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azombiewritesTitle: The Cost of Revenge
Eighth story in 'The Continuing Ezra Standish Saga'
Rating: PG
Warnings: Bad writing ahead!
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Summary: When five of the town's lawmen leave to help a town two days away, Chris and Ezra are left alone but then Chris leaves after receiving information about the murder of his family. Ezra alone, has to protect the town against five outlaws.
Main Characters: Ezra, Vin and the rest of the seven, and some OC's
Disclaimers: The guys are owned by CBS, MGM, Trilogy Entertainment Group, and The Mirisch Corp.
Beta: Not betaed – written in the early days when I didn’t know what the words grammar and edit meant. *is ashamed*
Notes: Eighth story in the ‘Continuing Ezra Standish Saga’.
Spoilers: None.
Word Count: 17,305
Part Two
"Mary, could you please put some water on to boil and then come and help with his clothes?" She saw Mary nod and leave Ezra's side. Enid moved to Ezra's side, she would have to remove his upper clothing to get a closer look at the wounds. She began to unbutton his vest and then his shirt. She pulled the shirt away noticing how smooth and muscled his chest was but she also noticed the amount of blood that covered it. Mary came back over and together they struggled to remove Ezra's clothes. Once they had done that Enid got a close look at his wounds, she had Mary help her roll him onto his side so she could see the exit wounds.
"Mary, where does Nathan keep the bandages that he uses?" asked Enid as they allowed Ezra to roll back.
Instead of answering her Mary got up and went to the draw that held the bandages. She brought them all back as she didn’t know how many Enid would need. She gave them to her but Enid gave some of them back. "I want you put this on the wound in the front and back and apply as much pressure as you can. Don't let up if he shows any sort of pain because we have to get the bleeding stopped."
Mary nodded but hesitated a moment as she watched Enid place her bandages on Ezra's shoulder and then under his back and press down. She saw Ezra move under the pressure and heard his groan of pain. Enid looked up at her and then she did the same to his upper side. He didn’t respond to the pressure that she placed on his side.
"Press harder, Mary." As she did, she saw Ezra react the same way as he had when Enid applied pressure to his shoulder.
After about ten minutes of applying the pressure, the wounds finally stopped bleeding. Enid then got the pot of boiling water that Mary had put on and brought it to the side of the bed. She then began to clean each wound while Ezra grimaced and moaned in protest but he didn’t regain consciousness, which she was glad. When that was done she then bandaged the wounds, she would have to wait until Nathan came back for him to stitch them closed. She didn’t want to do that as yet because when she had cleaned his wounds she saw that the bullets had broken his shoulder blade and a rib in his side and knew there could be bone splinters in the wounds that would need to be removed and she didn’t have enough experience to do that. She had to wait until Nathan came back and she hoped that she could keep Ezra alive long enough for Nathan to help him.
Two hours later three things happened at once. The first one was that the man who was riding after Chris Larabee gave up. He had ridden hard for two hours and knew that if he was going to catch him that he would have caught him by now. So he pulled up his horse, turned around, and headed back to Four Corners. The second thing was that Buck Wilmington was handed a telegram that told him that Ezra Standish had been shot and Nathan Jackson should return to Four Corners, as he was needed urgently. The third was that Ezra regained consciousness.
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Buck was sitting in the saloon at Eagle Bend. It had taken them until now to deal with the five gunmen who were terrorising the town. They had been tricky, a couple of them had themselves shut up in buildings, and it had been difficult to get them out without hurting innocent bystanders. Once they had finished they decided that they should stay in town for the night and then head back to Four Corners in the morning but the telegram that he was about to receive changed that plan. Vin, Nathan, Josiah and JD were sitting with him discussing the day’s events when a man arrived with a telegram for Buck. The man knew who Buck was, the whole town knew who the four men were and he ran straight to him when he saw him at the table.
"Buck, I have a telegram for you. It is regarding your friend in Four Corners." He handed Buck the telegram.
"Has something happened to Chris?" Vin leaned forward.
Buck heard what Vin said as he read the telegram. He looked up at Vin the anger showing on his face. "Is Chris the only friend that you have in Four Corners?"
"Something has happened to Ezra?" JD got up. "We got to get back there."
Vin didn’t answer Buck but just looked at him waiting for him to tell him what was going on. He suspected that something had happened to Chris but now that he knew that, it was about Ezra he thought that Chris had sent it and that Ezra had done something stupid again after the confrontation in the jailhouse.
"So what has Ezra done this time?" asked Nathan taking his turn at judging Ezra without waiting to hear what the telegram said.
Buck got up and showed the disgust that he was feeling. "JD, why is it that only you and I seem to care what happens to Ezra?"
"Buck, are you going to tell us what happened or not," demanded Josiah.
"Ezra’s been shot and they want Nathan urgently." Buck looked down.
"What about Chris, is he okay?" asked Vin as he got up from his seat.
"What about Chris? Ezra’s the one that’s hurt; don't you want to know how he is?" Buck growled at him. It hadn't not mentioned Chris and this had worried Buck. The telegram was from someone else in Four Corners and they only mentioned Ezra in it, which meant that Chris was all right or that he was dead. They would have to find out when they got back. They all left the saloon without saying another word. Buck didn’t say anything during the ride back as he was beginning to understand what Ezra went through with these men.
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Enid was sitting in a chair next to the bed watching Ezra. Mary had gone to get them something to eat and to see if Buck had sent a telegram back to let them know that Nathan was on his way. Enid had kept watching Ezra waiting for him to show any sign that he was coming round. She constantly checked his wounds to make sure that an infection had not set in yet. She was known that it would as the bone chips that she could not remove would eventually cause some sort of infection to begin. She noticed that a film of sweat had begun to soak his hair causing it to cling to his skin. She got up, put her hand on his forehead, and realised that his fever had begun. Ezra moved under her touch but she didn’t remove her hand instead she moved closer to him.
"Ezra, can you hear me?" She watched him move again. "Ezra? It's Enid."
