look like in twenty years. But the older men remained engrossed in their conversation.
She turned her attention back to the young men. Isaacâs brother had leapt up and was holding the thin stick up like a club, brandishingit in the air. That got everyoneâs attention. Simon jumped to his feet and snatched it away from him.
âGive that back to me! Who told you that you could play with weapons as dangerous as this?â the older man demanded, swatting his son with some force.
âIâm the one who got it out,â Isaac said swiftly. That was good; he was quick to take responsibility for his own actions. âThey wanted to see it.â
Simon made a sudden move in Isaacâs direction, as if to strike this son, too, but merely growled and stepped back toward his place before the fire. âYou boys leave this alone. Itâs a manâs weapon, not to be put in hands like yours.â
Reuben and Hector had come to their feet in a more leisurely fashion and stepped forward to look at the stick in Simonâs hands. Rebekah inched forward a little to try to see more, but it still just looked like a long, straight staff of wood. Or maybe metal. It was hard to tell.
âWhat is that?â Reuben asked. âDoesnât look like any weapon I ever saw.â
âFirestick,â Simon said with some pride. âIt can shoot a bolt a couple hundred yards and hit whatever itâs aimed at.â
Hector grunted and bent over to look at it without getting near enough to touch it. âWhereâd you get it?â
Simon stroked the sleek barrel. âBelonged to my brother.â
Reuben looked over at him. âThe one who died on Mount Galo?â
Simon nodded. âHe got this from Raphael.â Simon shrugged. âTold me he wasnât supposed to have it, but that the Archangel had a handful of them and wouldnât miss just one. We were going to try to sell it, down in Luminaux maybe. After the Gloria.â
There was a moment of silence. At the Gloria, Raphael had challenged the god, and Jovah had brought the mountain down. The mountain and everybody standing on it, which had included Raphael, and some of his angels, and dozens of Jansai and other followers. Simon didnât have to explain that his brother was dead.
He shrugged again. âSo after that, I decided to keep it. Use it for myself, if I felt like it. Itâs not really good for hunting game, though, because it rips too big a hole in a small creature, and itâs too bright ifyouâre hunting herd beasts. You might bring down one animal, but the othersâll run off as soon as you use it. A bowâs still better.â
âWhyâd you bring it, then?â Hector asked in his usual blunt, nasal voice. Rebekah just hated to hear him talk.
Simon lifted it to his eye as if to sight down the long, smooth stick. âMight find me something else to shoot someday,â he said, and his voice was calm and deadly. âSay the Archangel Gabriel flew into town some afternoon. I might try to set his wings on fire.â
âGabriel,â Reuben said, and spat to one side of the fire.
âKill an Archangel, and the god might kill you,â Hector suggested, and for once Rebekah had to agree with him.
âI think Iâd die happy enough,â Simon said. He glanced down at the weapon another moment, then said, âI think this goes back in the wagon.â He strode off to his own tent and the others redisposed themselves around the fire.
Rebekah returned her attention to the younger set, but they had their heads bent over a game of chakki. The only expressions she could see on Isaacâs face were greed and calculation, and those werenât designed to make him more attractive, she thought. Anyway, just then the baby gave out a hesitant, irritable cry, and she turned around and crept back to his side.
âYes, arenât you the sweetest thing?â she crooned, holding
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