Donny screamed, his hands covering his face as the bright light shooting from Kepa’s hand blinded him.
Kepa rushed over to Santi, who was staring at him with wide eyes.
“Sorgina!” exclaimed the older Basque. “Witch!” he said as he trembled and cowered away from Kepa’s reach.
“I’m no witch!” yelled Kepa as he tried to grab Santi and pull him to his feet. “At least, I don’t think I am,” he muttered under his breath. Louder, he added, “We need to go, now! Before he recovers.”
Kepa pulled Santi up and led him to one of the horses, Donny’s yells and curses filling the night air. As he got Santi up on the horse, he could see the other two cowboys rushing to Donny’s side.
“Boss…?” began one.
“Forget about me!” screamed Donny. “Kill them!”
Kepa pulled himself onto the horse and gave it a slap as a few gunshots flew by. He could hear them ricocheting off of the rocks.
“We won’t make it,” cried Santi. “It’s too far. They’ll catch us and kill us.”
“No they won’t,” bellowed Kepa. “Just hang on.”
For a moment, the gunshots died off. Kepa pushed the horse into a hard run as they flew across the hill side. The town seemed like forever away, but Kepa knew that if they had any chance of surviving, he had to reach town. It wasn’t long, however, before the gunshots resumed. Kepa stole a glance backward and saw one of the cowboys in pursuit. He couldn’t help but think what would happen if their horse got hit by one of the bullets. They would all go down, maybe even crushed by the large beast. And if they weren’t, he shuddered to think of the cowboys catching up to them.
As he gritted his teeth and urged the horse on faster, he felt the fire return to his finger tips. Stealing a glance at his hand, he saw it glowing again, just like it had when he attacked Donny. A bullet grazed his thigh and he yelled out in pain. Without looking, he aimed his hand behind him and let the light flare from his fingertips. He heard one scream pierce the night and the bullets stopped. For a moment, he felt a pang of guilt as he thought about the other rider’s horse, but he shook it off and kept riding.
“Zer zara zu?” asked Santi, almost delirious from the pain and loss of blood from his shoulder. “What the hell are you?”
“Laguna naiz. I’m a friend,” was all Kepa said as he pushed the horse forward.
The rest of the ride was relatively uneventful, though Kepa never let up on the horse. He knew there was at least one more cowboy likely following them and Donny would be on his tail as well. He could only hope that they wouldn’t catch him before he and Santi reached town.
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