Ezra opened his eyes and looked up into hers. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the intensity of his green eyes. He finally focused on her and smiled up at her but then the smile dropped from his face and he looked around the room. She knew who he was looking for. "Mary is fine Ezra, she’ll be back shortly." She watched him relax for a moment.
"Those men, what happened?" He croaked.
"I'll get you some water and then I will tell you." As she got up Mary walked back into the room.
Mary saw that Ezra's eyes were open. She went over to him and sat down. "How are you feeling Ezra?"
"Terrible. Who fixed me up?"
"I did."
He looked over at Enid. "You my Dear are a resourceful woman," he smiled at her.
She smiled back at him. After all that happened, he still remembered something that she had said yesterday. Enid wondered how many other men did that.
"Very," said Mary. "She also killed the two men who shot you." Mary frowned though as Ezra fell back into unconsciousness.
Enid also saw this and instead of putting the water in a cup, she soaked a cloth with it and then went back to the bed. She put the cloth on Ezra's forehead after first wiping his face with it. "He’s got a slight fever," she answered Mary's look of concern. "Was there a telegram from Buck?"
"No and the man that you sent after Chris came back without him. Said that Chris must be riding his horse to hard because even after two hours of hard riding himself he was not able to catch up with him." Mary looked at Ezra seeing the slight flush in his cheeks from the fever. "I sent a telegram to Clear Creek though saying that he should be arriving in four days and if they could inform him of what has occurred here."
"I hope that the others received their telegram and are on their way."
"Enid, Chris left because he got some information that may tell him who killed his family." She raised her eyes to her.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know about his family."
"He’s been looking for the killers for a long time now."
Enid moved next to Ezra and sat down on the bed taking the cloth form his forehead and wiping his face and chest with it. "I am sorry Mary, but . . ." She didn’t finish though.
"But what, Enid?" Mary wanted her to finish what she was saying.
"I'm sorry about his family but he could have still waited another day or two until the others came back before he left."
Mary didn't say anything. Instead, she too looked at Ezra wondering if he would be lying here if Chris had stayed in town.
When Buck could see Four Corners in the distance he urged his horse to go faster, the others followed his lead, some of them more concerned because the telegraph had not mentioned Chris and two of them wanting know how Ezra was, the telegram also didn’t say if his injury was serious or not.
Once they got to town, they headed straight to Nathan's room thinking that Ezra would be there. Buck ran up the stairs and burst through the door to find Ezra lying unconscious on the bed. He also noticed that he was moving about. He saw that Mary and Enid were with him but he didn't see Chris. Nathan pushed his way past Buck and went to Ezra.
Enid heard the door open and was relieved to see Buck standing there; it meant that Nathan was also with him. When Nathan did come into the room, he went straight to Ezra's side. "Nathan, I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve done as much for him as I could but he needs you." Enid told him.
The others had also made their way into the room. Vin could see that Chris was not there; he saw Mary though and went over to her. "Where's Chris?" he asked her glancing at Ezra on the way pass.
"He's not here." Mary answered him.
"He's not . . .” Vin left the question hanging in the air.
"No he isn't." Enid stood up and walked up to Vin. "Do you want to know how Ezra is?"
"Of course I do. I just wanted to make sure that Chris was okay to," muttered Vin suddenly feeling guilty.
"Enid, come back here and tell me what happened," said Nathan.
Enid glared at Vin and then joined Nathan at Ezra's bedside. "He took a bullet in his right shoulder. It broke his shoulder blade when it came out the other side and the other bullet him in his left side breaking his rib. I cleaned the wounds and bandaged them but I saw bone splinters in them that will need to come out. I couldn't do it. I knew that it would end up causing an infection which I think it has started to do as he has a fever which is getting worse." She looked down at Ezra watching him turn his head from side to side and how his hair and body were now soaked with sweat.
Nathan put his hand to Ezra's forehead feeling the heat that was generating from his body as he leaned over him. He instantly regretted what he had said about Ezra back in the saloon in Eagle Bend. He then removed the bandages and saw the slight swelling in both wounds and then he rolled Ezra over as much as he could to check the wounds on his back. There was more swelling there. "I want everyone to leave."
"Not until you tell us how bad he is Nathan," growled Buck. He had noticed how Vin had showed little concern in regards to Ezra's health until he found out that Chris was okay. He also noticed how Josiah was standing back at the doorway. He didn’t need to check on JD because he knew that he would be worried. That boy worried about everyone.
"Enid just told you Buck. The wounds have become infected. I will need to clean any bone fragments that are still in there and I can't do that with everyone standing in here."
"Fine, but I want to know as soon as you’re finished with him," said Buck as he left the room with the others following him including Mary.
Enid began to get up to leave also but Nathan held her arm. "Enid, could you stay and help me please?"
"Sure, Nathan." She smiled glad that she could stay with Ezra.
Enid put some more water on to boil while Nathan removed Ezra's bandages. He squeezed the wound on his shoulder slightly seeing a small amount of yellow fluid leak from the wound. Ezra moaned at the touch and tried to move away from the pain. Nathan knew that the other wound would be the same.
"When did this happen?"
"About seven hours ago. I had someone send the telegram straight away. I didn't want to try to clean inside his wounds as I thought that I might just cause more damage.
"You did a good job." Nathan got up and placed some of the instruments that he was going to use into the boiling water. While they were sterilizing he cleaned his own hands. He then put the instruments on a tray and went back to Ezra. "Enid, could you clean your hands and then bring the water over here and also some more bandages."
Nathan began with the two wounds at the front of Ezra's body. He opened the shoulder wound and saw no bone splinters there so he cleaned out as much of the fluid that he could. Enid tried to hold Ezra's shoulder as he was still moving about. Once Nathan had finished with the first one, he put some herbs and a small dressing on it. He then checked the other wound on Ezra's left side. He noticed that the bullet must have been meant for the heart, as it was level with that area. He wanted to ask Enid how it happened but he would wait until he was finished. He found splinters in the wound. He made sure that he removed them all and then cleaned the wound. After he dressed that one, he had Enid help him roll Ezra onto his stomach making sure that the dressings stayed in place.
