Nick kicked him under the table. “You always wanted kids.” He grinned when Todd scowled.
Todd grumbled. “Drew is a bit older than I had in mind.”
When they were settled in their cabin, Nick was happy to see a newspaper. He stretched out on the bed and flipped it open. In the corridor something crashed to the floor, and what sounded like a body thumped into the wall not far from their cabin door. Todd started to open the cabin door, but Nick moved fast. He was off the bed and grabbing Todd’s arm in seconds.
“If you don’t look, you can’t see him, and he can’t fail.” He handed Todd a section of paper, then shoved Todd onto the bed. “On second thought, I’ve read enough the last few weeks.” Nick pounced and snatched the newspaper from Todd’s hands.
“You think that will distract me?” Todd teased.
Nick snickered and yanked Todd’s belt open. “I’m pretty sure this will.” He never gave Todd the opportunity to check up on Drew.
The rain had let up and the skies were much clearer when their train rolled into Elk’s Ridge depot. Nick was exhausted but more relaxed than he’d been in weeks. Pass or fail, the test was done. They collected their wagon and horses from the livery and set out for home. Nick was looking forward to their farm, their house, and their bed. Excitement bubbled in his belly as each passing mile brought them closer to home.
As instructed, two days later, Drew was sitting on their front steps, grinning like a crazy person when they pulled up in front of their house after a trip to town.
“Oh, don’t look so proud of yourself. Everyone in Elk’s Ridge knows where we live,” Todd grumbled. He jumped down from the wagon, Nick right behind him.
Nick elbowed him as they walked up the steps and whispered, “Be nice.” He looked down at Drew. “Have you eaten?” Drew shook his head and stood up. Nick continued, “And I suppose you have nowhere to live?” Again Drew shook his head. “You probably spent every dime you had getting yourself, horse, and carriage here on the train.”
Drew nodded. “Everything I have is in that carriage with that horse. Her name is Sunny.”
Todd opened the door and waved Nick and Drew into the house. He went to a table near the fireplace and opened a drawer, taking out a few items. “Here is a key to a room behind the sheriff’s office. Nick does his farm rounds every morning, and I’m taking over as sheriff in the next couple of days. You can stay there for now.” He held out a key, and along with that was a small roll of cash. “This is a loan until you start earning money. I’m sure when you’re not training, there are some odd jobs you can do around town. There are two cafés in town we frequent. I’ll speak to the owners. They’ll feed you. Again, it’s a loan; you’ll pay them back.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” Drew gazed down at the money and key as if they were the most precious things in the world. Nick realized to Drew they probably were.
“Can you ride that horse?” Todd jutted his chin at the door. The rickety carriage Drew had had in Yellowknife City was now sitting in their drive. Drew shook his head. “I thought as much. Get your mare bedded down behind the sheriff’s office. Tomorrow you start learning to ride.” Todd waved at the door. “Go on, get. I haven’t had my husband all to myself very much lately, and we don’t need you hanging around. Oh, one other thing before you go, take care of our horses and wagon. There is enough grain and hay in the barn for you to take some with you for your horse.”
Nick thought Drew’s face would split in two, he was smiling so broadly as he left the house. He jumped to the ground from the top step of their porch and took the reins of both of their horses, leading them off to the barn. It wasn’t long before Nick heard Drew’s carriage moving away, heading down the road toward town.
Three days later Nick rode into Elk’s Ridge and to the sheriff’s—Todd’s—office. While he always enjoyed the days Todd could go on rounds with him, Nick no longer needed Todd’s help in the same way he had in those first days of his training. His apprehension near strange people had eased quite a bit over the years, thanks to Todd’s patience and willingness to shield Nick when he needed it. Now Todd’s position as sheriff dictated he spend much more time in town. Nick glanced wistfully at the sign hanging over the door two down from the sheriff’s office. It was where Nick and Todd planned to have a small clinic for Nick to use while caring for pets that didn’t live on farms. He was beginning to regret his decision to leave Yellowknife City before learning his test results. No matter. Nick couldn’t change his actions or whether or not he’d passed his test.
“Hey, Mr. Dolan sent me. He asked that Sheriff Ruger and you come to the general store. Seems his grandmother had some trouble with a shipment.” Drew jogged up just as Nick was opening the door.
“Todd inside?”
“Yes.”
Nick leaned inside the door and called, “Todd. They need us at Millie’s store.”
“Both of us?” Todd asked and walked outside with Nick.
“I guess. Why both of us?” Nick asked Drew.
Shrugging, Drew said, “I just deliver the messages I’m told to.”
They walked in silence to the general store. Nick was surprised to find all of Stefan’s family waiting there with Millie.
Millie marched up to them and poked Nick’s chest. “Seems we had a rather odd shipment arrive late last night.”
Nick’s heart sank and he was sure the color fell off his face. He’d failed.
Stefan stepped forward, carrying two packages. “Don’t do that to him.” He held the packages out to Nick. “I took the liberty of having these framed.”
Nick stood there shaking. Finally Todd stepped around him and took the packages, peeling the paper back. He grinned and set the two frames on the counter so Nick could see them.
