1st Draft
Horseshoe Bend
Michael wasn't happy about it but he needed to get to Ben's wife before they do.
Michael touched Hedi's hand, she turned and looked up to him, Michael winked and took off out the back of the restaurant.
Sheol was already loaded and ready.
Michael had planned to leave town in the dead of night, so no prying eyes would be the wiser.
He had planned to eat with Hedi before riding out but with that idea down gone he just needed to ride and Sheol sensed the urgent mood when Michael rounded the corner of the Restaurant at a full run.
"Sheol like the wind" is all Michael needed to save to send Sheol into a flat out run.
The more distance he put between him and the Sheriff the better, he would come back in a day or two and by then the Sheriff would of talked to Tom and his wife.
Michael felt something was wrong, but to put a finger on it wasn't going to be easy with what he had laying ahead.
So he let Sheol stretch out and run, until he was ready to slow down.
By then a good couple of miles lay behind them and Placerville and the Sheriff.
With the late start Michael figure he would camp at a spot he knew about, it was a nice spot with a little stream running through it.
He would ride into Horse Shoe Bend by mid-morning, find Gabriel, Give her the Deed and be on his way.
As he rode his thoughts went to a little soul searching..a little what else is bothering him moment.
Michael dug deep to try and find the answer, to why he is risking everything to help.
It was question that was a deep as it could go, He wasn't sure it was all because of Ben, Hedi or Gabriel.
Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't but something else was involved also and thats what Michael was worried about the most.... His Past.
Letting the cold air flow through his hair, he closed his eyes, Tears wetted his face As he listened To his inner voice, Finally he said.
It's time, and I'll be Ready.
Rounding a bend on the trail, Michael pulled up next to ta a pine tree.
The river was to his back further into the tree's along the trail
Pulling the saddle off sheol Michael rubbed him down with grass and gave Sheol some oats he had in his saddle bags.
Good boy he told Sheol as he rubbed him behind his ears.
Michael never tied Sheol up, he let him wander so that he always had a choice and that seemed to work for the both of them.
Michael set to work on the camp, getting a fire going so that he could have some coffee.
He enjoyed being out in the open, listening to the night slip in, pushing the sun out of the way and how the noises changed as the darkness fell.
The once noisey birds, quieted down as the darkness fell, since they didn't fly at night only if a predator was close and even then the chances off death was always the highest, So they sat queitly.
After a dinner of jerked beef and coffee Michael laid awake for a long time thinking of Ben's wife Gabriel.
What kind of girl she was, how she would take the words he had to say about Ben.
Michael hadn't know Ben for all that long, but the boy had staying power, that beaten he had taken from Big John and his boys would of killed a lot of men.
And the thought of Ben's own brothers finally killing him for a Deed.
Killing family brought back old memories that Michael just as soon forget.
Ben proved that he was more then just a boy.. He was a doer and Michael was going to help no matter what.
"I guess that would attest to when a man makes a promise almost nothing would stop him from keeping that promise this side of death" Michael thought
The stars overhead where bright and he could see each one clearly.
He found himself counting them until he had no numbers left in his head to count with.
Michael had come to a decision, He would ride this trail to the end, He would Help Gabriel secure the land and whatever else he could do for her.
Yep he wanted that boy to fulfeel his promise no matter what so if the his widow needed help to get to Idaho City he would take her.
When he was done he would go back and make Hedi his wife... Michael smiled,
It's time he quit hiding from his past and just embrace it, he didn't have a choice anyway in the matter,
Michael felt a weight lift off his chest as he fading into a deep sleep.
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