Saga Four: Ira's Crusade

Chapter 12 – Impervious

August 7th, 1865

Coyote Caverns, KS

The gravel corners crumbled off the edge. Ira slipped as the path turned and fell into the deep. Wild Card jumped after him. And just as Wild Card grabbed Ira, Kid Colt grabbed Wild Card. Peyton and Marshall helped Kid Colt pull them both back up; and they continued down the path after the stout rebel Captain.

Now deep into the Coyote Caverns, Kid Colt, along with the map that he had won in a game of blackjack on the Boathouse Casino Ferry, had led them all into a predictable trap. After riding for a night, the map had originally brought them into a cave that explained the legend of three Mayan exiles. The brothers had engineered two coats impervious to any bullet. The bigger coat was similar to a coat of armor, a steel shell. The other coat was made of deep threaded layers of tightly woven cloth, and a much smaller fit.

The fat pompous Captain ran out and ordered his men to wait at the next level of the mine as he escaped. Upon reaching the next level from the other side and facing a flurry of bullets, Ira and Peyton fell back into the tunnel as Marshall jumped behind a mining car. Kid Colt and Wild Card had a different reaction. Side by side, they drew their guns together. Three ready guns pointed at the rebels. Peyton tossed Marshall the Winchester rifle, believing he had a better vantage point. The rebel bullets zinged and cracked past Wild Card's ear, as he shot his revolver off with his left hand, continuously cocking it back with his right. Marshall lined up a shot, but it was too late. A bullet hit Kid Colt in the chest.

It was the most obvious "secret latch" any of them could have expected, leading their posse into the main room of the caverns. Displayed in the middle of the rows of massive columns was a tomb. And on top of that tomb was a detachable tablet. Together they collectively read the story of the Guardian Twincloakes…

After the Mayan brothers had created the two invincible vests, they killed each other for them. Before the last brother was killed, he fled to America and buried the vests deep into the mountains, a mysterious place called Coyote Caverns. It was after they finished in the legend room that they were led to the treasure room.

Kid Colt opened a stone chest to find a tightly woven cloth. He was the only one that it fit. And his map was what led them here. So it was unanimous, Kid Colt got to keep the treasure. Before they could test it out, a rumble shook the room. Opening the treasure chest door had turned a switch in the room. The floor fell out on one side and pitched to the roof on the other. They all slid to a lower level of the caverns. There, Peyton, Ira, and Wild Card Cass all saw a familiar face. Rebel bandits leftover from the confederacy were waiting for them, along with their leader, Captain Kildare.

Kid Colt tried to catch his breath on the floor while Wild Card and Quade covered him. Marshall popped up from behind the trail car and Ira swung his rifle out from the tunnel. Marshall put his first two bullets into the soldier closest to him. Dropping him dead, Marshall shot his next bullets down the line, in the heads of three rebels each. They all dropped and he finished off his loaded rifle rounds. The last bullet bounced off Kildare's confederate duster coat as he escapes out the back. The only other one to hit him was Ira and his modified rifle. Ira covered Marshall as he reloaded behind the car. Kid Colt got back up as Peyton helped him. Wild Card, Marshall, and Ira rushed the final soldiers out of the caverns. Kid Colt tore his shirt apart to find the pulverized bullet shell. He pulled it out of his chest like stale stitches; carefully and painfully.

Earlier, while Kid Colt was fitting himself with the vest in the treasure room, Kildare and his rebels had demolished their own tunnel using dynamite and found the second treasure room. Kildare was strapping the metal-armored twincloake on as the rooms shifted and came together, and Kid Colt, Marshall, Peyton, Ira, and Wild Card slid down from an opening in the ceiling. Kildare ordered his men to retreat down deeper into the caverns. Ira rushed after them and as the path radically turned, the edge dropped into a deep abyss. Completely caught off guard, his balance shifted, and Ira's momentum toppled him over the edge towards the abyss.

Now alone, they chased Steel Coat Kildare out the back of the caverns. A man by the name of DuPont was waiting outside for him with two horses. Unfortunately, the posse's horses were still on the topside of the caverns, at the entrance. They were forced to give up their pursuit. That night they spent under the stars, a fire between them and an unknown future ahead of them.

