Chapter 9: Home

The man collapsed to the ground and died.

The collective gasp caused the survivor to look over at the spectators. As he did, his gun also tracked a path to stop so that it pointed at the chest of the other big man sitting on a horse. The big man was lifting his gun to shoot Vincent.

“Stop. You are all under arrest for murder. Drop your guns now,” barked Vincent.

However, the horseman showed his intent as he aimed the gun. This bullet did hit bone first but still did nasty things inside his chest. The impact rocked the man back in surprise, and he tumbled from his horse, as he was dying. He landed on the ground with a whoomf.

Horseman number-two had also tried to bring his weapon to bear, but he was as slow as number-one. When the bullet found his shoulder, he jerked back and pulled on the reigns. The horse pranced at the sudden jerk, so this man was twisted off the horse and heading to the ground as fast as man number-one did.

The horse of the third man was already upset from the first gunshot. It had reared at the second shot, and the rider found he was busily trying not to join his friends on the ground. His problem was that he wasn’t much of a horseman, and join them, he did. His horse high-tailed it out of there, kicking him as it went.

The fourth man had spurred his panicked animal trying to get it to run as soon as he saw Darren go down. He got about 10m before he fell off the horse. His bullet was in the back of his head. The fifth, well, he did nothing, other than to sit on his horse stupefied. The docile old nag hadn’t even raised her head from the grass to witness the carnage.

As the smoke rose into the still air in slow spirals, the spectators all blinked. Many of them were drawing in only their second breath since the first shot that had rung out after Vincent’s declaration for surrender.

Vincent felt that the danger had passed and holstered his weapon. He walked calmly over to Ulani and wrapped her in his arms. She hugged him back and felt the tears drip down the side of her neck where his head was buried, and they soaked into her shirt.

The guards and drivers snapped out of their shock and went to check on the six men. Hardy and Kyle went to round-up the scattered horses to put the dead on. The youngest member of Hallo’s party was coaxed down off his horse, and then he was tied up.

The tossed and kicked horseman was still alive. He would have some beautiful bruises to go with his busted collarbone. They tied him up too, but simply roped his busted shoulder to his body with his other arm over it. The ropes stabilised his shoulder and made the wound less painful for him.

By the time the drivers collected the other four bodies, more than five minutes had passed, so the men they had checked were indeed dead. Two had died from heart shots and one from a headshot. The shoulder shot man had broken his neck when he fell. Vincent’s people were still trying to work out how he had collared them all with only four shots and in about as many seconds.

Vincent felt little arms go around his leg. He removed his head from Ulani’s shoulder, wiped his face and composed himself. He bent down and lifted his son into his embrace. He and Ulani were thankful that Andy had hustled Dee and Victor back into the coach when the riders approached them.

Victor hugged his daddy as hard as he could. He knew he was very sad about making the men dead.

Once he felt calmer, Vincent gave Victor back to Ulani.

With resolve, Vincent walked over to the two men who were now tied up. He needed to know what had happened at his house and why. “How many outlaws are still on my estate?” he asked the men quietly.

“We left four men behind, your Lordship, I don’t know them,” the youngest man replied in a terrified voice.

“How many of my people were killed?” Vincent asked in his tightly controlled voice.

“I think they killed all the men, my Lord,” the young man said through a big sob. “They killed my Aunt Dottie. They raped the girls and other women, I don’t know if they killed them all, but they used them roughly all night. There was lots of slaps and screams,” he sobbed again.

“I hid in the stables all night, but they found me in there saddling a horse this morning, and the Barron made me come here with them. I’m Jeb, your Lordship. I’m just a stable lad. I didn’t hurt anyone, honest my Lord, they was my family and friends,” he was bawling by the time he got his story out.

Vincent had recognised the lad when he froze-up on the horse. He had noticed that he was the only one without a weapon and now knew why. He had also not read any intent by the boy to hurt anyone, as he was too frightened. He knelt down and gently hugged the boy.

“I’m sorry, Jeb, but we have to go back and clean out the rest of the scum,” he said gently to him.

The boy nodded and spat out, “You get them, my Lord. You kill those bastards and this murderer too.”

Vincent nodded at the other man, “What’s his story?”

Jeb spat at him, “That’s Walt Topper, he killed my Aunt Dottie, she wouldna’ hurt a fly an’ he stuck a knife in her. I seen him with May too. But I didna’ see what he did to her, but I heard her screaming. I couldn’t do nothing, my Lord.”

Vincent undid Jeb’s ropes. “I know Jeb. Do you know why Darren decided to take me on?”

Jeb wiped his tearstained face with his sleeve and looked thoughtful, “I can’t say for certain my Lord, but I think he has house guests. Those men I don’t know. I seen a carriage out the back when I delivered a message from Martin to him several days ago.”

