"The Flight of the Raven"

T'lainya · Post by **T'lainya** » Thu Jun 07, 2001 3:14 pm

Ms T told the telegraph operator to find her when the answer came in. She walked back to the office thinking hard. "Hey DP, how's KramoR doing? I saw something very interesting in Miss Bessies storeroom. I didn't have time to snoop around too much. I also telegraphed an old friend who works for Winchester now."

Georgi · Post by **Georgi** » Thu Jun 07, 2001 5:33 pm

"Not if I can help it," replied Kramor. "You don't want to worry yourself about me. I can take care of myself."

"Obviously," muttered Gigi indignantly. "Then you'll be fine here by yourself. I should get to the theatre... do the show tonight... I need the money."

scully1 · Post by **scully1** » Thu Jun 07, 2001 5:42 pm

Loner sat on the edge of the bed and took in her surroundings while waiting for the dizziness to ease. Varying shades of red seemed to be the predominant color scheme...and from somewhere, she could hear the tinny strains of a cheap player piano. Though it could have just been the head...

She stood, slowly. Her legs were weak and she had to hold onto the bedpost for support. There was a window, but it was blocked with layers and layers of gauzy stuff. Not that she was complaining. She wanted to stay out of sight.

She looked at the still-full glass on the bedside table, and decided to drink it. It tasted awful. "Must really be medicine then," she mumbled aloud, and made her way to the door.

When she opened it, she wished she hadn't. She was looking out onto a hallway (also red), with several numbered doors opening off of it. She turned her head. Her own room was numbered Five. She might have thought she was in a hotel...until her darker suspicions were confirmed.

A man came stumbling down the hall and headed straight for Loner. "Waaaaallll, now, purrrty ladee," he slurred, putting his arm around her. "Yewz 'vail'ble, now aintcha?..."

Loner gingerly removed the arm -- gingerly, not from politeness, but from fear of catching something unpleasant. "Ugh...I don't work here," she said, and managed to go back into the room and shut the door upon the man's loud protests.

She locked the door and leaned against it, covering her face and letting out a long groan.

She really did not want to get back into that bed again...

[ 06-07-2001: Message edited by: loner72 ]

Georgi · Post by **Georgi** » Thu Jun 07, 2001 7:02 pm

"Sure..." replied Kramor, "be careful, though."

"You don't need to tell me that," Gigi said, slipping out of the door. As she walked over to the theatre, a figure watched from the shadows, and then followed.

"Gwalchmai?" Gigi called as she entered, receiving no reply. "Guess he's not here," she said to herself, and went along to her dressing room. She sat down and put her head in her hands, fed up of the whole situation. Kramor had a concussion, but even so... She shook her head. Don't think about it, Gigi. You're better off without him.

The door slammed behind her. Gigi looked up at the mirror to see Aaron behind her. She gulped. "What do you want?"

"You know Loner." He advanced menacingly, grinning.

"E-everyone in town knows her, she was the sheriff!" spoke Gigi, trying to seem unperturbed.

"Where is she?" Aaron brandished a knife. Gigi jumped up, and backed away into a corner.

"She was at the ranch, recovering from an injury. I haven't seen or heard of her since..." she lied, "and I don't want to either." She was shaking. Aaron knocked her to the floor, then grabbed her and pinned her against the wall, his knife to her neck.

"You lie. She here." The blade dug into Gigi's flesh, drawing blood.

"She's not here! I swear to God!" Gigi shrieked, a plan forming in her head. "For all I know she's as dead as her good-for-nothing boyfriend was when he rode in this morning," she snarled.

Aaron laughed. "Maybe you not lie. I take your word. For now. You not tell sheriff I was here... I let you live." The pressure on the blade lessened.

"Ye-yes. You were never here," repeated Gigi. He let her go, and she fell to the floor.

"Remember that," he warned her, backing away, and left. Gigi touched her face where he had hit her, feeling a bruise forming. She sighed, then got up, slightly dizzy, and rushed to the hotel.

scully1 · Post by **scully1** » Thu Jun 07, 2001 7:21 pm

Aaron began the return journey to his camp, on foot. She had stolen his horse...no matter.

He went to Kramor's ranch and stole a horse of his own. And this, my friend, is just the beginning...

He rode the rest of the way to the camp. When he got there, he saw his own horse, half-dead from exhaustion. He tended to it.

This horse was well-trained, and had a bond with his master. The next day, this horse would take Aaron to the place where Loner had let him go. If she wasn't still there, he would track her from that place.

Georgi · Post by **Georgi** » Thu Jun 07, 2001 7:32 pm

Gigi dashed up the hotel stairs and, unthinkingly, straight into her room. Kramor was asleep, gun in hand. The noise of the door closing woke him, and in a fraction of a second, the gun was c0cked and trained on her. "Damn, woman, don't do that! I nearly took your head off... what happened?" he asked, registering her bruised, bleeding face and neck.

"Aaron," Gigi choked out, breathlessly.

KramoR · Post by **KramoR** » Fri Jun 08, 2001 11:17 am

Holstering his gun, Kramor took some of the whiskey, put it on a cloth. He cleaned her wound.
"He was here?" he asked. Wincing Gigi, nodded.
"I'm leaving to follow him, I want you to go see the doctor." Kissing Gigi on the forehead, and handed her the cloth and whiskey bottle.
"Thanks for everything, Gigi. Take care."

Kramor left closing the door behind him. When Gigi, heard the horse leave, she threw the bottle at the door.

