I'm smiling because I know you're gonna hate this. What does that say about me?
Ooohkay, this is a long one, so, buckle in.
11th July, 1902
Shady Belle, LE
Isaiah Maxwell was into his fifties, but his dream was as alive as it ever was since the day he'd arrived back from war. Since he'd buried his father in land now claimed by Yankees, since he'd come home to a son and a dead wife.
The Brotherhood of Southern Crusaders were twenty-eight guns strong, minus those seven that had gone north to deal with the missing guns and recruitment. The Davenports were… a necessary evil. The Brothers, they were bearable, not counting the sodomite. But Valentina? A dago? Her children were half-breeds…
What particularly frustrated Isaiah was the Rune Brody Gang. Festering like a wound in God's own country… a bunch of women, spics, niggers and micks that were ruining all that he'd worked towards. And the Lemoyne Raiders, well, they were no damn help… too busy whining 'bout before the war, but they only hated Yankees and blacks. Didn't they hate them that what killed Christ? Them injuns what scalped his granddaddy?
Isaiah rubbed his grey stubble and looked his son up and down. Gareth was eighteen now – starting to become a man. But he'd still yet to see him take a woman or have a son of his own, bastard or no. Gareth was definitely his son, he knew that in his bones, but the boy had been ineffectual in his youth. Not a Maxwell – not enough. After all, Isaiah had gone off to fight for the south with his father. What had Gareth done beside get drunk?
"How's the paddy?"
Gareth shrugged and looked to examine the ginger lad. "How you doing, mickey?"
The ginger man's face was riddled with scares from Lot's knives. His hazel eyes were dulled and bloodshot, a chunk of his lip had been torn away, exposing his teeth that twisted out of his bleeding gums. The lad took a ragged breath and looked up at Gareth with nothing but hatred and resentment.
"I think he's alright…" Gareth murmured.
"When will they come?" Gareth shrugged and, in a single second, Isaiah leant across from his chair to grab Gareth by the ear and hissed at him. "If I ask you a question, you respond, you hear me?"
"I hear ya, daddy!"
Still weak. Still feeble. A real man would've beaten him half to death and left him with a warning, but Gareth was not a real man. He wasn't even a man. Just a little boy that was still crying about his momma.
"What a sad little creature you are…" Isaiah muttered to himself, standing up and kicking Gareth's ankle as he walked across the room. "Toughen up, boy! Christ punishes me for something I don't rightly understand…"
The door slammed and Gareth flickered his tongue across his teeth, letting out a sharp pant of breath. He could feel himself getting angry again, but, he would never hit his pa – his momma made him promise that when he was just a kid. He didn't know what his daddy expected from him… what was it to be more of a man? As in, women didn't hold much intrigue for him. Why should he chase them when the cause was infinitely more important?
There was some more ragged breathing. No… crying? Gareth turned to see the Irishman had a large smile painted across what remained of his lips as he looked at Gareth with his better eye. "You forgot to tell him… I said… he's a cunt…"
Gareth's hand balled into a fist and he shot up out of his chair, launching his fist into the paddy's nose.
It was pretty. Forests at the bottom of the hill with a stream and deer grazing. The rising sun bleeding through the trees, a small crowd gathered that with hankerchiefs to pat the sweat from their necks.
Lana had… well, she'd not been friends with Ava. Not really. It hadn't been easy for her – watching a pretty courtesan spend so much time with Luca. She didn't really know if she should be there. Luca wasn't and he'd cared about her – maybe more than anyone else.
"He should be here…" Rune murmured to himself as Elijah opened his bible beside Ava's grave and began her last rites.
"Let him grieve, for pity's sake…" Near whispered.
"He should be here," Rune repeated, more firmly this time. He looked over to Lana, jerking his head back to the campsite. Lana returned the slightest nod and turned around to walk away from the grave, down towards the shore.
Charlotte hadn't been to a funeral before. It was strange, knowing Ava was gone. Strangely enough, she wasn't upset. It wasn't that she didn't understand, she did, she just… wasn't sad. She tried to cry – she even pinched herself really really hard, but she still couldn't bring herself to tears.
She watched Elijah finish his rites and spread the dirt over the cloth-covered body as everyone crossed their hearts.
Abuela knelt down, her bones creaking, as she asked Charlotte, "do you want to say anything?"
Charlotte shrugged in response. She looked over to Aiden and Near, who held their hats in their hands. Parker grabbed a fistful of dirt and threw it into the hole, crouching down and hanging his head. "She was a good woman…" He muttered, rubbing his hands clean on his knees.
