Chapter Eleven: The Day Of Reckoning

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I watch the sun going up as I take slow sips from my cup of coffee. At my feet, right where the little wooden pier ends, some kind of big fishes are dancing in the clear water.

I turn around as I hear some footsteps approaching on the unstable planks.

"Morning, Dutch."

"Miss. You're up early" he states stopping by my side with his hands in his pockets.

"Bad dreams. It happens sometimes."
"I heard you argued with Micah the other night. You must be very brave."

"Or very stupid. I reckon he isn't the right man to mess with."

"I know what he may seem, but I've seen what kind of man hides behind that tough look."

Yeah, an asshole.

"Anyway, I'm going to look for some work. See you around" I say heading back to the shore.

I reach the kitchen where Pearson and Sadie, in a couple of days, moved from the insults to the threats.

"Please Sadie, if you kill him, we'll starve" I joke, but she isn't in the mood for joking.

Spotting Miss Grimshaw in the distance I prepare myself to a day of working.

I think she likes me somehow and I think the reason is because I do everything she asks and I don't undermine her authority in camp. But I don't do that on purpose. I just don't care about authority and I do what she orders me just to keep busy.

We are working together, when my attention is caught by Arthur, Dutch and Hosea heading to the horses. They are surely going somewhere, but where? Whatever kind of job requires the three of them together, must be something important.

"Miss! Focus here please! You still have a lot to do" Miss Grimshaw calls me off when she notices my distraction.

She lets me free right after lunch, so I go sit at the table under the big tree and polish my gun. It's been a while since I did it last time, and I feel the guilt raising in me as I vigorously rub the piece of cloth on it.

"Hey, you wanna practice with the bow?"

I jump and turn around almost letting everything falling from my hands.

"Charles" I whisper with a nervous smile.

"Sure, why not? If you don't give me a stroke before my time has come."

"I don't think it would be so easy to get rid of you."

I laugh and stand up following him towards the horses.

"So... what do we hunt today?"

"No hunt today, just practice."

I frown at his back, confused by his words.

"On what?"

"You'll see."
All this mystery suddenly makes me nervous and even more confused, but he never gave me a reason not to trust him, so I guess that's what I'm going to do.

He leads me on the hills and we walk through some ranch houses. Only the sight of them reminds me how beautiful my father's house was.

We reach a field, an open and airy place where the grass reaches our ankles and in the distance I see a single shape standing still among the nothingness. Only from close up I'm able to understand that, what I'm looking at, is a scarecrow.

"Ah... if you wanted me to practice on people you should have brought Micah" I joke dismounting Isabella.

"Be careful with him. You don't know how dangerous he can be."

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