A LITTLE FALL OF RAIN
By Jo
Part Ten:
Eppie's hands were free. She let herself down to a seated position again and
reached shakily up to pull out her gag. It had almost adhered to the lining of
her mouth and as she pulled it out, the repressed bile welled up and she vomited
and vomited. Her throat was left raw, ravaged as though scraped by razors. As
she began work on the ropes around her ankles, she heard the back door open
again and the muffled sound of several boots crossing the stables. Frantically,
her fingers clawed at the thick ropes. How many goddamn knots WERE there!! She
tried to work at them quietly, keeping her movements from the ears of the men
waiting for Ben, but her heart was pounding so she figured surely they must be
able to hear it.
A shovel was knocked over in the darkness and someone whispered, "Dammit,
Finley! Quiet!"
She tore a nail half off, but she loosened the final knot and got to her knees,
creeping forward to the edge of the stall. A flash of lightning shone in through
the front entry that had been deliberately left half open, revealing four men,
two on either side of the door, two more a bit further back. She didn't know
what they'd do, what they'd done, to lure Ben to the stables, but they'd
probably dangled something irresistible in front of him.
Then her breath stopped. Someone was running toward the stables from across the
street, splashing heedlessly in puddles as they came. Oh, God...BEN! As fast as
she could, she moved along the inner side wall of the stable, then down the
front.
Ben paused in the doorway, his form backlit by another lightning stroke. Her
heart leapt in her chest and she tried to shout, to warn him away, but nothing
more than the smallest squeak came out of her mouth. Her throat burned, was too
raw, refused to do what she desperately asked of it. Then the lightning was gone
and everything was pitch black again.
Ben unholstered his gun, stepping cautiously around the half-open door, trying
to see inside the stable. The men tensed, waiting for another flash. Frank had
been watching from just inside the rear door, cursing silently that the dolts
hadn't taken advantage of that first bolt. Idiots! He'd hired idiots!
Eppie halted in the darkness, inside the stall closest to the door. She could
hear someone breathing not far away. Was it Ben, or one of Frank's men? She
couldn't tell, so stayed where she was, trying to think what to do next.
Suddenly there was a low, warbling whistle, the one Ben used to call the black.
Eppie recognized it instantly. His horse, in its stall off to his right,
answered with a loud nicker. So, the whole horse thief thing had been a lie, a
set-up. Entirely alert, he half-crouched, finding the edge of the first stall
with his left hand.
The source of the warble let Eppie know the man breathing near her wasn't her
Ben. She felt around quietly for a shovel, anything to use as a weapon. But
lightning flashed again, revealing Ben still too near the door, and a shot rang
out, plowing through the muscle of his upper left arm. Eppie heard him make a
small gasp, heard the cock of a revolver only a few feet to her left. Her hand
found a rake and she swung it, feeling it impact some unseen part of the man,
heard him fall to his knees. She swung it again, aiming for where she hoped his
head might be, successfully making contact, though his gun discharged as he fell
forward. That set off the three other men firing at where they'd last seen Ben.
Ben had moved, though, over to his right, and aimed in the darkness at the gun
flashes. Two bodies thudded heavily to the floor.
Ben couldn't move further from the door than he was, though, as the fourth man
seemed to
have more than one weapon and
kept up a barrage that held Ben in place. A bullet grazed his left shoulder and
he bit his lip, had to let one knee touch the floor. Ben took careful aim, using
his best judgment, and shot through the inky blackness. There was an immediate
cry and a body crashed through the side of a stall.
That was four. Eppie knew Frank had hired four men so she ran toward the door,
trying to call Ben's name. She squeaked again and he jerked around, aiming the
Hand of God in her direction. "BEN!" she finally gasped raggedly just as his
finger began to squeeze the trigger.
"Eppie?"
She practically stumbled over him. "Oh, Ben!" She was crying, hiccupping,
panting. "That's all! There was only four, Ben, only four!"
"How...why are you here, Eppie?"
"Tied me up. I was followin', heard their planning'. Left me in a sack in the
corner." Talking was still a great effort.
"You were followin'...?" Some of what she'd done began to dawn on him.
She nodded even though he couldn't see. "Danger, Ben. You was in danger. I hadda
stop 'em."
