[The Lone Gunslinger, Chapter 15, Post Rider] "Get 'em loaded up, boys," shouts the Post Master waving his hand at the sixteen crates full of letters and packages." I have Route number three, so I don't have as far to ride. Sleepy has the furthest to ride, all the way to the furthest west cabins at the edge of the Daraians Base. The Daraians don't have any mail yet, but I'm sure they will in time, right now they are just busy building. I load the mail for my route into special bags slung over Horse's back and swing myself up into the saddle and wait. Misfire, Rock, and Sprint are on Post Duty today, and some of the second years, and quite a few of the Gunslinger's kids that haven't made the Long Run yet but need more advanced jobs to do because they are getting close to the age to make the Long Run. "Alright boys…" the Postmaster starts to say. "And girls," interrupts one of the younger girls not yet a trainee. "Yes, yes, and girls," adds the Postmaster. "Let’s hear the Post Riders Creed." "Neither night of day… I mean… umm dark of night… umm rain and sleet… no wait… snow of dark and rain of day… wait… dark and rain of night…" Everyone is mumbling some different jumbled up version of the creed. "Did any of you read the Post Rider's Handbook I sent out?" The Postmaster interrupts us. "Sammy, you've ridden a route for three years now and you still haven't memorized it? You make The Long Run next year; I hope you take that more seriously. " "Sorry, Sir," says Sammy, "but I know what to do." "Get out of here," shouts the Postmaster. "I better not hear of any problems from you knuckle heads or else." I pull Horse around and give her a little kick and we head up the switch-back to the upper residential part of the Base. My route is a simple loop starting at the top of the switch-back, out to Simon's Cabin, and then back down to the switch-back, it shouldn't take me more than an hour. The sun is up now, we got to the Postmaster's Warehouse an hour before sunrise and helped drag the sorting crates out and ran back and forth to the sorting tables where the Postmaster shoved mail at us and told us which crate to drop it in. I'll be done in no time and have the rest of the day to myself. My first stop is Gunslinger Raphael’s cabin. I like Raph; he's always grumpy, but fair. I turn Horse off the road to Raph's cabin, and I'm surprised to find Raph and Tani sitting on his porch. They are sitting in two old wooden chairs facing each other across a small table piled with the remains of a breakfast they must have shared. Raph and Tani are shouting in Daraian at each other, I didn't know Raph spoke Daraian. They are talking too fast for me to understand what they are saying. I reach into one of the post bags and fish around for Raph's mail, just two letters. "Post Rider," I announce trotting Horse up to the cabin. Raph looks at me. "Well, don't just sit there," says Raph. "Get down here and deliver the Post." I jump down from Horse and hand the letters to Raph. "Whatcha arguing about?" I ask. "This old goat thinks the best way to eat Salia for the Salia Festival is to crumble it up raw over ham," replies Tani. "What's Salia?" I ask. "It's a moss that grows on rocks," says Tani. Raph snorts. "This fool girl has the notion to boil Salia in wood ash and rob it of all it's flavor first." "Oh, you're talking about Reeoonneea, yea, we used to eat that before a hunt for energy, but it can give you an upset stomach." I jump back up on Horse. "Jaakaaw found out if you boil it into a tea to drink is the best way, still gives you an upset stomach though." Raph and Tani stare at me silently, an odd sad expression on their faces. All the Gunslingers know what happened to me, and think two people are living inside me now. I don't care; let them think what they want. I don't think I'm two people, I know what I am, I'm Keeenoowa in a human body. Hero is still here, it's just he wasn't ever supposed to be a human. My next stop is at Gunslinger Michael's cabin. Michael must have heard me and comes to the door; his son is trying to push around him to get outside. "You get back inside," says Michael. I jump down and hand a package to Michael and he holds it up in the air while his son tries to grab the package. "Aw, come on pops, I know it's for me," says Mikey Jr. "You don't get to open it until next week on Festival Day," says Michael pushing his son back inside and stepping out on the porch and closing the door. I can see Mikey hopping up and down at one of the windows