When Kate, Xander and I arrived at the Ruby Rest, I was surprised to see how much it had changed in just a day. Vera and her small team of doctors had worked fast, converting the saloon into an area where they could treat any injured townsfolk.

I vaguely remembered the term for the process being “triage” from some conversations I had overheard whilst recovering. The medical staff of a town could take charge in times of emergency, appropriating supplies and buildings to prioritise saving lives.

Thankfully, the proprietor of the Ruby Rest didn’t seem too bothered by the fact that their property had been temporarily taken over. I spotted the short and stocky man behind the bar handing out mugs of water to the medics and many wounded patients gathered around, a worried expression clearly visible on his face.

Despite everything, it was nice to see the people of the Scorch band together in times of crisis like this. It could be easy to solely focus on your own survival, as I had done for many years, in times like this. Towns coming under attack was no joke, and I had fled more than one that could have used my help in order to save my rubyshot.

Being a hero didn’t pay, and without my rubyshot I wouldn’t be able to provide my services as a professional gunslinger any more than I could go and become a rook. These days, I thankfully had some money saved up and stored at Barnabus’ shop, but it wouldn’t do me much good if I ran out of bullets far away from a gemsmith where I could get more crafted.

My ammo count was always firmly set in my mind, a constant reminder. Right now I had fifteen left, most of the rounds stored on my bandolier with some in a pouch at my side.

If we had to outright attack the outlaws to get Kate back, it likely wouldn’t be a pretty fight, but I hoped the rubyshot would be enough. I never liked outright shooting at other people with the incredibly dangerous bullets, but I had needed to on several occasions in the past.

When I had first moved out here, people would see someone walking around with a fancy crystal gun and think it their chance at a big enough payday to leave. I had been accosted in towns and even out in the Scorch by bandits on multiple occasions, and sometimes an explosive warning shot wasn’t enough to drive them off.

I winced at the memories, wondering just how many people I had killed or seriously injured. It wasn’t pleasant, but it was necessary. I usually just tried not to think about it.

Whenever I was out in the Scorch, or in a life or death situation like the attack, my brain seemed to work differently than usual. Maybe it was the adrenaline, but I had no trouble shooting other people when I knew they were after my gun or my life.

The handful of times it happened, I never even hesitated. I had worried that it may mean something was deeply wrong with me, but for the time being, I was honestly glad for it. To save Kate I would almost certainly need to be prepared to kill, and couldn’t afford the hesitation.

Looking around the Ruby Rest, I could see that it wasn’t just the rooks that had been injured in the attack. The now dead outlaws had rode into town in the middle of the day, throwing dynamite and firing their weapons at anyone out on the street. I was just immensely grateful they hadn’t let the giant serpent loose on the town, otherwise the amount of destruction would be far worse.

As it was, the saloon seemed to mostly be occupied by townsfolk with only light injuries, with a few partitioned off beds in the corners for patients in need of more serious care.

Xander led us over to a couple of beds behind a set of thin cloth partitions, where a young woman was resting. The other bed was empty, and from the way Xander was frantically looking around like a dog who had just heard someone open a packet of jerky, I could safely assume it wasn’t supposed to be.

“Hey there, don’t think I’ve met you before, but you’re the rook in charge now right?” the blonde-haired woman with light green skin directed her words at Zari, then started staring at me, a very hard to read expression on her face.

“That’s right, I arrived with the most recent caravan and took command with my squad. I am familiar with your squad leader, he may have mentioned me to… you” Zari trailed off, noticing that the other rook wasn’t paying her any attention, but was instead staring intently at me.

I was trying to look anywhere other than in the direction of the younger rook, focusing my own gaze on a large chunk of glowing emberlite mounted on the nearby wall. As soon as I had looked the rook in the eyes, a flash of familiarity had hit me like a round of rubyshot.

I knew the girl, and not from my time in the Scorch. I remembered her from before, back in Kenbry. I could have been mistaken, but half-goblins weren’t exactly common in my old home, and her facial features and long, blonde hair were unmistakable.

