Table of Contents – (spoilers)
“Okay, quickly now,” Choke said as they mounted up and rode a little ways from Lucky’s Tavern, “which way: up the North Ridge back the way we came? Or straight back on the road?”
“How is the road back, Gabe? Lots of nooks and crannies perfect for ambush, I’d guess,” Peep asked.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“But there’s no shortage of trails they could get up onto the North Ridge on, yes?”
“That’s so, too, Miss Otilla,” Gabe answered.
“So the question is: do we wanna thunder run the road to spring an ambush and take our chances? Assuming he’s set up, of course,” Peep said.
“We have to assume he has,” Pinch said. “And I’d rather not take my chances with them.”
“Agreed. These are skilled wilderness scouts and archers. If possible, we want to fight them on ground of our choosing,” Choke said.
“Well, if we’re trying to avoid them,” Gabe said, “the best way to do that would be to head over top of the North Ridge and down into Cowslip Holler. Then we can come into Bristlehump from there.”
“Okay,” Peep said. “And it can’t hurt to have a scout of all that anyway. Let’s do it.”
“Agreed,” Choke said.
The Pekot Bunch carefully worked their way back up the trail to the North Ridge and then down the other side into the bush on the north side of Cowslip Holler. Once they were down the ridge, there was quite a bit of scrubby, swampy forest to get through before they reached the trading post at the end of Cowslip Holler’s cleared land. The mosquitos were horrible, but they turned out to be the worst hazard the squad faced, and Gabe guided them unerringly through. It took about an hour.
When it became obvious they were unlikely to encounter anything serious, the squad began discussing what had gone on that day.
“So, I reckon Sneed and his boys were as surprised to see us as we were him, huh?” Peep said.
“It seemed that way,” Choke replied.
“So what was he getting at with yar Pekot school there?” Peep asked.
“Well, he was trying to goad us into attacking him,” Choke answered. “Which he almost succeeded in. Knuckle, I understand that he made you angry. He made me angry, too. But attacking him was precisely what he wanted. We need to rise above that kind of nonsense.”
Knuckle was set to reply, but Peep cut him off:
“Yeah, it kinda surprised me that Sneed thought he could take us in a straight-up throwdown. That don’t seem his style.”
“Well, he’s a fuckin idiot, then. We’d a fucked them up!” Knuckle exclaimed.
“Don’t count on that. Whatever that man is, an idiot is not it,” Choke said.
“Yeah. All three of his boys were set on their bows, and he had eyes only for you, Knuckle. He was more than willing to throw down right then,” Peep said.
“Well, if that’s so, then let us be glad he has enough respect for the law to avoid attempting to murder us in broad daylight,” Choke said.
“Yeah, we have that going for us, at least,” Pinch said.
“But there’s more to it than just him trying to get Knuckle to attack him,” Peep said. “It’s how he was going about it.”
“What, the ass-fucking stuff?” Knuckle said. “That’s what everybody jokes about with schools like ours.”
“Yeah, I suppose they do. But his thrust seemed more pointed than that. So to speak. And it wasn’t him that brought up the ass play. That was Thad. Sneed just said that what he heard was going on at the Pekot school is nothing to be proud of. And then Thad started in on all the ass-play. Like he knew exactly where that was going,” Peep said.
“Yeah, so?” Pinch said. “Like Knuckle said, that’s what folks always joke around about.”
“Yeah. Maybe. But not any more than they joke about army or lumberjack camps or whatever else when there’s just a bunch of men around. That had the feel of a specific rumor. And Thad jumped on it like he knew exactly where Sneed was going.” Peep said. Then she snapped her fingers: “Yeah! And that bitch, Neva, I gave the smack in the mouth to, at Rodolf’s place, she was going on about that, too. She said ye guys were from the school for buggery boys, or something. That was pretty funny, actually.”
“Yeah? So? So everyone around thinks we’re ass-bandits. So what?” Pinch said.
“But, no they don’t. Or, they didn’t. Not like that. Gabe: you hear any talk or jokes about these three being cornholers like that?” Peep asked.
“Uhhhh…” Gabe said.
“Go on. Ye can answer,” Peep said.
“Well, no. Not that I can remember.”
“So when the Chisel come through here and offered a bunch of coin on us and everyone started talking and gossiping about us; about this, that, and the other, the subject of ass-fuckery never came up?”
“No, Miss Otilla. I don’t reckon it did,” Gabe said, still looking deeply uncomfortable.
“What are you getting at here, Peep?” Choke asked.
“Well that stuff was not what anybody around here was saying about ye, and now, suddenly, it is. And Thad made it pretty clear that he doesn’t like Sneed, so I don’t think the two of them have been sitting around the snuggle cuddle pit swapping rumors about ye.”
“So what are you getting at, Peep?” Choke asked more pointedly.
“That when I was up at Goldie’s camp, him and Horsecock and Orcstabber were all joking about that Dugnut fuck who got kicked outta the Raven’s Pekot boys’ school for getting too much boy ass. Remember? I told ye that. Dugnut had been hanging around, but he’d fucked off before Orcstabber brought me there.”
“Okay. So?” Knuckle said ponderously.
“So, Knucklehead, we got that sick fuck wandering around out there in the northern bush bragging about how he ass-fucked all the boys at the Pekot school. The same guy that Choke earned his handle choking half to death. Who got kicked out of yar Pekot school for actually being a sick fuck. And he’s out there, doing whatever sick shit he does, and then everyone around starts taking about us. About how we killed Orcstabber, Goldy, and Horsecock. All his buddies. Killed by the kid who nearly ended him. And now, suddenly, Neva, the bitch with bandit family up Moondark Hills way, and Sneed and his cats who hail from there, too, start giggling about how ye boys are into man ass. Ye think it’s a coincidence?” Peep said.
“Okay. So people are talking. Rumors are spreading. What are we supposed to do about it?” Pinch asked.
Peep shrugged. “I dunno. Nothing, I suppose. But I wouldn’t be surprised if yar old friend Dugnut gets put into play here at some point.”
“Well, that is disturbing food for thought, at the very least,” Choke said.
“Dugnut needs to fuckin die, is what it fuckin means,” Knuckle said.
“Yes, we’re all agreed on that, Knuckle,” Peep said. “But the ambush predator that needs us to die knows we have strong feelings about it. So, what I’m saying is: if Dugnut suddenly shows up like a goat tied up in a clearing, let’s not charge in like a bunch of meatheads. Yes?”
“This is a good point,” Pinch said.
“Thank ye,” Peep grinned.
“However, while we’re discussing this, I’m not so sure about our plan,” said Pinch.
“What plan is that?” asked Peep.
“About pushing Dixon and then going to Spitzer to report him so that whoever is around tries to ambush us. I mean, we are in this swampland right now because we wanted to avoid the chance of being ambushed by Sneed and his boys. Which I get. But isn’t that exactly what we’re doing in our big clever plan with Dixon here?” Pinch said.
“Yeah, I hear ye. But it aint exactly the same thing,” Peep said.
“How so?”
“I’ll tell ye later,” Peep said, shooting a significant glance Gabe’s way.
Gabe caught the gesture. “Oh, come on! What the fuck! I aint earned yar trust yet?”
“Not like this ye aint. And ye’ve been a bit hit or miss with the info, lad.”
“Yeah? How?” Gabe snapped, actually daring to glare at Peep.
“Oh, we’re gonna get into this? Ye growing a pair on me now? Okay, let’s see: ye didn’t tell us the Outfit has five gold on each of our heads. Ye didn’t know that Tully’s boys, Edwin and Fernand, were riding with the Chisel. And then, today, we rode into Bristlenook none the wiser that there’s a fuckin witch up in that holler with a spy bird. As far as local talent goes, I think we’re getting the short end of the fuckin stick!”
“Oh come on! I am sorry, Miss Otilla. But, ye didn’t ask. And I’m hungover as shit today. She’s just a midwife. Why would I tell ye about her?”
“We didn’t ask? What did I say our last go around with this shit? I need to ask about every fuckin thing? Is there a bugbear den under the church shitter? Do you know where Sneed’s camp is? Does Dugnut have a fuck hut with yar brother nearby? Ye need to tell us what we need to know without us having to ask. Fuck!”
“I know. I’m sorry, Miss Otilla. I’ll do better.”
“Ye’d fuckin better. Ye aint helping yar case on being someone we share our plans with.”
“I know. I’m sorry. But ye have to understand, Bristlenook is not a place our folk go. We are good Stron-fearing folk. We don’t go out that way, and we don’t have much to do with them that do.”
“Oh, ye don’t say.”
“I did tell ye about this way over the North Ridge.”
“Yeah, as a fuckin sign post, ye’ve been a real fuckin help to us,” Peep said.
“Well, it’s not like there actually are any fuckin sign posts around here,” said Pinch.
