Keeper of the Books (Keeper of the Books, Book 1) (29 page)

Nate got out of the cart, walked to the edge of the road, and peered deep into the forest, looking at nothing in particular. He wondered who would talk first. He supposed it should be him, but he didn’t want to. Cara had exposed the thoughts of each of them and Nate came out as the criminal. The others came out smelling like roses except for maybe Rachel.

When he turned, he saw each of them in the road. Alban stood only a few feet away from him, his hands set deep in his pockets as he kicked at the dirt. Marum leaned against the cart, cleaning her fingernails, pretending none of this mattered to her. Then there was Rachel. The young woman stared at Nate, her arms crossed over her chest and with a fire in her eyes so intense that she threatened to burn him alive with glowing beams. He looked at her for only a moment before turning back to look into the woods.
 

“None of ya’ll have to take me anywhere,” Nate said. “I can get by on my own. I’ll be back home in no time.”

“That, my friend, shows how ignorant you are,” Alban said in a soft voice. “You’re talking about finding a few books, none of which anyone knows anything about. It’s been so long that a lot of people aren’t sure they even exist.”

“I don’t need to look for no books,” Nate said, turning toward the man. “I need to find Tyler Montgomery. He knows all about this place.”

Alban shook his head and kicked at the dirt again. “Another quest that may be just as difficult as finding The Ancient Books. You don’t know where he is. You don’t know anything about Galamore. This is a large place. Cara wants us to take you to the Sentinels. Do you know how far that is?”

“Couple of nights?” Nate guessed.
 

“More than a month’s journey,” Alban said. “They have a fortress embedded on the side of Dragon Scale Mountain. It’s at the very heart of Galamore.”

“Dragon Scale Mountain,” Nate said, nodding. “That’s good. That’s where I need to be to get to the book.”

“Did you not hear a thing Cara said?” Rachel chimed in. “You can’t gain access without the relic keys. No one can.”

Nate spat on the ground and kicked dirt over the saliva. He had heard everything clearly. He knew what was required of him—or at least what Cara thought was required of him.

“Yeah, but did
you
listen to her?” Nate said. “Even she wasn’t sure of herself. She said the future wasn’t clear.”

“And that’s why we need to go to the Sentinels,” Alban said.
 

Nate raised an eyebrow. “We?”

“It goes against my better judgment,” Alban said. “I have clothed you, fed you, and kept you safe for a couple of days and all you’ve done is lied to us.”

Nate’s jaw muscles tensed as Alban said this. He didn’t want to wrestle words with the man, but he felt he owed an explanation. “Listen,” he said, “I lied because I didn’t want to scare any of you.”

Alban lifted a hand in the air. “I don’t want to know of your past. I don’t want to know about any of it. I just want to move forward.”

“Father, we can’t take him,” Rachel said, stepping forward. “I can only begin to list the infinite number of reasons why we shouldn’t take him. Not the least of which is that he wants to get home, and to do so would be to write the ending to our world!”

“Listen, Rachel,” Nate began, but he was quickly cut off.
 

“But he’s also a criminal who’s done things we can’t even imagine,” she continued. “Do you really want to travel with a man like that?” Her eyes tore into him. “I for one would be glad to know what kind of crimes you’ve committed before going on a trip with you. Not that I could trust you to tell me the truth.”

“Rachel!” Alban exclaimed.

“You’re right,” Nate said, staring right back at Rachel. “I’m probably not going to tell you all the things I’ve done in my past. If I told you some of the things, you’d probably shoot me right here. But I will say that all that was in a different world, a different life. Didn’t you hear Cara? I’ve wanted to turn away from all that. I was on my last job when I found myself here.”

“My vote is no,” Rachel said.
 

“I don’t remember this being a vote,” Alban came back defiantly. “But if it is, I vote yes.”

The two of them looked at Marum who still leaned against the cart. She continued to clean her fingernails when she realized all eyes were upon her. She suddenly stood straighter and swallowed as she tugged downward on her tunic. “I’m not voting,” she said. “My plan is to travel south with you until we reach the northern border of the Sunset Woods, then I will split away and head on toward Gray Elf Country.”

