Nate shook his head. “I’m taking you down with me.”
“And if you kill him, I’ll shoot you, Droman,” Alban said.
“Same here,” Rachel said. “And I dare any one of you to shoot a woman.”
Droman watched them, his gun still trained on Nate. The odds weren’t in man’s favor in this moment. It was six guns to two, and one that might not get the chance to draw. It was a bluff on Nate’s part. He knew that if he was shot three or four times that he wouldn’t have the chance to put a bullet in anybody.
“It’s six against three,” Droman said. “It’s clear who will die here.”
“Six against four!” a voice called out from the side of the hill.
Nate was stunned, his eyes finally leaving Droman as each of them looked toward the hill. Marum stood at the top, a rifle resting in her hands, cocked and ready to fire. She aimed down the barrel at her brother.
“Backstabber!” Droman yelled out as he stared at Marum. “These fools got away because of you.”
“That’s right,” Marum said. “And I’d do it again. I can’t believe you tied up Rachel and Alban. Are you insane?”
“It’s still six against four, sister!”
“Yes, and three of those guns are aimed at you, Droman. Are those odds you like to count on?”
Droman turned his head, looking at each of them, then finally resting on Nate. “I don’t know how you corrupted my sister, but it seems she’s bought you another day to live.”
Droman gave the order for his men to stand down, and one-by-one they holstered their guns and retreated to their horses. Once mounted, Droman looked at Marum. “Don’t ever come back to Gray Elf Country, for you will never be welcomed there again.” He turned sharply to Nate. “Don’t get too comfortable, Sojourner. The keys do no good without all three. I suspect you and I will meet again.”
“I sure hope not,” Nate said.
Droman looked at each of them one more time before turning his horse and charging away. None of them spoke until the group was just a tiny dot in the distance.
Nate looked at both Alban and Rachel who seemed like they hadn’t breathed for a solid five minutes. Then he saw Marum. It seemed strange to him that she would turn on her brother like that. Nate had thought she couldn’t be trusted anymore. The turn of events was surprising.
“I really thought you were only with me to get the key,” Nate said.
“Who’s to say I’m not?” She said this with a smile. “I owed you one.”
“I thought you repaid your debt to me when you freed us from Droman’s camp.”
“I felt like I got you into that mess in the first place,” she said. “This one was for breaking me out of jail. You and I are even.”
Marum and Rachel hugged, and Alban looked like he’d just lost a son, which in a way, he had. It was a sad thing to turn on family in such a way, Nate knew. But sometimes it was necessary.
Marum told them that she’d spotted the horses on a distant hill when she’d heard Droman and his men charging in. It would take them just a few minutes to reach their mounts and they could be on their way.
Nate looked off into the distance. He could no longer see Droman and the others, but that didn’t mean they were free of the group. Nate would have to stay aware for the next few nights. He supposed they needed to head back to Dragon Scale Mountain to meet up with Gwen and the others. Where he would go from there, Nate had no idea. On to the next book, he supposed. Not that he had any idea where that might be. But he wasn’t worried. He had no reason to worry. He felt the key in his coat pocket. He was on the right track, now.
When they got to their horses, they rode onward until dark. Every now and again, when Alban wasn’t pestering him with endless questions about the inside of the book, Nate would catch Rachel looking at him. Sometimes she would be smiling. Sometimes she would seem thoughtful.
Marum stayed silent, probably unsure about herself—where she belonged now. She’d been working with her brother for a long time. He’d made her think they were doing the right thing. But she saw how her brother was. Now men wanted her dead and so did the gray elves. Nate understood. He was no stranger to the world hating him. Only, the world had a much better reason for hating him.
They rode onward, making camp when they needed, taking turns to keep watch. He didn’t tell anybody, but Nate was sure to stay awake whenever it was Marum’s turn. He’d been in the business too long not to suspect the long con. But Marum had been genuine. And by the third night of staying up for two shifts, Nate decided to trust her.
Traveling didn’t seem as hard this time around. There wasn’t a sense of desperation as there had been before. There was relief in some respects. However, in the distance, there loomed a sense of heaviness coming. The other books would be harder to find. The relic keys might be harder to obtain. But these problems were not Nate’s. Not yet.
All he wanted was a good night’s sleep, in a warm, soft bed.
Devlin
Winter, 903 A.O.M.
Devlin didn’t feel good about what he’d done. He thought there might have been bad luck in knocking out a man who wept for his dead friend. But there was no doubt the man would have killed him if he’d seen Devlin coming.
The Ranger felt numb. He couldn’t believe the carnage all around the cabin. It had looked like a whole battle had taken place. Most of all, he couldn’t believe that Bastion had been defeated. The man had been brave, but he hadn’t known his enemy.
When they had reached the cabin, Bastion informed him that the man, Edric, was an insider, working for the president. That was how they knew about Slaughter Okoro going after the book. Edric, at one time, had infiltrated the Okoro gang for the president’s purposes, but had been found out. That was when the Warlord somehow rescued him, not knowing he was working for President DalGaard. It was all a mess as far as Devlin was concerned, and he didn’t understand much of it. All he knew was that he and the unconscious man bound and tied on the horse next to him were the only survivors of the day, and that The Book of Time was now in Devlin’s possession.
Devlin didn’t like the idea of handing one of The Ancient Books over to the government like it was nothing. He figured it might be better in the hands of the president than the hands of the Warlord or Slaughter Okoro. Not to mention, The Book of Death would be impossible to find, and The Book of Life was safely guarded as far as Devlin knew, so there was little chance of the president doing much with just one book.
He thought about that day a while back, when he’d met with the Foreseer. She had told Devlin that he would become the greatest of the Rangers. Now he knew why. With one of The Ancient Books in his saddle, and the new Warlord in custody, Devlin’s training was complete.
Nate
Winter, 903 A.O.M.
There was a glumness within the Sentinel Keep at Dragon Scale Mountain. Confusion. Anger. Sadness. All of these emotions ran through the Sentinels. Nate could see it in their eyes as he told them all about what had happened.
They were gathered in the meeting hall. None of them sat proudly behind their podiums, looking down on him as if he were some straggler begging for a meeting with the all-important Sentinels. Instead, they sat at a table together as Nate recounted everything that had happened.
Nate sat on one end, with Gwen and Elise closest to him on either side. To the left was the elf, Jandar. To the right, the elf, Laegren. And at the very end, directly across from Nate was the dwarf, Hoccar. Jesse, sat next to Alban, Rachel, and Marum who were on chairs just away from the table.
Hoccar led the meeting with specific questions, looking for very specific answers, and Nate told them everything. That is, everything but about the old man who had fought Kellen. He told them that the man existed, but he left out the part about him being Nate’s father. It was a point any of them might have found interesting, but Nate didn’t think it would be particularly useful to them. He didn’t think it would make any more sense to the Sentinels than it did to him.
The fact haunted him, however. It was unnerving to say the least—to meet your dying father who was supposed to already be dead. And there was no question that James R. Cole was dead before Nate saw him in The Book of Life. Nate had seen his father die both times. And both times, the sight had made Nate want to puke.
The relic key rested on the table in front of Nate. He didn’t really know what to do with it, and the Sentinels did not provide a solution. They did, however, suggest that he and the others with him stay within the Sentinel Keep for an undetermined amount of time. All four of them were technically wanted criminals. Marum wasn’t welcomed among the gray elves nor among men. Rachel and Alban had been accomplices in her escape. And Nate was not only a criminal for helping Marum, but he would quickly become the most famous man in Galamore. There had been witnesses on the train who had seen him with the relic key. Droman had seen him. Posts had already been sent.
“It would have been best to have been more secretive about obtaining the key,” Hoccar said, “but we understand that the whole situation has been…strenuous.”
Strenuous didn’t even begin to describe the last few weeks. The last two months. Nate wasn’t a stranger to stressful situations, but it had been non-stop.
He listened as Gwen and Elise told of their battle in Lorne against the ravagers. Nate had now seen them up close and couldn’t imagine a host of them charging at him. The thought made him shiver.
“They are defeated for the time being,” Gwen said, “but the gnomes are fearful of more attacks in the coming future. They are working hard to build defenses within the caves to at least buy them some time.”
Hoccar nodded and the room fell silent for a moment, each person lost in thought, wondering what was to come next.
“Do we know,” Hoccar said, breaking the silence, “what reason Kellen had for doing what he did?” He looked all around the table and then at Marum.
Marum sat straighter and shook her head. “I never knew of Droman’s plans with Kellen. He didn’t tell me a lot of things. The reason I tried to help him get The Book of Time in the first place was because he said he wanted some bargaining power against President DalGaard. That was all.”
“So, you know where The Book of Time is, don’t you?” Nate said.
Marum shook her head quickly. “I wish I did. I know it is located somewhere to the northeast, but I never got to it before I was caught. All I can tell you is where to start looking.”
“Then that is what we must do,” Hoccar said.
“No.” All heads turned to look at Gwen. “We cannot simply go after the book right now. Nathaniel needs to be trained.”
“Trained?” He shook his head. “In what way?”
“Going into The Book of Time will take you to a very dangerous part of Galamore’s history,” Gwen said. “I know this because I have seen you before.”
“What do you mean?” Nate stared at her, his mind feeling foggy.
“I mean that you and I have met,” she answered. “Just over 900 years ago during the peak of the Great Dragon Wars. Your guns have helped you this time. But back then they didn’t make guns or bullets. Back then they used swords and shields. Bows and arrows. If you want to survive The Book of Time, you are going to have to become a fighter like the soldiers of that day.”
Nate stared at the relic key in front of him, unable to comprehend what mission lay ahead, though too tired to be worried about it. Finally, he nodded. “I will do whatever I have to do.”
Nate stood in the library at the end of the hall. There were no guards keeping him from leaving his quarters or to stop him from going anywhere he pleased within the keep. Things were different now. Nate was the Keeper and that meant something around here. For the first time in a long while, Nate was seen as a person to be respected, not as some vile criminal deserving of a noose. It was a good feeling, though this hadn’t come without making some enemies along the way. But he had also made some friends. At least, for now he had.
Alban, Rachel, and Marum had nowhere to go, so they were given a pass to stay within the Sentinel Keep until it could be figured out what they were to do next. It wasn’t an option for any of them to go back to their homes, though Alban doubted anyone was looking for them. Still, neither of them wanted to risk it, and Nate understood completely.
Nate stared out the large floor-to-ceiling window in the library. As he gazed out of it, he could see the plains of Galamore that he’d traveled. Things would have gone a lot more smoothly if the weather had cooperated, but things seemed to be looking up now. He still wasn’t so sure about this training Gwen had spoken of, however. He was comfortable with a gun at his side and didn’t care too much for the idea of using medieval weapons.
Behind Nate, and at the other end of the library, the door opened slowly. He turned to see Rachel walking toward him and he smiled at her. She stood next to him as they stared out the window at the white, flat surface of Galamore. She slipped her hand into his and leaned her head against his shoulder.
His feelings for Rachel were a strange turn of events, but he didn’t fight them. He thought he probably should have, but he didn’t. Instead, he squeezed her hand tighter and kissed the top of her head.
It was nice to feel this kind of affection again. Even if it was only for a short while. He hadn’t felt this way since…since Abigail, though he wouldn’t let his feelings get that strong. Never again. It hurt too much whenever it was taken away. Nate wasn’t the man he used to be. He was hardened and he liked it that way. A woman in his life would tear that apart. And he knew he couldn’t afford to let that happen.
Still, he held Rachel’s hand, thankful for her.
With his other hand, he felt the relic key in his coat pocket. The Book of Time was out there somewhere. So was The Book of Death. Nate would travel to the ends of the world to find them. Along the way, he’d search for his brother, and eventually take him home.
But now, with the warmth of Rachel against his side, he wasn’t so sure why he wanted to leave. Truth was, there wasn’t much for him outside of Galamore. But like the outlaw he was, he looked at it as a job he needed to finish. Tyler Montgomery was out there somewhere. The man had answers to the mystery of this magical world, and Nate intended to get those answers. Most of all, he wanted to know why his father had been in The Book of Life.
Nate didn’t want to accept the fact that he might not ever know. That was part of taking on jobs outside of the law. An outlaw like Nate didn’t like to ask questions, but this was different. This was something no one in their right mind could ever believe, yet here he was, living it.
This job had become more complex than Nate would have ever imagined. Of course, it wasn’t about the money anymore. It was about surviving. It was about finding his brother and getting back home. Only now, as he held close to Rachel, he didn’t want to go back.
As Keeper of the books, Galamore was his home.
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Books by Jason D. Morrow
Prototype
Prototype D
Prototype Exodus
The Starborn Ascension
Anywhere But Here
Away From The Sun
Into The Shadows
The Starborn Uprising
Out Of Darkness
If It Kills Me
Even In Death
The Marenon Chronicles
The Deliverer
The Gatekeeper
The Reckoning
ading books on Archive.
The Outlaw's Quest (Keeper of the Books, Book 2) Page 32