Marshall, Colt, and Ira gathered firewood for the rest of the night. Peyton and Wild Card Cass stayed back at camp and watched the fire. Peyton stared deep into the flames. His heartbeat was one in the same as the trembling earth beneath the fire. His color was a blending of all different shades of fiery red. There was only one legend identified through fire. Peyton looked down at his charcoal revolver; the one that killed rotten Johnny Stacks. Was he the devil? His panic was becoming unbearable. He could not bear this burden of paranoia any longer. Born from the sins of a nation, Blackheart Quade thought himself the harbinger of death.

"You're so lost, " Wild Card spoke up across the fire. He continued talking, "But something has changed..." Wild Card Cass looked Peyton up and down. Peyton felt transparent as Wild Card examined him.

".... I finally realized who I am." Peyton crawled away from burning tears.

“And that is?”

Peyton wanted to collapse in on himself and die, “…The devil.”

Wild Card Cass got up out of his seat, turning the fire toward Peyton. He looked down on him, "You're not the devil, kid..."

"...I've met the devil, and you ain't him."

Peyton laughed. He looked up at Wild Card Cass, "What do you know about the devil, old man?"

Wild Card Cass sat back down and stared into the fire, lighting his own eyes with the past, he waited to give his response to Peyton's inquiry “My hair wasn't always this white..."

From the other side of the fire a dog walked out of the brush. It was a shaggy white dog. The poor animal was so starved his rib-bones were showing. Peyton tried to shoo it away but it just stared at Wild Card. Peyton looked between them as Wild Card appeared to be breaking. As if a tremendous amount of pressure was being weighed down upon him. Kid Colt walked over with a pile of wood in his hands.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Nice dog, Cass. What'd ya call it?"

Wild Card exhaled. He looked around and the dog walked over to him, licking his face. "Royal, his name is Royal."

Kid Colt sat next to them and pet Royal's head. The dog sniffed all around Colt and gently wept.

"He's been following me for over twenty years and has not aged a day in that time."

"A twenty year old dog? That's impossible."

Marshall and Ira returned with more firewood. Marshall put his stack down beside the fire and sat next to Colt, petting the dog. Ira did the same but crouched before Royal, meeting him face to face.

"No, he's right. I know this dog…"

August 1858

Rochester, NY

Ira Davis

Ira walked out of his house. It was still morning. The rest of his family could be found at the festival. Ira fixed his collar and sleeve nervously. What a bright, clear summer day, he thought. The sun stretched out, blessing the fields with its golden rays, shining over a shaggy white dog quietly sitting in the grass. The scene before Ira’s eyes was so beautiful it felt surreal. Ira got lost in the moment, lost in the presence of the peculiar dog in the field.

The door smacked shut behind him and William, his younger brother, only by a year, walked out onto the porch and almost stepped on his heel. Ira looked back out onto the field. The dog was gone.

"What gun are you gonna use?"

Ira turned around and slammed him against the wall, "Did you kiss her last night?" he practically yelled.

"What? No!”

But Ira saw right through his little brother.

“…I mean...She kissed me," defended Will.

Ira let him go and cooled down.

"Father gave me his Winchester," Ira answered as he revealed it from under its shining cloth.

They hurried up the ridge to the festival. The main event was a shooting contest sponsored by the Union Army's new Sharpshooter division. Ira and Will got to the booth where there was a crowd forming already. A man in a Union-blue hat stood amongst them, announcing the rules, "...contestants have to place 10 shots in a 10-inch circle at 200 yards, firing any rifle from any position..."

"You can hit that, Ira," reinforced Will, "the back fence on the farm is longer than 200, and you've hit bottles off the end post in one shot."

Ira looked around, Tim Rothens was competing. Kid couldn't shoot the broad side of a barn. Evan Wade was there too, their older brother's best friend. Evan prided himself on his new Evans rifle. A prize he was awarded at last year's annual gun show. The Evans rifle was much better than a Winchester, and Wade was a good shot. The other two faces they saw neither Ira nor Will recognized. Ira stared at them, still uncertain about joining the contest.

"One's from Buffalo, and the others' from a place called Nyack," informed a girl from behind Ira and Will. It was Emma Riley, the girl next door. Emma Riley had dirty blonde hair, green eyes, and freckles in the summertime. Her family owned the ranch neighboring theirs since before Ira’s time. Emma was also in Ira and Will's class at the schoolhouse. Although never admitted by anyone in the school or the town for that matter, Emma was the smartest student in the class and quite possibly the entire school. For some reason unbeknownst to Ira, she exclusively hung out with him and Will. An only child, Emma would call the two brothers her closest friends.

She swung onto their shoulders and greeted them, “Hey boys.” And Ira suddenly had a change of heart, and entered the contest. His rifle was registered and unloaded. They took his ammo and gave back him ten bullets to shoot. Ira, accompanied by Will and Emma, walked out to the field, along with the other competitors.

There was only one tree in the field. The other four contestants split themselves around it. Ira found his spot. He ran over to the giant oak tree, talking back to Emma and Will "I'll post up on the tree and win this thing."

When they got underneath the tree, the first contestant, Tim Rothens, was already disqualified for missing the target on his fourth shot. Ira found a comfortable curve on the tree's slope and put one knee down. He nestled in and balanced his left foot in front of him. From above he heard, "Does Dad know you have his gun?" It was Ira and Will's older brother, Daniel, sitting in the tree, eating an apple.

"How did you know we'd be here?" asked Will.

"It’s no great mystery… how our brother’s mind works."

Ira tried his hardest to keep from grimacing; being the middle child he never wanted his brothers to know how they affected him, especially in front of Emma. He focused on his target, as Daniel jumped out of the tree.

"Remember what I told you about the wind, anything after-"

"A hundred yards and you gotta account for it, I know Dan."

"Good luck, buddy," Daniel patted Ira on the shoulder and backed away with Will and Emma. He grabbed Will and put him in a headlock, as Emma giggled, messing up his kid-brother's hair. The Buffalo contestant was now shooting his ten shots.

Ira focused on his target. Buffalo's target was just beside it, taking some damage, four, five, six shots consecutively hitting inside the red target. Four more and he wins it. Ira looked back over to his target. It did not matter if the others make it or not, what mattered was he had to make his own shots. He started by taking deep breaths. The crowd collectively sighed, and Ira realized the contestant from Buffalo missed his second to last shot. It was now Ira's turn.

A shot rang out on the other side of the tree.

It was Evan Wade. He had started his turn early. Suddenly, the man from Nyack started shooting too. The crowd began to cheer. Ira closed his left eye, held the rifle up, and aimed his sights down the barrel. Behind the targets, a flag atop the festival tent blew west. Ira smiled as he exhaled, and pulled the trigger. The first bullet hit dead center, the one after that blew right through the same center hole. The third and fourth bullets hit both sides of the center, and the fifth went through it again. Ira paused to hear the crowd's reactions.

They were in an uproar now, as Evan Wade and Nyack fired off their final rounds. Ira surged on his momentum and started firing again. The sixth shot went wide left, but just made the ten inch target. Ira looked up. The flag had stopped. He slightly readjusted his aim and fired two more times. Seven and eight placed dead center.

Emma cheered and chanted for Ira. Will and Dan followed suit. Ira fired his ninth bullet and the crowd went wild. In all the commotion Nyack and Evan Wade both missed their final shots. It was now down to Ira. He closed his eyes.

Ira recalled the first day he went hunting with his father, the serene landscape, the early morning sun, the sight of his breath before his face, and his father’s everlasting words of wisdom. Trust your instinct and your body will do the rest…

He opened his right eye and fired. Ira's tenth and final bullet blew cleanly through the bull’s-eye hole that the other nine bullets had already made. Ira had won the tournament. Everyone applauded him, as his brothers carried him back on their shoulders.

Ira was brought to the stage and awarded first place. Ira focused on Emma looking proudly up at him on the stage. The representative from the Union Army handed the trophy to him. It was a golden man holding a rifle. The townsfolk settled down to hear the soldier’s words. "I am Captain A. C. Gray of the 108th New York Volunteer Sharpshooter Division. We would like to recruit your talents..."

Ira looked back over at Emma, who was now palling around with Will. The only reason he entered the contest to begin with was to impress Emma Riley. For a brief moment he basked in what he perceived as her affection, but reality quickly revealed a truth he could never admit to himself up until now. It did not matter how much better Ira was than his brother. Will had something Ira never would… Emma Riley's heart. And with that rapid realization all his reluctance quickly dissipated. He now had an answer for the Captain.

"I'm in."