“Cara said that you should travel with us,” Alban said, his eyebrows furrowed. “She said it would be best.”

“Nathaniel has his path,” Marum answered, “And I have mine.”

Nate nodded when she said this, but immediately turned to Rachel. “If you think for one second that I want someone like you as a traveling companion, you’re wrong. You’re angry and vindictive. I’m easily annoyed and I like to get drunk. Those kinds of people don’t mix too well.”

Rachel started to interject, but Nate held up a finger.
 

“But Cara said that you shouldn’t go back home because the man who is after me will track me there. Levi Thompson will meet you and you don’t want that.”

“Who is that man?” Alban asked.
 

“He’s not a good guy,” Nate said. “Not anymore. There are some things between us that are unresolved, and he means to resolve them with a bullet in my chest. He won’t stop until he’s got me. I say all this to tell you that it wouldn’t be beyond him to kill you just for having helped me. In his twisted mind he’ll think that he’s serving justice by killing you. You can’t, under any circumstances be there when Levi shows up.”

Rachel and Alban looked at each other. “So,” Rachel said, “we have no other choice but to take you.”

Nate shrugged. “That or find a different place to lay low for a while. I don’t know what’s going to happen, I just can’t let you walk right into Levi. The man’s crazy.”

“What about the homestead?” Rachel asked, turning to Alban. “We can’t just let Bill stay there. It’s dangerous for him too.”

Alban nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, we need to reach a town and forward a bird to him.”

“A bird?” Nate asked.
 

“A note,” Alban said. “Birds for hire, essentially. I can send a note by air and it should get to him within the day. I will tell him to stay away from the homestead for a few days. The animals should be fine. Then I will tell him to check in on the homestead every day once he feels there is no danger.” He looked at Rachel and sighed. “It will all be fine, darling.”

“Don’t
darling
me!” Rachel spat. “I know I don’t get a say about any of this.” She looked back at Marum. “When two men have their mind set on something, the women just sit back and do what they’re told.”

Marum didn’t nod in agreement, nor did she even acknowledge Rachel’s tantrum. She simply cleaned her fingernails.
 

“That’s not what is going on, Rachel,” Alban said. “You know what situation we’re facing.”

“Then why can’t we lay low for a while, like Nathaniel suggested?” she asked. “He can get there by himself.”

No words were spoken in reply. Alban simply nodded at Nate and started toward the cart. Nate followed and looked toward Rachel, not with a smug expression of victory on his face but with a grateful nod to show her that he didn’t want any of this—that Nate had never meant for them to get involved. He knew all of that could not be said in a single look, but he meant it all the same. Rachel did not try to suppress her scowl as she climbed back into the open-topped wagon.

After many long minutes of traveling along the road, perhaps an hour, Nate finally asked Alban where he was going. Their course had not changed and they were not headed toward his homestead.
 

Alban cleared his throat and said a word unfamiliar to Nate. “Wanashwa,” he answered. “It’s a small settlement not far from here. I don’t like the idea of going there with the Rangers and your friend after us, but we will need to supply ourselves for the journey ahead. And I need to send a post to Bill to warn him.”

Nate nodded. Part of him wanted to look back at Rachel to see her reaction to the news, but he didn’t dare. She had already known that she was in the minority. But why Alban was so set on helping Nate perplexed him. Nate had done nothing to help the man. Sure, they weren’t safe going back to their homestead, but that didn’t mean they had to take him on a month-long journey across Galamore. It was a bold and risky move for Alban and his daughter to do this for a man they didn’t know at all. Nate had to side with Rachel on this in his mind. She was clearly the voice of reason. But Nate wasn’t about to try and talk the man out of it. Alban knew, as well as Nate, that if Nate were left on his own, he would be lost and would wander the land aimlessly for a much longer time without a guide.
 

Even with a map, there were more issues to consider. For instance, Nate didn’t know the terrain. He didn’t know the best way to travel. Maps did not often show what beasts to look out for or that certain roads were prone to thieves and robbers. It wasn’t that Nate feared them in the least, but those types would often kill for as little as your coat, much less for a horse and weapons.
 

