Billie and Brandon: Untamed

20

"Damn. But how do we get out?"

"It's a long way down" Maggie sighed, "Might take us a while, but there's a town somewhere down at the bottom. We can borrow a few horses from there to get out of the canyon."

Ezra looked left and right in alarm. "This canyon seems really deep. How long will it take to get out and then ride back to town?"

"Maybe a couple days..." Maggie said, a bit disheartened, "It's a long way out. But we can't shout for help. No doubt the mayor has his men stationed at the Summit to watch out for us."

Ezra sighed, "Guess there's no way out but down then."

"Looks like it."

They began to make their way down, stepping carefully over crumbling remains of bones and maggot infested bodies. It was dark and difficult to see, but they could just make out the way they were going from the moonlight. It was exhausting and Ezra knew they were in dire need of a good rest-and a bath-but they kept trudging on down, knowing that stopping in this impromptu graveyard of bodies would make them easy targets for the critters of the night, Ezra kept his ears decidedly open and eyes trained on their surroundings to keep lookout for any coyotes in the dead of the night.

"So...Billie." Ezra started, "You're her mother."

"Yes, that I am." She smiled fondly, "She's really grown up even more wonderful than I could have ever dreamed."

"She is something. I've never seen a woman undeterred by the fact that there was a gun at her head in my life."

Maggie gasped softly, "Billie was held at gunpoint?"

"Oh, don't worry." Ezra said with a laugh, "It was just Brandon who was threatening to shoot her."

"Threatened to shoot her?" Maggie frowned, "This is the second time you've mentioned that name. Who is Brandon? One of the mayor's men?"

"Oh! No. He's the one who went to save her from the mayor."

Maggie's face looked appalled, "As in the man you said is with her now?"

"Yeah." Ezra scratched his head, a little confused why she looked so alarmed, "But don't get the wrong idea. He wouldn't do anything to hurt her. I mean, she did get caught by the mayor because of his plan, but he probably saved her."

"His plan?! Probably?!" Maggie stopped and turned completely to Ezra was a growl, "You said she was with someone that could keep her safe! It sounds like she's with the person she should be running away from!"

And then Ezra realised how his words were mis constructed.

"Wait, no! He's perfectly harmless! He likes her." Ezra frantically tried to explain. "I mean, sure they had a rocky start, but he cares about her. He wouldn't let anything happen to her."

Her expression was still skeptical, but she continued down the slope.

"You sure seem to have a lot of faith in this Brandon person..."

"Because he's my brother." Ezra admitted, "Sure, he may be a stickler and scary on occasion, but it's not without reason...The mayor ruined his life."

"That seems to be everybody's story these days."

Ezra nodded, "But trust me. Brandon isn't as dangerous as he seems. Well, provided that the mayor isn't involved. But he's a good guy."

"If Billie is hurt when we find her, I'm going to shoot this Brandon fellow a new asshole. And then I'll find you and shoot you one too." Maggie threatened, "But if say you vouch for him, then I'll trust that he'll keep her safe."