While Ura fought off the two commanders, Mako was still with the main Snake tribe force, clashing with the Dixies. Everyone they cut down added weapons to their own arms, but they were still outnumbered significantly. Despite a successful initial assault, eventually the tide would turn against them. The Dixie soldiers quickly began to overwhelm the Snake tribe, forcing them to fall back and regroup.
Mako had been clashing with a specific Dixie soldier who seemed hell bent on taking out the rebellious son of the chief himself. With one final defensive thrust of his bayonet, Mako had finally been able to defeat his foe, stabbing him cleanly in the stomach. The soldier gripped onto Mako's musket, holding Mako in place and trying to stall for one of his allies to finish the job. Mako pulled the trigger on the musket and it put a golf ball sized hole into the soldier's stomach as blood splattered all over Mako's face. It was Mako's first time ever taking another human life, and he couldn't even stop to dwell on it. He tried not to look at his victim's face as he focused his attention on trying to find his brother.
When Ura saw Mako scrambling over to his location, he started to get frustrated. How could he focus on defeating Stonewall and his commanders if he has to worry about Mako getting hurt?Before Mako could get any closer and make himself a target for Jorgan and Bo, Ura grabbed his wolf-bone knife and threw it at Mako. The knife snagged his shirt and pinned him harmlessly into a tree, stopping him in his tracks.
"What the hell are you doing, brother?" Mako cried, immediately trying to yank the knife out of the tree and free himself. "Let me help! I started this!"
"Don't give yourself too much credit, little brother." Ura said stoically as he pointed his axe at Mako. "This war is older than you, me, and even father." He then crossed his axes as his foes slowly began to approach him. "I need you to grab the weakest among us, the children and the elderly, and I need you to escape with them."
"That's not happening!" Mako yelled defiantly. "I can fight! Let me help you!"
"Enough!" Ura yelled with conviction that shook Mako to the core. "For once in your life, just listen to me!"
Mako could only hold back tears as he watched his brother stand tall against the two monstrous soldiers he faced.
"Father always understood one thing, and as much as I hated him for it, he was right." Ura turned to his brother and looked him in the eye. "You are the future of the tribe."
"What are you talking about?" Mako yelled out.
"Father knew you had a spirit that loved this tribe and its culture more than anything. And that you would be the one to lead us into the future." Tears began to fall from his eyes but Ura quickly shook them off. "I don't blame you for this, or any of your acts of rebellion. In truth, I envied you. Your spirit is so strong that it couldn't live in peace with such conditions, and you had no fear of acting out in protest because your spirit is stronger than the fear our enemies imposed. Use that spirit to help our people and culture endure this."
"Brother, please. I can't just leave you." Mako cried as tears began to uncontrollably flow through his eyes. He didn't care about any of what Ura was saying. Right now he just wanted to make sure his brother survived. The guilt of setting these events off would never go away if Ura were to die.
"Go." Ura ordered before turning away from his brother. "Don't you dare dishonor my sacrifice." He said, echoing the words of their father.
Those words sealed away any more protests from Mako's lips. As he saw his brother announce those words and fearlessly stare down Jorgan and Bo, he saw the true conviction of leader. Mako could only obey his brother's orders. "I'll be praying for your victory."
"Save them for yourself." Ura said confidently. "I never needed them before."
With those words, Mako finally unpinned himself from the tree. With knife in hand, he ran towards the teepees, where the most vulnerable of the tribe were surely hiding.
"Isn't that sweet." Stonewall laughed as he watched all this unfold from the cathedral balcony. He then turned to Old Man Sharp. "Bring him back here, wouldn't want him to miss the party he started," the General ordered. "Make sure he's alive. I want to see the hope drain from his eyes."
"Yes, sir." Old Man Sharp said as he disappeared into the nearby trees.
"Damnit!" Ura said as he watched the old man leap into the trees and scamper away like a squirrel. He had hoped to keep all of Stonewall's Commanders focused on him.
"You're getting sloppy, Ura!" Jorgan yelled as he reeled his metallic fist back and slammed it into Ura, who pulled his guard at the last second.
"Don't worry about Mako." Bo giggled. "You have more pressing matters." Every break in Bo's sentences ending with a high pitched sheep bleat that always annoyed Ura. "Un, Deux, Trois!" once again Bo skipped back and forth while counting.
