Clash of Mountains

by Chloe Garner

  “Still,” Toby said. “You just killed people. And you’re eating.”

  “The number of people she’s killed in her life, kid, if she stopped eating just because she’d killed another one, she’d have starved by now,” Maxim said. “I’m getting the impression she wasn’t even remotely exaggerating.”

  Sarah shook her head.

  “Ain’t proud of it. Ain’t ashamed, certainly, but I ain’t proud of it. Killin’ a man is a sign you ran out of other options. Or you ain’t got a soul. One.”

  Maxim swallowed, then gave her a sardonic grin. She went to check Gremlin, goin’ over his tack just as a habit, then goin’ over the other two horses the same as the rain came down heavier.

  “How is it that we’re just a day’s ride away from a desert?” Maxim asked.

  “Rain shadow,” Sarah said. “Highest mountains block the clouds from gettin’ over, drive ‘em up high and they lose all their rain. Rains like this a good hour almost every day, over here. Too high to get heavy growth, but everything what’s fit to grow up this high is plenty happy.”

  Maxim scratched the back of his head, and Sarah went to sit against a tree, crossin’ her ankles and takin’ out one of the guns she’d acquired, goin’ through the parts to make sure they were all cared for. She looked up.

  “You ready to carry one of these, yet?” she asked Toby.

  He shook his head slowly, then held up his hands, movin’ faster.

  “No,” he said. “I don’t want one.”

  “I reckon it’s time, either way,” she said. “Men out here what would kill you, they got a chance. You may not think you would now, but you’d be surprised what you can do, when you figure out it’s you or them.”

  She held it out to him, and he came forward, charmed like a small animal, takin’ it just ‘cause there weren’t no give to her offer.

  “It’s loaded,” she said. “And that one ain’t got a safety on it. You pull the trigger, it’s gonna put a hole in whatever’s in front of it.”

  “Why would they make a gun without a safety?” Toby asked.

  “’Cause a man what uses a gun that often, the difference between bein’ alive and bein’ dead is the quarter second it takes to switch it over.”

  “I’ve forgotten entirely,” Maxim said with humor. “Just got lucky.”

  She gave him a dour look.

  “You’re carryin’ guns with safeties?”

  He shrugged.

  “Like the weight of it. Good balance. You can’t get everything you want.”

  “Guess you can’t,” Sarah said. “You show him how to take that piece apart, put it back together. We got time.”

  “What else did you get?” Maxim asked.

  Sarah took out the other guns she’d taken, layin’ ‘em out on the dry debris of the ground. He squatted to look at ‘em, too close to her for it to be on accident, just pushin’ her around ‘cause he could. Only part what bothered her was knowin’ he did it on purpose. She had knives for men what crossed the last boundary, so the rest of ‘em were just there for tellin’ her what a man thought of her.

  He chose one of the little ones and pocketed it, then went to work with Toby. Sarah cleaned the rest of ‘em, emptyin’ ‘em of rounds and puttin’ em away, then just sat to watch the rain. Took longer to let up than normal, the she got Maxim and Toby back up again, makin’ for Maxim’s claim.

  She doubled back twice to make sure she didn’t spot Jeffrey, ‘cause the old man made her that cagey, but there weren’t no sign of him nor the missin’ gunman anywhere.

  Maxim’s first claim was hard to see, on account of it just bein’ a set of holes in the ground. Sarah hadn’t known where they were, she never would have found ‘em.

  “So there’s absenta down there?” Toby asked, peering down into ‘em.

  “Maxim got the report,” Sarah said. “I ain’t payin’ that much attention, just now.”

  Maxim grinned, sittin’ down on a rock to ease his boots.

  “You aren’t at all wrapped up in whether or not you were right when you predicted where to look for absenta out here?”

  She shrugged.

  “Shot’s fired. You don’t go look where it hit ‘till the fight’s over.”

  He nodded slowly.

  “There’s absenta down there,” he said, grinnin’ again. “I wouldn’t have brought you out here if there wasn’t any.”

  Sarah shifted. Some of the mines had to come up dry. Some of them had to. All of ‘em hit? For one, she’d not live the rest of the year. She had a sense it weren’t likely, anyhow, but if she had the system that always dug absenta, there weren’t no risk in her claims, and they could charge whatever they liked for any claim they sold. That kind of power didn’t sit well with the really big powers out in the world, and not even Jimmy could survive the rain of fire that’d come for her.

  Toby looked around.

  “So…” he said. “I don’t understand why we’re here.”

  “How far is the second claim?” Maxim asked.

  “Too far for today,” Sarah said. “And you ain’t gonna make it home all in one go, either. We can either take the rest of the afternoon here, or we can plan on a full day at the other claim, but you need time.”

  “I’m fine,” Maxim grumped. “He might need some downtime, but I don’t.”

  Sarah raised an eyebrow to make sure he knew that she knew better, but didn’t say so out loud. Let him tell Toby whatever he liked.

  “Still don’t see why we’re here,” Toby said.

  “Holes in the ground mean the surveyor ain’t fakin’ the finds,” Sarah said. “Holes in the ground without him here means it’s a hell of a lot more likely what he sent is what he found, ‘cause otherwise he’d be here to lie to us about ‘em. You find the rest of the column of rock what he pulled out, you can test that for absenta easy enough.”

  “How?” Toby asked. Sarah raised an eyebrow at Maxim, who slapped his knees and stood, scoutin’ around for the test digs. He found the waste and called Sarah and Toby over. Sarah brought her methane lamp, lightin’ it and holdin’ it close to the broken rock. Weren’t easy to see, in the direct sun, but when Maxim move to cast a shadow, the rock glinted blue.

  Surprised her every time.

  “Absenta,” she said.

  “And he just left it lying here?” Toby asked. She could see it in his eyes, same as everyone else, that lust at seein’ absenta in the raw for the first time.

  She nodded.

  “Test digs ain’t for a harvest,” she said. “They’re for figurin’ out where to dig.”

  “But still,” Toby said. “How much is that worth, just right there?”

  Sarah shrugged. It weren’t high-quality absenta. But miners had spent their whole lives lookin’ for that blush ‘a blue, and she’d sent a man right to it, just dig a hole and find it.

  The world was gonna come for her.

  “The sample he sent in was worth enough that they paid me for it,” Maxim said, tellin’ Toby how much. Weren’t a big sum, but it impressed the kid.

  Sarah looked around.

  “Y’all want to stay here, or you want to move on to the next claim, see if we can’t make it there before dark? Would mean we’d stay there a full day tomorrow.”

  “I want to keep moving,” Maxim said, standin’. Sarah looked to Toby, who’d started walkin’ like he were made ‘a clothes hangers again.

  “Whatever,” he said. “I’m going to ache no matter what.”

  “How are your knees?” she asked. He looked at ‘em, shakin’ his head.

  “Ouch. What do you want me to say?”

  “I want to know if you’re fit to ride,” Sarah said.

  “I wasn’t fit to ride when we left the house and you knew it,” Toby said. “It hasn’t changed since then.”

  “Dammit,” she muttered. “Get up on that horse and don’t fall off. Still got some hard ridin’ to do yet today.”

  She shook her head, clampin’ her hat harder
onto her head. Absenta comin’ up out of the ground everywhere, men with guns scoutin’ ‘round tryin’ to find it, and her out with a couple men what didn’t know one end of a horse from the other, tasked with keepin’ the lot of ‘em alive.

  Damn Jimmy Lawson, asleep in his bed at home.

  Gremlin skittered away from her, sensin’ her mood, but she caught hold of him quick enough, gettin’ the other horses arranged for Maxim and Toby and settin’ off once more, darker ‘n ever as they went.

  “You should run away with me,” Maxim said after they’d been on their way for a bit. They’d hit a relatively easy ridge, and he were ridin’ next to her for a time.

  “Run away from you, more like,” Sarah said. Weren’t her best reply, but she was tired and fed up and very aware of how exposed they were, all things considered. Not her and Maxim and Toby, right that moment. The entire Lawson clan, the town of Lawrence. Strung out at the end of the rail line, nothin’ between them and the blowin’ wind of the desert what would erase everything, given enough time.

