Timeless
Drena Hills
“Give light, and the darkness
will disappear of itself.”
-
Desiderius
Erasmus
Prologue:
It was a dark and stormy night (no really, it
was!). Kid and Heyes had been riding for
what seemed like hours, the cold rain drenching them to the bone, the wind
howling through the skeletal trees. They
both knew their horses, and they themselves, couldn’t take much more. Heyes was in front, letting his horse follow a faint track through some overhanging trees. It wasn’t so much that Heyes knew where he was
going, it was just easier to let the horse go where it wanted than to fight it
along a different route. The cold and
dark were lulling Heyes and Kid both into an exhausted stupor.
Through the fog covering his brain, Heyes realized
that the horse had stopped. A screeching
sound followed by a loud bang startled him into full wakefulness. In front of them was a large structure that
on closer inspection was an old barn.
Heyes dismounted, motioning Kid to do the same. They entered the barn cautiously, making sure
to grab the banging door so it didn’t spook the horses. Heyes pulled a match, thankfully and
miraculously dry, from his pocket, lit it and quickly surveyed the
surroundings. It wasn’t a large barn,
but it was snug against the storm. The
dust and cobwebs gave them the idea that it hadn’t been used in a long time, so
they decided to bed down the horses for the night – not that the horses or the
men had any intention or desire to go back out into the storm.
Kid looked out through the crack between the doors, old habits making him check that no one had followed
them.
“Heyes, look at this…” He held the door open a bit more so Heyes
could see the outline of a large bulk of a house. They were both surprised, they’d missed it as
they rode up, but chalked it up to exhaustion and the dark. There were no lights on in the house, but the
occasional flash of lightning lit up the surrounding area, giving the
two-storied, gabled house an eerie look.
“Guess we better make sure no one is home.” Heyes grinned, the state of disrepair of the
barn telling them that no one had lived there for years.
“I don’t know Heyes; the barn is fine with me.” Kid couldn’t explain the uneasy feeling that
the thought of going into that house gave him.
Maybe it was too many of Heyes’ spooky stories when they were children.
“Oh c’mon Kid, it’s got to be better than sleeping on
moldy old hay. I’m going; you can stay
here if you want to.” Heyes headed back
out into the storm, the wind grabbing the door and slamming it back against the
outside wall. Kid sighed and followed,
shaking his head.
They stepped up on the decrepit porch, making sure to
glance in the windows just in case they were wrong about no one living
there. The lightning lit up the interior
enough for them to get a glimpse of broken furniture and more cobwebs.
“Looks pretty deserted to me; I’m going in.” Heyes reached for the doorknob, which turned
easily in his hand, but the door wouldn’t budge. “Give me a hand here Kid.” Kid thought about clapping, but common sense
won out and he went over and both men threw their weight against the door. It held against them for a few seconds, then flew open like it was pulled from the inside. Heyes landed on the floor first, Kid landing
on top of him, knocking the breath out of both men. They looked up sharply at the sound of a
match striking, and a raspy voice…
“It’s about time you got here; I’ve been waiting for
you.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Heyes
watched out of the corner of his eyes as his partner rolled to his feet like a
cat. His gun had entered his hand even
as he was falling and despite the awkwardness of their entry both men had
recovered smoothly each in sync with the other thoughts.
Rising slowly to keep the
attention of whoever was speaking Heyes made a great show of getting to his
feet and finally turned his attention to the crack in the door across the room
as if he had just noticed it. The light
from the recently lit candle illuminated the slender opening, but gave no clue
as to who waited beyond.
“My
apologies,” Heyes replied pleasantly allowing his partner to move out of the
speaker’s line of sight. The room was
small, but built like an L and Kid was using it to his full advantage.
“Why don’t you come out where
we can talk,” Heyes said taking a step forward.
“You
just stay right where you are Mr. James we can conduct our business just fine
this way.”
“Can’t
blame a man for wanting to see who he’s dealing with,” Heyes pointed out. Kid had nearly edged up to the door along the
wall now and nodded to Heyes to say he was ready.
Kid
charged first kicking open the door and allowing his partner to cross the room
and join him on the other side of the door.
Guns
drawn they peered in and stared in amazement.
“What
the heck you go and do that for!” A small
boy no more than 10 said from the floor where he sat with four other children
who were moving from startled to fear very quickly.
“You
knocked over the candle,” the only girl said picking it up. She was perhaps a year older and her hands
shook as she righted the room’s only light.
