Powder, Smoke and a touch of Magic

Chapter 2: On the Run

3 Weeks Earlier:

James woke up with a start to the sound of a cannon going off and women screaming. As his parents were ushering his younger siblings out the back door.

James got up out of his bed and quickly packed his essential belongings in a bag that was already half-ready to go. He knew that their situation was precarious as the family had already had to move locations a number of times in the past 6 months, His father was a veteran in the war of 1812 and had and had been a farmer by trade ever since. Their family had been attracted southwest a year ago by the promise of free fertile land and assistance from local authorities In building a home.

James now thought that promise has turned out to only be an ambition for the local authorities, as since that time the family had not been granted a piece of fertile land nor had they received any help building upon it.

As James finished packing his bag, we heard a commotion from just outside the back door of the hut they were currently residing in as the gunfire between the colonist and presumably the army grew louder. As he got closer, he heard his mother shouting "please sir, spare them they are just children, they had nothing to do with the conflict"

James then grabbed his gun that his father had given him and begun to quietly load a round in it, hoping we would not be heard by whatever was outside, As he was loading the weapon he peaked outside the window and saw a decorated officer draw his blade at his family and slash at his father. Who put his hand up to protect his face as the blade made a deep cut into his arms,

James's father then kicked the officer in the knee as the officer screamed out in another language in rage and drew his blade back before sinking it deep in the chest of James's father as his mother screamed at the top of her lungs.

James continued loading the powder into his rifle as quick as his hands would allow him while he heard 4 more rapid gunshots in the near background. Once loaded he quickly ran out the back door to try and save his family. When he opened the back door to the shack he saw a sight that made his blood boil, the officer facing away from him wiping the blood off his Sabre while his father, mother and two younger sisters lay dead with blood protruding from bullet wounds to their chest and face,

In rage he aimed his gun at the un-aware officer and fired. The small metal ball ripped through the officer's right shoulder causing him to scream and cough a nodule of thick blood.

He the turned around at the young adult in rage and as he fell to one knee from the impact of the shot grabbed his Sabre to confront his attacker. But he recovered too slowly as James hit him across the face his the butt of his rifle knocking him to the floor. As the officer tried to mount some sort of last defence with his Sabre James swung with all his might the rifle, like a pickaxe over his head bringing it down on his opponent with all his anger, breaking his father's old rifle and caving in his opponent's face killing him instantly.

James then ran over to his father whom was dying and grabbed his hand crying "no father please don't leave me, we can still get help, ill go find the others they can fix this"

His father looked back at him "I am proud of you my son, but I need you to leave this place, leave and start a new life far from here" He then handed James a gold ring with a large red stone in the centre "keep this as a memory of your family, we will always be with you" he then closed his eyed and released James's hand having passed from this life.

Shouts in the distance in the foreign language started to become closer as James quickly grabbed his pack of supplies and took the strange weapon called a revolver and a Sabre from the fallen officer and sprinted in the direction he believed to be north as fast as he could.

About an hour into their journey, the trail slowly petered out until the group was slowly trotting their horses through a densely wooded area. This was not unexpected as the route they were taking although designed to save time led them through this thick forest area.

The are seemed to be packed with different animals, James himself had already seen a rabbit and 2 squirrels. At about midday when they stopped to take a bite to eat and stretch their legs, danny pointed to the northwest direction where the group saw a brown bear staring at their gathering. Fortunately, the bear walked off after about 2 minutes of staring but the encounter had left the group alert to any potential predators.

By the end of the day the group believed they had travelled 25 miles and found a spot near a small creek to settle down for the night as the sun fell over the land. David, Daniel and Kai left to go find some fire wood and hopefully an animal to hunt while Evelyn prepared the boiling water with James and Charles left to set up the tents.

While they were doing this Charles spoke to Kai "so what do you think it is ?, the item we are lugging halfway across the country for this Payday"

James looked back at him "No idea, what Suprises me is why the farmer had it in the first place, how would the farmer know what it was, its supposed value and where to send it to ?"

Charles chewed on a reed of grass while thinking "maybe it's a family heirloom and the rest of the farmers family is up north, maybe the area was getting too dangerous with the war to the southwest"

"Potentially, though I'm half of the mind to open it and see what is inside, there seems to be a lot of packaging surrounding whatever the item is" Replied James

"Leave it for now I reckon, I hear they have good whisky in Chicago and nice houses, I'd like to see the money at the end of this to actually spend it" Said Charles

"Fair point, though I would like the warning if what we are carrying attracts unwanted attention, moneys no good if you aren't alive to use it" James then finished laying out his tent and bedroll "do we have any tea leaves evelyn?"

"Yes James, we most certainly do, would you like me to make you a mug ?" She replied

"Yes Thanks"

Half an hour later the remaining crew returned, David carried a wild boar in his shoulders pierced by one of Kai's arrows, while the other 2 carried a large amount of firewood

"We can thank Kai for this one, Danny and I didn't even see the boar until Kai has alreadt loosed an arrow" He looked at kai and then back to the group "while we might not be able to skin the hide for much we can certainly eat good tonight and dry the rest of the meat to sell at the next town; Evelyn how are our general supplies looking, what would we need to buy ?"

"we are good on food and water, we also have more then enough gunpowder and ammunition, It may be useful to get some herbs and medical supplies as we had used a lot a few nights ago and maybe some oil and vegetables, Otherwise we might have enough left over for a bottle of rye blend once we figure out how much the excess meat will sell for"

"Great news, let us know if anything else come up" Replied David.

James then assisted with making and ate dinner with the group, he much preferred the boar meat they had gotten tonight to previous dinners of hard dried meat or squriell/rabbit, but mostly looked forward to getting to the destination to enjoy a proper cooked meal and bed.

James then went to his tent exhausted and closed his eyes, hoping to get some sleep exhausted while hoping to avoid the terrors that recently had haunted his dreams.

A/N: Chapter 2 is now complete; what did you think about a bit more background on James, I am hoping to flesh the beginning cast of characters out with a few more flashbacks before the main plot gets started, let me know any feedback.