JD cautiously urged his horse over the crest of the hill, one hand near the bird’s-head grip of his pistol just in case.  His line of sight cleared the top of the hill and he quickly scanned the landscape, looking for his quarry.  He spotted them in the valley below.  A quick count assured him that all riders were accounted for, but they still showed no signs of stopping.

He reined his horse to a stop, shifting indecisively in his saddle.  He’d followed the group from a distance, ready to dodge if any of them happened to look back and see him shadowing them, but had expected them to stop during the night rather than ride through the rain and darkness.  His plan to go for reinforcements when they halted had vanished with the dawn – riding back to Four Corners now would give Vin’s captors a nearly insurmountable head start.  JD scowled as he watched the cluster of horses, racking his brain for an alternate plan.  Taking them on himself was still suicidal, unless…

A quick survey of the hilly terrain and the winding, muddy trail below him had JD turning his horse out of sight, turning north at a canter.  If he could get ahead of them, there might be a place where he could stage a one-man ambush, picking off riders from a ridge or something wthout making too big a target of himself.  That’d at least even the odds some.

JD kept a sharp eye on the ground before him, deftly guiding his horse around rocks and divots as he rode on.  The clouds that had rained so persistently the day before were gone, and the ground was rapidly drying out in the warmth of the early afternoon sun, providing good footing for his horse’s hooves.  The ridge of the hill curved away slowly to the southeast and JD followed it, watching for a likely overlooking ridge or ideal narrowing of the trail.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The rhythmic rocking of a horse’s walk combined with the drowsy warmth of the afternoon sun was enough to lull even the most alert horseman, and Joshua kept a close eye on his riders.  Add the sleepless overnight ride to the mix and he knew he was asking for trouble, but he wanted to put as much distance between himself and Four Corners as quick as he could. There’d be time enough to rest later, after they were far enough away to deter pursuit.  During his travels across the Territory, Joshua had heard rumors of a group of gunslingers who had taken the town under their collective wing.  Tales had made their way on horseback and by stage of the seven men who had restored some semblance of order to the town that had been subject to lawless outbursts and rowdy behavior.

Joshua didn’t know how much of the rumor was true, nor did he really care. He had first-hand knowledge of Vin’s skill with a rifle, though, and wasn’t willing to wait around for six men who might – or might not – be Vin’s equal.  Joshua figured not much would keep Vin in one place long enough for rumors to spread and allow someone to track back to him, except maybe the company of people he could respect.

He glanced over at his former associate, and Vin returned his look with a level, inscrutable stare.  Joshua reflected that the man had been hard to read when they were on the same side, when Joshua at least had an inkling of what the other man had in mind.  Now Joshua was pretty much at a loss. He figured Vin was trying to find a way to escape – hell, that’s what he’d be doing, in the same situation – but Vin’s expression gave nothing away.  Did he have a plan already and was just waiting for an opportunity? Or was he still working on one?  Joshua couldn’t be sure, and that annoyed him. It worried him, too.  Vaguely uneasy, he returned his attention to the trail ahead.

Vin breathed a silent sigh of relief when Joshua turned away, and glanced down at his hands.  His jacket cuffs concealed most of his progress, but all it would take would be an unforeseen lurch from his horse to reveal the sorry state of his wrists and undo the afternoon’s long and tedious work.  He had finally managed to get his fingertips on one of the knots in the rope, and, with some painful twisting and awkward angles, shifted the ropes to where he could just about get some useful leverage against the knot.

Ignoring the painful cramp in his fingers, Vin tried to trace the path of the rope by blind touch.  His wrists chafed against the coarse fiber that bit into the already raw flesh.  Vin suppressed a wince and glanced at the riders around him.  A couple of them were still pretty bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but more than a few had fallen into a confident and contented sway, rolling with the gait of the animals beneath them. “That’s it, boys,” Vin thought with satisfaction.  “Y’all just relax and enjoy the ride.”