“What
are you kids doing here?” Kid said disgusted holstering his gun. “I could have shot you!”
“I know
that’s why we stayed hid Mr. James,” the 10 year old said speaking for his companions. “We didn’t think you’d do business with us if
you knew we wuz little.”
“Our
offer still stands don’t make no difference how old we are,” the girl said and
was shushed by a dark haired younger boy who looked like he was going to break
into tears at any moment.
“Why
don’t we start with you telling us your names,” Kid said trying to fight a
smile.
“I’m
Colby Martin,” the leader said trying to look taller. “These are my friends Shaun Dean, Spencer
Blake and Noel Turner, were the Victory Victory Team,
I made that up,” he admitted proudly. “We
wrote you about the job Mr. James.”
Kid and
Heyes exchanged glances. Now that the
danger had passed their adrenilin was draining away
and they were realizing they were just too tired for games.
“We
aren’t these James people you’re looking for,” Heyes said wearily walking back
into the living room. “Why don’t you get
on home before your parents miss you.”
“They
won’t miss us, they are all at the town meeting trying to save Victory, that’s
our town,” Shaun said following him with the others more hesistent. “And don’t worry we won’t tell anyone you two
are here. Heck that would ruin
everything.”
“Don’t say heck Shaun, your
momma says that’s cussing no matter what you say,” Noel reprimanded. “So when are you going to rob the bank?”
Kid and
Heyes were instantly alert.
“Ma’am?” Heyes asked.
“The
bank, why else would we write the James Brothers,” she said exasperated.
“You
hired Frank and Jesse James to rob your bank?” Kid said. “I think I need to sit down for this.”
“I
wanted the Devil’s Hole Gang, but Colby said they didn’t do little banks like
ours,” she continued.
“Ah why
exactly do you kids want your bank robbed?” Heyes said agreeing with Kid and
pulling up a seat.
“Mr. Crazel,” Spencer whispered still standing back worried one
of them were going to rise up and instantly shoot
them.
“Look
you don’t need to know why you just need to go rob it and remember we need you
to take all the papers out of the safe and burn ‘em or no deal. You can keep the money, but you gotta burn
all the papers.” Colby said sternly.
“I hate
to disappoint you all, but we aren’t Frank and Jessie James,” Heyes said.
The
four children looked at each other.
“Then
what are you doing here?” Noel said disgusted.
“Storm,
needed a place to rest for the night,” Kid admitted.
The
four looked at each other.
“Well
this isn’t gonna work we gotta have professional bank robbers!” Shaun said
angrily.
“I told
you we should have got Heyes and Curry, they always get it right in the dime
novels,” Noel said rolling her eyes and sitting down now that it was clear the
infamous were no longer in their midst.
“Come
on were just gonna have to do it ourselves,” Colby said. “See ya misters.”
“Whoa,
whoa you can’t go out in that storm!” Kid said.
“Just hold up a while and we’ll get you home when it clears.”
Spencer
seemed to approve of this plan and together the group moved back into the main
room where Heyes soon had a fire going.
“We got
some sandwiches for the James Brothers, but since they aren’t coming reckon you
can have them,” Colby said with a heavy sigh.
Heyes
bit back a smile as the group gathered around the fire and the food was shared.
“So
what kind of bank is it?” Heyes asked with professional curiosity.
Kid
shot him a look of wonder almost choking on the bite of ham sandwich he had
just taken.
“Not
real big, safe is though, that’s why we needed help getting it open and
robbed.”
“This
Mr. Crazel got some papers on your folks?” Kid said
swallowing and keeping a wary eye on his partner.
“Whole town. Locust
took most of the crops last two years and everybody owes him. He’s the biggest
rancher in these parts and he’s been trying for years to move the farmers out. Tomorrow all the land is his and he plans on
filing on it at the county seat next day unless we do something to stop him,” Colby
said miserably.
“And
you figure robbing his bank will fix that?” Kid questioned.
“Least slow him down,” Shaun said.
“Can’t put a claim on land he ain’t got paper on.”
“I know
this sounds a bit harsh, but if he loaned your families money then by rights it
is his land,” Heyes said sympathetic, but realistic.
“Not
when you kill folks,” Spencer said softly. “My daddy was a lawyer and he killed
him. My brother says its cause he got proof that the killings in the range war
were done by him.”
