With the blast

A very quiet and melodic whistle in the dark made two Riders and pretty brunette, who were anxiously waiting by the cart, turn in the direction of that sound with hope and worries at the same time. The dark figures of their companions, with the black scarves still covering their faces, appeared in the dim light coming from the kitchen.

"Where´s Jack?!" Patrick snapped as soon as he noticed that the third person they had expected was not with them.

"He wasn´t in the barracks," Ryo replied, pulling the scarf down from his face with a depressed sigh.

"One old man told us he wanted to change shifts with him," Kame, uncovering himself as well, completed the information gloomily. "He´s inside the mine now."

"Shit!" Carl kicked the closest stone angrily, sending it to the pile of its buddies.

"That idiot…" Esler peeked from behind the cart´s barrier with a worried expression. "He probably plans to do something foolish."

"So, what will we do now?" Patrick paced alongside the horses, which were still harnessed to the carriage. "It won´t take long before somebody notice the slaves are gone!"

Carl stepped up on his tiptoes, to check the kitchen through the window, as they had left two tied guards inside: "We should leave quickly at least with Esler, as long as we have a chance."

"But what about Jack?!" Jane snapped at him. "Are we just going to leave him here?"

"I almost hate to say that but I´d feel really bad to escape without him," Esler joined her in a dangerous tone, making the young Rider blush.

"I didn´t mean to leave him entirely!" Carl defended himself. "We can come back for him later…"

"That would be too late," surprisingly, Kame opposed him as the first. "Once the guards realize what happened, they´ll be much more careful. We need to get him out now."

"For once, I agree with you, kiddo," Esler reacted, piercing Kame with a sharp look.

"But how are we supposed to do that?!" Patrick scratched his chin desperately.

"We don´t know how many guards are in the mine," Carl supported his companion.

"Usually not many," the oldest Rider informed him right away. "They rely a lot on those chains, which restrain everyone here."

"Ok, but… What about Jack himself?" the anxious youngster continued. "We have no idea how deep in the mine he is and…"

"It´s clear that we cannot handle this without a great risk," Ryo cut into his pessimistic speech. "But…"

"But it´s worth trying," Kame finished his thought surprisingly calmly.

Ryo glanced at him smirking a little: "Yeah…"

"We have a certain backup right above the mine, if you didn´t forget," the younger one reminded them. "We just need to distract the guards in front of the entrance and then find Jack without causing much ruckus."

"I can do the distraction," Jane stated with a wide smile. "I´m quite good at that, so I´m going with you, guys."

"All right," Kame nodded without hesitation.

"Even so, there´s too few of us to pull off something like that!" Patrick growled unhappily.

"Even less than you think," Kame reacted harshly, already getting upset about the defeatist attitude of those two. "Look, there´s no time for arguments. If you don´t want to give up on Jack completely, we need to do it right now."

"I´m not leaving him here," Jane stated, frowning at Carl and Patrick.

"Me neither," Ryo joined her, checking his revolvers.

"Fine… I´m with you then," Kame nodded and looked at two pessimists. "You need to ride off with Esler. There must be the two of you, the same as you arrived before, otherwise the guards won´t let you go."

"Just the three of you will go there then?" Carl´s jaw dropped in astonishment. "You are crazy."

"On the contrary, I think I´m starting to like him," Esler grinned almost insanely.

"Let´s discuss our sanity later!" determined Kame didn´t even notice that the oldest Rider had just flattered him. "We must hurry up."

Ryo, literally copying Cullen´s grimace, approached the younger one, placing one hand on his shoulder, while ruffling his hair with the other: "Hey, who made you the leader, cute outsider? But I won´t tell Leo about this, I swear."

While Jane rolled her eyes at Ryo´s behavior, Kame pushed the Rider´s hand off, staring at him in disbelief. It seemed that adrenaline was doing something really bad with Ryo´s brain.

"Ignore him," Jane advised the confused ´outsider´. "And you shut it, Ryo; we don´t have time for your stupid jokes."

"Of course," Ryo agreed willingly, still smiling. "The time is against us, guys. But Jane, I don´t think you should…"

"Not a word about Leo," the brunette raised a warning finger. "I can take care of myself."

"Of course, you´ll be all right; he will kill me," Ryo snorted, but returned the scarf on his face without any other objections. "Let´s go then!"

