[The Gunslingers, Book II, Chapter 17] [Temptation] Wes looked through the books on his desk; the pile of textbooks seemed to have grown in the last several days. Judge Cietan appeared to be building Wes a Law Library, or at least a study library heavy in law subjects. Wes had to admit he was looking forward to going back to school and resume his studies, but there was so much to do in the city. “Well, one thing at a time-ah, here it is, Histories of the Glorious Kitsune Empire,” thought Wes, rolling his eyes. “Obviously the book had been written by a Kitsune Historian.” Wes inspected the book, it was very old and the pages yellowed-very odd that the paper wasn’t treated to protect it from the ravages of time. A plastic cover was wrapped around the book a note was slipped under the cover; ‘Restricted Volume, Imperial private library.’ “That’s odd, how did this book get here?” Wes looked at the legal warning label; Death Penalty for removal. Wes ignored the warning. The book felt heavy and the pages had that hand-made feel, and the stitching looked hand-stitched as well. He opened to a random page and read a passage, then laughed. “This must be a joke,” The passage he was reading wasn’t true; it wasn’t even close to the truth. The author claimed that the Kitsune were defeated in Imperial Year 312 by the Glorious Carinian Empire under the Divine Emperor Jon Black. Wes turned to the front cover-oh, now I know it’s a joke, the book claimed to have been written by Emperor Sionnach Tarin Aguienth. Wes was very good with history and knew for a fact that Prince Sionnach was killed when he was six years old during the Wolf Rebellion when a nuclear device was detonated over the Imperial Palace. He stopped and looked back at the author’s name and laughed again, the circular logic was not logical. If the Divine Emperor Black was the ruling Emperor, than how was the imaginary Emperor Sionnach also the Emperor. Was someone tampering with time? Wes shook his head, altering time, how ridiculous; it was just a fact that time travel wasn’t possible. Wes flipped the book open and turned to page 667, that was the page the old Raven woman had told him to look for his earned third secret of the day. The chapter began with the Old Imperial Guard and gave a brief outline before going into depth. Wes started reading. “The Old Imperial Guard was formed in Imperial Year 445 after the Cettise Guard was disbanded. The Old Imperial Guard served until Imperial Year 4180 when the Divine Emperor Jon Black formed the Elite Carinian Black Guard as the New Imperial Guard.” A photo with the caption ‘Old Imperial Guard’ was at the bottom of the page. Wes looked at the photo and this time he did not laugh; the photo was a Gunslinger with hat, duster, boots, and cross-draw revolvers, there was even four deputies holding long rifles standing behind the Gunslinger. The last paragraph explained that the Old Imperial Guard was replaced with the Carinian Black Guard when Emperor Black had became paranoid and believed the Cettise descendants were infiltrating the Old Imperial Guard. Cettise Guard? The author was obviously a madman, but he was alluding to the Gunslingers being Cettise descendants. How could he have known to write that? Every Gunslinger Cadet knew that the Marshall believed they were all descendants of the Cettise, it was even a fun campfire story the Cadets told each other. Wes himself had even made-up a campfire story about how he was descended from a Cettise warrior that had died a valiant death defending his Lord. But none of the Cadets would have ever told an outsider. Wes flipped to the back of the book to see if a photograph of the author was included-it was. Wes’s breath caught in his throat, he knew that face, he had first seen it on the transport that had brought him to the Gunslinger Phase 1 Camp, and then later in Brody’s Ally when the Ravens had ambushed them. The author was that Lieutenant/Captain Fox that had boarded their transport searching for Demonians. Perhaps there was some secret the madman author was hiding as a grain of truth in this fictional account of the Empire. But what was the secret, and why? Wes closed the book and got up; he had too much to do than sit all day reading fictional history. The book probably shouldn’t be here though, it was obviously deemed dangerous by the Emperor and Wes didn’t really want an illegal book in his office, but… “Nick,” shouted Wes. “Yea, Boss?” Nick answered from the outer office. “Did you get the safe working?” shouted Wes. “Sure did,” shouted Nick. “I don’t suppose when I shout your name you could actually come in here?” shouted Wes. Nick stuck his head in the door grinning, “Sorry Boss, what you need?” “The safe, I need to put something in there,” said Wes. “What’s the combination?” “It’s 1 left, 2 right, 3 left, 4 right,” said Nick. “You couldn’t come up with a better combination than that?” asked Wes. “Sure I can,” said Nick. “But why would I do that, every safe on the island has a combination of 1-2-3-4.” “Huh?” “Everyone is a thief, if you actually lock the safe they will just break the door off and Urai says safes are expensive.” “Then why do we even have a safe?” asked Wes. “So the thieves know where to go so they don’t trash the whole office,” explained Nick patiently. Wes rubbed his temple and handed Nick the history text as he walked past. “Put this somewhere safe, and not in the safe, someplace it won’t get stolen.” Nick took the book and tossed it on Wes’s desk, “Okay, Boss, should be good there.” Wes shook his head and headed towards the door, “I have an appointment, I’ll be back later.” “Okay, Boss,” both Urai and Nick said together. Wes let the door close behind him with a jingle, Urai had added a little bell to the door, it was probably a good idea, but it gave the office a surreal quality. Wes imagined opening the door to a jingle one day and finding Urai selling gold panning equipment and shovels to miners while Nick peddled treasure maps to green looking settlers just off a wagon train. The street was busy with vendors plying their wares; this street at least was slowly cleaning up, for the most part. At least the groups of Dicers on the corner were gone, and thankfully, the painted ladies. He was most grateful for that, the painted ladies made him very nervous. The screeching of tires broke his revere and he turned in time to see a car doing a donut at the intersection-he had spoken too soon. Well, maybe he would just give them a ticket for reckless driving; but he really could use a squad car, chasing speeding cars down on foot wasn’t very practical. Wes ran down to the corner, the air was full of smoke from the tires as it went around and around in circles. He timed the circle and ran out and jumped on the hood, the car didn’t stop and Wes rolled over the hood and hit the ground hard. He pulled his legs up just in time to keep from getting run over. His eyes went cold and dead and he drew and fired into the tires as the car went around one more time before stopping. “Get out of the vehicle,” Wes shouted. The driver didn’t make any sign of moving and Wes ran up to the window and used the barrel of his revolver to smash the window. Glass shattered and covered the driver, the ground, and Wes in a shower of sparkling broken glass. Wes reached through the window and dragged the driver out and threw him on the ground and shoved the barrel of his revolver into the drivers face and pulled the hammer back. “Boss, No! He’s just a kid,” yelled Nick. Wes looked up and through the haze of anger and saw Nick and Urai standing at the hood of the car. Crowds of people were starting to gather and watched the scene unfold-some had those stupid portable Vid-Cameras out that were so popular lately-all pointed at him. Wes looked down in the face of the driver; he was only maybe fourteen years old. The boy didn’t look scared, or particularly defiant, he just looked up at the lethal Gunslinger and waited for his fate to play out. Wes took a step back. “What was I about to do?” thought Wes, holstering his revolver. He reached down and grabbed the kid and pulled him over to the hood of the car to check for weapons. “Urai, can you drive a car?” asked Wes. “Yes I can,” replied Urai. “Nick, go get that bucket and scrub brush of yours,” ordered Wes. Nick turned and ran back towards the Justice Office. “Urai, I’m impounding this vehicle, take it down to the garage under the Justice Building and take the battery out, or the tires off, just make sure it doesn’t go anywhere.” “Yes Sir,” said Urai. Urai was just pulling the vehicle away, the flattened tires making a thump thump thump sound on the pavement, when Nick returned with the bucket full of sudsy water. Wes pulled the joyriding kid to the center of the intersection, grabbed the bucket from Nick and shoved it in the kid’s hands. “You will scrub all the tire marks off this intersection, and then I will discuss with your parents whether they will ever get that vehicle