Magnificent Guns of Seneca 6

by Bernard Schaffer

  The words Power of God were painted along the barrel.

  A control panel raised up from the floorboards to Father Charles and he keyed in a sequence that made the entire machine sparkle with energy. Raindrops sizzled on the barrel, creating ripples of purple light. Jem felt the hair on his body stand up and shouted, "What the hell is that thing?"

  "It's an air-to-ground electronic defense system! Meant to shoot ships out of the sky!" He put on a pair of protective goggles and cupped his hands around his mouth, "That's close enough, Keewassee, you gutless son of a bitch! Come one step closer and I'll send you and your whole wretched bunch to hell with one blast!"

  Toquame Keewassee stopped and looked at the weapon and the man sitting at the controls. He raised his head and yelled, "Your one gun is no match for our might, wasichu. Who are you to speak my name?"

  "Just an old man," the preacher said, "looking for his little girl."

  Keewassee nodded and said, "We have no little girls and we have no quarrel with you. Stand aside so that we may proceed."

  "Like hell," Father Charles growled. "There won't be any standing aside and there won't be any proceeding, Keewassee. I'm gonna give you one chance to tell me where Gentleman Jim is. You don't do that, I'm gonna shove a gigajoule of lighting straight up your backsides!"

  "I don't know this man you speak of," Toquame Keewassee said.

  Father Charles touched a button and the side of the cliffs over Keewassee's men burst apart in a sizzling arc of electricity from the cannon. The Beothuk's destriers scattered from the falling debris and the preacher waited for them to stop moving. He moved the cannon down to face them directly and said, "One more time, you son of a bitch, and then it's off to meet your maker."

  Toquame Keewassee turned to look at Comee and said, "Get your men ready to assault. I will hang this wasichu's skin from that weapon like a flag." He looked at Father Charles and said, "You are looking for the masked one?"

  "Yes. Where is he?"

  "I will send him to meet you…in hell!" Keewassee charged forward and raised his rifle to fire. He pulled the trigger and the gun powered up to unleash its round when the digital screen blinked red and whined. He shook the gun but all the screen would display was a silhouette of the old man and an unreadable message.

  Father Charles shook his head, "You dumb bastards." He pressed the fire button and Comee and the entire left flank and their destriers exploded into red mist. Chunks of meat splattered the rock walls. It was too much for the men who remained. They stopped charging and spun around, racing to get away.

  All except Keewassee.

  Keewassee charged with his useless weapon, pulling the trigger over and over in hopes that it would fire. All the weapon would do is beep uselessly and show the image of the old man. He roared in anger and aimed at the cannon. It blinked green as it fixed on the mouth of the barrel, but when he pulled the trigger, nothing. He turned the gun toward the dwellings and suddenly saw the imprint of multiple figures all marked green. He squeezed the trigger and the rifle erupted, sending a barrage of intense gunfire through the walls. Screams erupted from within and Toquame Keewassee cried out in victory.

  Jem pulled his guns and took off straight for him, firing both Defeaters as his destrier galloped through the mud. The two of them were only twenty feet away and closing on one another. Keewassee raised his gun in the air like a club, ready to swing at Jem's head, when Jem twisted aside and fired a bullet into the Beothuk's side.

  The impact sent Keewassee flying off his destrier on the opposite side of Jem. Jem stopped his mount and slid down, shouting for both of the animals to get out of the way. He cocked his Defeater and said, "Where's Gentleman Jim?"

  "Go to hell, wasichu!" Keewassee spat. He groaned as he clutched his side. Black blood spilled through his fingers as he twisted and turned in the dirt.

  "It hurt?" Jem said. "Good, you son of a bitch. Tell me where he's at and I won't shoot you between the legs." He looked up just in time to see another Beothuk riding hard in his direction and leap from the back of the destrier straight at him. Jem's guns flew out of his hands as he sprawled across the ground with the other warrior, turning over one another in the mud as they struggled. The warrior was shouting something at Jem, repeating the same thing, but Jem swung as hard as he could, slamming his fists into the Beothuk's side until he felt ribs crack.

  Haienwa'tha gasped in pain as he collapsed onto Jem, but he would not let go. "You cannot kill him!"

  Jem shoved the boy off of him and screamed, "What the hell are you doing!"

  Haienwa'tha rolled over, clutching his side, "He is our new Chief. I cannot let you kill him."

  He looked up to see Toquame Keewassee limping for his destrier. "He's getting away!" Jem scurried around the ground for his guns and waved his hands frantically at Father Charles, "Shoot! Shoot!"

  The old man did not move except to stare at the smoking red puddle on the ground of the men he'd fired on and killed. He lowered his head and closed his eyes.

  Jem saw one of his guns and dove for it. Just as he turned around to fire, Keewassee was riding away, already too far out of range. Jem smacked his hand against his head and cursed.

  Haienwa'tha struggled to his feet and looked up at the dwellings high above, searching for signs of his brother or Lakhpia-Sha. He saw the bullet holes in the walls of the first structure and heard screams inside. A strange yellow light reflected from the clay borders of the window, flickering like a lamp from within the dwelling itself.

  Black smoke curled out of the roof of the dwelling and rose toward the sky like an offering to the Great Spirit. It smelled like burning hair and meat. Haienwa'tha cried out and raced for the stairs.

  Chapter 19: Aquayanderen

  Fire is silent. Even as it creeps toward living flesh like a predator, gnawing on everything it touches, it moves without sound. What it touches is a different story.

  Toquame Keewassee's bullets struck the archers poised by the windows with arrows notched in their bows and sent the women's bloody bodies to the ground where they twitched until they finally expired. The bullets also struck the jars of oil near the women, shattering them and sending their liquid contents across the floor. Keewassee's torrent of gunfire punched holes in the walls and roof and rained sparks on the group clustered together at the farthest wall. Sparks that fell like stars from the roof all the way down to the floor, straight into the pool of oil.

  Haienwa'tha hollered from the doorway for the women to follow his voice, but they could not hear him over their own screams. He ducked down but saw nothing except black smoke and raised his hands over his face and ran into the flames, feeling them sear his stomach and feet as they touched the fiery oil. Something grabbed him as he ran and he scooped up a young, shrieking child in one arm and reached out to grab the closest person to him. She slapped at his hands in panic and he grabbed a handful of her long hair and yanked her toward the door.

  Jem was coming up the steps just as Haienwa'tha emerged. "There are more!" he gasped, trying to breathe through the snarl of black soot choking his lungs.

  Jem tore off his shirt and beat back the flames from the doorway with it enough to see that there were four more adults holding children huddled at the furthest corner where the oil had not reached them yet, pressing themselves to the wall. Jem lifted Haienwa'tha in one arm and carried him across the pool of oil, feeling the flames melt the soles of his boots. They made it to the others and Jem blinked back the sweat stinging his eyes. There was no air to breathe. The fire consumed everything around them.

  There was nothing to use, nothing inside the dwelling except for the remaining Beothuk and the bodies of those who'd perished. The doorway was now fully engulfed. The only thing not consumed by flames was the window directly ahead of them. In a panic, Jem grabbed the ankles of one of the nearest dead women and pushed her onto the floor in front of the window. He walked across her back and had to reach into the flames to grab another and pull her by the arm. He found two more and bui
lt a narrow bridge of bodies that kept them away from the flames. The sight of her burning flesh was horrific and smell spooled up his nose and took root.

  Father Charles looked up at the window as Jem leaned out, finally able to take in enough air to scream for help.

  The preacher flew out of his seat in terror, about to jump down and run for the steps, but Jem waved him off and said, "You'll never make it in time. We need to come out the window!"

  Father Charles frantically punched keys on his control panel and the cannon's turret began to move. He groaned as it inched turned toward the window and began to lift excruciatingly slow.

  Jem crossed back to the others then pointed at the women and said, "Get out that window and find a way to hold onto the cannon."

  Haienwa'tha translated and the women grabbed their children and forced them forward. "No!" Jem shouted. "You need to be out there to catch the kids so they don't fall!"

  Haienwa'tha forced the women to follow him over the backs of the dead women and ordered them to get out the window. The first one screamed in terror as she lowered herself, reaching for the cannon with her feet. She let go of the window frame and missed her mark, about to tumble down to the hard ground below when Haienwa'tha's hand shot out and snatched her by the arm.

  He passed the women through the window as quick as he could, watching as they sat lined up along the cannon's shaft, sliding down farther and father as they looked up and plead to him to get their children. The rest of the Hopituh Shi-nu-mu women were filing out of the other dwellings, and they'd begun to climb the old man's humongous weapon, filing up the barrel to help the other women get down.

  "Haienwa'tha!" someone shouted.

  He looked down and saw Thathanka-Ska. Their eyes locked for one brief moment before he turned back into the burning building. Jem Clayton was already standing at the first dead woman's feet with four Beothuk children in his arms. "Nobody wiggle, okay? And hold on tight!" Jem said. Haienwa'tha barked at the children and they wrapped themselves around Jem's neck and arms with their hands and feet so tightly his face turned purple.

  He stepped onto the dead woman's back and his boot wobbled from the extra weight, pulling him so close to the flames on his right side that he felt the hair on his arm burning. He righted himself and raced ahead, collapsing against Haienwa'tha's open arms.

  "Get out there and catch these kids," Jem said. "I'll pass them to you two at a time."

  "No," the boy said. "You go."

  "God damn it, boy, this is no time to argue! Get your ass out there now!"

  "This is my fault!" Haienwa'tha screamed. "Now go or we will both stand here and burn together."

  "Stupid stubborn son of a goddamn jump on top of me and make me run into a burning adobe hut pain in my ass is what you are," Jem muttered as he crawled through the window. He grabbed the smallest child with one arm and lowered her toward the cannon. The little girl's entire body was soaked and it was all he could do to hold onto her as her small feet swung perilously over the great expanse.

  The woman grabbed the little girl and kissed her face over and over as she handed the child to the woman perched on the cannon behind her and waved for Jem to keep going. Jem dropped down onto the barrel and squeezed it with his thighs. He reached up and said, "Come on, Squawk!"