"But I need something first…" Jane rushed back inside the kitchen, while Kame pulled out some long white strips of cloth from his pocket.

"Don´t forget these," he forced the strips into Carl´s and Patrick´s hands.

"And what are these for?" Esler asked, as he observed the others tying the cloths around their arms. "So that you will be more noticeable?" he guessed caustically.

"Exactly," Kame confirmed, ignoring the man´s sarcasm, and tying one right under Ryo´s shoulder.

"They´re for our two brothers to tell us apart from the others," Ryo completed the information.

When Jane went out again, with a bottle of some alcohol, she smiled in reaction at the surprised glances: "Just to be more convincing."

Patrick and Carl didn´t seem to be convinced, but before they could talk the rest of the rescue group out of their intention, a single gunshot interrupted their preparations. Everybody stiffened, listening to the so-far calm night. Then there was another shot, a little further away, and it was followed with some cries of alarm.

"They noticed them already?" Ryo hissed. "What is Nick doing?"

Kame and Jane didn´t say anything and disappeared in the dark, which resonated with more gunshots. The campsite was coming to life quickly.

"Get out before they notice Cullen isn´t at the stake!!" Ryo ordered the remaining two strictly and ran off as well.

Somewhat calmer, Esler lay down in the cart again, while Carl and Patrick hopped on the trestle. According to what young Kamenashi mentioned before, he figured out that both Akanishi brothers were at some convenient position, ready with the rifles to support the rest of the group. He didn´t know about the skills of the older one, but Leo was a great shooter, and if the two of them were even a little alike in that, it was the best choice to let them take the role of sharpshooters.

*

"For all Indian gods, what are they doing?!" Jin gaped at three white spots moving toward their position, instead of the opposite direction, as it was planned.

The brothers could already hear the fuss caused by the escaping workers on the south side of the mine. There was no time for any heroism; the rescue group was supposed to leave as soon as they gathered Esler and Jack.

Leo took up the telescope, running it across the whole campsite.

"The cart is leaving though; Patrick and Carl are there. And Esler hidden in the back, I think."

Jin took a deep breath: "So those three are…?"

"Kame, Ryo, and… Jane. Damn it… They probably didn´t find Jack in the barracks," Leo gritted through his teeth.

"And they decided to pay a visit to him in the mine? That´s just awesome!" Jin appreciated with irony.

"I´d say it´s stupid, but they wouldn´t listen, anyway," Leo reacted, now more anxious than Jin was. "They´ve just separated. Oh, guys, what are you going to do?" he murmured for himself. "Be ready, Bro. I´ve got a feeling they won´t stay unnoticed for long…"

"I´m ready for the whole fucking evening," Jin grunted, making himself as comfortable as was possible on the hard rock.

*

"Good evening, gentlemen," a sweet greeting coming from even sweeter lips surprised the alarmed guards greatly. They expected anything else coming out from the dark, but not a pretty woman with a bottle of whiskey. "I´m sorry to interrupt, it´s not the best time, but if I don´t fulfill my duty, I will be punished…"

"What´s up, girl? What´re you doing here? And what are those gunshots about?" the older of the two asked urgently.

"I have no idea, but I was ordered to bring this to you," the surprising female approached closer. "Mr. Tabor sent the whole cart of alcohol for all of you."

"Oh, really?" the man raised his eyebrows. "So much appreciation suddenly… Hey, wait! This is from our kitch-"

The guard didn´t even finish the word. The fingers punched a certain spot on his neck and the man fell to the ground so quickly, that Jane stared at the young man, who caused it, in quite a shock.

The second guard was still resisting the grip of the other attacker. The gunmen didn´t notice anyone sneaking behind their backs, because they were so focused on the brunette in front of them.

It took Ryo much longer to reach the same result. He pointed at Kame then, a little breathless: "You must teach me that move of yours."

Jane drew her hidden colts: "I´ll stay on the watch, guys. I will whistle if anything."

Kame looked up, to the rock overhang above them. As far as he could tell, they were almost right under both brothers, but once they step inside the mine, they would remain without their support.

"All right, just a whistle and then hide!" Ryo emphasized to the brunette. "Kame, here," he gave him one of the torches, which were prepared at the entrance. "Let´s do this."

*

"Oh, shit…" Leo murmured.

"What is it?"

