Kame was standing a little aside from the group of widely yawning soldiers, soothing Ukushi across her long neck slowly. He was wondering gloomily, if it was not a big mistake to leave the city now. He spotted a tall figure rushing toward the stalls, in front of which they were waiting for Captain Walker, who needed to arrange something at the post office before their departure. It was Jin, dressed in his travelling clothes, the dark hat capturing his usually disheveled hair, the red scarf around his neck and the lobes of his coat flying behind him as the young man walked quickly to the open entrance.
Kazuya had to kick himself to stop adoring the older one. He was upset about his own incapability to control those feelings, which flooded him every time he saw the handsome gunslinger.
Jin noticed his presence as well, his eyebrows rose in surprise and then, just before he stepped inside the wooden building, he moved with his head a little, indicating Kame to follow him.
The bartender first checked his future companions for the journey, making sure that the soldiers didn´t pay any attention to him.
"Stay on alert," he whispered into Ukushi´s ear and entered the stalls hastily.
He found Jin in Kuro´s stable, where he was just fastening the saddle on the animal, preparing him to leave. The stallion seemed quite excited from the opportunity to get out, as he was snorting softly.
"What´s going on?" Kame asked in a quiet voice.
"I don´t know," Jin responded and reached out for the bridle, which was hanging on the wall. "I was just told that we´re leaving for the farm, immediately. And I have a bad feeling about it. That boy who came to tell me was weird," he said and patted Kuro´s neck gratefully, appreciating that he remained calm despite Jin moving around him in a hurry.
"What do you mean by ´weird´?" Kame knitted his eyebrows concerned.
Jin turned to face the younger one, his eyes hidden in the hat´s shadow.
"I think he was scared…" he said slowly. "And also nervous. It seems that Grenet is not in a good mood."
"That´s never good news," Kame stated cheerlessly.
This information only piled to his doubts about going out into the woods.
"What about you? What are you doing here with them?" Jin asked, looking toward the stalls´ exit for a second, from where the voices of soldiers were heard.
"Walker asked me for help again, to find the Sioux rebels," Kame answered carefully. "I´ll help them to search for the tracks."
Jin´s mouth created a not very satisfied shape and then he turned to his horse again. But Kame already knew this expression of the older one, which he used when he didn´t like something.
"For how long?" came Jin´s next question.
"Two, maybe three days," Kame shrugged. "Depends on how it will go."
"Hmm…"
A hardly recognizable murmur could mean anything and Kame had no time to examine what, as he already heard Walker outside.
"Listen, Jin..."
The dark eyes stopped checking if the bridle was placed in Kuro´s muzzle correctly and focused at Kame.
"If anything happens and I won´t be here, leave the message with my mother, all right?" he asked the older one urgently.
"Agreed…" Jin nodded.
"Fine, I have to go now…"
Kame managed to make only one step, before he was stopped by the gentle touch on his wrist. He turned back to Jin questioningly, trying to ignore the fact that his heart started to beat faster only thanks to that simple gesture. The fingers holding him were firm and warm.
"Be careful, Kame," Jin´s voice was soft and Kazuya had a feeling that the older one wanted to say something more, but he changed his mind in the end.
"You too. Especially around Grenet," he emphasized worriedly.
"Don´t worry, I´ll step on his neck first," Jin grinned, but the expression seemed to be forced to Kame. He gulped down to push back that bad feeling from their separation.
"I know you will…" he said aloud, to ensure more himself than Jin. "See you soon."
"Yeah..."
Jin released his hold and Kame moved away, slipping from it. He rushed back to the soldiers and didn´t look back. He was afraid that if he did, he wouldn´t have been able to leave anymore.
"Ah, Kamenashi!" the captain called as soon as he spotted the young bartender. "Here you are! Are you ready?"
Kame just nodded shortly and with a quick move, he got on his patiently waiting mare. Fortunately, the annoying numbness already left his body and almost all the bruises were gone by that time, so at least he didn´t have to expect any problems of that kind on their journey.
"All right!" Walker was first to follow his example, bobbing up into the saddle. "Soldiers! We´re leaving!"
When Jin came out of the stalls only a few seconds later, leading Kuro by the bridle, the group had already disappeared behind the corner, leaving only tracks in the muddy ground.
*
On the way to Karnaka´s farm, Jin´s bad mood and suspicion didn´t disappear despite him trying to suppress it and behave casually. Grenet was not talking to him; or better say, he didn´t even look at him, ignoring him all the way. So that hunch, which was telling Jin to end this game and run while he still could, just got stronger.
