Keeper of the Books (Keeper of the Books, Book 1) (7 page)

Marum’s eyes never left Nate as the sheriff opened her cell door. The two big men had their backs to Nate and had paid him no mind. They probably assumed that no one was in the cell behind them.
 

Nate held firm to his gun and swallowed. At this moment he would have given anything for a drink. He knew he would only get one shot at this. He took a silent step back, readied himself and brought up his leg. Using as much force as he could muster, Nate kicked his cell door and it swung hard into the backs of the two grunts. Both of them staggered forward, involuntarily knocking the sheriff and Marum to the ground.

Nate ignored the cheers and claps from all the inmates in their cells down the hall. He focused his attention on the guards who were scrambling to their feet, unaware of what had just happened. Nate struck the first one in the head with the heel of his boot and the man fell to the floor as he grabbed for his head. Nate brought the butt of his pistol down on top of the other man’s head, knocking him out cold. Marum held up her end by grabbing the sheriff by the hair and slamming his head against the metal bars.
 

“Let’s get out of here!” Marum yelled.

Nate and Marum both ran down the hall. The other inmates shouted after them. Their cheering had turned into pleas for help. All of them wanted to escape their death sentences as well.
 

As Nate neared the exit, he heard one man above all the rest. “Wait! Wait!”

Nate turned to look at the man.

“Let us all out,” the man shouted, “and we will be a distraction. The more of us that scramble out of here, the better chances you have of getting away!”

Nate thought about this for a second and looked at Marum. She was considering the man’s words too. Nate wasn’t quite sure what the ramifications would be of letting loose a dozen or so people who were sentenced to death for crimes they probably
did
commit, but the man had a point. If deputies and guards were chasing after a bunch of them rather than just two of them, they stood a better chance.

At the same time, Nate and Marum both ran after the sheriff who was still on the ground unconscious. Nate got there first and snatched his keys from his belt. Nate then ran up to the man who had given him the idea and unlocked his cell.
 

“I don’t know who you are or what you did,” Nate said, “but it seems like fate has smiled on you today.”

“You won’t regret this,” the man said.

“I don’t plan on it,” Nate answered. He then went to the next cell and opened it, then the next, then the next. In just under a minute, the entire row of inmates was out in the hallway, free and itching to get back out into the world.

All of them poured out, free as they could be. If Nate were an honest man, he might have felt bad for releasing murderers and thieves from capture. But Nate wasn’t an honest man. He was a murderer and thief. And he needed to avoid being captured.
 

No one outside of death row understood what was happening until it was too late. There was a crowd apparently waiting to see the sheriff and his two goons walking out with Marum. Instead, they were treated to a bunch of rough-looking criminals, eyes as wild as coyotes, scattering in every direction.
 

Nate held his gun ready, though he wasn’t sure he’d want to bring all the attention upon himself should the need arise for him to use it.

Immediately recognizing the prisoners, the crowd started to disperse in a manic upheaval that threatened the lives of the slow and less reactive witnesses. Out of the corner of his eye, Nate could see a group of men with guns headed their way, but a quick sprint into the oncoming stampede of frightened spectators was enough to hide him for the time being. He felt Marum brush up against his side as they ran. He wasn’t sure someone of the gray elf’s complexion and stature would be able to remain inconspicuous for very long, but with the other prisoners providing a convenient distraction, he hoped they could get far enough away to formulate a plan.

Inevitably, there was a would-be hero among the onlookers. One man tried to grab Marum as she and Nate ran, but when Nate turned and aimed his revolver between the man’s eyes, he hesitated and then ran in the opposite direction like a frightened child.

Now Marum was ahead of Nate, which was good, he thought. He didn’t know where he was and would more than likely get the two of them lost and captured if he led much farther. Marum cut behind a building and then another. Then another. Nate found it difficult to keep up with the gray elf, but he always kept her in view. Finally, Marum stopped behind a busy saloon and peeked around a corner. By the time Nate reached her, he was out of breath and bent over at the knees. When he looked up, Marum was calmly breathing through her nose as if she had just stood from a seat instead of sprinting away in a panic.
 

“The soldiers are out in full force,” she said. “We’ve got to get out of Tel Haven.”

This was the first time Nate had gotten a chance to take in the view of his surroundings. Ignoring the gunshots in the distance and the screams of women and children in a panic, Nate stared at the scene before him.

This was no small town they were in, rather a sprawling city with buildings spread out in every direction. Carts and buggies were filled to the brim with harvested crops, barrels of ale and whiskey, and people of all ages. It was a bustling spectacle that Nate hadn’t seen since he’d visited back East. The streets were lined with vendors and trolleys, offering an endless supply of food and drink, as well as farming equipment and trinkets. There was no doubt that they had stumbled upon the market district of…what had Marum called this place? Tel Haven?

“I’m all for getting out of here as soon as we can,” Nate said, “But I have to find my brother.”

Marum turned to look at Nate, her purple eyes barely slits as her teeth clenched together. There was just enough malice in her stare to cause Nate to take a short step backward. “Do you want to survive this day?”

“That would be best,” Nate replied.
 

“Then we don’t have time to look for your brother. We’ve got to get out of the city first.”

“And just how do you plan to do that?”

Marum turned her head back toward the road and looked on as a large group of soldiers came riding through the dusty street in a hurry. “Quickly and quietly,” she said. She reached an arm behind her and shoved Nate against the wall. “Get back!”

Nate grimaced when he hit the wall, but any thought of discomfort fled from his mind when he saw the men on horseback coming closer. There were about six of them, but the one at the front of the group was clearly in charge. At first, Nate was nervous that he and Marum were too close to the street, but he knew making any sudden movement might alert the soldiers to their presence. He felt himself holding his breath as he pressed his back against the wall. Marum did the same.
 

The man on the lead horse spun around and started barking orders at his men. Nate took notice of their uniforms. They weren’t unfamiliar to him at all save for the color perhaps—a dark red tint, faded and dull. Each of the soldiers wore button down long-sleeve coats which were all tightened at the bottom with a thick belt to carry cartridges for their rifles. The stripes on their shoulders indicated their ranks, the man on the lead horse boasting more markings than the rest. Their trousers were straight-legged with a long black band along the outside seam that traveled from the hip all the way to the cuffs. And all the soldiers wore a cap with a short visor above their brows with a metal emblem at the top that Nate couldn’t quite make out.
 

Nate’s eyes then traveled to their weapons. Each man carried a rifle and a revolver. From what he could tell, the rifles weren’t much different than the ones the soldiers carried back home—a converted musket design with a trapdoor at the top which could fire one cartridge at a time. In the right hands, the rifles were extremely accurate and deadly. Running at this moment wasn’t quite an option.

The man on the lead horse had a determined look in his eyes. His hair was short like all the other men, and he grew a thick mustache that nearly covered his entire mouth when it was closed. The man was tall and wider from shoulder-to-shoulder than any of the others. And he was the only one to wear a saber at his hip. This was a man of importance. This was a man on a mission. This was a man who wanted Nate and Marum dead.

“Spread out!” the man said. “If you come across any of the other inmates, take them, but I want Marum. She is of the utmost importance. She can’t be too far yet.”

The others acknowledged the commander and rode away quickly. The lead rider trotted down the street, looking on both sides meticulously.

Then the street was clear of soldiers. Marum let out a deep breath as if she had been holding it in for a long time. She turned to look at Nate. “That was Gibbons, leader of the Rangers. He heads the whole Crimson Army under President DalGaard’s directive.”

Nate shook his head. “I don’t care. We gotta get out of here.”

“Right,” Marum said, turning back to the street. Her eyes then widened. “There! Do you see that?” Marum pointed at a man and his cart. The cart had a thick canvas tarp the back.

