The Last Guardian by David Gemmell Page B

to see. Beth had been in Pilgrim’s Valley for only two days, but already she knew the political structure of the settlement. These riders worked for Edric Scayse, and he was one of the three most powerful men in Pilgrim’s Valley. He owned the largest mine, two of the stores, and, with the man Mason, the Traveler’s Rest and several of the gambling houses in the east quarter. His men patrolled the tent city, extorting payment for their vigilance. Any who did not pay were guaranteed to see their wagons or their belongings lost through theft or fire. In the main Scayse’s men were bullies or former brigands.
    Beth had watched the beast dragged in and shot down, and had seen Shannow recover his horse. The man who had stolen it was bruised but alive. Shannow could have asked for its return, but Beth knew the chances were the man would have refused, and almost certainly that would have led to a gun battle. Broome was a dung brain of the first order. But he was also her boss and in his own way a nice man. He believed in the nobility of man, felt that all disputes could be settled by reason and debate. She stood in the doorway and watched him tend the injured victim. Broome was tall and thin with long, straight sandy hair and a slender face dominated by large protruding blue eyes. He was not an unhandsome man, and his manner toward her had been courteous. He was a widower with no children, and Beth had scrutinized him carefully; she knew it would be wise to find a good man with a solid base so that she could ensure security for her children. But Broome could never fulfill her requirements.
    The injured man regained consciousness and was helped to a table. Beth brought him a cup of Baker’s, and he sipped it.
    “I’ll kill the whoreson,” he mumbled. “So help me God, I’ll kill him!”
    “Don’t even think like that, Meneer Thomas,” Broomeurged. “What he did was appalling, but further violence will not eradicate it.”
    The man pushed himself to his feet. “Who’s with me?” he asked. Two men joined him, but the others hung back. Thomas pulled his pistol from his belt and checked the loads. “Where’d he go?”
    “He took the stallion back to the stable,” said a short lean man.
    “Thanks, Jack. Well, let’s find him.”
    “Please, Meneer …” began Broome, but Thomas pushed him aside. Beth eased her way back through the kitchen and out into the yard, then hitched up her long skirt and ran behind the buildings, cutting through an alleyway and onto the main street ahead of the three men. At the end of the street she saw Shannow talking to the hostler in the doorway of the stable. Quickly she crossed to him.
    “They are coming for you, Shannow,” she said. “Three of them.”
    He turned to her and smiled softly. “It was kind of you to think of me.”
    “Never mind kindness. Saddle up and move.”
    “My belongings are still in my room. I would suggest that you wait here.”
    “I said there are three of them.”
    “Is the man I struck among them?”
    “Yes,” she told him.
    Shannow nodded, removed his coat, and laid it across the stall beam. Then he moved out into the sunlight. Beth crossed to the doorway and watched him make his way to the center of the street. There he stood and waited with his arms hanging by his sides. The sun was high, shining in the faces of the three pistoleers. They came closer, the two on the outside angling themselves away from Thomas in the center. Beth felt the tension rise.
    “Now how do you feel, you whoreson?” shouted Thomas. Shannow said nothing. “Cat got your tongue?”Closer they came, until only about ten paces separated them. Then Shannow’s voice sounded low and clear.
    “Have you come here to die?” he asked. Beth saw the man on the right rub sweat from his face and glance at his friend. Thomas grabbed for his pistol, but a single shot punched him from his feet. His legs twitched in the dust, and a stain spread slowly on the front of his