"More troubles…"

"Let me see!" Jin reached for the telescope, pulling it out of the brother´s hand roughly. He hated when he couldn´t see what Leo saw.

"The manager´s office," his brother navigated.

Jin pointed the spyglass in the said direction to finally notice a bunch of gunmen rushing down from the balcony on the first floor of the building.

"Damn… There were more of them in the end."

"How much do you think?" Leo asked.

"Dozen of them, at least," he stated, eyeing the dark figures, who gathered in front of the office. They discussed something shortly and then separated into two groups. "Maybe a little more. And here they go…"

"What?"

"Part of them is heading here, to the mine, I´d say."

"We can´t let them get inside, the others would have been trapped!"

"I know. We won´t let them," Jin started to let his eyes accustom to the play of darkness and lantern lights in front of the mine´s entrance. "We won´t," he repeated stubbornly.

*

Jack had always known that he had more luck than wits. And for that evening, his luck helped him out a lot, especially during the fight with one guard. Even that stupid spoon came to be useful, when he stuck it into the man´s eye. But still, he couldn´t believe it would have helped so much.

At first, when he spotted two familiar figures in the narrow corridor, both with the black scarves over their faces, armed to teeth and with flaring torches in their hands, Jack thought he had some hallucinations because of that hit to his head, which was simply too hard. He stared at the two, as they stared back at him not a bit less surprised. He eyed them one after another, recognizing Ryo first, then Kame, whose handsome features couldn´t be covered up by some scarf.

"Jack? What the…! What are you…?!" Ryo exclaimed, utterly surprised.

"Guys!" Jack breathed out, his knees almost slackening under him. "How did you…?"

"How did you?!" Ryo reacted in a similarly intelligent way.

"Oh, sweet Jesus, I´m so so so lucky," the dirty and bloody Rider turned his eyes to the low ceiling above them. "I swear that I will never… No, not that… I will never curse again!"

The older Rider pulled the scarf down, grinning at his buddy happily: "You didn´t think we would leave you here, did you?" Ryo patted Jack´s shoulder.

"What about leaving the moving promises for later?" the other rescuer proposed. "I´ve got a feeling that our precious luck had just run out with this meeting," Kame leant down, to the still chained legs of the enslaved Rider.

Jack stared at him honestly surprised: "How did you get those keys?" he asked him baffled.

"Also questions later, man," Ryo replied, while Kame searched for the right key. "We need to get out of here first."

*

Jane realized that it might take quite long before Kame and Ryo would find Jack in the mine, not to mention there was a high possibility they would come across some armed guards. Nevertheless, she couldn´t help but glance into the darkness behind her almost each minute, to check if they were coming back yet or not.

She felt pretty abandoned there, between the crooked pillars, hidden in the shadow and regularly checking on two unconscious men, whom they had left behind one of the piles of rocks nearby. But on the other hand, she kept being afraid that some passing gunman would notice her there and set off another alarm. For that moment, it looked like that everyone´s attention was focused on the south side of the campsite, in the direction where the released slaves escaped, but that could change any…

The brunette flinched when her ears caught some voices echoing between the buildings. She retreated into even deeper shadow, listening more closely. The voices were approaching, accompanied with many steps. And then she also spotted the lights of the lanterns.

Oh, no…

Jane literally whirled around on her heels, ready to send the warning inside the dark corridors, no matter who else might hear it and suppressed a long whistle only in the last second. There was a small light heading toward her. Attaching herself to the cold wall, she raised both hands with colts, but… To her huge relief, she recognized three young men, when they were just a few steps away from her.

"Thank God!" she welcomed Ryo, who came as the first, carrying both torches, while Kame supported a little staggering and pale Jack while walking. "We must hurry up! Some guards are coming here!"

Ryo immediately draw his revolver as well, glancing outside with a deep frown.

"Just great, and here I thought we have a head start… Kame, next time, just shut up about any luck running out, ok?"

They all reached the mine´s exit just at the moment, when approximately dozen of gunmen appeared on the border of darkness and light.

"We´re running for the woods," Ryo decided, looking at their small group. They all realized it would take them right into the open field of fire, but one after another nodded. "I guess now we will see what our dear brothers can do."