No, Alban was Nate’s best chance at getting where he needed to go so he could find his way back home. Nate knew this and Alban knew this. Rachel knew as well, but she didn’t care what happened to Nate. She would prefer that he’d gone on his own, only to be found a week later half-eaten by wolves. He wondered what effect that might have on her. Would she be shocked? Would there be the slightest bit of guilt? Or would she hear the news and actually be glad?

Nate could have made a guess, but thinking about it too much unnerved him. Having a person near him who disdained him so much was never a good idea. He either needed to kill her or win her over somehow. By nature, Nate didn’t consider himself a cold-blooded killer, though others in his past might think differently. So, he supposed he was going to have to win her over.
 

But Rachel wasn’t like some saloon girl he could charm with a wink or a mysterious grin. She wasn’t the type to be won over by his fast talk or charisma. He knew Rachel’s type. She liked people who were virtuous and wanted to do what was right no matter what. She saw things more in black and white, choosing to forget that there were areas of gray in almost all situations.

Nate lived in the gray, and too often within the black. A man like that had no business being in Rachel’s life in any way. It wasn’t that Nate was interested in wooing her. Quite the contrary. But if he was going to travel with her for a while, he needed to make friends. Otherwise he might shoot her.
 

There was only so much hatred a man could take from a woman. If a man hated Nate, he didn’t mind so much. Most men hated each other for some reason or another. It always came down to aggression and power. One man wanted to be better than another, probably to impress some woman. Hatred within a man against another man could come about for the smallest of reasons. But when a woman hated a man, things were different. Hatred from a woman felt like an assault on his character. If a woman hated Nate, he truly felt like he deserved to be hated—as if a woman could only hate a man for a good reason. A woman’s hatred was well thought out and she could probably list all the reasons behind it off the top of her head. Truth was, she would undoubtedly be right about everything she listed.
 

Rachel hated Nate because he was a no good scoundrel who deserved to be hanged. He was a liar. She didn’t know what his crimes were, but she suspected he was a thief and maybe a killer. For all of these reasons, she had every right to hate him. But he aimed to change that, if only to make the trip to the Sentinels more bearable.

Marum, on the other hand, was a different story. Nate suspected she didn’t hate him because they were much the same. They were both wanted criminals. Most of the same people were after them. Of course there was also the fact that Nate had broken her out of jail the day she was supposed to be executed. Really, she didn’t have any reason to be against Nate. They had worked together mutually. He’d saved her life; now she had gotten him passage to where he needed to go.
 

As these thoughts passed through Nate’s mind, he couldn’t help but think about the amount of time it was going to take to get to the mountain. A month sure was a long time. He’d thought he would be here a week at most—that all he had to do was find his brother and Montgomery, and be on his way back to Texas. But things had gotten a lot more complicated, and it seemed he was going to be here for a long time.
 

Maybe these Sentinels would know of a different way he could get back. Cara didn’t know everything. Really, she didn’t seem to know much at all. Just glimpses and images of the future. It was a strange thing having been to the Foreseer. He’d heard of fortunetellers in the past, but never gave them much thought. Ralph and Stew had both talked about seeing one in El Paso, but were soon disappointed that none of what the fortuneteller had told them came true.
 

And Nate would have thought the same about Cara, but for the fact that she knew his thoughts and seemed to know far too much about him already.

This was all part of the storybook he’d fallen into. Somehow he was just another character, playing his part until the story eventually ended. But if he was this Keeper that Cara had mentioned, that meant he was the one who could actually write the ending. That was what he had to do to get back home. Hopefully, he would be leaving Levi in the dust behind him.

They reached the outskirts of the settlement of Wanashwa just as the sun faded behind the trees and night overtook the sky. Nate was glad to be near civilization again, but only because he desired a bath and a soft bed to sleep in. He was making an assumption when he thought they would be staying at some inn, for he hadn’t asked Alban what his plan was. Wanashwa didn’t get too many visitors, it seemed. It was small and in the middle of nowhere. Nate guessed that only peddlers on their way to another settlement or town would be the ones to frequent the inns. Alban and his crew seemed to fit that bill but for one small problem: Marum.