Heyes
glanced at his partner giving him a warning look that said clearly ‘We are not
getting involved’.
“Hurt
other folk, some just as dead as Spencer’s
“Sounds
like this is a case for the law,” Heyes said trying
not to get pulled in.
“Yes
sir and folks up in the capital are starting to listen, but we run out of
time. Tomorrow is November 1st
and all the deeds are gonna be sold. If
we don’t get them from that mean ole rancher town is gonna lose
everything. Folks
despairing something awful. Why
last Halloween…”
“It’s
Halloween?” Heyes said softly and glanced at his pocket watch. Sure enough it was ten minutes into the new
day.
“Shouldn’t
you children be thinking about trick or treating or turning over outhouses?”
Kid said sadly. “Planning a bank robbery
for Halloween sheesh how do children come up with
these things!”
“Is
pretty clever,” Heyes had to concede with a small grin. “
“The
Devil’s Hole Gang did it in
“Two
years ago actually,” Heyes said under his breath.
“Maybe
we can think up a new plan by morning,” Spencer said with a yawn curling up in
front of the fire.
“Gotta,
folks depending on us,” Shaun nodded and followed suit.
“Go on
we’ll wake you when its morning,” Heyes told Colby who was clearly trying to
keep his eyes open.
“I’m
obliged mister, kinda glad you didn’t turn out to be those murdering bank
robbers after all.”
And
with that the four children curled up and didn’t even notice when Kid and
Heyes’s bed rolls were tucked over them.
“Heyes
what we gonna do about this?” Kid said as the two men sat back in their chairs
for a long time thinking.
“Not
much we can do, but get them back home in the morning and move on. It’s a sad story, but we can’t risk getting
involved.”
“Hiring
the James Gang,” Kid said shaking his head.
“Sounds like something you would have come up with as a boy…what am I saying you would have figured out a way to rob it
yourself!”
The
knock at the door startled them both and as Kid pulled out his gun and moved
behind the door as Heyes answered not sure what to expect.
The
young man was perhaps twenty, his white blond hair cut long to his shoulders
and mostly hidden under a large misshapen hat that did not fit his head
well. His clothes were worn revealing a
lean, but muscular body.
“I’ve come
for the children,” he said simply.
“You kin?” Heyes said
feeling oddly protective of them.
“I look
after them,” he answered. “They need to
get home. They were all spending the
night at Shaun’s and they need to be back in time.”
“Might
want to wait till the storm lets up,” Kid said coming over to stand beside
Heyes and staring surprised to find the sky now clear and almost no wind at
all.
“I
didn’t get the name,” Heyes said as the man brushed past them unconcerned and
picked up Noel.
“Cawdor,” the stranger said carrying the little girl out to
the wagon and placing her in the back without waking her.
Shrugging
at each other the two men helped him carry the other sleeping children until
all were loaded safely.
“You
look after them,” Kid said firmly as the man climbed up onto the buckboard and
picked up the reins.
“I will
not leave them,” he promised and the wagon moved away.
*********************************
Heyes
woke up and blinked trying to place where he was. The room looked remarkably ordinary with
sunlight streaming in and it took him a moment to place where he was.
“Wondered
if you were ever getting up,” Kid said coming out of the kitchen and handing
him a cup of coffee.
“Thank
you,” Heyes said taking it grateful. “Haven’t slept that well
in a long time.”
“Wish I
had, I tell you Heyes that story those children told…well it made me think is
all.”
Heyes
looked up sharply from his coffee, “But not about robbing a bank for them
right?”
“Yea,”
Kid finally nodded. “The last thing we
need is to get ourselves caught up in the middle of a range war.”
Heyes exhaled
relieved. “Good then lets go into town, get those supplies we need and be on
our way. I think Halloween this year is
going to be less troubling out alone on the trail!”
***********************
Victory
was a small town, but one with prosperous possibilities if the new shop fronts
going up were any indication. There was
a school, two churches and enough enterprise to warrant several streets and
three hotels.
Families
seemed to dominate the community and as they rode in the signs of Halloween
were evident in the carved jack-o-lanturns placed on
the odd porch front signaling the night of revelry to come.
But as
they pulled up in front of the merchantile they could
not help but notice the crowd that was gathered around the sheriff office
everyone talking angrily. It seemed as
almost the whole town was there and the sheriff, a man of perhaps 25 was forced
to stand on a packing crate to try and maintain some order.
