As soon as the sheriff left I bent over and rubbed my eyes. My head was killing me, but I wasn’t going to let it keep me down. As I straightened up I noticed two of the sheriff’s men had stuck around, following me. I wasn’t sure if I’d done something to rouse their suspicions, or if the locals were just naturally wary of strangers, but I considered myself lucky that I just got a talking to, and I wasn’t dragged to jail or something.

  The surveillance was going to make it more difficult to get things done, but I wasn’t going to let them stop me. If anything, it forced me to accelerate the vague plans I was putting together in my head.

  I had just turned towards the town stable when a long, low train whistle shattered the previously quiet morning atmosphere. As soon as it did, people flooded into the street, rushing towards the train station. I stared at the mob in shock. “What the hell is going on?”

  “The company train is coming in,” one of the weaselly looking shadows that had been assigned to me explained. He had such a thick rural accent that it took several seconds for my brain to translate it. “I figured you were a lookout for a gang lookin to make it big by holding it up, but you really don’t know anything, do yah?”

  I glanced back at the younger man, who was smiling at me with a mouth full of half crooked, half missing teeth. “I’d never even heard of it until I talked to the old man in the general store yesterday.”

  As I chatted with my ‘escort’ a massive train pulled into the station. The engine had to be thirty percent larger than the one I’d arrived on. The train engine looked state of the art. The boiler was either seamlessly integrated into the carriage, or had some sort of casing surrounding it. There were dozens of heavy panels mounted all the way down the side of the engine, each one with intricate inlay. It wasn’t until I saw the massive brass colored cow catcher, which looked more like a shield than a grill, that the purpose of those panels clicked.

  “That’s a lot of armor,” I mumbled in awe.

  “That there is the pride of the Graves company. It could take fire from the biggest cannons the military has and not even slow down,” he leaned forward conspiratorially, “and completely shrug off any of that heathen magic.”

  “And you were worried I’d try and ROB that?” I asked incredulously. “Why?”

  “Timing mostly. We don’t get many visitors here, and the train only comes once a month, can’t be too careful.”

  I started walking towards the stables again, this time much slower as I watched the circus on the opposite platform. The heavy armored walls of the train cars slowly unfolded into ramps, revealing several storefronts within. They had everything from fancy weapons, to saddles, to cookware. The clerk hadn’t been lying, the train was carrying pretty much everything a person out here needed.

  Two gunmen in each car, made it one of the most well protected trains I’d ever seen.

  As I came up to one of the cross-streets, on my way out of town, another ruckus arose behind me. I glanced back to see the sheriff and his posse escorting the two girls out of the jail. The pair were trussed up in bronze colored shackles, and most of the townspeople were booing and hissing at them as they passed. My talkative escort even spat on the ground.

  “Good riddance. The company will handle those curse throwin heathens, so we can rest easier here,” he spat out, using his awkward local slang.

  “Why not just hang em here? Isn’t sending them away more work?” I asked suspiciously.

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  “You really don’t know anything, do yah?” The toothless man laughed. “If we kill ‘em here they’ll curse us with their last breath. The company knows how to deal with them cleanly.”

  “I see,” I muttered. That was the most backwater, batshit insane thing I’d ever heard. Death curses were a thing of the spirits, not practitioners. Someone had to be shoveling some grade A bullshit for the entire town to buy it.

  I watched as the two girls disappeared into the caboose, along with the sheriff. A few seconds later the man exited carrying a large bag. The instant he stepped out his deputies closed in around him like a protective shield.

  “Monthly payroll,” I guessed idly.

  “Got it in one, guess you’re not as stupid as I thought,” my gingivitis ravaged shadow laughed. He rocked back and forth on his heels, chuckling .“That train is one of the most well protected in the west. Can you think of a better way to deliver this month’s cash?”

  I just narrowed my eyes. “If this is the last stop on the line, why were you afraid of someone jumping the train? Wouldn’t most of the cash already be gone? Wouldn’t it be smarter to try and intercept the train further east?”

  The man stopped laughing.

  “That’s a good point,” he muttered, stroking his stubble. “Well, there’s still a lot of good gear on there. You’d never get away with nearly as much, but you could make a pretty penny.”

  “You’d have to be insane to attack that thing though.”

  My escort smiled his horrific smile again. “True.”

  I turned away from the train and crossed the street. I’m pretty sure the only thing I’d get from watching the train further would be more shadows and suspicion. “How long is the train going to be here anyways? The way that everyone swarmed the train makes me think it’s not going to be around for long.”

  “Naw, the train sticks around for about a day. The ranch hands just tend to get a little jumpy after missing their chance once or twice, so they always show up early. It’ll clear up later,” I could feel his eyes on my back, “Why?”

  “Because if I’m going to find a place to stay around here, I’m going to need a horse, some tack, and some camping gear. I’d hate to have to wait another month,” I replied drolly.

  My companion chuckled, “Good! As long as you’re an upstanding citizen, and don’t try anything stupid, we’ll get along just fine.”

  —

  I rode back to the hotel several hours later with a new black horse named Nightmare, and a whole set of new gear. I hadn’t originally planned to buy a horse, but these people were so suspicious of me that there was no way I’d manage to leave town without one. I paid a couple extra cents to keep the horse behind the inn, before I calmly made my way upstairs.

  Well, I looked calm, inside I was anything but.

  As soon as I was inside the room, the door safely closed behind me, I slammed my fist into the side of the chest of drawers. This time I was pretty sure I’d broken my hand.

  “Mow?” came the quiet call from under the bed.

  “No, everything is certainly NOT alright,” I snarled. “That asshole sheriff apparently thinks I’m suspicious, so he’s assigned people to keep track of me. The girls have been loaded onto the train out there, while trussed up in magic dispersing shackles I might add, and we have less than twenty four hours until it leaves. I’d say we’re up shit creek without a paddle.”

  “Muurrrrrr?” My cat stuck her head out from under the bed, eyes narrowed.

  “Do I have a plan? Yes. Is it a good plan? Fuck no, but it’s the best I can come up with on short notice. I’m going to make dinner, then I’m going to need you to take my bag, and sneak out of town,” I said, lighting the stove and fishing a few supplies out of my bag. “I’m sure everyone would find it suspicious if I disappeared, or left town with all my stuff before the train left, so I need them to believe I’ve left my stuff here. That I’m coming back.”

  Kaylee watched me silently for a minute, eyes narrowed, before letting out a low “Hissss...”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t leave you out there for long. We’ll meet just down the railway line, out of sight of the town, first thing in the morning. Plus, I’ll give you extra rations for doing me this favor.”

  My cat pouted, obviously upset, but more than willing to take extra bacon in exchange for carrying the bag. She paused a moment before letting out a, “Meow?”

  I stared at the pan, mindlessly flipping the eggs and bacon while I tried to figure out how to respond. “That train out there is a tank. It has enough warding, disguised as decoration, and armor to shrug off firearms and conventional magic, and it has enough guards to fight off a small army, and that’s not counting the other company men in town, I’d never be able to get the girls out alive… while it’s in town.”

  Kaylee sat up, her eyes going wide. “Mow!”

  “You’re right, it would be crazy to take that thing on alone, but I think it may be possible.” I said, speaking quietly, in case someone was at the door. “As I see it, we have two major advantages. First, they have two men sealed in each car, and I’m betting that it’ll take a while to get out if there’s a fight. If I’m fast enough I can hit the car the girls are in, and evacuate them before most of the men know what’s happening.”

  “Murrr?”

  “The second?” Turning the eggs, a small smile on my face. “Well, they may be warded against conventional magic, but right now my magic is anything but conventional.”

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