//------------------------------// // A Different Kind of Southern Hospitality // Story: The Runaways // by Tod309 //------------------------------// Gertrude, Kenzi and Joshua Location Unknown It was still dark when Gertrude, Kenzi and Joshua washed up to shore after the mysterious storm finally disappated and the waters were still once again. "Is it over?" asked a still shaken Kenzi, her little nephew clinging to her side still frightened by the ordeal he'd just went through. "I think so." answered an equally shaken Gertrude. "Yeah, I think the storm's gone." They managed to stand up from what was left of their boat. Their clothes were completely soaked along with their supplies, including their food and spare clothes. "Aunt Kenzi, y'know where ma an' pa an' Ruth are at?" asked Joshua, greatly worried about the fate of his parents and older sister. "I dunno Joshua," answered Kenzi also worried over her sister, brother-in-law and niece. "That storm back there sho' did a number on us. We must pray that the Lord got 'em someplace safe." "We better pray the Lord got us someplace safe. Could be slave-catchers all up in here, ya' know." interjected Gertrude as she wrung out her dress. Kenzi just ignored Gertrudes comment and continued trying to comfort her nephew. "Who knows Josh, they could be right up the river a-waitin' fer us, along with Nate an' the others." The words of his aunt provided him some comfort, but Kenzi herself was still a little uncertain as to whether or not they'll find her family, Nathaniel or the others. They had no idea where they were. Another thing the 2 women noticed was the full moon in the night sky. They both knew for a fact that there was no full moon in the sky when they set off on the river before the storm hit. It was a supposed to be a new moon tonight. "Wasn't there s'posed to be a new moon tonight?" Kenzi asked Gertrude as they both stared at the glowing white orb in the sky in disbelief. "Yeah. This don't make no sense." answered Gertrude. "But in any case we better find someplace to sleep tonight. We'll worry 'bout Nate an' the others in the mornin'." "Yeah," Kenzi agreed. She was feeling pretty tired, as was little Joshua most likely. The storm from earlier left them all exhausted. The women and little boy took their supplies and began looking for a place to sleep away from the river. And thanks to the moonlight they were able to see their surroundings and what they saw was just as confusing to the 2 adults as the storm and the full moon. In the moonlight they could see that they were in a canyon of some sort. Gertrude and Kenzi had heard Nathaniel talk about a great big canyon way out in the dry arid New Mexico Territory east of the state of California. At first both women thought they had somehow wound up there somehow, but quickly dismissed it as none of the rivers branching out from the Mississippi River went anywhere near that area. Maybe they wound up a canyon in the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains. None of them had been there but had heard Nathaniel and Jake talk about them during their hunting trips in the Highlands up north with master Haggart. But the canyon they were in didn't fit any of the descriptions of the ones in the Ozarks or Ouachitas. For one thing all the trees in the canyon weren't the tall densely packed shortleaf and loblolly pine trees they were familiar them. Instead they all looked like plants that would normally be found in drier climates such as mesquite, juniper, sage bushes, tamarisks and even a few cacti. Another thing they noticed was how dry the air felt in contrast to the humidity of Arkansas they were familiar with. 'Where on earth are we?' Gertrude thought to herself as she looked over the strange moonlit landscape. "Hey Gerty," said Kenzi, "ya see all these weird trees 'round here?" "Yeah. They look 'em trees an' plants that grow out west from that Nate showed us in that book one time don't they?" "Yeah, they do. But Gerty that don't make no sense. There ain't no way we coulda ended up someplace out west simply 'cause a some freak storm, an' in a single night no less." "I know hun, it is weird." After about 30 minutes the 3 fugitive slaves found a small little cavern at the bottom of the canyon wall. After making sure nothing was in it all 3 of them settled down and prepared to go to sleep. "Hey, aunt Kenzi," said little Joshua. "What baby?" "Would ya like to say a prayer fer Ma an' Pa an' the others?" "Sure we can sweetie. An' we can pray fer ourselves too." Kenzi and Joshua laid down on their bellies with their hands clasped together in prayer when Joshua looked over to Gertrude and asked, "Gerty, ya wanna pray too." "Sure hun," Gertrude answered. And with that Joshua started his prayer. "Dear God, thank ya fer keepin' me an' Gerty an' aunt Kenzi safe from the storm. An' thank ya fer helpin' us find this place to sleep tonight. An' please look after Nate an' the others if they made through the storm an' keep 'em safe. An' 'specially look after my ma, pa an' my sister an' help us find 'em. In Yer name we pray, amen." "That was good, baby." Said Kenzi before starting her own prayer. "Sweet Lord thank ya fer givin' us a way out of our bondage. Thank ya fer such kind an' compassionate souls like Nate an' the Brookes who're willin' to risk their own freedom an' lives to help out those of us who're oppressed. I pray that wherever Nate an' the others are y'all keep 'em safe an' I pray that y'all keep us