The main street was flooded with dark orange color of the setting sun, which peeked out from behind the edge of heavy clouds, like the last reminder of its presence at the sky before upcoming rainy day. The whining creak of the old hinges cut through the air, as Mr. Franko was just closing his shop. The citizens of Bozeman were on their way home or to the saloon, depending on how successful day they had.
Mr. Brice was welcomed home by his daughter, who sent a deeply worried look towards their neighbors' house on the other side of the street, before closing the door behind her father.
Only Dr. Best just mounted his peaceful horse and set off on his regular evening tour across the residences, which were located farther from the city center, to check on those patients, who couldn´t visit his clinic personally.
Math Grenet, who was standing on the veranda smoking probably the tenth cigarette of the day, followed the leaving old man with the scornful look. The doc happened to be quite annoying, when he wanted. He came to his office, looking for a patient, who didn´t come for the regular check.
Who the hell he thinks I am? The watcher of all people in this boring town?
It didn´t matter, that Best was more than right to go to the sheriff´s office directly. Now Grenet was quite glad that he managed to keep his prisoner a secret in front of the old sheriff. That asshole could have screwed up everything within a blink of eye. As if he didn´t have more than enough idiotic people around...
"Did you go blind?" he asked sharply, when the doctor´s figure disappeared behind the last house in the long row.
"No, we didn´t, boss," there was a response next to him, where two of his stupid subordinates were shifting their feet nervously.
"Did your horses suddenly collapse to the ground?" he raised the second question.
"No, chief," this time the tone of the reply was more hesitant.
"Did Kamenashi fall through some Hell hole?" he gritted through his teeth.
One of the men coughed suppressing the laugh.
"Probably not..."
"Are you retarded?!" Grenet snapped, so that they both made a step back and shook with their heads at the same time. "So, how comes that you lost him?!"
"He... He´s smart, chief," the older one started blabbering some excuses. "He left the lantern..."
"Are you serious?!" Grenet cut in. "Really? He´s just a fucking pretty boy! And what took you so long to get back here?!"
"But, chief..."
"Shut up and fetch me another beer!"
Both men tripped over each other, almost breaking their heads, which wouldn´t have been such a waste, as they rushed down the veranda and then toward the saloon.
"Fucking idiots..." Math relieved his anger in spitting over the railing.
He was not afraid that Kamenashi would not obey. His precious mother in mortal danger was enough to make the boy do exactly as he told him to. Nevertheless, he would feel better to go for that smart shithead Akanishi himself and drag him for that overgrown hair of his back to the farm.
Math doused the cigarette, intending to go inside and wait for those idiots to come back, when the gallop of some horse resonated across the street, getting closer. He checked on the rider and recognized that dark guard Ned from the farm.
"What are you doing here?" he asked him annoyed, in expectation of another problem.
"Greetings, boss. A message for you, from Mr. Karnaka," the Negro said, as he dismounted the horse and handed him over the small piece of tough paper. "Change of orders," he added.
Grenet skimmed through the short message and stared at it for a while, before an ugly smirk curved his face into the victorious expression of wicked goblin.
"You should report yourself on the farm then, as soon as you finish your task. That´s all," Ned completed the information and jumped onto his horse again. "And burn it, boss."
"I´m not an idiot like all of you," Grenet hissed, crumpling the paper into the small ball.
"Till next time," Ned nodded his head and turned his horse for the immediate way back. In a certain way Grenet understood, why Karnaka kept this dirty crossbreed in his service. He was capable and reliable, not like the others.
"Danny!!" he shouted out even before Ned´s horse got out of sight.
"Yes, chief?" there was a quite fast reaction.
"Bring the kerosene barrel to the jail. Then join those idiots in the saloon and you all stay there."
The youngster in the door blinked confused: "Kerosene, chief?" he asked.
"Yes, are you deaf or what?" Grenet retorted. "The time has come to learn our pretty face, that he shouldn´t play with the fire," the deputy laughed at own joke.
"But..." Danny spoke again, a little dumbfounded. "You gave him one day..."
Grenet turned and his eyes froze Danny on the spot. He moved forward, stopping right in front of him: "Dannie... Do you see any daylight around here?"
The boy gulped down heavily: "Well, a little, sir..."
Grenet leant his head down, staring into his eyes: "I don´t see any... So the day is already over, right?"
"Well, of course, sir, you´re right, sir..." Danny kept blabbering, his voice shaking a little. What appeared in the eyes of his superior at that moment would turn the knees of much tougher men into butter.
Grenet patted the youngster across his face roughly: "Good boy. Now go and fulfil my order."