But he had no evidence that something was wrong, it was just his stupid feeling and he was not such a coward to run away from the first obstacle in his way. There was still his vow to avenge Yamapi. Therefore, he remained with the fast-riding horsemen till the very end, until they reached the white ranch.
Still unusually silent Grenet disappeared in the house, leaving them alongside the building just as before. His men started to chat excited and curious, obviously not sure about what was going on either.
Jin went aside a little, turning his back to them and just to be sure, he checked his revolvers. They were both loaded and ready to shoot anytime. But it wouldn´t help him much, if he was forced to go in front of that scary old man without them as usually.
He sighed, leaving that issue to the destiny and he wanted to go back to Kuro, who was tied to the same pole as the first time they were on this place, when he spotted a black woman in the beige uniform going out of the back door, which probably led into the kitchen. She was dragging some basket, which looked awfully heavy. She wasn´t old, not even ugly, but she seemed ill. Her dark skin looked greyish and she was panting heavily, the drops of sweat on her forehead.
Jin didn´t think about it much, when his feet moved. He always tried to ignore all those slaves around, but it was an almost impossible task for him and at the moment, he could use something what would suppress his nervousness a little. The woman was so focused at her job, that she didn´t notice the young gunslinger coming until he stood right in front of her. She was so surprised, that she didn´t even protest, when Jin took the basket out of her hands.
"Where do you need this, madam?"
The slave just opened her mouth, staring at him, totally shocked. Jin smiled a little to encourage her.
"It´s all right," he stated firmly. "I´ll carry it away, just tell me where to."
The black one moved with her hand slowly and pointed with it at the huge pit of compost railed with the wooden fence nearby. Only then Jin realized that he took quite a smelly thing from her, as the basket probably contained the leftovers of food. He was there throwing the content of basket onto the rotting pile in the pit faster than the woman was able to stop being amazed.
"Here you go," he said, giving the empty container back to her.
Once again, her lips parted to say something, but before she could, another voice outran her.
"What the hell are you doing here, Akanishi?"
It was one of his companions, that youngster who came for him to the saloon, almost running toward them. The woman practically tore the basket out of Jin´s hands and disappeared back in the house.
"Nothing important," Jin shrugged. "No big deal."
"Are you completely stupid?" Danny was more upset than Jin had expected. He started to push him back to the group quite roughly. "We must not help the slaves, you idiot!"
Jin didn´t like being tossed around by somebody younger than himself, so he resisted and stopped, causing that Danny almost tripped over him.
"Why?" he asked the younger man sharply. "What´s so bad about it?"
"Because they´re Mr. Karnaka´s slaves, damn it!" the youngster exclaimed. "I just hope nobody saw you!"
"Even if, then what," Jin murmured annoyed. "Fucked up rules..."
Danny stared at him wide-eyed, as Jin returned to his horse without saying anything else.
*
Kame didn´t realize that he was unconsciously directing his mare out of the most convenient path cutting through the woods in the north from Bozeman, until Ukushi herself stopped her movement forward and turned her white head back to check up on her master, snorting slightly. Only then he had noticed that his hands were holding the bridle more tightly than was necessary, forcing the animal to go to one side, so that they ended up between the huge ugly puddle of mud and the bunch of thorny bushes.
Kazuya sighed in resignation over own restlessness. He let himself being carried away by thoughts about Jin once again.
If only the older one didn´t behave how he did. He wanted to be Kame´s friend, but did he not realize that he was supposed to keep his distance a little then? Why did Jin have to be so... irresistible? But then again, Kame would have not fallen for him, if his attitude was colder. Well, probably, how could one know?
The young bartender reached out his hand to touch Ukushi in a silent apology and incited her to move on. Together they outran the soldiers who were following their leader obediently in a straight line and he caught up with Walker´s horse in the front.
"So... Kamenashi," the blue eyes pierced him with a surprising urgency before he could say anything. "Are you ready to discuss our course of action now?" the captain asked.
Kame felt the embarrassment running over his face. Captain must have noticed his daydreaming...
"My apologies, Captain, I was a little distracted."
"It´s all right, if you´re fully awake now," Walker assured him.
"Yes, of course," Kame nodded firmly, grateful that the man didn´t want to investigate his behaviour any further.
"Great. So, any ideas?"
Kame let all information, which he had received from the captain and his soldiers about the attack so far, go through his mind once again, before he replied.
"What parts of the outskirts you´ve already searched through?"
"Mainly the south, the surroundings of the road to the Blackfeet Tribe as well. And my men have also checked the area under the Bridger Canyon."
