The Side of the Angels by Harlan Finchley

Author:Harlan Finchley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Culbin Press
Published: 2023-10-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

It was mid-afternoon when the group was ready to take their shield to Eagle Heights. Kelsey and Constantino were both enthused by their creation, while Gideon was content to take the shield up the mound, but only because he couldn’t think of an alternative.

Dusty was more skeptical, but he accepted the need to use it when Gideon relayed to him the conversation he’d had with Kelsey, leaving only Sheriff Fontaine to grumble about the venture. Despite his concerns, the sheriff assumed the role of leader as he directed everyone to carry the shield.

As it turned out, as they worked their way across town, more often than not they ended up getting in each other’s way. Even though the number of men holding it up meant that the shield was light, they often grounded it.

After Fontaine had talked them through several different methods of carrying it, they settled on having one man take each end of the shield while one man stood in the middle. The other two men stood aside to direct them around any obstacles in their path.

An hour after leaving the shelter they reached the base of Eagle Heights, but then their progress slowed down to a crawl. Every undulation in the ground forced them to stop and work out how to get past it and after another hour they were only fifty feet above ground level.

With the slope higher up becoming steeper, everyone joined Fontaine in grumbling about the chances of their being able to reach the summit before midnight. They had almost talked themselves into abandoning the shield when Warner’s men came to the edge of the summit.

The sight of the unbroken line of gunmen that they would have to confront encouraged them to carry on. After another hour they reached the first station. This meant they were a quarter of the way to the top and as the shadows were now lengthening, Gideon estimated it would take them most of the time until midnight to get into a position where they could engage Warner’s men.

Fontaine agreed with his estimate and he encouraged everyone to put in a concerted effort to speed up their ascent with the result that by sundown they reached the second station. After their exertions they rested up for a while and by the time Fontaine encouraged them to set off again, the full moon was rising.

With the poorer light and with their closeness to the top increasing the danger of someone taking a shot at them, Fontaine decided that they should change their method of moving the shield. He directed them to all huddle behind it.

Then they shuffled forward while monitoring their progress through the small holes Constantino and Kelsey had bored. Even with everyone carrying the shield, the path up to the third station was steeper than the slope they had already covered.

Worse, with their constricted view of the path ahead, the process of avoiding the small rocks and mounds in their way became harder. Several times they climbed

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