by Karin, Anya
Into the east, into the hills.
“What is it?” I said to no one in particular.
He touched his ear and leaned over the balcony, like he was straining to hear something off in the distance.
A rhythmic, even, pounding sensation rumbled my legs, surging up through me from the ground. With Seth screaming at me to get to the jail, I took one last look in the direction Mr. Swearengen was turned.
Dust was all I could see.
A cloud of dust, growing larger by the second.
“No,” I said out loud. “No, it’s not possible. How could they know?”
The other thought that occurred to me, which remained unsaid, though right on the tip of my tongue was ‘how did he know’. I looked back at Mr. Swearengen’s balcony to see that he had already retreated back to his apartments, though was standing behind his glass door, watching. Always watching.
“Clara!” A different voice, Mr. Star’s, called, jolting me back to reality. “Hurry up, they’re getting excited. Come on!”
Something not entirely conscious pushed me toward him, but my feet quickly caught up with my mind and before long, one step turned to two, and stumbling half-trots were full strides. It was only when I was about halfway to Mr. Star’s outstretched hand that I realized I’d lost both of my boots somewhere along the way.
Nineteen
October 8, 1878
Deadwood, Dakota Territory
It felt so good to grab Mr. Star’s hand that a wave of relief pulsed through me. He fired his shotgun again, straight into the air to warn off whoever was out there, and then half-helped, half-tossed me through the entryway, slammed the heavy wooden door closed, and then dropped a large beam across it for security.
“I can’t believe this,” I said, my chest heaving with breath. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“What did happen?” Mr. Star said with his hand on his forehead and his eyes wide open. “Why on earth is there a mob out there and why is Seth shooting his damn gun in the air? And what on earth is that noise?”
I didn’t want to say. I almost didn’t want to believe it myself, but what was the use of pretending I didn’t know?
“It’s the Sioux,” I said in a hollow voice. “Somehow they knew what was happening, I think Mr. Swearengen has something to do with it.”
“Can’t just be one thing at a time, huh?” He grunted a laugh. “Well, I don’t suppose there’s time for you to tell me about –”
I took a deep breath. “Seth is out there because he went to arrest Rawls and the Captain, and now he’s out there wrestling with them and trying to keep an angry mob at bay, though he seems to think the mob is only there because it’s something exciting to do of a morning, rather than them having any particular fondness for the two men.” I filled my lungs again, ready to give another long exposition, but paused when I saw his confused expression.
“Arrest Rawls? But why?”
“There was,” I paused to heave another breath. “A letter, Mr. Swearengen had a letter.”
“Clara?” Eli called from somewhere further back in the building than I could see. “Clara! What’s going on?”
Immediately forgetting my manners, and my conversation with Sol Star, I followed the voice to my beautiful Eli’s cell. “Oh,” I said, almost falling to my knees in front of him. “It’s so good to see you again.”
“Are those keys? What’s all this noise?”
Mr. Star trotted into the holding area. “Listen, Clara, something’s out there and it ain’t just the people in the street making a drunken ruckus. You said the Sioux were coming? I think they’re closer than you believe them to be.”
I turned back to Eli. “Why is Itan coming?”
“I told him,” Eli gulped. “Here, unlock this and I’ll explain.”
I fumbled the keys and Mr. Star helped get the door open. As soon as it swung open, Eli burst forth, wrapped me in his arms and kissed me unashamedly. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I told him I was going back to town to find you, and that if he didn’t see a signal to come and get me again.” He threw his gaze to the floor.
“What is it, Eli?” Sol demanded. “What happened?”
“I was to give him a signal that I was safe. We never quite clarified what would happen if I didn’t.”
Mr. Star gulped. “I think we just found out.”
“I never meant for this – oh God, what have I done?” Eli threw back his head and ran his fingers through his hair. “What did I do?”
Mr. Star licked his lips. “Well, I think, maybe, this isn’t the time for regrets and hand-wringing. Given the commotion outside, this might all be for the best. Can you signal him now, somehow? Let him know you’re all right? If I’m being honest, we could really use his help. That mob out front of the place is getting closer, and I think this town could do without a riot.”
