Confusion was something Anders understood. The trick was to know what he wanted and to pursue his target. Ducking behind several Rebels, he searched the battle line, smoke and snow hiding the distant fighting, but he could not find the man he sought. The Major was somewhere out there buried in the fight and reduced to a man riding a wild horse; no one could control this kind of fight.

“Push on men. Force them into the trees.” The close confines of the woods would remove rifles completely from the fight.

Pushing between fighting men, Anders swung his rifle to hit a Union soldier’s head with the butt of his weapon then had to avoid a similar attack.

There was a sense of satisfaction in finally refusing to be victimized by the northern bastards, a feeling that seemed to well up from the island itself.

“Christ,” Robert cursed, then kicked a Union soldier away. One skirmisher finished the man off with a blow to the top of his head from the butt of his revolver. “Follow Pace, after him.”

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This had to end. Pace could not continue his depredations, nor could he continue his role as the Robber King’s puppet. Dismantling the evil that ruled Coal Island was not a series of simple choices, it was a bloody battle.

Pushing through the snow, Robert released his shoulder, the hand covered with blood, as he used his arms to help keep his balance. It was a wound to the meat of his shoulder, a shallow but bloody wound that did not prevent his use of the arm. The skirmishers ran beside Robert, keeping a tight formation running through the trees, a pack of gray wolves on the hunt.

He could see Pace briefly as he ran, the Lieutenant’s blue coat flying open as he dodged trees and ran like a man possessed. There seemed to be someone running ahead of the boy, and Robert had a pretty good guess it was the King finally making its appearance.

“The little bastard wanted a battle and now he runs away,” Robert snapped without pausing in the race, all the men kicking up snow in their efforts.

“We’ll get him, Major.”

This was wrong. Doubt crept in to Robert’s mind. It felt like he was being led into a trap.