by Travis Bughi
“Oh come on!” Abe said, rubbing his shoulder. “I forget that people can’t see me under this thing. And ouch, by the way. That hurt. Since when did you get so strong?”
“Shooting a bow has that effect,” Adelpha growled out, “and she’s right. I was about a half second away from putting you into the ground. Then we would have been dealing with a banshee.”
“Well, hey, I’m sorry,” Abe said. “I just got excited, alright? I haven’t seen you in months.”
He said this last part to Emily and opened his arms for another hug. Emily gave Abe one last disgruntled look then sighed, relented, and hugged her older brother again.
“I missed you, too,” Emily replied and then stepped back again. “But my word, Abe! You’re a gunslinger now?”
“I am,” Abe confirmed, laughing in disbelief.
“How?” Emily asked, looking him over with mouth open in shock. “I mean, how could you afford any of this?”
“You remember the night before you left the farm?” Abe asked. “When Father took me out to speak to me alone? It was to tell me that he didn’t sell John Bagster’s guns. He told me I had nine bullets to try and become a gunslinger, and after that, he’d have no choice but to sell them. He also told me not to tell Mother any of this, unless I made it.”
“That’s amazing!” Emily smiled and laughed. “I’ll bet Mother is furious!”
“Oh, she was livid when she first found out!” Abe stressed. “Anyway, eight bullets later, I downed a behemoth with a lucky shot and got a rich farm owner to pay me for it. And the rest, as you can see, is history.”
Abe opened his arms to expose his clothing, and then twisted back and forth to move his cloak and reveal the holstered guns.
“I’ll bet Nicholas is angry, too,” Emily laughed. “Where is my younger brother?”
At the mention of Nicholas, Abe’s cheery mood disappeared, and he looked away.
“Abe?” Emily asked fearfully. “Where’s Nicholas?”
Abe bit his lower lip and then tilted his head back down. The shadows cast by his wide-brimmed hat concealed his face again and brought an ominous tone to his next words.
“You’d better come inside.”
* * *
Emily’s younger brother, Nicholas, had left one month after she did. After Emily left to become an amazon and Abe revealed he was going to be a gunslinger, Nicholas had packed a change of clothes, some bread, and some water and slipped out in the middle of the night unnoticed. When Emily’s parents awoke in the morning, they had found their youngest child gone.
Abe had tried to hunt him down on a unicorn. Emily’s father, Paul, had ridden out as well, but neither of them found the boy. They asked the gnomes, the neighboring families, other travelers, and gunslingers, but Nicholas had remained hidden from sight. Not even the Dylans had seen him. The vast open plains, an unending land of yellow, could swallow up anyone or anything that didn’t wish to be found. The only bit of information was a lucky tip from a gnome who lived northeast of them and claimed he might have seen a young human male traveling cautiously through the tall grass. Once Abe discovered this, he was sure his younger brother was headed to Lucifan.
However, Nicholas had been just as hard to follow in Lucifan as he had been on the Great Plains. For only being fourteen years old, Nicholas had proven to be an elusive person. Abe traversed the city, spending nearly all the money he’d made in his short time as a gunslinger tipping individuals who could offer any useful information.
Some pirates at The Kraken’s Eye said they remembered a scrawny young lad coming in, looking to be taken on, but he’d been handed a sack full of leviathan bones with some meat left over and kicked out of the tavern—literally. The Knights of Lucifan had on record a young farmer boy who had requested to join the Knighthood. However, as one cannot petition to join their ranks, they instead gave him one night’s free stay at their barracks and a hot meal before sending him away. A food merchant vaguely remembered feeling sorry for a half-starved kid and giving him some leftover behemoth meat that had been mostly chewed to the bone by a viking. A leprechaun said he had hired a homeless boy to shovel unicorn manure for a day, but couldn’t recall where the lad went afterward.
The last information Abe had uncovered was from the very blacksmith that sold Abe his gunslinger bullets.
“He told me,” he said now to Emily, “that Nicholas had come asking for any free weapons. Obviously, blacksmiths don’t make free weapons, so next Nicholas asked him for work. My blacksmith told him no, but to try the docks. There’s always work to be had at the docks, apparently. So, I went to the docks, and that’s where the trail went cold. No one remembered taking him on or even seeing him there.”
Adelpha, Emily, Abe, and Emily’s parents, Paul and Mariam, were seated around the table in the Stout home. Emily had already told her mother about Chara’s death, and now Abe was finishing his tale of Nicholas. The sorrowful mood hung heavy in the air.
“I have no idea what happened to him,” Abe said, “but I don’t think he’s in Lucifan anymore.”
“Well, maybe I’ll do my own search when I get there,” Emily replied, trying to sound hopeful. “I can ask the angels. Maybe they’ll have an idea.”
“I hope so,” Mariam whispered.
A few moments of awkward silence crept by. The conversation had been dark from the moment Emily had returned, and all her dreams of a happy family reunion had been shattered. Now instead, Emily was trying to deal with the guilt she felt for Nicholas. Emily recognized his reasons for leaving immediately. After seeing his older brother and sister become something he’d always wanted to be, Nicholas had left to take what would not be given to him.
It made Emily’s throat swell, and she’d have gone on drowning in her shame if her father hadn’t noticed and attempted to distract his daughter.
“I know my children,” he said to Emily. “If Nicholas wasn’t doing well, he’d be sitting right here, right now. He’s a Stout, remember?”
Emily cracked a smile as she stared at the wooden table.
“There, see?” Paul said. “We’ll find Nicholas in time. If I’ve learned anything from trying to track him down, it’s that we’ve all underestimated him, but there’s nothing we can do about that now, so tell us about your journey. Did you like Themiscyra?”
He was speaking of the amazon homeland, deep in the jungles to the far southwest.
“For the short time that I was there, yes,” Emily said. “It was great. I got to try a mango.”
“Are they as good as Mother claims?” Abe asked, also attempting to partake of the lighter mood.
“Heh,” Emily said and cracked a smile, “try for yourself.”
Emily reached into her pack and pulled out the mangos she’d kept safe for the journey. Adelpha had helped Emily to properly pack them in Themiscyra so that they would not rot by the time they reached the Stout farm. She shared the fruit with her family, and that helped to alleviate the stress they were feeling. Abe’s and Paul’s eyes lit up the instant they bit into the slices of fruit, and Mariam warmed to the taste of pleasant memories.
It seemed a simple joy, the taste of fruit, even if far from fresh, but a lifetime of meat and bread made simple things into wonders. All of Emily’s mangos were devoured without hesitation.
“Oh, Emily,” Paul said once the conversation had moved on. “Do you remember that minotaur we had on the farm the day you left? Bloodhoof? Well, odd thing, but he came by looking for work just the other day. I told him we weren’t in any need now that Abraham was a gunslinger, and then he asked how you were doing.”
“Really?” Emily was licking her fingers clean of mango juice.
“Yes,” Paul said. “Apparently you made quite the impression on him. But I told him you were an amazon now and that I didn’t expect to see you for at least another six months. Then he nodded and left.”
“Well then,” Emily smiled. “I guess I’ll have to pay him a visit as well when I reach Lucifan.”
/> “Ugh,” Adelpha groaned, “another stop? How many people do you know?”
“Hey,” Emily countered, “you never know. These people may be able to help us.”
The rest of the conversation managed to stay light. Emily asked her father about the crops, though there wasn’t much to say. With Abe’s new employment, the crops were nothing more than a hobby for Paul now. He still hadn’t purchased a metal plow, though, much to Mariam’s dissatisfaction. Abe gave a more detailed account of his new career and passed his guns to the amazons, though Adelpha took a lackluster interest in them. Abe appeared hurt by her lack of interest, but Emily made up for it with abounding enthusiasm. Emily, as well, did some sharing of her own and told a fascinated Abe about the wondrous creatures she’d encountered in Angor and Themiscyra.
Day passed to night, and darkness slowly took over. Those around the table began to retire, beginning with Adelpha stepping outside to try and smoke her new pipe, followed by Abe who went to stable his unicorn for the night. Next, Paul said he needed to get some sleep, but when Emily went to leave with her father, Mariam’s hand settled on her arm.
