Clockwork Cowboy

Chapter 47

Her limbs pulsed to life. 

She charged, with the strength of a buffalo, catching Brandon off balance. Her hands clasped the weapon as her shoulder contacted his body. She managed to maintain a hold on the gun, as he fell heavily to the ground. Nova twisted the barrel to a better position and felt the object jerk violently in her hands as Brandon (his hands losing their grip on the weapon) pulled the trigger.

The blast of gunpowder momentarily deafened her. Nova glanced up to see the surprised expression crossing her husband's face. He looked down at his chest and then to the gun, which was smoking gently in her hands. She watched his lips move - but couldn't hear a sound.

Plugging her ear with a finger, she wriggled her wrist. "Pardon?"

"You shot him."

"Kind of."

Brandon had fallen to his knees - clutching a bleeding hand. "You whore!"

"If only I aimed at something fatal," she said.

"But then he would've escaped the indignity of knowingly lying in his companion's filth."  Jese gently lifted her mother's body up and settled her in the back of the cart, pulling off his coat he covered Helaku's frail body.

"It's a blood-soaked mess," Nova said.  She glanced at the men before them. A scrawny body spasmed in the death throes. Pools of blood coagulated lazily about them.

"It was a let-down for a gunfight," Jese admitted.

"Why so?"

"Your mother stole the show. I felt like I was intruding."

She peered at him nervously. Humor? Two men had died and another had been shot and yet he was trying to make jokes? He obviously was very desensitized to death! "We were lucky."

"I know," he agreed.  "It scares me to think that I could have landed the airship somewhere else, and missed you completely."

"You have angels watching over you," Nova said with a smile.  And then she saw the shocked expression crossing his face - the sudden unshed tears in his eyes.

"I'd like to think that." He coughed.

Had she known she was touching on such a sensitive subject she would have remained mute, making deep conversation amongst all of this bloodshed - it didn't seem right.

"I hate to interrupt this little tete a tete," Brandon snarled. "But what do you intend to tell the Sheriff when he gets here?"

Jese and Nova turned to stare at him. The man was ripping at his shirt to bandage the wound, an angry glint in his eyes.

"He's right," Nova said to Jese. "It really is our word against his."

"And when he tells everyone about India Sommers double life, everyone will notice the resemblance," Jese murmured.

"I'll be stuck in a cell for the rest of my life."

"Very true," Brandon added.

"I ought to have shot him in the mouth."

"Fortunately for you," Brandon continued. "I'm still prepared to cut a deal."

Nova struggled to suppress the bark of angry laughter which fought to pass her lips. "Really?"

"Get me a physician and the jewels, and I will disappear."

"That - unfortunately - cannot happen," Jese said. "As I've made sure they were returned to the Sheriff."

Nova gave Jese a thankful smile.

"You idiots!" Brandon snarled "Do you know how much those gems cost?"

"Not worth losing my wife for," Jese said.

Nova stared at Jese in shock. What was in this for him? Why was he suddenly turning on the charm? Had he forgotten his Darling Magda?

Jese answered with a long, deep stare. Her heart fluttered at the expression on his face, struggling to breathe evenly. How could hope grow in the middle of such bloody carnage?

"Let's take your mother to the ship.  I have a bed there that she can recover in.  There may be enough light to get home in time."

Home. It was the only place she wanted to be. She could call a physician for her mother and then spend the evening snuggled up in front of her open fire, reflecting on the day's adventures - with the safety of distance. Nova launched into the driver's seat. The horses snorted and flicked their heads (managing to loosen their reins) they pulled forward. As they tugged the cart into motion she wondered where they'd found their energy after a long journey. Could they sense that a reprieve was close by?

Jese stood Brandon up and began frog-marching him to his horse. "Just follow me!" Jese called.

As she turned her wagon she noticed Brandon's strange posture... he'd managed to slip behind Jese and walked with a slouch. He'd been shot in the hand - nowhere else. So why was he slouching? Nova focused her eyes. Brandon's arms were tied behind his back. But Nova could see that Brandon had managed to fish the final gun from his scrawny companion's holster. He was fumbling with it now, trying to aim the barrel to one side.

She'd put her weapon away before she'd got on her wagon. Now all she had was her vehicle and her voice. "Jese, he's armed!"

Jese turned. "What?"

"Brandon. He's holding a gun!"

Brandon stopped his shuffling and looked up. "Damn you to hell." With his arms tied at his elbows, he aimed his gun and fired.

Nova heard a bullet go whistling past her ear. She couldn't get to her gun in time... he was already about to fire again. "Move aside!" She screamed at Jese. As he left the road she charged her horses between the two men, so she could use the wagon as a shield for her and Jese, giving her time to find her gun and reload it. But as she galloped between them Brandon threw himself at the horses, arms buckled in their attempt to aim at her. As he twisted he fell.

He died there on the road.  Trampled by horse hooves, and dragged along by her cart.  Nova's stomach lurched at the strange sound.  Her wagon groaning in an effort to keep together, her horses whinnying with nerves, and the bones in his body crunching.