Dominion: Elias Crowe. (one)

South Dakota Territory, October 25th, 1874. Rockwood Peak.

They were careful to stay behind the large jagged rocks lining the top of Shadow Ridge, giving careful study to the five figures below set off in the distance. Elias Crowe looked through the spyglass carefully studying their prey, he turned briefly to give a quick look to Elgin Gatewood who was busy watching the darkening sky. Thick black clouds were slowly rolling in from the east with loud echoes of thunder crashing in the distance behind them, it wouldn't be long before the weather took an even uglier turn. Below them, moving down along a trail, dust billows kicked up in the air behind the five riders, they began to pick up speed as if they could sense the incoming storm getting closer. Gatewood knelt down beside Elias Crowe.

"How far?"

Elias collapsed the spyglass.

"Far enough." He said, giving Gatewood a concerned look.

"We're not going to catch them before they cross over into Wyoming, if they don't take cover from the storm they're going to split up, and we might be in for a rough spot as well, It's going to be dark soon anyway, there's a cave in that cliff down there, looks like it might be big enough for us and the horses, rain I can handle, but lightning's going to spook the horses." Elias said.

"We best be getting to it then. we'll have to catch up to them another time." Gatewood answered.

Elias looked up at him as he slowly rose to his feet.

"We'll get 'em El, every last one of them."

They carefully rode the rocky path down into the canyon as the black clouds moved in ahead of the low rumbling of thunder. Chain lightning mixed in the belly of the black clouds crackled to life in brilliant flashes of light overhead, they made it all the way through the cave entrance as the sky opened up and unleashed a torrential rainfall that quickly began to soak the surrounding desert. Elias went and grabbed a small fallen tree and dragged it into the cave before it got too wet to use for fire wood. They put the horses in the back of the cave before building a fire. They ate dried beef and made beans for dinner, washed it down with a bottle of whiskey that Elgin had in his saddlebag.

 

They held up in the cave and slept through the night, hoping that they could pick up the trail of the outlaws they'd been following. The next morning at daybreak the rain has slowed to a drizzle, and by the time the sun was peeking up over the horizon they were saddled up and making their way through small puddles and sizable streams left behind by the rainstorm from the previous evening, they rode hard and two miles from the Wyoming border, they had picked up the trail again. Elias swung himself free from the saddle and bent down to examine the hoof prints, his eyes carefully scanning the horizon, he climbed back up into the saddle, and slightly turned to face Marshall Elgin Gatewood.

"Well, it looks like the Church brothers are heading north toward Saddlerville, and I'm guessing the Forge brothers, are going west, that other rider is going south. The tracks are still kinda sharp along the edges, but the wind is picking up, I'd say they're probably an hour old not much more. If you want to take the Forge's, I'll take the Church brothers." 

Elgin Gatewood nodded in agreement.

"See ya down the line, Elias." He said tipping his hat.

Elias Crowe picked up the trail of the Church brothers and rode steady for six hours being careful not to run down his horse, there were several watering holes along the way, and he stopped a couple of times, but never losing sight of the trail. The Church brothers were indeed heading toward Saddlerville, and he was patiently holding his pace, the wind continued to lap at his back but even as the trail slowly disappeared he'd already figured on where they were going to end up, so he stayed on the same path knowing Saddlerville was only a few miles away by then. By sunset, he had breached the top of the rise overlooking the town, and studied the scene below him carefully, Saddlerville was rather sizable.

He rode in right at dusk, the shadows falling long narrow shapes darkening his path, faint traces of light began to flicker in the windows of businesses, the saloon lit up, and across the street the bright yellow glow in the window of the sheriff's office caught his immediate attention, he pulled rein in front of the Talc Livery Stables and Feed, but decided he wouldn't be staying long. Instead, he found what he was looking for at the Rusty Spur saloon, although when he realized that only one of the Church brothers horses was tethered to the hitching post in front. He paused to look around and Pritchard Church's horse was nowhere to be seen, which meant that Damian, the more menacing of the two, was somewhere inside The Rusty Spur. He turned and walked across the street to the town Sheriff's office, he opened the door and stepped inside.  

Behind a large desk sat a small, thin, unassuming gray haired man, and two others sitting in chairs across from him. The man behind the desk sat wringing his hands like his face tight with worry, the other two men equally slight in stature sat staring almost absently at the floor. Elias studied all three carefully before speaking. If this was the face of law enforcement in Saddlerville, it looked sadly unconvincing.

"Are you the sheriff of this town?" He asked.

The older man sat upright, suddenly adjusting his posture, trying to look more confident than he actually was, slightly less disheveled.

