The Gunslinger's Woman
(Part 1)

by Kath Tate

Disclaimer: The Magnificent Seven and characters belong to MGM and Trilogy Entertainment. This story does not intend to infringe on that copyright.

*****

There was nothing to distinguish that day from any of the ones that came before it except that it was hot. Really hot. So hot that you almost could see the wood on the boardwalk shrinking in the dryness. Nothing moved. Not the air, and not the people of the town, most of whom surrendered to listlessness in the desert climate.

Most of the group had congregated in the saloon. It seemed as good a place as any to just sit and do nothing. Even that seemed to take too much energy. Vin sat opposite me, coolly sipping his drink and regarding the other patrons with half closed eyes. He'd taken off his coat when he came in, and rubbed his bandana around his neck as though the heat made his skin scratchy. Dropping into his chair he'd commented, "Gonna storm soon."

"You think?" I had asked.

"Hope so," he'd muttered and I'd grinned.

Buck was teasing JD about something. I didn't hear exactly what line of bull he was feeding the kid this time. I could see JD's disbelieving face turn cautious and then annoyed when he realized Buck was just pulling his leg. Hoots of laughter from their table told me that Ezra had been in on the joke as well.

Yup, just an ordinary, quiet day. Then a voice, an unknown one, called out from the street and my blood ran cold despite the temperature.

"We got the gunslinger's woman! Git on out here. NOW!"

There was no question in anyone's mind which gunslinger was being called out. Nevermind that seven of us kept the peace in Four Corners, only one of us had enemies that crawled out of the woodwork at the worst possible moment.

"Not quite the storm I was hopin' for," Vin murmured, looking past me out the window.

"Mary?" I asked in a low voice, because I had to know and I couldn't make myself look.

"Uh-ya," Vin told me.

The batwing doors banged open then and a surly, sorry excuse for a miserable human being looked us over.

"We got the gunslinger's woman," he repeated. "If he don't get himself out on the street in 'bout a minute then she'll be gone."

"Good sir," interjected Ezra, dripping with contempt that was wasted on the scumbag since he was totally unaware of it, "could you be a little more specific?"

"You know who you are!" the man spat and looked over at me. I watched him with hard eyes that usually frightened people. He merely sneered.

I shifted my gaze slightly to see Mary in the street, being held by another brute. He'd grabbed her by her hair, pulling it from the neat bun, tipping her head back at a painful angle. Her arms flew about wildly, trying to keep her balance. In his other hand was his pistol, pressed against her throat. My eyes flickered back to the lowlife at the door.

I wanted nothing more than to drop him where he stood and I could have done so before he was even aware I'd drawn. But then Mary would be dead so this was not an option.

I looked over to Vin and he knew as sure as if I'd spoken aloud that I wanted him to take out the man holding Mary. He could do it. I'd seen him do it before. This didn't mean I wasn't scared at the idea of Mary being in the crossfire of that battle.

"Can you?"

A tilt of his head with his chin up in a sort of half nod. "Nothin' to it."

I stood, noting that JD had slipped out around the man by the door and was now quietly urging folks off the street. Not many people around today anyway, but it was good sense to get all innocent bystanders out of the way. Vin left via the back door, but Buck was right behind me as I made my way to the door. It felt good, comfortable almost, to have him covering my back. I had no worries there.

The man who'd threatened me stepped aside as I exited the saloon to stand on the boardwalk. I looked up and down the street. JD had cleared most everyone away by now so all that was left was Mary with her captor, the man from the saloon, and another bastard standing directly in front of the building. Nathan was cautiously walking towards us from one end of town, Josiah from the other. Behind me, I heard Ezra checking his weapons and muttering about the Neanderthal quality of misbegotten desperadoes these days. Not so stupid, I thought bitterly, if they knew enough to use Mary to lure me outside.

I stepped down from the boardwalk slowly, trying to appear disinterested when in reality my heart was beating so loudly I was surprised that everyone couldn't hear it. How much time would Vin need to get in place?

"Let her go," I said, as I moved into the street. I hoped to keep both men down from me so that I didn't have to split my view to keep an eye on Mary.

My opponent merely sneered. "I don't think so."

I could tell that Mary was afraid by the look in her eyes and I was filled suddenly with a helpless rage that these men could so effectively manipulate me. That they would die for doing this didn't seem adequate compensation.

