Western Trails (closed)

Penny gasped as John’s arms were suddenly around her, pulling her tight against his body as the kiss deepened. She smiled as his hands rested lightly on her as her legs straddled his and the kiss broke. She gently stroked his cheek as he told her that he was glad to give her hope.

“And that’s why I love you, John.” She said with a grin as he pulled her close and captured her lips once again.

She moaned softly and sighed, her fingers tangling in his thick hair. She loved this man more then she ever would have imagined. He gave her so much and he didn’t demand anything from her. That meant so much to her.

The kiss finally broke and he smiled at her, tracing a finger over cheek and her jawline,

"Your brother will welcome you back right? You are certain of this?"

In the distance wolves howled, he turned his head and listened, a frown creased his face,

"Trouble is coming for our pursuers."

“Of course he will. So will my sister-in-law. They are very lovely people who didn’t want me to get involved with Seth in the first place.” She said with a smile, cupping his cheek gently. “And they’ll be over the moon to meet you too.”

She grinned as the sounds of wolves sounded in the distance and a sudden frown creased his face. “John, what’s wrong?” She asked softly.

"The posse is travelling into a trap, from the calls there is a lot of braves waiting for them, moving to intercept...this will be a very bad turn for them if they don't turn and run."

He sighed,

"And at times like these I don't know if I should head back and try to help them or rather use this and get further away."

A trap? Penny should have felt relieved that they journey would soon be ended as the men who were chasing her were pulled into a trap that they couldn’t get out of. Instead, it made her feel sick inside. She let out a small sigh as she listened to John speak about what should be done.

“Seth is the only bad one among them.” She said softly, knowing that her husband was the one that had led the men out this far. “Perhaps we should go and help them.”

He gazed at the distance,

"No. I can't lead you back, if I fall then you will be at the mercies of the braves."

He shook his head,

"Seth is tame in comparison to them. There is two options only, you travel towards that patch of green, ford the river and wait for a day, if I do not show you follow the trail at the edge of the trees, it will lead to you to an Army outpost, they will help you. The other option is that we both travel further."

She certainly didn’t like the idea of leaving John to head off into the unknown by himself. She didn’t want the last image she could possibly have of him be his back as he hurried off to help men that were trying to track her down. Still, she didn’t want the senseless slaughter that was about to happen to happen at all.

“Go. They need your help, John.” She said softly, struggling to keep her voice from trembling too much at the idea of him never coming back. “I’ll wait for you. Longer than a day if I need to. You made a promise that we’d be together and I don’t take such threats lightly.”

He smiled at her, pulling her closer,

"And I do not make such threats idly."

He had to chuckle, then he sought her lips, kissing her sofly, his hands holding her close to him, loving the sensation of her warm body against his. Too soon the kiss broke and it was with reluctance that he let her go to get to his feet. With a soft whistle Sudden came over to him to get saddled, before he swung into the saddle he embraced Penny once more, it felt like once more he had to do what he did best, but this time he had more to lose.

"Hide as best you can, I will find you."

With a final kiss, he swung into the saddle and headed back towards the snake trail of dust which they were fleeing from.

Penny wanted to hold onto that last kiss as desperately as she could. She felt a cold feeling in her chest as he swung into the saddle and headed off to help the men that had been tracking them down. She let out a little sigh, watching until she could no longer see either him or Sudden.

“Come on, girl.” She murmured to her horse, pulling the steed into place so that she could swing into the saddle herself.

She headed towards the little patch of green that he had told her about and soon she was unsaddling her horse, putting it out to graze as she sat and waited. She knew that it would probably be the longest wait of her life, but for John, she would wait for eternity.

John was coming into hailing distance when the attack came, the first salvo drove back the attack, but left the posse without half of their horses. John stopped Sudden and dismounted, slipping his rifle from it's scabbard and moved forward. The posse was doing their best to get behind the rocks of the small hill to their left, though the Indians was spreading out around them, firing sporadically at the townsmen. John studied the layout of the ground and then made his move.

With the attack broken down, it was time to gather the wounded and dead, John helped as best he could, he had suffered a bulletwound to his thigh, various cuts to his body and a glancing blow to the head from a rifle but. He couldn't find Seth though and it took some time for the posse to realize that as well. He scouted around, found the unconcious tracker, who had been cracked over the head, the Indian was alive, but would have a mean headache when he woke. John looked at the direction the trial went and whistled for Sudden. It took some time for the big horse to find him, he got slowly into the saddle and nudged Sudden to follow the trail. It led straight towards the tiny speck of green where the forest edged the river...where Penny was, he remembered her words about Seth being a killer...a cold hand ran down his back and for the first time in his life John knew fear.

Penny had found the little oasis without a problem. The problem was that she could still hear the distant sound of a fight and that made her belly tighten in the most uncomfortable way. She was scared for John and wanted to be there to help him, but she knew that she was better out of the way.

She quickly set about putting together a little camp. She put a kettle of their water on the boil, preparing for any wound that John might get during the fight. She wouldn’t accept that he would die. That wasn’t even an option for the man that she cared so much about.

It seemed like an eternity later as she sat next to her little fire, listening to the dying sounds of the battle when she heard someone cock a gun just behind her ear. She stiffened, she eyes widening as she ever so slowly turned to head to find Seth looming over her, taking aim with a disturbing smile on his face.

“Miss me, darling?” He asked in his low, gravel filled voice before the gun was striking down against her face, sending Penny sprawling to the ground as the world around her spiraled in the most sickening way.

As she lay there trying to gather her wits, she felt his beefy arm wrap around her waist, hauling her upright before he started dragging her towards his horse. She couldn't get on that horse.

"Seth! No!" She screamed at him, her head still swimming as she reached up to claw at his face with her fingernails.

The smoke led him straight towards the camp site, he heard Penny's scream and reined Sudden in. That scream basically saved his life, if he went thundering into that clearing, it would habve made him the perfect target. He slipped from the saddle, grunting softly as the pain from his injured leg shot through him from the sudden jolt. He knew that he had two rounds left, one in each pistol, carefully he slipped forward, in time to see Seth striking Penny again with the barrel of the pistol. A rage slowly filled his belly, any moment he felt like he could be spitting fire, but he pushed it back, anger never helped.

John slipped along the edge of the clearing, it seemed like Seth's horse noticed that there was another horse and whinnied softly, that brought Sudden into the clearing. Seth had his pistol aimed at Sudden, then he realized that there was no rider and he grinned at Penny,

"You see that? That sorry horse came back without your precious outlaw. Happy tidings that."

He once more grabbed hold of Penny, dragging her the last few feet to the horse, John watched as she struggled, Seth's hand rose to pistol-whip her again. A shot rang out, boring into Seth's hand and sending the pistol flying. For a moment Seth looked at his hand, almost not comprehending, then he screamed in pain. John stepped from the shrubs where he was hiding, holstering his pistol,

"Let her go you dog."

Anger rose in Seth's face, his other hand coming into view, clutching the wicked blade of a skinning knife,

"Stay back! I'll kill her!"

John smiled cruelly at Seth,

"No, you will not."

There was a blur and a shot rang out, the last round struck Seth in the face, plowing into his brain and blew out the back of his head. John calmly holstered his pistol, made three steps towards Penny,

"Penny..."

His voice cracked and he keeled over, landing heavily on the ground.

The second strike from Seth’s pistol opened up the skin just below her right cheek, the blood flowing freely as he pulled her with a sudden urgency towards his horse. She was stunned when Sudden entered the clearing without a rider and Seth’s words made that hard ball of worry return low in her belly. She would never believe for a moment that John was dead.

“No. He’s not dead.” She said as Seth’s hands bit into the flesh of her upper arms as she flailed and fought against the much stronger man. She let out another scream as he raised his hand to whip her again when suddenly a shot rang out at the pistol went flying.