***
As they approached the city, they slowed down the pace of their horses, paying more attention to their surroundings. They had to be as inconspicuous as possible. If anyone spotted the Indians from Blackfeet Tribe around there, wandering without a reason, it would bring only additional troubles to those they already had with the soldiers.
Therefore, they were carefully getting closer to Bozeman from the south, their movements covered by the woods, while Kame was discussing their strategy with his friend.
"Are you sure you want to wait for the nightfall?" Liwan asked.
"Yes," Kame nodded. "It will be better when nobody sees you. The dark will come soon, so we´ll just wait nearby before we move."
"Will your mother be safe like this?"
"Grenet said I have one day..." he replied frowning, not really sure about the trust he could put into the deputy´s word. "He shouldn´t harm her before my time runs out..."
"All right," Liwan accepted his reasoning. "Do you remember how many men were there?"
"I saw four at the front, two of them inside and..."
Kame´s words were interrupted by the sudden call of one Indian riding behind them: "Hora! Otoke! Erka?"
Both Kame and Liwan stopped and turned their heads. A very young Indian, youngest of their group, with the keenest eyesight, was pointing at something what he saw between two trees, down in the city, as they happened to be at the small hill above it.
With a bad hunch, Kame made Ukushi move forward a little, so he could see what Indian meant.
The crimson orange of the sunset almost completely faded out already, but it looked like some part of it, the small hot spot was left behind in the city, like a forgotten beam. Kame´s eyes stared at it, refusing to understand what it was at first. It was not the sunshine´s leftover; the source of the playful light was something completely else. Something much more hideous...
"It´s a fire," Liwan named what they saw down there.
Kame didn´t say a single word. He couldn´t be sure about it from this distance, but somehow he just knew. He knew it was their house on that place, where they spotted the dangerous flames. He didn´t think about anything, he just pulled Ukushi a little more roughly than usually to turn her to the side and forced her to run.
"Kame! Kame, wait!"
He didn´t hear either Liwan´s calls, or other Indians riding behind him. He just focused to ride forward, to the city, to his home, to his mother...
***
Kame made Ukushi stop so suddenly, that the mare reared up to her back feet, almost throwing him out from the saddle, before getting down again. They both remained standing, for a few like-eternity-long seconds, breathing heavily. Kame stared wide-eyed at the disaster in front of him.
It looked that the whole city was on their feet. People were running around what was left from their house, throwing the buckets of water on the last few places where the fire kept itself steadily. There was an ugly hole in the row of houses, only the collapsed ruin of black wood and ashes and heavy smoke was left from it.
Kame couldn´t move, he couldn´t breathe or think. Their house was gone, burnt to the ground.
"Kamenashi! Thank God, you were not inside!"
His head turned after the voice on its own will, but it cost him a great effort to start perceiving the person too. It was Mr. Harada, his face black from the ashes, rushing toward him.
"We tried, but the flames were too strong, I´m sorry..." Harada breathed out with the obvious difficulties.
Kazuya slid down the saddle, made two steps dividing him from his employer and caught him by the shoulders, surprising Harada with his speed.
"My mother...!" he forced the words to go through the narrow throat. "Where´s my mother?"
"Oh, I´m really sorry, Kame... She´s on the clinic now, but..."
"But? But what?!" Kame snapped desperately.
"She was inside, when the fire started," Harada said heavily. "It doesn´t look well..."
Kame stared at the man, trying to push the meaning of this information away. How could he accept that his mother... His dearest Mum... No, this couldn´t be happening...
Mr. Harada was watching him pitifully and worried, when Kame let his hands go down and remain alongside his hips. It felt like the whole world started to collapse around him.
I was here on time, wasn´t I? My time hasn´t run out yet. Grenet said... Grenet said... despite that Kame felt strangely hot, his hands started to freeze, as he realized the cruel truth.
What the given word meant for a man like Grenet? Nothing more than dust on his shoes… How could he think even for a minute, that man would keep it and let him have the whole day?
"Kamenashi, come with me to the clinic. There´s nothing you can do here," Harada was talking to him in the calming tone, taking Kame for an arm and exhausted Ukushi for the reins with his other hand.
When Harada turned him, Kame spotted the dark figures of his Indian friends at the edge of a small side street. The only thing he was able to do was to shake with his head from one side to another firmly, hoping that they would be reasonable enough to stay out of sight. He knew that at least Liwan would understand...
He let the older man lead their way toward Dr. Best´s clinic. Almost all of its windows were sending the light outside. When they got closer, Kame recognized the whole Brice´s family on the veranda.
