Fairchild Simpson summoned what she could in the way of courage and cautiously peered from behind the boulder that afforded protection
to her group of Rangers and looked out upon the assemblage as that was gathering quietly below.
It was now only an hour or so before dawn and so now Fairchild realized that the attack would probably come at dawn's first light.
The force of Rangers was not at all large and Fairchild swallowed almost audibly as she fingered the trigger-guard
on the gun her boss had insisted that she carry with her.
Fairchild Simpson was not a Ranger and her only place here was as a journalist - sent to this distant outpost
by her publisher to do an in-depth article on the tribes indigenous to the area.
The sky was beginning to lighten on the eastern horizon and while the ground was yet dark,
Fairchild could just begin to see the outline of the figures gathered in the darkness in the valley
that had been formed by the outcropping of rocks.
"Why ... They look like ... They are! They're all women!"
Fairchild hadn't intended to do so but she must have spoken aloud in her surprize,
for the camp cook who had taken up a position next to her turned and spoke softly.
"Aye, lass! And so they are! But dinna let that stay your hand in the least! And let my sayin' so be a warning to ye!"
"A detachment of Rangers was sent here to kill women?" Fairchild couldn't help but sound incredulous. "Our detachment was ordered to take up and occupy positions on this ridge! And the savages sent their women! Why?"
"T'is a tradition of long standing with them! A woman dies every bit as well as does a man! They are here to count our guns, and to inflict as many casualties upon us as thy can! And if they should wipe us out in the process ... Then so much the better from their way of lookin' at things!"
"Count our guns?" Fairchild remained at a loss.
"An ancient strategem both to test our will and our firing power. You will see soon enough! Again I give you caution, don't let the fact that they are female give you pause!"
Fairchild had to admit that despite the cook's admonition, that she did find herself somehow reluctant to participate in the initial carnage.
Only minutes later the sun made its appearance over the horizon when the ranks on the field arrayed before the Rangers started marching steadily forward.
The Rangers were professionals and at least as well disciplined as were their opponents. Not a sound was heard from the defenders until the order was given to Fire!
CnB Enterprizes: Consensually Yours
At the first volley a number of women staggered and fell - at which point they realized that they were in range of the guns and so in a body they stopped, and each warrior drove her lance into the ground and took up a stand.
And so it began. The order came to ...
"Fire at will! Fire!"
CnB Enterprizes: Consensually Yours
From the first, Fairchild was aghast to hear sporadic reports from rifles on her side of the ridge and to watch slack-jawed as the women clapped their hands to their chests and pitched over to land among the rocks.
Suddenly, one the savages who had somehow drawn nearer than the others, loomed up to tower over Fairchild. But fortunately her partner, the cook, drew a bead on the warrior and pulled the trigger.
There came the crack of a rifle ...
CnB Enterprizes: Consensually Yours
Aii-ee!
And the magnificent body pitched back ... A gaping wound looking much like a second navel as the bullet took the woman in the belly ...
The first warrior was still arching in her death agony as a second drew up at her side. Somehow, Fairchild found presence of mind enough to raise the revolvers she held in each hand - and pump two quick rounds into the chest of the second warrior ...
CnB Enterprizes: Consensually Yours
BLAM! BLAM!
Unngh! Gunnugh!
Geysers of blood spurted from the woman's body as she took the slugs through the chest. The warrior clapped both hands to her breasts, and fell headlong ...
"Haven't they had enough?" Fairchild fairly shouted at her partner as she reloaded her pistols.
CnB Enterprizes: Consensually Yours
"No where near yet, I fear mate!" The cook replied as she drilled another woman through the navel.
"My God! They're advancing!" Fairchild exclaimed.
"And they will keep right on coming too!" The cook assured her. "There are a great many more of them than there are of us!"
"Hold your fire!" The Ranger captain ordered.
"What?!"
"Never fear, lass! The order to fire will come when they are but on top of us!"
"Steady now! Steady! Ready ... Now ... Fire!
CnB Enterprizes: Consensually Yours
With the order to fire came a withering barrage of gunfire that stopped the advance of the line of warriors and cut many of them down in their tracks! With her companions dropping all around her, a massive warrior struggled to make her way through the mass of fallen bodies and though she hated to do it, Fairchild sighted her gun on the middle of a great breast and fired.
CnB Enterprizes: Consensually Yours
The journalist heard the solid thump the bullet made as it caught the warrior in the chest. The impact of the slug jolted her upright and she stood there for a moment as though she was offering her breasts to some pagan god before she staggered and went down among her fellows. The cook gave the reporter a grim thumbs up and fired into the bosom of another woman who fell no less spectacularly that had the one Fairchild had shot.
CnB Enterprizes: Consensually Yours
That seems to about wrap it up for now! Doesn't it, Captain?"
One of the Rangers spoke aloud as she peered anxiously around the sea of the dead and dying.
"It had better be! I'm low on ammunition! We'd best get ourselves out of here before they have time to regroup!"
"Do you mean to say that there are more of them, Captain?"
"These were just counting our guns, Ranger! Testing our firing power with the lives of these warriors! Now find the horses and let's mount up and ride!"
At about the same time, an indian scout had issued a report to her Chief ...
"So, Grynning Wolfe! I commend you! We now have a fair idea of the number of Rangers that have been sent against us! Sending that group of Pawnee prisoners into the very teeth of their guns was a fine idea!"
"Ha! Two birds with one rock! Not only have we eliminated the danger of a Pawnee attack from the rear ... But we have reduced greatly the number of bullets that the Rangers have to use agaist us!"
"Yes! They wasted much ammuntion firing into the bosoms of the unarmed Pawnees! How did you persuade them to present themselves as targets, Grynning Wolfe?"
"That much was easy, Shaddah! Any warrior worthy of the name would prefer a bullet in her breast to an arrow in the back! Even those Pawnee dogs!"
"The Rangers are going for their horses, Grynning Wolfe!"
"What do we do now?!"
"What do we do? Tomorrow we attack them in earnest!"
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