trying to see. The enthusiasm is cute, but kind of hard for me to understand. I've never gotten a Festival Day present before, the man and woman never even let me inside the house for Festival Day dinner. Gunslinger Michael gives me a conspiratorial wink and leans in close. "He's worn out four wood carving sets so far," whispers Michael pointing at the collection of wood carvings around the banister of the porch. "This is a wood carving set made from Demonian steel, he won't ever wear them out—guaranteed for life." The carvings around the porch are figures of various animals, and they are good. Not just little kid good, but serious art good. I imagine if they were to sell them they could make a fortune. Michael notices me looking at the carvings and says, "You should see the ones at his mother's cabin, I think he sends her the best ones." That explains why I've never seen Mikey's mother, I guess Gunslingers have the same problems as anyone else and they are separated. Michael must have primary custody, I guess, not really any of my business and I don’t ask. "Is Josh going to be in the Children's Festival Day play?" asks Michael. "Wasn't enough time for him to practice," I reply, "but he does get to help on the stage crew." "Oh, that's good, at least he's fitting in," says Michael. "I better get going, lots of mail to deliver." The day is warming up and I enjoy the scent of pine rising off the pine needle covered forest. I don't have any mail for Brody's cabin, and my next stop is at Gunslinger Riley. I find Riley out back practicing on his range, all the Gunslingers have a small practice range at their cabins. The ranges are surrounded by tall mounds of dirt and well maintained. "Post Rider," I shout so Riley can hear me through his ear safety plugs. We always use ear plugs or we would be deaf in a few years. "Hey there, Hero," shouts Riley. "Heard you had a spot of trouble with them Ravens, un-natural it is, and they are all over the place now." I hand a letter to Riley and he rips it open. I start to turn Horse away but Riley starts reading his letter out loud. I don't know if I'm supposed to leave… but…umm…I'm not sure what to do, so I sit politely, this seems odd. "My Dearest Son, Riley. I haven't heard from you for two months, have you done gone and broken your writing hand? I finished off the last of the canned peaches and will have to wait to make you the pie you love so much. I promise to get one sent to you as soon as the new crop ripens. Martha and I went into town yesterday, and that foolish old man, Pete McConnell, asked me to go with him to the Festival Day Feast at the Temple. Martha thinks I should go with him just to shut the old fool up. Martha is moving in with me next month, it will be nice for the company…" I slip down from Horse and Riley pushes a stool over to me and grabs another and we sit down. I'm getting pulled into this letter from his mother, I don't know why. "…I hope you don't mind, but Martha will be staying in your old room. You don't visit your poor old mother very often, so you'll just have to stay in the barn if you ever think you can make the trip. I know you must be busy with them Gunslingers. I saw you on the news last month. Everyone thinks I was just imagining it, being that you were in one of them space suits when you went to rescue them poor unfortunate people on that space liner, but I know my son and I know it was you. I am so proud of what you do. I cut the picture out of the paper and put it up on the cold box. I do hope you were wearing your long-johns, I hear it gets mighty cold up there in space. And don't forget to brush your teeth, you always forget to brush your teeth. Now you take care, son. Love, your mother. P.S. and clip your toe-nails." Riley looks up and I have to turn my head away, there are tears in my eyes. I don't know why. Riley reaches over and pats me on the shoulder and then shoves the letter into my coat pocket. "Sir?" "Happy Festival Day, boy," says Riley getting up and going back to his shooting practice. I get up and jump back up on Horse, and think about the letter. I wipe the tears from my eyes as I ride. I don't have a mother and I'll never get a letter like this. I don't think Riley was being cruel; I think maybe he knows the empty place I feel and shared his mother with me. I'll have a son someday, I guess, and someday I'll write a letter like this to him. I put my hand on the pocket with the letter in it; it's the best Festival Day present I could get. I bet