Sentinel

Tanner trudged out along the road to Big Cove. Normally, he would have rode Aquila, but Aquila was pregnant, so he was letting her rest. No, it was time to replace Comet, who had fallen somewhere west of Sunshine against the Rios. Not to mention Ghost. So here he was, walking the road to Big Cove and off to see Old Man Tyson about a horse. It was late February and chilly, but Tanner didn’t mind.

Tanner’s mind wasn’t what one could call ‘right’. Since adulthood, most had found him an odd fellow, but the experiences of the last year had changed him. Bexar’s rejection of him had driven him to the breaking point. He’d gone on an ale and East Point Water binge of two weeks. It had threatened to keep going on when Faolan and Annah had interfered, or intervened, depending on your point of view. Tanner had awoken from a drunken stupor to find his booze gone. Faolan had thrown a bucket of cold water on him and told Tanner in no uncertain terms that this binge was at end. Annah and Faolan then rode Tanner into Brown’s Ferry, down to the White Heron Inn. A hot bath was waiting and they told him to clean up. Once done, Annah cured any lingering effects of the booze. A few days later, Faolan and Tanner had transported East Point Water to the south.

Upon their return, Tanner learned the news of Bexar’s relationship with Samson. Faolan wouldn’t have blamed him for going on another binge, and Tanner looked as if he might finally crack, and a few had doubts whether he would make it through this latest incident. But he had pulled through. It probably had more to do with the fact that there was a mission to go on than anything else. If there was work to do, Faolan and Annah had found out, Tanner could be turned away from most of his self-destructive instincts.

And what a mission it had been. Being captured by Rios, tortured for days, and executed. Oh sure, he had been resurrected, if one could call it that, but the torture had left its mark. The journey back through the Half-Light had been an ordeal. Now, Tanner heard voices and sometimes saw things that weren’t there. Miss Macon said it was normal, but it was still disconcerting.

And then the Rios campaign. One could make an argument that Tanner was responsible for more horrible mass destruction than anyone in the known world other than the Rios’ death magick, what with his use of Sunfire. He estimated at least 1000 people had burned alive with fire the victims couldn’t put out, including over 20 mages. Since the victims had been Rios, Tanner didn’t care.

Now it was nearly five months after the campaign. All he could say now was that his soul ached in the middle of the night. He wasn’t over Bexar, but he had accepted the fact that it wasn’t going to be.

There was one positive from this. The amount of work he had gotten done in the winter was amazing. His engineering skills had reached new heights. He had drawn up building designs for many people. A merchant house in Helena, a new building for Lord Wallace, and improvements along the docks at Brown’s Ferry. His understanding of the art of war, or ‘science’ as The Book of Five Swords put it, was deep. The Rios campaign had given him the hand on experience he needed with large numbers of troops. Tanner had thought of going north to Martin’s Ferry to finish his training. He had his reservations about going to see Lord Gahanna. But if he were going to finish his training in the science of war, then there really wasn’t another place to go. Besides, Tanner wanted to see the library again. Then there was distillation. Tanner had advanced East Point Water to the point where it was fairly palatable on its own. Aging it in charred oaken barrels had been the trick. The Water had turned to a light brown color when doing this. Tanner had set aside his first product for aging for at least one year. ‘East Point Reserve’ he called it.

He followed the dirt road by the Brown River past East Point. He saw one of the Checotah and waived to him. A little later, Tanner’s favorite dog, Bones, ran up along side him. Tanner gave him some jerky and sent him back to the ranch. Tanner didn’t want to be near the ranch for long. Too many hurtful memories, as long as Samson and Bexar were there. He didn’t hold things against Bexar and Samson, most of the time, but seeing her, with or without him, was more than he thought he could stand.

By mid-afternoon, he reached the Tyson ranch. Tanner explained his purpose in coming there. He said he’d get a room in town if necessary, but Old Man Tyson wouldn’t hear of it. Tanner was a friend to start with, but having a war hero in his house was an entirely different matter. Tyson’s grand-children couldn’t believe it. ‘You know the Witch Hammer, grandpa? Wow!’ Tanner didn’t mind the nickname, but it made him a little uncomfortable. He didn’t want to antagonize any healers. And he didn’t hate mages, but he was suspicious of them. The more he thought about it, Tanner preferred ‘Books’ or ‘The Clerk’. But ‘The Witch Hammer’ had a ring to it. It was his own fault. The day after the Battle of the Pyramid, he had carved the words ‘Malleus Malificarum’ into the Salamander. When asked what it meant by the Salamander crew, he said it translated to ‘Hammer of the Witches’. Considering what the Salamander had done to the Rios mages, it was fitting. That, along with the tattoo on his right shoulder, had led to his nickname. It had gone from the Salamander crew to various Frontier militia men.

Tyson had big bowls of pork stew brought out and an early dinner was enjoyed by all. When Tanner produced a small jug of East Point Water, a huge smile broke out on everyone’s face.

‘I always knew you could make the stuff. And if this gets any better, you’re gonna be accused of being from the Northwest.’ Tyson slapped Tanner on the back with a grin on his face.

‘Oh, y’all know I’m just the son of a dirt farmer. I grew up 15 miles southwest of Browns Ferry’, Tanner protested.