“Martin said, he’d been poaching in your forest again, he was gunna tell you about it when you turned up. I heard Barron Hallow arguing with two men I didn’t know after he musta opened the letter.”

“I went around the back to get a drink. He was saying some nasty things, and one of the men said you was easy to take out because you were a wimp. I don’t think that man knows you real-well, my Lord.”

Vincent had to grin. No, he didn’t think his father knew him really well either. He wasn’t the same frightened lad that his father used to beat for no reason, thanks to Hugh and Ty.

His father may be a little surprised when they came face to face.

They got organised and headed out.

Vincent thought of taking the men and going in first, but he just couldn’t leave Ulani and Victor unprotected. If his father got hold of them, he knew he would use them against him. He also knew he would do anything to keep them safe. He had just killed four men for threatening them.

He sighed, as he was getting a long bloody tally sheet. Oddly enough, he never had bad dreams about any of the men he had killed. He didn’t think these four would haunt him either. He had never killed without being threatened first.

He couldn’t slaughter animals that didn’t intend to harm him either. Druid Williams had told him that was a good thing. It was the will of the Old Gods. The Keltrian Gods try to choose people who will use their Gifts for the good of others and not just for themselves.

It is why not all who stay in a Grove on their seventeenth birthday receive a Gift from the gods. Williams had said that Vincent’s gifts indicated that he was a protector of life and a dispenser of justice and been blessed by the God of Justice.

Vincent decided he could live with that side of his nature. He had to shake his head. It was ironic that when he had looked at the village, he had wanted to kill Darren Hallow for treating his people as he did. It seemed like he had gotten his wish. Now they were his problem.

As they approached the Manor, they all felt a great sadness hung over the house and land. There was no movement. Vincent sat outside the house for several minutes. His guards and now friends, Hardy and Kyle, sat on either side of him.

He had made everyone else stay at the big barn that was 100m from the manor. He directed the drovers to let the flock into the house paddocks on the west side of the barn. The drivers could store the wagons and the coach in the barn.

He and his guards had already counted three dead in the yard, and one on the road. He’d recognised that the body on the roadway was Oli. His friend Martin was one of the dead men in the yard. Vincent determined that Martin had come outside to find out what Hallow and his men had wanted. The other two appeared to have been shot where they stood. One was the Stablemaster, and the other was one of his lads.

The three men got off their horses and drew their guns. They approached the house slowly and cautiously. The front door stood open. Vincent tossed a rock onto the porch. But there was no noticeable reaction from the house. Carefully he moved up to the door, squatted down some and then warily peered inside.

They hadn’t been shot at so far, and he felt the house was deserted of living beings. He pulled up to a crouch and rolled in through the door, but no shots were fired. He scanned around the room. He stood and signalled for the other two men to enter. He sent one left and the other right. He headed up the stairs.

They met back in the foyer fifteen minutes later. Both men were, hardened law enforcement offices and Vincent could see they both had red-rimmed eyes. The look of horror lurking in their eyes wasn’t any different to his. They couldn’t stay here. Not until the house was cleaned, repaired and repainted.

The outlaws had wrecked the place. Just about every piece of furniture was destroyed. The fireplaces were full of half-burnt furniture and items they didn’t consider of any value. Vincent gave the two guards a grim grin, “I bet they were pissed when they found fuck-all of value.”

The guards looked at him oddly. Vincent explained to them that they had stripped the valuables from the house several years ago. They were in storage in Bavindor since he wasn’t in residence. They had left just enough furniture for when they visited.

Martin wasn’t married, so he had been happy to use one of the downstairs rooms as his bedroom. Upstairs had basically been shut up. Vincent had planned to organise the rest of the good furniture and items to come back with them after he married Ulani.

Hardy grinned. “That explains why it’s all busted up. They ransacked the place to find what wasn’t here.”

“I wish that they hadn’t killed my people in the meantime. How many did you find?” Vincent asked more soberly.

“Four dead; the cook, a potboy and two old women. One woman was outside the back door with her throat cut. They raped the boy and the other old woman before cutting them up, or while they cut them. It was hard to tell, there is a lot of blood. The cook had been shot. He had a big knife still gripped hard in his hand,” Kyle said in disgust.

“Three dead,” Hardy said. “A guy I think was the butler, hard to tell after what they did to him. One middle-aged woman who was used pretty hard and they slit her throat.”

“The third was another younger man. He was used as well but ended up with a bullet for his trouble. I think he bit something off that he shouldn’t have,” he finished with a wince.

“So, they took the two maids. Bell and Vera were young, in their early teens. They were Gerties and Rob the cooks’ girls. Shit,” Vincent swore.