my mother would have written a letter like this to me if she could have. My next stop is at Gunslinger Henry's cabin. Henry's cabin is off the road a bit and I have to follow a long barely used trail to get there. Henry hears me coming and steps outside, and I announce myself and hand him a letter. He doesn't say a word and goes back inside. I'm just leaving on the trail when I hear something crashing from inside Henry's cabin and turn back to look. I can just see Henry through the windows of the cabin throwing stuff at a wall. I don't know what was in the letter I gave him, but I know it's not my business and ride on. I guess not all letters are good news. Gunslinger Cyrus is next, and I am not looking forward to stopping there. Cyrus is mean, tough as nails, and has a reputation for a short temper. I sigh and guide Horse up the trail to his cabin. Cyrus is outside cutting wood and stops to glare at me. "Post Rider, Sir," I announce. Cyrus' glare evaporates instantly and he grins and rushes over to get his letter. I guess this is a good letter. I don't even get a chance to start to leave. "You're the one they call Hero," says Cyrus. "I hear you're full of yourself, quick temper, don't think things through." "Umm… I don't know, Sir," I say. "So am I," says Cyrus. "I've always had a temper. You ever play games, boy?" "Games?" "You daft, boy," says Cyrus. "Games, they help set your mind to ease, now get down here." What can I do? He's a Gunslinger and I'm a trainee, and he's the meanest Gunslinger on the Base, nobody ever goes near his cabin. I slip down off Horse and follow Cyrus over to his porch and he offers me a seat. I watch him open the letter and he glances at me, but I hold his gaze, the hunter cat in me won’t let me drop my eyes. "You ever tell a soul and I'll rip your liver out," warns Cyrus, and then he opens the letter and starts to read. "Toele, the Elf, moves silently along the dungeon corridor, checking for hidden traps. Makor, the Barbarian Warrior, has his sword out and scans for more of the Slinkor monsters your group encountered in the cavern you just cleared. Drops of water fall ominously from the ceiling and a green slime covers the walls. Kail, the thief, slinks along hiding behind Makor, holding the one flickering torch as you make your way deeper into the dungeon. Ganrol, the wizard, watches carefully behind the group for danger." Cyrus looks up at me, "I'm Ganrol, a third level wizard." I have no idea what Cyrus is talking about. Cyrus continues to read. "The dungeon corridor circles deeper and deeper into the dungeon. Your group must find the magic diamond heart of Jolun'nar, and free the Princess from the evil magical spell she is under. You will receive treasure untold from the King if you are successful. The corridor comes to a dead end, two doors are visible. Ganrol, the wizard, only has one opening spell left… which door do you choose, the left, or the right?" I'm staring at Cyrus with my mouth open. "Close your mouth, boy," says Cyrus. "It's a game, Toele, Makor, Kail, and myself, Ganrol, will write our replies to the Game Master, he will consolidate them and send us back the next part of the adventure. So, what will it be, right or left door?" "I…umm…" I have never heard of a game like this, it's… it's… wow! Incredible! "Well, Sir, I have to wonder why Toele, the Elf, is leading and searching for traps. Shouldn't Kail, the thief, be the one in the front searching for traps?" "I think the same thing, but that coward Kail is always hiding," says Cyrus. "Okay, umm… I think neither door, Sir," I say. "The Game Master said, 'two doors are visible'. I think that's a clue, there is a third door, one you can't see, cast your opening spell at the invisible door." "Very good, boy," says Cyrus. "I would never have thought of that, I knew you would be a natural at this." Cyrus gets up and runs inside the cabin and returns with a piece of paper and an envelope. I watch as Cyrus writes out his reply, stuffs the letter in the envelope, and then adds a five Imperial note, and seals the envelope. He hands me the envelope to deliver. "Wait, what?" I say. "The Game Master gets twenty Imperials for writing a letter and sending out four copies? He could write a hundred letters a day… he makes thousands! Why aren't we the Game Master?" Cyrus smiles. "Because you are a Gunslinger, boy. You don't have time to run a business, but, I like the way you think. Maybe when I retire. Now, off with you and get that letter delivered." I