Six months later
I made my way down the busy street. Buildings were going up almost everywhere. In the past several months the population of the town had swelled by at least four times in volume. The town of Orlaca was once again a thriving place thanks to the resurgent supply of gold discovered in a different vein from the one mined out previously.
Business was booming, but for me it was time to leave. I hadn’t had much of any trouble in being marshal these past few months, but with the return of prosperity I knew that would be short-lived.
Drifters from all over would flock in. Miners and prospectors would be killed in ambushes for a few pinches of gold dust. Saloons and their ilk would open up everywhere.
The old saloon was already back up and running. The first shipment of dance hall girls had just arrived yesterday and another saloon was going up just down the street not too far from the church.
Truly the Bible had it right in stating that, “The love of money is the root of all evil.” The town had been a better place without its newfound wealth for sure.
Perhaps I was old-fashioned, so what if I was. I preferred life away from the maddening crowd.
I stepped into the general store and Angus looked up. He leaned down to lift several parcels onto the counter.
I stepped close to the counter and smiling I said, “I knew you’d have it ready even though I only gave the list to you an hour ago.”
Angus shrugged, “A man has priorities and you are of the utmost priority in my eyes.”
I reached my hand across the counter and Angus shook it firmly. I’d made good friends in this town. The town I wouldn’t overly miss, but the friends I had made I would.
Gesturing to one of the new repeating rifles on the wall I said, “I’ll take that to and about a thousand rounds of ammunition to go along with it.”
Angus grinned and took the rifle down and laid it on the counter and then began stacking boxes of bullets on the counter beside it.
“Fixing to do some shooting Marshal?” The Widow O’Brien asked, from where she stood off to the side.
Looking to her I smiled, “Maybe. I like to be prepared anyway.”
Coming to me she grasped my forearm briefly before saying, “May God be with you in your travels Marshal.” Before then moving on out the door.
Turning back to Angus I dove into my pocket for the money to pay, but Angus waved his hand and said, “Your money is no good here.”
I dug out the bill money in my pocket anyway and laid it on the counter, “It’s liable not to do me any good anyway Angus. I appreciate the gesture, but if a man deserved to profit it would be you.”
Grudgingly he took the money, but then said, “I’m taking this, but if I run across someone in need I’ll give it to them.”
“Sounds good to me Angus.” I said with a nod.
I’d tied a mule I had bought up outside earlier and now I began to make trips in and out of the store packing the mule down with supplies. Fully loaded I led the mule down the street to the stable yard.
Finding the Appaloosa I saddled it up and then taking a small pouch of gold from my pocket I laid it in a drawer of Nathan’s desk in the barn. It was a fitting wedding present for the young man and his new bride.
They’d just gotten married yesterday and of all people he’d asked me to be his best man. It had a been an experience that I had cherished and now looking around smiling I wondered how long it would be before Nathan could manage to drag himself away from his new bride. Not for a long time was my guess.
Life went on and so would mine one day. The wedding yesterday had lit a yearning once more in my heart to someday try at love again.
Leaving the stable yard I mounted up and headed for the last place I intended to visit before leaving town.
*****
My boots sounded loud as I walked down the central aisle of the church. I’d learned a lot here and experienced God all over again. The place for me would always be hallowed.
Stopping at the front pew I sat for a moment and turned my hat in my hands. Pastor Lonigan had been and would always be one of the most influential people in my life.
He’d taught me so much and I’d wished for years of instruction by him, but a month ago he had gone on to be with the Lord in his sleep. I missed him deeply.
The sound of shoes had me looking up into the eyes of the new pastor. He was a young man. I really hadn’t formed an opinion of him yet. My prayer though was that he’d grow into the man of faith his predecessor had been.
I patted the pew beside me, “Take a seat Pastor.”
Hesitatingly the man responded as I had commanded and sat. Letting my arm lay along the back of the pew I regarded him with an unwavering stare. The man stared back at me nervously, but to his credit he didn’t break the stare.
“You have a great responsibility before you Pastor in the spiritual management of this growing town.”
Nodding he said, “I know.”
“You’re not going to be able to do the work that needs done in this community on your own. I wish I could stay to help you, but my place is elsewhere. There are good men and women in this town that will be your friend through thick and thin, but your help doesn’t lie with men alone but in God.”
The man nodded resolutely and looking away I said, “Battles have been won in this place and wars fought, but one day, even perhaps this day, evil will return. It is your duty as a shepherd over this community to stand in the gap as your predecessor did.”
“God so help me I will!”
Nodding I stood up and stepping forward I emptied most of the rest of my money both gold and paper into the offering plate. I turned away and putting my hat on I came to a stop before the still seated Pastor and fixing him with my hardest stare I said, “If I hear of you misleading the flock entrusted to you into any heresy of belief outside of the Bible laying beside you on the pew so help me I’ll be back to put an end to you myself. Understand?”