safe wherever we are. In Yer Precious Son's name I pray, amen." And Gertrude finished with her own prayer. "Lord I know I don't pray very often, but I do want to thank ya fer gettin' us out of slavery an' on the path to freedom. An' like Kenzi I'm also thankful fer folks like Nate an' the Brookes who've risked everything to help us. An' I also pray y'all keep 'em safe an' keep us safe in this strange new land. This I pray, amen." And with all their prayers being said all 3 went to sleep with the hopes that their prayers would be answered. Later the next morning Kenzi was the first to stir from her sleep due to strange pricking sensation on her right hand as though something was crawling on it. With her left hand she rubbed her eyes and brought her right hand up to her face to look at it which caused the pricking sensation to intensify. Once her vision cleared she saw what was making the pricking sensation on her hand and saw that a very large brown tarantula almost as big as her hand was crawling on it. It was the biggest spider she had ever seen; and Kenzi was terrified of spiders. Upon seeing the big hairy arachnid on her hand Kenzi went into a panic. She screamed and flailed her hands about wildly, flinging the tarantula into a nearby bush. She then got up and frantically rubbed her clothes and hair and dancing about like some crazed fool, all the while still screaming at the top of her lungs. Naturally the commotion woke up Joshua and Gertrude. At first Gertrude and Joshua feared that slave-catchers, bandits or hostile natives had found their little, but that dispelled when they saw Kenzi dancing and screaming like a madwoman. "Kenzi, what's wrong, hun?" asked a concerned Gertrude who'd ran up to her friend to see what was the matter. "Spiders! Big hairy brown spiders crawlin' all o'er me!" answered Kenzi, who was still in panic mode. "What spiders? There ain't no spiders all o'er ya." "Yes there was! I saw one on my hand when I woke up!" Kenzi then went over to her pack and pulled out her knife and started looking around. "Where's he at? Imma gon' kill that damned thing." Gertrude grabbed her by the arms and started shaking her, "Kenzi! Calm yer ass down! All this damn screamin' is gonna attract 'em slave-catchers or bandits or Injuns or somethin'." And with that Kenzi finally calmed down deeply embarrassed by her behavior in front of her nephew, and over the potential risks it might bring. Gertrude merely shook her head in disbelief. "Lord o' mercy, all this foolishness o'er a damn bug." The 2 women checked their supplies and found that most of their foodstuffs had survived being soaked, with exception of the bread, though the dried meat and cheese might spoil after a while. They still had the spared clothes Susan Brookes had given to them along with some of their grooming items like combs and brushes. They still had the pistols, powder and balls that Howard Brookes had given to them along with the knives Nathaniel had given to them when they departed the plantation. And they still had the maps the Brookes had given to them that lead the way to the safehouse they were supposed to go to on their way north, but now it seems it would be of little use here. And they also had their Bibles that were parting gifts from the Brookes and their medical kits. "Looks like we still got most of our stuff." Gertrude said as she finished looking through her stuff, "Now let's git outta here before someone shows up." And the 3 left their camp and followed the river. In the morning light they got a better look at their surroundings. The whole area was indeed every arid looking with mesquite trees, juniper trees, sage bushes, thorny bushes, yuccas, agaves and various kinds of cacti, mostly nopal cactus, all over the place with the land along the riverbanks being fairly lush and green with salt cedars, elms, the occasional oak and aspen trees. The canyon walls were made of reddish sun baked earth, sandstone and shale. And even though it was still morning the temperature was already starting to rise quickly. But luckily the trees along the river provided some shade from the heat. Gertrude and Kenzi noticed how dry the heat felt in contrast to the familiar sticky humid heat of Arkansas. As they trekked along the river they saw several different kinds of flowers, some of which they heard Nathaniel talk about, like bluebonnets and Mexican hats. They also saw some flowers they had never seen before in various shades of red, yellow, orange, pink, purple and white, giving some of the flowers the appearance of flames. Some of the cacti were also sporting colorful blooms of their own, like the yellow and reddish-purple blooms of the many nopal cacti in the area. They also saw a little of the wildlife, mainly consisting of several varieties of lizards, snakes, ground squirrels, more tarantulas; much to Kenzis' horror, some turtles in the river, and a coyote. But about midday most of the animals had retreated back to their homes to escape the heat, with the exception of a few lizards and snakes and insects. They had also begun to notice the river was becoming narrower and narrower with each mile they walked. And it appeared to be getting shallower. Before long the river had begun to look like a creek and in some places the creek were little more than a series of ponds until eventually there was nothing but a dry riverbed. By the time they had reached that part of the river they had already drank all their water once and refilled