Canyons of Steel - Lawman in a Lawless Land Pt 10

The pounding of hooves echoed down the streets of Port William. Citizens ran out of the way, onto the sidewalks as the three horses carried their riders down the pathways. Gangers and Mafia ducked into the shadows of alleyways, not wishing to be seen by those three who tore down the street.

The trio spurred their charges on, galloping up the hill toward the mark where Fort Jasper and Port William joined. Mafia gunsels just watched, hoping that none of the riders would look their way, with a sudden desire for extracting justice.

As the sun set on the island, the three riders stopped their mounts at the top of the hill. Each surveyed the village below with a watchful eye. They were in hell, and each knew that was where they were eventually destined for, but at least for now, they could try to make good on their sins from the past.

It may take a while, but they'd make this village their own.

"Well, mates," Monty said as the grey shifted under his weight. "What now?"

Walker looked toward the villas that dotted the beach front, a small smile cracked on his face. "Mafia's got an illegal gamblin' an' racin' operation goin' on," he said quietly. "Even under the law o' this here island, it's still illegal." He looked to Marianne and Monty for a moment. "Let's go misbehavin'."

The End

Canyons of Steel - Lawman in a Lawless Land Pt 9

John Walker cocked his head as he heard the noise come from the back room. He got up from his desk and wandered through the storage areas, past the make shift medical bay and to a large door that lead to a room not yet cleared. He'd heard the sounds, hammers banging and saws cutting, but had at first thought nothing of it. They still had repair work to do, and this wasn't exactly something unexpected. But to go on for eight or nine hours was something else.

He grabbed the handle of the large sliding door and attempted to push it open. Locked. Or at least it was held firm by something. Drawing his pistol, he stepped back from the door and took a deep breath before calling out. "Annie? Monty? What the devil's goin' on?"

There was a sudden sound of scrambling, followed by... was that hooves. "What the hells goin' on in there?" he shouted again.

"Sorry boss," Monty's muffled voice called back. "Just fixing up a few things, mate. Be right there." Walker could hear a hushed conversation between Monty and Marianne, but couldn't catch the details. The sound of metal being pushed back indicated that the lock, or whatever else it was, being opened. Slowly, the large sliding door was pushed back.

"What in blue blazes..." Walker began before his eyes finally registered what was in the room. Like entering into a holy place, he removed his hat and studied the three new faces that turned to greet him. The chuffling sound each gave as they looked to see who this new person was that entered their new home. The back room had suddenly been transformed into a rustic stable.

Monty stepped up beside Walker as the elder was standing solemnly in the entrance. "Um... yer not gonna start ta cry, are ya, mate?"

Walker looked to Monty for a moment and just chuckled. He approached the brown quarter horse cautiously. The animal craned it's neck to inspect Walker carefully before reaching down to nuzzle Walker's hand, sniffing to see if there might be some food held there. Walker ran his hand down the length of the animal's neck, marveling all the while. Still standing beside the creature, Walker looked to the pair. "You two set all this up?"

"Don't look at me," Monty replied. "Blame her fer alla this, mate."

Marianne smirked at Monty before looking to Walker. She explained what happened, starting with the disease containers, staying cramped in a cubby hole for three or four hours, and seeing the treatment of the animals upon returning to port. Walker nodded as the blade mistress retold the story. "This probably won't sit right with the Family," Walker mused. He looked back to the brown quarter horse and sighed. "Screw 'em. Who cares if they can't take a joke," he said with a smirk. Marianne and Monty looked between each other before offering a kind smile toward the old gunslinger.

But each of them realized one thing. They were in a hostile land. More than likely hated already by most of the organizations on this island. Probably being gunned for at every turn.

But at least this was now home.

Within Temptation - Angels

A friend of mine introduced me to this band. They are a Dutch goth band and have been around since 1995 but haven't recorded that many albums, as they took a small break to continue their studies. The band's name is Within Temptation. This song, Angels.

Fully invested

This weekend has been a crazy one. Hockey games, craft sales, people getting ready for Christmas. But the craziest thing happened on Sunday. Saskatchewan became Grey Cup champions. Not that I didn't believe it could happen, but that it is the icing on the cake of a season that has been an incredible turn around. The Roughriders won it all on Sunday in an extremely huge defensive game.