Mr. Brice was walking from one side to another with the deadly serious expression, while his wife was sitting on the bench, tears in her eyes and hugging Lena tightly around her shoulders. The girl looked as if she had tried to stuff herself into the chimney, her dress as well as face completely black from the ashes. Seeing the girl tore Kame out from the first shock.
"Kamenashi! Here you are!" Mr. Brice spotted him first.
He stepped up to them, while Harada remained on the street, trying to calm down nervous and foundered Ukushi.
"Mr. Brice," Kame nodded his head absently. "Lena... Are you all right?"
The blonde one raised her tearful eyes to him: "Oh, Kame… I´m so sorry..." she said in a hoarse voice. "So sorry... I couldn´t...sooner..."
"Ssh, dear, you did everything you could," her mother started to soothe the completely disheveled hair of the girl. Only then, Kame noticed that they were partially burnt, the usual thick braid, which used to grace Lena´s head, was gone.
"What happened?" Kame asked convulsively, feeling his hands shaking.
Mr. Brice was the one who remained the calmest, so he replied.
"My daughter saw that bastard Grenet dragging your mother into the house," he said with the obvious anger. "She also saw he was carrying the kerosene barrel, so she ran for Sheriff right away. He tried to stop that man, he really tried, Kamenashi..."
"But Grenet..." Lena sobbed. "He hit him over the head, so hard, just like this... And I... I was scared, I was hidden and then, then the house was in flames already and Grenet was laughing outside and... He went away... I couldn´t leave your mother there... I couldn´t! I went there by the back door, but... But... I was too late... Too late..."
"Ssh, honey, ssh..." despite comforting the girl, her mother was crying even more than Lena.
"You were very brave, dear," Mr. Brice said, but it was quite visible how much he disagreed with what she did. "But it was dangerous..."
Lena just cried quietly, her whole body shaking with sobs.
"I went there too," Mr. Brice continued instead of her. "We found your mother in the bedroom... We... We threw some blanket over her and managed to pull her out. It was in the last second..." Lena´s father started to cough heavily, not able to continue talking.
"So, you both... I..." Kame didn´t know what to say.
They wanted to save his mother despite they could have so easily ended up in the same way, if Grenet had spotted them. Kame was looking at the shocked girl as if he saw her for the first time. She was breathing with difficulties, but otherwise she seemed unharmed. He would never expect from her to be so determined.
Then the door opened and doctor Best went out, his face red, with sweat all over on his forehead.
"Lena, here, drink this. It will help you," he gave the girl some medicine. "Mr. Brice, do you need some too?"
"No, thanks, doctor," the man shook his head, already winning over the attack of coughing. "I´m fine."
"Dr. Best!" Kame blurted out. "My mother! How...?!"
"Kamenashi," the doctor interrupted him firmly. "I have three seriously injured patients and your mother is in a very bad condition."
"But... But... Will she..." Kame was suddenly lacking the air for his lungs.
"I´ll do my best to help her," Dr. Best assured him. "I will call you if necessary. Now let me do my job."
The door closed again. Kame stared at it, as if it could give him more answers. Then he looked at Lena again, who was letting the medicine do its job with her eyes closed, at Mrs. Brice, who was holding her hand still crying and at Mr. Brice who repaid his serious glance. In the end, Kame turned to Mr. Harada, who was still standing under the veranda, with the worried expression and his eyebrows knitted together.
"Where is that man?"
Kame couldn´t recognize own voice, which raised the question, so it was no wonder that everybody´s eyes focused at him. Harada tied his mare´s reins to the rail and approached him slowly.
"Kamenashi, don´t do anything stupid. You know how it works, he..."
"Where is he?" Kame just repeated the question, making Harada frown even more.
"Listen, Kame..." the older man started, but he was interrupted by the emotional voice of the young girl.
"I bet he´s in the saloon."
Kame turned his head to look at Lena again, whose eyes were opened and she was firmly repaying his glance.
"Will you go there?" she asked, her voice still hoarse, and cheeks wet from tears, but the look steady and with the hateful fire in it.
Kame nodded.
"I´ll go with you," the girl stood up, breaking out from her mother´s hold.
"Lena!" her mother gasped for breath, jumping up on her feet. "You can´t!"
"Let me go, Mum!" the blonde girl exclaimed furiously, stepping away from her. Then she looked at her father. "I´m going with Kame," she repeated stubbornly.
Mr. Brice didn´t say anything. Kame already jumped down from the veranda.
"Kamenashi, think about this!" Harada tried to stop him, grasping his arm again.
"I don´t want to think right now, Mr. Harada," Kame replied in a voice unbreakable as the stone, brushed his hand away and with the steady steps he headed across the street.
