Chapter 21 - The Shadow Over the Capital
The celebration in the town hall lasted through the afternoon, but the triumph was short-lived.
At four o'clock, the telegraph key inside the depot office began to chatter frantically. The young operator, pale and wide-eyed, tore the yellow slip of paper from the machine and ran across the snow directly to Clara and Nathaniel, who were resting near the courthouse hearth.
"Miss Clara! Mr. Nathaniel! It’s from the military outpost at Fort Meade!" the boy gasped, struggling to catch his breath.
Clara took the paper. As her eyes scanned the hastily scribbled lines, the blood drained from her face.
*"TO SHERIFF OF BLACK RIDGE: BE ADVISED. GOVERNOR BELL’S ACCUSATION OF REGIONAL TREASON OFFICIALLY RECEIVED PRIOR TO DISPATCH INTERRUPT. SIXTH CAVALRY DETACHMENT UNDER GENERAL THADDEUS VANE DEPLOYED AT DAWN UNDER MARTIAL LAW. ORDERS: SEIZE LEDGER, BURN BLACK RIDGE AS AN INSURRECTIONIST OUTPOST, AND EXECUTE ALL PARTICIPANTS WITHOUT TRIAL. CAVALRY SIGHTED AT DEVIL'S GATE PASS. ARRIVAL ESTIMATED: ONE HOUR."*
The silence in the room fell like a lead weight.
General Thaddeus Vane. Bell’s closest ally in the United States Senate and a ruthless military commander who had crushed frontier rebellions without leaving a single witness alive. Bell hadn't just brought Pinkertons; he had activated the entire military apparatus of the territory before boarding that train.
Suddenly, the floor beneath their feet began to vibrate.
It wasn't a train. It wasn't an avalanche.
Nathaniel stepped to the window and wiped the frost from the glass. On the horizon, where the jagged teeth of Devil's Gate met the slate-gray sky, a dark, endless line of horsemen was emerging from the trees. Hundreds of blue-coated cavalrymen, their sabers glinting beneath the dying sun, and behind them, two horse-drawn Gatling guns rolled forward into firing position.
A single rider carrying a black execution flag galloped ahead of the column, halting just outside the valley's entrance.
Nathaniel reached down and picked up his rifle, his knuckles white. "Clara... they didn't come to arrest us. They came to wipe this whole valley off the map."
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Clara clutched the ledger to her chest, looking down at Willa, then out at the sea of approaching bayonets. The town had no walls. They had only shotguns and hunting rifles.
And the first bugle call of the cavalry charge pierced the freezing air.