their waterskins at one of the ponds. "A'ight y'all," said Gertrude,"It looks like we's gon' be without a waterin' hole fer a while so we's best try an' conserve our water." "Sure thing, Gerty." said Kenzi, "I jus' hope the Lord keeps watchin' o'er us an' see us through in this place." "Jus' like He did with Moses an' the Israelites in the wilderness, right aunt Kenzi?" said Joshua. "Yeah baby, jus' like Moses an' the Israelites." answered Kenzi. "Maybe the Lord'll send us some manna from heaven to eat." Gertrude joked. "Or maybe some quail. An' after that give us a nice cool drink o' water from a rock." "Could happen," Joshua answered causing the women chuckle. After about an hour of walking the trio were out of the canyon and in front of an open expanse of desert with the plants consisting of an even greater variety of cacti, including ones that had arm-like branches, mesquite and acacia trees, juniper bushes, more thorny bushes, these little plants with fat tender leafs and some more agaves but no sign of water. The landscape was mostly flat with a few mesas off in the distance. "Lord help us," said Kenzi as they make their way into the desert. It was already past noon and the sun was beating down on them with about as much mercy as an overseers whip. There was barely any shade where they could get at lease some relieve from the sun. The feathery leaves of the mesquite trees provided virtually no shade at all and the acacia trees only offered a little shade, and even then the shade seemed to offer little relief. What's more the intense heat sorely tempted them to take a nice long drink of water in order relieve the intense thirst they had developed. But instead they took less than a mouthful of water at a time, which didn't help much at all, especially since the water in the skins was starting to warm up due to the suns heat. But soon the heat would be the least of their worries for their water was starting to run low and now they were starting to regret departing from that river. And little Joshua was starting to have stomach pains. "Hey Gerty," said Kenzi. "What Kenzi?" she responded. "I'm startin' to think we shoulda never left that river." "Me too, hun." "An' I think Joshua's gotten sick too." The way Joshua was groaning and holding his stomach didn't go unnoticed by the older women. They themselves were starting to have pains in their own stomachs. So they stopped for a moment at the foot of a large mesquite tree to rest and take some medicine. They knew from Nathaniel and Jake that getting sick or injured in the wilderness could be fatal especially if you didn't know the right plants or have the right medicines to treat it. Gertrude opened up her medical kit and took out the medicine that was made for stomach problems, which was in a little dark glass bottle that had the label painted green so she could identify it since she couldn't read, took out a table spoon and poured some of the medicine into the spoon and drank the bitter-tasting liquid, causing her to gag from the awful taste. This caused Joshua and Kenzi to laugh. "Uuugghh! This stuff tastes like cat piss!" Gertrude exclaims in disgust. Joshua started laughing even harder which made his stomach hurt even worse. Kenzi gave him a spoonful of the same medicine, and he too gagged. Then Kenzi took a spoonful of the medicine and also gagged at the foul taste. " I dunno what's worse; the stomach pain or the medicine fer it." After taking a few moments to let the medicine settle they start eating some of the fruits and dried meat from their packs. "Hey Gerty," asked Kenzi, "Whudduya think gave us that stomach ache?" "It was probably that water we drank back there." Gertrude answered. "We shudna drank from 'em pools. Somethin' in it musta made us sick." "Shudda boiled it first or got it back where the river was still flowing. But the most important question is where are we gonna git mo' water?" " I dunno, Kenzi. Maybe we'll find some somewhere out here." After a while they got back on the move. The stomach pains from the bad water was still there but thanks to the medicine it was only faint. But that was now the least of their worries. They had to dump what was left of their water since it might make them sick again, but now they had no water and it didn't like they would be finding any anytime soon. The temperature only seemed to rise higher than before. The 3 fugitives could feel the exposed parts of their skin burning from the suns intensity. The heat was beginning to sap their strength and their thirtst grew fierce, intensified by the lack of water, sweat was pouring off of them, and they all started to feel light-headed. Kenzi spotted one of the succulent plants that looked like a rounded stone that had been split into several pieces. She had a thought. "Hey Gerty, didn't Nate say desert plants like cactus was s'posed to have water in 'em or somethin'?" Gertrude thought for a minute before answering. "I think so. Why, ya think there could be some water in 'em weird plants?" "Yeah," said Kenzi. "It's worth a shot anyway. Beats dyin' o' thirst." Kenzi plucked the plant and split it with Gertrude and Joshua. The women took a bite of the strange little plant and while there was indeed moisture within the plants plump bulbous leaves but it was extremely bitter tasting, in fact it left an unpleasant tingling sensation on their tongues. They immediately spit the disgusting plant out. Joshua, who never took a bite of the plant, threw his