Keeper of the Books (Keeper of the Books, Book 1)

by Jason D. Morrow

  “Why do you say that?” Strand asked.

  “Because Alban here was still headed for the edge of the woods,” Gibbons answered. “If they were splitting away entirely, I’d imagine he would have turned back around to go home.”

  Levi watched Devlin who was ghostly white. He didn’t want to take the trail because he knew he might have to face the gray elf and Nate again alone. He tried to determine for himself which direction would get him to Nate the quickest, but he couldn’t figure it.

  “I don’t know their loyalties when it comes to these two,” Levi spoke up, nodding at the old man and girl, “but I say we tie ’em up and make a lot of noise.”

  “What do you mean?” Gibbons asked.

  “I mean, I don’t imagine the gray elf would travel with these two if they weren’t friends,” Levi explained. “They ain’t far. If we shoot our guns in the air and make it sound like there’s a firefight going on, they might just come running back to us.”

  Gibbons smiled, probably for the first time since Levi had met him. It was as good a plan as any and the lead Ranger knew it. Finally, Gibbons agreed. He held the man and girl at gunpoint while Levi and Strand tied them up with rope and gagged them with handkerchiefs. Finally, the two of them were laid up in the back of the cart and the four pursuers schemed about what to do next.

  “You go on,” Gibbons said, nodding at Devlin. “The three of us will make some noise.”

  “Actually,” Levi said, “I wouldn’t mind going with Devlin.” Devlin seemed pleased by this, but Levi wasn’t doing it for him. He just figured he had a better chance of catching up with Nate that way.

  Gibbons agreed with the idea. Devlin reluctantly set his rifle back into the front of the wagon—considering one of his arms was in a sling only a pistol would do.

  “Ya’ll can use it if you need,” Devlin said, “but don’t hurt it.”

  No one seemed to be listening when he said this, and Levi hurried him along.

  The two were off and Strand and Gibbons stayed behind. They shot and shot until they emptied their pistols, then they reloaded and emptied them again. They made sure they shot sporadically from two different locations, so it would sound like there were two sides fighting. They needed to make Nate and Marum think there was a bloody battle raging. If there was any heart in them at all, they would come rushing back. Levi didn’t expect compassion from Nate, but he also knew the outlaw was as lost as he was out here. He would rather take a chance and help his friends than be stranded all alone in a wild frontier he didn’t know. Either way, Devlin and Levi would be able to follow them. And if the gray elf and Nathaniel went back for their friends, Levi could take them out from behind.

  At least, this was the gamble Levi decided to take.

  Nate

  Autumn, 903 A.O.M.

  Nate swore when he heard the shots echo through the forest. Marum pulled up on the reins and the horse jerked upward and nearly knocked Nate off the back.

  “We have to help them,” Marum said.

  “I think it’s a trap,” Nate said. His gut told him that Levi had something to do with the gunshots. Why would they attack a man and woman so viciously? Surely Rachel and Alban hadn’t been the first to fire.

  “Even so,” Marum said, “we can’t just leave them to be captured.”

  “Why not?” Nate asked. “If they catch us, we’re as good as dead. Rachel and Alban, on the other hand, won’t be killed.”

  “They will hang just like us,” Marum said. “That I know. It was a good idea to try and split up, but I should have thought it through. All we did was make them bait.”

  “If we hadn’t run off, those gunshots you heard would have been a real gunfight and we might all be dead already,” Nate said.

  “We don’t know it wasn’t a real gunfight,” Marum came back.

  Nate swore again. He felt the conflict within him: to run or to help his friends. If they went back, it would be four against two, and at least three of those they’d faced were highly skilled fighters. It went against everything in him to turn back. An outlaw only survived by avoiding the kind of conflict Marum wanted to charge right into.

  “No,” Nate said, shaking his head. “I can’t do it. I ain’t falling into a trap. We go back, we’ll all be dead.”

  “Then get off the horse,” Marum snapped.

  “What?”

  “Get off the horse! I’m going after them with or without you.”