Her name was Lucy, and we had played together almost daily when we were kids. She had lived quite close to me, and after school a lot of the children would go out into the desert around the city and play in the sand dunes.

I remembered that Lucy often got into fights with other kids who stupidly made fun of her greenish skin and pointed ears. She never took bullying sitting down, and had even stepped in to defend me a few times when older kids had come to bother us.

I guess her becoming a rook was pretty fitting really. Those were happier days for sure, and the memories of them had helped me get through many difficult nights when I had first arrived here.

“Sorry, but haven’t we met?” the rook broke the awkward silence, rubbing the back of her bandaged head and wincing.

“Maybe, I help out with protecting a lot of caravans.” I tried my best to offer up a viable alternative, but she didn’t seem to be buying it.

“No, I swear I know you from somewhere else. You have really familiar eyes…”

For a moment, I considered how easy it might be to convince her that she was experiencing a nasty side effect from the head injury she had seemingly sustained, but that would just be cruel. Instead I just shrugged.

“Maybe I just have one of those faces?” I tried my best to sound nonchalant.

The girl narrowed her eyes at me suspiciously, but I managed to keep my face neutral. After a few seconds, she shrugged too. It seemed that for now I had managed to convince her, but I would have to be careful and avoid spending too much time around her.

I had been through so much out here, I doubted anyone I used to know would recognise me anymore. The fact that Lucy had was almost upsetting.

“My bad, I guess. Name’s Lucy, and you?”

“Cyrus, nice to meet you. Not a rook, but a gunslinger.”

“Think I’ve heard of you, cleared the path into town the other day, right?”

“Right, some rooks and I took care of a swarm of spiders.”

“Well, path ain’t clear anymore.”

“Yes, I believe your boss said something similar when he carried you into town, do you know where he is?” Zari joined in the conversation.

“Not sure, kinda been in and out of consciousness since the attack.” Lucy grimaced. “After the explosion, everything is a blur.”

“Explosion?” Both Zari and I asked the question at the same time.

“Boss didn’t tell you guys? We were in the middle of fighting off some vultures and scorps, then the caravans exploded.”

Zari and I shared a tense look at this.

“Do you remember anything about the circumstances leading up to it? What caused the explosions?” Zari was in full interrogation mode now.

“Not sure, seemed to come from inside the caravans. Don’t think anyone could have survived.” Lucy’s expression suddenly became a lot darker.

“The explosion isn’t the full story, we also had a traitor.”

“What do you mean?” I could practically see the colour drain out of Zari’s face as she asked the question. “One of the settlers turned on you?”

“I wish it was just one of the settlers.” Lucy growled. “One of the rooks turned on us. Didn’t see it myself, but they stabbed one of my friends and probably planted dynamite on the caravans while we were fighting.”

A long pause followed this information, and I could see that Zari was struggling with the idea. I couldn’t blame her really. The rooks were supposed to be a tight-knit group of warriors that protected those who needed it.

The protector guild followed several oaths, one of which predictably being to always protect those who were unable to protect themselves. The idea of a rook betraying that oath and killing not only innocent settlers, but other rooks? It was almost unthinkable.

“Who?” When Zari finally spoke, all emotion was gone from her voice.

“Davis is his name. Part of my squad, but I never really knew him too well.”

“I’m familiar. I keep track of all the rooks who come into town in case of emergency, including other squads.” Zari nodded slowly. “I believe the Davis you’re talking about is fairly new to this area of the Scorch, fights with a spear?”

“A halberd, actually.”

“I see…” Zari trailed off, rubbing at her temple with one hand. “And you’re sure of this? You saw him with your own eyes?”

“Not exactly.” Lucy winced. “After the first explosion, I went to check on my friend who was guarding the caravans. He’d been stabbed, told me Davis was behind it. I’m inclined to believe him, especially since Davis was just gone.”

“So you didn’t see him at all after the attack started?”

“No. Didn’t really have time with all the creatures trying to kill me.”

“I’m sorry, I just have to be very clear on all this. It’s something we need to take extremely seriously, as I’m sure you know.”

“Don’t worry, I get you.” Lucy nodded solemnly.

