Catori stood. She smiled. "I'd duck if I were you." she told the men before hearing them scream in pain as arrows pierced throw their bodies and before they were scalped.
Catori practically jumped up and down. Her native american friend poked his head through the door. He spoke to Catori in their language before helping her and Lily out. He looked at the other two.
Greg nodded slightly and stood from his sitting position. "Well if that wasn't the best show ever, I don't rightly know what would be." He took Rutherfords two pearl handled pistols and put them in his belt. "Thank you so much sir for your hospitality." He spat at him, and then walked over to Catori and spoke in her language. "Please thank your friends for me. I don't think they would appreciate it as much coming straight from me."
Sarah Willoughby scrambled up the stairs, her hoop skirt and petticoats swooshing along the hall, tinkering the many baubles and trinkets and table top decor all along the hall. She swept through the double doors to her bed chamber, slamming the doors behind her.
"Oh, dear..." she sighed, a tear in her eye, as she crossed the room to her hope chest and knelt, plucking a small key from a chain around her neck.
She opened the chest, and rummaged thru the clothing and other artifacts, finally settling upon a smaller box. She took the box and closed the chest, resting the box on top of the chest, and opening the smaller box. Inside the small box was a marriage license, to WALTER RENO JR and SARAH WILLOUGHBY, but unsigned by both parties, some few gold coins, a silver chain strung with two golden bands, wedding bands, including one diamond ring... beneath the paperwork and trinkets were a pair of colt 6-shooters, and a strap of 16 extra bullets. The case was felt-lined and inlaid specially made for the guns, with a small silver plate, engraved 'TO BUDDY, FRIEND, LOVER, HUSBAND YOURS, SARAH'
Sarah caressed the rings sobbing sadly. "Why, Buddy? Why now?"
Just then, there arose a ruckus outside, including thunderous rifle blasts from very close by!
A China woman servant screamed from her place feeding chickens, alerting 39... uh, 37 man hands to the pin-cushion dead-men who were once guarding the secondary root cellar. 37 men were quickly brought to arms, and a shot-gun blast rang out, warning those in the 'guest house' that they were vastly outnumbered and outgunned...
Greg's blast made the count 36... and those 36 rifles were poised to fire upon the root cellar at the first red white or black skin to poke out from the soddy...
🙁
((I'm going along with this, all except for Rutherford's inclusion and the taking of his pistols, since he was still at the main house while you were all still breaking out of the root cellar...))
"What in tarnation is going on out there?!" Rutherford roared, turning to Gavin, his faithful man-servant. "Gavin, go check it out and report back to me post-haste!"
"Begging your pardon, sir, but... Go to Hell!" Gavin defied the master of the house, ducking for cover under the nearest oak table in the foyer.
"After you, coward!" Rutherford demanded, drawing his pearl-handled pistol from his hip and firing thrice, killing Gavin dead. "I insist!"
"You're the coward, Chester!" Buddy snarled, stepping inside and slamming the door behind him. "Always hiding, behind your money, behind the skirts of other people's wives, taking their lives, buying them off, destroying their dreams..."
"You... you brought all that upon yourself, Reno!" Rutherford countered, though he backed away as Buddy approached. "You gambled, and you lost... you lost it all... all on your own! And, I took it! ALL of it! Including lovely Sarah..."
"Son of a---" Buddy started to make a move to lunge on the stuffed-shirt SOB, but Rutherford's pistol quickly shifted toward Buddy.
-gulp!-
"And, now, it ends... again for you , Buddy Reno..." Rutherford smiled, "Killed while trespassing, raiding the old homestead... self-defense killing, won't even see trial... next year, the walls come down, and this whole place disappears, buried right along with the rest of your memory... and all will be mine, Forever!"
Rutherford drew his second pistol and took steady easy aim at his target 4 feet away.
"Goodbye, Junior..." Rutherford snorted, "Say 'Hello' to your Father from me, when you see him... in Hell!"
-BANG!-BANG!!-
"Ok, i can take two of these shot guns, and my pistols, and clear most of them out, if not all before I get shot." He picked up two shotguns and loaded them completly, then checked his pistols. "If I go down, you need to clear the rest. There are enough guns in here to arm you. Anyone have any objetions?"
Catori heard the gunshots from inside. "I do." she said before running towards the guest house. A bullet zoomed towards her but she was shoved out of the way.
Catori looked down at her friend. Holding him she watched as he bled to death. Tears streamed down her face.
Chapa walked inside the house and began eating out of a owl that a cook had left to get some apples.
Chayton ran into the house and pounce Rutherford to the ground. He growled once before starting to tear at the man's throat.
Greg cursed and jumped up. Thanks to Catori's destraction, he could catch everyone off guard. He quickly stormed out of the hut, and fired the shot guns as quickly as possible, killing every man that began to train his gun at Catori or himself. Once the shotguns ran out, he quickly pulled his pistols out, and was easly able to finish the rest of the group.
Sarah stood at the top of the stairs, and fired 2 wild shots far to the right of her intended target. One bullet punctured the window looking out at the front porch from the foyer. The second round shattered the oil lamp on the wall near the window, sending flaming spatter of oil raining across the wall, curtains, and table.
In an instant, most of the dry wooden wall paneling was set ablaze!!
"SARAH!" both Buddy and Chester cried, almost in unison.
There she stood, striding confidently down the stairs slowly, surely, Buddy's pistol in her hand, holster slung over her shoulder with his second pistol...
"What are you doing, dear?" Chester asked, but quickly returned to form, making it a demand. "Answer me!!"
"Taking it back!" Sarah screamed, even as the flames spread along the ceiling and the interior walls of the foyer. "Taking it all back! Everything I ever said, every vile disgusting thing I ever did, with you, for you, because of... because of you... " her gaze drifted from Rutherford to Buddy and back.
Rutherford was shocked. "Sarah, please... we have to get out of here!"
Gavin needed no such suggestion or bequest, the servant man scampered from beneath the flaming table and crashed through the front door, screaming bloody murder. Gunshots rang out and rained through the doorway, sending Buddy sprawling to the floor.
"You don't own me Chester... you may have had my body, but you never had my heart..." as she took 2 more steps, it became clear what she meant, as the silver chain and gold rings was plainly seen dangling around her neck, so close to her heart.
"You... " -BANG!- Rutherford's curse was drown out by the blast from the pistol on his hip. As she fell forward, and into Chester's arms, another pistol shot rang out...
...Chester let Sarah's body drop past him, turning instead to face Buddy, who still crouched on the floor. Chester's chest and torso were covered in blood, mostly HIS OWN, from the gut shot Sarah had delivered.
Before he could fire down on Buddy, Chester screamed as Chayton leaped upon him and tore at his throat... Chester Rutherford died screaming.... (thanks for the assist, sweety! 🙂 )
Buddy coughed as smoke filled the room, he rose and scooped Sarah's body from the floor, and into his arms, then stood and stumbled forward, charging thru the flames and tripping down the 4 step landing...
OOF!
It was a good thing there was no further resistance from outside, because Buddy was spent, in more ways than one... he slumped to the ground under the weight of everything that had just transpired... so much to carry...