen at once. Some of the miners threw down their guns and mounted their horses or simply ran. Jack ignored the deserters. They’d made their decision, too. His attention was instead caught by Jade Silk Doll. Just as the men fired, she swept one hand back and opened her fan with the other. She lunged forward and brushed the fan beside one of the miner’s heads. Blood erupted from his neck where the razor-edged bones severed the artery. She whirled on to her next victim, moving like wind across the snow. This time she kept the fan closed and jabbed under his armpit where he held the rifle. He turned to look at her as she withdrew and opened the fan again. One sweep across his face and his eyes were gone in pools of gore. More blood stained the snow.
One of the more observant men turned to shoot her, but Jack took care of him, then the next fellow in line for good measure. That gave Jade time to disembowel a third man. Jack had never seen anything more gracefully brutal. All of this happened between the first and third shots fired at the cabin. Jack took down two more men before they figured out his location.
Now Jade Silk Doll had the Preacher’s attention. He raised his arms, reminding Jack of a conductor he and Sonya once watched back at the new opera house in Central City. One arm moved in Jade’s direction and the other waved toward the cabin. The miners divided, most rushing the cabin while the others surrounded Jade. The men with bows ran to the side of the cabin away from Jack, using it for cover. Right now he was out of effective range of any arrows. That would have to change for Jade to get through this alive.
Three more men mounted their horses and Jack knew they were headed for him. He’d have to deal with them when they came; Jade was in immediate danger, and the other ladies weren’t far behind. He could see some of the rounds had penetrated the walls. Hatchets splintered the cabin door, while other miners climbed onto the roof and started in on the shingles. Nancy and Gemma fired on the men at the window, but they would soon be overwhelmed by the rest. Jade Silk was already in the weeds. Jack shot two men with guns who were approaching her and hoped she could handle the others. One carried an old bayonet which she managed to kick out of his hands before slicing his arm. She dodged a pick axe by charging the man swinging it, and sent him into another attacker.
By then, Jack had his own problems. The riders had surrounded the copse, and one of them fired into it with his shotgun. Jack had to laugh. The Preacher wasn’t half bad at training his men. The blast didn’t kill him of course, but Jack’s face had been rendered into chopped meat. One eye was completely gone and the other wasn’t far off from completely useless. In that condition, he didn’t dare turn around into the setting sun now shooting through the copse, so he was at a disadvantage when the men with stakes came crashing in behind him. Jack rolled to the side as a stake came down, aimed at his heart. He sent the butt of his rifle into the miner’s shocked face, then pulled him down and used him as a shield for the next stake. Jack pulled his Colt and shot the second miner. That left the man with the shotgun. Jack rolled again, using the new corpse as a bunker and dispatched his third attacker. After that, he took advantage of a hot meal. His face healed quickly as he drank.
Orela’s scarf had practically evaporated in the shotgun blast. Jack stayed low and kept his back to the last rays of the sun. He could feel the light burning him where the shot shredded his clothes. “Don
’t mind me,” he told his former meals as he helped himself to a coat from one and a hat and bandanna from another.
Jack ran down the northeastern side of the rise, where he was protected by shadows. Jade Silk Doll had killed another man but was now in the custody of two more. One had her by the arms and one by the legs. Four men lay dead in front of the cabin door and three more at the window. Four bodies decorated the roof, and Jack imagined Nancy firing her gun through the ceiling, light falling on her upturned face, making it glow with a terrible beauty that matched the song in her heart.
Even now he could hear pistol reports in the cabin. Jack did some quick figuring. Nancy and Gemma were up against six men. Then there were the two archers, hidden and waiting for their chance at him. He would have to be careful. The Preacher was—
Gone.
Was he in the cabin, too? That actually bode well for Nancy’s additional take on the plan. Jack didn’t have time to speculate. The men holding Jade might kill her at any moment. He raised the rifle and aimed.
“She’ll die if you do that.” The Preacher’s voice was beside his left ear.
“She’ll die if I don’t.” Jack swung his rifle around through empty air. Lies and illusion. He kept going and connected with the Preacher on his right. The impact was a hard one that should have dropped the man, but he bent with the rifle and absorbed the energy of the blow. He grabbed the barrel and ripped it out of Jack’s hands and tossed it away.
In faro, that would be the Soda card. The first one drawn and discarded.
Jack didn’t dare let the Preacher touch him. Illusion or not, the man of the cloth had held him down once before. He couldn’t risk it again. The archers appeared from behind the cabin and approached Jack, arrows nocked and ready. The Preacher pulled a stake from his coat.
That’s the losing card.
“Right, Marshal,” the Preacher laughed. “She will die, right beside the other whores while you look on. After that you are mine if I have to stake you myself.”
The remnants of the cabin door flew out like broken teeth when one of the miners kicked it open. Gemma staggered out, followed by Nancy. Both women were bleeding. Four miners had them at gunpoint. Nancy sighted Jade Silk Doll, then looked around for Jack. When she saw the Preacher standing next to him, she gave up and sank to her knees.