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Eczar
THE REVELATION
NPCS |SAMUEL AND THERESA JAMES
Strange, what the mind concocted in a state of panic.
There was a flash of silver in Jorge and Mr. James' peripheral vision. Samuel, for the moment, imagined the claws of a wild beast baring before him in the sunlight, and he grew very still in Jorge's furious hands, an unnatural calm settling over him. But a second more, and the delusion was destroyed by a blink. He stared at the bandit grasping him.
"This is Highland. We've been cursed ever since we got here. The only reason I've got a fighting chance to save you folks is, ironically, Mr. Wick's attempt to kill you. So you'd best hear me out, the lot of you."
He paused.
"Theresa. Put that knife down."
Theresa was at Jorge's side, her blade high. "Let go my husband."
"They'll shoot you, damn it. Put that knife down. They're scared enough as it is."
The Native woman frowned deeply; nevertheless, her blade lowered, and she stepped back into her corner, her eyes going to Na as Mr. James' gently yet firmly removed Jorge's hands from around his lapels. He stepped back, eyeing Henrietta's raised gun.
"We came to this place looking for fortune," He went on, "Me and my wife. Highland was just a small mining operation then, but the general goods store made it an official town. Folks started piling in then. More miners, more shopkeeps, more of…everything. The mayor came along and named the place Highland. We finally found gold a short spell after."
There was the crack of gunfire outside, and a yell. Samuel licked his lips, eyes flickering from the door to the gun pointed on him.
They were running out of time.
"We didn't know it until later but the gold – it belonged to the first settlers here, a tribe of people, my wife's people, after they had been forcibly resettled. When the miners came and drove them out, they…cursed the gold. Anyone who would touch it would be consumed by their greed for it. And when you're consumed with greed, you become…one of those monstrous devils. Wendigoes, I've heard them called. And I don't rightly know, but the damn mayor's worked out a way to take control of them and get them working the mines. So the bloody bastard's still aiming to make a profit at the expense of these hellhounds. The madman–"
A hellish shriek sounded outside, and every hair raised on the back of Mr. James' neck. A shadow passed over the storefront; through the glass, a tall, gaunt figure on bowed legs stepped past slowly, its long canine snout sniffing at the air. Its long arms hung loosely at its side, and it turned about on the store porch, searching for something. Mr. James stayed silent until it left their view. Then he looked at Jorge again, his eyes hollow.
"Wicks is trying to stop them before their numbers grow while there's still time. But it's too late for the rest of us; once you've taken the gold, you'll answer the call to the mines. My wife was only able to get a ward of protection to Miss Na, but even then, it can only stave off the call, not prevent it indefinitely. There's only one way out of it, fellows."
This time it was the shopkeep who grabbed Jorge, the fierceness in his gaze threatening to set him alight.
"I don't know how, but you kill that bloody mayor."