Nathan found quite a few bone fragments on the back of his shoulder and it took him quite a while to clean them. Ezra was also able to struggle more on his stomach as he seemed to get his arms underneath him to try to push himself away from the pain. Nathan had to stop a few times to wait for him to settle. Enid was doing a good job holding him down but sometimes Ezra's strength surprised them both. When Nathan had finished with that wound, he then moved onto the last one. When he finished he placed a dressing on it.
"I’m going to leave him on his stomach for now to keep him off his shoulder. We will have to wait to see if his fever goes down. I cleaned the wounds as best I could but I will have to clean them on a regular basis to make sure they stay clean," said Nathan. He kept his hand on Ezra's back feeling the heat that radiated from his body and the sweat that formed in droplets on his back. He picked up a cloth and soaked it in the now cool water and begun to wipe down Ezra's back he then placed the cloth on the back of his neck. "Do you want to tell me what happened, Enid?"
"Why don't we see if Mary has told everyone else and if not then I can tell all of you."
Nathan got up, went, and opened the door. He found that they were all still standing there. They had not moved during the two hours that it had taken Nathan to clean Ezra's wounds of the infection and bone fragments. He saw that Mary was not with them though.
"Well?" asked Buck as he stood face to face with Nathan.
"There were quite a few bone pieces that I had to remove and all we can do now is wait and see if his fever comes down." Buck went to move back inside so he could see Ezra. "Did Mary tell you what happened?"
"She wanted to but we could see that she was tired so we insisted that she get some rest. We thought that she could tell us later what was going on." Josiah answered.
"Well I can tell you now," said Enid. She was going to enjoy this. When they all came into the room, she got the impression that only Buck was worried about Ezra. The others gave her the impression that they were concerned but nothing more. She hoped that it was because they were hiding their feelings. She would soon find out how they really felt when she told them what happened.
"Let's go back inside and you can tell us in there, I don't want to leave Ezra alone in case he wakes up," said Nathan as he moved back inside. Enid followed them in and then began to tell them everything that had happened that morning.
When they went back in Nathan could see that Ezra had managed to roll onto his back causing the dressings to fall. The wounds had begun to bleed slightly and he had to redo them. He had not bandaged his wounds as he thought that it would be easier for both he and Ezra when it came to cleaning the wounds. The others watched silently as Nathan redressed the wounds and placed him back on his stomach. He stayed on the bed making sure that he didn’t roll over again. Both he and the others could see the redness that covered his back from the fever that he was suffering. They could also see the swelling and bruises that protruded from the dressings. They all looked at Enid asking her with their expressions what happened to him.
Enid looked down at Ezra. "This morning Ezra and Chris had an argument...” she began.
"About what?" asked JD.
"Let her talk, JD." said Buck hoping that this wasn't going where he thought it was. He kept the thought to himself.
"Ezra wanted to know why Chris didn’t trust him," she saw most of them looking at the ground but
Buck and JD kept their eyes on her and Ezra. "Chris would not tell him at first but Ezra was determined to get an answer and Chris gave him one. Told him that he thought that Ezra would one day get one of you killed. He told Ezra that he always seemed to have his own interests come first before the group." She saw Nathan nod his head. "So you agree with him do you Nathan?"
Nathan looked down at Ezra his hand still on his back as Ezra moved underneath it. "I'm sorry but yes I do."
"You will find that most of them do." said JD looking around at the others.
"After a few more words, Chris hit him as you can see by his split lip." They had noticed Ezra's lip and the bruise on his cheek but they all thought that it was part of what had happened to him. "Ezra then pulled his gun on him."
Buck laughed at this but the others frowned.
"That would be right," commented Vin.
"The reason Ezra pulled his gun on him was because your friend was going to hit him again but Ezra didn’t want the ladies who were watching the scene to see a physical altercation between them and he thought that it was the only way to stop him. He was thinking of us and not his ego like Chris was." she looked at Vin to make sure that he understood why Ezra pulled his derringer. Vin looked down.
"But when he put the gun away, Chris hit him again anyway. He’s a real nice man this Chris Larabee."
"You need to get to know Chris to find out that he is a nice guy and he wouldn’t usually do that sort of thing unless he had a reason," said Vin defending Chris.
"Oh he had a reason all right. He wanted to leave town. He got some information about the people who killed his family." She stopped there as she heard Ezra moan from the bed, he was moving about even more now. She sat down on the bed beside him and wiped the hair off his forehead. She waited for him to settle before she went on.
"Chris has been looking for those people for a long time, the rest of us would have understood that he had to leave," said Nathan.
"But you were not here, only Ezra was here and Chris was going to leave him on his own. I think that Ezra did. He would think that he was running out on him. I think that is how Ezra put it."
The others looked at each other knowing what she meant by what she just said. Buck looked at Enid.
"I have to ask you Enid, did Chris shoot Ezra?" Everyone looked at him stunned by what he had just said.
"No, after he hit Ezra the second time he left town. We sent someone after him to bring him back but they couldn’t catch up with him."
"Then someone else did it, who and are they still around," growled Buck wanting to get his hands on the man who did this.
They all turned suddenly as they heard the door open and relaxed when Mary came in. She moved over next to Enid. "I'm sorry, I couldn't sleep. I had to come back."
"I was just telling everyone what happened. I just told them that Chris had left town." Enid continued then. "There were five of them actually." She said to Buck to answer his question.
"So it had something to do with a card game," said Josiah.
Buck was surprised by the comment that Josiah had made, he didn’t expect from him. He looked back at Enid and could see how angry she was getting at the comments they kept making about Ezra.
"Why do you say that, why do you think that Ezra brought this on himself?" She was frustrated that they could not accept the fact that it had nothing to do with Ezra. She was beginning to understand why he didn’t show these men the hurt that he was feeling. She got the impression that they would not care how he felt. She walked straight up to Josiah wanting to take her anger out on him, as he was the one who made the last comment. "This man . . ." She turned and pointed at Ezra, "nearly died because Chris Larabee allowed his own interests to come first." She practically spat at him. She was so angry now.