"You wanna fight me? Fine. I'll fight you." My words were clipped and my anger showed. My fingers brushed the top of my gun lightly. "But let the woman go."

He grinned then and in such a way that I should have been warned. Maybe I should have realized a lot sooner that the kind of man who'll use a woman as bait is not the sort to follow any kind of honourable code. The shot, when it came, was not from him but from another, as yet unseen, assailant.

The impact pushed me over, with arms flailing uselessly to try to break my fall. I hit the ground with a painful, jarring thud that pushed all remaining air from my lungs. I heard Mary scream and Buck shout something, but whether the words were inarticulate or my brain was no longer processing them I don't know. More shots were fired and I tried to do something, something that would help, something that would make me less of a target as I lay helpless in the centre of the street, something that would let me know if Mary was all right. I could barely move and only managed to roll over.

Someone screamed for Nathan and I felt a trembling fear. Somebody must be hurt! Then realization hit me and I would have laughed if that didn't take so much air. Of course somebody's hurt you idiot, you've just been shot! Breathing suddenly seemed to take so much effort, so much more so than the natural reflex it usually was.

Focusing on that took me into a crest of pain that carried me off into nowhere.

*****

Awareness, when it returned, was slow in coming or maybe it was just that my head was slow to make sense of it. There was a distinct drumming sound, wet, like a river almost. I could hear the slight movement that told me I wasn't alone and instinctively I felt vulnerable. Yet almost immediately I sensed that wherever I was, and whoever was there, I was safe.

I heard knocking on the door then and the soft sound of voices. Voices that sounded much calmer than the frantic ones I remembered from just before I lost consciousness.

"Still rainin', huh?"

"Looks like it won't ever stop."

Whatever Nathan's response was to JD's weather forecast was lost as the door shut behind him.

Well, I can't be dying then since he's left me. That thought cheered me enough to try to open my eyes and take stock of my health.

Mary stood looking out the window with her arms wrapped around herself, hands gripping her elbows, like she needed holding onto and no one but herself was there to do it. The reflection of water running down the glass shimmered her features. My chest ached with more than just the bullet wound to see her. She was alive. The bastards hadn't hurt her.

A half sigh, half groan escaped my lips then as I recognized the pain of the healing wound and felt like death might have been preferable to bearing this agony. She turned to me immediately at the sound and her sadness transformed instantly into a multitude of emotions, relief being prominent. Suddenly death seemed like a very bad idea.

"Everyone...all...right?" I gasped, since I needed to know if those shots I'd heard had hit anyone else I cared about.

"Everyone's fine," she assured me as she came to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Even...me?" It seemed prudent to know. Maybe Nathan had left because there wasn't anything else he could do for me.

The corners of her mouth twitched in a very small smile.

"Even you," she said.

"Well, good." I wanted to know what happened but at the same time I was content to know that all would be well. Details could be sorted later. But she was compelled to tell me anyway. How Buck and JD had dealt with the bodies of the attackers, how Ezra had wired the Judge with the news, how Nathan had tended me and Vin had taken care of organizing things like scouts and watching the jail, how Josiah had been so very supportive...

"What did you do?" I asked, mesmerized by her voice with its storyteller quality.

"I wept," she told me honestly. My chest ached again, and not from trying to draw breath. "Isn't that what gunslingers' women do?"

"Mary, I'm sor..."

She cut off my apology with a light touch to my lips. "Don't. You are not responsible for those men. Their hatred is their own."

"I can't stop them from coming," I said desperately. "I can't prevent another attack like this."

"Maybe not." She cocked her head slightly, causing long strands of her hair to fall forward. I reached out and rubbed the lock with my fingers, remembering how that bastard had pulled on her hair to subdue her. And I was glad he was dead. She took my hand in both of hers and leaned forward so that our noses were nearly touching. "But next time, you don't have to walk into the middle of the street like a target."

My hand, now pressed in between us still caught in hers, could feel the warmth of her skin and the beating of her heart. Somehow the comfort of that made the ache in my chest lesson.

"I tell you what," I whispered. "I'll stay out of the street if you will."

She smiled, trying to suppress it but failing. She shook her head slightly. "I didn't have any choice!"

I pulled up my other hand to brush her cheek. "What makes you think I did?"

*****

Go to Part 2 of The Gunslinger's Woman

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page