head out shaking my head. The sun is already over-head, its noon. How does the Post ever get delivered on time, this is insane. My next stop is at Gunslinger Augusts’ cabin and I deliver a package to him. August rips open the box and sits down on the road, pulls his boots and socks off and pulls a set of… what the heck are those?... out of the box. "Electric socks," says August seeing my unasked question and putting the new socks on. August stands, hops around a bit. "Now that's nice and toasty warm," says August. Then sparks fly from the tops of the electric socks and they start smoking. August starts jumping around trying to get the socks off, more sparks are flying. I can see August is getting angry and pulls his revolver and points at his socks. I kick Horse into a trot; I don't want to know how this ends. My next stop is at Theodore's cabin, I have a box for Rattlesnake. I know I'm not supposed to go near their cabin, but this is official duty, I'm a Post Rider today. I trot Horse up the path and find Ace outside sitting on the ground facing a tree with her gun in her lap. "Post Rider," I announce, I don't want her shooting me. "Package for Rattlesnake." "Give it here," says Ace. I hand the package down but curiosity gets the best of me. "Umm.. What are you doing?" I ask. Ace glares at me but points up. I look up and… "Jaco?" "I caught him peeking in the window at me while I was changing," says Ace. "You're not going to kill him, are you?" I ask. "Naw, just gonna shoot him in one leg, if the coward ever comes down," says Ace. I can see the trees are too clustered together; Jaco can't just leap out of the tree and fly away. "I couldn't help it," Jaco shouts down. "I wanted to see her, and she is so beautiful, can I see again?" Ace lifts her gun and fires a round a Jaco, he twists in time and the round ricochets off his armored wings. "Hero, help, she's trying to kill me," yells Jaco. I can't help it and have to put a hand over my mouth to hide my laughter. "You think this is funny?" says Ace dangerously. "Ace, he wasn't peeking at you," I say. "He wanted to see that pet Peregrine Falcon you have." "What?" Ace's face turns dark with anger. "He wasn't looking at me?" Ace lets out an angry scream and lifts her gun and empties it at Jaco. I don't know what to think; now she's angry because Jaco was looking at the Falcon and not her? "Now Jaco, run, she's reloading!" I shout. Jaco scampers down from the tree faster than I've ever seen him move before and heads off at a dead run through the woods. I turn Horse and kick him into a gallop; I do not want to wait around for Ace to finish reloading. I decide it's probably best to finish this road later and double back to the north end of my route, where Simon's cabin is, and check my Post bag for the next address. I'm a little surprised to find it's for Andy, Josh's grandfather, until I notice the box is from the Base Hospital, it's probably his medication. I turn onto the path and stop at the cabin, the nurse is sitting outside on the porch reading a book. "Post Rider, package from the Hospital for Andy," I announce. "I'll take it," says the Nurse getting up. "The stubborn mule is down at the creek." "He is?" I ask concerned. "Don't worry, I have a medical monitor on him," says the nurse. "And once we got him on the proper medication for his blood pressure, he's been doing fine, and the exercise is good for him." "I'm going to go down and see him," I reply. "Sounds good, he's always in a better mood after seeing you boys," says the nurse. The creek isn't far away and a very easy walk. I find Andy standing next the bank of the creek staring at a rock. I'm a little concerned, I think he's shaking and I jump down from horse. "Andy, are you okay?" Andy holds the rock out to me. "Do you know what this is, Hero?" I shrug. "Gold?" "Yes, Gold!" shouts Andy excitedly. "This whole creek is full of gold!" "I know, all the creeks are," I reply. "Bunch of the creeks on the east side is full of silver." Andy's mouth drops open and he looks at me, the creek, me, the creek... I think he's going to give himself whiplash. "And you Gunslingers never mined the gold?" asks Andy as if I just told him horses could fly. "Of course not," I say. "Do you think they would let me mine the gold?" asks Andy. I know the answer to that; we've had other elderly family members brought to live here before. The rules about the creeks are in the thousand briefings all the trainees get. "You're not allowed to dig but you can