The man nodded and I headed for the door my boots loud in the still atmosphere of the church. I heard the Pastor stand up and I stopped as he called out, “Where are you going?”
“I don’t rightly know, but if I had to say it would be somewhere that’s in need of deliverance.”
“Well then you better take this.” He said rushing forward with one of the church’s Bibles.
Smiling I accepted it and said, “I already have one packed, but I don’t suppose it would hurt to have more than one to take along with me.”
I patted him on the shoulder, but he grabbed a hold of me and looking into his face I saw the sincerity to be seen in his eyes of the words that he spoke, “I’d like to pray over you before you go.”
The last bits of unease over leaving the town unchaperoned went away and smiling I said, “I’d like that very much.”
*****
The town behind me, I headed westward. At the sound of hard riding I looked back to see a rider fast approaching. Now what?
It was Edgar. Pulling even with me he gave me a smile and said, “Going West?”
Looking over the supplies strapped to his horse and the out of place looking gun belt around his waist I asked, “What of Elizabeth?”
He shrugged and looked away with a pained look to his eyes, “She’s taken a liking to another.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I thought you two were all but hitched.”
“Yeah, me too.”
Patting him on the back I said, “Better you find out now instead of later once you were married that she wasn’t the one for you.”
“You were married?” Edgar asked with keen interest.
“Once.”
“What happened?”
“If you’re going to ask questions all the time then feel free to go back to town. If you want to go along with me I suggest we keep the personal stuff to a minimum.”
Edgar remained silent and I immediately felt bad for my harshness. He’d stumbled across a still raw issue for me though.
Sighing I said what I knew would make him happy, “I was raised in the South, but there in the hills things were different. I never had a slave and I didn’t hold with the South fighting to keep men of color still bound up in the yoke of slavery. Besides the moral objection to it I have as you’ve noticed a darker complexion than many so-called whites. My wife came from a high society family, which owned several plantations. When it was suggested to her by others that I had slave blood in me things changed. She left me and went back to her family. I went to get her and her family ambushed me and carted me off in chains, while she stood there saying nothing. I managed to escape, but even the mountains weren’t safe, because there are a lot of desperate people there and her family put a bounty on my head to be paid in gold. I packed up and went north and joined the North in the fight against slavery. At least I thought that was what the war was about, but now I know different.”
“What was the Civil War about Taran?” Edgar asked interjecting softly.
I shrugged bitterly, “No doubt for some it was to free the slaves, but it was really a usurpation by the federal government to seize the rights gifted to the states by the Constitution and set up the federal government as the dominant power in the country. The issue chosen to go to war over just happened to be slavery. A noble endeavor of ideal meant to mask over the true intentions of a few evil men that wanted complete control over the nation as a whole. Republican or Democrat it does not matter. Among the losses of untold men caught up in a merciless conflict the loss of individual state liberties is an often overlooked thing. No longer can the voters of one state truly do as they wish if their desires lie outside of what the federal government wants. I’m glad the slaves were freed, but freed to what? The whole nation back East has become its own prison and it will only get worse with time as the federal government seizes more and more power from the people. It’s one of the reasons why I came West. Out here there’s still some measure of freedom to be had, but that will likely disappear in time as well.”
Edgar nodded and was silent for a while before asking, “What happened to her Taran?”
“The men of her family were hauled out into the street and hung by a mob of black men under the watchful eyes of a group of Yankee soldiers. She escaped to Charleston. There to keep from starving she became the mistress of a Yankee Lt. Col. in charge of administering the town. When I found out I beat the Col. practically to death and landed myself up in a court-martial proceeding. During the holding process before the trial my wife died in childbirth. In bitterness she wrote me a note as she lay dying. In the note she told me of how I was at last having my revenge upon her for leaving me years earlier and for what she’d done after she’d left me. She’d been pregnant with my child when she left and not wanting to bring a child of mixed blood into the world she drank some herbal potion of poison that an old hag gave her and aborted my baby. She looked at her death during childbirth as divine judgment finally catching up with her.”
Edgar’s face wore a horrified expression and shrugging I said, “Now you know the wisdom of marrying the right woman. I married based almost solely on outward appearance and for what I thought I really wanted in life and what I got was heartbreak.”
“Were you court-martialed?”
“No, I’d done too many exploits during the war to be hung for beating up a Lt. Col. that had been using my wife as a whore. They stripped me of my rank of Captain and dishonorably discharged me. I’ve been drifting ever since.”
Edgar nodded and said, “Thanks for telling me. I don’t feel so bad now about things.”
Smiling I said, “Glad I could be of help.”
Miles of riding drifted behind us and casually I said to Edgar, “You know the journey I’m embarked for is not an easy one, right?”
“Will there be danger?”
“Yes.”
“The discovery of ancient places and the unraveling of mysteries held in place since the dawn of creation?”
“Most likely.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Edgar said, as he quickened the pace of his horse.
Laughing I called out, “Get back here the mule will only go so fast.”