back,” said Wes. “Nick, you supervise until he has this intersection clean, then lock him up in one of the cells until his parents retrieve him.” “Umm… Boss, I know him, he doesn’t have any parents, half the kids on the streets don’t,” said Nick. “Fine, lock him in a cell when he’s done scrubbing and I’ll deal with him later,” ordered Wes. “Can do, Boss,” said Nick. The Gun Shop owner stepped in front of Wes as he was trying to leave. Wes tried walking around him, he really wasn’t in the mood to chat, but the man blocked him. “What?” asked Wes. “Gunslingers haven’t sent us a team for a long time and I don’t know what deal Judge Cietan did to be able to get even a half-grown one, but I can see you starting to crack around the edges. What was your position on your team?” Wes almost didn’t answer, but what did it really matter, he was the only Gunslinger they were going to get and they just needed to deal with it. “I’m my team’s navigation, communication, and legal expert,” replied Wes. “Well now, that would explain the problem,” said the man. “What problem?” Wes replied irritably. “You Gunslingers are carefully selected to fill a specific role, and you’re trying to do your team leaders role.” “And what’s that?” asked Wes “The bad-ass, and you’re mucking it up,” said the man plainly. “Just calm down and be you. I’m guessing you’re the joker on your team.” “What makes you think that?” asked Wes knowing full well it was true. “All Com-Officers are smart-asses; it goes with the job,” “Okay, what do you think I should do?” Wes liked this man, he spoke plain. “What does your Order do when you get a Gunslinger that isn’t a bad-ass?” “They would put a Merit on the team that is,” explained Wes. “The Order spends two years choosing the team members before we ever meet each other.” “Where’s your team?” asked the man. Wes’s face remained blank and he said nothing. “No, not your Gunslinger team,” said the man. “I figure you messed up and you were sent here as punishment, can’t imagine a harder punishment then being made to deal with our mess. No, I’m talking about your team, now, for however long the Gunslingers plan on punishing you before they let you come home.” Wes was surprised; he had just assumed everyone knew why he was here. The man’s guess was way off base; the Judge must have been discreet with what he told the locals about him. “I have Urai and Nick,” said Wes. “What exactly do you have?” insisted the man. “Urai is intelligent, but no good in a fight and Nick is a daredevil, but doesn’t know anything,” replied Wes. “There you go, you know what you need,” the man patted Wes on the shoulder and walked away. Wes understood what the man had been saying; Wes needed a team to take the pressure off. Unloading his revolver into the tires of a kid joyriding might not have been smart. If Colt and the others had been here they would have been a lot smarter about it. He would deal with it later, right now he was late and needed to hurry, he was late. Wes didn’t run, that would just panic people if they saw the Justice running, but he took up that fast mile eating pace the Gunslingers were known for. A noise to his side alerted him as he past an ally and he stopped to see what the commotion was. A group of teenagers were standing around another teenager and pushing him back and forth-bullies. Wes really hated bullies, dang it with being late, he wasn’t going to let this go by. He headed down the ally towards the group of bullies but before he got there another teenager, a very big one, rounded the corner and stopped. Wes stopped for a moment to assess the new situation. The large teenager made a decision and headed towards the group of bullies. Wes put his hand on his revolver; this looked like it might get ugly. The large teenager kept his calm though; he pushed into the circle and faced the one that looked like he was the leader of the bullies. The big teen gently put one finger on the chest of the bully leader and slowly but firmly pushed him-the bully leader backed up and then turned and ran. The large teen, Wes guessed he was around fifteen or sixteen… no, maybe seventeen, waited until the bullies were gone and then jerked his head in a motion for the younger teen that had been the target of the bullies to go. The younger teen ran past Wes without giving him a side glance. Wes approached the big teen; he didn’t seem concerned or even very interested, at seeing the armed Gunslinger approaching him. “Hey,” said Wes. “Hey,” replied the large teen. “I’m Justice Cain,” said Wes. “I’m Thor,” said the large teen. “Seriously, like the old Cormon God of Thunder, Thor?” said Wes, trying to keep a straight face. “I’m Cormon, and I guess my folks had a sense of humor?” said Thor. “Why did you help that kid?” asked Wes. “I dunno, just cause,” said Thor. “Okay, well thanks, I guess not everyone in this city is bad,” Wes stuck his hand out. “You remind me of a friend of mine, big Cormon guy like you.” “All Cormon’s are big,” said Thor, shrugging and shaking Wes’s hand; his hand felt like shaking a bulldozer. “Hey, I got to go, thanks again,” said Wes, turning and heading back down the ally, but then he had a thought-what the gun shop owner had told him. Wes turned back towards the large teen, he was already walking away. “Hey Thor,” called Wes. “Yea?” said Thor stopping and turning around. “How would you like a job?” offered Wes. “Cleaning your building the way you got Nick doing,” said Thor. “No thanks man, I got better things to do then clean up that mess.” “You’ll get a badge,” said Wes. Thor laughed. Wes thought he laughed just the way Garth laughed, it made Wes miss his team even more. “You think I give a sunburned ancestor about some badge?” asked Thor. “Cormon’s like to fight, right?” asked Wes. “You’ll get to fight without getting arrested for assault.” “That’s messed up,” said Thor. “You don’t know crap about Cormon’s, later man.” Wes shrugged and let it go, he didn’t need to stand in an ally and try to convince someone to be a deputy-he was late anyway. Wes checked the time on his wrist-implant; he was already an hour late. He hurried through the streets trying to avoid anyone, but everyone kept stopping him to say hi, or pat him on the back. He had to admit to liking the attention, but dang it, he was late. Another hour trying to get across the city and he finally arrived, he really needed his own patrol car, of course he would have to get a driver’s license. “Odd,” thought Wes. “I have a pilot’s license but not a driver’s license.” Wes walked up the stairs of the brightly lit building-the colored lights flickering garishly. He stared at the big flashing neon sign; it had to be a least three or four stories tall, in absolute amazement at the sheer immensity of the thing. RAVEN CASINO Wes blinked and headed for one of the glass doors that wrapped around the side of the building, there were at least thirty doors and people were coming and going, some counting their chips, some sobbing, and a few running. “Hey, you plan on going in there alone?” said a voice. “You ain’t so smart if you are.” Wes stopped and turned around; it was Thor, only now he was wearing a revolver, a very old and rusted revolver. “You telling me you want the job?” asked Wes. “I got nothing better to do,” replied Thor. “No, that’s not good enough,” said Wes. “I steal stuff and sell it,” said Thor. “I don’t want to do that, this is better, okay?” “Give me that revolver,” ordered Wes. Thor turned the gun over and Wes unloaded it and dropped the ammo into his pocket and handed the gun back. “What the heck,” said Thor. “Draw on me,” said Wes. “Everyone knows a Gunslinger can outdraw anyone,” said Thor. “It’s not fair.” Wes said nothing and waited. Thor sighed and drew the empty revolver. Wes didn’t draw his own sidearm, but instead stepped to the side and swept one arm up and the other down, then spun slightly, moving one foot back. Thor was looking down the barrel of his own gun. “When I spar with my Cormon friend, I never beat him, ever,” said Wes. “You have a lot to learn, and I will teach you everything he has taught me, but for now, when we get back to the Justice Office this piece of junk gets cut in half and you scrub walls until I say you’re ready.” “Agreed,” said Thor. Wes rather thought he would agree, maybe this Cormon hadn’t had an older Cormon to teach him, but he knew enough of his Cormon culture to respect someone that could beat him in fair, and sometimes unfair, combat. “I still ain’t letting you go in there alone,” said Thor. “You would just slow me down and get me killed, at least until I teach you,” said Wes. “Go to my office and tell Urai to get you settled in.” Wes watched the emotions flicker across Thor’s face, obedience wasn’t Nick’s strong point, and apparently it wasn’t going to be Thor’s either. “Okay, I’ll do what you say, but I don’t like it,” said Thor taking his gun and walking back down the steps. Wes waited until he was gone, that makes two deputies for my team, Urai