She was suddenly slung around and held tightly against Seth’s body as John’s voice called out across the space and a knife was pressed against throat. Seth threatened to kill her right then and there and her eyes locked onto John’s. She trusted him with her life and she knew that he would protect her, no matter what.

She screamed as a shot rang out and suddenly Seth was releasing her to collapse into a heap on the ground. She was shivering as John slowly holstered his pistol and stepped towards her, saying her name once before he collapsed and landed heavily on the ground. She was hurrying to him immediately, kneeling at his side to assess the situation.

“John? John, speak to me.” She said, gently cupping his face in her hands. He was pale, unresponsive and she knew in that moment that she very well might lose him.

“Sudden.” She called to the horse, begging him to come closer so that she could rummage for medical supplies. She wasn’t about to let him die. Not now…

He was sitting next to a fire, across from him his family, all of them wrapped up in dream blankets. He knew they should not be there,

"John? John speak to me."

He could see the flames leap, sparks crackling from the logs, forming a face, a face he felt he should know.

"Sudden"

At the edge of the fire he saw movement, it looked like a horse, but it was in the shadows, he could not see what it was. He looked at the grim faces across him, they all looked back at him, forbiddingly, he knew that he was to stay on the side that he was. Slowly, like coming through molasses, he heard a chant, it was a medicine chant, one to protect from evil spirits...slowly his family and the shadow disolved and turned into the figure of a man dancing around the fire, no shadow was casted though, with a rattle of trinkets and a slight panting the man sat down in front of him, a smile cracking the young face,

"You are a lucky man, woman fight hard for you. I still think I will take her when she tires of you."

John coughed a laugh,

"I doubt you can handle her."

The shaman chuckled and looked around,

"Strange dreams you have, it is strange to see the tribe's summer camp again."

John smiled weakly,

"Perhaps I found my first bit of peace here."

The shaman nodded,


"Perhaps, but now you must return, Penny have been looking after you for two days now."

The shaman leaned forward and pushed on John's chest, John fell backward and had the sensation of falling from a long way up. He woke up, groaning softly

The past two days had been nothing short of hell of Penny as she tended to John’s wounds. She had found the wound on his leg and that had tested her knowledge of medicine. She had stopped the bleeding, cleaned it out with boiled water and sewn it up when it looked like it wasn’t getting infected. The other wounds were not life threatening, but she still tended to them as best as she could. When she was done, she tucked their blankets around him, his head resting on a rolled shirt from his pack to make him as comfortable as possible.

She had also tended to Seth, burning his body in a pile of collected brush. She didn’t care if the animals took his bones afterwards. It was what he deserved, she thought to herself as she had watched his body burn to nothingness. She was finally free from him and she didn’t have to worry that he would ever darken her door again.

The horses, along with Seth’s steed, seemed content to gaze on the lush green grass of the little oasis. It was peaceful here, she thought as she tended to John through the days and nights, making sure that he wasn’t about to slip away from her into the great beyond.

She was resting at that moment as the sun was setting on the horizon, Sudden lying behind her and providing her a nice little spot to rest. Her bruised cheek was resting against his sleek coat, her eyes just drifting close when she heard John groan. Quickly, she sat up, watching as he moved slightly.

“John?” She said softly, crawling towards him and gently stroking her hand across his brow. “John, can you hear me?”

He slowly opened his eyes, licking his lips to wet them, the gentle touch made him turn his head and he saw Penny's face in the fading light, he smiled weakly up at her,

"I can hear you."

He blinked his eyes several times, trying to bring her into focus,

"I had a really weird dream."

He slipped an arm from under the blankets and touched her own cheek, frowning at the scab,

"Did he do that? I should kill him for that."

He struggled to sit, but didn't manage at all, he settled back down again,

"Perhaps later...think I lost some blood."

The sound of his voice was about the best sound in the entire world, Penny thought as he blinked at her and gently touched her cheek. He noticed the bruise and cut on her face, threatening to kill Seth over what he’d done to her. When John tried to sit up, she shook her head and gently pushed him back to the makeshift bed she’d made for him.