"We should never've gotten involved with any of this…" Aiden grunted.
"Oh, c'mon, McKneil," Alice groaned, rolling her eyes, "we didn't have nothing to do with what happened to her…"
"Oh really?" Aiden walked around the grave towards her. "We robbed their bank, stole their liquor, killed a man in the streets-"
"Oh, like you're so high and mighty, McKneil, beating an old man? That's right, I heard 'bout you doing the Davenport's work like some goddamn errand boy! Least I'm sticking true to what Rune taught us!"
"You don't know nothing 'bout what you're saying… you don't give a damn 'bout nothing! Acting like a damn fool all the time- you ain't done nothing but cause trouble!"
"Been making money though, ain't I?" Alice smiled. "Ain't been spending all my time with a Davenport…"
"Will the pair of you shut your damn mouths?" Rune hissed. "We're at a funeral, show a modicum of respect!"
Aiden licked his lips and glared at Alice, giving the slightest scoff before clenching his fist and setting off back towards the camp.
Lana had been walking for ten minutes or so when she heard thuds and grunting. She looked over to see Luca in the treeline, launching his fist into one of the tree trunks over and hissing in pain. Lana walked closer, calling over to him. He didn't hear her – or, at least, he didn't seem to, as he continued punching the tree again and again. Lana called out again as she came closer, finally grabbing his hand and also his attention. Luca turned to look at her, eyes red and stinging.
"Luc, look at your hand…"
Luca looked down at his right hand, covered in blood and bark, shaking and pale white as he gently lowered his hand down. Lana wrapped her arms around him and let his face fall onto her shoulder as he sniffled slightly. "I'm going to kill them…" he muttered, "all of them!"
Lana opened her mouth to reply, but thought better of it. Luca wanted blood – they all did, but Rune was right, revenge was a bad business. It never solved anything and often made even more trouble than they had to begin with. But, in spite of all that being said, Lana wanted to slit the bastardos' throats.
"We'll get Matty back," Lana said quietly.
Aiden tightened the uptugs of his saddle on Ryder, rubbing down his Palomino coat and shushing his horse as he picked up the double-barrelled shotgun from his shoulder and slid into his saddle's holster.
"What're you doing, son?"
Aiden turned around to see Near standing there, puffing on a cigarette as his other hand pinched the brim of his brown leather hat. His brown eyes seemingly more interested in the smoke from his fingertips.
"I'm getting Matty back," Aiden told him, turning back to tighten his saddle.
"Oh, y'are, are ya?" Near threw the remainder of the cigarette onto the floor and stubbed it out with the sole of his boot. "All on ya own?"
"You saw what them bastards did to Ava! I ain't just gonna…" Aiden shook his head. "This gang is- well, it's the world to me. It's the only thing that means anything to me and there ain't nothing I wouldn't do for it-"
"Including running off on y'own and getting' y'self shot?" Near folded his arms. "We need time to talk and come up with a plan. Then we can get Matty back together."
Rune rubbed his palm along the soft black felt of his hat and hung his head. Goddamn it… Ava… she'd always been so sweet to Charlotte. Maybe a little… misguided, but it was clear how much the girl had meant to her.
Parker came along and sat down beside Rune, rubbing his chin before slowly slipping his chocolate hand inside of his. "We should never've come down this way…" Rune muttered.
Parker nodded before reaching into his leather satchel and removing a well-cared for revolver, his hand clasping the dark walnut grip gingerly. It was Rune's revolver – the one that had killed Ava.
Rune shook his head, going to stand up, but Parker spoke first. "Rune, please, just…"
"I don't want to touch that damned thing ever again!" Rune hissed.
"What you did…" Parker frowned, trying to fathom it. "Just to spare Luca and Ava the pain…" Parker shook his head. "I can't even imagine…"
Rune pulled his hand from Parker's and held it out completely still. "The first time I killed a man… I couldn't stop shaking. And now…" Rune dropped his hand back into his lap. "I never noticed when I stopped."
"We need you, Rune," Parker said. "We're all… no-one knows what to do. We need you here, with us. And if this gun killed Ava..." Parker gently put the revolver in Rune's hand. "Maybe it can be the one that avenges her too."
Rune looked down at the revolver in his hands. The faded nickel… one of them had a long barrel – courtesy of Ira Kramer. That old, bookish Jew from new York… never liked New Yorkers, but Rune liked Ira. But poor old Ira had been the first to go during the fight at the Herridge Manor… he never did take to life outside of the city.
