Elise shivered a bit, taking in the Resolve of the man in front of her. He had stifled most of it, but she could see in his eyes the jubilance within. She could see a fraction of the horror, fear, and hatred in the depths of his soul. She could also see the curiosity and wonder, the genuine appreciation for human life. The lows and highs were intense. He was not a great deal unlike Calvin. The power in this man, even stifled, was beyond belief. He made even the old sage Crickett look like a novice by comparison. She couldn’t believe the Guns could reach these levels.

  She was also struck by the lack of any trace of purple Coven magic on him. Even the Bootknife, who had long cleared himself of his pact, had traces of it from interacting with the Ladies of the coven as he worked for the Posse. The lingering flickers of his previous partner witch were still there as well. Witches were like that, they tended to leave lasting markers of their presence on the Guns they worked with, especially if they loved them. However, this man was completely clear. No witch would so much as touch him, let alone love him, and she could see why. Here was no normal man of the Posse. This was a man who was free, a man who walked where he pleased, leaving behind all the restrictions the world imposed. Such a man who had thrown off his shackles could never be made to cooperate properly, and so he was an anathema to the Covens. Elise wondered how the universe with all its higher powers could allow a human like this to exist. She had to let go of his poncho.

  Billy Baird put on a smile, his subtle look of content returning. He knew that his Resolve was challenging for the younger witches. He stifled it further, letting her step back.

  “I got something on my face?” he chuckled. His voice was deep, smooth along the edges.

  “N-no, sir… I…” Elise struggled with her words.

  John pulled her to him, “Sorry, she thought you were somebody else.”

  “No big deal.” Baird gave them a sunny look. “You two excited for the Barn Fire tonight? Everybody’s going.”

  “We’re getting ready for it.” Elise finally found herself. “Going to the tailor.”

  “Oh, me too!” the older gun nodded, “I have to find an apprentice of mine. Let’s go together.”

  He extended a hand in a black gunfighting glove. “I’m Billy Baird, nice to meet you.”

  John took it. “Uh, yes sir.” He was too shaken to introduce himself. Elise wouldn’t touch his hand.

  The three of them walked along the street toward the South end of the Sanctuary. The Guns who passed tipped their hats to a venerable Spade. It wasn’t hard to recognize the legendary Billy Baird. Of course this fed his ego, something Billy himself was aware of. He often laughed to himself when he thought of the pomp and circumstance around his name. Such things meant absolutely nothing in combat. Facing down a supernatural threat, his reputation had no tactical benefit. If anything, his name brought more trouble than benefit. Traitor gunslinger-sorcerers with any power at all wanted to challenge the Southpaw to prove themselves. For anybody else, this might have been enough to hide their identity. For Baird, he enjoyed the challenge. Life would be so much more boring if it weren’t for all the people trying to kill him. For this reason Billy Baird never hid from anybody. He walked with his deltas draped around his shoulders, ready and waiting for anybody who wanted to throw down.

  Billy peered over to the young Six-Gun walking next to him, trying not to make it obvious he was looking. His expressions were often playful and animated, unnecessarily so. He found what he was looking for, a pin depicting a rose on his collar. The Calhoun Rose.

  “I heard that the youngest of the Calhoun boys had come to the Smokies.” Billy smirked, “That’s gotta be you, John.”

  “You know us, huh?” John had calmed down.

  “Yeah, I know your father Roger. Known him a while, but I caught up with him at Yellowstone a while ago. He told me about you and your studies here. Don’t imagine you’re having a great time with the Willerbees around.”

  John looked up at Billy, who returned a catlike, knowing look.

  Billy continued, “Yeah those Willerbees are real big for their britches, if you ask me. All of them. They act much tougher than they really are cause they’re an old family. You Calhouns don’t act that way. I actually like Roger. But Franklin Willerbee, man.” He shook his head.

  His grin grew for a moment, coloring his face with unsettling excitement, “I wish those uppity hick fucks would try me like they try everyone else around here. I’d show them their place REAL quick. But oh well…” He sighed. “Looks like you’ll have to do it for me on Hallows Eve, Mr. Calhoun.”

  Billy looked genuinely disappointed that he wouldn’t get the chance to square off with the Willerbees himself. John felt that he looked like a child who wouldn’t get to eat cake for dinner, and had to settle for vegetables.

  The young Calhoun found himself surprised at how youthful Calvin’s dad seemed to be. He had the energy of a young man, and he seemed to talk a lot. He never got this impression of Billy Baird from anybody who talked about him. It reminded him of Crickett, who’s childlike demeanor didn’t fit his advanced age. John wondered if this was the natural course for those with immense Resolve.

  After a moment John mustered up the courage to ask the question which had bothered him for months.