“Nicky, it seems you did good!” Todd put his arm around Nick and shook him. “A diploma that says with honors and a veterinary license.”
“I passed?”
Todd nodded. “Yep.”
Nick barked a short, nervous laugh. “I really passed?”
“Yes.” A chorus of voices answered him.
He ran his fingers over the smooth wood of the frames, then across the documents. “I passed!” Nick spun around and hugged Todd.
“C’mon, let’s get that clinic opened up.” Todd tugged on Nick’s hand. “I suspect Millie has some plans to make for dinner, and we’d better get out of her way.”
On the day so long ago when Nick had left his village and began his life with Todd Ruger, he had never in his wildest dreams thought everything would change so much.
Chapter 13
33 years after the surrender of New Colorado Protectorate
Nick stood quietly to the side and watched the scene before him. Todd had a map spread out on the big table in Nick’s clinic. That was the best place to gather the area sentries when they all had to meet. “Listen up, boys and girls, here’s the plan.” Todd pointed to different areas on the map as he talked. “There were three bad earthquakes in less than two weeks, and things are getting bad down there.”
He nodded to a group of three people. Kids, really. When had Nick gotten so old that young men and women in their twenties and early thirties with families of their own seemed like kids?
“Patrol this region, here and here.” Todd’s blond hair had turned to a lush, light silver and he’d gotten a little heavier in the past few years, but he was as imposing as ever. He was still the powerful man who’d always protected Nick. This was the same man Nick had fallen in love with through exchanged letters even before the first day they spent together. The man Nick had later married. “You three, I want you to take this area. Ride straight through and get there as soon as possible. Contact the couriers right away when you arrive. Those people work hard, and we depend on them for our communication. Respect them and pay them well.”
Nick glanced around at the group while he was busy preparing packs for these people to take. Their identification papers, as well as maps and money, we
re stored in small packs that would fit under their shirts. They were all so young, and many had never been on a big assignment until now. Had he and Todd ever been that young? Nick had been twenty-two the day Todd took him from the slave village, decades ago and hundreds of miles away.
“Drew, you’ll take the last group here,” Todd continued and tapped the map. Those going with Drew had the least amount of experience. When had Drew turned into this competent leader and their second-in-command? He was Todd all over again. Confident, in charge, with a never back down and always win attitude that made him a fine protector, and that’s what sentries were. Protectors. Todd’s gaze swept the group. “Remember, you’ve all earned your sentry tattoos, and in cases like this, those are also badges. We may have been at war with those people once, but that was before most of you were born. Today they need our help, and we’ll give it to each and every person or spirit in need.”
“Any dead you come across need to be liberally covered with iron shavings and salt, then burned. You all know there will be a lot of angry spirits, people who died suddenly and can’t accept that change. This is how you’ll help them. It’s the only way. Focus on your training.” Nick tossed small satchels on the table. “Everyone take one and keep it fastened to your belts.”
No one ever disagreed that the New Colorado Protectorate had once had an excellent education system in place for the slaves born and sold there. Nick was instrumental in taking that model and implementing it in Elk’s Ridge for the people there. He and Todd, later joined by Drew and his wife, Alexi, used the same educational model to train up-and-coming sentries. The pyrahni never did migrate north, but there were plenty of other preternatural beings they needed to contend with.
“Stay alert and watch out for one another. Listen to Drew and Alexi and do what they tell you, and you’ll be fine. Remember, you’re the law when there is no sheriff or militia, so act accordingly. Most of all, be sure all of you come back home.” Todd paused and took a breath. “There could well be hundreds of injured and dead. I’ve sent messages ahead to the New Colorado sentry force, but I’ve gotten no reply, so there is no way of knowing their status. Work under the presumption you’re all there is until proven otherwise.”
Another hour of packing supplies, and they ushered their sentry force on their way south to the disaster zone near what was at one time the border between New Colorado and West Caldera. It was the same area where, decades ago, Todd and Nick were caught in an earthquake.
Once all the riders were out of sight, Nick laid a hand on Todd’s shoulder and squeezed. “They’ll do fine. You trained them well.”
“We trained them well. Remember, most of them can throw a knife the way they do because of you. Most of them are also my deputies, so I’ll need your help patrolling the city for a while.”
Nick nodded. He might be part of the area’s medical team, but at times like this, he and Todd were sentries. They protected and aided people. That’s what sentries were always meant to do, and what they always would do. Like Todd’s mentor, Jimmy Cantor, who had headed the sentry force when Nick and Todd became mates, Todd had taken up the role of training others to become sentries and organizing the work they needed to complete. From the very start, Todd had ingrained in Nick a pride in being a sentry, and like those who came before them, they passed that on to the next generation. The world was an ever-changing place, and sentries would help usher this part of it through those changes safely.
* * * *
61 years after the surrender of New Colorado Protectorate
To Todd it seemed as if his days had been reduced to nothing but various degrees of pain and feeling sick. He was tired of it. Leaning on his cane, he made his way down the hall to the kitchen. Hooking the cane over the edge of the sink, he leaned heavily against the counter and gazed out the window. It was early evening, one of Todd’s favorite times of day. It was always the part of the day Nick liked best as well. One of the double chairs he’d made from wood for him and Nick to share while they sat under the stars was sitting in the grass, aimed north. The sky had been giving quite a show lately. The aurora borealis had extended from the ground to the sky, and rippled in giant waves.