*

"Come on, where are they?" Leo kept patting the gun-stock, his eyes running from the spot in front of the mine´s entrance, which was in his field of vision, to the corner of the building, from behind which he expected their enemies to appear. The gunmen were rushing, and getting closer each second. If the others would not make it out in time…

"They´re out!" Jin breathed out, pretty much surprised about how fast it was. "And there´s four of them!"

Unfortunately, the appearance of four Riders – or more precisely of two Riders, Jane and Kame – was accompanied with shouts from the approaching group. Three rescue members and Jack started running north.

"They want to reach the woods for some cover," Leo murmured, already targeting the fastest gunman, who aimed the rifle at the fugitives, with many more others following him.

The mine´s security didn´t make the first gunshot though. It was Akanishi brothers, who fired at once, before any of them could have. The rifle-man tumbled to the ground; the other one right behind him dropped his weapon with a painful scream. They were both bleeding from the open wounds in their shoulders.

The rest of gunmen broke off the pursuit and raised their heads, confused about from where the shots came from, as the sounds resonated between the rocks with confusing echo.

Leo and Jin exchanged short glances.

"You didn´t lose your sight," the younger brother noted, while he already targeted another guard.

"And you learnt something new," Jin fired with the end of his sentence again, making three gunmen flinch away from the guard, who fell to the ground grabbing his knee.

"I trained a lot, big Bro, you won´t be better forever," Leo murmured, also pulling the trigger for the second time.

Another man yelled almost like a woman, when a bullet pierced his left thigh. The others finally started to either fire blindly or search for some cover. Some guards retreated, hoping to be out of the unseen shooters´ reach.

"Don´t think you can surpass me that easily," Jin responded to his brother´s challenge and another firing man screamed because of the heavily bleeding wrist.

Leo frowned seeing that: "Stop showing off, this is serious."

"I´m just trying not to kill them, little Bro," Jin stated in a more than serious voice, fully focused at the next target.

All unharmed guards fell back gradually, some continued firing on their position along the way, now much more precisely though, and the little stones showered both brothers, from the places, where the bullets hit the rock. The shootout created some time for the fugitives to increase their lead, but somebody had to help one of them – probably Jack – to keep walking, so they were not as quick as they should have been. Some guards left their defensive position in front of the mine, and set off to chase the runaways.

Leo noticed how Jin lost his focus for a short moment when he glanced in that direction, his face full of worries. It didn´t take long before a furious shooting was heard there, too.

"Go," Leo said, as he loaded his rifle again. He felt a concerned stare of his brother, and repaid it shortly. He would have rather rushed there himself, but at least one of them had to stay. "I can handle it here alone, they can´t reach me so easily. But they will need help over there, so just go."

"All right," cowered as much as it was possible, Jin passed around him. "Good luck, little one."

"I don´t need luck, I can shoot," Leo growled, but then added in a quieter voice. "Jin… You guarantee me their safety."

His older brother nodded: "You can count on me."

*

Obviously pretty angry guards cornered them on the north side of the rocky complex, which hid the deep, deep mine. Maybe they would have managed to get out on time, but Jack slowed them down. Already in the mine, Kame noticed the thin trickle of blood running from the wound on his head and the Rider´s walking was heavier with each step, his face turning almost white – Jack had the serious symptoms of concussion.

Kame helped the youngster sit down behind the high pile of stones and hastily joined Ryo on the top of it. The Rider kept firing at the closing-up group of gunmen, so far forcing them to seek some cover. Their situation was bad, but Kame ignored the rushing adrenaline in his veins and focused on checking out their whole surroundings, trying to find any way-out. And then his eyes came across the dark alcove…

Leaving Ryo behind again, Kame rushed back down from the pile to Jack, so quickly he almost rode on the waterfall of little stones.

"Jack! In that alcove on the left from the mine, what is hidden there?"

The bleeding Rider looked at him with misty eyes: "I think that… explosives," his speech was becoming heavy too.

"Is it big?"

"No… I don´t think so… It was possible to see inside in the daylight."

"Good."

Kame looked at Jane who was observing him expectantly, as if she knew he had something on his mind.

"We must slow them down, or we´re done here," he said, and the brunette just nodded. "We need to get closer though."

"I understand. Hold on for just a moment, all right?" Jane patted Jack´s shoulder and then both of them climbed back up to Ryo.

"It was about time you two! I can´t hold them back all at once!" he snapped at them.