piece down. "Uuugghh...It tastes even worse than that medicine we jus' took!" said Gertrude. "I can't git the taste outta my mouth!" said Kenzi with her tongue sticking out trying to rub the taste off. After that unpleasant experience they continued walking. The sun was just as brutal as ever, even though it was starting to set, and there was still no water in sight. One small bit of relief for the women was that the foul-tasting juices from those plants were gone. And they could see what looked like the light of a campfire near the foot of a nearby mesa. And that was where they headed; fire meant people and people meant possible water, shelter and other supplies. There was a possibility that the campfire belonged to a group of outlaws, hostile Indians, or worse slave-hunters or someone who didn't mind turning in a group of fugitive slaves to the authorities. But it was worth the risk if it meant getting some water. But as they headed towards the firelight Gertrude and Kenzi were starting to feel a buzzing sensation in their brains and they were suddenly unable to think or see straight. Gertrude could've sworn that the landscape was changing colors and moving around like ripples in water and the sun was moving randomly in the air, and the plants almost appeared to be dancing. And Kenzi could've sworn that when she looked down at her feet they were running in reverse, even though she was walking forward, and she saw herself right beside a pair of Joshua's. And she even thought she saw the faces of Nathaniel and the others on the cacti, singing random gibberish. " Oh my god! Josh, Gerty look it's Nate an' the others! They've been eaten by 'em cactuses an' it's makin' 'em sing abuncha nonsense! We gotta git 'em out!" "What'cha talkin' 'bout aunt Kenzi?" asked Joshua. "There aint nothin' in 'em cactuses." But Kenzi didn't hear, having already rushed over to one of the cacti with her knife drawn and proceded to try and cut it open. Sticking her hands with multiple cactus thorns in the process. "Aunt Kenzi, stop that! Yer gittin' yerself hurt!" Joshua yelled to his aunt but she didn't seem to notice his shouts, or the cactus thorns all over her hands. At the same time Joshua heard Gertrude scream, turning his head to see her pointing a pistol at another cactus. In her current state of mind she had imagined that one of the tall limbed cactus was her master Mr. Haggart, who kept ordering her and the others to come to him in a very agitated, slurred tone with a bottle of liquor in his left hand and a bullwhip in his right. "Stay away from us, ya bastard!" yells Gertrude right before she fires her pistol at the cactus she's imagining as her former tormentor. The lead ball succeeded only in knocking off a few of it thorns. Sheriff Silverstar, Braeburn and Company Campsite at foot of mesa 30 miles south of Appleloosa A posse consisting of several stallions(around 30) from Appleloosa and Buffalo braves led by Sheriff Silverstar of Appleloosa and his deputies Braeburn and Troublehooves with Little Strong Heart leading the braves(also numbering around 30) in Chief Thunderhooves place had made camp for the evening. For close to 3 days they had been searching the desert for a band renegade Buffalo warriors and their ringleader Whitehorn. Whitehorn was formerly a member of the Buffalo tribes leadership, in charge of upholding the tribes ceremonial and religious laws and customs, and that position wasn't by mere chance. He stood out from every other Buffalo in the tribe because of his snow white fur, a trait so rare that one born with it was seen once every few generations. It was believed that a Buffalo born with such a coat were touched by the gods and were destined to be their representatives to the mortal realm, hence they were usually groomed into the life of priesthood or other important position. They were known to be much more proficient in the Buffalos magical arts than others, being able to equal or even rival that of a Unicorn. However the white coat and proficiency with magic came at the price of being unable to bear offspring. So naturally the life of a celibate shaman seemed the perfect role for them. To say that he took his job seriously was an understatement. He had a reputation for being a fanatical traditionalist and xenophobe who treated with scorn any deviation from tradition or tribal culture no matter how harmless or beneficial it might be. And his fanaticism got even worse after the Appleloosa Incident when Chief Thunderhooves and then acting mayor/sheriff of Appleloosa, Silverstar, signed a treaty agreeing to a compromise for the use of the land traditionally used by the Buffalo for stampeding. It also established trade between the Buffalos and the Ponies. Whitehorn was so enraged by this that he tried to attack Thunderhooves in a fit of rage during a council meeting. Thunderhooves ended his already strained friendship with the albino Buffalo and banished him from the tribe, along with some of his followers who left with him of their own accord. It wasn't until a few weeks later that they got news from Appleloosa that Whitehorn and his followers had set fire to several of their apple trees and shot and wounded some poor stallion that tried to stop them, wounded 4 monks in an attack on the local mission and robbed a train that had a shipment of guns, armour* and other equipment that was supposed to go to the Appleloosan militia. Silverstar issued a warrant for the arrest of Whitehorn and his warband