The Preacher's Saint's Day

When the Comanches came for Stone Creek, my wife, Emma, had taken the entire town posse to the chapel. Not to pray, but to celebrate the new preacher’s Saint's Day. The mayor begged me to ride out and bring her back. I refused. In my last life, I’d spurred my horse down the treacherous back trail, dragged Emma from the preacher's side, and returned just in time to save the town. But the preacher, her shining ideal, was captured by a few stray raiders. They tortured him, then left his body in the woods for the wolves. Emma hunted down those raiders herself. When she returned, she locked herself in our room for three days. She never spoke of it again. Not until the territory, hearing of my "heroism," offered me the preacher's position as captain of the posse. The day our son was born, Emma slipped laudanum into my drink. She broke my legs. She took a scalpel to my belly and threw my insides into the woods for the beasts to devour. “It was you,” she’d whispered, her voice a venomous hiss. “You conspired with them, all for your own glory. You murdered him.” “Since you love playing the hero so much, you can die like one, too.” When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day the raid began. This time, if she wanted to protect her preacher, I’d let her. ... The moment the first arrow splintered the barn door, I smelled the familiar, acrid tang of gunpowder. God, the damned déjà vu. I scrambled for the door, pulling it open just as Mayor Thompson stumbled in. “Jedediah! The Comanches are upon us! Rally the posse!” Before I could answer, his wife, Martha, rushed in behind him, her face pale. “Frank, I’ve looked everywhere! The men are gone! The rifles from the posse’s office… they’re all missing!” A crowd of the town’s women followed her, their faces etched with terror. The mayor was stunned. “Gone? Where in God’s name did they go?” As the only one who knew, I had to be the one to tell them. “Emma took them. To the chapel, for Reverend Silas’s Saint's Day.” “Folly!” the mayor roared. “The circuit judge just warned us of increased raiding parties! He ordered constant patrols, and she takes them off their posts for a celebration?” The women erupted in a chorus of curses, damning Emma’s name for luring their husbands away. Another volley of rifle fire cracked through the air. Screams echoed through the small town. The mayor, a veteran of the war, didn’t flinch. “The rest of you men, get to the drawbridge and raise it! Women and children, into the old silver mine! Don’t come out until you hear a friendly voice!” Our town was nestled in a valley. There were two ways in. The main road led to a heavy wooden drawbridge spanning Black Gulch, a relic from the town’s founding days, built to keep out rustlers and raiders. Once raised, it was nearly impossible to lower from the outside. The other way was a treacherous switchback trail behind the mountain. It was narrow and winding, a single misstep sending horse and rider plunging to their deaths. It was a faster route to the next town, a half-hour ride, but no one ever used it. After giving his orders, the mayor turned to me. “Jed, you know that back trail. You’re the best rider we have. Take the trail, find them, and bring the posse back. For God’s sake, hurry.” I clenched my jaw. “Mayor, I can go, but I fear it’ll be for nothing. Emma will stop them. She won’t let them come with me.” A heavy silence fell over the group. Ever since Reverend Silas had arrived to lead our congregation, it was as if my wife’s eyes were fixed on him and him alone. The whole town knew we fought about it constantly. As their gazes burned into me, my brother-in-law, Leo, stepped forward, saving me. “I’ll go. I know the trail, too. If Jed and my sister start arguing, we’ll lose precious time.” The mayor nodded, and Leo didn’t waste a second, running to fetch his horse. Martha led the women toward the mine shaft to wait for a rescue that might never come. I went with the mayor to defend the drawbridge. An hour and a half later, Leo returned. He appeared at the mouth of the mine, and a cheer went up from the women, thinking the posse was with him. But his face was as white as a sheet. “They won’t come back,” he choked out. The women stared, bewildered. “Why?” Tears streamed down Leo’s face. “They said I was lying. Emma… she said I was in on it with you, Jed, trying to trick everyone. I got on my knees and begged, but they just called me a disgrace.” He broke down, sobbing from the weight of the humiliation. His grief infected the crowd, and they began cursing Silas, calling him a plague on the town. A so-called man of God who did nothing but chase another man’s wife. Before the cursing could die down, a tremendous BOOM shook the earth. The raiders had dynamite. They were going to blow the bridge supports. “What do we do now?” someone wailed. “Are we all going to die in here?” Seeing the terror on their faces, I had an idea. “If our posse won’t come, we can get help from another town.” “I’ll go!” Leo cried, not even wiping the tears from his face. But as he tried to stand, he stumbled, his leg buckling beneath him. We forced him to sit and pulled up his trouser leg. His shin was swollen to