  Nate reluctantly climbed off the side of the horse, anger coursing through his veins.

  “Sometimes there are more important things than running,” Marum said. “Those people stuck their necks out for us. Now, we’ve got a chance to pay them back.”

  She hesitated for only a second as she stared at Nate with her sharp purple eyes, almost as if to give him one last chance to go with her. But Nate stood firm, and Marum shook her head in disappointment, then sprinted away through the forest toward the road.

  Nate hadn’t quite expected to be on foot by this point, but it no longer mattered. He had to keep heading south until he reached the border. Then, and only then, would he be free from Levi and the other men. At least, he thought so. He didn’t know the land beyond the edge of Tel Haven Forest. He didn’t know how difficult or easy it would be to lose them once he got out of there. But once the others caught Marum, the only one that’d be after Nate was Levi, and he didn’t know the land any more than Nate did. The man would be just as lost. Nate was confident that he could at least lose the bounty hunter in this strange land. Then, he could continue his journey of finding Joe and figuring out a way to get out of this place.

  Nate started a slow jog headed south. Marum running off provided him the perfect distraction. There was nothing keeping him from slipping away now.

  When he had these thoughts, however, his legs slowed and he finally came to a stop in the middle of the woods. What was he doing? Who had he become? He knew he was an outlaw and a man on the run, but that didn’t mean he had to continue to be that way. That didn’t mean he couldn’t help those who had tried to help him.

  His heart started pounding hard and sweat dripped from his forehead despite the cool autumn air that surrounded him. He had to go back. He thought about Marum and her noble dedication to her friends. He thought about how willing Alban had been to take him along to safety. Mostly, he thought about Rachel and how she had seen the part of him that wasn’t a complete monster. He thought about what it meant for all three of these people to be captured and killed as traitors. Part of the reason they’d come this far at all was to take Nate to the Sentinels to help figure out how to get him back home.

  Nate was a man of few loyalties, but despite the years of thievery and killing, he was not totally without a conscience. Even though it pulled against everything he’d learned over the last decade, he grit his teeth and headed north toward the gunshots he’d heard.

  He cursed himself for having gotten off the horse and wondered if he would be too late by the time he got to them on foot. He sprinted through the forest, dodging tree after tree, jumping over felled branches and stumps.

  It was only about three minutes later when he stopped in his tracks, hearing the sound of more gunshots pounding through the air. He wasn’t that far off either. This time, the gunfight was probably real. For all he knew, it was just Marum against four. He took off again, ignoring his burning lungs as he sprinted forward, his pistol in his right hand. He felt rotten that he’d gotten off the horse in the first place. He should have never let Marum go by herself.

  Finally, he could see the clearing just ahead. He slowed his pace and snuck behind a group of large trees once the wagon came into view. There was no sign of Rachel or Alban at all, but he could see two of the men who had been chasing him.

  He tried to look in all directions, but he didn’t see Levi anywhere. He only saw Gibbons, the man who had commanded the troops in Tel Haven, and the sheriff who he had knocked over in the jail cell to help Marum escape. Both of them pointed their gu
ns in a particular direction, and when Nate followed their line of sight, he saw Marum pinned down behind a tree. Further down the road he saw where her horse had been shot out from under her.

  Nate knew Levi had to be somewhere, and the fact that he didn’t see the man unnerved him greatly. Nate looked in every direction but didn’t spot him anywhere. He had to take care of these two men and they could get out of there.

  He holstered his six-shooter and pulled his rifle from its sheath on his back. Gibbons and the sheriff were out in the open, not expecting Nate to be to their flank. He aimed carefully down the rifle, first at the Ranger. He had no intention of killing the man, but he needed to at least disarm him.

  Nate let off a shot and the bullet immediately passed through Gibbons’ leg. He let out a scream and Nate sent another bullet through the man’s shoulder, knocking him flat on the ground.

  The sheriff was stunned to see the Ranger on the ground, and his hesitation cost him a hand as Nate fired a bullet through the middle of it. The man dropped his gun and clutched his hand with the other, yelling in frustration and pain.

  Nate then broke free from the tree line and onto the road. Marum ran out too, her eyes wide with surprise.

  “I thought you were running off,” she said.

  “Well, you said there are more important things than running,” Nate answered back. “Guess I aim to see if you’re right about that.”

  The sound of the sheriff’s groaning cut through the air loudly until Nate walked over to him, lifted the butt of his rifle, and knocked him out cold with a smack to the side of the head. He and Marum then moved over to Gibbons who lay on the ground, blood spilling out from his wounds. The man had also dropped his gun and stared up at the two figures who now stood over him.

  “I guess you two are gonna kill me,” Gibbons said.

  “I suppose we ought to,” Nate said, “but we won’t.” Nate bent down next to the man and looked into his eyes. “Your wounds ain’t so bad. I made sure of that. Now, I need to know, where’s Levi?”

  Gibbons snarled at Nate. “He went after you in the woods.”

  “He’s out there?”

  “Him and Devlin.”

  Nate nodded. “We’re gonna let you live. But I want you to promise you ain’t gonna come after us anymore.”

  Gibbons shook his head. “I won’t promise you a thing. If the president wants me to chase you to hell and back, I will.”

  “Then I guess I ought to kill you,” Nate said.

  “Might be best,” Gibbons said.

  Nate sighed and shook his head. He then brought the butt of his rifle up and slammed it into Gibbons’ head. The man was unconscious immediately. He looked at Marum and shrugged. “It was worth a try.”

  Both of them shot up to their feet when they heard noises coming from the back of the wagon. They found Rachel and Alban struggling to break free. Marum pulled out a knife to cut their bonds and yanked the handkerchiefs from their mouths.

  “You all right?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” Rachel said.

  “Plan to split off backfired,” Alban said.

  “Actually,” Nate said, “I think it worked out better this way. We might all be dead if we’d stayed.”

  Alban nodded at this, considering his words. Marum walked out toward the front of the cart while Nate gave a hand to Alban and Rachel to help them down to the ground.

  A loud crack reverberated in the air, and each of them ducked instinctively. Nate, Rachel, and Alban huddled together behind the wagon and they couldn’t see where Marum was.

  “Nathaniel Cole!” a voice shouted from down the road.

  Nate knew the voice. He’d heard it too many times. Nate tried to get a look at him from behind the cart, looking through the wheel’s spokes, but all he saw was the gray elf on the ground, writhing in pain and bleeding out. Nate’s heart froze when he realized Levi had just shot her. He held onto his rifle with a white-knuckled grip.

  “What do you want?” Nate shouted out.

  “You know what I want! I want justice!”

  “You don’t want justice,” Nate said. “You want revenge.”

  “To me, there’s no difference,” Levi said. “You’ve been running for too long. It’s time you give up.”

  Nate’s heart pounded out of his chest. He didn’t want to face Levi Thompson. When he looked into the man’s eyes, all he saw was regret and sorrow. All he saw were the burned corpses of his family. All Nate saw was a mirror of himself—a man broken and dead inside.

  He took a deep breath and was about to move out from behind the wagon when he felt a hand on his forearm. He looked behind him and saw Rachel’s pleading eyes.

  “Don’t go,” she said. “He’s going to kill you.”

  Nate watched her for a long moment. This woman cared about him, despite what he’d done in the past. But that meant she knew why he had to go out face him.

  He thought for a moment about Rachel’s words, then he nodded. “And he has every right to.”

  To this, Rachel’s eyes started to water, but she let go of his arm and Nate found himself in the middle of the road, staring Levi Thompson in the eyes.

  Nate still held onto his rifle as he took a few steps forward. He looked down at Marum for just a second. Her teeth were bared and she seemed angry, though her injury kept her on the ground and her eyes started to close. She needed attention soon or she wasn’t going to make it.

  Nate took a few more steps forward and stopped. Levi had his gun ready, and it was quicker than Nate’s rifle. If Levi wanted, Nate would be a dead man.

  “If you kill me, I want your word that you’ll let these people go,” Nate said.

  “You didn’t offer that chance to my family,” Levi said.

  “I was after your brother,” Nate said. “You know I didn’t mean to hurt them.”

  “And yet they are still dead.” Levi sniffed and looked toward the wagon, then shook his head. “The way I see it, I might be stuck in Galamore a real long time. And it wouldn’t hurt to collect the bounty on this here gray elf. From what I can tell, she’s worth a lot dead or alive. Might even get a few coins for the girl and old man too.” He shook his head. “I think after I kill you, I’ll kill the rest of them. Carry all your bodies in on a cart through Tel Haven. Once I figure out this place good enough, then I’ll go after your brother. Kill him too. All in the name of justice.”

  Nate could feel his heart pounding in his ears. Anger seethed through his body at Levi’s words. It might have all been Nate’s fault, but this man was more of a monster than Nate ever was.

  “You get a thrill out of killing and call it justice,” Nate said. “Truth is, it’s murder. You ain’t no better than me, Levi Thompson.”

  “I used to be,” Levi said, softly.

  Nate didn’t even think when he turned the rifle on Levi and fired, but his enemy was too quick with the pistol. Nate’s shot went wide, missing Levi completely. But Levi’s shot was true and hit Nate in the chest, spinning him around in the air and knocking him to his knees, flinging his rifle from his grip.

  Liquid poured from Nate’s chest as he stared into the dirt. A throbbing, sharp pain stabbed into his chest and he knew he was dying. His eyes clenched shut as liquid poured out onto his hands freely. He wouldn’t dare open his eyes.

  As he sat on all fours on the ground, his back to Levi, he started to accept his fate. His chest hurt badly, but he knew it was only for a few more moments. Levi would come up to him, press the barrel of his pistol to the back of his head and pull the trigger. Then it would all be over.

  Despite the intense pain in his chest, he opened his eyes. The blood that had been pouring onto his hands looked strange. It didn’t look much like blood. Instead, what flowed freely from his chest was a clear liquid with a tint of brown. The smell of alcohol then reached his nostrils. His breathing became labored when he realized that he hadn’t been shot in the chest after all. Levi had been aiming for Nate’s heart, but the bullet had ricocheted off
the flask that was in the front pocket of his leather coat.

  And Levi had no idea. The man undoubtedly knew that his shot had been true, that Nate sat dying in the middle of the road.

  He swallowed when he heard Levi approaching slowly. Nate’s hand went from the dirt to the six-shooter at his waist, concealed from behind by his coat. He knew Levi was behind him. He knew the man was about to finish the job, but Nate wasn’t going to give him the chance. Not again.

  Like a flash of lightning, Nate spun and shot three times, each bullet landing squarely in Levi’s chest, blood spurting from the wounds. The bounty hunter immediately dropped his gun and fell to his knees hopelessly, his fatal wounds crying out to the end. There was a look of surprise and shock drawn on Levi’s face as he looked up at Nate, their roles reversed in a matter of seconds.

  Levi didn’t have the strength to stay on his knees and he fell backward, his eyes lifted up toward the sky. Nate stood over him and pulled the leaking flask from his front pocket and tossed it on the ground next to him. He then pointed the gun at Levi’s head and pulled back on the hammer.

  “You killed my family,” Levi muttered slowly, his words labored. “Now you can finish the job by killing me.”

  “I did kill your family,” Nate said. “And I’ll live with that till the end of my days. But I ain’t gonna run no more. Not from you. Not from anybody.”

  Nathaniel Cole pulled the trigger, and Levi Thompson was dead.

  Joe

  Autumn, 898 A.O.M.

  Joe and Clive sat in the middle of a clearing on two chairs. A fire had been made for them. Their bellies were full and their spirits high. Tents dotted the clearing and were spread out through the woods. They would be on the move soon. Had to be. That was the way of life for the Renegades.

  “I want to put an end to that,” Clive said. “First thing we need to do is set some new ground rules and refigure what we’re all about.”