by Seven Steps
The man to the left, the father, judging by the grey strands in his beard, handed Phineas a wad of yellow cash.
Phineas frowned.
Give back the money? Who in their right mind would give back such an undeserved fortune?
“Give back the money?” he asked, squinting at the men in the vicious sunlight.
“Yes, sir. This here is blood money, and we can’t accept it.”
Phineas wiped the sweat from the back of his neck, cursing the heat.
“Keep it. I don’t need your money.”
“Well, we can’t take it.”
The elder of the two walked up to Phineas, throwing the money in his face. The yellow cash drifted to the floor like rectangle rain drops.
Phineas’s frown turned into a scowl.
“I’ve gone to the mayor, and he says that you can’t take that oil unless everyone in the town signs that paper. Well, I ain’t signing it. Neither is any of my family. We will not allow you to rape our land for profit.”
An educated ignoramus? Who knew they existed here.
“Sir, I will have you know that my contract calls for eighty percent of the town to agree via signature, and I have more than enough names to satisfy my quota.”
“I know ten families who will take their names off that list.”
“The list is binding.”
“Then I will burn it.”
The man’s voice raised to a bellow, and Phineas took a step back and wrapped his fingers around the gun in his waist band.
“You’ve made your point,” he said. “Now be off.”
“We will be heard, Mr. Zorg. You can guarantee that.”
The large man took two steps back, before pivoting and turning in the direction of the town, the younger man hot on his heels.
Phineas looked down at his feet. More than one hundred thousand dollars laid in the dirt. That meant that that man had gotten ten people to return their money.
What is he trying to prove? It’s just old gunk. No one even comes down here except for Leilu. Why the sudden interest in this lake?
He bit his lower lip. The people were dumb, but he couldn’t underestimate them. There was no telling what damage they could cause.
He put back on his straw hat and waved to the pipe workers.
“I’ll be back,” he said.
They acknowledged they’d heard him with a wave, and he spun on his heels and walked back into town. He had to find Leilu. Maybe she could talk some sense into the people. After all, she used to be one of them.
He found her at the dress shop, getting fitted for a new dress.
Why would she want anything from this backwoods town when she can get the finest clothes from Eminence?
He took off his straw hat and nodded a greeting at the seamstress.
“Phin, do you like my new dress?” Her voice was raised in delight.
He eyed the homespun, blue checkered fabric, and wondered what had happened to the clothes he’d brought her.
“It’s lovely,” he lied.
“I’m getting three more made just like them. And some new boots.”
“Don’t you think that’s unnecessary?”
“Oh, nonsense.”
Rows and rows of dresses, suits, shirts, and ties hung from the ceiling of the dressmaker’s shop. There was no fan, but the door and windows were all open, letting in a cross breeze. He imaged the old, haggard looking woman would be getting plenty of business now that so much money was flowing through the town.
“Well, finish up, and we’ll get going,” he said.
“Oh, and I forgot to tell you the best part. I’ve made an announcement to all of the women in town that now that we’re here, no man is going to lay his hands on them.”
The seamstress’s hands stilled, and she looked at Phineas with rummy eyes.
“Is that so?” he asked, rolling the rim of his straw hat between his fingers.
“Yes. You can enforce that, can’t you? Station a few more men? Keep everything proper?”
Her wide, innocent eyes looked up at him as if she expected him to solve all of the problems in the world. He always wanted her to look at him that way. With hope and trust. He never wanted to disappoint her. Ever.
“Sure thing. I’ll send more men down as soon as I can.”
“Good. The women here deserve better. They deserve to be loved and treated fairly. Not be hit on and miserable. Isn’t that right, Ann?”
The woman nodded at Leilu, then looked again at Phineas, as if to confirm whether nodding was the right thing to do or not.
He understood Leilu wanted to help the women, but that was the culture. Was that the reason that the men had returned the money earlier? Because of something that Leilu had said? He’d have to remind her not to be so forward later. After all, they were guests there; strangers in a native land with its own ways. At least, he was.
“How long do you think you’ll be, dear?” he asked.
“About another twenty minutes or so.”
She smoothed down the dress as the woman placed pins at the hem.
“I’ll send some of my men down here, and I’ll come back for you.”
“Take your time.”
He stepped forward and placed a brief kiss on her lips. She was so happy there; so full of joy and delight. He hoped she’d stay like that always. He pulled away before he further indulged in her and walked back through the town. The people parted for him, as if he had a highly contagious disease. He felt awkward and quickened his pace.
Something nagged him in the back of his mind. Was it something he’d seen or heard? He couldn’t be sure, but his heart had started to speed up and the hairs on the back of his neck stood stiff. He took a deep breath and tried to relax.