"Bridger Canyon?" Kame repeated surprised. "Around Karnaka´s property? Why there in particular?"
"I was informed that there have occurred some theft issues recently…"
"Informed by Grenet, I guess," the younger one murmured narrowing his eyebrows.
"Yes, by the deputy," Walker confirmed.
"I´m sure he had presented you his ideas along with that," Kame assumed.
"I thought that by now you already know, that I do not accuse anyone without evidence, Kamenashi," the captain stated.
"Yes, Captain, I know," he admitted. "Anyway, I´d like to start at the place where you were attacked..."
This time it was Walker, who observed Kamenashi in surprise.
"Well, I don´t think we can find any more tracks there. We´ve already tried before, but those attackers... It was like they had vanished in the air. And after all that rain..."
"Trust me in this, Captain," Kame persuaded the man. "It´s a good spot to start our search."
Walker repaid the young man´s firm look for a while, before he nodded seriously and took the lead with the fast trot in the direction, where they were supposed to find the future railway track.
*
It took hell a lot of time before Grenet appeared outside again. At least to Jin it seemed that way. At first, he had only noticed that a few gunmen moved away from their horses and disappeared behind the corner. But nobody called him there.
Kuro clipped his ears sharply. Jin looked at the animal and from the sudden impulse, he loosened the knot on his bridle. Then he let his hands partially slip into the pockets of his trousers, keeping them close to the revolvers. He remained leaning over the thick pole pretending to be as relaxed as before.
Shortly after that Grenet came into his field of vision.
"Akanishi! Come here," he ordered him strictly, waiting just at the corner of the building.
Jin left his spot and walked toward the man, feeling tenser than a string of his guitar. Checking the situation quickly, he found the rest of gunmen resting on the other side of the building, leaning over the wall or the railing of veranda. It seemed too casual, though...
"Without your guns," Grenet informed him. "Our boss wants so speak with you."
Then the deputy set off toward the front entrance without looking back and one of his subordinates reached out the hand to Jin, waiting for his revolvers. It took him a lot of efforts to stay calm, when he handed them over and went after Grenet. Nobody stopped him; they were just watching him quietly.
Grenet was standing at the entrance and when Jin reached him, he indicated him to go inside first, where that creepy servant was already waiting to lead him to Karnaka.
"Move your ass, now," Grenet´s voice was sharp and filled with suppressed anger. Hearing it, Jin looked into the man´s eyes and almost jumped back for his revolvers, recognizing the burning hostility in them. That wasn´t good...
"Don´t make me repeat it, dumbass," Grenet growled and pushed Jin inside the corridor toward Cameron who led the way.
There were other guards inside, watching his every single step. There was nothing he could do. If he resisted and tried to escape, it would have only meant his exposure. The second option was to follow the servant and find out what made Grenet so pissed.
They entered the same huge saloon as before, in which the master of the mansion always met with his subordinates.
"Jin Akanishi," Karnaka´s voice welcomed him. The old man was sitting in his armchair as usually, smoking a cigar, from which quite a nice smell was leaking out. "Sit," he pointed at the chair right opposite from him with the hand holding the expensive tobacco pleasure.
Jin obeyed and focused his eyes on the old man, trying to find something in his completely unreadable expression. Creepy Cam, as he renamed the servant to himself, took his place at Karnaka´s left hand and Grenet remained standing right behind Jin´s chair.
The tension already flooded his whole body, and he couldn´t hide it anymore, at least not in front of Karnaka, judging according to the man´s next words.
"Relax, boy," his boss said. "I would like to ask you just a few questions."
"Of course, sir," Jin managed to react.
A very cold look focused on him directly and basically froze him in the chair.
"You came here from Billings, am I right?" Karnaka asked; his voice incredibly calm and composed.
Jin gulped down before he was able to talk: "That´s true."
"Then I´m sure that a name Yamashita Tomohisa rings a bell for you..."
Hearing Yamapi´s name from the mouth of that gangster was as if somebody hit Jin with a pan. He felt his chin turned into the stone, when he responded. He felt that there would be absolutely no point in lying anymore.
"Yes, I knew him, sir," he admitted and waited for the final blow.
"And how well did you know him?" Karnaka asked, still so damn calm.
Jin took a slow breath: "He was my friend."
He heard Grenet´s feet shifting over the expensive carpet, but didn´t move even one muscle. Jin knew he was in big trouble this time, but he was still holding on to the possibility of talking out of it.
"A friend, huh," the old man took a deep inhale from his cigar. "So, I suppose you´re familiar with the issue he had with me."