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Peddlers go in and out of here at all hours,” she said. “There’s a good chance he’s leaving the city.”

“You suppose we should just ask him for a ride?”

Marum looked at Nate like he was crazy. “No,” she finally said. “We sneak into the back just as he’s beginning to take off. We will stay under the tarp until we’re safely out.”

“And what if this guy ain’t leaving the city?” Nate said.
 

“Well, it’s better than sitting here out in the open.”

Nate supposed she was right. There was nothing left for him to do here today. He didn’t know where Joe was, but it was clear that he hadn’t appeared in this area. He supposed that was a good thing. But Marum was right. There was no point in looking for him now. He had to get into the back of that cart and fast. The longer they waited in the streets, the better chance Mister Gibbons and his men would find them. And Nate suspected that he would be at the other end of a short rope right next to Marum if he were caught. He wasn’t three minutes into being in a new land and he was already an outlaw on the run.
 

He supposed the only good part about any of this was that no one here knew who he was. At least, he guessed that was the case. That, and Levi Thompson was nowhere to be found. Nate had bought himself some time.
 

He nodded at Marum and held tight to his six-shooter. This was either going to work out perfectly or it would be a disaster.
 

Only one way to find out.

Summer, 1882 A.D.

The weak cabin had crumbled from the blast of dynamite and was thrown about in fiery bits of wood and pieces of glass. But there were no bodies. No Nathaniel. No Joseph. No employer that was supposed to meet with them.
 

Levi Thompson would have thought he had been suckered or tricked if Amos hadn’t said something about the vanishing of the other two thieves, Stewart and Ralph. Was this the same situation? Had the Cole brothers simply disappeared like the others?
 

Levi kicked at the dirt and smoldering ash, wondering if he had somehow missed something. There was no way a single stick of dynamite would have vaporized them. There would be limbs. Fingers. Toes. Blood. Instead there was nothing. Sheriff Marston looked through the smoldering rubble, which produced no results either.
 

Levi had been so close to catching them. A sudden jolt of anger surged through him like he had never felt before. He turned from the cabin and marched toward the horses where Amos sat on the ground.
 

Amos must have sensed danger because he stood upright, placing his chained wrists in front of his face as if to try and block any blunt force Levi was about to deal out.
 

“Where’d they go?” Levi yelled as he grabbed Amos by the shirt. “Where’d they go?” He shoved Amos to the ground and pulled out his pistol, pressing the barrel against his forehead.

Tears streaked down the man’s face. “I don’t know! I don’t know!” He was helpless and without answers, Levi knew. But there had to be answers somewhere.

As if Marston had been reading Levi’s thoughts, he called out in excitement. “I found somethin’!”

Levi turned sharply and marched back toward the debris. Marston held a dusty book in one of his hands. With his other hand he picked at his teeth.

“Ain’t this what they stoled?” Marston asked.
 

Levi snatched it away from the sheriff. He looked at the edges and the spine. There were no burn marks of any kind. No singes along the sides of the pages. The dynamite had been unable to destroy the book, yet everything around it was a smoldering mess. He squinted as he stared at it—the book with no title.
 

Levi knew the story. According to Amos, if he opened the book he would vanish like the others.

“That’s it!” Amos said, now sitting upright on his knees. “That’s the book we got!”

Levi knew it was impossible, but there was no other explanation. He had seen the Cole brothers enter the cabin with another man who had been waiting for them. He saw the light of the lamp glow. He saw movement as he had approached the cabin to confront the outlaws. And looking around, there was no evidence of an underground bunker. The blast would have exposed some entrance, surely. Besides, the cabin was little more than sticks—a fort put together by a group of small children, it seemed.

The book
was
the only explanation, though it wasn’t a satisfying one. His pursuit of these men was not finished. Nathaniel Cole would die, he would make sure of that. Justice had to be served.
 

Justice must always be served.
 

His eyes shifted toward Amos who was back on his knees. Levi tucked the book behind his belt and walked until he was directly in front of his prisoner.