"I don't believe that," said Vin.
Enid looked over at Mary. "Tell him." Enid went and sat next to Ezra again. She could feel the heat coming from his body.
"I'm sorry, Vin but I am agreeing with Enid. I wonder myself if Ezra would be lying here like this if Chris stayed in town. This happened because there was no one there to back him up but it was also my fault to." She looked at Ezra and blamed herself for what happened.
"It was not your fault, Mary." Enid began to wipe Ezra's face with the damp cloth that Nathan had put on the back of his neck. She felt his breath against her arm and while she did this, she told them what Ezra had done hoping that it would change their opinion of him. "Mary had left the saloon about twenty minutes after Chris did and then we heard a gunshot. Ezra didn’t go straight out as he didn't know what was happening so he made his way to the door and waited. A man then began to come into the saloon holding a gun. Ezra put his own gun against the man's head and went outside with him. I got someone else's gun in case he needed help." They looked at her. "I went up to the door to see what had happened because he didn’t come back in and I saw two men and one of them had Mary."
"They asked me which one of the men in the saloon was Ezra, they seemed to know him and they were going to use me to get him out," said Mary looking down as she felt the guilt overwhelm her.
"Ezra got the drop on the guy but when they brought Mary out he was in a completely different situation and he was on his own. I think that if Chris was there then he would have been able to help."
Enid noticed how they no longer had anything to say about Ezra. "They threatened to kill Mary if he wouldn't put his gun down."
"I told him not to but he must have believed what they said because he told me that if he didn't they would kill me," continued Mary. They seemed to be taking turns now telling the story.
"I knew I couldn't do anything yet as they had both Mary and Ezra so I waited," said Enid.
"Then why do you think that Chris could have done anything?" stated Vin.
"Because Vin, Ezra would not have been in that position if Chris was there to help from the beginning," she said, the anger showing in her voice as he was still defending Larabee. Her face softened then though and she looked back down at Ezra. "I saw them raise their guns but I was to slow, they both shot him. He was standing there with his hands up, he was not a threat to them but they shot him anyway."
"He knew that they were going to shoot him." They all looked at Mary. "I could see it in his eyes, he knew that they would have killed me and he was willing to give his own life to save mine." She started crying then as she remembered Ezra lying on the ground with all the blood soaking his clothing.
"Mary got away then and I surprised them and killed the two that shot Ezra. The other three gave themselves up." She looked up at Vin. "You don't seem to have anything to say anymore Vin?" Vin didn’t answer a question.
They were feeling guilty that they had misjudged Ezra but Vin and Nathan were still not sure about Ezra not being in this position if Chris had stayed in town. Vin looked at Ezra and then left the room. Buck watched him leave. He hadn't seemed to accept everything that he was told. Buck looked back at Ezra and knew that what Enid had said was true. He knew that Ezra would give his life to save Mary or any of them for that matter but the others had a harder time believing it.
The others had left the room also and left Buck and Enid to stay with Ezra. He had settled more and Nathan told Enid to make sure that he didn’t roll onto his back and that he would be back later to clean his wounds again. Buck watched Ezra, his face was pale but red from the fever, the sweat continuing to form on his skin, a grimace crossing his face every now and then either from the pain or a dream, Buck didn’t know which. He saw the wounds on his back and knew that there were two more on his chest. Knew of the broken bones that the bullets had caused. He thought about what Mary said - that Ezra knew that the men would shoot him if he put his gun down, that he did it to save her life. He let out a deep breath and leaned back in the chair wishing that Ezra would wake up. Enid told him that he had woken up a couple of hours after it happened but he had been unconscious since. Nathan thought that it was a fevered sleep and that he probably would not wake up until after the fever broke.
"Why don't they like him, Buck?" Enid's question had brought him out of his own thoughts.
"It's not that they don't like him, Enid," said Buck not looking at her.
"Then what is it? What's makes them treat him like this and why does he not tell them how it hurts him."
Buck looked up at that comment. "Hurt him?"
"What they say and think hurts him. After what happened in the jail cell, he went to the saloon and Chris followed him. I went in there too and I watched him at the bar. He thought that no one was watching him but I was. I could see the hurt on his face, he was upset about it but he didn't let anyone else see that."
"Ezra is a complicated person and hard to get to know. He hides his feelings behind a poker face. He is a gambler and a conman." He put his hand up to stop Enid's protest at that remark before she even started. "He was brought up that way, he was taught by his mother to hide everything from everyone. He does not want people to see that he cares or wants to help others. That's why the rest of the guys had difficulty taking in what you said."
"And that's why they don't like him. Because he doesn't want them to like him?" She was confused.
"I think that he thinks it's easier for him not to get close to people in case he has to leave in a hurry and as a gambler he had to do that a lot. He is not use to friendship and he pushes it away. They have tried to be his friend but that usually only happens in situations like this, when he is hurt and he can't push them away. It's now a way of life for him."
"How long has he been here in Four Corners?"
"Nearly eight months."
"And during all that time he has never done anything that would make them think that there is a different person in there?" this conversation was making her more angry with the others. This would not have had to be the first time that he risked his life for someone or showed them something that said that they could trust him.
"He has done plenty of things but then he does something that is habit and they resort back to the way they usually think of him. Like I said, Ezra does not want them to think nice things about him. I didn’t realise though that what they thought of him hurt his feelings." He looked down at Ezra. "He is very good with that poker face of his." Buck decided that he was going to have to have a good talk to him later.
"Then how come you can see through him?"
"A woman that he loved was killed about six weeks ago, I saw those feelings that you’re speaking of and we have been somewhat closer since. But I obviously don't see through him or else I would know what is going on with him. He must have only let me see what he wanted and nothing else." He looked up then as Nathan entered the room.
"I've come to clean Ezra's wounds." Nathan said to no one in particular.
"I'm not leaving this time, Nathan," said Buck.