Jin assumed that he could say nothing else than a truth in this case either. Somehow, they had found out about his relation to Yamapi. It was not important how, but what consequences would come out from it for him.
"Yes... I know that he didn´t want to sell his lands to you, sir," and somehow he found the courage and mainly the nerves to add the next sentence. "But that was solved after he was condemned to death, wasn´t it?"
Karnaka blinked. It was only a blink, but Jin grasped for this hint as if it was the last straw.
Yes, I can talk out from this...
"Well, if you take it that way, then yes," Karnaka nodded. "But what do you think about his verdict, Akanishi?"
Jin tried to look confused: "What exactly do you mean, sir? I just know that he was condemned by the judge for a murder. He paid for what he did. What should I think about it?"
"He´s lying," Grenet hissed behind his back angrily. "He´s lying, sir, I´m sure that...!"
"Silence, Math."
Grenet shut up obeying the cold order. Karnaka focused on Jin again.
"So, you do not blame me for what happened with your friend?"
"There is no reason to blame you, sir," Jin said, but his voice grated like the old hinges and he knew it.
Karnaka kept their eye contact for three long seconds, before he started to pay attention to his cigar again.
"You know, boy, I´d like to believe you," he said slowly. "So, I´ll give you a chance to prove your loyalty to me, what do you say?"
The bad feeling returned to Jin with a full force. Grenet behind his chair murmured something very vulgar, but no one was paying attention to him.
"I appreciate it, sir," he said seriously.
"Great," Karnaka doused his cigar in the ashtray. "Listen, I have a small problem with one family in the city. They are not willing to understand their place; you know what I mean, boy?"
Jin nodded, waiting for the order nervously.
"I´d like you help me to solve it. You´ll go to the city and burn their house down. And if they stay inside during the process, it would be very helpful."
Jin watched the old man´s calm face, as he had just sentenced some probably innocent people to death. Did he have the same expression when he gave an order to get rid of Yamapi? Or Kame´s family? Jin started to feel sick and he had to clench his hands into fists, so that the nails hurt his skin, to keep himself sitting.
"Math will help you to cover the tracks, you do not need to worry," Karnaka finished his instructions.
"I understand, sir," Jin was almost surprised he was still able to talk. "Who are they? That family, which causes problems to you?"
"Ah, right. They are Kamenashi´s," Karnaka revealed casually.
The blood in Jin´s veins changed into burning ice. His breath was captured in the lungs and he was not able to push it out again. His heart skipped a beat, before racing up again in crazy speed.
Kamenashi... Kazuya and his mother... That can´t be real...
"There are only two of them. Mother and her son," Cameron completed the information calmly, only to assure Jin that he didn´t overhear that horrific information.
"It should not be difficult for somebody as capable as Math told us you´re," Karnaka continued nodding his head.
Even in the case of some unknown family, Jin wouldn´t have been able to fulfil this order. He would have tried to warn them or something. But Kamenashi´s... He pressed his lips together; he wouldn´t have been able to say something even if he wanted, his throat was too clenched for it.
"And it suits you," Karnaka added suddenly. "Your father was the one who had already started the solution of this problem. It will be only right if you finish what he screwed up, right?"
That cruel cold voice was booming with echoes in Jin´s head. He couldn´t believe own ears.
My father? My father was the one who... Oh, hell no... No... No!
"Akanishi," the old gangster was expecting his reaction.
"Yes, you´re right, sir."
Jin didn´t know, who said that, because it was definitely not him. But Karnaka seemed satisfied with that.
"Excellent. Now you can go. I expect the results till the end of week. Cameron, next cigar. I feel like having one more today."
"Move, greenhorn!" the ugly voice almost knocked Jin off the chair. "We´ve got a job to do."
Jin got up and turned away from the sitting man, to whom his servant was just lightning up the next bloody expensive nail in the coffin, which was nowhere to be seen, unfortunately. Grenet in front of him turned too, and Jin´s eyes spotted the gun under the belt. Grenet was the only one allowed to take his weapon for meeting with Karnaka. It was probably the only thing capable to cause any harm in the whole room, and within the reach of his hand.
Not many things ran through Jin´s mind during those mere two seconds. He didn´t think about what he was doing. He just did what his heart told him to do. His heart simply knew that he would never be able to harm Kazuya or his mother, no matter the circumstances. No matter if he had to give up on his revenge.
This was his only chance. It was close to impossible that there would be any other opportunity for him being in one room with Karnaka and a shooting weapon. He had to try it now. No time to think about what would happen then.