"Lena! Dear, stop her!" Lena´s mother cried desperately, when the girl rolled up her skirts and ran after Kame. But Mr. Brice didn´t move, he just watched both young people going straight toward the saloon.
"Oh, my dear God..." Harada murmured and rushed after them.
"Dear..." the woman tried to make her husband do something one more time.
Mr. Brice took his wife´s hand, clenching it firmly.
"We´re going too..." he said firmly.
The woman stared at him dumbfounded at first, but then she nodded and they both followed their daughter...
*
The excited conversation from the saloon could be heard along the whole main street. Mainly thanks to the fact, that Grenet and his men settled themselves right on the spacious veranda and were drinking their beers there, while the taproom was almost completely full of thirsty citizens, who gave their best to put down the fire, which meant a threat to other houses too. Fortunately, they managed to do it, so now they enjoyed their reward, given out by Miss McBain and their discussion concerned the recent events.
Nobody knew what actually happened, everybody thought it was an accident, in which a sick woman caused a fire in the kitchen and was not able to escape. As for the sheriff, Grenet supported the version that he was injured by the falling beam, when he was helping to fight the fire. The locals prayed for Mrs. Kamenashi and Sheriff quietly, waiting for any news from the clinic.
Right into this atmosphere, Kame was marching with the fear for his mother´s life and furious anger in his heart. Grenet and his men spotted him, when he was only twenty steps from the saloon. He noticed that awful satisfied smirk on the deputy´s face and that pushed Kame over the edge of his self-control.
Without any thinking, he grabbed his revolver, pulling it out. He stopped ten steps from the veranda, aimed at Grenet, whose eyes widened in surprise; a few of his men shouted warningly and then Kame pulled the trigger. The deafening gunshot shut all ongoing conversations, making the honorable citizens jump up from their chairs.
But Grenet was still standing there, leaning over the railing, beer in his hand and repaying Kamenashi´s sharp look. At first, he got shocked by how fast that boy attacked him, with the obvious attempt to kill him on the spot, but now he was quite amused. Who would say that little whore would be the one saving his life? She obviously had her savior day...
It really was Lena, who managed to catch up with Kame in the last second. She grabbed his hand, pushing it down, so that the shot went directly into the muddy ground. Otherwise, he would not have missed Grenet´s head...
Kame was gritting his teeth, frozen in this position, Lena hanging with all her flyweight on him.
"Kame, don´t do this, please! He´s not worth of you going to jail!" the girl urged desperately.
He heard her, but he didn´t listen. He perceived only that awful grin of the man, who was clearly focused on the complete destruction of his life.
"Take him inside!" Grenet ordered his men, obviously having fun. "It seems that we need to chat."
"Kame..." Lena spoke again, as the gunmen approached them carefully, while Grenet already entered the taproom. "Give it to me..."
She placed her palm across the gun. Only after having Grenet out of his sight, Kame was able to look at her. The pleading eyes made him shake that red thing covering his mind off and he released his grip around the revolver. Four Grenet´s men surrounded them, with weapons in their hands, but Kame didn´t care about them and just moved to the saloon.
"Give me that gun," one of gunmen requested with the hand raised toward Lena.
"Don´t think I cannot use this thing too," the girl hissed at him surprisingly rebellious.
"He just tried to shoot the sheriff´s deputy," the man snorted, pointing at Kame.
"Exactly, he did, not me," Lena retorted. "I have a right to keep it."
"Forget it, girl and give it to me," Grenet´s subordinate grabbed her by an elbow.
Just before Kame could break his bones for that, as he would definitely be able to in his current mood, the older man slipped between other two gunmen.
"Don´t you dare to touch my daughter!" he snapped at the man, pushing him away.
Grenet´s underling was so baffled from that non-scared attitude that he just stared at Lena´s father, as he took the revolver from her hand gently.
"I´ll take it, honey," he said in a completely different tone.
The gunmen looked at each other somehow confused, before they just shrugged and two of them approached Kame to take him inside the saloon.
"Hands off!" he hissed so threateningly, that they moved from his way without objections.
Kame headed to the entrance on his own will, with Lena right in his tracks, while husbands Brices followed them as well as Mr. Harada, who was already waiting next to the swinging door.
The taproom was brightly lit, full of smoke from cigarettes and guests, who just removed their glances from Grenet sitting at one of the tables to Kame, who went in. When young Kamenashi stopped in front of smoking and obviously drunk Grenet, and his gunmen started to occupy both exits, four farmers from the corner stood up from the table with the clear intention to disappear from the saloon, and it seemed they would be followed by others, too. But Grenet was not that drunk to not notice that.