"We don't seek revenge…" Rune muttered the same words he had said four years ago.
"It's not revenge, it's justice," Parker said firmly, grabbing Rune's hand once again. "Never doubt yourself, Rune. The others may doubt you, but never think you are anything other than the man you are, because I…" Parker stifled a cough and cleared his throat. "You're the finest man I know."
Rune stood up, feeling the weight of his gun in his hand, fumbling it back into his holster as he stood up, more tired than ever before. "Get Aiden, Luca, Near- Anna too…" Rune looked in front of himself to see Miss Anna was already there, a hand resting on the ebony buckle of her gunbelt. "Miss Anna," Rune said stiffly.
"I, erm…" Anna cleared her throat. "I heard… about what you did for Ava."
"I don't quite like to talk about it…" Rune replied curtly as he walked away to find the others.
"Rune!" Anna called over her shoulder. He turned around to see her biting her lip. "I ain't much good with people but you… you did the right thing."
"It don't feel like it…" Rune said hollowly.
"I know what the bastards can do…" Anna said, her eyes drifting over to the campfire for a moment before she turned to face Rune fully. "Only I didn't have someone to put a bullet in me when they were done."
Rune nodded. It hurt him – somewhere deep inside his chest where something resembling a heart still beat. "I'm sorry, Miss Anna," Rune took his hat from his left hand and stroked the brim of it. "For what you've suffered, I- there ain't no-one living I'd wish that upon."
At the large, round table in the middle of camp, covered with pronghorn leather, Rune was sat, pointing out to the map of Lemoyne.
"Mr. Simmons here has told us about Shady Belle," Rune explained to his inner circle, "it's in the middle of the swamp, which means we need to be wary of the gators. Multiple approaches at the same time is probably best," Rune pointed with his pen to a small road leading into the plantation house. "Myself and Near will approach from the front. Aiden, you and Alice go through the swamp…"
"What, with the gators?" Aiden frowned.
"A bunch of reptiles don't scare you, do they?" Aiden grumbled something and fell quiet. "Luca, you and Lana hang back, take out the stragglers."
"I'm killing them," Luca replied firmly.
"No, you're going to keep your head. Ain't no use to us if you're dead on the ground, are you?" Luca remained quiet, looking away to the ground. "We all stick together, keep calm and move as a group, I reckon we'll come out of this just fine." Rune brushed his fingers over his lips, thinking carefully about the odds of whether this could turn out well. "Remember, we ain't there to kill and take revenge – we're just there to get our boy back. But, if push comes to shove, we shoot first."
"That's it, then?" Anna asked from behind them as she placed another arrow into the fur quiver that hung at her hip. "That's your grand plan?"
Rune's blue eyes flickered over to Near for a moment before he looked to Anna. "I reckon so."
Anna scoffed as she pulled her bow over her shoulder. "You're a damn idiot…"
"Anna!" Near gasped.
"He's an idiot!" Anna looked back to Rune. "You're making a plan about how to fight a man that you have never met, and I've been hunting them for years, Rune. Years." The camp table fell silent as the four men examined the woman in front of them. "Don't you think that you shoulder perhaps ask me for my opinion?"
All eyes fell on Rune. His hand had clenched into a fist upon being a called an idiot and his nostrils were flared. A moment later, he spoke. "Very well," he said stiffly, standing up and gesturing to the map. "What should we know?"
Anna licked her lips and moved past the men, looking down at the map. Shady Belle… she'd seen it a dozen times by then, but never tried to attack it. There were just too many – even if she reused her arrows, they'd most likely break before she got in the same room with Isaiah. "Isaiah thinks God is on his side. But it's a tool – it's just something he says to try and get people on-side."
"Deo vindice," Rune nodded slowly.
"Huh?" Aiden frowned.
"God is with us," Luca said in his dulled voice. "Folk 'round these parts have been saying it for years…"
"S'what the Rebels said back in the war," Near explained.
"They're the Brotherhood of Southern Crusaders. Me and my people were Jewish, so they killed my family and they…" Anna fell silent for a moment before swallowing hard. "Isaiah's spent years building his control in Lemoyne, which means that…"
"Which means what?" Near asked in his usual growl.
"Which means that he won't give back Matty just because you tell him to." They all sighed. "It'd be a sign of submission for him."
"So, we kill him and take Matty back-" Luca began.
"We can still stop this becoming a war, Luca," Rune said, trying to keep his tempers cool.
"They butchered Ava, and you think we can still talk with them?" Luca looked up to Anna. "What do we do, then?"
Anna closed her eyes to steel herself. She knew how they'd react to this – especially because it was Matty they were talking about. But they just couldn't let their emotions get in the way of this. They were just so close… "We have to consider the fact that Matty might not make it out of there alive-"
"We are not giving up on our brother-"
"Aiden…" Rune said, keeping the boy quiet until Anna could finish.
"Isaiah's baiting us! He has numbers and a fortification- at Shady Belle, we're outgunned and outmatched. That's why they… did what they did to Ava. They want you angry and gunning for them."
Rune drummed his fingers on the pronghorn leather top before sighing. "I don't see any other option." Anna started to groan. "It doesn't matter if he wants us to come or not, we do not leave our own behind."
"You aren't listening to me…"
"I am listening, Miss Anna-"
"You're not!"
"Okay, fine, so what do we do?"
"I don't know, we…" Anna rubbed her temples and tried to keep her breathing even. "If Isaiah gets away, he'll only come back and he'll rebuild the Brotherhood. So… so we have to make sure that we kill him."
There was a loud scoff from the other side of Rune, where Aiden sat, clasping an open bottle of beer. "Great advice, that…"
"Aiden…" Near warned him.
"Oh, that's just blatantly clear to you, is it?" Anna asked curtly.
"Of course it's damn well clear to me!"
"Alright, settle down, you two…" Near tried once more.
"Oh, well, do you know that he has more men than us? More guns, dogs? How much of this is 'damn well clear' to you? We need time to come up with a proper plan and get more people on-side, because if we go to Shady Belle with nothing but your cocksure arrogance, Matty will die-"
"Which people are you talking about?" Aiden shouted from across the table. "The Brotherhood work for the Davenports which means the law won't help us, all of Rhodes will probably want us all dead!"
"We don't. Have. Enough," Anna snarled.
"I know!" Rune barked, stepping between the two with a hand on each hip. He shook his head. "I know we don't have enough people or guns but…" he shrugged. "That's all we got." He gestured to Aiden. "My boy's right, there ain't no-one that can help us." Aiden felt something warm in his chest, being called Rune's boy again. It was thought often enough by everyone in camp, but it wasn't something said often enough. Rune clenched his jaw and raised his voice, addressing everyone in the camp. "All of you… all of you!" They all gathered around him, silent and waiting. "Those bastards…" he said quietly, pointing to the east. "Those bastards have taken our brother. Our brother! They killed Miss Ava and…" Rune's eyes fell on Charlotte for a moment, who stood behind Night's Hawk's leg. "Y'know, a long time ago, at Silver Bend, I…" Rune shook his head as the memories of melting flesh and mists of blood flashed through his mind. Rune swallowed as he took a step forwards, speaking low and fervently.
"I saw hundreds of women, children, old and young… all of them die. I saw my own men die. And I… I made my peace with that. I was ready to die that day." Rune's pale eyes slowly roved over his gang. His family. His army. "I prepared myself, but that never came. I survived the Battle of Silver Bend and I made a promise to myself that… that I wouldn't let that happen again. I would protect them as needed it, no matter the cost." Rune took a breath, trying to steady himself. "We don't leave our own behind!" He shouted. "Whether it's a trap or not, Matty rides in this gang! He's one of us!" Rune shook his head. "I ain't letting them kill another one of us!" He picked up his stalker hat from the table and set it on his head. "Who's with me?"
"With you to the end, Rune," Aiden said, standing up without taking a breath since Rune finished speaking. "No matter what."
Luca nodded. "Whatever you need, Rune."
"With you, Rune!" Lana called.
Alice sauntered forwards, puffing on her cigarette. "Y'know me, I'm always ready to kill some gunfighters…"
"I'm coming as well," said the crisp English accent of Parker. Rune's eyes fell on the sweaty, skinny young man that swayed as he stood. "I ain't got long left, Rune, I want my people safe when it happens."
Rune knew he couldn't refuse Parker that. After all, Matty needed help and helping the gang was something Rune would never stand in the way of. Rune smiled to Parker and gave a slight nod. Anna walked towards Rune, tightly gripping her bow as she leant forwards to speak lowly. "If it's a choice between Matty and Isaiah, I will gladly leave your boy to die, every time."
Rune turned to call Parker over to get his gun with something cracked through the air. A shot. Rune immediately fell to the ground, scrambling for his gun as Aiden tipped the table forwards and falling behind it as more gunshots popped and snapped.
"Everyone, get into cover!" Rune shouted. He looked across to see Night's Hawk sweeping Charlotte up into his arms as he sprinted across camp, putting her beneath the carriage and nocking an arrow on his bow. "Aiden, son, you still alive?"
"Just about…" Aiden grunted, examining the cut on his shoulder as he reloaded his revolver. "What's our move?"
"Take a look…" Rune threw his hand out from cover and fired off his revolver while Aiden peered outside, failing to make out how many where shooting, but he could see them all from the treeline, advancing in sprints towards the camp.
"Alright, good few of 'em, I'd wager. At the treeline."
Rune nodded and glanced over to his tent. He could make out his rifle, but it was too far away. Parker, however, was right next to it… "Parker!" Rune shouted. "My rifle's on my cot!"
Parker nodded and left his cover, dashing into Rune's tent as bullets peppered the dirt around his feet. He made it inside well enough, emerging a second later with a rifle he held somewhat gingerly. As his blue eyes fell on Rune, another bullet cracked and Parker fell backwards, grabbing his shoulder as he began to bleed profusely.
Rune called out for him, trying to get to his feet as Aiden grabbed his shirt, holding him back behind the table. "Just… just wait!" Rune called across to Parker, who managed to push himself up onto his knees, crawling back to cover.
Another bullet cracked forwards Parker's arm buckled. His ear peeled forwards as his one of his blue eyes popped out, hanging by a nerve like a fish on a line. Parker's face was cut in two as he fell on the floor, his hand still loosely clutching the dark walnut of Rune's Springfield rifle.
"Jesus…" Rune murmured to himself as he watched Parker's blood spread across the dirt. The gunfire and shouting seemed to all… fade. All he could see was a man that had given all he had in a failing fight against his illness. What was left of his face was all that remained. He was just… not there.
Rune yelled and shrugged off Aiden, standing out of cover and firing at the approaching men. The entire gang grabbed their weapons as Rune charged forwards, letting out a roar of anguish and pain as he soared headlong through the barrage and hail of bullets and gunsmoke, emptying his revolvers and then tackling one of the men onto the floor.
It was chaos incarnate. Abuela slashed out with her butcher's knife, Alice used her revolver as a club, bludgeoning all that came within a foot of her. Luca and Lana fired their guns side-by-side, and when a bullet glanced off Lana's shoulder, Luca picked up her revolver, firing for her.
Night's Hawk and Anna flanked around the left, firing arrows at the snipers in the treeline that still harassed the fighters. Near slowly followed his gang into the war, clutching Rune's rifle and firing into the fray.
Rune tackled a man onto the floor, but when he grasped his throat, he realized it was no man, but more of a boy. Young and skinny, long-legged and pale-skinned. Waves of bright, golden brown hair tousled to the right and his amber eyes were full of fear as he saw Rune, covered in blood, raise the black steel knife, the brass engravings of skulls along the blade glinting in the moonlight…
Rune was suddenly hit by a force. A man, old and greying, had ran at full tilt and thrown his entire weight into Rune, sending him tumbling off the boy and rolling along the floor. The old man, who Rune recognized as Ambrose Davenport, got to his feet and raised his shotgun at Rune and, a moment later, it fired.
Rune Brody was still alive – the shotgun had fired into the air as Aiden had swept forwards and whacked the stock of his empty Lancaster into the man's face.
Alice swept across the bodies, firing bullets into the heads of the dying before rifling through their pockets. Night's Hawk retrieved his arrows and Father Elijah covered Charlotte's eyes, whispering prayers.
At the treeline, Ambrose Davenport and his young son were tied to the trees. Rune breathed deeply, his eyes set on Ambrose as he watched Lana lead Parker's horse which carried what remained of his body. Rune marched forwards towards Ambrose and raised a fist. Near went to step forwards, only to have Luca put an arm in front of Near.
"Let him," Aiden said lowly, looking back to Rune, who punched Ambrose over and over and over again.
Rune eventually subsided, panting as he pointed at Ambrose's swollen face. "You bastards…" he gasped, "have killed a man who only ever healed others. You killed a woman who was raising a child… You couldn't even let her have a proper goddamn burial…" Rune grabbed Ambrose's throat and began to squeeze.
"Rune!" Near barked, walking forwards to pull him away. "Rune, don't strangle the man to-"
"Did you shoot Parker?" Rune hissed. "Was it you?"
"Just- just stop it, okay?" The boy shouted from the other tree. "It was me, alright? It was me- I shot the negro."
Rune's hand suddenly relinquished Ambrose's wrinkled throat, head slowly turning towards the boy. "What did you just say?" He marched towards the boy. "What did you just goddamn say-"
"Leave it, Rune…" Near said, standing in front of the boy. "Don't kill for revenge, remember?"
Rune nodded and looked to Aiden. "You got that one, son?" Aiden frowned as he looked towards the boy… he'd met him some time ago at the cotillion – boasted by Shelby as being the best sharpshooter in Lemoyne. Christ, he could've only been seventeen or so.
"Rune, no, he's- he's just a boy…"
"He killed one of us!" Rune growled. "You know the rules." Aiden looked at Avery, whose lip began to quiver slightly as he looked towards his father. A boy, looking for help. Wasn't that who Aiden had been, all those years ago?
"Rune, I don't think we should-"
"Think? You're right, you don't think!" Rune hissed. "You do what I goddamn tell you to! You're getting soft- letting some damn fool of a girl change you…"
"No, Rune, it ain't like that…"
"You're getting soft and I need you strong! All this goddamn hesitation…" Rune gestured to Avery. "I need you to know that I know best! I need you with me!"
"I'm just sayin', I guess I don't think we need to-"
"No, no, don't you dare start twisting words with me, boy!" Rune hissed. "I just watched us lose two of our own to those bastards." Rune wrenched Aiden's revolver from his holster and shoved it into Aiden's hands. "You're with me or you ain't. Now which one is it?"
Aiden looked up to the scared boy, then to the revolver in his hand. Once again, Rune was putting the same gun in the same hand and telling him to take their own justice. But what else did he have? They'd kidnapped Matty, brutalized Ava and now killed Parker.
"Aiden," Near began softly, "son, you don't have to…"
A crack echoed through the forest as Aiden watched Avery slump down to his feet, looking at Ambrose. "Daddy?"
Ambrose's chest was bloodied, with a gaping hole where his heart would be. His head lolled onto his chest and he slid down the tree, crumpling on the floor as Avery sobbed. Aiden holstered his gun and looked into Rune's pale grey eyes.
"I'm with you to the end, no question, Rune, but I ain't shooting no kid," Aiden said firmly.
Rune nodded, rubbing his chin in thought. "Y'know, I agree with you son…" Rune said slowly as his eyes fell back on Avery. "But you know the rules…" Rune pulled the knife out of its sheathe and approached the boy, pointing the black tip of his hunting knife at the boy. Without a word, Rune grabbed the boy's mouth and used the knife to dig into the boy's face, gouging out his left eye. The boy screamed and howled in pain, his hands shaking violently as Rune twisted the knife further.
He finally removed it, wrenching Avery's pretty amber eye out and holding it up to the boy's one remaining eye. "Just like Parker…" Rune hissed, throwing the eyeball onto the floor. He gestured to Aiden with his knife. "You see this man? He's the reason why you're still breathing. Say 'thank you'." Avery still moaned, crying in pain. "Say 'thank you'!"
"Thank you," Avery sobbed.
Rune walked over to Aiden and Luca, looking Near up and down. "First, we take out the Brotherhood…"
"Inbred hicks…" Luca spat onto the floor.
"Then, we move onto the Davenports. Aiden," Rune glanced to the youngest man amongst them, "that girl tell you where they'll be?" Aiden licked his lips, glancing over to Avery and then dropping his gaze to the ground. The thought of that happening to Genevieve… "Anything, son?"
There was that word again. But where once Aiden had felt warmth and pride, now he felt the heavy burden of duty. Rune was his family. After all he'd given up, didn't Aiden owe him his loyalty, if nothing else? "There's a riverboat," Aiden said quietly. "She'll be on it tomorrow."
"Her family with her?"
Aiden shrugged. "Maybe."
"Good enough…" Rune clasped Aiden's shoulder. "Good to see you're back to your old self, son."
So, like… that was a chapter and a half.
Also, someone thought that I killed off their character because they didn't review much – lemme just say, I'm not one of those authors. Fact is, I want you guys to review because hearing you talk about your thoughts for the story really helps me with the story, but also gives me crazy amounts of motivation. But, if you stop reviewing for whatever reason, I'm not going to stop using the character – if a character's well-written, I'll keep using them. Fact is that I've killed them off because… well, that's how all the famous outlaws went.
I'm glad to see you've all got strong opinions on what's happening. No doubt this'll be another one.