Light pillars. That’s what Nick had once told him they were.
Nick’s love of the sky and stars hadn’t diminished one tiny iota over the years. That chair was equipped with holders for their coffee mugs as well as the notebooks Nick used to keep track of his observations. Pointing out the various constellations was one of the first things they had done together as they traveled away from the slave village Nick was raised in.
Todd put water on to boil. He couldn’t drink coffee anymore. It upset his stomach too much, and he’d been sticking to plain water of late. Tonight he would have tea under the stars and the light pillars. He sighed and turned away from the window when the kettle whistled. He filled a strainer with tea and set it in the mug and poured boiling water over it. Leaving the mug on the counter for now, he watched the sun dip below the horizon. The sky changed from blue to gold and pink, then finally deep, deep purple blue. The night was cloudless and calm. A perfect night to see one of the astronomical spectacles Nick loved so much.
The aroma of the tea wafted up and made Todd huff a sigh. It smelled bitter, not smooth like coffee. He’d been thinking about that first day as Nick’s official owner more and more lately. The ride to Eldrid, where the young slave, Nick, had been raised, had been a tense one. Back then, Todd had simply thought it was because his father really didn’t agree with Todd being bonded with Nick. Maybe ‘tense’ wasn’t the right word, however; Todd understood now why his father and his friends had acted the way they had.
What had he told his father when Nick first faced the elder Ruger and was obviously terrified? Todd snorted a laugh at the memory.
He’d put a hand on Nick’s shoulder and slipped between his slave and his father, moving them a few feet apart.
“You’re being an ass, Dad. Cut it out. He’s just a kid. We’ve had this discussion. You wanted me to do this. I’m doing it. But I’m doing it my way. Let’s not forget Nick belongs to me, not you.” Todd glanced around, not taking his hand from Nick’s shoulder. “Can we just get things finalized and get on our way?”
John nodded and took a thin, leather-bound book from the only female aide. He motioned to the young woman to get on with it.
Nick followed Todd to the small group gathered around a table set up for the transfer of ownership. He stood quietly behind Todd. The elders, then John Ruger and another older man signed the papers in the book. Finally they were handed to Todd, who signed without hesitation. A seal was applied on the final page before the book was closed and formally presented to Todd by the village elders.
That was all there had been to the proceedings. It still saddened Todd at the time it was what Nick’s life amounted to. Some papers were signed, and Nick’s ownership transferred from the small village, where he was simply Nick, to Todd Ruger. Though he’d have none of the rights, it had given him a surname. He had become Nick Ruger.
The thought of how the meaning of Nick’s newly acquired surname had changed over the years made Todd’s vision shimmer and swim for a few seconds. Neither could have imagined at the time that he and Nick would later marry and Nick would eventually carry the designation of doctor. Only two of the many things that were unheard of on that day in Eldrid, but later became commonplace.
Nick had followed Todd to their wagon and waited patiently while Todd removed his horse’s saddle and tucked it into a side compartment in the back of the covered wagon. Todd had stuck his head inside and pulled back out a second later. “Is that all your stuff? You get to bring everything you own, or didn’t anyone bother to tell you that?”
Nick nodded. He had appeared more than a bit awestruck. Later Nick would tell Todd no one had ever cared about him or his possessions in his entire twenty-two years.
“Yes, sir…Master.”
Todd sighed and stepped completely behind the wago
n, tugging on Nick’s sleeve for him to follow. When they were out of sight of everyone else, Todd rested his hand on the side of Nick’s neck. “My name is Todd. You call me Todd unless we’re somewhere the law says you have to call me otherwise. That’s rule number one.”
Todd hooked his finger under Nick’s chin, lifting until Nick was looking him in the eye. “And you look at me when you talk to me, Nicky.”
And so had begun a truly wonderful life and partnership.
The velvety darkness of the sky was progressing. The light pillars would make their appearance soon.
That was the first time Todd had called Nick “Nicky” to his face. It had felt good, right, and made his Nicky’s face split into a huge grin it had been impossible for Todd not to return. How much he loved that smile then was only a fraction of how much he loved it now. He remembered the way his heart fluttered at Nick’s reaction. Todd smiled again and wiped his eyes when he recalled what he’d said at the time. “I could stand to see that smile a few times a day, too.”
Calling Nick “Nicky” for the first time was really one of the most important highlights of Todd’s life. Every detail of those first days was etched into his memory. Todd sometimes worried he’d lose those memories and was thankful so far that hadn’t been the case.
Familiar arms slipped around Todd’s waist and held him loosely, as if he’d break from a tighter grip. Todd smiled and reached back. Todd patted the side of Nick’s head and sighed contentedly when Nick rested his chin gently on Todd’s shoulder. “Feel better?”
He felt Nick shrug. “I think being thrown into one too many walls just screwed my back. It’s still tight, but better than this morning.”
“Remember our first wagon ride? You spent more time checking me out than anything else,” Todd said.
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