Blood Feud by David Robbins

Author:David Robbins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2010-09-07T04:00:00+00:00

17

It was hard being a patriarch, Jedediah Shannon thought to himself. It was hard being responsible for so many lives. He’d never asked to be head of the clan. It had fallen to him when his father was shot by a Harkey.

The damned Harkeys.

Jed often mused on how different his life would have been if not for the feud. He never did like to kill and hated that so many others lost their lives over something so stupid as hate. That was how he once described the feud to his pa: stupid. Especially given as how no one could recollect what started it in the first place. But there the two clans had been, grown men and not so fully grown men, going around shooting at one another and lying in ambush and murdering one another with guns and toothpicks and bowie knives.

Jed was proud of ending the bloodshed. That day he ran into Ezriah Harkey at the general store was a sign from above. Ezriah had been just as sick of the killing as he was. So they came to an agreement and shook hands, and just like that, the feud was over. Until now. Until Scarlet had to go and do something dumb and Buck had to prove something to himself by refusing help and then Chace had to go and shoot that Harkey in the tavern. Now here they were, the feud broken out again, and Jed miserable. Twenty years of peace forgotten as if it never was. The best and grandest thing he had ever done, shot to pieces.

Jed shuddered to think how many more had their wicks snuffed out in the Wareagle fight. When he’d lit out there had been five on the ground and several more wounded. He should have stayed. As head of the clan he was obligated to tend to his kin. Instead he had gone after Cassie. He had no choice. He truly did adore her more than any of his grandkids. He adored her even more than he had adored his own sons, and that was saying a lot.

Jed hung his head in despair. His sons. Buck and Granger and Fox should have been back days ago. He’d held out hope but there was no denying the truth; he wouldn’t ever set eyes on them again. They were dead. That was another reason he’d gone after Cassie; he didn’t want to lose her, too. Losing three sons was trial enough.

Jed drew rein. He opened a saddlebag and found his silver flask. Taking a swig, he smacked his lips. His thinking juice, he liked to call it. He savored another swallow. By rights he should be fanning the breeze to Wareagle, but there he sat, drinking and pondering. What’s the matter with me? he asked himself. The answer was as plain as his nose. Maybe it was his years. Maybe it was losing his beloved wife, Mary. Maybe it was losing his boys. But God help him, he didn’t want to be patriarch anymore.

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