Will poked at his leg through the hole in his pants, surprised not to wince with pain or pull his finger back covered in blood. Well, there was still some blood but was leftover from the chunk of railing he’d been impaled by during the shootout. It wasn’t the most exciting thing in the world, a high caliber round sent a chunk of wood flying. It wasn’t like he’d been shot at least there. He’d also earned himself his own glancing shot to the shoulder.

“How does it feel?” Kate asked, her shoulder long since healed too.

“Tingly?” Will responded. It wasn’t that he wasn’t used to the idea of patching a person up so quickly you could see it happening but a sip of healing tonic with a small splash onto his shoulder and leg and his skin zipped close far faster than he’d ever seen. Even nanites took time to heal, not much but some. It was impressive. He’d have to look into buying one or two for emergencies.

“Well, the tingling’s a good sign but won’t last. A few hours at most. If it were a watered down tonic the wound would close and you’d feel like you were repeatedly being stabbed,” Kate explained.

“Really? Damn… have you ever used one?” Will asked.

“Me? No. My cousins, little brother, ranch hands. They’ve all used them but granny wouldn’t see me or any of the other women in the family go through that. Most of the men are fine with it, say it don’t last as long as the tingling,” she said and looked over to Void, newly adorned with her saddlebag sitting over his front shoulders. He was busy dining on a mix of horse, pig, cattle, and a few ducks thrown in. All animals the Wilhup gang had shot for the fun of it. The smell of cooked meat filled the air but the people of Vicksby tossed any meat that had been soiled or torn up too bad into a pile for any Bakarna in town, plus the bones that Void seemed to love even more than his smaller cousins. Maybe because he had little issue breaking them apart.

“Well, Miss Kate, Mister Will. It looks like that animal of yours is about done… You two about ready to go?” Victor asked. Bringing his own Bakarna around.

“Uncle Victor, you don’t need to escort me. I’m sure I’ll be fine with Mister Tempest, he’s more than capable,” Kate looked at his mount and protested the older man joining them.

“And I’m sure he is but I wasn’t plannin’ on riding with ya. I’ve gotta get back and check in with the sheriff. See if we can send Jakob and Skunk up here for a little while to help keep the peace. The closest these folks got to the law is a retired deputy. Sure he knows what he’s doin’ and he’s got the classes and skills to back him up but the old man’s older than my father would be. They already named him sheriff but they need more than just one old timer pushing 70 watching out for ‘em,” Victor explained, “Also if I could ask, got a letter here for the Marshall in Fairpoint. Explaining what happened to his men and whatnot, also asking for a few young bodies looking to get a lawman class to head out this way and start learning the ropes. Could use ‘em in Silverstead and here.”

William hadn’t been sure if he should tell Victor about the situation in Silverstead especially with him being married into the Landry family. He wasn’t sure what side of the street the man would be standing on but then again he might pick neither and act as a mediator. Sheriff Teddy had instructed him to tell Victor to hurry back if he’d seen him on the road.

“More lawmen for Silverstead?” Kate had caught that point and seemed confused, “I don’t see no reason to have more lawmen, we don’t even have a bank anymore. The Wilhups would more than likely go right past us to Belview or Davonshire. There ain’t nothin’ in Silverstead for ‘em… but you were already traveling with two of the Marshall’s men. What you been up to Uncle Victor?”

“Well, now Miss Kate-”

“Am I not your favorite niece?” Will felt a skill activate as she said it, “No harm in tellin’ little ole me, is there?”

“Now Kate-”

“If there’s something wrong in Silverstead, got plenty of reasons to say,” She continued. Will cleared his throat and she glanced over at him but did a double take. He was pretty sure she hadn’t realized until that point that he wasn’t under the effect of her skill. She looked at him curiously as the feeling dissipated. But the damage was already done.

“There ain’t nothin’ wrong with Silverstead, Miss Kate. Don’t see any reason not to tell ya here and now. You’re headed the other way and if you deliver my letter to the Marshall, you’ll probably hear it there,” Victor said and scraped his boot through the dirt almost like a child after being scolded. Maybe it was the after effects of the skill, “Mines turned into a dungeon. Damn good one too, monsters made of silver… Mister Will, there was the one to discover it, probably pulled $30 of silver out in his first go. Sheriff and Mayor wanna keep it silent till we can get some more lawmen in, get ready for some o’ the adventurers and outlaws that’ll take notice when the word spreads.”

Kate’s jaw hit the floor. Whatever she’d been expecting, it must not have been close. Not only that but a few of the people around that had been dropping eaves had the same look on their faces. Will noticed two in particular that he’d met. Miss Kitty and Abe. The latter stood and turned to walk away but Abe hefted his new rifle onto his back and walked up to Victor.

“Thinking of joining up?” Victor asked but Abe laughed and shook his head.

