Three Past Desolation Cut by Grant Stone

Author:Grant Stone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Western, Fantasy, horse, gun, desert
Publisher: Lost Colony Books
Published: 2022-04-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

Sleep eventually came. But it was thin and bitter, and riven with sour dreams. Bonnie abandoned the attempt before dawn.

When it was light enough, she looked for any sign of King’s departure, but found none. No footprints, no trail where he might have dragged himself away. King’s horse, too, was gone. Had it just been some illusion he had created, or some weird extension of him?

Gosford woke, sitting up suddenly with a loud snort. For a few moments he stared about, blinking, as if he had utterly forgotten who he was and what he was doing out in the middle of nowhere.

Bonnie coaxed the fire into life and started preparing coffee. A few minutes later Eaton sat up, nearly as suddenly as Gosford had, though his expression changed from confused back to his usual stoicism far more quickly.

“I had—such dreams,” Gosford said, unconsciously smoothing his hair across his forehead. “Things I would not speak aloud.”

“Then stay silent,” Eaton said, a deep tremble in his voice.

—

They found the Iron River late in the afternoon.

All day they had been crossing downward-sloping plains, covered with a layer of bitter plants, so closely packed and with leaves so sharp that the horses needed to pick their way carefully. Every few minutes, the ground would drop a little further. Their descent was not particularly noticeable while it was happening, but every time Bonnie looked backwards, it was as if they were at the bottom of a massive set of stairs. She had never seen plants like this before, but whatever they were, they did not seem to require much in the way of moisture. Apart from the traitor well they hadn't seen running water for three days now.

Her right hand still throbbed, a dull ache that worsened over the day, no matter how loosely she grasped her horse’s reins. She had taken to stretching her fingers out against her thigh, which seemed to bring some relief, but only a little. The effect seemed to disappear a little faster every time.

The three of them traveled silently, Bonnie in the center of the white road, with Eaton on her left side, Gosford on her right. Whatever softening King had accomplished in the men’s relationship had hardened once more. The image of the creature King had become kept rising up in her mind.

You won’t shoot me, girl.

“But I did,” she said aloud, though she couldn’t shake the feeling that she hadn’t achieved much, except waste another of her father’s bullets. Only one remained. She couldn’t shoot the Splintered Man in both his head and his heart now. She would have to choose.

Eaton coaxed his horse a little closer. “I—I owe you an apology. We both do, though I doubt you’ll get one from him.” He angled his head in Gosford’s direction. “Still, I am sorry. Thank you for saving us.”

Bonnie shrugged. “The Splintered Man is exceedingly subtle. It follows that his servants would be likewise. I could have fallen under his spell just as easily as you did.

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