[b]West Elizabeth
Tall Trees[/b]


Savage resisted the urge to push the horses for a quicker pace.  They still had a lot of distance to travel and running them to death wouldn't improve his situation in the short or long term.  So he selected for an easy step that would eat ground while keeping the animals healthy.  They were heading South, toward the Lower Montana River.  There was a rail camp in that direction where he would turn his fugitive in for the bounty.  Most of the day was already gone from the ride.  He wanted to find a decent hidden spot to bed down for the night before the trees thinned out and turned into plains.

The two of them had been mostly silent.  When they stopped to water the horses, Savage let the man tend to his own needs then offered him food and what little bit of whiskey he had on him.  He never threatened the fugitive outright but he also didn't need to.  The trees were nowhere near thick enough to hide him if he decided to run and a bullet could go a lot quicker than a man on foot.

Suddenly, there was a not-so-distant shout.

"Whose that," the bound man said, nodding toward the direction they were headed.  Even with the trees, three riders could be seen racing toward them.  There wasn't a clear path so they did have to move with some care, least they risk their horses.  "Friends of yours?"

"No," Savage said.  He had seen them too.  "Don't listen to anything they say."

Savage looked around but didn't seem to find anything he wanted to see.  Next, he began to direct his horse backwards until he moved past the fugitive's.  The way he did it ended up tugging the horse across him, putting the man and animal between him and the oncoming riders.

"What'r you doing?"

"Don't say anything.  You'll be fine."

Savage's words seemed to conflict with how he discretely drew his pistol while he was hidden by his bounty.

"This is your backup, isn't it?"

The bounty hunter smirked but didn't say anything.  By then, the three riders were slowing down, having caught up with them.

"Just what in the fuck do you think you're doing, Savage," yelled the lead horseman as they were coming to a stop.  "I said we were taking him together!  How in the blue Hell did you get him on your own anyway?"

"You didn't think you could just double-cross us and claim the money for yourself, did you," another snarled.  "You an't that fucking slick, boy."

"Easy," Savage yelled as he held his pistol in his lap, just out of view.  It looked like he was simply holding onto his saddle.  He could pull this off for as long as the bounty was between them.  "You were slowing me down.  I told you I like to move quick-"

"That's a load of pig shit!  You went with us until you learned whereabouts this fella was.  Then you rode off without a word!  Slowing you down my ass; we did all the work learning about him in the first place!"

"Easy, Ralph," the lead horseman said.  Ralph seemed to have more to say, though.

"You tried to screw us, boy.  Now you're handing him over or by God I'll cut you in half myself!"

"No need for that," Savage said in an easy, friendly voice.  "He's all yours."

This seemed to surprise all of them to some degree.  The shot that rang out from Savage's revolver surprised them more.  The fugitive's horse screamed and hopped away.  He let go of the reins as it stumbled over itself then fell, throwing its rider onto the ground.  It was still alive but Savage had put the round into its lung.  It would have to be put down.

When the beast moved, it revealed the weapon.  It was aimed square at the riders.

"Easy," Savage repeated, raising his pistol for emphasis.  Of course they had gone for their weapons, however none had actually drawn them at that point.  "As I said, he's all yours.  We square?"

By their expressions, it didn't seem like they were square.  The fugitive complained about his leg and made no attempt to get up while his horse continued to panic and kick at the ground.  A long moment of tension went past as the animal slowed its thrashing and the three riders debated on just how badly they wanted revenge.

"We square," Savage asked again, this time lifting his revolver to pointedly aim down the sights at each of them until they gave in.

"Yeah.  I suppose we are."

Savage nodded and slowly began to walk his horse wide around them, keeping his pistol on them as he went.

"I'll be going now."

"You do that."

He took his sweet time gaining distance from them until he was at the edge of a pistol's effective range.  Then he kicked his horse into a run and made for the plains.  He knew this wasn't over yet.  It was never that easy.  But he had a head start on them at the very least.