[ 06-08-2001: Message edited by: KramoR ]

Georgi · Post by **Georgi** » Fri Jun 08, 2001 12:33 pm

Gigi lay down on her bed, but realising her pillow smelled like Kramor, she threw that at the door too. She knew that the sheriff ought to be told about Aaron... but how was she to be sure that he wasn't still here, watching her. Simple walking into the jail would be too dangerous. No, she was going to have to see him another way.

Going down to the saloon, Gigi had little trouble in convincing the new proprietor to sell her some whisky. She sat down, and drank.

KramoR · Post by **KramoR** » Fri Jun 08, 2001 1:18 pm

After leaving town, Kramor remember that he had to meet a buyer in Dodge. So he headed to Dodge, hopefully to do it quickly. Riding all through the night and halfway into the day, Kramor rode into Dodge. First thing he did was buy some clothes, he got a hotel room and cleaned up. He went to the telegraph office and sent a telegram to Dp. To find out if there were any leads, he waited and found out there were none. He went to a cafe to eat, when he was finished, he went to the saloon. That's when things went sour.
After ordering a beer, some gent bumped him spilling his beer.

"Sorry marshall, I didn't see you standing there."

"Do I know you?" asked Kramor. The man grinned, "You should, you killed my brother. I'm callin you out marshall."

"I'm not a marshall any more so go away. I have no beef with you, unless you are a horse thief like your brother."

"Them there is fight'n words, mister!" exclaimed the man, before his gun cleared the holster. Kramor shot him twice in the chest, then shot his partner in the head. He reloaded his gun and ordered another beer.

scully1 · Post by **scully1** » Fri Jun 08, 2001 2:17 pm

Loner considered sending a message to Kramor at the ranch, but at this point she didn't know who she could trust; she feared Aaron was watching, and would treat the messenger the same way he treated Blue. She didn't even know if Kramor was still alive...

It would be better to get out as quickly as possible and ride out of town under cover of night. Mae's "girls" had taken good care of Loner, including fending rowdy customers away from room Five. Loner was surprised to realize she would miss them.

Now she was feeling better, more back to her old strength, and she wanted to waste no time. She took the gun Mae had given her, and opened her door...

Men were going about in the hall, as always; but there was one, wearing a dark suit and hat, whose walk was familiar somehow...

Loner gasped and drew back, shutting the door and locking it. But she soon heard a scraping at the lock. She pulled her gun, aimed it at the door. Aaron stepped through and noiselessly turned the lock again. Loner pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened. The damn gun wasn't loaded.

In the blink of an eye Aaron was there, holding her firmly by the arms. "Good horse I have," he said quietly.

[ 06-08-2001: Message edited by: loner72 ]

KramoR · Post by **KramoR** » Fri Jun 08, 2001 2:34 pm

As a bullet hit the doorjam, spraying splinters on Kramor.
"What the hell is this? Shoot the ex-marshall day?" Kramor yelled. As he ducked behind some barrels, he fired at a running figure with a rifle. He watched the man fall to the ground, Kramor shot another out of a window. Loading his guns, he stood up thinking that it was over. He knew Dodge was bad, but not this bad. As Kramor walked to the merchants, bullets started flying past him, he jumped inside the merchant store. Throwing a double eagle to the owner.
"I need three boxes of 44's, please."
Shaking his head, Kramor shot another off a horse.

Darkpoet · Post by **Darkpoet** » Fri Jun 08, 2001 2:53 pm

Looking up.
"He will be fine, he's going to have a headache. You think Bessie's running guns? You look better since you had your bath."
Darkpoet said laughing.

T'lainya · Post by **T'lainya** » Fri Jun 08, 2001 3:09 pm

Ms T looked at DP.."Wish I could say the same." she drawled. "I don't know if she's running guns, but she's at least holding them for someone. "

Darkpoet · Post by **Darkpoet** » Fri Jun 08, 2001 3:15 pm

"When will you get any of those messages back? We will have to keep an eye out, when her next shipment comes in. Why this town?"

T'lainya · Post by **T'lainya** » Fri Jun 08, 2001 3:21 pm

"That's a good question. Why here? Either this was planned or there's someone or something here that's involved. Maybe this has been part of the path for a while and we stumbled into it. Or there's someone here who's deeply involved."

Darkpoet · Post by **Darkpoet** » Fri Jun 08, 2001 3:26 pm

"Unless someone knew Loner wasn't going to be sheriff. That would bring it down to one person, Aaron. It would bring his status up, if he brought guns to his people. The only thing is, where did he get the money?"

T'lainya · Post by **T'lainya** » Fri Jun 08, 2001 3:34 pm

"Hmm.. could be any number of ways..robbing a bank or train, or running a saloon. How many people knew you were undercover DP? It seems like Bessie made a beeline straight for you." Just then a knock came on the office door. "Come in." Ms T yelled.
The boy from the telegraph office stood there. "This is for you ma'am."

Darkpoet · Post by **Darkpoet** » Fri Jun 08, 2001 3:41 pm

Darkpoet thought for a moment.
"Just some high up officers, there was a major, that didn't like Kramor and I. But, that was back during the war between the States. What does the message say?"

T'lainya · Post by **T'lainya** » Fri Jun 08, 2001 3:49 pm

"It's from a friend of my pa's who now works for one of the big rifle makers. He said that the shipments for the army are kept secret, as to destination and route. A military agent and some guards take the shipment from the company. Then they control the planning from there. In the company itself, only the 3 or 4 highest ranking men know which supplies are meant for the army. He also said there's an order for a large amount of those new repeating rifles scheduled to go out soon."

Darkpoet · Post by **Darkpoet** » Fri Jun 08, 2001 3:53 pm

"So that means that a whiskey and beer shipment will be here soon. So, it means one of us has to get close to Bessie. I say you, I think you will do just fine."