The spell worked on Ura again as he began to slip unconscious. This time, Both Jorgan and Bo attacked him at the same time, Bo kicking his cloven hoof into Ura's gut while Jorgan delivered a nasty uppercut that sent him flying backwards.
Mako rushed into the teepees. "Come with me! Now!" He ordered to a handful of children and three elderly members, who were together huddled in a corner, trying to stay out of the battle.
When they saw Mako, they all got up and began to follow him out of the area. Mako had to lead them towards and through the forest that surrounded their reservation. If he could just get them past the reservation's clearing, they would be able to remove themselves from the battlefield entirely. Mako stood behind and made sure the children and elderly made it through before they all disappeared past the clearing.
"Good." Ura said as he saw Mako leave before gingerly getting up from the ground, Jorgan and Bo standing over him and chuckling to themselves.
"How noble of you, Ura, willing to die for your tribe?" Jorgan said as he spun his chain arm around menacingly.
"Doesn't he know that it won't matter?" Bo taunted. "The snake tribe is going extinct today."
Ura charged at Jorgan with his axes crossed in front of him, but he was unable to overcome Bo's sleeping spell. Drowsiness overtook him again as Jorgan wrapped his chain arm around Ura and tightened it as hard as he could. Ura could only scream in agony as the chain pressed into his forearm and he could feel his bones strain under the pressure.
The sound of Ura's painful screams flooded into the ears of Red Sky, who was still unconscious on the balcony of the cathedral. The agony in Ura's voice stirred the chief awake as he regathered his bearings. He could see his people fighting the Dixies, and Ura facing off against Stonewalls commanders, all while the General himself was overseeing the entire battle and laughing maniacally to himself.
Red Sky tried to move, the open gunshots and many bruises that peppered across his body made every twitch of his muscles painful. As he slowly and gingerly got to his hands and knees, he caught the attention of Stonewall, who found his struggles amusing.
"Oh, stay down." Stonewall said in a dismissive tone as he stood over his victim. "You're the only one that I need to keep alive."
Red Sky could only tremble in pain as he clawed at the stone floor to keep himself up. "Stonewall." He coughed up as blood dripped from his mouth. "You evil, lying, WHITE DEVIL!"
"Hahaha! Ouch!" Stonewall responded. "I'm surprised you can even speak in that condition, let alone move."
Red Sky gritted his teeth while grunting in agony as he finally managed to get on his feet, then with one swift movement, he sprinted at Stonewall with a blinding speed that seemed to come out of nowhere. The general, however, was fast enough to react. He reeled back his giant stone fist and launched a haymaker aiming to put Red Sky down again. Red Sky ducked out of the way and scrambled over to Stonewall's legs and scooped them off the ground.
"What? How?" Stonewall protested as he was helplessly lifted off the ground.
The Chief then slammed him through the stone fence of the balcony and the two fell from their enormous height before slamming into the ground together, their impact kicking up a cloud of dust and causing the ground to rumble. The commotion even interrupted Ura and his assailants mid-exchange. The three could only try to maintain their balance and cover their faces as they all waited for the dust to settle to see who would come out on top.
"Father? No!"
As the area cleared, everyone could see that Stonewall was standing victoriously as he held the chief by the throat in the air, Red Sky could only struggle in his clutches as the General laughed in his face.
While his father and brother battled against insurmountable odds, Mako had managed to help his fleeing noncombatants clear the tree line. He led them through the woods, aiming for the main road. One of the children stumbled and fell over, scraping her knee and she began to cry. Mako just rolled his eyes and picked her up in his arms as he continued to sprint forward.
"Don't slow down!" he cried out.
Blam!
Out of nowhere, a shot rung through the forest and Mako felt a piercing pain surge through his right leg. All the strength in his knees gave way as he collapsed onto the ground, dropping the child he was carrying.
"Gotcha." Old man sharp said as he loaded another round into his rifle. He purposefully aimed for the leg, obeying Stonewall's orders to keep Mako alive.
"Mako!" one of the other children cried out as he rushed to Mako's aid.
"Just go!" Mako cried as he waved them all off. "Don't worry about me." They were so close. The main road was within eyesight. All they had to do was make it.
Mako watched as the children and elderly members finally crossed out of the forest into the main road. He could hear them rushing to find safety when the sound of hooves coming to a sliding halt was then followed by the sound of children screaming. Mako held his breath, hoping his tribesmen didn't run into more trouble.