  A pair of tiny legs emerged from the window first and Jem reached up to take the boy by his waist. "Don't look down, partner," Jem said. He twisted to hand the boy to the woman behind him and reached back up. The next child came out the same way.

  The smoke billowing out of the window grew darker and more dense. Jem called out for Haienwa'tha to hurry up but there was no response. "Come on! What the hell are you doing in there?"

  The children inside had stopped screaming. Jem raised his hands to his face and cried out, "Squawk!"

  Suddenly, the boy's hands emerged from the black smoke and he climbed through the window with the last child clinging to his back. He groaned with effort as he lowered himself down the window frame, hanging from it by the tips of his fingers. "Climb down!" he shouted at the boy.

  "No!" the child squealed.

  "Just like a tree. It will be okay. You will not fall."

  The boy lowered himself to Haienwa'tha's waist and looked down at Jem with eyes wide enough to see white on all four of their sides. Jem reached up and latched onto the child's torso, even as he shrieked and tried to hang onto Haienwa'tha. The entire cannon shook and the women behind him cried out. Jem passed the boy back and turned to look up, "Come on. I've got you."

  Haienwa'tha's arms were useless. Flames licked at his fingers like hungry dogs, but he could feel nothing. There was no strength left in him to push away from the wall or to get down to the cannon. It was time to let go.

  He closed his eyes. Father, he thought. I failed.

  Haienwa'tha, the eldest remaining son of the great Chief Thasuka-Witko, let go of the burning window and released himself into the wind. He felt El-Halcon's hands swipe against him, trying to grab something, anything, but missing.

  He surrendered to the fall and the inevitable impact, knowing it would launch his spirit out of his broken body and into the sky. He had just closed his eyes when someone snagged him by the arm and started to scream, "Grab me! I'm going to fall too!"

  Lakhpia-Sha had both of his arms wrapped around Thathanka-Ska's waist, holding him over the edge of the cannon. Jem Clayton had his hands around one of Lakhpia-Sha's legs, clutching it to his chest.

  Thathanka-Ska screamed "I've got you! Nobody let go of me! Oh no, oh no! We're going to fall and die!" The boy wailed until he was breathless in fear while he held onto his older brother's wrists, making more noise than all the others combined, more noise than the cannon as it began to lower them all safely toward the ground.

  ***

  Jem stabbed the dirt between his legs with his knife. He took it out and looked at the reflection of the twin moons above on the surface of the blade, then he did it again. He still smelled like fire and felt like the stench of burning bodies was sunk into his clothing with it.

  He did not look up to see who was coming toward him. He did not care until he caught her smiling shyly at him from the corner of his eyes. Ichante's floppy hat was gone and in its place, her dark blonde hair was washed and braided with flowers. She wore a long white dress of soft cotton that revealed her curvy figure in the moonlight. "I look like a girl," Ichante said.

  Jem nodded and laughed, "That you do." He looked her up and down, "Who'd have thought it?"

  "They insisted on washing my road clothes and this was all they had here."

  "So you do take a break from being a badass every once in awhile, huh?" he said.

  "Not often," she said. She sat down beside him and folded her legs, forgetting to pull her dress down over them. "The little one told me how you came to be called El-Halcon. It is something I would not have believed until today."

  "You want to know about that name? I'll tell you. When I was twelve years old a Beothuk raiding party came into my town. One of them tried to get in my house and I shot him dead right on my front porch. Come to find out, that young man I killed was Goyathlay, the oldest son of Thasuka Witko. You think I ever told him that? No I did not. You know why?"

  "No," she said softly. "Why?"

  "Because I was afraid. And I wanted to be his friend after he gave me that special name. But he wouldn't have been my friend if he knew I killed his boy, now would he? I never said, and now he's dead and that's that. I'll never get the chance to, so I guess I'll be a coward forever." He whipped the knife at the ground ahead of him so hard it sunk all the way to the handle and he slumped forward on his elbows.

  Ichante slid closer to him and put her chin on his shoulder. Her lips were close to his ear when she said, "And yet you've given him back his other son's lives how many times now?"

  "Don't change anything," Jem said.

  "Was Thasuka Witko the man they say he was?"

  "Hell yes," Jem grunted. His voice was thick in his
throat, making it tough to talk. "If not even more than that."

  "Then he would have understood," she said. She kissed him on the cheek and put her arms around him and he did not push her away.

  ***

  Thathanka-Ska was pacing nervously outside the sick tent. Hehewuti and Lakhpia-Sha argued over which medicines to give each of the patients, but one by one, each of the injured was tended to. One by one, the children fell silent and began to sleep.

  The girl named Kachina came out of the tent and breathed in the night air. There were dark circles under her wide eyes, a temporary imperfection on her otherwise flawless features. "He is awake and asking for you," she said.

  Thathanka-Ska thanked her and entered the tent. It smelled of strong medicines and pastes made from herbs and roots. Lakhpia-Sha was huddled in a corner mixing great batches of something green and bubbling in one of the cooking pots. He did not look up as Thathanka-Ska crossed behind him to where Haienwa'tha was lying. "How are you?" he said.