Читать книгу The Last Tariff - Alistair Nunamaker - Страница 7

That night Alaric and his employees sat up waiting, the darkness of the store settling in around them. It was relatively quiet, except for the occasional creak of the building or Alex moving his legs to get more comfortable. Alaric sat behind the main counter, his revolver in his lap. Alex was behind an upturned table facing the door. Ned was in the stable area, watching the door that led inside from within a stall. Several hours went by and nothing had happened. Alaric was beginning to doze, though Alex and Ned seemed used to this sort of thing and didn't show any signs of exhaustion. Another hour passed and Alaric finally fell asleep, unable to continue sitting in the silent dark. A dream came into focus. He was in the family store. His mother was behind the counter helping a customer. Alaric was playing with Charlie in a corner across the room. A group of men came into the building, one of them walking up to the counter. The man shoved the customer out of the way and pointed a revolver at Alaric's mother.

“Give me the money.”

“Take your gun away from my face, and I'll get it. No need to get hasty.”

She reached into the drawer and pulled out the money that was there.

“That's it?! There has to be more. You people do business all the time.”

“There isn't. Times have been hard on us all.”

“Bullshit! If you won't give us everything back there, we'll just have to take what we want.”

The man slapped her. The other men began taking things off shelves and throwing other things. The man that had slapped Alaric's mother got a huge smile on his face and grabbed her. He threw her to the ground tearing at her clothes. She screamed. Alaric got up and charged the man. The man grabbed Alaric by the shirt collar and tossed him, one of the other men grabbing him before he could go back to his mother's aid. Alaric's mother kicked and fought, both for herself and for her boys. The man on top of her slapped her repeatedly. When she would not be quiet, he began choking her. Suddenly, there was a bang as the door of the shop flew open. It was Alaric's father and a few other men, and they rushed inside. Alaric's father grabbed the man off his wife and punched him. The room became a brawl. Alaric ran between the fighting men's legs to reach his mother. She laid there barely moving, the bruises on her neck already showing. Her lips were moving but no sound came out. Her lips moved again, her voice coming forth in a whisper. “Get up. Keep getting up.” Alaric yelled, “I will! Please be all right Ma! Please get up!” She smiled at him and whispered again, “Get up Alaric.” Then suddenly louder, “Get up Alaric! Get up!” A tug at his shoulder shattered the dream.

Alaric was suddenly woken by Alex, his hand on Alaric's shoulder shaking him. “They're here boy. Warehouse is on fire. We need to stop the fire before it reaches the stable.” Alaric jumped to his feet, gun in hand. He ran into the stable where Ned was already trying to move the horses out quietly. Alaric holstered his revolver and began scooping water out of the troughs into buckets. He set them aside as he filled them, to have a supply ready to go once they were sure putting the fire out wouldn't bring a rain of bullets down on them. Alex went up into the loft and peered out of the loft door. He slowly put his rifle through and took aim. His finger pulled slowly, until the hammer was released. The bang startled the horses outside causing a racket of neighing and stamping. Alaric heard a man yell in pain, and other men began shouting. Several more shots rang out. Wood splintered near Alex's face, while the other bullets hit the wood of the stable with cracking sounds and thumps. Alex opened the breach of his rifle, slid a cartridge in and closed it in a smooth motion. He brought it to his shoulder and pulled the trigger again; another loud boom echoing into the night.

Alex shouted for Alaric to get the fire put out, then pulled the trigger again. Alaric grabbed the first bucket and ran towards the fire. He splashed the water on the nearest part of the fire that he saw and then ran back for the next bucket. More shots rang out, as Alaric returned with another bucket of water for the fire, the sounds of horses, the fire, and battle ringing in his ears. He kept his mind on what he had to do, trying to shut out the fact that guns were being fired in his direction. Back and forth he went. About his fifth trip for a bucket, he saw Todd standing there with one in his hands. He handed it to Alaric and picked up another bucket, filling it immediately. Relieved to have help, Alaric ran back to the fire, pouring the water on the flames. Bucket after bucket went onto the flames. Alaric could feel his legs starting to wear out.

Alaric could hear shouts outside. People from several blocks had all come to see what was happening. Alex was still shooting and getting shot at. The people outside stayed clear, seeming like they wanted to help but not wanting to get shot. There were guards out there, just standing around. The fear of that group must run deep in the hearts of the city dwellers. Suddenly several shots rang out in succession from a different area outside. Ned had managed to slip through the smoke and flank the attackers. A few more shots rang out and then silence, except for the chatter of people outside and the fire crackling in the warehouse. Alaric realized that the horses must have run off since he couldn't hear them anymore. Ned came running back in. Throwing his gun to the ground, he grabbed a bucket to help with the fire. Alex came out of the loft to do the same.

At this point the citizens of Ravenburg began streaming into the stable, forming a line and passing buckets in. The line ran all the way to a well, two blocks away. Alaric, no longer having to run back and forth, stood the closest to the flames, tossing the water as soon as it reached him. After a good thirty minutes or so, the fire was out. The walls and shelves still hissing from the heat and smoke plumes rose from them. If they had not gotten to the flames when they did, the damage could have been much worse. As it was, it seemed that at least half of the goods that had been stored in the warehouse were burnt. One man walked up to Alaric as he sat panting. “I hear you're the new owner of this place.” Alaric nodded, “I also hear that you made a certain group of men angry.” Alaric looked at the ground, nodding again. “I'm glad. Those men needed stood up to. It looks like you gents took a few down too.” Another man walked up to them, “My name's Harris. I'm in charge of civilian law enforcement. We got two of the men in custody. Seems you killed three others. You can be sure they'll come back. They're not used to losing. I'd like you to come by tomorrow and tell me exactly what happened.”

Alaric sat there, listening to the men but not saying anything. He was tired, and he had just lost half his stock in the city. Alaric had to figure out where his horses ran off to and now he was being told the men would be back. Of course normally, Alaric would have expected as much, but he was a bit too exhausted to think clearly. Harris tipped his hat after saying something that Alaric hadn't really heard, before leaving the stable. Some other people came into the stable and patted Alaric on the back, before returning to their beds. Alex walked to him and helped him up, guiding him inside to a bed. Alaric laid there the rest of the night, in and out of sleep, adrenaline not letting him get the rest he so desperately needed. Alex and Ned stayed up awhile longer before falling asleep themselves. They were certain that it was over for the night, and no longer needed to stay on guard.

The little that Alaric slept, it was amazing that he even had a dream worth remembering. He was sitting in his family's home back in Estad. Charles was very little, crying after he had fallen down several stairs. Their mother was trying very hard to comfort Charles, while Nathaniel stood there, laughing. “Nathaniel, your brother just got hurt. It is not funny. He's little enough it could have been serious.” Nathaniel stopped laughing and glared at his mother. “I thought the way he rolled over and over again was very funny.”

“Why are you so cruel to your brother?”

“Because you never are! He always gets treated better than us! It's not fair!”

“He does not get treated all that different. He's just much younger and needs a little extra care for the time being.”

Nathaniel stalked off, stomping as he went, going outside, and slamming the door. “There, there Charles. We all fall sometimes, but it does get better. We just have to pick ourselves back up.”

The dream faded and Alaric woke up. It was still dark, and he could hear Alex snoring in the other room. He sighed and rolled over on the bed, knowing he would be very sluggish in the morning if he didn't get more sleep. Alaric closed his eyes again, trying to fall back asleep and whispering to himself, “I'll get up, Mother. I won't let this stop me from moving forward. I still have plenty I can do.” Feeling somewhat more content, it didn't take very long for Alaric to fall back asleep, an unbroken, dreamless sleep.