"Oh. Apologies." Mako heard a stranger's voice say.
Not wanting to leave his people alone with the strangers, Mako mustered all his strength to crawl along the forest floor, trying to reach the main road himself. He left a trail of blood seeping from his knee as he came face to face with the new arrivals.
"Please. Help us." Mako pleaded, not knowing if who he faced was friend or foe. "They… they are going to kill everyone." He said in between labored breaths. He tried to look at the strangers, but the pain of his wound, coupled with the uncontrollable tears streaming out of his eyes only blurred his vision. "Please!" Mako hated that he was in such a helpless state. His brother was fighting for his life and here he was, begging strangers for help. Mako was desperate and he hated himself for it. His anguish, his fury, his desire for justice, these emotions were useless without the power to back them up. He felt like he was trapped in a cage of his own human limitations.
It was then that Mako felt a firm hand grip his forearm and pull him right to his feet. He felt another strong yet comforting hand on his back to hold him in place. The fluidity of the movement and strength of the pull enough to make Mako shake off his own self-pity and look the stranger in his big brown eyes. They were the eyes of Deacon.
"Of course I will!" Deacon said through gritted teeth. "Just point me in the right direction."
"Deacon? The hell do you mean?" Lee protested. "You have to discuss these things first! We don't even know what's going on."
"We heard gunshots, we saw some old people and children running away scared, now this guy's been injured. What more do I need Lee?"
"Dammit Deacon." Lee yelled angrily. "Listen, the native tribes have been at war with the Union since the country's founding. We have no reason to insert ourselves into this and look for more trouble."
Deacon just stared blankly at her. Lee could tell that he was just waiting for her to finish talking so he could act anyway. "Listen Lee, I can't just walk away. Not when I can do something to help."
As Lee was gearing to list off a myriad more reasons why they shouldn't involve themselves, she noticed the look of pure determination on Deacon's face. It reminded her of when they first laid eyes on each other. Everything she just told Deacon also applied to her situation, and he took it upon himself to save her anyway. Before she could say another word in protest, she just bit her tongue and took a defeated sigh.
"What can I do to help?" She asked as she turned to Mako.
Mako could barely believe what was happening. That these two strangers would easily offer assistance. Especially the cowboy, who was eagerly staring off into the forest that Mako came from. The first thing Mako noticed about him were the two stars on Deacon's face. Did this kid eat from the Mother's Cap too? Before he could ponder more, the pain from his leg began to overtake him as the adrenaline wore off and the fatigue from the blood loss was starting to kick in.
"My bag." Mako told Lee weakly as he began to slump back to the ground. "In my back is a tubular root called a calc root. I need you to stick it inside the wound."
"What? Are you crazy? What kind of crackpot medicine is that?" Lee asked.
"Please, it will be able to stop the bleeding and plug the hole." Mako said as he weakly gripped Lee's shoulder.
"If you say so." Lee said hesitantly as she started rummaging through his bag. "This is so gross."
Mako bit down hard on his bone knife as Lee began slowly twisting the root into his bullet hole.
"Which way?" Deacon asked impatiently as he frantically searched around before noticing Mako's trail of blood.
Blam!
A shot rang from the interior of the forest, and it slammed into Deacon's forehead, knocking him to the ground as Lee and Mako could only watch helplessly.
"Deacon!" Lee yelled before scrambling to rush to his aid, Mako quickly grabbed her hand and stopped her.
Deacon slowly got up from the ground and shook his head before holding the bandana hat he had taken from Bandanawicz. "I'm okay!" Deacon said cheerfully. "The hat saved me."
Blam!
Another shot zipped from the tree line and hit Deacon in the back of the head, this time with no hat to block it. Lee watched in horror as Deacon's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell forward, lifelessly.
Lee wanted to scream, but no sound would come from her voice. She could only choke up tears as she angrily lifted her rifle and scanned her environment, looking for the shooter.
It was then that Mako grabbed his bone knife and cut the top leaf of his calc root off. The root absorbed the surrounding blood in his knee and filled in the hole in his bones, stopping the bleeding, and restoring strength into his legs. He wasted no time and grabbed Lee's hands before rushing back into the forest.
"I'm sorry about your friend." Mako said hastily as Lee could only look back at Deacon's lifeless body getting further away. "He seemed like a good man. But if we stood there, we were dead."