“I think I can,” Eli said, perking up. “Where are they, how far away?” He put his hand to the wall, then crouched down on the floor and listened. “Four miles,” he said. “Plenty of time. Sol, do you have a mirror? Oh, and the sun. It’s up, right?”
“Half an hour past dawn, as far as a mirror... here!” Sol turned to the mirror in the corner of the room which was used to watch prisoners from the desk at the front of the office. He pulled his gun from his holster, fired a single bullet at the frame, and collected a shard. “This one good enough? What is it you need the sun for?”
“Much harder to reflect the moon,” Eli said with a grin. Is there a way up to the roof from here? I’ll flash him; he’ll know the sign. We’ve done this before.”
A look of concern crossed Mr. Star’s face, but by the time he said “I’m not sure how to get on the roof,” I was already outside, shouting back for Eli. I remembered that the front of the building was crisscrossed with support beams and cracked plaster. I also remembered I wasn’t wearing any shoes, and used to climb every single thing I could find as a little girl.
“This way!” I shouted. “Come on!”
He scrambled up the side of the building with a good deal more effort than it took me, but I managed to grasp his hand and yank him up. He stood, squinted into the sun, and pointed the mirror just where it needed to go. Suddenly, the cloud of dust, which had grown much larger than last I saw it, paused, and then doubled back.
“What’s happening?” I asked, holding onto Eli’s arm, not wanting to let him go, unable to imagine him being taken away from me again. “Did he see?”
“Oh, he saw,” Eli replied. “But now we have to wait until he reacts. I don’t know what he’ll do. After his brave was killed in that last raid, he was fairly upset.”
His words stopped when he turned to me. For a moment he just stared, looking rather dazzled, or at least a little dumbfounded.
“I can’t help myself, but you’re beautiful, Clara James. Even with all that dirt on your arm and the sweat all over your face.” He pulled me close and pressed his lips to my forehead. “I sat in that cell, knowing somehow I’d see you again.”
“Did you think it would come on the heels of a riot?” I asked. “Of all the romantic reunions, this isn’t the one I’d imagined sharing with you.” The noise down the street, the increasingly tense chaos, all seemed to melt away for just a few moments. A few moments where the whole world became Eli, and me, and the flutter he put in my heart. “How do these things keep happening to us, Eli?” I kissed him back, held him tight.
“That’s a good question. But I think we should maybe save our blissful exchange until we’ve managed to secure our escape. And I’m not leaving either Seth, or your father and Mr. Clark to the mercy of those wild thugs.”
I studied his face, drinking in the details of his cheeks, his jaw, and his chin. “No, of course not, Mr. Bullock is too good of a friend.” I trailed off as something clicked in my brain. “Beg your pardon, but did you say something about my father and Mr. Clark?”
He cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head. I turned, following the direction of
his stare. There they were. Davis Clark and my father, both of them dressed in their prospecting gear, and both right next to Sheriff Bullock in the center of a ring of men. Somehow, Rawls and the captain had gotten free of their shackles.
“Are you seeing this?” Mr. Star called from below. “Clara, your father, he and Mr. Clark, are in the mix.”
“We see, Sol,” Eli shouted. “I ain’t gonna let this happen.”
“Did you signal the Sioux? Eli, what are you doing?”
“Help me down,” Eli said, reaching for Mr. Star’s hand and hopping deftly to the ground. As soon as his feet hit dirt, he was sprinting. “Yes I signaled him, they doubled back and then turned!” he shouted. “They’re coming. Hopefully to help, but we’ll have to see.”
Down the road he went, diving straight into the center of the pile and shoving my father out of the way right as a wobbly, half-wild punch glanced off his jaw. From up on top of the building, I was able to see the whole scene play out below. More prospectors filtered into town from the tent city, presumably to find some breakfast before heading to their claim, but the growing melee out front of the Gem proved too exciting to pass up.
