Lone Star 04 by Wesley Ellis Page B

quickly and faced him. “Who approached you and your people to buy your land? Will you tell me?”
    Feodor shrugged. “Certainly. Only I’m not sure who the man was. Gustolf handled all that.”
    â€œDo you know whether he was an American—or a European?”
    â€œOh, he was an American. Gustolf said that much.”
    â€œAnd he came out here and just—”
    â€œNo.” Feodor frowned and shook his head. “No one came out here, Jessica. After the—after that creature killed the little girl, Gustolf waited, thinking perhaps it was not the curse of our homeland, but something else. Then, when the creature was seen again and again around the village, he was sure. He announced that we must move to another place. He went into Roster and asked around town for someone who could buy.”
    â€œAnd he found someone, I’ll bet,” Jessie said wryly.
    â€œYes he did. The lawman there told him who to see.”
    Jessie’s eyes narrowed. “You mean Town Marshal Gaiter?”
    â€œI don’t know. That sounds right.”
    â€œGaiter put Gustolf onto a buyer he just happened to know?”
    â€œI think that’s so.”
    Jessie let out a sigh. “Feodor, he didn’t even go talk to Tom Bridger, did he? Let him know what he was thinking about doing?”
    Feodor looked down at his boots. “No he didn‘t, Jessica. And I think you know why. You saw how he acted with you. Bridger was most kind to us when we settled here. Gustolf was ... ashamed to face him.”
    â€œBridger is dead, Feodor.”
    â€œWhat?” Feodor turned pale under his dark skin. “How did he—” He stopped and brought his lips firmly together. “I guess I already know that, don’t I? Your eyes tell me how.”
    â€œHe was shot down in the street. The night before Ki and I got to town.”
    Feodor gripped her shoulders. “Why are you telling me this, Jessica?”
    â€œBecause I want you to understand what’s happening here. To you and your people.”
    â€œI can see what is happening. What do you know that I do not?”
    â€œSomeone wants to buy your land and buy it cheap. They’re willing to do just about anything they can to get it. Including scaring you to death and killing off your people.”
    It suddenly dawned on Feodor what Jessie was trying to say. Concern, then anger and disbelief clouded his features. He turned abruptly away from her, jammed his hands in his pockets, and stared into the forest. “As I said before, I am a man who does not know what world he belongs to, Jessica, the old or the new. Perhaps it is a little of both.” He turned then, and held her with his eyes. “That thing has killed two people. You were here, you saw what it did. Now you come to me and say there has been a shooting in town, a man who was our friend. That it has to do with buying land, and that this ... man-wolf I do not believe in is a part of it. I do not understand this!”
    â€œI don’t either,” Jessie told him. “Not yet, Feodor.”
    Ki rode out of the settlement as soon as there was light enough to see, leading his horse up the hill to the road back to Roster. Jessie would drop a casual word somewhere to let the settlers know he had business to attend to, and would likely be gone all day. She knew, though, that he had no intention of going into town.
    He followed the dusty road a good mile, then swept his eyes carefully over the low horizon. When he was certain he was alone, he urged the mount into a run away from the road, toward the hills to the north. When the hills were nestled about him on either side, he slowed the mount to a walk and veered off west again, circling back toward the village. After a good half hour he slid off the horse, walked to the top of the hill, and went to his hands and knees. Ki allowed himself a satisfied smile. There was the settlement, not half a mile away