“Okay, Peep, that’s enough. Give him a break, would you?” Choke said.
“Uh-huh. Sure thing, boss.”
They rode on in silence then, until they reached what seemed an important intersection of trails at a little rise with a large boulder at its top.
“Okay, this is Big Rock,” Gabe said.
“Oh, no shit! Ye people really give yar brains a workout coming up with the names around here, huh?” Peep said.
Gabe gave her a wounded look before he continued: “If we go left, that heads back up to Bristlehump and the north gate. This bigger trail to the right is gonna hit the Cowslip Crick right away, just upstream of Tully’s.”
“Oh, no shit,” Peep said, perking up earnestly at this. “Right! Yeah, this is the trail that Dixon took us to see Barrelmender on, that first day.”
“It is?” Knuckle said.
“Fuckin rights. Pay attention, man! And that means that when Dixon slips off from the watchtower to get his dick wet, this is the spot he’d be coming though.”
“Yes, Miss Otilla,” Gabe said.
“I’m surprised they don’t call it Dicksuck Rock,” Knuckle giggled.
“Well, actually, it is a bit of a rendezvous spot,” Gabe said, cheering up a little.
“Oh, ye got some action here did ye? Ye dog!” Knuckle laughed.
Knuckle, Gabe, and Pinch continued to banter quietly about the sexual exploits one could get up to as a young man at the Big Rock. While they did, Peep dismounted and went up the little rise from the trail to climb up on the boulder itself. From there, she had a good look around.
“What did you see?” Choke asked her once she had rejoined them.
“Well, this is a wheel hub for trails, yeah? So, that way goes back through the swamps to the North Ridge further up,” she pointed out the small trail they had come in from. “That way’s up to the north gate, and that way’s to the crick and Tully’s. How far is it to the crick, Gabe?”
“About a hundred meters, or so.”
“Right. And this last trail: that must head along this side of the crick to the trading post.”
“Yes. Exactly, Miss Otilla.”
“Alright. Fuckin A,” Peep said. “Why don’t ye boys head back to the church and chill out? I wanna hang back here and check things out a bit. Have a scout.”
“Okay. What are you thinking?” Choke asked.
“Well, Bob said that Sneed spends his time in town at Tully’s, right? So, he’s back from a long fuckin ride to and from Spitzer and he just wanted a drink at Lucky’s before heading to his bush camp, which is probably north of Bristlenook. But we fucked that up for him. So I’m thinking he came back here for that drink.”
“That, or he just told us he was going to town and then went south to throw us off. Then, set up an ambush. Or, looped back around to head to camp and get some rest,” Pinch said.
“Sure. No doubt. But, there’s one sure way to know if he’s at Tully’s: creep up and see if their horses are there. And I wanna know. And I don’t wanna be creeping around with the three of ye in tow. So ye should go back home.”
“That’s fine,” Choke said. “But assuming he is at Tully’s, what then?”
“Well, if I was him, and I was at Tully’s and had my camp in the bush up by Bristlenook, when I was heading home I’d come this way by Big Rock and up to the North Ridge.”
“Okay… and if that’s what he does, then what is your plan?” Choke asked.
“Then, I’ll see what happens,” Peep grinned.
“Yes. That’s what I thought,” Choke said. He thought for a while before speaking again: “Just so we all understand the situation. I am the magistrate’s apparitor, and you, Peep, Knuckle, and Pinch are my deputies. Sneed and his men are, officially, at least, the legal security team for the Baron’s freight yard here. Neither we nor they have any legal reason to attack each other. If anyone does engage in violence, the other side can then engage fully in the name of self-defense.”
“Yeah, assuming the ones attacked can clearly identify anybody in evidence under a spell of truth,” Peep said.
“Yes. But do know that when this all goes bad, it will surely not be Barrelmender that will ultimately be taking that evidence. All parties will be held to account and the truth shall be discovered,” Choke said.
“Yeah. And so far we’ve been totally correct, and Sneed killed Rodolf and stuck a fishhook through his lips.”
“We have no evidence to know for a fact that he did. And,” out of view of Gabe, Choke laid two fingers across his left arm to signal the rank of corporal to Peep, “it might be argued that we haven’t been entirely correct. Yes?”
“Whatever. When Morrenthall, or whoever, starts digging into this, it’ll all come out, right? Even if things get fucky from here on, for whatever reasons, then the law is gonna fall on our side. Sure as shit.”
“Most likely it will. All I am saying is that we have to keep these things in mind at all times. So be careful,” Choke said.
“Yeah. I will. Thanks, Choke,” Peep said, seemingly earnest.
“So we’re gonna leave ye here and go up to the north gate?” Pinch asked. “Are we sure Sneed aint set up on us there?”
Peep pondered this and then nodded. “Yeah, good point. That would be some next-level mindreading shit, though.”
“Well, not really. We left town out that gate in front of all the soldiers. And we just met Nester the ale drinking magpie. Do we wanna gamble that he’s the only activated critter around here that could be spying on us?” Pinch said.
“Oh. Right. No shit. Good call. Okay, I’ll head up to the gate with ye and then come back down.”
The squad went up the trail to the North Ridge and Bristlehump’s north gate with full caution. Pinch and Peep alternated working point as usual, taking their time to go slowly. The well-used trail was wide and clear with several good points for ambush on its rise up to the ridge. However, all the ambush spots were unoccupied and the squad made it back to Bristlehump without incident.
When they got within sight of the palisade, Peep reined up.
“Okay, that’s it,” she said. “You guys should go in the south gate. No sense letting them soldiers know I’m not with ye if we can help it. And when I come back, I’ll do the same. See to it that it’s open. And Pinch: how’s about lending me that bandit horn, just in case? If something happens, I’ll give it a toot. Ye should be able to hear it.”
“Alright. Happy hunting,” Pinch said as he handed the horn over.
Peep secured the horn on her saddle and held her fist up for each of the squad to bump with theirs as they rode past her. When it was Gabe’s turn, she winked at him and punched his fist just a little harder than was necessary.
“Ye stay real close to home until I get back, Gabe. No wandering off, ye hear?” Peep said.
“Understood, Miss Otilla. I just wanna get some sleep.”
“Good. Ye do that where the boys can watch ye do it. Okay, go on now. See ye soon.”
With this, Peep wheeled her horse and headed back on down to Big Rock. With her shortbow in hand, she kept Gorgeous Boy to a slow walk. It was now late afternoon and the day was warm. The forest was alive with birds and insects going about their spring business. With the seed of Pinch’s paranoia about animal spies planted in her mind, Peep glowered at this bird or that, but soon decided she had to let that caution go, lest she go mad or miss noticing a real threat.
At Big Rock, Peep took the northwest trail to the trading post. She rode down that for a couple of hundred meters before turning back and returning slowly. She took her time finding what she was looking for: a spot in cover with a view of Big Rock. About eighty meters out, Peep found exactly that, just a few meters off the trail in a little stand of poplar trees. She carefully led Gorgeous Boy into the trees and tethered him there. Then she walked back to Big Rock, taking her time to make sure that the horse was not visible. He was not.
With her spot found, Peep slipped into the bush and worked her way to Cowslip Creek a short ways upstream of Tully’s. When she reached the cleared fields of Rodolf’s farm, she was disappointed to find that she did not have an angle to see the front of the whorehouse where the horses would be tethered. Muttering to herself, she moved downstream just inside the treeline to where the building backed right up to the creek. She watched Tully’s for a few minutes. There were the sounds of some fucking coming from its open windows, but she could not determine who was there. Even so, there was no one keeping watch out back, so she decided to risk going over for a better look.
Peep crossed the little creek in a low crouch and jogged past Tully’s little stable and through the backyard with its chicken coops and pigpen. With the trail from Big Rock emerging just to the west of Tully’s, she reasoned that the building’s east side would be less risky, so Peep went to that corner of the building. She was correct, the grasses and bushes on that side were thick. Peep dropped down into a crawl to go have a look around the edge of the veranda at the front.
Sure enough, Sneed and his boys’ four horses were tethered there. They had been unsaddled and brushed down, and a lad, the only person on the veranda, looked to be just about finished cleaning the saddles that had been set on the veranda. As well, Lieutenant Dixon and Sergeant Wagner’s horses were tethered a little further down. Peep chuckled at this sight.
“Stron’s cock, Lieutenant. Yar a corporal down and ye still leave yar post to dip yar wick,” she muttered to herself.
Peep was just about to crawl out the way she had come, when Sneed came out the main door with an ale in hand and took a seat near the lad. Her heart leaped, and she dropped down out of sight.
“Those saddles look good enough. Give my boots a polish now,” Sneed said.
Peep eased back just a little so that she could raise herself into a crouch and pull her shortbow and an arrow from her shoulder rig. When she had the arrow notched, she leaned in to have another peek around the corner, right at the intersection of the veranda floor with the wall, where any view of her would be blocked by the veranda’s tables and chairs. Through the legs of these, Peep could see Sneed’s extended leg with the lad crouched down getting to work on the boot. The lad’s back was to Peep. If she was fast, Peep would be able to pop up, take a shot, and drop down without the lad seeing her.
Peep spared a look over her shoulder to the road and cottages to her left. There was no one.
As Peep shifted her weight to begin her rise up into her shot, the horribly loud noise of boots on the veranda floor froze her. She again peeked out through the tables and chairs as Lieutenant Dixon and his sergeant, Wagner, walked out onto the veranda. She cursed under her breath and dropped back completely out of sight from the road to lay down in the grass at the building’s foundation to have a listen.
“Sneed, if you are quite done resting, I need a word. It’s urgent!” Dixon said.
“Don’t ye take that fuckin tone with me. Yar the one that was too busy fuckin hoors, as usual, when I came here. And I told ye: I aint about to upset the first decent meal I’ve had in the last two fuckin hard days for the likes of you. A man needs a bit of peace and quiet to himself to relax with his thoughts from time to time. Ye should try it yarself. Might settle down whatever rat’s nest ye got inside that made ye fuck up yar life like ye did, Captain. Ah, shit, my mistake. That’s Lieutenant now, isn’t it,” Sneed said.
There was the sound of Dixon’s sharp inhalation as he choked off his rage. Then it was quiet for a few seconds; a quiet that was broken by a soft, clicking, rattly sound, followed by the clatter of small objects being dropped on a table.
“Dice? What is that?” Peep thought.
There was the scrape of the objects being scooped up from the table to be shaken in a palm again, and Peep realized exactly what the sound was. Sneed was playing with pebbles.
“So? What is it? Get the fuck on with it! Don’t ye got shit to do?” Sneed snapped.
Again, Dixon did some more controlled breathing. Finally, he spoke up:
“May I sit down?”
“No. Tell me what it is ye think I need to know and then get the fuck outta my sight.”
“The jink monk is pressing me on there not being enough soldiers around. He has whatever evidence that fucking farmer gave him, and now my corporal is missing. I am quite sure they have him giving evidence as well, in return for his freedom, the dog,” Lieutenant Dixon said.
“So?”
“So?” Dixon yelled, his voice cracking. “So, when the jink asks me to call muster, which I am obliged to do, what with him being the magistrate’s apparitor now, then all of this comes crashing down!”
“All of what?” Sneed asked, now sounding amused.
“All of this! The payroll skim! My career! You having a man in charge of the garrison here! All of it!”
“What the fuck makes ye think I give a shit about any of that? It was all gonna end some time or another. If it’s worrying ye so much, then I guess ye gotta go ahead and deal with it,” Sneed said. There was another clatter as he dropped his handful of pebbles on the table. Then, some smooth clicking and clacking sounds as he picked them up to stack them.
“Deal with it? Deal with it how?”
“By taking care of the jink monk and his squad is how.”
“You mean killing them? He’s a magistrate’s apparitor! With a fucking Stron-touched miracle slut in his shadow! Isn’t killing them what you are supposed to be doing?”
“Woah! Hold up there, man. I am just the teamster security chief around here. I aint gonna be killing no apparitor or a miracle slut, no how. Me and the law are on good terms, and I aim to keep it that way. But in case ye forgot what you are, Lieutenant: you are a motherfucker who owes the Outfit. Big. And the scam ye’ve been running to pay that off has barely been covering the interest. So, the way I see it, ye got a couple of things ye can do here. Are ye listening to me? Because I’m gonna throw ye a lifeline now, so ye’d best quit grinding yar teeth like some ass-fucked bitch and listen up. Ye listening?”
There was only the click of Sneed’s pebbles.
“I asked ye if yar listening, cocksucker!”
“Yes! I am listening!”
“Good. Now, I don’t know nothing about nothing, mind, but it seems to me that there is that twenty gold bounty out on them guys’ heads. Right? That’ll knock the principle down a bit. And I am pretty sure that if ye went ahead and took care of that, then those offering the coin, whoever they are, would be more than happy to let ye keep running yar little scam to finish paying them off. Heck, maybe they’ll even call it even. Problem solved!”
“Yes. Except that I’ll be wanted for murdering an agent of the Baron and an up-in-coming saint.”
“Well, yeah, there is that. But ye can always run into the hills and try yar hand at banditing or trapping or whatever-the-fuck. Hell, if yar too much the pussy to kill them, ye could just do that anyways and skip out on yar debt. But I do gotta say: if ye try that and I catch ye before ye settle up, I’m gonna have Kerl peel yar face off. I’ve seen him do it. It’s fuckin horrifying,” Sneed said, his tone of voice conversational.
Once again there was only the sound of Sneed’s pebbles clicking away in his hands.
“Sneed, please,” Lieutenant Dixon finally said.
“What?” Sneed laughed. “Ye look like yar gonna cry, man. What the fuck, man? Are all ye nobles so fuckin soft? Yar type got the world by the balls for so long ye forgot what it’s like to get yars squeezed? Why don’t ye go inside and ass-fuck someone on credit. That’ll cheer ye up, I’m sure. Pay it forward.”
“Sneed. I understand what you are telling me to do,” Lieutenant Dixon started before Sneed cut him off:
“I aint telling ye to do shit.”
“Very well. I understand. But you have to understand. I can’t get this done with the few men I have at my disposal. They’re all completely useless!”
“Shit, man, it saddens me to hear ye say that. What is our military coming to? Their commanding officer should really be ashamed of himself!”
Peep was unable to make out Dixon’s response to this as a number of men from the freight yard came walking up to Tully’s on the road, passing not so far from her hiding place. She cursed under her breath as they clumped up the steps and took seats on the veranda with shouts for ale. Now, even if Dixon and Wagner were to leave, she would not be getting an unobserved shot at Sneed on the veranda. Luckily, though, the teamsters took their seats down the other end, well away from Sneed. Once they did, she could again hear his and Dixon’s conversation down at her end.
“So yar serious about this, huh? Yar ready to handle it?” Sneed said.
“Yes. Of course. I just need the manpower,” Lieutenant Dixon answered.
“Okay, then. Go get Tully,” Sneed said.
There was a pause for more pebble clicking while someone, no doubt Sergeant Wagner, went and did this.
“Yeah? What’s up?” Tully asked when he was brought to Sneed’s table.
“It’s on. The Captain here has decided to settle up. So you go to camp tonight and tell the big man and yar boys that. When’s yar meeting with the jink, Captain?”
“Tomorrow morning at the barracks,” Lieutenant Dixon said, his voice strained.
“Alright. Well, I aint telling anyone what to do here, but yar probably gonna wanna figure yar shit out here tonight before that. So, Tully, tell the big man to bring everyone here and get busy. This is his one shot to make things right. You too, Captain. Ye help him get this done right and yar debt is absolved. Is that clear enough for ye? Me, I gotta head north into the bush to see a man about a horse. Might be gone a couple a weeks.”
“What? You’re not going to stay to see this through?” Dixon asked.
“What did I just say, ye fuckin asshole? No. I aint. I don’t got any faith in any of ye, so I’m gonna line up the next thing for when ye all fuck this up. And let me tell ye, Captain, if ye do fuck this up, and don’t die in the process, yar gonna be one sad, sorry, faceless fellow when I catch up to ye. Ye hear me? And Tully, ye can tell the Chisel that the same goes for him. Thanks. Now get it done.”
“Sure thing, Sneed,” Tully said as he left. Dixon and Wagner seemed to go with him without saying anything.
“Fuckin idiot,” Sneed muttered to himself as he clicked his pebbles. Then there was the scrape of his boot heel as he shifted in his chair. “Looks good, boy. Good job. Here ye go.” There was the clink of a copper coin being flicked.
“Thank ye, sir,” the lad who had been polishing Sneed’s boots said.
“Now ye go and tell Ermin to hurry the fuck up. We’re riding at first light. I wanna get going.”
“Yes sir.”
Then Sneed was alone with the teamsters having their evening ale down at the other end of the veranda. Peep’s impulsive side urged her to rise up and take her shot; to finish Sneed right then, regardless of the consequences. She quieted this without trouble. To murder Sneed now, in front of several witnesses, without her horse at hand, and with armed men inside, would be the height of foolishness. She was halfway sure she could take the shot and get away to her horse, but the risk was not worth it. Not when it would disrupt what Sneed had just set in motion: the gathering of all their lower-tier foes here in Tully’s that evening.
The killing spirit of the Holy Fire inside Peep flared in exultation at the work they would soon do here. With this in her heart, Peep slowly crawled away while Sneed moved off the veranda to begin saddling his horse.
Muse Vassal 