Something’s wrong! his brain screamed at him. Something is definitely wrong!
He nearly ran to the pipeline, feeling foolish, sweaty, and hot. The men stopped their work as he approached, curious as to why he would be running in such heat.
By the time he reached them, he could barely breathe. He put his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath.
“You okay, sir?” Octavius Grimm, the team leader, asked.
“I’m fine,” Phineas panted. “Send down five more men to stay in the town. Arm them and instruct them to keep the peace. I’m going back to get Leilu, then we’re heading home. Keep the oil flowing until I say otherwise.”
Octavius nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Phineas watched him disappear into the forest, not doubt gathering his men. He paced, feeling like something terrible was about to happen. He checked his watch. Only ten minutes had passed. By the time he walked back, Leilu should have been done with her dress fitting.
Even if she isn’t, I’m going to drag her out of there. I got a bad feeling about this place.
Not waiting for Octavius to return, he speed walked back to town, his suit soaked with perspiration and his lungs struggling for air.
He stepped into the dress maker shop, his eyes searching for his wife.
She wasn’t there.
The old seamstress regarded him with hooded, evasive eyes.
Something is definitely up.
“Where’s Leilu?” he asked, trying to keep the worry out of his voice.
“She’s gone back to the graveyard,” the woman said, not looking at him.
Liar.
“I just came from there, and I didn’t pass anyone on the road.”
She shrugged, and turned away.
“Not my problem.”
Phineas felt his stomach lurch, and swallowed down the bile that rose into his throat.
Keep calm. She’s probably just walking back to the portal. Keep calm.
He walked out of the dress maker’s shop, aware of the gun that weighed down his belt.
If they’ve done something to her…
He didn’t even want to think of the repercussions or the vengeance he would reap upon the town. It would dwarf anything he’d done to his father.
>
He walked back down the country road, and eyed the empty path back to the portal. There was no sign of Leilu.
They’d done something to her. They must’ve.
Blind fury bubbled into his gut, clouding his mind.
He walked back to the pipe line where six men were still monitoring the flow of oil.
“Are you men armed?” he asked.
The men looked at him quizzically, but Phineas had no time to cater to their strange looks.
“Are you armed?” he demanded.
They nodded.
“Come with me.”
He took off before they could protest, knowing that they would follow.
“Round up everyone in the town into the church,” he said. “Use the guns if necessary.”
The men grunted and sprinted off, spreading to the far reaches of town, herding the people in to the church in the town center.
Phineas walked up the three steps in to the church, his stomach rolling in a potent mix of panic and rage.
The unsetting sun baked the inside of the wooden building, making the benches smoke. The oak walls faded, the heat eating away at their once shiny finish. No images, statues, or pictures lined the walls or hung above the pulpit. He briefly wondered who the people worshiped. They had a church. What was their religion like? Who was their deity?
It would be helpful for him to know, since, in a few minutes, they would be praying intensely to it if Leilu wasn’t returned.
The first of the townsfolk arrived at the church, breaking his line of thought. Women first, followed by children, then men.
Which one of them took her? Which one of them touched her?
He paced the stairs in front of the pulpit like a caged lion. He stuffed his balled fist deep in to his suit pants’ pocket and tried to keep his cool.
He had to be calm. Collected.
Leilu’s life depended on it.
With the additional bodies, the temperature inside of the church skyrocketed, making it hard to breathe.
The men closed the door and stood beside it, guns drawn. That meant that the town was cleared out. Everyone who they could find was there.
His eyes roved among the crowd, struggling to pick out a missing face. Some eyes met his, while others refused to look at him. The ones who knew. The guilty ones.
“Listen up,” he said, his voice echoing in the church. “You all know me. You’ve signed your names to my contracts. You’ve taken money from my hand. I thought that we had a relationship built on trust, and mutual respect. I give you sustenance, you provide me with oil. That is the nature of our agreements. And now, I stand here, alone. My wife, it appears, has been taken from me. The light of my life has been snatched…” His voice caught in his throat, and he suppressed the urge to wail. To cry out. The thought of life without her smile, her wit, her humor made him want to put one of the country folks’ necks between his hands and squeeze until they talked.
He took a deep breath, trying to keep down the fear and despair that raised within him. What if they had already killed her? What if it was just a distraction while they disposed of the body?
He swallowed hard, and wiped away the sweat that had accumulated on his face. The sweat that mixed with his tears.
“Leilu Zorg’s life is worth a thousand of yours. And so, a life for a life.” He raised his laser gun to the bearded man that sat at the end of the first row of pews. “Every ten seconds, I will pull this trigger and kill one of you, and I will keep killing until you tell me where she is.”
