"Dutch, I trust you'll be the one making the calls," Grace nodded at him as they all sat on their horses by the white fence bordering Caliga Hall. Dutch nodded, motioning to the horses her and Arthur were leading.
"And you two are all set?" Dutch asked. Grace and Arthur both nodded.
"And you all got your guns ready?" Arthur asked from beside Grace. Grace heard the cocking of guns, grinning at the sound before nodding.
"Okay, well I think we're ready. Tavish should be by the stables so make sure you have eyes set," Grace reminded. "Along with some guards most likely," she added as her and Arthur parted from the group and followed the road, pushing open the gates and riding down. She looked back over her shoulder over the bobbing heads of the four horses that trailed behind to see the group galloping away from the entrance, faces now covered. "Are you okay?" She asked Arthur. He was very off about this take, she didn't blame him. Tavish knows who he is and sure as hell will react. She saw the two guards by the entrance of the buildings, guarding the main house. As they neared, one guard held a hand up, signalling them to stop. Grace and Arthur both halted, obeying the orders.
"Annabelle Relinding. I have an appointment with Mister Tavish Gray, I have the letter if you do not believe me," Grace informed, reaching into her coat pocket. As she was about to tug out the letter, he shook his head at her.
"No need, Ma'am, we know. You may ride around to the back, he is waiting for you," the guard answered, the other guard lowering his gun slightly to show no threat. Grace grinned, removing her hand from her pocket and mouthing a thank you to the men before her and Arthur continued on the path that led around to the back.
"Annabelle Relinding?" Arthur scoffed, an eyebrow raised.
"Shut up, it was the only thing I could think of," Grace sighed. The name seemed shady to her but she was glad that Tavish had been fooled by the advertisement. "Now, just stay calm. He will sure as shit recognise you and then immediately know that there is no way I am actually Annabelle."
"And how do you think we will get out without getting shot at?" Arthur questioned. Grace rolled her eyes, feeling as if she had to repeat herself over and over again.
"I've got this under control, don't fret," She reminded. Arthur was tense and so was she. In fact, she was scared. She didn't know how this would go but she kept trying to convince herself they would be fine. The stable came into view, Tavish was seen outside the stable talking to a man. He had a gun, obviously a guard. The place was full of guards, she hadn't known how many they passed already.
"This is giving me some memories," Arthur muttered. Grace's heart pained with grief remembering that Arthur and Sean had come here to burn the fields. The fields still were damaged from the fire, it would take a while to grow the tobacco back.
"Miss Relinding, it is a pleasure to finally meet!" Tavish Gray called out, dismissing the guard with a flick of his hand. The guard walked away a few steps before watching the meeting, he must have been ordered to stay close. Grace smiled at Tavish, dismounting her horse before passing the two ropes of the horses she led to Arthur. She walked over to Tavish, shaking his hand politely.
"Mister Gray, I have heard many things about you. Good things, of course," Grace chuckled. Tavish nodded, looking her up and down.
"I assumed from your name you must have been a lady of leisure, I am terribly sorry for being mistaken," Tavish commented on her appearance. Grace gave a fake grin, trying not to feel offended by his comment.
"Well, I catch and break these horses myself. I live on a horse ranch after all," she responded, holding her hands in front of her. Tavish gave a slow nod, his eyes flicking to the horses behind her. She stood aside, moving out of his way to not block his view. "I imagine these are just as you expected, if not better."
"Yes, they are fine. Alright, I'll take them," Tavish answered, not even approaching the horses to look them over properly. Grace didn't care, she just wanted the money that she was going to scam off of him. "Beau! Beau!" Tavish shouted, spinning around in a circle as he scanned the area. "Goddamnit, where is he..." he muttered. Grace caught movement in the corner of her eye, a young man approaching with brown hair. "Beau! Get over here boy! Get these horses into the stable," he ordered harshly. The boy nodded before hurrying over to the horses without a word. Grace watched as he paused for a moment as he looked at Arthur. Confused, her eyebrows furrowed down before he quickly grabbed the ropes without a word. Arthur stared at him, his eyes burning into Beau as he hurried away. They have to know each other. Tavish was looking over at Arthur now, noticing Beau had taken awhile at him. His eyes widened in alarm. "Shit, if it ain't you!" He shouted. With the shout Grace heard guns raise, she watched as Arthur drew his revolver.
"Arthur!" Grace hissed, holding her hands up in the air. Tavish didn't have a gun on him himself but he had plenty of guards circling around now. Tavish immediately turned to Grace, frowning in fury.
"You ain't Annabelle are you?" He demanded, his face growing red with anger. "You're one of him!"
"Listen, just calm down," Grace began. Tavish did not calm down however, his anger getting more visible.
"How do I know you're not here to rob me? Or burn my fields again? Or kill more of my men?" He listed, his hands clenched into fists by his sides. Grace sighed, running a hand through her brown locks before turning to him.
"Because if I was, I sure as shit wouldn't just ride on it. Now can you hear me out?" She began, raising her voice to grab his attention. Tavish stared at her, putting a hand up in the air and the guards all dropped their aim. They stood by on standby. Arthur lowered his gun, holstering it. "I'm here to sell horses, not to start another war. I have something you want and you have something I want, I'm sure we can do this just this once," Grace informed, lowering her hands. Tavish looked around at the guards before looking back at her.