“You lost a lot of blood.” She agreed, moving towards her little fire to get some of the water she had sitting there.

Carefully, she lifted his head off the pallet and let him drink his fill from one of the tin cups. “John…you do know that you killed Seth, right?”

He blinked up at her,

"I did?"

A frown creased his brow,

"I can remember hearing you cry out, he hit you and I went closer..."

He shook his head,

"I can't remember anything after that."

He looked up at her,

"I do remember one thing though."

He reached up again and pulled her closer, kissing her gently, he released her with a smile,

"Yup you still kiss fantastic."

It was probably for the best that John didn’t remember killing Seth. She had been happy that the moment was over with, but John was already dealing with enough demons in his life to have to deal with that as well. She gave him a smile as he pulled her closer, kissing her with that gentle passion that she’d come to expect from him.

“I think you have a large part to do with that.” She said softly as she stretched out along side of him, wrapping her arm around his chest and snuggling up against his side to keep him company. “I love you, John. “

With a slight bit of a struggle he got the blankets untucked and enveloped Penny under them as well, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him. He noticed again how she seemed to be a perfect fit for him, he smiled slightly,

"I love you too Penny."

His words was slurring, but he didn't notice this, he just remember being happy, for the first time in many years John fell asleep with a slight smile on his face. He awoke a few hours later, still tired, but less disorientated, he could feel Penny's slight form pressed against him, he placed a gentle kiss on her brow and lay there watching her, only to fall asleep again a few moments later.

Penny knew that he was fading and she gave him a small smile as he returned her words. He warmed her heart in the most wonderful way and now that Seth was gone, she hoped that he really would honor his word to her. Leaning forward, she kissed his cheek and rested her head against his shoulder. She finally allowed her eyes to close, knowing that Sudden would watch over them for the night.

Penny let out a little sigh as she felt a pair of lips pressed against her brow. She mumbled something in her sleep and brushed a hand over her face before she settled back down against John’s side, allowing the sleep she so sorely needed to take her over yet again.

When he woke up again, it was morning, Penny was still fast asleep next to him, he smiled as he watched her, then he slowly got up, he rested her head on the make-shift pillow and tucked her in. A search turned up his cleaned clothes, he slowly got dressed, it took longer than usual to get the fire going and to put up the coffee, he went over to Sudden, the big horse was glad to see him, it was rare for them to be seperated for that long. He realized that he grew tired very quickly, this prompted him to sit down next to the fire, he watched Penny as she slept. He could only remember snatches of what happened three days ago, it reminded him that he only had two rounds left when he chased after Seth.

He decided to look into that later, he was too tired now. When the coffee was ready he poured himself a cup, it was strange as to how heavy the cup felt, did that go with the blood loss? He glanced up at the sun and back at Penny, only to find her waking up,

"Good morning."

Penny woke as she heard the clanking of kitchen items. She rubbed her eyes and rolled over to watch John fix himself a cup of coffee. It took a moment for the events of the past few days to come back to her, but when they did, she jumped up quickly and started fussing over him.

“Dammit, John, you’re going to hurt yourself even more doing all of this.” She said, scolding him like a child as she pecked at him like a mother hen. “And I’m certainly not going to lose you again.”

He smiled at her gentle scolding and her fussing, it was strange, but also refreshing to have a person worry over him and look after him as well. He reached out and rested a hand on her cheek,

"I'll live, I will take you to see your brother as I promised."

He searched her eyes with his own and smiled,

"But I think I could do with a nice good morning hug and kiss before you try and get me back into bed."

Penny paused as John’s hand pressed against her cheek, a small smile crossing her features as he told her that he would live and he would take her to see her brother. He was too good to be true, she thought to herself as he tried to appease her with a hug and a kiss.

She leaned in and hugged her beau tightly, sighing at the feel of his arms squeezing her body. She pressed her lips against his, giving him the kiss that he had so sweetly asked for. She never wanted to forget this moment in all of her life. It was the first time that she had loved someone without fear.