"No need to run away, my fellow citizens," he stated loudly. "I think it will be better if we have some witnesses here..."
The farmers stopped and after some whispering returned to their beers.
"Good," Grenet stated with a satisfied smile. "We can solve our issue peacefully, right, Kamenashi? Even though you just tried to shoot me down out there, didn´t you?"
Kame felt his whole body shaking in irrepressible anger. How could that monster behave like this in front of everyone?
He moved forward, grabbing the man´s collar into his hand.
"And I would do it, you bastard," he snapped right into his face.
"You should have kept your part of the deal, baby boy," there was a response, so quiet that only Kame could hear it. "I don´t see that little fucker anywhere."
Then Grenet pushed Kame away, so roughly that he staggered heavily.
"You´ve tried to kill me, Kamenashi, what will you say on that?" the deputy blamed him.
"You burnt our house down, Grenet!" Kame gritted through his teeth, repaying with own accusation.
"Oh, really?" the deputy raised his eyebrows, taking the tankard into his free hand, as if he just started a conversation with a friend.
"Wait a minute, boy," Mr. Franko involved pompously. "How can you tell? It was probably an accident. You mother..."
"It was not an accident!" Lena didn´t let that man talk anymore, as she shouted angrily, standing right beside Kame.
Grenet grinned, keeping his calculating look at Lena for a while.
"Well, you and your girlfriend accused me from the arson here, Kamenashi. Do you have any proof? You should have one to talk like this, don´t you?"
The murmur of agreement went through the taproom. Kame clenched his hands into fists, forcing himself to stay still and not to jump and strangle that human trash to the death.
"That´s right!" one farmer in the corner exclaimed. "You can´t accuse somebody like this!"
"He´s our deputy!" another voice joined the first. "Why would he do that?"
Grenet smiled as if he was just given the best Christmas present ever: "See?"
"We don´t need a proof!" Lena snapped. "I saw you, Grenet! I saw you dragging Kame´s mother into the house with the barrel of kerosene in your hand!"
Grenet stared at her: "Are you sure?" he prolonged his question in a way, which made Kame sick.
"Yes!!" the girl confirmed furiously, ignoring the threat in the evil eyes.
"Anyone else saw me in this incriminating situation, citizens?" Grenet asked and looked around the suddenly very silent taproom. "Anyone? No? Well..." he returned his look to those two in front of him. "Then it´s my word against yours, girl."
"I believe my daughter," Mr. Brice was the one to step forward and covered his daughter partially with own body. "I accuse you from this crime too."
"Me too," the woman´s voice, Lena´s mother, was much more quiet, but not less decisive.
Grenet snorted: "Of course, you´re her parents, I would be amazed if you didn´t," he laughed shortly, but there was no reaction on that from the other people around, which he rather expected.
"I believe her too," Mr. Harada made two steps and stood even closer to Grenet than Kame himself. "You´re an arsonist, Grenet, and probably also a murderer."
Grenet was not grinning anymore. He started sending the lethal stares at those five idiots in front of him. What did they expect from this?
"Oh, that´s already five of you. I´m so impressed."
"Make it six," Miss McBain joined their little group inside the circle of Grenet´s men.
Excited murmur went through the room, as the citizens discussed this new development, remembering many opportunities, when Grenet did something what they didn´t like.
Grenet put his beer aside more loudly than he intended. What was this? A rebellion?
"Seven!" breathless Mike appeared like out of the blue and stood himself in front of Kame, defiantly raising his head to the deputy.
Grenet´s men were standing around with guns in hands, but they obviously didn´t know what to do with them. They were looking at each other, and then on their boss, who was not saying anything, just his face was darker and angrier with each second.
Kame was touched. Even though he was still fully focused at the man in front of him, he realized what courage required opposing Grenet, to express their support on his side. At that moment, he didn´t think about what it could bring later, the troubles for those good people. He just appreciated that he had such friends in the city, even though he didn´t believe they were there anymore.
The talks around were louder each minute, everyone was so focused on the situation, that nobody noticed the neighing of horses outside, or the heavy steps on the saloon´s veranda.
"Congrats, Kamenashi, you made the fools of them, too!" Grenet spitted out. "So, what are you going to do with your stupid accusation, people? You cannot arrest me!"
A sudden thick silence fell onto the room, as everyone or most of them realized what Grenet´s words probably meant. He didn´t confess, but his reaction was quite clear evidence of that Kamenashi might be telling the truth. And into this silence, a new voice cut in – firm, serious and calm.
"These people may have no authorization for it, but I´m quite sure, that I have, Mr. Grenet. I can arrest you."