"Oh, Eppie, I didn't know where...."
"But I did, Wade."
Unseen, Frank had come across the stable. Lightning came again, showing where Ben knelt, Eppie on her knees just beside him, Frank about ten feet away, a rifle pointed at Ben's chest. Ben had dropped his gun beside his knee so he could clutch his left arm, trying to stop the flow of blood.
"I saw you looking at my sister, Wade. You wanted to get her in your bed, didn't
you? Wanted to get your filthy hands all over her body." He smiled, and both Ben
and Eppie heard him cock his rifle.
"NO!" Eppie screamed, the sound tearing up her throat, reverberating through the
blackness of the stable. She flung herself sideways in front of Ben, the rifle
bullet ripping into the center of her back. Her sudden movement pushed Ben over
on his rear, but he grabbed his gun as he toppled, getting off a shot that took
Frank right through his forehead.
"EPPIE!" Ben shouted, groping to find her. She lay face-down just to his left.
"Oh...Eppie!" He couldn't SEE! Awkwardly, his arm protesting mightily, he
gathered up her small form, stumbling a few feet backwards out the door, falling
again on his rear just into the street in a large puddle, Eppie still held
tightly in his arms.
The shots had attracted quite a number of people from the surrounding area.
Cora, a shawl over her head, came down the hotel steps and crossed the street
tentatively. Several men held lanterns as they gathered in almost a semi-circle
around where Ben sat. Cora's eyes went wide, her hand flying to her mouth. Ben
was moaning, rocking back and forth.
Eppie's eyes fluttered open. "Ben?"
"I'm here, Eppie, I'm here. I've got you."
"You all right?"
"Mostly. Nothin' to worry 'bout."
"Don't believe you."
"Left arm. Nothin' more'n that. Just my left arm."
"Didn't know Frank'd be there, too."
"He'd have got me sure, Eppie, but for you."
"I did good?"
"You done the very best. No one never done better, Eppie."
She squeezed her eyes tightly closed, shuddering in pain. Desperately he tried
to brush wet strands of hair from her face as though somehow that might help.
The rain was still falling and he leaned his body over her, wanting to shelter
her from it.
She opened her eyes, looking up into his. "Oh, Ben, a little fall of rain ain't
gonna hurt me none. Not now."
"Shhh, Eppie. You're goin' to be all right. You have to be all right."
"Why, Ben?"
"I need you, Eppie. I didn't know how much, but I need you."
"You always had me, Ben. Always."
He nodded, tears mingling with the rain on his cheeks. "I'm sorry. Oh, dammit,
Eppie, I'm so sorry." He leaned over her more, still trying to shelter her with
himself, needing to give some little thing back to her.
"You gonna keep me safe, Ben, keep me warm?"
He nodded, almost blind with his tears.
"You know what, Ben?"
"What? Anything, Eppie, anything!"
"I always," she coughed violently, blood appearing on her lips. "I always
wanted...to...sleep some night...in your arms."
"Oh...Eppie," he moaned.
She smiled, a little froth of blood bubbling now at the corner of her mouth.
"Tonight, Ben. I think I'll sleep there tonight."
One of her hands came weakly
up to touch his face. He saw all the deep cuts and marks on it, saw in her eyes
what he meant to her, then again for a moment his tears blurred it all away. He
felt the flutter of her fingers on his cheek and she whispered, "I love you."
Her eyes half-closed, opened again. "With all o' me, Ben Wade. Ever' bit loves
you." A long sighing sound came out of her mouth. "Think I'll go to sleep...."
And her head lolled to the side.
"Eppie?" He lifted her more, pressing her higher to his chest, rocking her again
in the rain, still, too late, trying to shelter her. "I love you, my Eppie. I
love you. Do you hear me? I love you."
Cora soaked now to the skin, looked past them toward the dark interior of the
stable, presuming her brother lay dead somewhere inside. Then she looked back at
Ben, still desperately whispering to the dead girl, "I love you." And she knew
with everything she was that he did. Quietly she turned and walked back to the
hotel, stopping at the desk long enough to make a small puddle and to ask what
time the stage left in the morning.
(There may be a sequel if I can think what I want to do.)