In a large ring around Seth, Eli, my father and Mr. Clark, some of the prospectors were fighting among themselves, a handful were lying in the street.
Itan’s band, and the huge dust cloud billowing behind them, veered south.
“How far away are the Sioux?” Mr. Star called up. “If you can see them, I mean.”
“I see them,” I said, wincing as Eli caught a punch on the cheek. The crowd in the center had thinned to Rawls, and the Captain facing off against Seth and Eli. Men in the crowd held father and Mr. Clark.
“And?”
I squinted into the sun. “They’re close. Just a few minutes, maybe, until they’re upon the town,” I answered. “I’m absolutely horrified. What if they just charge through the middle?”
“Don’t worry about that,” Mr. Star said. “You can’t. Right now we have to figure out some way to get our friends to safety. Here, come on down.”
A great deal of noise erupted in the street as I descended the cracked plaster and beams, but as soon as I was back on the ground, another brief lull set in. From where I stood, I saw Eli sock someone but good in the stomach, and then Seth thumped another man in the back of the head with the butt of his gun.
“Get ‘em!” Father cheered, though he wasn’t doing much to help.
Jingling metal caught my attention. “Here,” Mr. Star said, handing me two pairs of shackles. “I hate the idea of putting you to work, but I watched you climb the side of a building in a full dress. I’ve come around to thinking maybe you can take care of yourself. Take these.”
“Oh, no, I haven’t the first idea how to fight. Surely you can’t mean for me to get in there?”
“You think I’d toss a lady into that bull-pit?”
“Well no,” I said, “I suppose that wouldn’t be very good of you.”
He chortled. “Good of me, she says. Come on.”
With that, he grabbed my hand and pulled me to the edge of the chaos. Eli ducked then hammered a man on the side of the face who went sprawling into the muck. Seth took a punch in the stomach, and went to his knees.
As I watched the carnage, my body trembled, but not, I realized, with fear.
A great tension pulled at my stomach, my heart was pounding in my chest, but I wasn’t afraid. I wanted to help my friends, to help Eli. My safety wasn’t even a consideration.
“Where is Rawls?” I asked over the noise, as Mr. Star tried to thin the crowd.
He shook his head. “Don’t know, probably cowering somewhere.”
Thunder shook the ground beneath our feet. They were close. Very, very, close, but still outside of eyeshot, at least from street-level. My heart skipped a beat when Eli took another punch in the stomach, roared then laid a man flat on his back. There was a surge of activity and much to my surprise I was somehow pulled from the back of the crowd all the way to the middle.
“Clara!” Eli shouted, elbowing a bearded man in the mouth and charging to my side. “Get out of here, you have to –”
“No time, Eli,” I shouted over the noise. “We have to get them, the Captain and Rawls!” I raised the shackles to show him, hoping he’d take my meaning. “Itan’s coming from the south, not long!”
He nodded, ducking another wild punch and then shoved me backwards into Mr. Star. “Rawls crawled away,” he said, pointing, “that way!”
“What about Ernie?” Mr. Star asked. “Oh, never mind.” The huge, square-headed man roared and spun around in a circle, catching Seth off guard with a brutal punch that sent him reeling backwards and then to the ground.
Sure enough, a pair of feet stuck out from underneath a wagon parked just off the road.
“You go get him,” Eli shouted. “I’ll handle this ogre!”
Miraculously, Mr. Star and I were able to wrestle back through the crowd with little effort, but as soon as we did, Rawls noticed us coming, scrambled out from his hiding place and broke into a run.
“Stop!” Mr. Star shouted. Rawls chose not to attend his request. “Stop, Rawls or I shoot!” He leveled his revolver, using his arm as a steady surface. Turning to me, he winked. “Watch this.”
The gunshot echoed off the buildings, and aside from a few pained grunts, all the other noise stopped.
“You shot me!” Rawls blubbered. “Sol Star shot me in the back! He killed me! I’m killed! He’s murdered me!”
“Just a warning shot,” Mr. Star replied. “But I did wing your cheek a bit. Hands behind your back, Rawls, you’re coming with us.” Then, turning to me, he said, “Make sure to clamp those shackles enough to hurt some.”