and Thunderhooves also called out a manhunt for him to the surrounding tribes. For 3 days Silverstar and his posse searched the badlands but found nothing. While the posse rested by the fires they discussed various topics like the metal goods the Buffalo had received from the Ponies and all the leather, bead and silver work, jade, amber and turquois the Ponies received. Cuisine and music were also discussed; record players and radios in particular of great interest to the Buffalo who never had access to electricity until recently. They also played music; the Ponies played banjos, harmonicas and violins while the Buffalo played flutes, pipes and hide drums. They also swapped stories ranging from stories about historical figures, myths and legends to personal stories of great deeds and not-so-great deeds. These sort of things happened every time the posse made camp. While the posse were talking amongst themselves, Braeburn and Strongheart were having a conversation of their own. There had been some things he had been wanting to ask about Whitehorn since she and her father had known him on a more personal level, but he kept forgetting. "Hey, Strongheart, since this Whitehorn feller was a friend o' yer dad's, can ya tell me a lil' more 'bout what he was like?" Strongheart hesitated at first " Well, the first thing that I can tell you about him was that he wasn't exactly a friend to anyone, including my father. He always felt friends would interfere with his duties as shaman." "Sounds like how mah cousin's friend used to be. Y'know the Princess o' Friendship? From wut AJ said that gal use to be a real recluse." "Yes, I remember her. But anyhow Whitehorn also very controlling and would get furious if a ceremony or a ritual wasn't performed as precisely as he wanted. He even slapped a performer who took a misstep during a rain dance." "Yeesh." Braeburn winced. "An' I take it he only got worse when Appleloosa was founded?" "Oh you have no idea. When he learned that your people planted the orchard on our stampeding grounds he was enraged to the point of demanding that we massacre them. But luckily my father had better judgment than him and sternly rebuked him for even contemplating such a heinous act." "Ya can't be serious! A massacre?!" Braeburn responded in shocked disbelief. He knew Whitehorn was a radical even from the beginning but he had no idea that he was that bloodthirsty. "Shouldn't that've been grounds fer excommunication or somethin'? I know it'd be grounds for arrest where I'm from." "Yes, he shouldn't been. But my father, for reasons that elude me and everyone else, still believed that blowhard could be reasoned with." Strongheart said in a slightly irritated tone while clinching her eyes shut and clasping the bridge of her snout with her thumb and index finger as if the very memory of that incident was an annoyance. "It wasn't his best decision." "And when my father signed the treaty between our tribe and your people Whitehorns' desire for violence got even worse. He would frequently get into heated arguments with Thunderhooves and some of the other members of the tribe over Pony-made goods and the presence of the Pony priests sharing the Veritian faith with us, claiming they were destroying our way of life. During a counsel with the village officials Whitehorn got so angry he threw a sabre at him; it missed my father by just a few inches and pierced the covering of the teepee they were meeting in. Father's patience with him finally reached its limits at that point and he beat the tar out of him right in front of the other officials before banishing him from the tribe." "And that's when he started terrorizing Appleloosa." Said Braeburn. The part about Thunderhooves beating up Whitehorn was news to him. Just then a loud pop resounded in the air, like gunfire, from somewhere southeast of the camp. Like a swarm of agitated ants the stallions and bulls scrambled for their weapons and cover in anticipation for the coming attack. For several anxious minutes everyone waited in complete silence, but their minds had the question of whether or not they were about to attacked and whether the assailants would be Whitehorns war party, Changeling raiders, a rival Buffalo tribe that were enemies of Thunderhooves people or some random gang of bandits. Some entertained the idea that the gunshot was from a hunter or maybe traveler shooting a snake or something. Most of those possibilities were eliminated; Changeling, being magic users, didn't have much use for regular firearms, preferring thaumic arms instead which didn't make the distinctive sound like gunfire. The land they were in belonged to the Thunderhooves tribe. And bandits simply wouldn't be stupid enough to attack such a heavily armed group like the posse. Whitehorn was still a possibility, but it would've made more sense to attack from the northwest where there some high ground from the edge of a mesa instead the southeast where it was flat. The hunter or traveler ideas were also a possibility but they couldn't be too sure. A few of them including Silverstar smelt the air but didn't find Whitehorn's scent. Though they did find a scent from someone or something completely unknown coming from there. Silverstar decided they needed to investigate, so he had everybody put on their armour, spare ammo bandoleers and other weapons. Once everyone was kitted out the posse was split in groups: one group would stay to guard the camp while the other groups