She had gone back in to the other end of the saloon where she tried to warn the barkeep, when the sudden sound of gunfire in the Wild Rose as they tried to fight back against the seven that drove her to hide in the closet. The fracas was brief however and after the room had fallen into a chilling silence, she had crept over to the door and peered through the small sliver of light in time to see the leader bend down and touch one of them, their skin turned to a frosty shade of death as their eyes slowly faded to black, the female followed behind checking each body before they all left single file. The girl herself, hiding in the closet, seemed to be of no great concern to the seven ominous strangers. Once the last of them left the saloon, she scurried through the open door and hurried to grab a pistol that lye on the floor, still in the first dead cowboy's hand. The smell of gun smoke still in the air told her that he had at least gotten one shot off before he was killed. It didn't even slow them down.
Then there were two new strangers standing before her, unlike the others these seemed to be worthy of trust, she told them that her name was Matilda Albright, and she was 16 years old. She had lived in the tiny community of Boon her entire life and unlike her parents had one year ago, she never left. They went from one building to another, finding no other signs of life, and instead finding two more bodies at the livery. She had known Ted Childress who owned the trading post, and since there was nobody, it seemed unlikely that he would return, but still there being a chance that he was somewhere nearby hiding until it was safe to come out of hiding, they resupplied their dry goods, ammunition and some oats for their horses, and Moe after consulting with Matilda, since she had at one time worked there, he left the appropriate amount of money on the counter with a note for the goods. They loaded up and rode until the picked up the trail, unknown to them at first, with young Matilda following behind in tow.
Moe knew as did Mordecai that the girl was following behind them, and knowing the determination of a feisty 16-year-old girl to impose her will, they both decided that given the circumstances, they would pull rein and wait for Matilda to catch up, before continuing on their way. she finally caught up with them some ten minutes later, ending up riding in between them, however it was not long after when the trail took an unexpected turn. Moe slid out of his saddle and bent down to inspect the fresh tracks, Mordecai soon joined him, he motioned to a row of hemlocks, Moe turned from the trail and followed to a fresh set of tracks trailing behind the seven. Moe stood and returned to his saddlebag removing the spyglass, he scanned the shallow valley below he easily picked up the trail of the seven and the fresh tracks following at a safe distance.
"They're headed north, somebody is following them." Moe said.
"North?" Mordecai asked. "That's moving away from Havenwood, that's in the direction of a small mining camp called Frost Hallow."
Moe turned to face him.
"How many people there?" He asked.
Mordecai scratched his beard thoughtfully.
"Near abandoned, last I heard, maybe five or six people that I know of."
The trail took them up along the sides of the mountains through winding paths where the snow was thinner, below the trail Moe kept an eye on the tracker that was staying above the seven, the way they kept a constant distance from the seven, told Moe that the tracker had been at it for a while, and the way they were staying above them, they decidedly knew exactly the proper distance to maintain from their targets until they were ready to attempt an attack. they were no longer following the seven but rather the tracker following behind, the tracks moved through the snow up the side of the slope until they were directly ahead of Moe, Mordecai and Matilda. They had put six hours between them and Boon, The trail of the seven moved back to the northwest away from the township of Dry horn and up in the direction of Frost Hallow. They needed food, so they took their chances with Dryhorn and decided they would make up ground and ride through at least some of the night.
Dryhorn offered a saloon, a trading post with a dining room, a jail and a livery. upon arrival, they were surprised to see everyone alive and well, but disturbingly oblivious to the danger that lurked close by. They decided to try the dining hall first to satisfy their hungry bellies. it was a well maintained two-story building with a hotel and bath house upstairs. the dinning hall was rather large and well-kept. Moe still had a good supply of money and paid the hostess for a nice table where they would sit and dine on fresh lamb stew and root vegetables, with loaves of fresh baked white bread and beans. The tall, striking well armed red-headed woman that entered the dining hall behind them did not go unnoticed, by Moe or Mordecai. The hostess seated her, two tables from Moe and his companions.
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