I slid the metal bracelets around his wrists and turned the key, tightening them until he squealed. Then I twisted it just a bit more.
“All right, Clara, enough torture, we need to go.” Mr. Star turned and grabbed the chain between Rawls’s hands, dragging him toward the jail as Rawls sputtered and spewed every curse I’ve ever heard, and a number I’d not.
We wormed through the tightening crowd all the way to the other side. I looked into the center, to my horror, I saw Captain Ernie, with his shirt halfway torn off, looming over Eli, who scooted backwards, trying to regain his footing.
“Go!” I called to Mr. Star, “get him to the jail, hurry!”
“Where are you going, Clara?”
There was no time to listen or to respond. I darted toward my Eli like a woman possessed. Even though the crowd had constricted, in my fury, I managed to shove through. The surviving one of father’s hired miners pushed in alongside me, and cold-cocked the man holding him.
“Ollie? Remind me to give you a raise,” Father said, slapping the broad-backed man on the shoulder before turning and planting a kick in the ribs of his captor and then yanking Mr. Clark free.
Both of them stumbled and fell, but were safe for the moment with Ollie guarding them.
Relief was still a distant thought. The thunder rumbling the ground had gotten so close that the dust cloud on the horizon was visible from the street. Not long, I knew, not long at all, before Itan appeared.
“I’m gonna gouge your eyes out!” Captain Ernie roared in his thick, awful voice as he stooped down and plucked Eli off the ground. In his huge, meaty hands, Eli’s head looked about the size of a grapefruit. The last thing I saw before wildness took me was thumbs on Eli’s eyes.
“No!” I shouted, losing myself and charging forward, mud sucking at my feet. I dove and swung, heavy, iron shackles clutched in my hands.
The metal crunched against the big man’s head, who grunted in surprise, then turned and looked at me. His mouth hung open, and the instant before he fell in a heap, he dropped Eli into the mud.
Eli stared for a moment, open-mouthed and gasping. He pushed himself to his feet then helped Seth to his. “Hell of a swing,” he grinned. “Give me those, you get to the jail.” He shoved me away. “Go before
this crowd swallows us whole!”
I clutched father’s hand and dragged him along. Mr. Clark was behind us, still shaken but unhurt. We shoved through the crowd and rejoined Mr. Star just in time for the first of Itan’s braves to sweep through the center of town, immediately scattering the crowd.
“Go!” Eli waved me forward. “Go! Clara, go!” He had the Captain by the wrists, bound and helpless. Seth followed, and I was in front of the whole lot.
My feet pounded the dirt, one after another, one step, then the next. Every muscle in my body at once cried out in soreness or relief or pain or ecstasy, but when I felt the wood of the jail’s doorstep, I finally felt that possibly, our safety might actually be coming.
Itan’s twenty braves crashed into the horde in the town center just as the confused, angry, excited prospectors’ excitement reached the tip of its crescendo.
The outside door of the jail was slammed shut, and at the same time, Eli and Seth shoved Rawls and Ernie in a cell. The bars closed with a surprisingly soft clank, and with the turn of a key, we all took a heavy, relieved breath.
“Eli!” A voice – Itan’s – boomed from outside. “Eli! Clara!”
Eli looked at me and grabbed my hand. “We need to go,” he said. “And I don’t think we’re going to get a better ticket out of here.”
I swallowed hard. I didn’t want to leave everything like this, all so suddenly. There were the clothes, and the friends we’d made.
“Clara,” he said softly, squeezing. “We can walk out of this building right now, get on a horse and live our lives the way we want.”
I looked at father with his split lip. “All the things,” I said. “What about the house?”
“They’re just things, Clara,” he squeezed my shoulder. “We’ll get more things. You and Eli, you have a chance at something that I once had a chance at. Take it.” There were tears in his eyes when he turned to Mr. Clark.
“Mind holding down the fort until things blow over and I can get back? I wouldn’t mind helping you run the mine, learning about it, things like that.”