nukin’ unanswered question about this ville.”
A figure stepped from the shadows as they approachedtheir house with the wrought-iron bars on the windows. The moonlight glimmered on a curve of high forehead.
“Garrison,” Ryan said.
“Cawdor,” the sec boss said. He nodded generally at the others. “A word with you? Alone?”
“Yeah.”
“Ryan…” Mildred said dubiously.
Jak had gone tense, as if prepared to leap at the sec boss’s throat and tear it out with his sharp white teeth.
“Don’t worry,” Ryan said. “Both of you. Face it—these people’ve had us dead to rights since they yanked us out from under the noses of the coldhearts in the rubble this morning. Anything they want to do to us, they don’t have to get tricky to do it.”
A smile spread slowly across Garrison’s face. “You’re a smart man, Cawdor.”
Ryan waved the others on. “Settle in. Start resting. We’ll need all we can get and then some.”
“I won’t keep your friend long,” Garrison said. “I promise.”
They walked south along the street. A yellow glow was visible above the trees that masked the horizon to the south.
“Breweryville,” Garrison said, noticing Ryan studying the glow. “They keep at it night and day. Brother Joseph calls ’em crass materialists and opportunists. All I know is, they’re pretty powerful and pretty well-heeled.”
“Why haven’t they knocked you over yet?”
“Give me a break, Cawdor. You’ve seen the defenses. And you’ve seen our people know how to fight. I know as well as you do walls and wire tangles and all that shit just keeps out the amateurs and the not-so-serious-minded. Do you think any of us’d still be here if we were content justto sit on our asses and trust a hedge and some angle iron to keep us safe?”
“Point taken.”
“Now I don’t say the brewmeister couldn’t take us, if he wanted us. But he’d have to want us awful bad. We’d make him pay triple anything he’d ever pry out of the smoking wreckage that kind of fight left of the ville. And whatever else you can say about the old b-meister, he’s one sharp stoneheart.”
Ryan nodded. That made sense to him.
Garrison stepped out to stand in the street squarely before Ryan. “Listen, Cawdor,” he said, in the same calm, deceptively casual tone that was all the one-eyed wanderer had heard come out of his head. “I live for this ville. Nothing else. To serve it. To protect it. My daddy served Soulardville, and his daddy, and his daddy before him. Whether I like it or not I will do whatever is necessary to protect this ville.”
He paused and his forehead creased in a scowl. He had good eyebrows for it.
“This ville may not be perfect, but it’s order and peace. You’ve seen what’s waiting out there in the rubble. All that and worse is hungering to get in, every hour, day or night. I’ll die if I have to, to keep that out and preserve what we got. Scabs and all.”
Garrison studied Ryan’s face by the light of a crescent moon. “I suspect you’re about the same with your bunch.”
“Mebbe.” A smile quirked Ryan’s lips. “I’d rather do what it takes to keep us all alive. Me included.”
“I hear you.”
Garrison briefly gripped Ryan’s shoulder. His hand was dry and strong, just as Ryan expected.
“That was it,” he said. “I wanted us to understand each other.”
“Got you.”
Garrison said no more as they turned and walked back at a relaxed pace. Some kind of night creatures made noise in the trees that was more like a rhythmic whining or moaning than anything else. He knew that wasn’t what Jak had complained of. They were natural night sounds; they’d never fool Jak Lauren.
Ryan found himself liking the Soulardville sec boss. It was a novel enough feeling to surprise him. He hoped it didn’t come down to them squaring off. Liking the man and being unwilling to chill him at need were two very different things to Ryan Cawdor. Garrison wasn’t one of
A figure stepped from the shadows as they approachedtheir house with the wrought-iron bars on the windows. The moonlight glimmered on a curve of high forehead.
“Garrison,” Ryan said.
“Cawdor,” the sec boss said. He nodded generally at the others. “A word with you? Alone?”
“Yeah.”
“Ryan…” Mildred said dubiously.
Jak had gone tense, as if prepared to leap at the sec boss’s throat and tear it out with his sharp white teeth.
“Don’t worry,” Ryan said. “Both of you. Face it—these people’ve had us dead to rights since they yanked us out from under the noses of the coldhearts in the rubble this morning. Anything they want to do to us, they don’t have to get tricky to do it.”
A smile spread slowly across Garrison’s face. “You’re a smart man, Cawdor.”
Ryan waved the others on. “Settle in. Start resting. We’ll need all we can get and then some.”
“I won’t keep your friend long,” Garrison said. “I promise.”
They walked south along the street. A yellow glow was visible above the trees that masked the horizon to the south.
“Breweryville,” Garrison said, noticing Ryan studying the glow. “They keep at it night and day. Brother Joseph calls ’em crass materialists and opportunists. All I know is, they’re pretty powerful and pretty well-heeled.”
“Why haven’t they knocked you over yet?”
“Give me a break, Cawdor. You’ve seen the defenses. And you’ve seen our people know how to fight. I know as well as you do walls and wire tangles and all that shit just keeps out the amateurs and the not-so-serious-minded. Do you think any of us’d still be here if we were content justto sit on our asses and trust a hedge and some angle iron to keep us safe?”
“Point taken.”
“Now I don’t say the brewmeister couldn’t take us, if he wanted us. But he’d have to want us awful bad. We’d make him pay triple anything he’d ever pry out of the smoking wreckage that kind of fight left of the ville. And whatever else you can say about the old b-meister, he’s one sharp stoneheart.”
Ryan nodded. That made sense to him.
Garrison stepped out to stand in the street squarely before Ryan. “Listen, Cawdor,” he said, in the same calm, deceptively casual tone that was all the one-eyed wanderer had heard come out of his head. “I live for this ville. Nothing else. To serve it. To protect it. My daddy served Soulardville, and his daddy, and his daddy before him. Whether I like it or not I will do whatever is necessary to protect this ville.”
He paused and his forehead creased in a scowl. He had good eyebrows for it.
“This ville may not be perfect, but it’s order and peace. You’ve seen what’s waiting out there in the rubble. All that and worse is hungering to get in, every hour, day or night. I’ll die if I have to, to keep that out and preserve what we got. Scabs and all.”
Garrison studied Ryan’s face by the light of a crescent moon. “I suspect you’re about the same with your bunch.”
“Mebbe.” A smile quirked Ryan’s lips. “I’d rather do what it takes to keep us all alive. Me included.”
“I hear you.”
Garrison briefly gripped Ryan’s shoulder. His hand was dry and strong, just as Ryan expected.
“That was it,” he said. “I wanted us to understand each other.”
“Got you.”
Garrison said no more as they turned and walked back at a relaxed pace. Some kind of night creatures made noise in the trees that was more like a rhythmic whining or moaning than anything else. He knew that wasn’t what Jak had complained of. They were natural night sounds; they’d never fool Jak Lauren.
Ryan found himself liking the Soulardville sec boss. It was a novel enough feeling to surprise him. He hoped it didn’t come down to them squaring off. Liking the man and being unwilling to chill him at need were two very different things to Ryan Cawdor. Garrison wasn’t one of
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