"Yes sir, I'm John Reagan, and these men are my deputies Jacob and Jared." He answered nervously.

"Well sir, my name is Elias Crowe, I am with the United States Marshal's office in Fort Hastings, South Dakota, and I'm here for a couple of fugitives that I've been tracking, I believe one of them is in the Rusty Spur saloon at this very moment.  Now, I'm here to execute an arrest warrant."

He produced the warrant and a wanted poster lying them both in front of the sheriff. He looked up at Elias his face growing pale.

"You're here for Damian Church?" He asked hesitantly.

Elias nodded silently.

"You know Mister, I can handle the occasional drunk cowboy, or someone getting lippy with the barkeep, but those Church brothers? They're animals, and Damian? He's a stone-cold killer, and honestly, he scares me."

"Look, sheriff, my business here? It's not all that complicated, all I need is for you and your deputies to be my witnesses when I execute the warrant, the posters? the warrant? Say dead or alive, and I'm not real particular about which way he chooses to come along, but I'm taking him to Shelby one way or another."

They all crossed the street together, slowly making their way to the saloon. Elias pushed through the double swinging doors with the sheriff and both deputies in tow. There across the room at a table with a young lady and a bottle of whiskey sat Damian Church. with a foot propped up on the edge of another chair, smiling almost nonchalant, as soon as their eyes met the young lady bolted from his side as Elias Crowe approached him slowly, neither man spoke for what seemed like an hour. Finally, he pulled out the arrest warrant and wanted poster and carefully laid them out on the table in front of him.

"Damian Church? I'm Elias Crowe with the U.S. Marshals office, I have a warrant for your arrest, and you're coming with me." He said coldly.

Damian Church studied him, his eye's slowly trailing down, suddenly fixed on the wanted poster and then the arrest warrant, he looked back up at Elias as a slow sly smile began to purse his lips.

"I don't give a damn who you are, mister, I ain't going anywhere with you!" He hissed.

"Now son, you can come riding upright on the back of a horse in shackles, or you can come wrapped in canvas, cold as a stone and draped over the back of my pack horse, but either way you're coming with me." Elias said.

People around them  began to scamper out of the line of fire already realizing what was about to happen. Damian Church had always prided himself on having the fastest hands in the room, but this time when he reached for his Schofield revolver, Elias Crowe's Colt Peacemakers had already cleared leather and put two holes in his chest with stunning speed and accuracy. The two shots exploded through his chest sending him flying backward out of his chair, landing with a wet thud on the saloon floor, and with a quiet calm Elias slowly replaced the two Peacemakers back in his holsters, he leaned forward, picking up the arrest warrant and the wanted poster, carefully folding both returning them to his pocket. He turned to the sheriff and the two deputies who all stared in stunned silence. Finally, the sheriff slowly looked up at Elias. 

"You're good, Mr. Crowe, that was a clean shoot, we all heard you warn him."

The deputies carried the body out to the sidewalk to where Elias wrapped it in canvas and tied it with a rope. They then used another piece of rope to secure it to his pack horse Mudbone. 

"You don't think Pritchard stuck around Marshall Crowe?" He asked.

"No sir, my guess is he's halfway to Willwood by now." Elias answered. "His whole family is from that area. He's not a trail man, not like Damian was, he'll be looking toward the comforts of home pretty soon I expect, Willwood's only an hour or so's ride from here, He'll stop there for a drink and a warm bed, I'll catch him there."

Sheriff Reagan, made sure he was well supplied with ammunition for both pistols and the Winchester, and even gave him a full bottle of whiskey to help keep him warm on the trail. Meanwhile outside. the moon sat full, well above the horizon and cast a silvery light in all directions, there was nary a cloud in the sky, all except for some gathering in the distant east, slowly rolling toward them, promising a new series of rainstorms in the not so distant future. He could clearly see in all directions, so he loaded up his horse Reaper, mounted up, tipped his hat to Sheriff Reagan, turned and headed in the direction of Willwood, with Mudbone in tow.

With a slight breeze at his back and the brilliant moonlight illuminating his path he pressed onward, the terrain slowly changing from flat ground to once again hilly and rocky, until almost two hours had passed and behind him he could once again hear the familiar sounds of low rumbling thunder. He turned to look back at the approaching storm, and something caught his attention through the flash of chain lightning, he headed for the higher ground when he got off the horse and pulled out the spyglass, and there it was, off in the distance coming up behind him, a lone rider trailing him to the rocks. It was Pritchard Church. he'd gotten in behind him.

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