I believed they could beat Calgary at home in the West semi-final.

I had faith they could beat the Lions in Vancouver. After all, their one win against the Lions came in BC.

And then to watch the 95th Grey Cup and have the Riders come away with a victory was sweet. But one thing impressed me much more than the win itself. It was how the players said that the fans were a big reason why they are where they are. All year long, each member of the team always pointed to the fans. In Kent Austin's words "what a place to win a championship."

Needless to say, the atmosphere in Regina today will be insane. A parade is planned for Tuesday, and from there, we can dream of the Grey Cup in Saskatchewan once again. Now, we just have to get ready for the encore.

Until next time...

Keep 'em flyin'.

Canyons of Steel - Lawman in a Lawless Land Pt 8

The pair walked slowly along the dock, letting the kinks work out of their muscles. They stayed in that compartment for three hours before it finally pulled into port in the William. The man who owned it was a legitimate businessman, even if her captain, hired to sail her, was not. The coast guard detained the ship, then sent her back. The containers of the disease were confiscated and sent to the CDC labs in Atlanta. All in all, a days work complete.

But it wasn't over yet.

"This'll be a hoot, explainin' this ta Walker," Monty commented as he rubbed his shoulder.

"Walker will understand," Marianne replied. A small ruckus along the dock caused her to look up. A ship was unloading horses, and the handler was being none to kind to the cargo. Smacking a grey filly viciously. Marianne scowled, and without thinking, she dashed off toward the handler, ignoring the pain that screamed in her muscles. She reached the handler, threw him up against a wall, and backhanded him across the face. For good measure, she slapped him with a hard, open hand. "Hurts, doesn't it?" she said with venom. "Give me those reigns," she added, ripping the leather reigns from the handler's hands.

"This is Don Maximus' goods," the handler spouted as he wiped blood from his face. "They gonna hear about this."

"Go ahead and tell them you lost the shipment, then," Marianne said with a smirk as she began to lead the filly down the length of the dock. There were two other horses standing at the dock and the former Sister with the Sisters motioned for Monty to lead them as well.

"Great, Annie," Monty called out to her as he held tight the reigns of a chestnut mare and a brown quarter horse. "Lovely, we saved the horses. Now what?"

Marianne just looked back without any answer. The action was implusive. The horses reminded her of the time she spent show jumping when a little girl on her family's estate in Sussex. But what to do with them now. They really couldn't keep horses. Unless...

"The back room, behind the storage area in the Safehouse," Marianne explained. "What about there?"

Monty blinked as he came to a stand still. The brown quarter horse nudged his shoulder, seemingly interested in this human, one of his saviours for rescuing him and the other pair from the hands of these men. "Ya sayin' we make a stable?"

"Why not?" Marianne shot back, and continued leading the horses off the dock and down the street of the William. "We'll keep the horses out of sight as we construct it. Should take only a day, if we work quickly enough."

"Marianne," Monty replied with a snort. "Walker's a Texan. Trying to hide horses from him is like trying to hide cheese from a mouse. The man probably already has some sixth sense that says we're bringin' horses home." Marianne didn't reply. She'd think of something, she always did. At least they saved the horses. Right now, that was the only thing that mattered.

Canyons of Steel - Lawman in a Lawless Land Pt 7

Sometimes yer gonna find that the best way we can help ourselves, is by doin' worse 'n what some men do. We may have ta take jobs we ain't gonna like. But we make a promise. Ain't gonna take no job 'gainst no honest folk. Any o' them scumbags out there, if we get word on somethin' they got an' we can use, then we take it. Just pray that we may be judged in a way less harsh.

Marianne and Monty quietly entered the ship. The old barge creaked as it rocked on the waves. They'd heard word that the vessel was carrying some cargo that might help them build their medical center. Because they certainly didn't trust the island's Medical System. They were given the job, snatch a few boxes, deliver them to their contact and leave.

The boxes, they found, were crates that they had to divert to the United States. And they contained a disease.