A collective intake of breath caught the crowd. They looked back at their only means of escape, the back doors, and the six men armed with laser guns who stood there. They looked back at Phineas with nervous eyes.
“One, two, three, four…” The man’s beard bobbed as he swallowed, his eyes moving back and forth in horror. “Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.”
He pulled the trigger. The man’s head split, and splattered onto the row behind him. His body collapsed and slid to the floor.
The women in the crowd screamed. The children began to cry.
The metallic smell of fresh blood drifted through the room.
Phineas moved to the woman sitting next to him.
“One, two, three, four, five, six, ten.”
He pulled the trigger and continued down the row, his vision tinted an angry red. He wanted to kill every one of the backward animals.
“One, two, ten.”
Another shot. Another body down.
He moved quickly up the aisle, his counts getting shorter and shorter with each death, each fallen body.
“One-”
“Alright, alright, alright. I’ll talk!”
The man who spoke up was stockier than the rest, with a thick black beard the hung down to his chest, and long, dreadlocked hair.
“Who are you?”
“Reemas. Leilu’s uncle.”
Yes. She’d mentioned him. The one who was forcing her to marry Pren. He wanted to pull the trigger just for that, but he needed information.
“Where is she?”
His eyes moved down to the floor.
Phineas followed Reemas’s gaze and swallowed. She was there. Beneath his feet. Was it just her corpse?
He couldn’t move. She was so close. Was she alive?
The gun in his hand shook as he stared at the floor.
“Open it,” he said.
Reemas hesitated, looking around the church.
“Open it!”
Reemas scurried from his chair, crawling from the chair toward the front of the pulpit.
Phineas’s eyes followed him, spotting a latch in the floor before the man arrived there.
He rushed forward, kicking Reemas out of the way and yanking up the latch. A small ladder greeted him.
Phineas tucked his gun back in his waistband and climbed down the rusted ladder as fast as he could.
His mind raced with questions. With threats. With promises of revenge.
He looked around the dark basement, and spotted a candle, a small pool of light surrounding it. Within the pool of light was Leilu’s terrified face. One of her eyes was swollen shut, and the skin around her nose and mouth was red and streaked with blood.
But she was there. She was alive.
She flushed with relief when she saw him.
He did, too. All of his fear fled him. Now that Leilu was alive, there was only one thing he wanted.
Judgement. Retribution for whomever dared hurt her.
“Who?” he growled.
Her eyes slid to the left.
Phineas grabbed the candle and rushed to the left, lighting up the face of the man who dared hurt his woman.
“Who are you?” Phineas demanded.
The man’s small eyes and beard were indistinguishable from the men upstairs.
The animals. The vermin.
“Who are you?!”
“Pren Ballier,” the man stuttered. “I’m her husband.”
Phineas dropped the candle to the stone floor and pulled his laser out of his waist band.
Wrong answer.
“Goodbye, Pren.”
Phineas fired into the darkness, the laser fire lighting up the dark room. He fired until he saw Pren’s body fall. Then he fired at the collapsed corpse. He fired until his rage bled from him, along with the igneous remains of the man named Pren.
When there was nothing else to shoot at, he threw the gun in disgust at what was left and returned to Leilu’s side. He yanked the handkerchief from around her mouth, and picked her up in his arms.
His rancorous soul immediately quieted. She was there. She was alive. She was his. He let out a breath into her hair.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
She nodded, leaning against him, weeping and squeezing him tight.
His bright, cheerful Leilu had been reduced to this sniveling, trembling creature.
It broke his heart.
When they reached the ladder, she shakily climbed up and st
ood in front of the packed church. He followed closely behind. When he reached the top, he picked her up again and carried her out of the church, the doors opening to let them out and shutting behind them.
A cool breeze blew through the land, even though the sun was still high in the sky.
She nuzzled her head into his neck. He walked slowly, not wanting to let her go. He’d come so close to losing her. It would not happen again. It would never happen again.
“Phineas,” she whispered.
“Yes, my love?”
“Burn it,” she said. “Burn it to the ground.”
Also by Seven Steps
Science Fiction Romances
Saving Kiln – Venus Rising Book 1
The Fall of Arees – Venus Rising Book 2
The Martian King: Venus Rising Book 3
Night of the Broken Moon (A Venus Rising Companion Short Stories)
The Escape (A Venus Rising Prequel)
Time Bomb – Dimensions Book 1
Free Fall – Dimensions Book 2
Collision Course – Dimensions Book 3
Leilu – Dimensions Origins Book 1
Phineas – Dimensions Origins Book 2
Taklin – Dimensions Origins Book 3
Contemporary Romance
The Last Rock King
Peace in the Storm
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