would investigate the surrounding area. Braeburn and Little Strongheart led one group south, Silverstar led one towards the mesa and Troublehooves led another eastwards. Kitted out with bullet-proof padded jackets, lamellar, scale and plate armour and bullet-proof shields and armed with shotguns, level and bolt action rifles, automatic rifles, thaumic rifles*, revolvers, hatchets, clubs, spears, bows and arrows, knifes and swords the Braeburn group numbering around 15 slowly advanced through the brush and mesquite trees spread out about 15 ft. like a search party so as to cover more ground. No one spoke a word as the makeshift battalion crept forward for everyone was tense, enough so that nearly everyone had an itchy trigger finger. They all knew that if it really was Whitehorn they'd be in for the fight of their lives, since his forces consisted of a large number of veteran warriors, many of whom had skill with firearms, whose fighting prowess could easily match that of any Equestrian militiaman or professional soldier. And it didn't help that it was now twilight. As the group continued its advance they could hear something, very faint somewhere among the brush and cactus ahead of them. "Bray, y'hear that?" said one of the stallions. Braeburn listened closely and he did in fact hear something. It sounded like someone shouting frantically, what they were saying he couldn't tell. "Yeah, I do hear it. It sounds like someone yellin'." Listening closer he was able to make out 2 more voices, these sounded panicky. The group advanced towards the source of the strange voices and as they crept closer they could smell a strange scent in the air. The smell wasn't that of a Buffalo so they ruled out Whitehorn's warband, but it also wasn't that of a Pony either or any other creature they were familiar with. However they could make out that at least 2 of them were adult females and one of them was a male, most likely a child. As the they drew closer the sounds of yelling became even clearer. They sounded very frightened and one even sounded somewhat angry. Nobody could make out what they were saying because it sounded like they were shouting in a foreign language. A little ways more they were almost to the source of the yelling, some of the members of the group could even make out the silhouette of 3 figures behind the brush. They got close enough to get a good look at the figures and they did not know what to make of the sight before them. They saw 2 strange-looking creatures with dark skin and flat faces with triangular noses wearing female clothing and a 3rd dark-skinned creature about the size of a foal. One of the female creatures was stabbing away a saguaro cactus like a maniac, screaming something in an indiscernible tongue as well as beating the cactus with what looked like a flintlock pistol; Braeburn surmised that she was the one who made the gunshot. The other female was frantically going between different cacti trying to cut large chunks out of them with a knife of her own. Neither of them seems to notice the thorns covering their hands. The foal-sized one looked confused and distressed and kept yelling at the others in whatever language they spoke apparently trying to make them stop. "Braeburn, do you have any idea what they are?" asked Strongheart. " Or why they are acting this way?" "I dunno ," answered Braeburn, "but we gotta stop 'em b'fore they hurt themselves worse 'n they already are." Immediately Braeburn and his posse approached the female creatures to try and stop them. The one stabbing the cactus started freaking upon seeing them and charged at Braeburn with her knife raised screaming like a banshee. Braeburn refrained from shooting her and instead used his rifle to block her attempt to stab him and tried to reason with the hysterical creature. Besides the knife he could also see several large cactus thorns stuck deep in the flesh of her hand. It was a wonder she could still grip the knife or that a thorn hadn't punctured her carpal vein. She simultaneously tried to stab and club him with the pistol while Braeburn kept on the defense until he finally saw an opening and whacked her in the side of the head with the muzzle of his weapon, knocking her unconscious. "Sorry t' do that ma'am," said Braeburn apologetically. "but it was fer yer own good." At the same time the other stallions and braves were trying to restrain the other female who was fighting back fiercely. One of them got a muzzle full of thorns for his trouble when the creature slapped him across the face. Another was almost got cut with the knife she had in her hand. Her struggling came to an end when a brave hit her on the head with a 12 inch stone club knocking her unconscious as well. The smaller creature however had fled screaming somewhere into the surrounding brush as soon as Braeburn showed up with Little Strongheart in pursuit. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joshua simply had no idea what to do about Gerty and Kenzi's sudden irrational behavior. All he could think of do was try to yell at them to stop. He had even tried to physically stop them from hurting themselves with the cacti but it they were bigger and stronger than he was and seemed to not even notice his attempts to stop them or reason them. He was practically on the verge of tears over how utterly powerless he was to stop the madness around him. Never had he felt so helpless in his young life. But before he could burst into tears he heard a rustling and several voices in the brush in front of him and saw several figures imerging from the brush. Joshua immediately froze in terror at what he saw. Coming out of the brush were at least 15 strange-looking creatures that looked like humans but had faces like those of either a strangely-colored horse or a buffalo. All of them were wearing either a padded coat of some kind or some armour, with the buffalo-men wearing Plains Indian-type clothes while the horse-men were more American-style clothes and were armed with some kind of strange-looking rifles that he'd never seen before and other armaments and one of them process to speak to Gertrude in some strange language. As soon as she saw them Gertrude charged at one of the horse-men with her knife and pistol screaming "Back ya devils!" while another group of horse and buffalo-men ganged on his aunt to try and get her knife away, but she fought back. The only thing he could think of to do at that moment was run away as fast as he could screaming in fright as he did. As he ran tears streamed down his face from a combination of pain from exerting himself running, fear and shame. He was ashamed that he was running away like a coward instead helping his aunt and Gertrude fight off those things. For all he knew he had just left them to die some horrifying death at the hands of those creatures just to save his own hide. But he knew he wouldn't stand a chance against them; he was just an 8 year old runaway slave boy and they were probably warriors judging from their gear. And having been a slave all of his life he had been conditioned to not fight back against his aggressors no matter what. He just barely had the courage to escape with Nathaniel and the others; having the courage to actually fight like his older companions was still beyond him. When he felt he had gotten far enough away he stopped by an overturned mesquite tree to rest. The pain in his side was becoming too much to bare. Hopefully he had gotten away, he ran pretty fast and it was now almost completely dark. But then dread overtook him when he heard the sound of someone running through the brush. He looked in the direction the sound was coming from and out of brush just 20 yards away came one of the buffalo-men, an unusually slender one compared to the others who were fairly big and muscular. It looked like might be a girl. But Joshua didn't care about any of that: he just started running again the moment he saw her. Running through thorny desert brush in near nighttime wasn't a good idea as Joshua kept tripping over things, almost running into cactus patches, getting stickers in his legs and having his arms, hands and face scratched up and shirt ripped on thorns and dead branches. His little marathon ended when he accidently stepped into some animal burrow and badly injured his leg and making him fall flat on his face. He lay on the ground wailing in pain as he felt the bone snap just above his ankle and the cartilage of his nose break on impact with the hard ground. He also felt a searing pain pulsing through his veins around the same area as the fracture that seemed to extend throughout his body from there. On his shin where the source of the searing pain originated it felt like a large pair of needles had been jabbed into his skin. All he could do was lay there and cry until he fell into unconsciousness from his head injury and sheer exhaustion. The last sight saw before passing out was a horse-man with a white face and brown coat standing over him. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Jus' mah luck," was all Troublehooves said when he saw the pitiful little dark-skinned flat faced creature now lying unconscious after crying in pain. From the looks of it he had scrapes and cactus thorns all over him, a broken foot, a broken bloody nose and what looked like a snake bite on the same broken leg. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw a Badland Pit Viper(a highly venomous bright red and green snake) slithering out of the hole the creature stepped in. Strongheart arrived a few moments later and chopped the lethal serpent in 2 with her tomahawk and struck its head with the back of it before turning her attention to Troublehooves and the now unconscious creature. "Troublehooves, we must get this creature back to camp quickly before he succumbs to the serpents venom." "Ah'll git 'em thar right 'way." said Troublehooves as he lifted the creature onto his shoulders and headed back towards camp with Strongheart and the rest of his group as quickly as possible. "Iff'n ya don't mind mah askin' Miss Strongheart, whut 'xactly is this thing we're bringin' back to camp?" asked Troubleshoes referring to the little creature he was carrying on his shoulder. "Your guess is as good as mine." answered Strongheart. "We found 2 more of his kind but older and female. And they were behaving hysterically, attacking cacti with knives and a pistol. When we subdued them this little one ran away." " Explains where that gunshot came from." Within minutes they were back at camp. Braeburn and the rest of his group had already gotten there and had the 2 female creatures in one the covered wagons being examined by the camps doctor, but not before being put in restraints should they start acting hysterical again once they wake up. A sniff of their breaths revealed the cause of their hysteria: the acidic smell of the Goofy Rock plant, or the Fools Drinking Gourd as the Buffalo called them. They