‘Dirt farmer, engineer, captain, and distiller. You’ve come a long way.’

One of Tyson’s grandsons came up. ‘Tell us one of those stories. How you beat the Rios. Did you really see the King in Anglia? What was Martin’s Ferry like? How big was the Pyramid? Did it look like four triangles stuck together? C’mon tell us!’

Tanner proceeded to give a version of the Rios Campaign that would not upset children and not bore the adults. He gave special emphasis on how Samson and Faolan defeated the evil lord of the Rios. Then he told the story of how the giant pyramid had burned and collapsed. Tanner left out the details how Samson had nearly died and the horrible stench of burning corpses. Eventually the kids went to bed.

‘You’re not much on self glory, are you?’ Tyson asked.

‘Nope.’

‘I talked with some militia men a month ago. They served with you on the crossing of the Long Bridge.’

‘Really? What did they say?’

‘That you got them across safely and that your artillery probably resulted in 20 mages being killed. Not to mention you personally saw to it that the pyramid was burned.’

‘I did what I was supposed to do.’

‘Killing 20 mages goes beyond normal duty.’

Tanner scratched his head and thought for a moment. ‘I guess you’re right.’

‘The Frontier finally has a general again that could be mentioned in the same breath as …..’

‘Don’t you say Tobin Thalion! I’m not fit to carry his sword. He was much more accomplished than I!’

‘Okay, okay. I’m not saying you’re Thalion. That was too much. But damn boy, you are the only one I could see matching his generalship.’

‘That’s a long, long way off. Besides, I’m not the swordsman he was.’

‘Yeah but your friend Faolan is.’

‘Very true.’

‘I sometimes wonder what happened to Thalion. I heard he is still alive. Don’t know if he’d want to comeback with the relatively good relations we have with the Kingdom going on.’

‘That makes a lot of sense. I’d like to meet him. I heard he hid in the swamps to the south.’

‘I heard the same. Maybe you ought to take a trip that way and look him up.’

‘Hmm, I could do that. I’ll have a load of Water to take to Cobb’s End in a month or so. This could be done.’

The two men talked into the night, discussing the latest war and Tanner’s travels. Tyson was sad to hear about what had happened to Ghost and Comet in the Rios scouting expedition. ‘But you did get your revenge for them.’

‘True, but that was a big loss of money.’ In the morning, Tanner would take a look at the horses.

Breakfast came early. Biscuits, eggs, and bacon. Tea to wash it down with. Tanner and Tyson went out. A colt was galloping around the paddock. Its mother was chewing some oats. About 30 yards away stood a massive dark bay stallion, intently looking over the ranch.

‘What’s his deal?’ asked Tanner.

‘Sentinel? Interesting story. That colt is three months old now. When it was about one month old, it slipped out of the paddock. We went to look for it. Me and my son Jak went looking for it. He had a bow and quiver. We didn’t notice it was gone until a few hours after the fact. We were looking for about an hour and had not found the colt. Then we heard it scream. It was surrounded by a pack of wolves. Jak out an arrow through one, but didn’t put it down. I had my walking staff ready. The wolves moved toward us. Jak fired again but missed. I prepared my walking stick, but it didn’t look good. All of a sudden, there was Sentinel. Apparently he had gotten out from the ranch and followed us. Two wolves moved in on Sentinel. Quickly he kicked the skull in on one. The other one backed off. Jak put an arrow through another wolf. So the pack was down to two healthy ones. Sentinel and the other wolf that attacked him squared off. The wolf lunged and met a huge hoof to the head. It collapsed. The fifth wolf started to run. Jak nailed it with another arrow. So two were dead, and three were moving slow. Jak ran them threw with arrows, and we slit their throats. But if it hadn’t been for Sentinel, we might not have lived, and that colt would have been dinner for wolves.’

‘That’s impressive.’

‘And the more I think about it, it makes sense. Sentinel always seems to be watching over the ranch. It’s like he feels a responsibility for it. He’s watching over his home.’

‘Mind if I take a look at him?’

‘Go right ahead. He’s a good one’.

Tanner walked over to Sentinel. Sentinel regarded him with an air of curiosity. Tanner fed him an apple and a sugar cube. Tanner proceeded to inspect Sentinel. He then combed Sentinel’s coat, doing a careful job. Sentinel seemed to appreciate it.

‘Mind if I take him for a ride?’

‘You can try. Sentinel has only let Jak ride him.’

Tanner rubbed Sentinel’s ears, and the stallion relaxed. Tanner swung onto Sentinel’s back and they proceeded to ride. First a gentle canter, then a trot. Sentinel responded well to Tanner’s commands. Tanner took him to a full gallop, and the ride was good.

This went on for an hour. When done, Tanner dismounted Sentinel. He got another apple and fed it to Sentinel. He then stroked Sentinel’s ears, which the big stallion appreciated.

‘He is a good one. How much will you take for him?’

’Normally I’d ask 95 gold. You can have him for 85.’

‘Done. I’ll stay for lunch, and then head back.

‘Sounds good. Do you think you can get me some East Point Water in the next few months?’

‘Normally I’d ask 95 gold, but I can let it go for 85.’ Tanner started to laugh, and Tyson joined in.