the size of a melon. He shamefully admitted he’d taken a fall, pushing his horse too hard on the trail. “It’s nothing,” he insisted, trying to stand again. “I can still ride.” I pushed him back down firmly. “No. You stay here. I’ll go.” Ignoring their protests, I swung myself onto my horse. The mayor ran after me. “Jed! You have to get back with help in two hours! The bridge won’t hold much longer than that!” I nodded grimly and rode hard. Halfway down the trail, a figure darted out from the trees. I reined in my horse just in time. My eyes widened as I saw who it was: Marshal Thorne, the lawman from the neighboring town of Redemption. I dismounted, a wave of relief washing over me. “Thorne! Thank God. What are you doing out here?” I was about to explain our dire situation when he suddenly grabbed my arm, twisting it behind my back in a painful hold. Thorne sneered, his voice cold. “Waiting for you, Jed.” A sharp pain shot up my arm. “What are you talking about?” “Aren't you on your way to meet the raiders?” His expression was one of pure disgust. “Your wife rode out at dawn. Told me to wait for you on this trail. Said you’d come this way to parley with them. Jedediah, your father was a legend who hunted men like these to the ends of the earth. And you, brought so low by jealousy you’d conspire with them? You shame his name!” My mind went numb. The words were English, but it took a long moment for them to register. In my last life, as Emma killed me, she had said the same thing. That I had summoned the raiders myself, all to seize the posse captaincy from Silas. That I had orchestrated his murder. In that instant, I knew. Emma had been reborn, too. That’s why she had ignored Leo’s desperate pleas. She had done more than just ignore them; she had cut off our only path to salvation. There was no time to defend my honor. I swallowed my pride. “Thorne, I’m not conspiring with anyone. The Comanches have hit Stone Creek. They have dynamite, and they’re blowing the bridge. Our posse is gone. Emma took them to celebrate with Silas.” “You have to get your men. Please, ride to Stone Creek and help us. If you don’t, the whole town will be lost.” My earnestness must have given him pause. He stared at me for a few seconds, then burst out laughing. “Jed, you’re a convincing actor. I almost believed you. But claiming Emma would abandon her post to celebrate a birthday with Silas? That’s too far-fetched.” “I know Emma. She’s the most responsible woman I’ve ever met. An educated woman. She would never lack that kind of judgment.” His mockery was a knife in my heart. “I’m telling the truth. If you don’t believe me, go and see for yourself.” “I think you’re trying to trick me into leaving so you can meet up with your raider friends,” Thorne said, shaking his head. “Jed, don't be a fool. Do you know why I’m here alone? Because Emma asked me to talk you down, to convince you to turn back from this path. She said she still loves you. Otherwise, she would have reported this to the territorial marshal, and you’d be in chains by now.” Emma loves me. Before Silas came, I would have believed that. My father rescued her and Leo from a bandit raid that killed their parents. She was only ten when she came to live with us. We grew up together. On his deathbed, after a retaliatory bandit attack, my father asked her if she would be my wife. She said yes. She went to a finishing school back East, telling me to wait for her. I waited four years, raising Leo as my own. When she returned, we were married. But she was always distant. People told me that’s just how it is with couples who have known each other forever. The fire dies down. I believed them. Then Silas arrived, and I saw a light in Emma’s eyes I had never seen before. She would mend his worn clothes, watch him for hours as he worked, and secretly save her teaching money to buy him a silver-inlaid bible. These were affections I had never known. The memory was a fresh stab of pain. But this was no time for self-pity. If Thorne wouldn’t help, I’d have to ride further. There was an army outpost twenty miles out. I was a good rider. If I pushed my horse, I could make it in an hour. The town still had a chance. I moved to mount my horse, but Thorne grabbed me again. “Where do you think you’re going? To meet your allies?” “If you won’t help, I’ll find someone who will,” I grunted, struggling against his grip. “Let go of me!” “I can’t let you go!” Thorne twisted my arm, and a sickening pop echoed in the quiet woods. My shoulder was dislocated. He produced a rope and tied my hands, pulling me toward his own town. Tears of desperation stung my eyes. “Thorne, you have to let me go! I have to save them!” “Save your breath,” he said, hauling me onto his horse. “You’re not going anywhere today.” He led the horse back toward Redemption. As we reached the edge of his town, we saw several of his posse members running out, rifles in hand. Thorne stopped them. “What’s happening?” “A rider just came through! Said Stone Creek is under attack by a war party! We’re riding to help!” Thorne’s face went white as a ghost.

? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "393540", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel