The Outlaw's Quest (Keeper of the Books, Book 2)

by Jason D. Morrow

  “So, you got a chance to see where they stay then?”

  Clive nodded. “That’s right. Might be useful in the future. Who knows?”

  “So, what happened then?” Joe closed his eyes. He wished it wasn’t as painful to talk as it was. Learning about how he got away was barely worth the effort.

  “I circled the place a few times. I figured the best way I’d be able to see what they were gonna do with you was to get up high on the ridge to the north. Well, I was right. I’d seen that they’d left you out in the middle of their camp the night they brought you in, and I was tempted to go in after you then and there, but I figured it was a trap.”

  “A trap?”

  Clive shrugged. “Maybe they sensed I was tracking them. They figured you were too weak to get up and run and if anyone was going to get you out it would’ve been then. It was pretty early when they brought Edric out to the middle of the field. I figured they were just going to execute him, but when they brought you out I was surprised. To see that they were trying to get you to shoot him seemed typical, but the fact that they didn’t have hardly any spectators was puzzling.”

  “Slaughter don’t care nothin’ about spectators or feedin’ any bloodlust but his own,” Edric said.

  “Then why’d he let me go?” Clive said.

  Edric shrugged. “Maybe he was afraid of killin’ both the Warlord and the next in line.”

  Joe raised an eyebrow—an action that actually didn’t hurt anything which surprised him.

  “Yeah, I told him,” Clive said. “I figured since I saved his life he wouldn’t turn us in. Turns out, he’s willing to join us.”

  Joe studied Edric. His blonde hair stood up in every direction and his clothes were still dirty and in tatters. His blue eyes were sharp and piercing, so much so by his intense eyebrows that almost constantly furrowed as if every moment presented a pressing situation.

  “Then why are you letting him run around without proper clothes?” Joe asked, his grin coming back.

  “We’re a little short on coins,” Clive said. “What I had in my pockets was taken by the Okoro gang. The money I had in my boot is probably just enough to cover the cost of the wagon.”

  “You shouldn’t,” Joe said.

  “It’s gonna be a bumpy ride, partner. Hope you’re up for it.”

  “So, you shot up the place from the ridge?” Joe asked.

  Clive nodded. “Slaughter let me keep my guns when I left. Pretty stupid of him.”

  “He dead?”

  Clive shook his head. “I shot him and he went down, but I don’t think he died.”

  “Where’d you hit him?”

  “Edric here thinks I hit him in the chest, but I think I hit his shoulder. It was hard to tell. If we can get out of here and get you better I’m sure we’ll find out in the near future if he’s still alive or not.”

  “There’s going be a war,” Joe said.

  “And not the one we were hopin’ for,” Clive said. “People are gonna think it’s a gang war of some type. They’ll just lump us in with people like the Okoro gang and never consider joining us.”

  “That depends on how we fight,” Joe said.

  “Now ain’t the time to talk about all that,” Edric said, pulling back on the window curtain just a little. “Looks like the sheriff’s comin’ in for a visit.”

  Clive cursed. “He look mad?”

  “No, but he looks determined.” He looked back at Clive. “What do you want to do?”

  A sharp knock on the door sounded loudly. Clive looked away from the window and took a deep breath. “If he comes in here let me do the talkin’.”

  The three of them were in a room off to the side of the building and the front door to the office was in a common area just a wall away from them. They could hear the squeak of the door as the sheriff opened it slightly.

  “Hello?”

  To Joe’s surprise, Clive almost immediately answered the call. “We’re in the other room.”

  Heavy boots clunked against the wood floors as the sheriff came toward their room. The doorknob twisted just a little and then the door swung open quickly. The sheriff took cautious steps into the room, having no idea what sort of resistance he might encounter. But the three remained still.

  “How goes it?” Clive said with a smile.

  The sheriff stared at them with a grim expression. He took a couple of more slow steps into the room and looked at each of them in the eyes, over and over, back and forth.

  “Somethin’ wrong?” Clive asked.

  The sheriff shook his head. “Sometimes you just don’t know what you’re gonna run into, I guess.”

  “Something each of us know a lot about,” Clive said, motioning to Joe. “My friend here got firsthand experience of that yesterday afternoon.”

  The sheriff stood up straighter. “I’ve been watching you men. Ya’ll been acting a bit sketchy.”

  “How’s that?” Clive asked.

  The sheriff shook his head. “Well I never seen you before, and most of the time newcomers make it a point to say hello. You men have made no such attempt.”

  “A bit shy, I guess.”

  “Or you’re up to no good.”

  “Well, that’s true too, I guess,” Clive said. “That’s the life of bounty hunters, you see.”

  The sheriff squinted. “Bounty hunters?”

  “That’s right. We were after a man that goes by the name of Snake, you ever heard of him?”

  The sheriff shook his head.

  “I didn’t think you would’ve. He’s a dwarf who’s robbed a few banks recently. Said to have been traveling toward Somerled. By the time we picked up a trail, we ran into the Okoro gang.”

  The sheriff stiffened at the words. “I just got word of what they done there. Said they left most of the city on fire.”

  “Word travels fast,” Clive said. “Well, we just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and these two were captured. I got away and followed them to their camp.”

  The sheriff held up a hand. “Wait just a second there. You mean to tell me you know where the Okoro gang resides? Nobody knows that.”

  “Well, I do.”

  “President DalGaard would be very interested to meet you, I’m sure.” Joe could see the light in the sheriff’s eyes, and he could also see Clive’s go wide. He’d made a mistake telling the man about the Okoro gang and he’d just realized it.

  “I couldn’t get back there even if I had a map,” Clive said quickly. “Besides, we’re after something else.”

  “A dwarf, right. But you’ve stumbled onto something much better than that. You know the going rate for information of the Okoro gang’s location? You’d be rich.”

  “I’m just interested in gettin’ my friend better and on the road,” Clive said. “That and gettin’ the dwarf taken care of.”

  “How much is the dwarf worth?” the sheriff asked.

  Clive was starting to sweat. He’d backed himself into a corner now. Joe could feel himself stiffen a bit and it hurt immensely.

  “500 coins,” Clive said.

  “That much? I’m a little surprised I ain’t never heard of him. Seems the dwarves would’ve sent a post if they knew he was headed up this way.”

  “They didn’t know,” Clive said.

  “Besides, you oughta forget that dwarf and give me the information about the Okoro gang.”

  “So, you can get the reward?” Clive asked.

  The sheriff shook his head. “I can’t get a reward for it because I’m a lawman myself. But sometimes recognition is better than money.”

  “Like I told you,” Clive said, “I couldn’t help you even if I had a map.”

  The sheriff rested his hands on his belt and squinted his eyes. “I don’t believe you. I also don’t believe your story. I usually hear about all the bank robbers and thieves that are on the loose. The dwarves would have sent a post.”

  “Maybe they didn’t.”

  The sheriff stared at Cl
ive, almost as if he was figuring in his head what he was going to do with these three strangers.

  Clive lifted his hands and shrugged. “I ain’t hidin’ nothin’.”

  “I don’t like bounty hunters much,” the sheriff said. “They think they’re above the law.”

  “I’ve broken no laws.”

  “We’ll see about that,” the sheriff said. “How about you draw me a map of how to find the Okoro gang and I’ll let you men leave in peace.”

  “And what if I can’t draw you a map?” Clive said.

  “Then I might just have to lock you boys up for a few nights until I can figure out who you are.”

  Clive’s jaws were clenched and Joe could tell he was doing everything he could to hold back from punching the sheriff in the face and running for it. Joe was sure if he wasn’t hurt, that’s exactly what would’ve happened. But instead, Clive agreed to draw the sheriff a map from memory. It took him a good thirty minutes of drawing and explaining, but when they were done, the sheriff seemed satisfied. And he was true to his word, letting them leave in peace.

  Clive and Edric loaded Joe up into the back of the newly purchased wagon despite the doctor’s pleas for them to stop. With every movement, Joe wanted to scream out in pain, but he knew he’d rather be in the wagon headed back to Vandikhan than on the outskirts of Somerled any day of the week.

  They were about fifteen minutes outside of town when Joe called out to Clive. “Did you give him the real location of the Okoro gang?”

  Clive thought for minute, then answered. “I wasn’t lying when I told him I couldn’t remember. It was easy enough to track them there. And by the time we left, I was looking over my shoulder more than ahead. The sheriff might go looking, but if he uses my map, he ain’t gonna find it.”

  With all the jostling through bumps in the road and the uneven dirt, Joe wondered if he’d ever get enough rest to heal. But Clive was mindful throughout the journey and stopped to rest often. After three days of heading south, Joe could tell he was starting to feel better. As they rode along, he was already sitting up in the wagon, his back against the side, which made for a more pleasant experience seeing the terrain change before his eyes. That night, the three of them were sitting in front of a fire that Clive and Edric had built hastily. At some point during the riding, Clive had shot a prairie dog he’d seen in the grassland and was trying to make a stew out of it. Joe wondered if it was best to just stay hungry that night, but Clive once let him sip the broth from the ladle and he didn’t think it was so bad.

  “It ain’t my mom’s cooking but it’ll do,” Joe said with a smile. He rested against a fallen tree, his legs extended out in front of him and toward the fire. A rough blanket was draped over him and he felt like he was a sickly old man the way the other two were treating him. But every time he tried to do something to help, they shushed him and told him to rest.

  “Not a lot you can do with prairie dog ,” Clive said. “I didn’t exactly buy the best spices in town either. The pot and ladle were expensive enough.”

  “Your mama was a good cook?” Edric asked.

  Joe nodded. “Yes she was. Everything she touched could have won a contest. And she did win a few, I remember.”

  “I don’t guess she ever tried making prairie dog stew,” Clive said.

  “I don’t guess so, no.”

  “Your parents are dead?” Edric asked.

  Joe looked up at him, surprised at his bluntness, but he knew he shouldn’t have been. It was a harsh world he once lived in, and Galamore wasn’t much different. It wasn’t so uncommon for a person in his twenties to have dead parents.

  “They are,” Joe said.

  “They get sick?”

  “Ah, we don’t need to get into all of that,” Clive said, stirring the stew. He knew Joe’s story. They’d talked about it before though Joe hadn’t felt particularly keen on the subject at the time, nor was he keen on it now.

  “They were killed,” Joe said. “Shot down. My mother was right in front of me. My father was shot some time later. I don’t know who killed him.” He took a deep breath as he stared at the fire.

  “My Ma and Pa took sick just a few months ago,” Edric said. “Left me to farm by myself. That wasn’t such a great idea.”

  “I’m sure they didn’t intend to die,” Clive said.

  “No, but they left me with the farm regardless. I don’t know how to run one by myself, so I left.”

  “How old are you?” Joe asked.

  “Eighteen,” Edric said.

  “Someone ain’t the youngest no more,” Clive said with a smile and nodded at Joe.

  “So, you left. Is that how you got caught up with the Okoro gang?”

  “Sort of,” Edric said. He picked a twig up off the ground and started scribbling in the dirt, avoiding Joe’s eyes.

  “I kind of cheated in a card game and I was found out,” he said. “I kept winning and winning. I should have lost a couple of times just to make it less suspicious, but I was foolish.”

  “Why were you playing a card game with members of the Okoro gang?” Joe asked.

  “I didn’t know it was them. I’d hustled a few men out of their money and goods by that point. But the second I got in with the Okoro gang, one of them called me out on it and found a stack of aces up my sleeve.”

  Joe couldn’t help but smile and shake his head at him.

  “They were gonna shoot me out in the middle of the street, but one of their leaders stopped them. They clubbed me over the head and the next thing I knew I woke up in the Okoro camp.”

  Joe’s smile faded. Something wasn’t right about Edric’s story. That is unless Slaughter had lied to Joe.

  “What about the part where you killed a few of Slaughter’s men?” Joe asked.

  Clive looked up from the stew with raised eyebrows.

  Edric stiffened a bit. “What are talking about?”

  “When Slaughter gave me the gun and told me to shoot you, he told me that you killed some of his men and that’s why you were there.”

  Edric scribbled in the dirt a little faster and he pushed down a little too hard and broke the twig in half. He tossed the part still in his hand into the fire and then folded his arms over his chest. “He just said that to give you a reason to shoot me.”

  “You killing a few Okoro gang members is hardly a reason for me to kill someone. In fact, I thought more highly of you at the time.”

  “I don’t know why he told you that,” Edric said. But his eyes weren’t true, and both Joe and Clive could sense that Edric was hiding something.

  “Out with it, kid,” Clive said. “If there’s anything we appreciate, it’s honesty. You can’t exactly be afraid that we’re gonna turn you in for something you did. We’re outlaws ourselves, you see.”

  “I get that,” Edric said. “I just don’t want to say something that would make me unwelcome with you two.”

  “So what, you’re a murderer?” Joe asked. “I’ve killed a couple of men in my day. I mean, they either deserved it or were going to kill me, but it happened.”

  “You two might be outlaws, but I’m a wanted man all over the region,” Edric said.

  “How’d you get into so much trouble in just a few months?” Clive asked.

  “My parents have been dead for ten years,” Edric said. He watched the flames burn under the pot, no doubt thinking he wished this conversation hadn’t happened.

  Joe wondered what it was he could have done that might have made him want to lie about it. It wasn’t like he was with lawmen or anything.

  “Ten years?” Clive said, shaking his head. “You were just a boy.”

  “I’ve come across a few men over the years,” Edric continued. “A few of them taught me what they knew. Others hired me to do certain jobs for them.”

  “What kind of jobs?”

  “Killin’ jobs.”

  Clive and Joe looked at each other.

  “You’re a bounty hunter then?” Joe asked.

 
Edric shook his head. “Nope. Just a killer.”

  “A contract killer?” Clive asked. “At your age?”

  “Any age will do if you’re good at killin’.”

  “Please don’t tell me you killed your parents when you were eight,” Joe said.

  “Of course not,” Edric said. “And not everything I done was wrong. In my line of work you come across a lot of men who deserve it. And then you come across men who don’t deserve it. After a year, I stopped asking questions. I didn’t like knowing about the men I killed.”

  “What’s your bounty?” Joe asked.

  “Thinking of turning me in?” Edric asked.

  “You’re talking to the Warlord and his second in command,” Joe said. “Our heads are worth a lot.”

  “That’s not so much of what I’m afraid of,” Edric said. “My head’s worth 3,000 coins.”

  Clive raised his eyebrows and shook his head. “Wow. Maybe we could use the money. I wouldn’t mind a shinier pair of boots.”

  “You’re just too lazy to polish the ones you got,” Joe said.

  Clive laughed as he scooped out a ladle full of prairie dog stew into his bowl.

  “Well, that’s what I’m afraid of,” Edric said. “I know you two won’t turn me in, but there’s a chance one of your men will.”

  Clive chuckled. “There’s a few men within the Renegades that I’m sure have done worse things than you.”

  “What’s worse than killin’ a man in cold blood?” Edric asked.

  “There are a few things,” Clive said. “You ever kill a woman?”

  “No.”

  “A child?”

  “No, never.”

  “You ever take advantage of a woman or child?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Then I don’t mind you being one of us,” Clive said.

  “I just don’t want to make it more difficult for you,” Edric said. “I’ve heard about how the Renegades are doing more and more for the people rather than themselves.”

  “Have you now?” Joe said. “And where did you hear that?”

  “People talk,” Edric shrugged. “I don’t even think I could tell you where I heard it. But people are becoming more and more discontented with the government, and looking for another way to live in Galamore.”