"You didn't answer my questions," he reminded. Grace rolled her eyes.
"If you're going to waste my time, I'll be taking those horses back whether it's the easy way or the hard way," Grace warned. Tavish stared at her for a few silent moments before flicking his hand. With that Grace heard movement as the guards all walked away. She gave him a single nod. "Good."
"How much do you want for them?" Tavish asked, walking towards the stable. Grace followed, waving a hand up for Arthur to follow. She was not going to go anywhere without him.
"These horses are well cared for and well bred. I know they will do well if you wish to compete or breed, or perhaps just laze around with them. Whatever you do, they will be amazing. I am thinking twenty four hundred," Grace began. Tavish stopped as they walked in, facing her with a look of disbelief on his face. "Not negotiable," Grace finished, folding her arms across her chest.
"Miss, that is a lot of money," Tavish chuckled. Grace tilted her head to one side.
"Which I'm sure isn't a problem for you," Grace pushed. She was going to get this money from him.
"And how do I know these ain't stolen? I know you're type," he hissed, looking over at Arthur. Arthur shook his head before taking a few steps away as he lit a cigarette.
"They ain't. If you are implying what I think you are, I ain't apart of the gang. I simply hire this man as my bodyguard as things can go wrong," Grace informed. Tavish chuckled.
"No need to lie to me, look at you. All armed to the teeth," Tavish challenged. "Look, I don't care if they're stolen. I've had him steal horses and sell them and these horses are good so I couldn't care less where they come from," Tavish answered honestly.
"Well then, I don't think we have any issues," Grace agreed. Tavish held a finger up, pausing her.
"Except for one, the cost. It's way too much!" Tavish debated. Grace took a step closer to Tavish, sighing.
"Perhaps you didn't hear me when I said this isn't negotiable," Grace hissed, her voice lowered. She looked over at Arthur who was already walking over. He stood by Tavish, facing him. Tavish looked at him, his face falling pale with fear. "He has hurt men your type before that try to weave their way out of this. We know what you're trying to do and I think both you and I can agree that we don't want any blood spilt. Now," Grace continued, looking at Arthur again with a smirk before looking back at Tavish. "The money."
"I-I don't have that-" Tavish was cut off by Arthur's fist cracking across his jaw. The impact knocked the man out cold, his body falling to the ground. Grace grinned, squatting down and reaching into the vest pocket that had caught her eye the moment they arrived. It was bulging with cash. She pulled out the notes, taking all of it. She quickly counted in, grinning wildly.
"Three thousand," Grace beamed, standing back up. Arthur puffed out smoke from his cigarette before the two of them walked out of the stable. Grace feared that because the stable was so open, someone would immediately spot Tavish's body. Arthur threw his cigarette to the side when they left the stable, hurrying to their horses without trying to look suspicious. Grace and Arthur mounted their steeds, turning their horses to leave the way they rode in to freeze. Standing in front of them were five men, armed. One of them grinned.
"You two really thought it would be that easy?" He questioned, the five of them slowly taking small steps closer to Arthur and Grace.
"No, you did," Grace sighed before gunfire roared. Grace and Arthur both ducked their heads as bullets flew, the five men in front of them dropping like flies. Grace and Arthur quickly drew there guns.
"Ride! Ride!" Dutch roared out from their right. Grace looked over to see him, Javier and Charles galloping over, shooting at more guards who came running. Grace and Arthur pushed into a gallop with them, following the men as they led them to safety. The horses galloped in the direction Charles, Dutch and Javier had come from, a line of people on the outside of the fence all shot down into Caliga Hall. The five of them all jumped the fence and the large group of outlaws galloped down the road, away from Caliga Hall.
"See? Nothing to be worried about!" Grace yelled over the pounding of hooves.
"Nothing? We got the Gray's after us now!" Arthur shouted, irritated by the heat this caused.
"If you hadn't noticed, we already did!" Grace reminded. "They won't come after us. They got the horses, we got the money. It's a win-win!" Grace pointed out. Dutch nodded, agreeing with her.
"She's right, Arthur!"
"We took more money than what we asked for!" Arthur argued.
"Come on, Arthur! He lied to us about not having the money! He deserved it!" Grace insisted. Arthur chuckled.
"Alright, alright! You did well Grace," Arthur finally gave in, being convinced enough that it was a good take. Grace grinned, looking ahead at Dutch.
"Also Dutch, I used money from the box to buy the horses!"
"You WHAT?" Dutch roared in anger. His horse would've come to a halt but he didn't want anyone colliding with him.
"Six hundred I took! You know me, Dutch. I was going to make back that money which I did. Got ourselves three thousand," Grace shouted again, loud enough for Dutch to hear. Sadie and Javier chuckled at Grace's thinking.
"Oh but if that was me, no one would give me a break!" Bill argued.
"Christ, Grace... I'm going to pretend you never told me you took money from the box," Dutch laughed. Grace grinned, moving her horse into a fast gallop to ride beside Dutch. She moved up beside him, reaching into her pocket to pull out the stack of cash, throwing it over to Dutch. Dutch caught it with a hand, looking over at her as he pulled down his bandana.
"Here, you can split it with us when we get back. I take too long to split the money. I know how to count but sharing is my weakness," Grace informed.
"As we now know," Arthur joked. The group filled with laughter as they headed back to camp, Dutch shoving the money into his coat pocket as they rode.