“You
don’t think they…” Kid whispered to Heyes.
“No!”
Heyes told him rolling his eyes at the suggestion and then cast a glance at the
bank just be sure there were no holes in it.
“Hey
fella what’s going on?” Kid said catching the arm of a farmer hurrying by.
“Real
tragedy, house burning, killed the whole family and some other children who
were staying the night.”
He
tried to move away, but the news had hit both men like a punch in the stomach.
“What
children?”
“Friends
of the Deans, little Shaun used to play with my boy, thank God he was too sick
last night to join them.”
All
thoughts of supplies or moving on gone they walked blindly over to the saloon
and ordered a bottle. It was two drinks
apiece before they managed to talk of it.
“It
might not have been them,” Heyes tried.
“It was
them Heyes. They left and walked right
into a raid, the very thing they were trying to stop and we let it happen!” Kid
said furious.
“We let
it happen!” Heyes said angry. “How is this our fault?”
“We
should have seen them home ourselves, we should have kept them there…”
“Kid we
had no idea what was waiting for them!” Heyes said feeling a little sick as it
all sank in.
“I’m
gonna kill that Crazel, he killed my little girl just
as certain as if he lit the match,” a man at the bar suddenly yelled out.
“Joe,
Joe get a hold of yourself that’s just what he’s
waiting for!” a friend next to him said.
“I
gotta get me a gun!”
“Joe he
has a ranch full of hired guns they will blow you apart!”
“Then I
deserve it for letting them kill my little girl like that! She’s all I had since her Ma died! I didn’t want her to stay over with them
kids, but she was so excited! Oh my
little Noel…”
The
doors of the saloon suddenly swung open and the room went quiet. The man who had entered was older, perhaps
drawing close on 60 and firmly flanked by six other men all with guns strapped
down.
“You
got a lot of nerve coming in here, Crazel,” someone
in the back said angrily.
“I came
to offer my apologies to Mr. Turner and the others on the
their losses, such a terrible tragic accident.”
It was
said with a slight hint of a European accent and an air of bored superiority.
Kid
unhooked his gun.
“I’m
gonna kill you Crazel,” Joe Turner said simply.
“Nonsense
Mr. Turner that would be murder and you would hang or more likely go down in a
hail of bullets from one of my ranch hands here,” the man said brushing the man
aside with a flick of his glove.
Heyes
caught Kid’s hand and shook his head no.
Kid turned
angry eyes on his partner and was startled to find the rage there matched or
equaled his own.
“They
aren’t ranch hands they are hired guns, probably the same ones that burned out
the Dean’s place last night,” another man said standing next to his friend. A slaughter was about to take place unless
someone did something.
Heyes
unhooked his gun.
Cawder moved through the crowd reaching the bar before
anyone noticed.
“Heyes
isn’t that?”
“Yea,
yea it is, he’s got a lot of explaining to do,” Heyes said angrily.
But
oddly his presence seemed to ease the tension in the room as he walked up to
Joe Turner. “Your wife is looking for
you Mr. Turner, at the church, she and the others need you now.”
“I’m
gonna kill that son of a bitch,” Joe said shaking with rage.
“Vengeance
is the Lords,” Cawdor said not condescendingly, but
with such positive assurance it was startling. It was almost as if he was
offering a sure thing, a promise.
“When?” Joe hissed near tears.
“In his
time,” the younger man said and sensing an opening his friends pulled him from
the bar and past Crazel who chuckled amused and then
grew cold as he scanned the room to watch every man’s reaction.
The
room suddenly had something else to do and he smiled smugly until he met Heyes’s
eyes. The rich land baron found himself
flinching first and looked away something he could never remember doing before
to any man.
Slightly
flustered he left the saloon feeling Heyes’s cold stare on his back as he went.
“You!” Kid said sharply stopping Cawdor
as he moved to leave. “We need to talk.”
The man
turned and paused considering this and then nodding took a seat at the table
with them.
“What
the hell happened last night?” Kid growled.
“Exactly,”
the stranger nodded. “Always does on this cursed day.”
“Did
you see who did it? How did you get
away?” Heyes said trying to get annoyed with the man and somehow unable to
muster it up.
“What
matters is the Lord did and He does not bear with the wicked forever. Good day gentlemen.”
“Heyes
was that not the most confusing conversation…”
But
Heyes was staring down at the newspaper the man had left behind. It was a weekly edition dated one year ago to
the day.
