The Fire Within a Ninjago Cowboy

Chapter 22 - Tuesday Morning

Chapter 22 - Tuesday Morning

Where am I? Kai thought. He was being gently jostled, and the movement was not helping to ease the throbbing in his head. He opened his eyes and saw the walking legs of a horse.

The last seconds of his last memory flooded back to him. Pointing the gun at Morro. The look of terror on Sam's face. The intense pain.

The ground below the horse's hooves was dry and crumbly. He was in the desert. We must be on our way to Qubla. Kai tried to lift himself up but discovered his wrists were bound.

Turning his head to one side, he could see the golden rays of the just-risen sun casting long shadows across the barren landscape. His ears told him that one other horse was also walking, somewhere out of his line of sight. There was no talking going on, so he could only guess that Sam and Morro were riding that horse.

Already the temperature was hot, and his headache was strong. On top of that, he had barely slept in the past three nights. Kai closed his eyes again and succumbed to unconsciousness.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Garmadon Ranch posse welcomed the clear blue morning sky.

The thunderstorm they had encountered on the night before last had thwarted their pursuit of the kidnap victims. They had planned to surprise that scoundrel Morro after sunset, but the heavy rain and the instant rivers produced by it had scuttled that plan.

The destruction of Central Bridge, which they suspected was caused by Morro, proved to be an even greater headache. They were forced to ride up to Northern Bridge in order to cross Ninjago River. Because that bridge was a nine-hour ride away, they had lost valuable time in the hunt.

They were finally able to cross the river late yesterday afternoon and enter Skeleton Territory. And now, after a night of sleeping under the stars and a quick cold breakfast, they were headed to Noscut, although approaching it from a different direction than they originally planned.

Sheriff Lloyd had surmised that since Noscut was the nearest town to the boundary dividing Skeleton Territory and Ninjago, Morro would be heading there, and so they should, too.

Lloyd made the decision to cross the boundary, though he had no legal authority to perform arrests in Skeleton Territory. As much as he would have liked to put handcuffs on that slimy varmint Morro, he reminded himself that the main purpose of this mission was to rescue his uncle's employee and the saloon girl. His sheriff's badge was safely in his pocket, waiting to be proudly redisplayed on his vest pocket when the group returned to Ninjago Town. In the meantime, he had sent Deputy Dareth back home so that the Ninjago Town citizens would still have a lawman on duty.

As the men rode, Jay relayed to them an unusual dream he had dreamed in which his bedroll turned into angry rattlesnakes who would be made happy only by eating flapjacks. Many eyes rolled as the auburn-haired cowboy told his tale.

Zane, who served as the lookout for the group, had been viewing the landscape through a pair of binoculars when he spoke up. "Excuse me, Jay, but we appear to have company coming from the opposite direction."

"How many horses are we talking about?" Lloyd asked as he pulled his horse alongside that of Zane's.

Zane described the approaching party as the details became clear. "I see one horse which appears to have two figures riding on it. One of the figures appears to be a woman. The woman is sitting in front of the man. She appears to be an older woman...to be slumped over, not sitting straight...she's wearing a shawl...Good gravy, it appears to be Bansha and Archer!"

"Wonder why they aren't with Morro, but I guess we'll find out shortly. Cole and Doc, hide yourselves behind the trees on that side of the trail," Lloyd briskly instructed. "Zane and Uncle will hide with me on this side. Jay, you block the trail by pretending you're having horse trouble, but keep your face hidden by standing on the side of the horse facing away from them."

"Aww, why do I have to be the one in plain sight?"

"Because we had to listen to that bizarre dream of yours. But don't worry, everyone is going to follow my lead and come out in the open with their guns drawn when I do."

The men went to their places while Jay muttered.

Zane had spotted the horse while it was some distance away from them, so a bit of time passed before it reached the place where they were hiding.

"Howdy, Stranger," Archer addressed the obscured rider of the horse blocking the path. "You mind movin' yer steed?"

"Yes, he does mind," Lloyd loudly proclaimed, cocking his gun and aiming it at Archer. The sound of five other gun clicks filled the air. "Throw your gun down, Archer."

"Hey, Sheriff, you got no jurisdiction around here."

Lloyd approached him, gun still drawn. He waved it, saying, "This is my jurisdiction right here, Archer."

"Well, I'd raise my hands in the air but I'm holdin' on to a sick lady here."

"Hold onto her with one hand and give me your gun with the other."

Archer saw he could stall no longer, so he complied with the Sheriff's request. Lloyd waved to the other men to come forward as he observed the slumped old woman whose eyes were closed. "What's the matter with Bansha?"

"She collapsed about midday yesterday. Wanted to go back to Ninjago Town to die. So I was ridin' up to Northern Bridge to hand her over to Rufus."

"Boys, keep your guns on Archer. Doc, you wanna come over here and take a look at her?" Lloyd motioned to Doc Julien.

The physician came up to get a closer look at Bansha. He noted such things as the color of her skin and her pulse.

"She's not doing all that well. I would recommend getting her back to Ninjago Town as soon as possible."

Lloyd ran his fingers through his hair, thinking about the next course of action to take.

"Nephew, I can take Bansha home," Mr. Wu offered. "As difficult as she has been to deal with, she did save our town all those years ago, so I'll do I what I can to make her comfortable until Doc gets back to town."

"Thank you, Uncle," Lloyd smiled. "I suppose Rufus will be fit to be tied when he finds out he rode all that way for nothing, but he'll just have to deal with it."

Lloyd and Doc Julien gently transferred Bansha to Mr. Wu's horse. Doc gave the ranch owner some instructions for her care, and soon Mr. Wu was retracing his steps to Northern Bridge on the way back to Ninjago Town, accompanied by the frail woman.

Lloyd turned his attention to Archer once again. "So where are Morro and Kai and Sam?"

"What makes ya think I'm gonna tell ya?"

Maybe it was due to the lack of a hot meal over the last two days, or maybe it was due to lingering humiliation over his failure to maintain law and order on Sunday, but Lloyd lost his patience. Grabbing Archer by the collar, Lloyd pulled him off his horse and threw him to the ground. Holding a clenched fist to Archer's face, Lloyd gritted his teeth and hissed, "Because you're gonna be sorry if you don't tell!"

The other men looked at each other, wide eyed. Lloyd was usually a stickler for lawful procedures and not usually so violent.

Archer recognized that the young man could do serious damage to an older man's face.

"All right. All right. They left Noscut this morning to head to Qubla."

Lloyd's eyes lit up. "That means they're about six hours ahead of us. We're still kinda far back, but we can catch 'em. Gentlemen, let's stop in Noscut for supplies and head for the desert to get our friends back!"

"And Archer," he added, "you're coming with us!"