“Stay awhile,” her mother said.
Emily looked to her father who saw the exchange but said nothing. He nodded to her and turned away. When he’d left the room, Mariam gave her hand back.
“You know,” Emily’s mother said after a moment of silence, “this is exactly what I was afraid of.”
“What is?”
“Oh come now, Daughter.” Mariam’s eyes were piercing. “You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“Is this about Nicholas?”
“This is about you!”
Mariam slammed an angry fist on the table, and Emily jumped. Her mother’s fury was nothing new, but it was never pleasant and rarely provoked so quickly. Mariam looked at her with such intensity that Emily couldn’t even meet the gaze. Like a child, she kept her eyes down to shelter her psyche from shame, and her stomach twisted into so many knots she thought she might vomit.
“You’re worried about me?” Emily asked, voice thick.
“Of course I’m worried about you!” Mariam leaned in. “This is exactly why I didn’t speak about my past. Now Nicholas is gone, probably sold into slavery to work the mines in Khaz Mal, assuming he’s still alive. When Abe goes out, do you want to know what comes to my mind? John Bagster. Do you remember the behemoth flipping him into the air? That’s the legacy your brother has inherited. But even that is tolerable in comparison to you. You, Emily, look at you. Look what’s become of you, my only daughter. You’re on an errand of revenge after cheating death more times in the past six months than you ever would have in all your years combined working on this farm. Did you think even for one second that I wasn’t going to say anything? Did you?”
“Mother, please.” Emily’s eyes had begun to water with tears. “You have to understand.”
“Understand what?” Mariam demanded. “Understand why it’s so damn important for you to run around trying to kill yourself! Why can’t you just forget this and stay here? We miss you. I miss you.”
“I can’t,” Emily stammered. “I. . .”
But she stopped there, choking back a flood of emotion. Emily’d had a feeling this was coming. She already felt guilty enough about Nicholas without having to bear the weight of her parents’ fears as well. But here they were, being poured down upon her in an unrelenting storm. Even though Emily’s father hadn’t said anything, she’d seen it in his eyes when he left the room. He was worried, too, but would say nothing. He could never, never in the world, say anything that would stifle what his children wanted to do with their lives, even if it exposed them to danger.
Mariam did not suffer this restriction, though. She knew firsthand the horrors this world could provide and would gladly crush any dream that sought to lure her children to them.
And in that goal, she had failed. She had failed so truly, so considerably, that now the least dangerous activity among her children was Abe’s profession of shooting behemoths at point blank range, where a single twitch of his wrist could spell his doom. Already Emily had died once, given another chance at life by a miracle from an angel. It was a chance she would never receive again and stood as proof of all the fears every mother bears for her young.
With tear-streaked cheeks, Emily absorbed all of this through her mother’s eyes. Mariam collapsed onto the table with her head buried in her folded arms. Emily hesitated at first, but then reached out a comforting hand and placed it on her mother’s back.
“Mother,” Emily started, and then stopped to choke back another flood of tears. “I’m so sorry I can’t stay. I know you’re worried about me, and I know you just want what’s best for me, but, if I stay here, I’ll be miserable. It’s not me, Mother; I can’t do it. I have to go. I know this makes no sense. Even I know it’s crazy, but I have to leave.”
“And your plan of revenge?” Mariam sighed. “How am I to sleep knowing that you’ll be stalking a killer?”
“I don’t know,” Emily replied. “But, tell me, would you let her go? Would you let Heliena sail away after she killed Chara?”
At the mention of Emily’s grandmother, Mariam went silent. A long pause crept by as Mariam took a deep breath and then let it out slowly.
“No,” she finally said, “I’d kill her, too.”
Emily’s mother lifted her head, and Emily pulled her hand back. The tears stopped falling, and Emily breathed normally again. They looked at each other—mother to daughter, in a way of understanding that Emily had never thought possible—and said nothing until Mariam stood from the table.
“You should get some sleep now,” she said, “and I’m coming with you tomorrow to Lucifan.”
Chapter 2
Needless to say, Adelpha was not pleased. As Mariam began packing for the journey, Adelpha invited Emily to join her outside.
“If I had known this was going to happen,” Adelpha muttered as the door shut behind them.
Adelpha tried to stop on the back porch, but Emily knew better than that. Emily kept walking, down the stairs and out a few feet at least, where the winds of the Great Plains would help to muffle their voices. She stopped in the grass and turned to face her new opponent.
“This isn’t a family picnic,” Adelpha started. “Your mother doesn’t know what my sister looks like. We’re going after a coldblooded killer, do you understand that? Trust me, I know.”
Emily looked Adelpha dead in the eyes, meeting the stubbornness with her own. Emily had to be stubborn here because, in reality, Adelpha would be easier to dissuade than Mariam. It also helped that Emily had anticipated this conversation, so she came with an arrow nocked.
Figuratively, of course.
“Look, Heliena has allies, doesn’t she?” Emily replied, keeping her voice hushed and hoping it would encourage Adelpha to do the same. “So perhaps we’d do better with some help as well. Have you thought of that?”
“This is not a trip for the old and the rusty,” Adelpha scowled.
Emily bit her lower lip, trying to keep her own temper in check. Adelpha may well have been the only friend Emily ever had, but she didn’t always make it easy.
“Would you have said that to Chara? Because that’s her daughter you just insulted.”
Adelpha’s eyebrows twitched, and her face softened just slightly, but still her teeth were clenched. She paused for a moment, then opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by the loud creak of someone opening the porch door.
It was Abe.
He walked out of the house in full gunslinger attire. His spurs clicked as his leather boots made contact with the old wood, and his face hid beneath shadows as he donned his hat. His overcoat swayed behind him, flashing his six-shooters for the world to see before catching up and hiding them from view. Now, as he turned his head toward the amazons, his shadowy face gave off an untouchable aura.
“I’m going, too,” he said.
Emily turned to Adelpha, expec
ting her to shout out in disagreement, but was surprised to see her anger dissolve further. Adelpha kept her gaze on Abe, though, clinging to defiance with unflinching eyes. But her fire was fading, and Emily moved to snuff it out altogether.
“Are we done here?” Emily asked.
Adelpha’s eyes flicked from Abe to Emily, then back to Abe, then back to Emily. She paused, took a deep breath, and then relaxed with a final sigh of defeat.
“Alright,” she said, “but I still don’t like it.”
“I’ll make a note of it,” Emily muttered, then left to begin packing.
The group kept to themselves until they were ready to leave. Paul alone stayed behind on the Stout farm to watch over things. No tone of embarrassment marred his voice when he said that it was better this way. He wasn’t a fighter of any sort and didn’t want to get in the way. Emily thought her father might be sad to see the rest of his family leave for Lucifan on a dangerous journey, but he appeared to be at ease. It seemed that Paul felt better knowing that his daughter wasn’t going alone and that there would be others to watch her back.
He gave them a warm hug before they left, everyone except Adelpha, of course. She was already walking northeast towards Lucifan at a brisk pace. Emily let her go without interruption, knowing that some time alone would soothe the pain of swallowing so much pride.
As they turned to follow, Mariam took Chara’s bow from Emily and began to cut a batch of arrows as they started their walk towards Lucifan. Emily was happy to help her, as the wood they carried to make the arrows was unpleasantly heavy.
“I guess that spare wood Paul bought did come in handy after all,” Emily’s mother said. “I should be able to almost completely stock a quiver with this.”
“You know, that’s the one thing I hate about being a gunslinger,” Abe said, tapping his pistols. “My ammunition has to be custom made by a specialty blacksmith in Lucifan. The metal is imported from Khaz Mal and then smelted and made into bullets in Lucifan. If I run out of bullets, I’m done for if I don’t have enough money to purchase more. Or if, as unlikely as it is, my blacksmith is killed or robbed. What then? I don’t know of another blacksmith who can make such things, though I’m sure they exist. No, it’s much safer for me to buy in bulk. I haven’t been to Lucifan in a month, and I’ve still got a healthy supply of ammunition.”