"Annie," Monty said in a whisper. "I gotta say, don't feel right 'bout this, love."

Marianne looked to Monty for a moment. She'd grown used to the nickname that he and Walker had given her, asking that they only use it while they were in the field. "Bloody hell. You pick now of all times to grow a conscious? We're halfway to Paragon. What do you propose?"

Monty furrowed his brow, and then gave Marianne a stern look. "There's a coupla people I know in Interpol. Give it ta them, an' then we scram."

She gave him an incredulous look. "Interpol? Are you completely loony?" She sighed in frustration and looked around the cargo hold of the ship. The containers of the disease sat in a false wall, just in case the coast guard stopped the boat for inspection. "Wait a minute. I've got an idea." She opened the false compartment, dragged out the four containers and moved toward a few packing crates. Carefully openning them, she slipped the containers in amongst food stuffs. "This will nail the boat captain. I've seen him around, not a very nice fellow. Come on." She motioned toward false compartment, and crawled in.

Monty stared in wonder at the woman. "You expect the two of us to fit in there?"

Marianne had crawled in and was sitting in what appeared to be a rather uncomfortable position. "Fine. Then you explain to the coast guard what your doing in the hold of this ship." Monty looked around for a moment for another hiding spot, then moved to the false wall, muttering as he crawled into cramped quarters with Marianne. "Get your bloody foot out of my face."

"Little hard, mate."

Once they both were comfortable, they replaced the false wall. "There. Now just to make sure the coast guard gets a call."

"Marianne," Monty said quietly as they sat in the cramped space.

"What is it?"

"Shouldn't we have done that before crawlin' into here?"

"Grab my comm, it's on my left hip," Marianne replied in a huff. "That's not my bloody comm, you pervert!"

"It's bloody dark in here."

Mariannne's muffled voice explained the situation to the coast guard. All they had to do was wait and it would be all over. In their cramped quarters, Monty spoke in a near whisper. "Marianne?"

"What?"

"You owe me a back massage for this, mate."

Canyons of Steel - Lawman in a Lawless Land Pt 6

"This ain't fair," the ganger screamed from behind a row of crates. "I carved this little piece of heaven for myself and I'm gonna keep it."

"Ain't nothin' personal," Walker shouted back as he squeezed off another round from his assault rifle. "We just need a place ta hunker down, an' Frankie tol' us ya might be willin' as long as ya vacated this here spot." Walker wasn't exactly impressed with what Heck had told them. Originally, the deal was take down Fancy, and he'd find them a place. There was nothing stated about having to clear out a den of gangers.

"Blood hell, mate," Monty shouted as he put two into an advancing Hellion. "Frankie never said a damned thing about us having a place filled with scorch marks 'r removing bodies from it."

"Maybe Frankie should be talked to," Marianne suggested in a calm and rational voice as she fired her crossbow.

"I doubt that any amount o' rational conversation'll sway the bastard fer us," Walker replied as he pushed a crate out of the way, revealing Guido Franetti, cowering against the wall. "Get yer ass up!"

"Don't shoot me. Please don't kill me." Franetti had been turned into a quivering puddle as he found it difficult to rise from the floor. Monty stepped forward and frowned, muttering about the stench. Bloody pissed himself. "Look, I'll... I'll leave. Just don't... don't shoot me, 'kay."

"Goddammit! Yer just some squirt kid," Walker observed with a sigh as he cradled the rifle. "Get yer ass up, an' get the hell outta here. An' don't let me 'r any o' us see ya in the William 'gain. Got it?" Guido crawled past the three before managing to find some purchase on his feet and sprinted out of the warehouse.

Walker took a cursory look around before giving out details. "Monty, that room over there looks like it'd be a decent one fer storage. Annie, see if ya can find what sorta electrical system we're lookin' at. How old it is. We may have ta start cullin' parts t'gether. I'll handle the bodies. When we're done the initial with the buildin', drag 'em down ta Sharkhead an' give 'em a proper burial." Both Monty and Marianne nodded, quickly moving out to take care of their orders.

Walker looked around one last time. Even with the death, scorch marks and all, he smiled.

Home. They finally found a home.