By the movement, which was faster than anything he had ever done, Jin grabbed the revolver and took it out from its sheath. Grenet´s head twitched back to him immediately, but he was too late. Like a flash, Jin turned back to the comfortable armchair and that heartless murderer sitting in it and he pulled the trigger…
*
Kame´s eyes observed the ruefully empty space in the middle of the woods. The trees were cut down, the stumps refuted along with their roots, the ground flattened. There were no rails, not yet. Only the nature was raped and its shape recreated to adapt it to the progress of civilization. Very soon, there was supposed to be the iron road for locomotives, which would be churning out the smoke and dirt onto the pure green trees, which were left around, and which would scare off the wild animals, forcing them to retreat deeper into their territory or be killed by the merciless technology, which was invented to make the human life easier.
But it was not only the animals´ territory. It also belonged to Indians, since always. It was clear why they were angry, why they still fought for what was their homeland, despite the fact they were already almost exterminated by the greedy white nation. And there he was, helping out those people, those thieves, despite him wishing with his whole being to stop that mad expansion into places, which were sacred to his friends, to his second family.
"Kamenashi?" Captain Walker was observing the young bartender worriedly. "Is there something wrong?"
"Everything," the young man responded quietly.
Walker raised his eyebrows, but Kame didn´t let him ask more questions. There would be absolutely no point in trying to explain to the soldier what he felt.
"You told me that they attacked from both sides of this... road, right?" he asked while still looking at that ugly scar in otherwise beautiful landscape. "And then they ran off to the east, toward the lake."
"Yes," Walker nodded. "We had searched there already; I thought that they might have their camp somewhere near the water. But we didn´t find a single clue."
"I think they just tried to puzzle you. I doubt they would have camped at the lake´s bank, they would have been too exposed there," Kame was thinking aloud now. "They pretended to retreat in the direction of lake, but I would search for them on the opposite side."
"In those mountains?" Walker´s eyebrows went high. "It doesn´t seem very friendly there..."
He was not wrong; the peaks on the right side were almost bare of any green colour and very sharp even from this distance. But Kame knew the way how the Indians think well and under what conditions they were able to survive.
"When are the workers supposed to reach this area?" Kame asked.
"In the spring, but to be honest I doubt that; they always promise impossible," Walker reacted. "I don´t think that any train will go through here sooner than within two years."
"But the surveyors you protect are checking it now already," the younger guy objected. "It´s only my opinion, but Sioux rebels want to prevent the construction of this railway at all costs. And when they found out about this preparation, they focused on that. They won´t allow anyone to work on it here. And also, the winter will be coming soon. If they moved to this area, I suppose they will stay here, at least till the spring. In the mountains they are well hidden and protected; nobody would think that they will be hiding there, exactly as you. They control the future railway, they´re safe and they can attack easily, too. I´m not saying they´re somewhere there for sure. But if they are, they must hunt and collect some provisions for the winter, so I think it´s worth of checking if we find any tracks after them."
Kame stopped talking and found the rest of the group staring at him wordlessly, including the captain.
"What is it?" he asked feeling uncomfortable.
"You know quite a lot about Indians, Kamenashi," Walker said obviously impressed.
"I lived among them for years," Kame murmured. "But again, I´m telling you these are my assumptions."
"But I think you´re completely right," Walker nodded. "Back on the horses, we still have time, so we will check it. Can you lead the way?"
"Of course..."
*
They proceeded quite well from the start, but very soon the terrain got more difficult and they had to look for the possible ways to get higher carefully.
They were going through the area, where they had to overcome the huge rocks, which blocked their headway, when suddenly, Ukushi snorted a short warning. Kame stiffened on her back, listening to the wind in the tree tops behind them. Walker stopped his horse too.
"What´s going on?" the uniformed man asked.
Kame raised his hand to hush him and kept checking their surroundings. He felt being watched. And right after his ears caught the strange whiz, which he knew very well, he realized it was not only a feeling.
"Watch out!!" he yelled at the group behind him and slipped down from Ukushi, just in time to avoid an arrow, which was aiming at his neck.
Walker and two soldiers were quick enough to follow him and covered themselves behind their horses too, but the other two were not so lucky. The lethal arrows found their goals. The last man in their line fell with the arrow in his right eye. The other one ended up on the ground screaming in pain, as the thing pierced his shoulder.
"That rock!" Walker screamed the order. "Quickly!"
Kame knew what place the captain had on his mind, he had already spotted it as well. It was the huge stone in the steep, which could cover them from above. But first they had to get there through the rainfall of arrows...