Violence: This is a western, so….yeah, lots of violence but no more than the usual Xena ep.
Sex: Once again, it is a western. And it does involve Xena and Gabrielle lookalikes. So either leave now or….well, stay.
Part 5
March 4th
For the past days, Morgan had been at the saloon, selling her body to anyone who wanted it and trying to work a way to kill Jake Daniels without it looking like Murder. Caesar was still in town, staking out a hotel in the opposite street for the 'Wolf'. Little did he know that the lady he had spent the night before with (IE: Morgan ) was the one that he truly wanted to kill.
Candia, meanwhile, was also having visions of killing Morgan. Morgan was driving her insane. Her very presence in a room was enough to make Candia want to kill her in order to stop a throbing pain in her loins. She didn't understand it. It was horrible to have to sleep in the same bed as Morgan. The last two nights, she had had the oddest dreams about her. It scared the living daylights out of the young country girl.
March 6th.
"I think that you should go home." Morgan said sharply. Candia looked up from where she was seated against the window. She had been trying to finish mending the hem on her cloak while sneaking furtive glances at the outlaw.
"Why?" She asked. It wasn't that she didn't miss home, it was just that she would miss her stoic companion if she were to leave. "We agreed that I could stay until you - we- get Daniels."
Morgan exhaled sharply. "WE never agreed on anything to my knowledge, so unless you asked me when I was asleep -"
"Oh come off it, Morgan!" Candia snapped. She immediately covered her mouth with her hand. "Sorry." She whispered, "but you do answer all my questions and requests even when you ARE asleep. Its like you're expecting it. The moment I make the slightest movement, you're awake and making sure that I'm not about to kill you. I couldn't get anything past you if I wanted too."
Morgan sniffed "Fine, but I still think that you should go home. Its not safe anymore around here. What with Caesar and -"
"Stop it, Morgan! I can take care of myself you know!"
Morgan stood up. "Would you stop interupting me?!"
"No! I want to stay here." Candia replied, crossing her arms defiantly.
"What good are you here Candia? You've avoided me the past few days, and apart from that, its not like you're doing very much - "
"You don't trust me enough to help!"
"Shut up!" Morgan immediately regreted yelling when she saw Candias eyes begin to water as more tears welled up in her eyes. "Candia, theres nothing for you to do here. I know that and you know that."
"Why won't you just give me a chance?" Candia whined. She sniffed back her tears and spluttered. She reached a shaking hand out to get a handkerchief and tried to pull herself together.
Morgan sat down on the bed. This wasn't getting her anywhere. She had always gotten her own way and was thoroughly surprised that Candia was disagreeing with her.
"Candia, I won't let you do anything because theres nothing you can do."
"How do you know?" Candia cried out, furiously wiping at the tears blotting her vision.
"Would you go out and sell you body just to get close to Daniels?" Morgan yelled. "No, you wouldn't, would you?"
"I've let another murderer touch me before, one more wouldn't make a difference to me now that I feel so awful."
"Oh yeah, and who would that have been?" Morgan asked sarcastically.
"The same person who has hurt me so much that I can't even explain it. The same person who thinks that they own me and my body. A person who is worse than Daniels could be, because she's a two faced, selfish, bloody murderer."
Morgan's face went white.
"That's right Morgan, its you. I hate you with every emotion and every drop of blood in my body. But you don't give a damn!" Candia screamed. Without another word, she ran for the door and slammed it behind her. She was halfway down the street outside before Morgan had the strength to move again.
Emotionlessly, she picked up her jacket and headed out the door also. Her feet crunched along the gravel street to the saloon where she knew Jake Daniels would be waiting for his daily exercise with the girls. She cocked her pistol as she walked, going through the well-practised moves to ready herself.
The door swung back and slammed loudly against the wall behind it, swinging a full 180degrees around. Five of the saloon patrons looked up to see who it was.
"You're late, Delilah." The barkeep called from where he stood. "And get out of those filthy clothes, where's your dress?"
Without flinching, Morgan pulled her revolver and shot at the mirror behind the man. "Shut up." She hissed at the patrons, "unless you want one through your ears." Two of the older men rushed to the barkeeps aid and another younger man edged in to grab Morgan should she try to shoot any of the patrons. "Delilah's not coming to work today. She's busy." Her eyes darted around the room like lightning until they alighted on a figure with one of the other girls perched solidly on his lap.
"Mr Daniels." She said, making a sweeping gesture at the man. "I want to challenge you."
Jake Daniels stood up. "Challenge me to what?"
"A gunfight. Let's make it fair and we'll have witnesses."
Daniels cocked an eyebrow up and grinned stupidly. "A pretty thing like you? A gunfight? Spin me another one Delilah."
"My name is not Delilah, its -…..I want to kill you Daniels. And I don't want to have to shoot you in the middle of a barroom. I have my pride." Morgan replied coldly.
"You're a woman. What do you know about shooting?" Daniels asked sarcastically.
"More than you do." Morgan spun quickly and fired at the opposite wall. Four brightly decorated bottles of whiskey shattered and the fiery liquid poured over the edge of the shelf like a waterfall.
"Not bad."
"How bout it? This is your last chance Daniels, before I kill you where you stand."
Daniels nodded slowly. "Ok, One shot. First one to fall, if I kill you, I get your belongings and your corpse to do what I want with."
"And if I win?" Morgan asked coolly.
"But you won't."
"Humour me. If I win, what do I get?"
"My horse, my belongings, my girl." He gave the girl on his lap a harsh squeeze, "and the fifteen thousand dollars I have in a bank in Georgia. Oh, and you can drag my body around behind your horse. It won't bother me then will it?" He tugged the girls brown locks hard and she shrieked. "Wait for me until I get back girl." He said to her before unceremoniously dumping her on a chair.