Kame took a deep breath and repaid the firing so intensely, that their chasers fell back again, even though he avoided injuring them fatally.

"Will you manage to cover us for a short moment yet?" he asked the Rider urgently.

"What?" Ryo glanced at him with a confused frown. "What do you want to…?"

"Just cover us," Kame requested, nodded at Jane and then they both ran down on the other side of the pile, before the guards could have get themselves together for another attack.

"Damn it!" only faintly, they heard Ryo above them cursing, before the new gunshots deafened them.

Breathless, they ducked behind the poor shelter of a huge rock. The bullets whistled around them, creating small holes in the ground and then ceased as Ryo´s firing forced them on the defense.

"One shot won´t be enough, two at least, better three," Kame instructed the brunette. "Ready?"

"Any time, handsome," Jane replied, her eyes shining with excitement. "Let´s make some ruckus."

The young gunslinger and pretty dangerous brunette stood up at once and started shooting directly at the dark hole, which was left unguarded for a while now…

*

Carl almost fell off the trestle in fright, while Patrick had a hard time to hold the scared horses back. Cullen dug himself out from under the pile of boxes and straightened up to sit in the cart so quickly, that he had to bite his lip to suppress the moan of pain.

The sound of detonation gradually rumbled down in weakening echoes behind their backs.

"What the fuck was that?" Cullen hissed, trying to overcome an awful dizziness.

"Dynamite…" Carl breathed out, as he turned on the trestle to stare back in the mine´s direction in disbelief. "They really used it…"

"What?!" Cullen gaped at him, stunned. "You mean they blew up that damn stock of dynamite?"

"What else could have caused such a racket?"

"Dear God, you really are a bunch of reckless brats," Cullen moaned this time and lay back between the boxes.

"Hey…" Patrick looked back at him indignantly. "We´ve just saved your precious ass, man."

"Try to think again about why I ended up here on the first place," the older man snorted. "Go, before the guards might think we had anything to do with that."

*

Jin tripped over own feet, that quickly he turned to the edge of the cliff, under which there was their running group somewhere. The ground under him trembled even after the sound of explosion went off and the sinister glow boded something very ugly.

For that moment not caring about if he would be spotted or not, Jin approached the edge of the crumbling hill hastily and looked down – there was a hellish furnace in the place where that guarded rock niche used to be. The flood of rocks and stones was spread out within two-hundred-yards perimeter around it, with the spots beaming with fire among them. He also spotted a couple of guards lying nearby, swirling on the ground in pain and shock.

Jin moved his look more to the right, in the direction where the others fled, almost panicking, as he found only a fresh avalanche of stones gathered at the foot of the cliff, which was probably loosened by that explosion.

What if they got caught up in it? What if? What if…? Jin couldn´t even finish his thought.

The deafening silence was suddenly disturbed with new gunshots. Jin cowered, but the shooting was not aimed at him. He searched again and found two figures staggering away from the mine, almost in the cover of trees already. But nobody was chasing them and the other two from the rescue group were missing.

The left side of the complex was damn quiet now, he didn´t hear Leo´s rifle anymore, which could mean he got rid of all those guards, or they moved on further and retreated.

Squeezing his rifle, Jin descended even lower on the hill, slipping on the stones, until he got on the very edge and crouched down to check on the mess under him again. And then he finally noticed them. Two persons, whose hair was auburn in the glowing light, were making their way up alongside the cliff, sliding on the non-existing path, which one of them chose. It was Kame, and Jane followed him.

At first, Jin didn´t understand why they didn´t run off toward the woods as well, and why the hell were they trying to climb up the inaccessible cliff? And then he realized that the avalanche was the obstacle they had to pass only by going up, because of the pursuers from the other side.

The angry voices were heard somewhere behind the avalanche of stones and more shots hit the ground unpleasantly close to the proceeding figures. They didn´t shoot back, which could only mean they were out of bullets or weapons in general.

With his heart beating heavily from seeing Kazuya in that situation, Jin eyed the direction which the younger one chose for their ascent, trying to find the possible end of it.

"Shit…" he cursed and ran off from the edge in such a rush, he almost slid out away from it.

Those two couldn´t see it from their position, and they probably thought they would be able to drag themselves up to the very top of the cliff, but Jin already saw there was no way out for them. Their progress was about to be stopped by the steep wall, which they wouldn´t have climbed up even in years.