  “Leave him,” Maxim said merrily. “Come back to Preston with me. There are so many people there for you to conquer.”

  “That you think that’d attract me tells me everything I need to know of what you think of me,” Sarah said. “Ain’t got no interest in tellin’ nobody else how to live.”

  “I didn’t say you’d tell them what to do,” Maxim said. “I meant you could go kill them.”

  “Ain’t nobody’s assassin,” Sarah said. “Never killed nobody what weren’t a threat to me and mine.”

  It might have been a lie, if she looked at it too close, but it didn’t bother her to lie to him, either way.

  “Oh, they’re all threats,” Maxim said. “Your loyalty to Jimmy. Where does that come from? How do I do that, for myself?”

  Sarah snorted.

  “Grow up with a girl what you respect as much as yourself,” she said. “Make sure she knows it.”

  He narrowed his eyes.

  “You’re saying I have to start young…”

  “You take that for advice to rob the nest and I find out about it, you ain’t gonna survive long enough to find out whether or not it works,” Sarah said. He laughed.

  “I’d have to send her out here to grow up,” he said. “Preston makes its children too soft, these days.”

  He said it loud enough for Toby’s benefit, but Sarah ignored both the statement and its barbs.

  “You made a plan for protectin’ your stash of absenta while it’s out here?” she asked.

  “That’s your job,” Maxim said. “You and Jimmy.” She shook her head.

  “Our job to make sure nobody else tries to take your claim. You get absenta out the ground, we’ll do our best to keep the guns from comin’ for you, but it’s your problem to make sure it stays safe, once it gets out of the ground and until it gets to Preston. Up ‘till it’s sold. Surprised I have to even ask you. Took you for the type what’s gonna protect his own, and not lean on some other guy, friend or not, to see to it.”

  He scratched his chin.

  “I’ve been too busy waiting to see whether or not it was even going to produce. The work it takes to get a mine up and running. I never would have guessed. I get all of these letters from the boy you picked out for me…”

  “Youngest Kirk boy is thirty,” Sarah said. “Different between callin’ the family child a boy and callin’ him a boy all on his own. You call him a boy to his face, he’ll shoot you in yours.”

  “Duly noted,” Maxim said. “The man you picked out for me to run the mines, he’s been sending me letters almost every week about supplies and budgets and how many men he’s planning to hire. Do you know how many animals this is going to involve?”

  Sarah let the corner of her mouth drift up.

  “I got a notion. And there ain’t that many out here, these days. Not as many as we’re gonna need, this goes big. You’re gonna be lookin’ for mules what can do work in air this thin all up and down the range. Prices are gonna be through the roof for about five years, ‘till the breeders catch up and the demand for new beasts slows down again.”

  “Why would it?” Maxim asked. “I mean, you prove you can do this, why wouldn’t you keep auctioning claims? Just print your own money?”

  Sarah could come up with any number of reasons for that, but she shrugged.

  “Tell you what, if the tests on the second claim come back as good as the first one, I’ll put a down-payment on the next claim you auction, sight unseen, that’s equal to what I paid for both of these combined.”

  “You’re gonna make a whole enterprise out here, huh?” Sarah asked. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder.

  “I’ve got a guy out here working. I may as well keep him busy.”

  Sarah shook her head.

  “It’s a greed what keeps men out here. If he ain’t got it, someone else is gonna take what’s his.”

  “Or he’ll figure it out,” Maxim said.

  Sarah shook her head.

  “This ain’t a game, Maxim. The men out here, the ones what show up and make a life at it, they’re serious. It’s a hard life, diggin’ absenta out the ground, and it’s too easy to make an easier life for yourself off of too little of it. Everybody is always gonna be willin’ to put a bullet through anyone connected to the stuff, in hopes of snaggin’ just a little for themselves. You don’t just do it ‘cause someone’s payin’ you okay. You do it because the idea of not doin’ it makes you sick. Because you’ve gotta hold it, gotta be the one there takin’ it out of the ground. Kirk boy’ll get you set up, but the man who comes out here after that to run your mines? He’s gonna be a hell of a handful for you. Ain’t an enterprise situation.”