"Did everyone hear the terms?" Morgan asked. All around the saloon, heads nodded their agreement. "Now, may we have someone to oversee the duel?" She asked.
A large, firmly set man stepped forward.
"I will." He said gruffly, "if you'd care to step outside Miss….sir."
Daniels held the door back as Morgan passed through and back onto the street. It was still a good two hours before dark and they headed into the middle of the deserted street.
"Twenty paces each please." The large man said, after making sure they each only had one bullet in their guns.
Morgan and Daniels began the walk apart and halted when they reached twenty paces.
"You may turn." The man called out. He backed away a couple of steps lest he be shot in the crossfire.
Morgan forced her breathing to return to normal. She gazed into Daniels' eyes, looking for the slightest indication of when he would go for his gun. Her finger quivered slightly as she lowered her hand toward her gunbelt.
"Fire at will." The man called.
As Morgan had spent many a night with him, she knew that when Daniels got excited, his bottom lip dropped open slightly.
There it was, the lip dropping, an eye quiver and Morgan had reached for her gun.
Daniels never knew what hit him. His body dropped backwards in the street, blood gushing forth from a gaping hole set in between his eyes. The large man rushed forward and dropped down to inspect the wound.
"I didn't think that you'd do it." Came a voice from near Morgan. She turned to see Candia, looking exactly the same as when she'' fled from the room. Her cheeks were tear-stained and her bottom lip still quivered with fresh tears threatening to spill over.
"You knew that I was going to." Morgan said softly, her earlier anger forgotten.
"But I didn't believe that you could be so cold-hearted."
"Candia!" Morgan cried in exasperation, "you knew that I was going to kill him any way I could. You've been with me when I've killed before. You wanted me to kill him! I gave him a chance and he took it. He agreed. Ask around. There were people there. It was a fair challenge, we had someone to oversee it and everything."
Candia burst out into fresh sobs that wracked her whole body. "Oh Morgan! How can you be such a cold-blooded murderer and yet so sweet and caring?"
"Because she's an outlaw. Its what she does for a living. She's a wolf. Caring and loving towards those she wants to deceive, and heartless and bloody to them after she's had her fun." Came another voice near to Candia's ear.
She turned to look into the face of J.F.Caeser. "You!" She exclaimed through her tears.
"Yes. I've just discovered who the liar really is. Did you know that you were traveling with the wolf?"
Candia lowered her eyelashes and suddenly decided that she'd rather look at the dusty ground.
"Thought so." Caesar muttered. He stepped in behind Morgan to put the handcuffs on her. "Morgan Delaney, alias 'The Wolf', you're under arrest for outlawry, 32 reported accounts of murder and theft, as well as purgery during a court hearing two years ago. You're also wanted for the death of two US marshals. You have the right to remain silent, and anything you say or do…."
Caesars voice droned on but Morgan hardly heard a word he had said. Her icy eyes remained fixed on Candias face, the tears dropping steadily from her eyes.
"Look after my horse and wolf, Candia." Morgan said softly, she winked at the girl before Caesar began to tug her in the direction of the sheriff's office.
The jail was cold and bare. There was a stack of hay in the corner of the cell with a blanket over it, and a dirty toilet in the opposite corner. There was sawdust on the floor and bars around three sides. Morgan headed for the make shift bed and sat down. She had been questionned for three hours about the wherabouts of her gang, but she had stuck to the truth - she didn't know. Finally, Caesar had relented his barrage of questions and had her locked away.
The young constable had been friendly enough when he found out that he was to have a famous outlaw in his jail. He had even offered her a whisky which she had been quite happily drinking before Caesar seized it from her. She leant back, sighing. What a horrible day. Things couldn't get much worse. Her eyes drifted over the cracked ceiling. A well aimed kick on the bars of the cell would have the ceiling falling apart, and Morgan would be on her way to freedom again, but no matter how hard she tried to imagine getting out of the jail, Morgan couldn't picture herself leaving Candia behind.
She sighed again and settled into the straw for a long nights sleep.
March 9th
A scream lifted Morgan from her disruptive slumber. She sat up sharply. Another scream occurred as she heard the door to the cells open with a loud creak. There was a girl with golden hair, that reflected red in the early morning light being thrown into the cell near her.
"Candia!" Morgan gasped loudly. She hurried over to one side of the cell that joined onto Candias own. The older Sheriff almost threw the girl into the cell where she immediately fell onto the straw bed in a quivering mess.
The sheriff left without saying a word. "Candia?" Morgan asked softly. The girl looked up, her green eyes meeting Morgan's own. She gave out another cry and turned away from Morgan.
"I hate you." She said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I hate you more than anything."
"Candia," Morgan said firmly, "What in Hades are you doing in here?"
Candia kept her gaze away from Morgan's probing eyes. "They arrested me. Last night. They've been questionning me in the other room. Why do they want me?" She asked softly.
Morgan reached a hand through the bars of her cell to touch the girl's shoulder. "I don't know. But I'll tell them that you didn't have anything to do with it. I'll get you out of here." Candia turned her face towards Morgan slowly. Morgan bit the insid eof her lip as the trusting gaze met her's. She could feel tiny droplets of blood as she bit even harder when she saw the bruises on the young girl's face. "Who did that to you?" She hissed fiercely. Candia pulled away from Morgan's hand immediately.
"Caesar, and the sherrif….." She replied, "I don't want to die Morgan!" she cried out.
"You won't, I promise."
"They're charging me with inciting murder and outlawry!" Candia cried.
"I won't let you die." Morgan whispered, her eyes level on the girls face.