Keeper of the Books (Keeper of the Books, Book 1) by Jason D. Morrow
Authors: Jason D. Morrow
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for it, but he kept himself calm and collected. Instead, he swallowed and nodded slowly. “Listen, I don’t have any reason to harm your friends. I’ve got to find my brother and get back home. I just need to lay low and get myself situated.”
Marum stared at him, then finally nodded. “A gray elf’s custom is to pay back a debt owed with equal value. I can’t say that giving you a place to stay for the night is quite the same as you saving my life, but it’s a start.”
“You don’t owe me anything,” Nate said. “You get me to your friend’s home, your debt will be paid.”
“Well,” Marum said, “that’s not up to you. When I feel the debt is paid, then it is done.” She sighed and motioned toward the forest away from the road. “We really should be traveling through the thick. The road is dangerous.”
Now Marum took the lead, and Nate was all too happy to let her.
An hour went by while Nate followed Marum closely. Since the two of them had decided to travel away from the roads, the terrain wasn’t the easiest to get through. The woods were thick in these parts. Nate had been through worse, of course, but the cool autumn air didn’t feel so cool anymore as sweat dripped down the side of his face. Looking ahead of him, Marum seemed comfortable enough.
“You know,” Nate said, “I didn’t really think about it at the time, but maybe we should have stolen that man’s horse. We are on the run for our lives, after all. I don’t think it would have been too much to ask.”
“I suppose not,” Marum answered back. “But that would be just another witness for the Rangers to get more information. It’s better this way.”
Maybe we wouldn’t have to leave a witness, Nate thought to himself. But it was just a fleeting thought. Nate wasn’t a very good killer. Good killers didn’t feel remorse when their victims died. That wasn’t to say Nate had never killed before, but he wasn’t the kind of man to kill for a horse simply because he needed it. Nate figured he fell more along the lines of kill or be killed, though that hadn’t always been the case. He was far more inclined to kill another outlaw for petty reasons than a farmer carrying a cart full of compost. He figured that most of the outlaws he came across were too dumb to make it very long in this business and were bound for a hanging one way or another. If they posed a threat to Nate, wasn’t he doing them a favor by ending it quickly rather than being strangled to death in front of an angry group of people?
He thought about Joe in this instance. His little brother still hadn’t killed anyone in his life. Nate thought this was a good thing when it came to his character, but he couldn’t exactly count on him when things got thick. In one or two firefights, Joe aimed for men’s weapons or limbs, careful not to hit any vital organs or the head. What Nate wanted to tell him but never did was that sometimes the man he was shooting at needed to be dead.
That’s how his last job was supposed to have gone. He had sent Joe as the leader because he knew he wouldn’t go into the bank blasting away bankers and the people there to make deposits or withdrawals. Nate figured that it was Ralph who killed the banker, but he couldn’t be sure. Either way, it counted against Nate most of all, perhaps even increasing his large bounty back home.
Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing being here in Galamore. Here he didn’t have a bounty to worry about. At least, not yet.
“So,” Marum said, cutting into his thoughts. “You say you have to get back home. Where is home?”
“Well, for now it’s Texas,” he said. “You ever heard of Texas?”
“No,” Marum said. “Must be beyond Galamore’s borders. Unless it is a small place.”
“No, it ain’t small,” Nate said, smiling. “But I plan to head up to Montana and settle down there.”
“Do you have a family?”
“Just my brother,” he said. “And he’s here in Galamore
Marum stared at him, then finally nodded. “A gray elf’s custom is to pay back a debt owed with equal value. I can’t say that giving you a place to stay for the night is quite the same as you saving my life, but it’s a start.”
“You don’t owe me anything,” Nate said. “You get me to your friend’s home, your debt will be paid.”
“Well,” Marum said, “that’s not up to you. When I feel the debt is paid, then it is done.” She sighed and motioned toward the forest away from the road. “We really should be traveling through the thick. The road is dangerous.”
Now Marum took the lead, and Nate was all too happy to let her.
An hour went by while Nate followed Marum closely. Since the two of them had decided to travel away from the roads, the terrain wasn’t the easiest to get through. The woods were thick in these parts. Nate had been through worse, of course, but the cool autumn air didn’t feel so cool anymore as sweat dripped down the side of his face. Looking ahead of him, Marum seemed comfortable enough.
“You know,” Nate said, “I didn’t really think about it at the time, but maybe we should have stolen that man’s horse. We are on the run for our lives, after all. I don’t think it would have been too much to ask.”
“I suppose not,” Marum answered back. “But that would be just another witness for the Rangers to get more information. It’s better this way.”
Maybe we wouldn’t have to leave a witness, Nate thought to himself. But it was just a fleeting thought. Nate wasn’t a very good killer. Good killers didn’t feel remorse when their victims died. That wasn’t to say Nate had never killed before, but he wasn’t the kind of man to kill for a horse simply because he needed it. Nate figured he fell more along the lines of kill or be killed, though that hadn’t always been the case. He was far more inclined to kill another outlaw for petty reasons than a farmer carrying a cart full of compost. He figured that most of the outlaws he came across were too dumb to make it very long in this business and were bound for a hanging one way or another. If they posed a threat to Nate, wasn’t he doing them a favor by ending it quickly rather than being strangled to death in front of an angry group of people?
He thought about Joe in this instance. His little brother still hadn’t killed anyone in his life. Nate thought this was a good thing when it came to his character, but he couldn’t exactly count on him when things got thick. In one or two firefights, Joe aimed for men’s weapons or limbs, careful not to hit any vital organs or the head. What Nate wanted to tell him but never did was that sometimes the man he was shooting at needed to be dead.
That’s how his last job was supposed to have gone. He had sent Joe as the leader because he knew he wouldn’t go into the bank blasting away bankers and the people there to make deposits or withdrawals. Nate figured that it was Ralph who killed the banker, but he couldn’t be sure. Either way, it counted against Nate most of all, perhaps even increasing his large bounty back home.
Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing being here in Galamore. Here he didn’t have a bounty to worry about. At least, not yet.
“So,” Marum said, cutting into his thoughts. “You say you have to get back home. Where is home?”
“Well, for now it’s Texas,” he said. “You ever heard of Texas?”
“No,” Marum said. “Must be beyond Galamore’s borders. Unless it is a small place.”
“No, it ain’t small,” Nate said, smiling. “But I plan to head up to Montana and settle down there.”
“Do you have a family?”
“Just my brother,” he said. “And he’s here in Galamore
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