were large bulbous succulent plants native to the desert that resembled rounded stones split down the middle. While it did store water inside its fleshy interior in order to survive the desert heat, that water was laced with a powerful hallucinogenic(and foul-tasting) chemical to protect itself from predation. Typically used in religious ceremonies by the Buffalos, it was also used by thrill-seeking teenaged colts and fillies to get high on. The Equestrian Medical Society and various other research groups have been studying the plant in hopes of developing psychiatric medicines and pain killers. After removing the thorns and cleaning up the blood, the doctor treated both the female creatures hands with antiseptics and bandaged them and applied a cold pack to their heads where they were struck. Other than that and some signs of heat exhaustion and thirst they had no other visible injuries. The hallucinogens from the Goofy Rocks would simply have to burn out of their systems. The younger creature's injuries were more severe. After he was also put in restraints he was given some anti-venom medicine the Buffalo medicine bulls had provided. The bones in his leg were put back in place and a cast was applied. The structure of his nose might've been unfamiliar to the doctor but fixing it proved rather simple. His other head injury would have to be looked at closer at the doctors clinic. Once the patients were taken care of the posse decided to return home so that the strange creatures could get to the hospital. Besides their hunt for Whitehorn and his bunch had proven fruitless and everyone had their own lives to get back to. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gertrude awoke with a terrible migraine and a throbbing in her head. Everything that happened before she blacked out was a blur, though she could vaguely recall seeing strange creatures with horse and buffalo-like heads and human-like bodies followed by a sharp pain on her right temple that felt like the all too familiar feeling of hit in the head; something her old master did to her a few times back at the plantation. Speaking of which she sworn she saw him sometime before she blacked out. When she rubbed her face she felt something covering her hands, like cloth along with a slight stinging sensation whenever she moved them. She opened her eyes to see what it was. Her vision was blurry at first but soon the blurriness went away and she saw that her hands were wrapped in bandages like crude whitish gloves. She looked in bewilderment at her hands for a moment wondering why her hands like that and who wrapped them before looking around at her surroundings. She was laying in a one-person bed with light blue and white sheets in a strange room. She saw 2 other beds in that same room that also appeared to be occupied along with chairs, bedside tables, a pair of doors and strange devices she had never seen before. She got up to see who was in the other beds and found that it was Kenzi in one of them still asleep with her hands also wrapped in bandages and a bandage on her head. Gertrude felt her own head to see if she also had a head bandage. And sure enough there was. She looked at the other bed and saw little Joshua also asleep but to her shock appeared more worse for wear than herself and Kenzi and practically had her on the verge of tears: his leg was in a cast, his head was more heavily bandaged than hers or Kenzi's and his nose looked like it had been broken and put back in place. Seeing the others in this condition only added to her confusion. What on earth happened to them before she blacked out? She sat down on one of the chairs and tried to remember what happened to them out in the desert, but it was all a blur. At the same time she was puzzling over where they were and who bandaged them up. Did they do so out of good will or did they have some ulterior motive for fixing them up? Maybe whoever treated them only wanted them healthy again so they can be put back in chains or something worse. She also contemplated if their mysterious healer was also responsible for their equally mysterious injuries. However there was one small comfort: nobody was shackled to their beds. So they weren't being held prisoner, at least not overtly. But she knew they would have to get out of here once the others healed up, even if they had to break out of there. Gertrude looked out of the window near her bed to see where they were but all she could see was an alleyway between them and a brown wooden building(the one she was in was painted white) and it was slightly dark out, either still in the early morning or late evening and no one was out. She got off the bed and made her way to the door to see if she could peek outside. But she froze immediately when the doorknob turned and opened. She could only stare with a wide-eyed expression of shock and horror at what she saw while just barely suppressing the urge to scream: the sight of some female humanoid creature with a horse-like head with lilac skin(or fur?) and 2 toned hair of pink and light green on her head and tail. She wore a white coat with a gray shirt underneath and a provocative knee length skirt and white shoes. It looked just like the strange creatures she saw in her visions before she blacked out. It spoke to her in an undiscernible language. It was too much for poor Gertrude to take in. Her sight went from the horse-woman to the ceiling and straight to black within the span of 2-3 seconds.