  “Everything is a game and nothing is a game,” Maxim said. “You make fun of me, but the games I play are just as much about business as any business meeting.”

  She considered this, then shook her head.

  “Nope. You do it ‘cause you like it, not ‘cause it’s gonna sway someone for you or against you.”

  He snorted.

  “You can’t know that until you’ve done it. Unless you have…?”

  She rolled her head to look at him.

  “What I done or ain’t done ain’t never gonna be none of your business,” she said.

  “I’m never going to stop asking,” he said. “I want what you and Jimmy have. Someday.”

  “How old are you?” Sarah asked.

  “Fifty-three,” he said. She shook her head.

  “Perpeto gives folk a sense they got forever, but there’s a reason people marry early in life. You’re too fixed in your ways to fit to someone else, ‘specially someone like me.”

  “Again you tell me that I just need to start young,” he said with a grin. She turned to face forward again as Gremlin jigged sideways under her.

  “Jimmy told me I was gonna be takin’ you up here on my own, I laid odds you weren’t gonna make it back down.”

  He snorted.

  “What was my over-under for the number of days before you tried to kill me?”

  She pursed her lips wryly, lookin’ over at him.

  “I ain’t that savvy a bettor,” she said. “I just gave you less ‘n fifty-fifty on makin’ it back to the train.”

  “Not as bad as I might have guessed,” he said. “How does Toby push the line?”

  “Less ‘n you might think,” Sarah answered, lookin’ back at the kid. “Woulda guessed he’d make me less likely to take you out, on account of there bein’ either a witness or a second body, but at this point I reckon I could off you on his behalf and he’d keep his mouth shut well enough.”

  Maxim laughed loud enough his horse kicked.

  “Funniest part is that, coming from anyone else, that would be a joke, but you… that’s just life for you.”

  She shrugged.

  “I ain’t never killed a man for sayin’ the wrong thing to me, nor for thinkin’ the wrong thing about me. Don’t mean I won’t do nothing
about it, but I ain’t never killed one.”

  “And you’d never do anything to displease Jimmy Lawson,” Maxim said.

  “Have you met the man?” Sarah asked. “Ain’t no way to live your own life without displeasin’ Jimmy Lawson, some point.”

  “But do you live your own life, married to him?” Maxim asked. “His brothers don’t, and they only shared a house with him.”

  “You think the Lawson boys manage to get through live without displeasin’ Jimmy, I’m gonna have to reevaluate your importance as a contact and maybe go ahead and kill you,” Sarah said. Maxim grinned.

  “Can I have another one of those cigarettes?” he asked. “I can’t get through a whole one, but I have to keep trying.”

  “Fools gotta keep tryin’, just to be sure they’re still fools,” Sarah said, takin’ out her bag of gremlin and wrappin’ him a cigarette.

  “You named a horse after this stuff,” Maxim said, holdin’ the cigarette to his lips as she offered him a light. Coulda just as easy put flame to his chin, horseback as they were, but Sarah held the lighter steady as the gremlin caught. He puffed it twice, then settled back away from her again. “It’s gotta be good stuff.”

  “Everything else ‘round these parts worth usin’ is gremlin,” she said. “May as well be the horse, too.”

  He nodded, pullin’ the cigarette away from his mouth again and shakin’ his face like it were wet.

  “Wow.”

  She looked forward again, uninterested in his frontier experimentation. Man like him was always lookin’ for the next thing he ain’t never done before.

  “So how come you guys didn’t keep one of the claims for yourselves?” Maxim asked. “Surely the pulling stuff out of the ground part is more profitable than just being the hired gun to keep it safe.”

  “How you know we didn’t?” Sarah asked without missin’ a beat. She felt him look at her, but she didn’t turn her face toward him again. She was gettin’ tired of the conversation and thinkin’ on the best way to end it.

  “You didn’t,” Maxim said. “You look down on the miners. Even look down on me.”

  “Prospectors,” she said. “Miners are the ones what dig. Prospectors are the ones takin’ a go at findin’ the stuff. Most often a man is both the prospector and the miner, but it ain’t the miner I think is the perennial fool.”