“Who else was in your squad?”

As the two continued talking about the exact events leading up to the attack, I took a closer look at the empty bed next to Lucy. There was a large pair of crystalline gauntlets resting against the frame, along with a suit of armour.

The half-goblin had the same gem-reinforced armour, albeit in a smaller size, and a large emerald battleaxe resting at the foot of her own bed. Since Zari and Lucy had started to talk about rook matters that didn’t mean much to me, I decided to take a look around and see if I could find the missing patient.

Xander was checking around the inside of the saloon, so I briefly excused myself and headed outside. There were a variety of townsfolk hurriedly rushing around, a lot of them carrying large bags, but I didn’t see anyone who seemed out of place or injured.

Not wanting to wander too far from Zari, I made my way around the side of the saloon and headed up the stairs to the room Kate and I had rented. It hadn’t been taken over by the medics, probably due to the fact that moving the wounded upstairs would be more trouble than it was worth.

The room seemed untouched. My sack of sapphire chunks, as well as a bag carrying most of my spare equipment were still there, as was the pouch of coins. I went over to my equipment bag and made note of what I had that could be of help.

My ruby pick was going to be pretty useless for me right now. I decided to hand it over to Zari when I got a chance so she could give it to one of the posse protecting the town. My diamond knuckle dusters were sadly in the same boat, however I decided to slip them into one of my duster pockets anyway.

They had been stupidly expensive, and I doubted anyone wanted to try defending the town with them when there would be plenty more weapons laying around.

I had to chuckle lightly at the idea of me managing to punch out some crystalline horror with one arm. Attempting it would be a fine way to go about losing my other arm, but that’s about all it would accomplish.

Funnily enough, the best weapon I had currently was the black revolver I had swiped off Sean. It was fully loaded with six crystal tipped shots, but I doubted they would do me much good against anything bigger than a spider.

The outlaw probably carried them for dealing with people, or as a fashion statement. It was hard to say which, but from the little I knew about Sean I was leaning towards the latter.

For the time being, I tucked the gun into the right pocket of my duster. I’d have to ask Zari for a spare holster and maybe some extra ammunition when I got the chance. It wasn’t much when compared to my repeater, and I didn’t know how accurate I would be firing with my off-hand, but it was certainly better than nothing.

I decided to take the small bag of coins with me too for the time being. If things went south and I had to flee town, I’d rather have that on me. There was always a possibility that some of the outlaws would be open to a bribe too, but I didn’t fancy my chances there.

They had proved that money probably wasn’t their primary concern. With the kind of powers they wielded they could be off robbing banks out here if that was all they wanted. I wasn’t sure what that actually was, but I was starting to have a few suspicions that Kate had been specifically targeted for a reason.

Just as I was about to close my bag, a silver tin caught my eye and I fished it out. It was the hard fruit sweets I had purchased back in Emberstone, to celebrate my last job. It was about halfway emptied out by this point, and I popped it open as carefully as I could with one arm.

The smell of sweet fruits immediately hit me hard, and I was transported back to a couple of days ago, when I had been chatting casually with Kate in this very room.

I had met researchers before, but even among her peers Kate was definitely an oddity. She had been bright and positive, even after three different life-threatening situations. The Scorch could easily grind plenty of people down after just one such event, but she hadn’t let it change her.

Kate had stayed excited and eager to keep researching, and had never stopped trying to show me kindness I almost certainly didn’t deserve.

Perhaps I was overreacting to what was essentially just basic human decency outside of the wasteland, having been devoid of it for so long.

Regardless, she had a warmth about her that reminded me of someone else back home. Someone that, unlike Lucy, there was no chance of me ever seeing again.

I could vividly recall many late nights in my childhood bedroom, looking over to see her there in the bed next to mine, scribbling away in her notebooks as she read by the light of a candle.

When she noticed me watching her, she would grin and roll over to rummage under her bed, pulling out a tin not too different from the once I was clutching now, and then sh would offer me a sweet.

I closed the tin and wiped my face, not ready to face those memories right now. I had failed a lot of people in my life, but Kate wouldn’t be one of them.