pan for the gold, or pick up the nuggets," I explain. "But, you are only permitted to sell to the Gunslingers. You can't take any gold off the base to sell." Andy winks and nods his head. "Oh, I get it, they want their share. Okay, that's fair." "No, Sir," I reply. "We throw all the gold you sell us back in one of the creeks. I have to go now, Posts to deliver." I leave Andy standing there with his jaw hanging open. Andy has been a miner his whole life, how could he ever understand we don't care about gold. My next stop is Simon's cabin. I find Simon, Josh, Gunslinger Elias and another little boy Josh's age standing on the road in front of our cabin. There is a folding table set up and Josh's and the other little boy's bright orange guns are on the table. Josh has a much more real looking gun in his holster and is wearing some kind of vest I've never seen before. I jump down from Horse. "Simon, what's going on?" I ask. "Josh is about to have his first shoot-out, he called Timmy out for drinking his milk at snack time," explains Simon. "Those aren't real guns?" I asked. "No, laser guns," explains Simon. "The vests have sensors and will show who wins." Josh and Timmy face off. The expression on both boys is very serious, I didn't grow up here so I'm not sure what to expect. Josh draws first but the other boy has his gun out and pulls the trigger before Josh can even aim. I don't think it's very fair; the other boy was born here and has probably done this before. Josh's vest lights up red and he drops his shoulders defeated. Simon takes the gun and whispers into Josh's ear. Josh drops his head then looks at Timmy. "I was wrong, I should know you were thirsty and..." Josh looks up and Simon whispers in his ear again. "...and I should have given you my milk, you're my Gunslinger brother," finishes Josh. The other boy doesn't need coaching from Gunslinger Elias. "No, I was wrong. I should have asked if you wanted your milk, you're my Gunslinger brother," says Timmy. "Want to go play, I know where a family of raccoons lives?" "Okay," says Josh. The two boys slip out of the vests, grab their bright orange guns and run off together. I don't even know what to think. "Almost done with your Post run?" asks Simon folding up the table. "One more road to go, Sir," "Better hurry, it'll be dark soon," says Simon. I kick Horse into a run and we cut through the woods and finish off the road Ace lives on, I don't see her anywhere; small favor there. I have one box left, but the address... how can this be right? I cut back through the woods and stop at Camp Serione, the cabin we hid out at during the Escape and Evasion range. It still doesn't look like anyone lives here and I push the door open. The cabin is just as abandoned as it was when we were here. I look at the address on the box again, and then I notice the return address. "Oh for the love of the ancestors," I exclaim. "Seriously, you're having mail sent from the Raven Temple, delivered by a Gunslinger Post Rider, to the hideout you’re using, on the Gunslinger Base, to spy on the Gunslingers?" I look up into the rafters; the two older Ravens that went to find Jaco for me after I was arrested are looking back down at me. "You two?" "Hello, Keal," says the male. "What's in the box, it's not a bomb is it?" I ask. "No, it's poison," says the Raven female. "Who are you going to poison?" I ask alarmed. "We helped you," says the female. "Now the Temple wants to punish us, your Commander is allowing us to wait here." "No no no, I’m not giving you the box, I don't care. I know how Ravens think and you two would be dumb enough to actually take the poison. The renegade Ravens are just kids, me too, and we only have the Falcon's helping us and they always look like they are trying to decide whether to eat us or not. We could use some grown-ups to help. Just walk up to the Raven Base and don't be dumb." I turn around and slam the door behind me, shove the box in my Post bag, and climb onto Horse. I can't believe how hard Post Rider duty is. The sun is just setting when I get to the warehouse and the Post Master is in his office. I throw the box on the Post Masters desk. "It's poison for the Raven's that helped me," I almost shout. "I refuse to deliver it." "What did you tell them?" asks the Post Master. "I told them not to be dumb and join the other Ravens," I reply. "Good job, you can go now." "Am I the last one finished?" "You're the first one finished. Post Riders don't usually get back until after midnight."