“Nah. [Dockhand], [Laborer], and [Boatwright]. Three professions but none are that high of level, might be able to take the pain of a single class reset but not really worth it. Maybe ten years ago...” Abe said.

“You’re not that old, Ya look about the same as me,” Victor said.

“Probably am but looks are deceiving. You’ve been a lawman. Riding around, shooting outlaws, breaking up barfights. I’ve been haulin’ crates on the docks for 25 years, bones are older than I am now. I’d wager my back and knees are about twenty years ahead of the rest of me,” Abe said and held out the rifle, “Take it. Nothing left for Wilhups or anyone else to go through here. You’ll need this more than me. And it was your boy there that shot down the previous bastard to call it his.”

“Thank ya, I’ll make sure it goes to good use,” Victor said, accepting the rifle.

“Ya better. Maybe see ya down that way. If what you said was true, someone's gonna be building a new dock for riverboats before long. Now if you don’t mind, gotta see a man about a horse” Abe tipped his hat and stepped away. Will didn’t understand why Victor thought that was funny. Or anyone else for that matter. There was a bit of snickering as Abe disappeared around a corner. Beside him, Kate mumbled something.

“What was that?” he asked.

“Nothin’… Thinkin’ if riverboats are gonna be going all the way to Silverstead then my family might wanna think about gettin’ into the boat business among a few other things,” she said. Will remembered the bridge across the river at Deathbane Ranch. It wasn’t a tall bridge, so if Silverstead got a dock for riverboats it’d have to be built either on Landry lands or on the far side of the river, which might have been theirs too. At least for anything coming from downriver.

Kate turned and looked in the general direction of Silverstead while chewing her lip. After a moment she shook her head.

“I’m sure Granny or my pa will be thinkin’ the same thing when they learn. I still got business in Fairpoint… Shall we depart, Mister Tempest?”

“William,” he reminded her again.

“William… but you must admit, Mister Tempest rolls off the tongue nicely. Now will you be sitting in the saddle or will I?” She asked as she walked up to Void, a light drizzle of his scent marker on a handkerchief in her hand, which he gave a sniff before doing the same to Kate. Will felt kind of stupid seeing it and wondered if Skunk knew of the technique that didn’t involve soaking your sleeve in piss.

She stood waiting on his decision but there wasn’t much of one to make. Will wasn’t an asshole at least.

“You can take the saddle,” he told her and she smiled before adjusting the stirrups but just stared at them when she was done. Will was taller than her and the stirrups had been adjusted for his legs, leaving them lower down. With them adjusted to a higher position and her height, they were about even with her chest.

“I don’t suppose I can trouble you for a step?” Kate asked.

Will obliged by interlacing his fingers and giving her a boost up then took his own moment to stare at the saddle. How the hell was he supposed to get up there?

He ended up having to use a box. Kate was kind enough to scoot forward and let him have the stirrup but soon he was up. She stood up with her foot in the other stirrup and let him sit down on the back of the saddle before seating herself between his legs.

“Now I guess I’ll be steering him, hold on Mister Tempest… and don’t be tellin’ Granny about this,” She said the second part in a different tone of voice that he was beginning to recognize as her normal tone with the charm filled damsel routine as something completely different. Like there was a Kate and a Miss Kate. Although she could have made up a new voice to say that and he’d still follow the advice. He’d met her grandmother one time and the woman had wanted to shoot him. Will could imagine what would happen if she found out about him scooting up behind her granddaughter with the only place for him to hold on being her hips.

“Shit!”

That quickly turned into his arms around her waist and then reaching around her to get a hand on the saddle horn that was right between her legs when Void got started in his usual fashion, not caring in the slightest about the heavier load. He tore a path through the last block of town and immediately went for his norm of running alongside the road in the brush.

“Mister Tempest! I know you’re ho-Wooooah!” Kate yelled out and lifted her legs as Void trampled another cactus, “I know you’re holding on but will you please watch where you place your thumb!”

Will moved his thumb and realized what he was rubbing it up against and quickly let go of the saddlehorn altogether, opting to risk falling off instead of that. Kate wasn’t willing to let that happen though and grabbed his hand to wrap it around her waist again.

“Sorr-” they left the ground and Kate stood up in the stirrups. Will got a very close encounter with her backside but any joy he might have had with that view was extremely short lived. Void had jumped something and when he landed Kate managed to absorb the shock with her legs. Will had nothing to put his feet in to stand up and ended up absorbing the shock with his nutsack. He whimpered quietly to himself as Kate sat back down. It was going to be a long ride.

The previous day's ride played out again, perhaps slightly faster than before. Void went at a full gallop for a while, then a canter.

“Wowee, you’ve got some stamina don’t ya?” Kate asked Void and leaned forward and petted his neck when he finally slowed down to a trot. Will was pretty sure she’d forgotten he was there by that point, growing accustomed to his hand on her stomach or occasionally hip when she stood up to brace.

Will had learned she had yet a third personality in there, he called that one Little Kate internally and it was obvious what it took to bring her child side out. After getting comfortable and taking care of the issue of how he was supposed to hold her, she really got into the ride. It didn’t take her long to start encouraging Void to go faster or trash a particular set of bushes. She even led him to jump but thankfully only did that once. Will was sure he’d gone crosseyed on that one and he might have cried out a little in pain. Just a yelp.

“Yeah… he ahhh… he likes to run,” Will understated behind her and she turned and smiled in a way he hadn’t seen before. At least she was genuinely having fun.

“He’s one of ours ain’t he? That empty stall out at Lemar Ranch?” She asked.

“Yeah… Sheriff teddy commandeered him while we went out looking for whoever killed Lemar,” Will said, reminded that Void technically wasn’t his. Kate looked back at him for a moment.

“Far as I’m concerned that stalls always been empty. Say he’s yours now,” she gave him a wink but her demeanor changed right after, “So, you found what you were looking for, or so I heard. Or at least what the Sheriff was looking for.”

Will was silent. How did she know?

“Not sure what nonsense Jebidiyah got himself into but some of ours went lookin’ too and found the bodies. Last I checked a Sheriff’s suppose to bring the criminals in for a trial and then, if they’re found guilty, hang ‘em. Half those bodies looked like they’d been executed on the spot,” she said, still turned in the saddle to look at him, “Granny sent me to bring the Marshall down on the Sheriff. A lawman’s gotta respect the law and even if it played out in his favor, none of my kin want the man responsible conductin’ his own investigatin’. You were there, weren’t ya?”

“Ah, yeah… No one was executed though…. Well, not by Teddy,” Will said.

“What’s that suppose to mean?”

“There was a bounty on a horse thief, $50 to bring him and the horse back alive. He was there and the Sheriff managed to capture him but when he put him with the four that had surrendered, he shot them,” Will explained, “The Sheriff and the deputies returned fire but they weren’t fast enough.”

“He just shot them?”

“Yeah. Just walked up to them, drew a revolver, and shot them.”

“Any idea who he was?”

“No, I know they’re going to be looking into that too. The bounty was out of Davonshire.” Will had been hesitant about answering questions but there was something ticking away at the back of his head about the entire situation.

“Anyone ask the sheriff if he knew WHY that man still had a gun to do the shootin’? Maybe with a truth coin in hand?” Kate asked and gave him a pointed look.

“Ah… no,” Will said. Everything had happened so fast he wasn’t sure where the gun was pulled from but it wasn’t the man’s holster, he knew that much. Was she implying that the Sheriff had something to do with that? That he’d let the man keep a hidden firearm?

“See! Too many damn questions and not enough answers. I don’t doubt that Jeb got himself killed. He wasn’t the brightest and was always quick to pick a fight but we at least deserve the truth on what went down out there, not just what the Sheriff tells us,” She said.

“You really don’t like the Sheriff, huh?” Will asked more as a statement but Kate still answered.

“Why would we? I know my family’s got a reputation and all but he treats us like were outlaws. Some... You know my little brother wanted to be a deputy and the Sheriff told him no. I could say that was about his age, he’s only 16, but he wasn’t the only one. Couple of my cousins, grown men all of ‘em, were willing to wear a badge too. Still no… He won’t even let any of my folk be members of an official posse and the only reason Uncle Victor’s a deputy with him marrying my aunt is because he was a deputy before they even started courtin’,” Kate fumed. Will wasn’t sure what spurred the conversation that much, maybe just the realization that Void was from Lemar ranch. Maybe she was more comfortable with him after spending time with him and needed to vent. Or maybe she saw him as a third party, a newcomer to town, and was trying to get him on her side.

Still, he debated telling her about his own mission but decided not to in the end. Besides the Sheriff being good to him and the requested secrecy, it wouldn’t change anything. One way or another the Marshall would hopefully be sending someone to sort the entire thing out.

She continued to study him but her features softened and she turned to face what was in front of them.

“I’m sorry, William. Lotsa going ons these past few days, lotsa accusations being thrown around, then to top all that off Vicksby weren’t exactly a picnic along the river…”

“I know…” Will responded vaguely. They rode in near silence for two hours after that but soon smoke could be spotted on the horizon. Dozens of trails of it rising up into the sunset. A slight glimmer of water in the distance as well.

“Whelp, there’s Fairpoint… don’t worry, it always looks like that. A lot of furnaces, ovens, maybe a train if one’s in station… always some sort of smoke over the city. Should be getting to a stable just as dusk hits,” She informed him and he judged her to be right based on the perceived distance.