He jerked involuntarily when he felt the knot beneath his fingers slip and give just a little bit.  His eyes lit with a brief spark of cunning triumph, quickly veiled as he schooled his expression into his best poker face.  Joshua knew him some – not as well as Chris or the others, but some – and the stakes here were too high to risk Joshua getting suspicious from a look or a smile, however slight.

He scanned the terrain around him, looking for likely cover.  They had recently left a valley with sloping sides and were passing over more rugged, rocky ground, which suited Vin just fine.  The trail ahead curved towards the bluffs, a rock-strewn incline to one side with a scrubby, gentler fall away to the other.  The rocky incline would be tough going for horses, Vin realized, if he could just get his hands free from the saddle in time… His eyes narrowed slightly in silent concentration as he fought with the rope.

The small entourage reached the edge of the bluffs a short while later. The trail narrowed slightly where it hugged the cliffs, and the riders strung out into pairs, Joshua taking the front, Vin’s horse trailing him slightly as it was led.  Vin gave a silent prayer of thanks to whoever was listening for putting him on the side with the incline instead of the fall away.  That practically made up for the fact that the rider who had possession of his guns was four horses behind him.  Well, he could always get another gun.

He hadn’t been able to completely undo the knot, but the rope had loosened enough that with some finagling and some blood-slicked twisting he managed to slip first one wrist free, then the other.  He kept his hands hovering over the saddlehorn, a watch on Joshua, his shoulders blocking the view of the riders near him.  Sharp eyes, honed by years of tracking both two and four footed quarry, skimmed up the side of the rocky bluffs, quickly picking out a general path and key boulders to dodge behind.  Like this big one just coming up…

With a deep breath, Vin threw himself from the saddle, landing on his feet – barely – and scrambling for the shelter of the hulking, trailside boulder.  The first shouts sounded from behind him as he gained temporary reprieve behind the rock, followed far too quickly by the ricocheting spang of a bullet on stone.  Damn, Joshua was quicker than he remembered… His boot soles scrabbled for purchase on the rocky ground as Vin bolted for the next piece of cover.

Behind him, men were already dismounting and starting after him.  Horses were abandoned, useless for the rocky climb.  Vin glanced back for a heartbeat at the four pursuing him, ducking instinctively as another bullet chipped a spray of stone from just above his head.  A jagged stand of rocks provided momentary sanctuary from both behind and below, but Vin paused only long enough to drag a full breath into his lungs and sight the next place of refuge.

A trio of bullets sped past him when he broke cover, angrily punching holes in the rock around him.  Vin had enough time to wonder if they were trying to miss or if Joshua’s aim had gotten worse since the last time they’d met.  Not that he was complaining.  He gained the protection of another large boulder and leaned against it, scanning.  A navigable path of sorts wove its way up the bluff and Vin started up it, grateful that it was in the lee of the rocks.  His pursuers wouldn’t be able to draw a bead on him until they cleared that rock, and by then he’d be under cover again.  He sprinted like a jackrabbit up the incline.

Once over the crest of the ridge, he figured there should be enough cover to shake Joshua’s men for good – rocks and trees and such.  He was pretty sure he could outsmart and outrun his pursuers.  After that, it was a question of getting back to town without crossing paths with them again, and then…

A bullet shot from close range kicked up a violent spattering of rock dust at his feet and Vin stopped abruptly.  Joshua stood a mere fifteen feet away, uphill, revolver aimed once again at Vin’s chest.  Vin stared at him in disbelief for half a moment.  How the hell had Joshua gotten up here so quick?  He’d been shooting from the trail… No, he realized quickly. Someone else had been.  And while Vin had been picking his path for protection, Joshua had taken the quickest route available and met him halfway.

“Dead or alive, Tanner,” Joshua growled between winded breaths.  “It’s your choice.”

As hands grabbed him roughly from behind, Vin found himself wondering for a moment which was the better option.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *