Morgan, being familiar with the intimacies of Dodge City, was able to easily lead the group to the church. Only four blocks away, it felt like twenty as they moved through the milling crowd that packed every street. Eventually though, they came to the building they were looking for. Fittingly, the closer they got to the church, the less they had to face in the way of crowds.

The Union Church was a medium sized church building that had the markings of no particular denomination.  Upon entering, one could see that while the insides were well kept and well maintained, it was not obvious to the naked eye exactly what kind of church was there.  However, one paying minimal attention would note a bronze plaque on the wall that read:

          The Union Church was built and founded here in the year 1874 for
          community worship of the Lord and Savior by various Christian
          denominations.  All are free to gather here in His name.

Looking further into the room, the church appears to be rather empty, but for a man in the garb of a catholic priest, kneeling in prayer before the altar.  Hearing the commotion, he stood up to his full height, showing that he was nearly seven feet tall and of a muscular build, despite graying hair. Around his neck hung a large silver crucifix, and in one hand he held a rosary, keeping a copy of the Holy Bible in the other.

"Laudetur Jesus Christus. What brings you to the house of the Lord this day, my friends?" he asks with a smile, his mastery of English clear despite a pronounced Spanish accent.

Korpi's hackles rose a little on finding herself almost eye-to-eye with the tall dark stranger. She turned, pushed off and flew into the rafters, settling with great precision and little grace where she could see the maximum amount of the interior at once.

Her brother lingered a moment at the threshold behind the others, returning the Japanese god to his hood and pulling down the mercifully dark snow goggles to lie over his bandanna, glinting beside the tin star. Keeping quiet, the shaman inclined his head a little to the priest and paced along the back wall, pausing at the right-hand corner to run his hand over it before moving on, his attitude curious and wary.

Daniel pinned the tin star to his duster on the way out of the saloon. He looked around at Dodge City as they passed through the streets during the light of day, curious about the nearby areas they would be patrolling as well as the general vibe of the town.

As they entered the church, Daniel respectfully removed his fedora as he entered the place of worship. He quietly looked around, allowing awe of the presence of the almighty take him as he stood there. He smiled at the priest as he approached. "May th' peace of th' Lord be with ya too, padre. An' may James ever light yer path."

He looked to his associates then back to the priest, "A few of us heard talk o' somethin' bad happenin' in Hays. We'd liketa get ta the bottom of it, make sure it don' happen 'gain no more. Rumor has it that th' only witnesses o' what happened are seekin' sanctuary here."

He studied each of them in turn, spending more time looking at Daniel than the others, giving the young man a nod. "Wyatt Earp has chosen a strange group of deputies, though it would not be the first time he has done so, though he had not taken a keen interest in the matter at Hays as I last spoke to him. Come, sit," he said, gesturing toward the empty pews. The large priest sat on the edge of one of the pews, facing sideways, and turning his head towards them, so they could sit more comfortably facing forward and still talk to him.

"I am Father Iglesias. It is true that the Union Church has given sanctuary and shelter to three of the Lord's children who were delivered from evil unto our hands. We have all been taking care of them and seeing to their needs, both physical and spiritual. There is a woman and her son, and another girl who has been orphaned by this conflict. They are very shaken up already, and I do not wish to stir up those painful memories again without cause. What is it that you plan to do with the information you get from them?"

Clementine followed Gabby, Danial, Morgan, and the man with the fascinating horns and scent into the church. She watched the birdie flutter upward, and began to bark, excited by the motion.

"Hush, Clementine!" Gabby whispered, petting his wayward dog. "We're in church now."

Gabby turned to the priest. "The Hays incident's got people a bit spooked, which don't bode well for the comin' festivities." he says. "This matter has the attention o' the US Marshals, though." He points to Caleb. "So technically, this is his show, not Mr. Earp's."

He follows the priest to the pews. "Well, catch the sons o' bitches what done it, for one." he says in reply to the priest's question. "Ensure that justice gets done, so they can sleep easier."

Clementine, in the meanwhile, starts sniffing around the church, following any interesting smells that catch her attention.

He looked down upon Gabby with an imposing gaze, and frowned slightly, but spoke politely, addressing the four of them. "I ask that you watch your language in the House of the Lord, sir, even when speaking of such wicked men. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. I give thanks that there are such good men sent by the Lord, to do His work, though I fear your errand may be an unwise and perilous one."

He turned to Morgan, and spoke to him for a moment, but again kept his audience well attended with attention. "Perhaps, though, with the resources of a United States Marshal and other willing hands in service of this worthy cause, such a thing can be accomplished. Still, from all I have heard and gathered, you will need a great many. I do not know that it is worth the bother, but I will go to bring little Laura. She seems to be the least affected by the tragedy, though her loss is perhaps the greatest. Please wait here."

The priest stood up and left the church building, returning within a few minutes with a young girl holding his hand as they walked along.

The girl accompanied the priest into the room and plopped herself down on one of the pews. "I'm Laura. Who're you?" she asked simply, not looking at any of them in particular, though she did seem to study each of them openly.

Korpi took advantage of the priest's absence to shuffle along the beam and return a fair imitation of Clemya's barking: "Woof! Waf! Waf! Ka ka..."

Sky Dog had kept to his moccasined pilgrimage around the inside wall of the church, investigating all corners; by the time the priest and child returned both siblings were drinking from Sky Dog's cupped hand at the font. Both looked up, wary as wolves.

Korpi hopped up to Sky Dog's shoulder and half-walked half-climbed onto the shaman's head as he straightened under Laura's gaze and pointed at himself. "Me?"

Laura nodded, and spoke honestly and guilelessly, as children are wont to do. "Yeah, you. And them too I guess. You talk funny. Is that your pet bird? How'd you train it to bark like a dog? That's funny."

Sky Dog came over, taking Korpi on his arm and settling cross-legged beside Laura's pew: Korpi kept up, stepping lightly on and around the bones of his forearm as he gestured as though she were a juggler's ball or a bubble. "I am Sky Dog, I am seeking where the world is wounded, so I come here from the top of the world, where the summer-sun goes at night. The bird is my sister Korpi, who does not speak your language, and they are Dalix, Uncle Gabbiclark, Clementine and Marshal Morgan, who was probably a shaman in a previous life."

Sky Dog let Korpi step up onto the side of the pew, his tin animals whispering and glinting against each other with the movement. "-They wish to ask you about the killing, if you saw the men or horses. Do not be afraid of Korpi, she is very gentle,"

"Korpi," Korpi introduced herself, dipping her head low then studying the girl, still wary of the priest and his big hands.

"-perhaps if you are still, she will preen your hair and make you more beautiful, yes?"

Daniel nodded when the priest suggested that he didn't want to rile the survivors any more than they already were. He stood quietly by as the others provided details and some gentle probing. When Laura sat down and introduced herself, Daniel slowly dropped to a knee nearby, though not so close as to frighten.

"It's nice to meet you, Laura. I'm Daniel." He smiled, and turned to the others to see if they'd like to introduce themselves as well.

Gabby watched Danial and Sky Dog talk to the girl. Three talking to the girl would be too many, and he was a bit embarrassed for forgetting himself in church, so he hung back and let Sky Dog introduce him, though he couldn't resist one small correction. "Most folk just call me Gabby. Or uncle. Uncle Gabby's fine, too."

Clementine was only encouraged by Kopi's mimicry of her bark, and barked some more. She hustled up to the little girl and began to sniff her, excited by the little girl smell.

Morgan had remained quiet, listening carefully to Father Iglesias. He thanked the father politely when he went to retrieve little Laura Palmer. The father's words lingered with him. "I fear your errand may be an unwise and perilous one." Even if he was vastly outnumbered and set upon a fool's errand, Morgan knew he had to try to bring the men that had done this to justice. For him, there was no choice.

The girl's appearance sent a pang through Morgan. So young. Younger than either he or his brother when Quantrill descended on Lawrence. It pained him to have to ask questions of the girl. To force her to recall the terror she had experienced. Still, he reminded himself that what she could tell him might help halt further massacres.

Dropping down to one knee, Morgan tipped his hat to Laura. "Laura, my name is Caleb Morgan. I'm a United States Marshal. My job is to find bad men, men that have broken the law, and put a stop to them."

He paused, trying to frame his words gently. "Laura, my friends and I, we're trying to find and stop the men that attacked your home. We want to make sure they can't do what they've done to anyone else. I know this will be hard. Harder than I can imagine. But I need to ask you to tell us what you remember about what happened in Hays. What you remember about those bad men. It may help us catch them and stop them."

Her eyes widened at Sky Dog's tale, or maybe just the beginning of them. Laura was captivated by the strangeness and wonder of a man from the top of the world where the sun went at night, and her eyes sparkled with a thousand questions unasked. To her, it didn't seem strange at all that the bird should be his sister, and she stood very still at his instruction, though it was a fleeting sort of stillness.

"I like the name Sky Dog. I wish I had a name like that. Mine is boring. Nice to meet you too, and you too Daniel and Gabby." Her stillness melted away as Clementine neared her, and she laughed merrily, kneeling down to pet the dog with both her hands playing with it for a moment.

As Caleb knelt down near her, she looked up at him, and nodded, her expression growing gradually more and more solemn as he spoke. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Morgan. I guess I can try and tell you what I remember..." She stood up again and sat in the pew, leaning back, more solemn but still somehow buoyant.

"Well, we were playing hide and seek near the edge of town, over by the trees and the mill and the around some of the houses. It was just some of the kids, but sometimes one of our moms comes to make sure we don't get lost in the forest or something. Well, Mrs. Johnson came to watch this time. Well, I was the one seeking and I had found all the kids, except Xavier who was still hiding. He hid himself real good. He's the best hider. Anyway, he's Mrs. Johnson's son. So it got dark and we were still looking for him everywhere. Behind the houses, inside empty barrels, inside a trough. I even looked in the well, though I knew he wouldn't be there, but I had to check. That's when stuff started to happen." She gave a little shudder. All the joy and the delight was gone from her face and voice as she trailed off, looking down at her hands.

Morgan listened attentively as Laura spoke. He was thankful that Gabby had brought Clementine as it seemed that the dog provided real comfort to the little girl. He couldn't help but appreciate how open Laura was with others, how readily she accepted the notion that Korpi was Sky Dog's sister. Even with what she had been through, it didn't appear that Laura had come to regard the world with fear. She was still open, still able to smile and laugh.

Focusing on what she had told the group, Morgan nodded. "So you were looking for Xander and even though you didn't think he would be there, you checked the well." He grinned. "That's the kind of thinking that makes a good lawman, Laura. Checking everything."

"What happened when you looked in the well?"

Since the girl was sitting still, Korpi edged up along the back of the pew and started preening her hair. The heavy, rat-killing wedge of the raven's beak caught the red locks with the deft delicacy of a weaver's hands, straightening, tucking and smoothing whilst her brother half-dozed against the pew-end.

Soft croaks indicated when the bird was more or less pleased with a patch, much like the hum and ha of some aunt or grandmother going over a child for lice in a birchbark tent. Korpi worked and amused herself, more gentle than a hairbrush if less efficient, and paid not the least bit of noticeable attention to the human chatter as she did so.

She seemed to gather comfort and courage from her conversation with them, as if by talking she could keep stronger emotions at bay, so she looked up at the Marshal and the others and went on. "Well, nothing happened when I looked into the well. It just had water in it. It was after that when things started to happen. I don't like to remember it, but I do - clear as well water. First, there were some gunshots and then a man rode into town on a horse. He was pretty ugly and well, you know it was dark. He was the only one on a horse, but he had a bunch more with him. I'm not really good with numbers and it was dark, but it was more than ten people."

"He was talking really loud, and he said he was going to kill all the Yankees and the traitors, and he said a lot of really bad words too. That's when Xavier came out of hiding and Mrs. Johnson told us to run into the forest and hide, and that we'd meet by the big stone. She said she was going to go back for the other kids, but I don't think she could get very far. That's when all the man on the horse's friends started shooting and killing people. The all had a sword and a gun, maybe more. I saw them shoot Billy and Sara - they were in my class at the schoolhouse."

Laura's eyes welled up with tears, and her throat caught a little, but she managed to hold them back. She looked down at Clementine, and began to pet the dog again while she continued to talk. The slow, stroking petting motions she made seemed to give her strength. "We went back the next day, Mrs. Johnson and Xavier and me, and we looked around the town but there was nobody left. Mrs. Johnson made me wait, but she checked on my parents and said they were dead. I already cried a lot about it, so I said I'm not going to cry anymore. Prolly another time, but not today. Can I be a Marshal like you? I want to find bad men too, and stop them."

Clementine curled up next to the little girl. She could sense the little girl was sad, and that made her sad and want to make her happy, so she put her head in the little girl's lap as the girl talked about the men and pet her.

"You sure can become a Marshal." Gabby says, wiping his eyes a little. "It takes guts and bravery, and I reckon you got all that in spades." he was quiet a moment. "What do you remember about the riders? Anythin' that sticks in your memory, that might have seemed a little strange or noteworthy? The more we know about them folks, the easier it will be to find 'em and stop 'em."

She seemed to brighten at the prospect that she might become a Marshal too, though amid the gloom it was kind of a forced cheer. If there was one thing that seemed to work for the girl, though, it was Clementine. "Let me try to think about it," she said, and continued to pet the dog. It took her some time, and she really only looked at the dog for the ime. She didn't want to turn her head too much, because she could feel the bird playing with her hair and she liked it. Even when she spoke, she kept her eyes on Clementine.

"Well, I didn't get too close, but I remember something Mrs. Johnson said. She said that they were dirty men, that they smelled real bad, like they hadn't showered in weeks. I don't think that'll help. And that the man on a horse had a name, but I can't remember what it was. I'm sorry that I can't remember. It sounded like Quarter, I think, but I don't know if that's a real name or not."

Morgan did his utmost not to show any trace of emotion when Laura answered Gabby's question. Smiling with genuine warmth, he said, "Laura, you are one of the bravest girls I've ever met. You'd most certainly be a great Marshal. When you've grown up, if I'm not too old and gray, I'd be proud to ride with you."

Clearing his throat, Morgan asked, "The name you heard, Laura. Could it have been Quantrill?"

Gaby snapped his head toward Caleb. Quantrill!? That couldn't be right...Quantrill was dead. Had been for over a decade. Right?

But that might not mean he wasn't around. Those deadders at the train proved that much. Or maybe Quantrill had faked his death, and now had the urge to start killing again. Might make all the butchery make more sense...he didn't want to leave witnesses to his attacks that could recognize him.

He waited for Laura's reply.

"That was it!" she said, excitedly, looking up from Clementine for the first time in a while. "That was what Mrs. Johnson said that he said, and I think it scared her silly. I haven't heard that name before, so it was hard to remember. Have you heard about him? He must be a wanted criminal."

"He is." Gabby said quietly. "That goddamn bastard's a stain on the soul o' the south, and oughta be burnin' in Hell next to Judas Iscariot and John Brown."

Gabby quit speaking, suddenly mindful of where he was, but it was too late to take the words back, and he did mean them with every fiber of his being. Gabby was a Southern boy, sure. But he'd lived in California the greater portion of his life, and when news of the sickening things Quantrill and his raiders had done filtered over to him, he'd been rightfully appalled. Sure, he knew that many Southerners held him in high regard, him and those murderous thugs in the James Gang, but in his soul he knew them for what they were...animals in human skin.

Daniel remained still while Gabby and Caleb asked their questions. He nodded at his uncle's proclamation, though winced a little at the language used in the presence of the young girl. He smiled at the girl, and hoped to move her to something that was less traumatic than all the deaths. "What about the weather, Laura? Did you notice anything peculiar about it before or after you looked for Xavier in the well?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:44, Thu 07 Feb 2013.

The shaman's brow had furrowed despite apparently drowsing where he sat, silently listening. The names meant nothing to him, but the description made no sense. Why start a horse-raid by alerting the town? Sky Dog opened one eye properly, then the other, wondering at Daniel's question.

"Korr..." Korpi remarked, and adjusted her ministrations for the movement. One side of Laura's head had become well-preened and aerodynamic during the interview, bringing out the rosy shine of her hair.

"The just vengeance of the Lord awaits this man, and eternity in the lake of fire," was all the priest said in response to Gabby, this time choosing not to comment on the miner's language, though he did give him a look.

"The weather? I don't know about the weather really. Just like today, or maybe yesterday? It was just like any other normal day. The weather was good, that's why we were all playing outside. No rain or anything," she said.

Daniel nodded at her response and the padre's. "And nothing odd about the temperature just before, during, or after those men rode into town?"

"Nope. I don't remember anything about the weather being funny. What does the weather have to do with it? Does he only attack people during good weather or something?" she asked.

"The wound in the world...in the other places, with the spirits, it feels like when the wind comes off snow that has become hard on the ground and a sound too high to hear. It aches in the skull...you have felt this here, in the middle world, Dalix?" The shaman sat up, fully alert now and concerned.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:23, Thu 07 Feb 2013.

Daniel shook his head slightly at Sky Dog's question. "Nope, nothin' like 'at. Jus' summa the folk what mentioned things happened at Hays said somethin' 'bout reports of it becomin' quite cold jus' 'fore th' men rode inta town." He shrugged as if he felt it didn't matter, but the conflicting report between Laura and the rumors from the bluebellies struck him as peculiar.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:33, Fri 08 Feb 2013.

"Well, you cannot trust rumors entirely. These people spoke to some others when they first straggled into town. One person tells someone one thing, and they repeat it to another, and again until you finally hear a very different story from someone else," he said.

"Or it was somethin' only a couple people could have noticed." Gabby murmurs. "Could we maybe talk to Mrs. Johnson? It sounds like she might have gotten closer to the Night Riders, close enough to see a few more details anyhow. The cold rumor had to get started somehow."

He looked at Laura again. "You said it was dark...them riders didn't have no torches with 'em? Just swords and guns?"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:18, Fri 08 Feb 2013.

"I have asked Mrs. Johnson to join us when she is ready, and I expect she will be doing so in a few minutes. Neither her, nor her son Xavier have held up with quite the composure of young Laura here. I had hoped she would have been here by now. I believe she just wanted to compose herself," said the priest.

Sky Dog pinched the bridge of his nose, almost back to his normal colour. "Sorry, Laura...but I am afraid now that perhaps this Quanterill is an avakhi - a demon, in this, the middle world, which must be fought differently to the mortal men. Please, the one horse, could you make description of him?"

Morgan had fallen momentarily silent. From all that he knew, Quantrill was dead, killed along with several of his men by a Union patrol. He couldn't help thinking about the horrors he and the others had confronted on the train and in the mine. Those had all been dead men, somehow returned to life by some terrible, arcane process. If those dead could walk, who could say that Quantrill and his partisans couldn't as well. The talk that Laura had overheard certainly sounded like the border ruffians Morgan remembered so well.

When Sky Dog spoke up, Morgan listened intently. Quantrill, now a demon of some kind?

If so, he needed to be sent back to hell, where he belonged.

Morgan looked at Laura, a smile of encouragement on his face. "Yes, Laura. Anything you remember about the leader of these men, or any of the riders for that matter, could help us catch them."

A woman walked into the church, her face bearing the evidence of recently shed tears. "Why don't we let Laura go play with Xavier for a while, and I'll answer any questions you gentlemen have.  I got a better look anyhow. Is that alright Laura?"

"Sure, Mrs. Johnson," she said. "I'm gonna grow up and be a Marshal," she announced to the men before scrambling out.

Before Laura skedaddled, Morgan said, "Thank you for your help, Laura. If you ever need my help with anything, you let me know. If I'm not here in Dodge, Deputy Marshal Earp should be able to find me."

Turning his attention to the widow, he tipped his hat to her. "Mrs. Johnson, my name is Caleb Morgan. I'm a United States Marshal. I appreciate you being willing to talk to us about what happened."

He paused, considering his words carefully before adding, "I lived in Lawrence when the attack happened there, during the War. I lost some of my family to it. I know how difficult it must be to remember what you've been through, ma'am. But I assure you, it will help us find the people responsible."

"I don't doubt that she will. She's the smartest child in the school by a mile. Probably a good four years ahead of where she should be. Anyhow, I thought I heard someone ask about the horse. It was a large, chestnut in color, and very skittish."

After the Marshal's statement, she nodded gratefully. "I'm glad that someone is looking into it. Something should be done about it. I heard about what happened in Lawrence all that time ago. I can't believe it's happening again. I had heard that Quantrill had been caught, but I suppose not."

"Do we know for certain the man on the horse was Quantrill?" Gabby asked. "Was he recognized by anyone? Or is it someone usin' the name? This might be a very important distinction."

Sky Dog kept out of Laura and Clementine's way and brought Korpi down to his shoulder on his wrist when she rapped the pew for attention. "Yes," he said, and showed his teeth.

"I have hunted as many white men when they did this thing to the band of my mother's sister, and we were less then." The remark seemed half directed at Morgan, partially a reassurance and almost a promise.

"Skittish...?" the shaman tilted his head as though to see around the word, the raven edging up close on his shoulder. "Skipping? Like the horse runs, and he is picking up his feet strangely, or he skips where he stands, like he smells the wolves?" Korpi murmured something and dropped three scarce-visible strands into her brother's hand.

"Well, I'd never seen Quantrill myself," she admitted. "Or at least, if I had seen him, I wouldn't have known it. I suppose this could be anyone at all, really. If anybody did recognize him for sure, they're dead. It was..."

She sighed, and wiped a tear from her eye. "It was a complete slaughter. We've got some good shooters in town too. My husband wins the rifle competition every year at summer, but they swept in just around dark and nobody was ready for it. We didn't have a chance. They came in, and shot or hacked down anyone that was on the street. They ransacked homes, and killed those inside too. They didn't loot the spoils, or take anything from the empty homes and stores. They were just there for the killing. It was like they delighted in death."

Turning to Sky Dog, she said, "I suppose like the horse smelled wolves. It wasn't happy to be there, I think. I don't know much about horses, but I know as much as anyone that grows up in a farming state does. It was real fussy."

Sky Dog moved a hand towards the pew beside him in quiet invitation to sit, gaze lowered to show he wasn't presently the dangerous kind of wild man.

"Can you say how many they were, Jonsun? They are moving very fast for men on their own feets, yes, if the more-than-ten with the rider, they are going around six, seven of your big houses and trapping all the people." Such grim seriousness somehow made the shaman look very young, as though by contrast. Korpi leant and preened his eyelashes, since that was the mood she was in. Long used to such, Sky Dog simply held still with no other reaction, his attention on the woman.

She stared perplexed at the bird's behavior, and she looked to the others to gauge their reactions. As no one seemed to take it amiss, she said, "I was never very good with estimating the size of a crowd. It was dark, and there was a lot of movement, and I was trying my best to stay out of sight. I think at least twenty were with him. I don't know if anyone else managed to get away like we did, though I figure they would have turned up by now. If I hadn't been out with the children, I would probably be counted among the dead as well. I don't suppose they were any faster than most folks. Hays is a small town, you see. Nothing like Dodge."

Gabby shudders at the description of the slaughter. But the question hadn't quite been answered.

"So who called him Quantrill? Did he shout it himself, did his men do it, or did one o' the Hays folk say it?"

He nodded at the mention of the skittish horse. That brought another question to mind. "It was dark. They didn't have torches or nothin'?"

"Oh, he said it himself - his men didn't talk, just killed. He said his name was Bill Quantrill, and he knew that our town was full of Yankees and traitors, and that he was going to give us our just punishment. The sentiment in Hays does...did...run the Union's way, though, so he was right about that. I hear it's happened in a couple of other towns the same way," she said, sitting down on the indicated pew with a heavy sigh.

"You know, I didn't even think about that. I was too shocked by the whole thing. I don't remember. Some of ours had torches, and were trying to fight them out in the street. They never seemed to hurt them, though. It was like no matter what we did, it just didn't help. I watched one of them take the torch the Mayor dropped after they shot him and burn down the Rawls' family home."

Daniel smiled slightly at the newcomer as she entered, and waved goodbye to Laura as she left with the other child. Xavier was somewhat of a peculiar name, but there was something about it that made him instantly like the lad.

He stood when the children took off, though didn't really feel the need to add anything to the questions asked by the Marshal and his Uncle. He quietly listened and observed.

Korpi hopped up to Sky Dog's head to get at the other eye, working through his eyebrows whilst she was at it. The shaman himself had paled somewhat, becoming the grey-shadowed colour of white glass. He looked over at the light-haloed, slightly blurred form of the giant priest. "I am sorry to ask straightly, Church-Father, but have the burying people gone out already - do you know when they did so?"

The priest looked at Sky Dog, and seemed to look at Daniel, Gabby and Caleb as if asking for help, but returned his gaze to the Siberian.

"I am afraid I do not understand what you have just asked me. What is it you wish to know?"

Gabby nods. "No light to stat with. But they could fight just fine without it, and couldn't be put down easy. That sounds damn familiar." He looks over at Caleb. "What do you think, Marshal? Reckon Radcliffe might have sold off some o' his work to someone afore we took him down?"

Gabby didn't have an answer for the priest's look, but he got the impression Sky Dog was coming to something of the same conclusions he was.

he looked at Mrs. Johnson again. "I got just a couple more questions. Laura mentioned you'd said the men smelled bad and were dirty. Just the sort of unwashed body smell o' men long on the trail, or somethin' else? Also, did ya'll happen to notice some sort o' chill?"

Sky Dog frowned. "The village is of Christians, yes? Christians, they dig a hole and melt the ice until they are a man's length, down in the ground, and they throw the dead Christian in and read a book at him and he is buried."

The shaman looked about to be sure that 'buried' was the right word for this peculiar behaviour, his sister dropping from his shoulder to his knee with a little bounce.
"I think that is how it is called. I believe from this talking that Jonsun did not bury all her village - she is being brave and thinking well for the living, and comes here. I ask if other Christians go to do burying. If they go, when do they go?" Sky Dog's voice had not risen, but it was urgent.

Morgan nodded solemnly at Gabby's suggestion. "It's certainly possible. We may need to pay Vinton another visit and ask him about his business dealings."

Turning to the widow, he said, "Mrs. Johnson, everything you have told us has been very helpful. I know that it was dark and you and the other townspeople were afraid, but do you remember any details about the riders themselves? Is there anything  you remember about them that was unusual or strange? Anything in their appearance that set them apart from other men?"

"I don't know what kind of smell it was, honestly, but it was quite terrible. They weren't men, they were more like dirty, filthy animals. Pigs. I had a really bad cold, and I had for a week before that. The kind of cold that doesn't go away for a long time. Anyway these men smelled pretty bad - so bad that I could smell it through my cold," she said to Gabby.

"The only chill I felt was the chill in my bones. It was a hot summer night, Mister -" She stopped, as she realized that she didn't know his name.

"That is Gabby. This is Daniel, and that is Sky Dog," the priest said, making introductions for those three, as Morgan had already given his.

"Sky Dog, we sent men out to see to the burials. I went myself to ensure that everything was done properly - so that there will be no problems." He shared a glance with Daniel, but did not elaborate about the nature of the problems he feared.

"Marshal, I think I've told you everything I know. There was only one rider, just to make sure you've got that. Other than that....there's only one more thing I can recall - the men wore pretty tattered clothing. Like it was in bad shape, hadn't been washed in a while. Normal clothes for the most part. Two of them had on uniforms, though they were just as tattered and dirty as what the rest of them had," she said.

Sky Dog looked up at the priest, the colour still gone from him. "...and you set protection on their...road, returning here? None looked back? It is good that you know how to stop the hostages, yes, but an avakhi...if there is one walking like a man, it is not the same."

The grim look returned. "But if it walks like a man, he will be caught in the middle world," Sky Dog looked over at Morgan and craned to see Daniel as best he might, white fingers absently preening his sister's nape. "So he can be hunted like a man. We will take up the cold steel...lead or birchwood, they will not work." The grin returned, sudden, feral. "It will be well."

She paused awkwardly after not being able to make head or tail of what Sky Dog said, and then directed her gaze at the others. "If that's all, gentlemen, I think I'd rather get back to being with my son. He's taken this even harder than I have."

Morgan nodded, his mind already working to process all that Mrs. Johnson had told them. "Thank you, ma'am. We're all obliged to you for being willing to talk about what happened. If I can be of service to you in any way, please let me know. If I'm not about, Deputy Marshal Earp will likely know how to find me."

Daniel listened carefully to what Kristen had to say. The lack of cold again was peculiar, but perhaps those rumors were incorrectly remembered - probably caused by fear. When the priest talked of proper burials, Daniel caught his eye and gave him a subtle nod before returning his attention to the mother who had escaped.

"Yes, thankee ma'am. Ye've been mos' he'pful. We don' wanna keep ya from yer son no longer."

"Don't worry, ma'am. We'll find these no good sons of...er, so-and-sos, and give 'em what for." Gabby says. He, too, was puzzled by the lack of cold, but that might just have been a tall tale that got swept up into this. Still, an idea of what happened had begun to form in his mind. He'd run it by the others when the lady had left.

With a sad expression and a gracious nod, Mrs. Johnson left the room.

"What they have said today is consistent with what they have said before when asked about the unfortunate incident," said the priest.

Sky Dog had gone strangely stone-like at the lack of answer, his wariness of the foreign priest becoming something else, something colder.

"Yes. They are bait," he said, getting up and waiting a moment with his face towards the light, as though to give the widow some steps' start before heading that way. Korpi used the movement to leap and land skittering on the back of the pew.

"Bait?" he asked, looking confused as the strange man walked away.

"Do any of you know what he's talking about? I don't know what an avakhi is, if that's what he said - nor am I familiar with this middle world business. I think it is some kind of native superstition."

Daniel looked curious himself, but felt it helpful to add what he thought he heard from Sky Dog. "A demon, I think. Somethin' 'long those lines. Don' matter whether New World Demon er Old World Demon er Middle World Demon. Gotta be taken care of whatever World. Right Padre?"

"If there are demons among us, then from whatever world their origin, we must exorcise them from our presence," he said, agreeing with the young barber.

"Avakhi," Korpi agreed, whetting her beak against the pew.

"Yes bait," Sky Dog said. The shaman's movements were sharpened by an anxiety that reached neither his face nor his voice save for the rapidity of his speech. "The demon he does not ride calling 'I am Quanterill, I am Quanterill!' to tell himself or the hostages he is driving before him, a woman who cannot tell she sees a hostage when there, he has the husband's best bullets in...she does not survive by luck. These people, they had no chance. No chance. They knew nothing." Sky Dog shook his head at such waste of life as though something were biting at his face, pained. "No, I see this with the plague demons-"

"Üthpa," Korpi clarified.

"-They come on the sledge with the white traders, very fast and invisible to men...but if a shaman sees one, and fights them, it can take three, five days...and if the demon wins, it kills everyone but three people, so that they lead it to the next band." Sky Dog paused, swallowed, and stepped backwards towards the door, ready to answer anything asked of him but clearly keen on heading off somewhere.

"So you're sayin' them three were let go?" Gabby says, trying to follow Sky Dog's reasoning. "That they was spared, so that they could tell their story as to bait in those who wanted to hunt Quantrill down? That makes sense. Quantrill's supposed to be dead, shot down nigh on to eleven years ago in a Union ambush. So unless Quantrill faked his death or got raised from the dead, whoever it is runnin' around claimin' to be him probably ain't. But it sounds like whoever it is also managed to get his hands on some pretty nasty mad science. The prisoner we brought in, he done found a way to make dead bodies rise again and attack the livin'. I wouldn't be surprised if he sold that bit o' technology to some low-down bandit."

Sky Dog stared a moment, then suddenly barked out laughter. "Ha! That does explain how the avakhi is walking like a man...the sorcerer that was killed, ha! He is almost like a hostage himself, even if his bird-soul is still in his chest!" Without further explanation Sky Dog stalked back towards Gabby a few paces, distracted.

"...I do not know if the avakhi wishes only to kill the shamans and brave people, or simply to have more...here-being. Fearing him, yes? Speaking his name, giving him thoughts, tearing a space in the world for himself where himself should not be so that he can hold on, become powerful."

The shaman stopped. "The man Radcliffe can make hostages?" he asked, incredulous. "I do not know how he thinks any thought, with his brain full of worms...but he is not needing to sell this thing: so close to the wound in the world I am finding many...bad places. If the ground it goes bad, that can also bring up hostages, Wyitterp knows this. Ha! It is all this burying in the ground, all together...it would be a good thing if they were more often blessed, these burying-places."

Somewhere along the way, Sky Dog lost Daniel, so he turned his face toward some of the depictions of Christ. Not as many at a unified Church as there would be in a proper Catholic place of worship, but enough for him to offer a quick, silent prayer to the Lord for the continued health of the small band with which he traveled, and assistance for the few survivors of Hays. Though he was quiet, his lips moved slightly as he offered prayer.

When he was finished he quietly addressed the others, "I don' think it's no trap. Folk've already been there an' buried the remains o'th'dead. An' if 'twere a trap, it's one I'ma spring an' see what waits. Quantrill risin' or imposter, don' matter. They gotta be put down."

He looked around, "Now, I think we took 'nuff o'th'padre's time, we should git along. Thanks fer yer help, Padre Iglesias."

Morgan nodded in agreement with Daniel. "Back from the grave or not, whoever it is has to be stopped. If they're trying to lay a trap, that just means we need to be more clever than they are.

He tipped his hat to the father. "Thank you for your help, Father."

Morgan glanced up at the cross at the head of church and breathed a silent prayer for wisdom before turning to leave.

Gabby looked a bit puzzled at Sky Dog's ramble. "Hostages? Wat do ya'll mean by that?"

Korpi launched herself up to recaim her reserved seat on the Marshal Morgan express, her krrok krok krok echoing from the corners as though there were no church at all, but forest.

"I think it is brave people, who would go to a trap laid by an avakhi," Sky Dog said, backing up. "...and I think it is a happy avakhi, whose enemies are leaving the biggest settlement for him without a warning or defense."

He turned and strode into the sunlight, flinching a little at the glare. Even with his eyes narrowed to slits he could see very little in the range that was clear to him, but called out in case she was playing nearby. "Laura!"

Catching Uncle's question, Sky Dog paused. "One taken, held but not truly dead, so that the captor can draw use from the kin...perhaps it is not the word." The shaman threw a question back to his sister in Evenki.

The raven looked down at Gabby and gave him the Russian: "Vampir."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:41, Thu 14 Feb 2013.

Daniel shook his head, slightly, at Sky Dog's insinuation. "This town don't fit the profile. Not pro-union 'nuff. And likely too big ta be hit. No, I'ma thinkin' th'nex target's elsewhere. Jus' not sure where that do be yet."

At Sky Dog's call to her, the little girl ran up to where he was and waved to the priest, who she could see was walking further into the church to tidy up the area.

"What is it Mister Sky Dog, from the top of the world?"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:43, Thu 14 Feb 2013.

Sky Dog held up his hand to Daniel for a moment's space.

"A small thing, Laura," the shaman crouched, yanking one of his creatures free as he did so. He held the sinuous, stylised shape out to the girl, deadly serious.

"This is Chi-shishika, she is a sable, yes?" Given a child's natural understanding of things that could be at once inanimate objects and living creatures with intense inner lives in realms invisible to the everyday - most children had some form of doll, after all - Sky Dog felt no need to explain as he would to an adult.

"If you will look after her a while, I will give you a pretty bead. Do not worry if you lose her! She will find her way back to me...but let her sleep by your door when you are also sleeping, or by your hearth, she will be happy there. Is it a trade?"

Laura looked truly excited, and took it from him, the small piece of metal. "Chee-sheeka?" she asked, struggling to pronounce it. She listened to his strange request and after a moment, nodded, as if it all made sense. "I'll take care of her for you. Won't you miss her? What's a sable?"

Sky Dog grinned and fished out a dark wooden bead about the size of the first joint of Laura's thumb from a pouch hung near his knife, inlay of some dark-whorled blue shell irridescing in the sun. "Done."

"Probably," he agreed, "-but I need to do some things without her, and you see I have other spirit helpers." He nudged the tin animals sewn lightly to his shirt and set a deer glinting against some kind of butterfly. "A sable is like...hmm, polecat. But dark and soft, very soft, yes...and not bad-smelling. You will probably dream her right shape, then you will know what a sable is."

Sky Dog smiled, then let it slip back to a grin, leaving whatever melacholy had brushed him behind. "Thank you."

"Thank you," she said excitedly, and ran off with her bead and tin animal to show Mrs. Johnson and Xavier.
This message was last updated by the player at 17:06, Fri 15 Feb 2013.

Sky Dog stayed crouched a moment, taking the jade god from his hood and pulling the thin hide up to protect his head and face from the sun. "...I will ask my blood-cousin his thoughts," he said, at last looking over at Daniel.

"-maybe while you shave my steed, I will go to the Upper World and ask him. For 'too large'...if many, many caribou, they are in a pen, all a crowd together," Sky Dog gestured at the streets further out from the church and the brown-grey-pale flashes of milling humans, standing up. "If there is no sentry, and no dog, how many wolves does it take to make a slaughter?"

The shaman's hand described a jerky, uncertain circle in the air, letting Daniel picture the circling, terrified animals: the panicked trampling of hooves, antlers goring others' shoulders, flanks, deer ripped into shreds of bone of hair attempting to leave the ring of death. His tone remained careful, persuasive.

"The hostages alone, they are only a threat to those who cannot tell what they are. With an avakhi near, they are fast, their flesh is strong and they work...together. Like the wolves. It would be unwise, I think, to say already we know what they will not do." Sky Dog paused for the others' opinion, his gaze raised to Daniel's.

Daniel chuckled at Sky Dog's response. "I don' think these here folk in Dodge be prey, Sky Dog. Purty sure we ain't the toughest folk in this town, neither. Any wolves descend here, and they be findin' some bears in their trap. And it don't matter much fer the nex' few days, as we done signed on to keep Dodge safe from herself. Huntin' down what done that ta the folks o' Hays gotta wait a few days."

Daniel's certainty got a strange grin in response.

"Igor was called Snow-That-Stays-In-Shadows-At-The-First-Spring-Thaw until he killed a Russian," the shaman said, with the casual pride of a Sioux pointing out that one of the pretty tassels on his shirt was blond, then laughed. "Ha! They will not come in the day...I give it two, three days the demon wants the...rumour to stir here, then he comes - Ha! ha! Perhaps he comes for the festival, in his most pretty clothes, yes? The festival with much yelling and shooting. No-one would notice!" Sky Dog's smirk bordered laughter, then vanished.

"Morgan, perhaps it would be good for Wyitterp to warn other settlements - the demon may want more terror or more hostages, and it is best to hunt things from the Lower World in daylight, when they are weak. Uncle, is it the right word, hostages?" Sky Dog rubbed sweat from the back of his neck, suffering in the noon heat. He caught Daniel's eye and nodded over towards the stables, expression pleading.

"If'n he did come here at the height o' the festival, then we'd been in some trouble." Gabby mutters. "Tensions is already runnin' high, from what Earp said. A reborn Quantrill would stir the pot like nobody's business. Hell, I'd reckon there might be more than a few Southerners what might join with him, out o' some misguided notions o' strikin' back against the Yankees, and then we'd all have a real mess on our hands."

He shakes his head. "No, hostages ain't right. Them carcasses are dead as doornails, got some kind o' galvanic force movin' 'em about--they ain't hostages, they're more like puppets. I've seen 'em referred to as zombies or the walkin' dead in the Epitaph."

"Vampir. Dirrrri'gis!" Korpi bobbed her head up and down a few times, possibly for emphasis. "Korp."

Her brother considered Gabby's words. "Ah..."galvanic"? Dead, yes, but not dead also...ha! Un-alive. Or un-dead: they are like little holes. The bad spirits hold the...onnir, life-spirit, in the body when the bird-soul is gone, and hold it and hold it away from the rest - from the Great Spirit, yes? - until it goes bad and grows, like blackness in the meat, and moves the bones."

"They are memory, spirit-knowing, no thought - they will go to places they were before, seek life and try to devour it because there is always the lacking inside, where was a soul...a powerful avakhi can herd them, maybe, but he cannot give them a now, a life, to think. Zombie. Hm." Sky Dog thought a moment.

"But the Church-Czar in Rome, he has not fixed the thinking yet? You know a zombie is un-dead because you see them at Epitath, but the people from Hays, they are all killed for not knowing to throw seeds or use fire."

Morgan nodded at the shaman's suggestion. "I think it would be wise to let Earp know what we've learned here. It's impossible to know where these men might try to strike next, but a brazen strike on Dodge isn't out of the realm of possibility. Like Gabby said, there are likely a few here who might still feel sympathy for Quantrill and his cause. If he, or someone claiming to be him, appeared trying to stir up such feelings, we'd have chaos and a whole lot of bloodshed."

"I think I'm going to head to the telegraph office. I'd like to alert the U.S. Marshal's office about what we've learned. Make certain that they are on alert for these ruffians." Looking to the rest of the group, he asks, "I can meet up with the rest of you after that. Perhaps we should take a look at the area we're patrolling. Make sure we know it well before the festival starts."

"Galvanic. It's, uh...umm...it's like..." Gabby had read the term, but didn't actually know much about what it really meant. He'd only gotten the gist of it from the context. "It's a motive...kind of force. Like...um...lightning and such. Some o' them New Science boys have done stuff with it. Supposed to make machines go and such."

"What is it that we actually know, though?" Gabby said to Caleb, rubbing his jaw. "I hate to play devil's advocate on my own theory, but all we know is that the raiders with the guy callin' himself Quantrill didn't go down when shot. Mrs. Johnson said that they seemed to take delight in their killin'...that don't square with the kind o' mindless deadders we saw. Maybe they was just regular banditos. Or maybe Sky Dog's right and something crawled up into 'em and made 'em go bad. I think we need more information on this if'n we're goin' to put a stop to it."

Clementine, in the meanwhile, was bored with the talking people and want outside to see if she could find the little human girl who had laughed and smiled. Clementine liked it when human people laughed and smiled. It made her happy.

"I think you're absolutely right, Gabby. We don't know what we're dealing with. But I feel obligated to let the Marshals know what we've found out so far. Obviously we don't know how to bring these men to a stop, but if word gets out to the towns here in Kansas, maybe folks will be alert and prepared to make a run for it if these men appear. The Marshals can help make sure that word gets spread."

Morgan paused. "I still think it might be worthwhile to talk to Radcliffe. See if the name Quantrill gets any reaction out of him. It could be that there's much more that can be done with Wilder's inventions than just what Radcliffe accomplished. Maybe not all those who are brought back are mindless monsters. Radcliffe might not know how to accomplish it, but he might know of others who can."

"I'll head over the telegraph office. Would you like to meet back at the Town Marshal's office?"

The raven tapped the Marshal on the crown of the hat to signal that nod was a bit too emphatic for her liking. "Nyet. Spath'ba."

"Delight like this, yes?" Sky Dog pulled his lips back in a rictus grin like the poorly-buried and stared ahead, giving an overall effect similar to 'crazed icepick murderer'. "We also know they go to life without a light to see, and are keeping up with the frightened horse, fast enough to take the village by surprise and catch all the people in their houses - the avakhi makes them like this. It would be better if the people found a place to hold, not run, I think - until dawn when the dead ones are weaker."

"Radcliffe's making may be useful, backwards, yes. We will come there later. Please excuse, I will reclaim my sister-" he spoke to Korpi.

"Kaaaaw," Korpi protested, but after a little persuading took off and circled Daniel to see if he was trustworthy enough to land on, decided against it and took to her brother's upraised arm. "Korp."

"Yeah, I think we can do that." Gabby said at Caleb's suggestion.