“What
is that?”
“Old newspaper.”
“You
think he’s trying to tell us something?”
Heyes
considered this and finally leaned back rubbing his eyes, “Kid I don’t know
what to think.”
Suddenly
the room hushed and they looked up to see why.
A wagon had just rolled in carrying 7 bodies wrapped in burlap.
Without
a word the two men finished their drink and walked over to the bank. Kid took his time breaking a gold 20 dollar
piece allowing Heyes to study the interior of the building.
“Brooker
202,” Kid said calmly as they walked away minutes later.
“Yup,”
Heyes said.
“I’ll get
what we need,” Kid said simply.
Heyes
nodded and walked towards the nearest hotel.
*********************************
The
magic of Halloween through a child’s eyes had been ripped from the soul of the
town of
Grazel had taken up residence in his town house, which was
aglow with music and light as he forced his toadies to attend his annual
Halloween party and amuse him.
But
this year even the overly eager to please had been appalled by events and
stayed home, which only sparked his anger further.
“Sold
his soul to the devil that one did,” the bartender said shaking his head as he
poured drinks to the near empty saloon.
“Somebody
needs to do something about that animal,” a world weary saloon girl shuddered
shuffling glasses with little or no enthusiasm.
Kid and
Heyes merely sat and listened. The town
was numb and any thoughts of preventing or stopping the transfer of land
tomorrow had been quelled in one strike of a match.
“Just
as he knew it would,” Kid said calmly.
“You
realize what were about to do could finish any chances we have at amnesty,”
Heyes said because he had to.
Kid
nodded, “Yep.” And
stood up. “Ready?”
Heyes
nodded. There never had been a choice.
It went
better than both men had ever remembered a job going. The tumblers just seemed to sing out to Heyes
and he opened the ancient safe in record time.
Neither
man even glanced at the money there.
They merely pulled the lamp closer and began working through the
paperwork.
This
accomplished Kid blew out the light and Heyes shut the safe.
They
left the bank looking completely untouched.
The
Victory Victory Team had hired the best.
*************************
They
watched from across the street the next afternoon as the appellate judge
arrived. Word of the tragedy had brought
a U.S. Marshall, well that and a few well directed telegrams.
Crazel sat there smug until his lawyer arrived looking
shaken and worried. His whisper in the
important man’s ear caused him to shake with rage and pound his fist on the
table.
At the
same moment the U.S. Marshall was looking at a satchel of papers handed to him
by Joe Turner who glared at Crazel triumphantly.
And as
he began to read the
Both
men finally looked up and stared at Crezal who stared
back defiantly.
“In His
time,” Cawdor said softly passing Heyes and Curry who
nodded and went to saddle their horses.
*******************************
They
stopped at the cemetery not sure if paying respects to folks not yet buried
actually counted, but needing to do something all the same.
They
could not stick around for a funeral or for anyone to start to put together who
had gotten the incriminating papers out of the bank vault.
As for
the deeds to the farms and nearby land those had been safely left in the hands
of the two church pastors who had the good sense to thank God and not ask any
questions over a miracle when it was handed to them in their poor box.
“Still
don’t seem enough Heyes,” Kid said softly as they got off their horses drawn
into the little grave yard seeking some sense of closure. “Four children…”
“Kid…”
Heyes
voice had broke in such a way that Kid turned sharply
to see what had affected his partner so.
Following his partner’s stare he read the tombstone.
“Noel
Turner, beloved daughter,
“Look
at the grave,” Heyes said his voice just above a whisper.
Kid
crouched down and frowned. This was no
fresh grave. The grass had grown over
and the dirt long since compacted.
“That’s
impossible,” Kid said simply.
“That
paper in town, what they said about when we robbed that bank in
“Heyes
I don’t believe in ghosts.”
“Very wise.”
They
turned to see Cawdor.
“What
do you know about this?”
The man
turned to walk down the hill.
“Hey
wait a minute,” Heyes said having to ask.
“When did these children die?”
“One
year ago,” the man called back without turning.
“You should know you were there.”
“We
were what?” Kid said confused and angry.
“That’s impossible a year ago we were…”
“Not
ready,” the man agreed and finally smiled.
“Fortunately time is no concern to God.”
Heyes frowned his mind trying to make order of the jumble of
circumstances, “Look just who are you?”
The
figure shrugged, “A friend of the light, you see gentlemen evil is not the only
thing that walks on Halloween.”