Part One | Part Two | Part Three
Master Fan Fiction List
Eighth story in 'The Continuing Ezra Standish Saga'
Rating: PG
Warnings: Bad writing ahead!
Fandom: The Magnificent Seven
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Summary: When five of the town's lawmen leave to help a town two days away, Chris and Ezra are left alone but then Chris leaves after receiving information about the murder of his family. Ezra alone, has to protect the town against five outlaws.
Main Characters: Ezra, Vin and the rest of the seven, and some OC's
Disclaimers: The guys are owned by CBS, MGM, Trilogy Entertainment Group, and The Mirisch Corp.
Beta: Not betaed – written in the early days when I didn’t know what the words grammar and edit meant. *is ashamed*
Notes: Eighth story in the ‘Continuing Ezra Standish Saga’.
Spoilers: None.
Word Count: 17,305
Part Two
"Mary, could you please put some water on to boil and then come and help with his clothes?" She saw Mary nod and leave Ezra's side. Enid moved to Ezra's side, she would have to remove his upper clothing to get a closer look at the wounds. She began to unbutton his vest and then his shirt. She pulled the shirt away noticing how smooth and muscled his chest was but she also noticed the amount of blood that covered it. Mary came back over and together they struggled to remove Ezra's clothes. Once they had done that Enid got a close look at his wounds, she had Mary help her roll him onto his side so she could see the exit wounds.
"Mary, where does Nathan keep the bandages that he uses?" asked Enid as they allowed Ezra to roll back.
Instead of answering her Mary got up and went to the draw that held the bandages. She brought them all back as she didn’t know how many Enid would need. She gave them to her but Enid gave some of them back. "I want you put this on the wound in the front and back and apply as much pressure as you can. Don't let up if he shows any sort of pain because we have to get the bleeding stopped."
Mary nodded but hesitated a moment as she watched Enid place her bandages on Ezra's shoulder and then under his back and press down. She saw Ezra move under the pressure and heard his groan of pain. Enid looked up at her and then she did the same to his upper side. He didn’t respond to the pressure that she placed on his side.
"Press harder, Mary." As she did, she saw Ezra react the same way as he had when Enid applied pressure to his shoulder.
After about ten minutes of applying the pressure, the wounds finally stopped bleeding. Enid then got the pot of boiling water that Mary had put on and brought it to the side of the bed. She then began to clean each wound while Ezra grimaced and moaned in protest but he didn’t regain consciousness, which she was glad. When that was done she then bandaged the wounds, she would have to wait until Nathan came back for him to stitch them closed. She didn’t want to do that as yet because when she had cleaned his wounds she saw that the bullets had broken his shoulder blade and a rib in his side and knew there could be bone splinters in the wounds that would need to be removed and she didn’t have enough experience to do that. She had to wait until Nathan came back and she hoped that she could keep Ezra alive long enough for Nathan to help him.
Two hours later three things happened at once. The first one was that the man who was riding after Chris Larabee gave up. He had ridden hard for two hours and knew that if he was going to catch him that he would have caught him by now. So he pulled up his horse, turned around, and headed back to Four Corners. The second thing was that Buck Wilmington was handed a telegram that told him that Ezra Standish had been shot and Nathan Jackson should return to Four Corners, as he was needed urgently. The third was that Ezra regained consciousness.
Buck was sitting in the saloon at Eagle Bend. It had taken them until now to deal with the five gunmen who were terrorising the town. They had been tricky, a couple of them had themselves shut up in buildings, and it had been difficult to get them out without hurting innocent bystanders. Once they had finished they decided that they should stay in town for the night and then head back to Four Corners in the morning but the telegram that he was about to receive changed that plan. Vin, Nathan, Josiah and JD were sitting with him discussing the day’s events when a man arrived with a telegram for Buck. The man knew who Buck was, the whole town knew who the four men were and he ran straight to him when he saw him at the table.
"Buck, I have a telegram for you. It is regarding your friend in Four Corners." He handed Buck the telegram.
"Has something happened to Chris?" Vin leaned forward.
Buck heard what Vin said as he read the telegram. He looked up at Vin the anger showing on his face. "Is Chris the only friend that you have in Four Corners?"
"Something has happened to Ezra?" JD got up. "We got to get back there."
Vin didn’t answer Buck but just looked at him waiting for him to tell him what was going on. He suspected that something had happened to Chris but now that he knew that, it was about Ezra he thought that Chris had sent it and that Ezra had done something stupid again after the confrontation in the jailhouse.
"So what has Ezra done this time?" asked Nathan taking his turn at judging Ezra without waiting to hear what the telegram said.
Buck got up and showed the disgust that he was feeling. "JD, why is it that only you and I seem to care what happens to Ezra?"
"Buck, are you going to tell us what happened or not," demanded Josiah.
"Ezra’s been shot and they want Nathan urgently." Buck looked down.
"What about Chris, is he okay?" asked Vin as he got up from his seat.
"What about Chris? Ezra’s the one that’s hurt; don't you want to know how he is?" Buck growled at him. It hadn't not mentioned Chris and this had worried Buck. The telegram was from someone else in Four Corners and they only mentioned Ezra in it, which meant that Chris was all right or that he was dead. They would have to find out when they got back. They all left the saloon without saying another word. Buck didn’t say anything during the ride back as he was beginning to understand what Ezra went through with these men.
Enid was sitting in a chair next to the bed watching Ezra. Mary had gone to get them something to eat and to see if Buck had sent a telegram back to let them know that Nathan was on his way. Enid had kept watching Ezra waiting for him to show any sign that he was coming round. She constantly checked his wounds to make sure that an infection had not set in yet. She was known that it would as the bone chips that she could not remove would eventually cause some sort of infection to begin. She noticed that a film of sweat had begun to soak his hair causing it to cling to his skin. She got up, put her hand on his forehead, and realised that his fever had begun. Ezra moved under her touch but she didn’t remove her hand instead she moved closer to him.
"Ezra, can you hear me?" She watched him move again. "Ezra? It's Enid."
Ezra opened his eyes and looked up into hers. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the intensity of his green eyes. He finally focused on her and smiled up at her but then the smile dropped from his face and he looked around the room. She knew who he was looking for. "Mary is fine Ezra, she’ll be back shortly." She watched him relax for a moment.
"Those men, what happened?" He croaked.
"I'll get you some water and then I will tell you." As she got up Mary walked back into the room.
Mary saw that Ezra's eyes were open. She went over to him and sat down. "How are you feeling Ezra?"
"Terrible. Who fixed me up?"
"I did."
He looked over at Enid. "You my Dear are a resourceful woman," he smiled at her.
She smiled back at him. After all that happened, he still remembered something that she had said yesterday. Enid wondered how many other men did that.
"Very," said Mary. "She also killed the two men who shot you." Mary frowned though as Ezra fell back into unconsciousness.
Enid also saw this and instead of putting the water in a cup, she soaked a cloth with it and then went back to the bed. She put the cloth on Ezra's forehead after first wiping his face with it. "He’s got a slight fever," she answered Mary's look of concern. "Was there a telegram from Buck?"
"No and the man that you sent after Chris came back without him. Said that Chris must be riding his horse to hard because even after two hours of hard riding himself he was not able to catch up with him." Mary looked at Ezra seeing the slight flush in his cheeks from the fever. "I sent a telegram to Clear Creek though saying that he should be arriving in four days and if they could inform him of what has occurred here."
"I hope that the others received their telegram and are on their way."
"Enid, Chris left because he got some information that may tell him who killed his family." She raised her eyes to her.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know about his family."
"He’s been looking for the killers for a long time now."
Enid moved next to Ezra and sat down on the bed taking the cloth form his forehead and wiping his face and chest with it. "I am sorry Mary, but . . ." She didn’t finish though.
"But what, Enid?" Mary wanted her to finish what she was saying.
"I'm sorry about his family but he could have still waited another day or two until the others came back before he left."
Mary didn't say anything. Instead, she too looked at Ezra wondering if he would be lying here if Chris had stayed in town.
When Buck could see Four Corners in the distance he urged his horse to go faster, the others followed his lead, some of them more concerned because the telegraph had not mentioned Chris and two of them wanting know how Ezra was, the telegram also didn’t say if his injury was serious or not.
Once they got to town, they headed straight to Nathan's room thinking that Ezra would be there. Buck ran up the stairs and burst through the door to find Ezra lying unconscious on the bed. He also noticed that he was moving about. He saw that Mary and Enid were with him but he didn't see Chris. Nathan pushed his way past Buck and went to Ezra.
Enid heard the door open and was relieved to see Buck standing there; it meant that Nathan was also with him. When Nathan did come into the room, he went straight to Ezra's side. "Nathan, I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve done as much for him as I could but he needs you." Enid told him.
The others had also made their way into the room. Vin could see that Chris was not there; he saw Mary though and went over to her. "Where's Chris?" he asked her glancing at Ezra on the way pass.
"He's not here." Mary answered him.
"He's not . . .” Vin left the question hanging in the air.
"No he isn't." Enid stood up and walked up to Vin. "Do you want to know how Ezra is?"
"Of course I do. I just wanted to make sure that Chris was okay to," muttered Vin suddenly feeling guilty.
"Enid, come back here and tell me what happened," said Nathan.
Enid glared at Vin and then joined Nathan at Ezra's bedside. "He took a bullet in his right shoulder. It broke his shoulder blade when it came out the other side and the other bullet him in his left side breaking his rib. I cleaned the wounds and bandaged them but I saw bone splinters in them that will need to come out. I couldn't do it. I knew that it would end up causing an infection which I think it has started to do as he has a fever which is getting worse." She looked down at Ezra watching him turn his head from side to side and how his hair and body were now soaked with sweat.
Nathan put his hand to Ezra's forehead feeling the heat that was generating from his body as he leaned over him. He instantly regretted what he had said about Ezra back in the saloon in Eagle Bend. He then removed the bandages and saw the slight swelling in both wounds and then he rolled Ezra over as much as he could to check the wounds on his back. There was more swelling there. "I want everyone to leave."
"Not until you tell us how bad he is Nathan," growled Buck. He had noticed how Vin had showed little concern in regards to Ezra's health until he found out that Chris was okay. He also noticed how Josiah was standing back at the doorway. He didn’t need to check on JD because he knew that he would be worried. That boy worried about everyone.
"Enid just told you Buck. The wounds have become infected. I will need to clean any bone fragments that are still in there and I can't do that with everyone standing in here."
"Fine, but I want to know as soon as you’re finished with him," said Buck as he left the room with the others following him including Mary.
Enid began to get up to leave also but Nathan held her arm. "Enid, could you stay and help me please?"
"Sure, Nathan." She smiled glad that she could stay with Ezra.
Enid put some more water on to boil while Nathan removed Ezra's bandages. He squeezed the wound on his shoulder slightly seeing a small amount of yellow fluid leak from the wound. Ezra moaned at the touch and tried to move away from the pain. Nathan knew that the other wound would be the same.
"When did this happen?"
"About seven hours ago. I had someone send the telegram straight away. I didn't want to try to clean inside his wounds as I thought that I might just cause more damage.
"You did a good job." Nathan got up and placed some of the instruments that he was going to use into the boiling water. While they were sterilizing he cleaned his own hands. He then put the instruments on a tray and went back to Ezra. "Enid, could you clean your hands and then bring the water over here and also some more bandages."
Nathan began with the two wounds at the front of Ezra's body. He opened the shoulder wound and saw no bone splinters there so he cleaned out as much of the fluid that he could. Enid tried to hold Ezra's shoulder as he was still moving about. Once Nathan had finished with the first one, he put some herbs and a small dressing on it. He then checked the other wound on Ezra's left side. He noticed that the bullet must have been meant for the heart, as it was level with that area. He wanted to ask Enid how it happened but he would wait until he was finished. He found splinters in the wound. He made sure that he removed them all and then cleaned the wound. After he dressed that one, he had Enid help him roll Ezra onto his stomach making sure that the dressings stayed in place.
Nathan found quite a few bone fragments on the back of his shoulder and it took him quite a while to clean them. Ezra was also able to struggle more on his stomach as he seemed to get his arms underneath him to try to push himself away from the pain. Nathan had to stop a few times to wait for him to settle. Enid was doing a good job holding him down but sometimes Ezra's strength surprised them both. When Nathan had finished with that wound, he then moved onto the last one. When he finished he placed a dressing on it.
"I’m going to leave him on his stomach for now to keep him off his shoulder. We will have to wait to see if his fever goes down. I cleaned the wounds as best I could but I will have to clean them on a regular basis to make sure they stay clean," said Nathan. He kept his hand on Ezra's back feeling the heat that radiated from his body and the sweat that formed in droplets on his back. He picked up a cloth and soaked it in the now cool water and begun to wipe down Ezra's back he then placed the cloth on the back of his neck. "Do you want to tell me what happened, Enid?"
"Why don't we see if Mary has told everyone else and if not then I can tell all of you."
Nathan got up, went, and opened the door. He found that they were all still standing there. They had not moved during the two hours that it had taken Nathan to clean Ezra's wounds of the infection and bone fragments. He saw that Mary was not with them though.
"Well?" asked Buck as he stood face to face with Nathan.
"There were quite a few bone pieces that I had to remove and all we can do now is wait and see if his fever comes down." Buck went to move back inside so he could see Ezra. "Did Mary tell you what happened?"
"She wanted to but we could see that she was tired so we insisted that she get some rest. We thought that she could tell us later what was going on." Josiah answered.
"Well I can tell you now," said Enid. She was going to enjoy this. When they all came into the room, she got the impression that only Buck was worried about Ezra. The others gave her the impression that they were concerned but nothing more. She hoped that it was because they were hiding their feelings. She would soon find out how they really felt when she told them what happened.
"Let's go back inside and you can tell us in there, I don't want to leave Ezra alone in case he wakes up," said Nathan as he moved back inside. Enid followed them in and then began to tell them everything that had happened that morning.
When they went back in Nathan could see that Ezra had managed to roll onto his back causing the dressings to fall. The wounds had begun to bleed slightly and he had to redo them. He had not bandaged his wounds as he thought that it would be easier for both he and Ezra when it came to cleaning the wounds. The others watched silently as Nathan redressed the wounds and placed him back on his stomach. He stayed on the bed making sure that he didn’t roll over again. Both he and the others could see the redness that covered his back from the fever that he was suffering. They could also see the swelling and bruises that protruded from the dressings. They all looked at Enid asking her with their expressions what happened to him.
Enid looked down at Ezra. "This morning Ezra and Chris had an argument...” she began.
"About what?" asked JD.
"Let her talk, JD." said Buck hoping that this wasn't going where he thought it was. He kept the thought to himself.
"Ezra wanted to know why Chris didn’t trust him," she saw most of them looking at the ground but
Buck and JD kept their eyes on her and Ezra. "Chris would not tell him at first but Ezra was determined to get an answer and Chris gave him one. Told him that he thought that Ezra would one day get one of you killed. He told Ezra that he always seemed to have his own interests come first before the group." She saw Nathan nod his head. "So you agree with him do you Nathan?"
Nathan looked down at Ezra his hand still on his back as Ezra moved underneath it. "I'm sorry but yes I do."
"You will find that most of them do." said JD looking around at the others.
"After a few more words, Chris hit him as you can see by his split lip." They had noticed Ezra's lip and the bruise on his cheek but they all thought that it was part of what had happened to him. "Ezra then pulled his gun on him."
Buck laughed at this but the others frowned.
"That would be right," commented Vin.
"The reason Ezra pulled his gun on him was because your friend was going to hit him again but Ezra didn’t want the ladies who were watching the scene to see a physical altercation between them and he thought that it was the only way to stop him. He was thinking of us and not his ego like Chris was." she looked at Vin to make sure that he understood why Ezra pulled his derringer. Vin looked down.
"But when he put the gun away, Chris hit him again anyway. He’s a real nice man this Chris Larabee."
"You need to get to know Chris to find out that he is a nice guy and he wouldn’t usually do that sort of thing unless he had a reason," said Vin defending Chris.
"Oh he had a reason all right. He wanted to leave town. He got some information about the people who killed his family." She stopped there as she heard Ezra moan from the bed, he was moving about even more now. She sat down on the bed beside him and wiped the hair off his forehead. She waited for him to settle before she went on.
"Chris has been looking for those people for a long time, the rest of us would have understood that he had to leave," said Nathan.
"But you were not here, only Ezra was here and Chris was going to leave him on his own. I think that Ezra did. He would think that he was running out on him. I think that is how Ezra put it."
The others looked at each other knowing what she meant by what she just said. Buck looked at Enid.
"I have to ask you Enid, did Chris shoot Ezra?" Everyone looked at him stunned by what he had just said.
"No, after he hit Ezra the second time he left town. We sent someone after him to bring him back but they couldn’t catch up with him."
"Then someone else did it, who and are they still around," growled Buck wanting to get his hands on the man who did this.
They all turned suddenly as they heard the door open and relaxed when Mary came in. She moved over next to Enid. "I'm sorry, I couldn't sleep. I had to come back."
"I was just telling everyone what happened. I just told them that Chris had left town." Enid continued then. "There were five of them actually." She said to Buck to answer his question.
"So it had something to do with a card game," said Josiah.
Buck was surprised by the comment that Josiah had made, he didn’t expect from him. He looked back at Enid and could see how angry she was getting at the comments they kept making about Ezra.
"Why do you say that, why do you think that Ezra brought this on himself?" She was frustrated that they could not accept the fact that it had nothing to do with Ezra. She was beginning to understand why he didn’t show these men the hurt that he was feeling. She got the impression that they would not care how he felt. She walked straight up to Josiah wanting to take her anger out on him, as he was the one who made the last comment. "This man . . ." She turned and pointed at Ezra, "nearly died because Chris Larabee allowed his own interests to come first." She practically spat at him. She was so angry now.
"I don't believe that," said Vin.
Enid looked over at Mary. "Tell him." Enid went and sat next to Ezra again. She could feel the heat coming from his body.
"I'm sorry, Vin but I am agreeing with Enid. I wonder myself if Ezra would be lying here like this if Chris stayed in town. This happened because there was no one there to back him up but it was also my fault to." She looked at Ezra and blamed herself for what happened.
"It was not your fault, Mary." Enid began to wipe Ezra's face with the damp cloth that Nathan had put on the back of his neck. She felt his breath against her arm and while she did this, she told them what Ezra had done hoping that it would change their opinion of him. "Mary had left the saloon about twenty minutes after Chris did and then we heard a gunshot. Ezra didn’t go straight out as he didn't know what was happening so he made his way to the door and waited. A man then began to come into the saloon holding a gun. Ezra put his own gun against the man's head and went outside with him. I got someone else's gun in case he needed help." They looked at her. "I went up to the door to see what had happened because he didn’t come back in and I saw two men and one of them had Mary."
"They asked me which one of the men in the saloon was Ezra, they seemed to know him and they were going to use me to get him out," said Mary looking down as she felt the guilt overwhelm her.
"Ezra got the drop on the guy but when they brought Mary out he was in a completely different situation and he was on his own. I think that if Chris was there then he would have been able to help."
Enid noticed how they no longer had anything to say about Ezra. "They threatened to kill Mary if he wouldn't put his gun down."
"I told him not to but he must have believed what they said because he told me that if he didn't they would kill me," continued Mary. They seemed to be taking turns now telling the story.
"I knew I couldn't do anything yet as they had both Mary and Ezra so I waited," said Enid.
"Then why do you think that Chris could have done anything?" stated Vin.
"Because Vin, Ezra would not have been in that position if Chris was there to help from the beginning," she said, the anger showing in her voice as he was still defending Larabee. Her face softened then though and she looked back down at Ezra. "I saw them raise their guns but I was to slow, they both shot him. He was standing there with his hands up, he was not a threat to them but they shot him anyway."
"He knew that they were going to shoot him." They all looked at Mary. "I could see it in his eyes, he knew that they would have killed me and he was willing to give his own life to save mine." She started crying then as she remembered Ezra lying on the ground with all the blood soaking his clothing.
"Mary got away then and I surprised them and killed the two that shot Ezra. The other three gave themselves up." She looked up at Vin. "You don't seem to have anything to say anymore Vin?" Vin didn’t answer a question.
They were feeling guilty that they had misjudged Ezra but Vin and Nathan were still not sure about Ezra not being in this position if Chris had stayed in town. Vin looked at Ezra and then left the room. Buck watched him leave. He hadn't seemed to accept everything that he was told. Buck looked back at Ezra and knew that what Enid had said was true. He knew that Ezra would give his life to save Mary or any of them for that matter but the others had a harder time believing it.
The others had left the room also and left Buck and Enid to stay with Ezra. He had settled more and Nathan told Enid to make sure that he didn’t roll onto his back and that he would be back later to clean his wounds again. Buck watched Ezra, his face was pale but red from the fever, the sweat continuing to form on his skin, a grimace crossing his face every now and then either from the pain or a dream, Buck didn’t know which. He saw the wounds on his back and knew that there were two more on his chest. Knew of the broken bones that the bullets had caused. He thought about what Mary said - that Ezra knew that the men would shoot him if he put his gun down, that he did it to save her life. He let out a deep breath and leaned back in the chair wishing that Ezra would wake up. Enid told him that he had woken up a couple of hours after it happened but he had been unconscious since. Nathan thought that it was a fevered sleep and that he probably would not wake up until after the fever broke.
"Why don't they like him, Buck?" Enid's question had brought him out of his own thoughts.
"It's not that they don't like him, Enid," said Buck not looking at her.
"Then what is it? What's makes them treat him like this and why does he not tell them how it hurts him."
Buck looked up at that comment. "Hurt him?"
"What they say and think hurts him. After what happened in the jail cell, he went to the saloon and Chris followed him. I went in there too and I watched him at the bar. He thought that no one was watching him but I was. I could see the hurt on his face, he was upset about it but he didn't let anyone else see that."
"Ezra is a complicated person and hard to get to know. He hides his feelings behind a poker face. He is a gambler and a conman." He put his hand up to stop Enid's protest at that remark before she even started. "He was brought up that way, he was taught by his mother to hide everything from everyone. He does not want people to see that he cares or wants to help others. That's why the rest of the guys had difficulty taking in what you said."
"And that's why they don't like him. Because he doesn't want them to like him?" She was confused.
"I think that he thinks it's easier for him not to get close to people in case he has to leave in a hurry and as a gambler he had to do that a lot. He is not use to friendship and he pushes it away. They have tried to be his friend but that usually only happens in situations like this, when he is hurt and he can't push them away. It's now a way of life for him."
"How long has he been here in Four Corners?"
"Nearly eight months."
"And during all that time he has never done anything that would make them think that there is a different person in there?" this conversation was making her more angry with the others. This would not have had to be the first time that he risked his life for someone or showed them something that said that they could trust him.
"He has done plenty of things but then he does something that is habit and they resort back to the way they usually think of him. Like I said, Ezra does not want them to think nice things about him. I didn’t realise though that what they thought of him hurt his feelings." He looked down at Ezra. "He is very good with that poker face of his." Buck decided that he was going to have to have a good talk to him later.
"Then how come you can see through him?"
"A woman that he loved was killed about six weeks ago, I saw those feelings that you’re speaking of and we have been somewhat closer since. But I obviously don't see through him or else I would know what is going on with him. He must have only let me see what he wanted and nothing else." He looked up then as Nathan entered the room.
"I've come to clean Ezra's wounds." Nathan said to no one in particular.
"I'm not leaving this time, Nathan," said Buck.
Part One | Part Two | Part Three
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