doesn’t really count. But Thor wasn’t the ‘bad-ass’ the gun store owner had told Wes to look for. Thor hadn’t wanted to obey, but had. Colt would never have obeyed. Wes was so late now it didn’t matter, but he pushed his thoughts aside and walked up the stairs to the Casino. He pushed through the door and was accosted by sound, a sound he had never heard before, it was… like a siren song. Bells, whistles, machines whirling, people shouting, chatting excitedly, and … he had never been in a Casino before and it was like-magic. He tried to see everything at once; people were shoving coins into machines and pulling a lever on the side. He even felt a thrill when coins rained down for the lucky person-Rows and rows of these machines in every bright color. Wes walked along the rows and stopped at the tables of Bone Dice. People were pushing giant piles of red, blue, green, yellow, and purple chips across the table. Then he saw the most beautiful thing and walked around the Bone Dice tables. A machine like the ones lined up in rows with handles on the side was standing in the middle of this wondrous enchantment, but this one was a full two stories tall. A round step with red carpet was in front of the machine, and there was a slot for the coin. TAKE A CHANCE - WIN ONE MILLION IMPERIAL CREDITS. Wes’s head was dizzy, and then the old Raven woman was there, she handed him a single gold coin and glided around him. She said nothing, and then women dressed in nearly nothing with golden costume wings gathered around. Wes looked at the gold coin and reached up for the slot to put the coin. His hands shook and he trembled, it was all so wonderful. The sounds, the lights, the costumed girls, the sound of coins falling into metal trays. Wes closed his eyes and pulled his hand back and dropped the coin on the ground. He opened his eyes and stepped off the pedestal. “NO!” shouted Wes. The old Raven women glided up to Wes’s and placed her mouth to his ear. “If you had dropped that coin in the machine, I would have killed you,” said the old Raven. “I am the shadow in the dark, do not fear the night, dwell instead in the light, for I will hold back the night.” “What?” said Wes. “Light and dark, good and evil,” said the old Raven. “There must be balance, come with me.” Wes followed the old Raven through the casino and up an ornate flight of curved stairs to an office. The office was just as gaudy and magical as the rest of the casino. A man was on his knees in front of the desk, being held down by some very large men. “What’s going on?” asked Wes. “This man was caught cheating,” said the old Raven. “I am going to have him killed.” “I won’t allow that,” said Wes. “There is nothing you can do to stop it,” said the old Raven. The old Raven glided up to him and again put her mouth to his ear. There was a smell of death about her and the lights, the bright colors, the noises of the casino beyond the door. Wes understood, it was all death—a death that people willingly went to, and nothing he could do would stop it. “Balance, help me bring balance back.” Wes looked at the terrified man. What could he do to bring balance? This was the capitol of all crime in the Empire-not Darai, here, on Pyra. Wes understood then, he could not stop all crime; that would be impossible. What could he do? He took his hand off his gun and stepped back from the old Raven and turned around. “Break his legs instead,” said Wes. It happened quickly and the man screamed and then he was being dragged out of the room. “You will let him live,” asked Wes. “Of course, you have done what no other Gunslinger has ever done, you have learned there must be compromise,” the old Raven moved. “I am not your bought Gunslinger,” said Wes. “I would kill you if you were,” said the old Raven. “Balance?” said Wes. “You have earned another secret,” said the old Raven. “You may ask one question.” Wes walked to the stained glass doors of the office and pushed them open; the sounds of the casino were no longer appealing to him. “Who are you?” asked Wes not turning around. “Mother Raven,” replied the old Raven. Wes didn’t close the door, he just kept walking, down the ornate curved stairs, past the big slot machine, the Bone Dice tables, the smaller slot machines, and out through the glass doors. “Mother Raven,” thought Wes. “The most dangerous and wanted of all the Ravens, mother to Lord Raven.” Wes sat down on the bottom step outside and put his head in his hands. “I should have asked who I am,” thought Wes.