Meanwhile, back at the ranch...
Nathanial Frost lay across Ward's pool table as the Doctor worked. "Did you get the bullet?" He asked nervously.
"Well this is curious." Ward muttered as he eyed the piece of stone he pulled from the gunman's back. "Yes, curious indeed. Hold for a moment."
He leaves Nathanial gripping the table in pain, and pulls the silver platter and flask of distilled water from his bag. He places the platter on a chess board, measures a small amount of water into it. He pulls his silver charm from his waistcoat and waves it over the water once it stills. He watches images flickering across the water.
The room grow deathly quiet.
"Doc? What's up, Doc?" Nathanial says after a few minutes, more to break the silence than get a reply.
"You utter fool." Ward says in an icily even voice. "You incompetent halfwit. Was there something wrong with your hearing when I told you to leave Evans alone for the time being? Did you perhaps mishear when I said he was not to be harassed unless he made trouble?"
"But...he was...he's hired deputies...they attacked some of the boys..."
"Silence." Ward says, still in ice-cold monotone. "You have just gone an undone months of hard work, planning, and preparations. Perhaps years. You've created for me an enemy who could have been a very useful ally, and now I will have to clean up your mess once again. I should turn you over to him, and let him deal with you."
"You can't do that. The boy's'd revolt." Nathanial says, pulling himself into a defensive position. "And there would be Hell to pay if you did turn me over. I know things. Things you wouldn't want nobody to know."
"Are you saying I would be better off if you were dead?" Ward responds evenly. "Is that what you are trying to convince me of, Nathanial?"
The gunman's eyes widen. "N-no...no that's not what I..."
"Oh, I know what you want me to do. Pat you on the back, tell you what a good boy you are. Tell you you did the right thing. But you haven't. You have put me in an untenable position, and caused me a significant setback, and for that you will make amends." He moves towards the table, holding the silver medallion in the palm of his hand as if to touch it to Nathanial's flesh. The gunman tries to scramble away, but Ward is faster than the wounded man. Ward yanks Nathanial's head back and presses the medallion to his forehead, and then intones an incantation. "In nomine Ophidius, ego te vipuridat: vocate pestilencia ad anime tuum. More in excruio."
Nathanial screams as smoke rises from the medallion. When Ward removes his hand, a sigil glows briefly before fading from sight.
The gunman curls into a ball and whimpers.
"Nathanial Frost, you will be dead within a week unless you find a way to unmake this mess you've created." Ward says, returning his talisman to his coat pocket. "Get out of my sight before I have Abraham drag you out behind the woodshed and give you a whipping as well."
Nathanial pulls himself to his feet and slinks out the back door, fleeing into the night.
A few minutes later, Jack and Charging Bear, followed by the rest of the Dust Adders and Alouette, return to the ranch house.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:54, Sat 04 Sept 2010.