  “Mr. Baird…”

  “It’s just Billy.”

  Right, Billy.” Calhoun looked up to him, “You came from the Plaidshirts. How’d you get so strong, so fast?”

  Billy had expected a different question. He chuckled in amusement.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Well, I think a lot.” He rubbed his chin, “I just think about things, I can’t help it. I see a thing, wonder how it works. I wonder about if X can equal Y, and all that. Resolve is about using your noggin, John Calhoun.” He poked at John’s hat.

  John found that answer baffling. Billy could tell he was having a hard time with it, so he continued.

  “Let me give you the Clubs mindset.” He gestured with a hand to the buildings around, and the sky above, “The world is full of power, young man. You don’t even need Resolve to see it. Real sorcery is learning to take hold of that power, dissect it, analyze it, and apply it. The greatest and most terrible thing that Humankind evolved is the brain. Everything in this world can be taken apart and studied. It’s all math at the end of the day, the logic of things. If you learn that math, you’ll be able to use any power you can understand. Everything you see will be yours. You don’t always need to cultivate Resolve through meditation, though it definitely makes a difference. You can also build it through learning, but you have to seek it out. It will never come to you. The world is wonderful anyway, why not go out and see?”

  “Is that why you left your son?” Elise stood firm. She was getting sick of listening to this man who had abandoned her friend.

  “My son?” Baird turned to her, curiosity painted on his eyes, “Just what do you know about him?”

  “I definitely know a lot about him.” Elise glared, unafraid of the consequences of her outburst. “I know that you left him alone in Florida, and the Yellow Cult got him. They killed his mother. You never even wrote him!”

  Her voice began to quiver as she thought about how it must feel for Calvin. “Can you even imagine what he’s been going through? Do you even know that he’s a Six-Gun like you?”

  They were in front of the tailor’s shop now. Billy Baird stood there, looking back at her. Tornado Joe had come out of the store holding a bag. He looked at them, wondering what was going on. It had been a while since he saw his mentor, so he was happy to see another delta-patterned poncho in the Sanctuary. A crow had landed on the corner of the tailor’s shop, observing the exchange with its head cocked. Joe wasn’t anxious, as John was. Billy never lashed out at people, never lifted a finger outside of a fight. This was his way. Joe had no fear that Billy would react negatively to Elise’s tone.

  Tornado Joe had caught the tail end of Elise’s question. He had to admit, Calvin was a big question for him too. Billy never told him he had a son, so when Lou Cobb approached him that November night in Richmond years ago it was news to him. He wanted to see what Billy would say.

  John took ahold of Elise’s hand and tried to pull her away. “I’m so sorry Billy, sir. That was unnecessary.”

  What started as a slight chuckle, characteristic of the elder Baird, grew slowly into a deep, lazy laugh. John didn’t know what was so amusing about the question, but Billy Baird appeared to crack up uncontrollably.

  “Now that was the question I was actually expecting from the boy’s teammates. I just didn’t expect it from such a fiery young lady!” Billy snickered, “And what a delivery! Get a load of this one, Joe.”

  Tornado Joe stepped out into the street next to him. “That’s Winny’s sister. This is normal for their family.”

  “Oh yeah, just like Winona. I love it!” Billy smiled again, that dreadful contented look, “But let me counter with a question. How do you expect me to answer that?”

  Elise looked between him and Joe, searching for an answer of her own. Billy didn’t give her enough time to reply.

  Billy smirked, his tone still playful, “I’ll tell you something. The answer to that question doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to Calvin. It wouldn’t be right for me to give you something that’s just between a father and his son. Wouldn’t be fair to him.”

  The color in his eye subtly changed, darkening a bit. “One day he’s going to come and ask me himself. We’ll sit down; somewhere up high I think, him and me, and talk. I hope by that day Calvin will have already found peace with himself and anything I have to say will just be an afterthought. Who knows? Regardless, today is not that day.”

  “So you know about him?” John asked, “You know what we’ve been doing?”

  “Oh I know, yeah. That headtaker Denton and the old codger on the mountain have him covered. As well as you, Mister Calhoun.”

  “And you’re still leaving him hanging?”

  “If he wants to find me, he will have to try. That’s on him. I have too much work to go chasing around a lost kid.” Billy Baird lied.

  “Ok, but what about his mother?” Elise butt in again, tears in her eyes, “What about her? She died, and you don’t even care! That’s the mother of your child!”

  “Who, Lori?” Billy chuckled, “Down in the Econ?”

  “She died, it hurts Calvin every day! He has no mom or dad, because of you!” Elise’s hair shimmered and floated freely with her swelling emotional disquiet.

  “That woman was not Calvin’s mother.”

  The words came heavily, hitting Elise like a bag of bricks. She was stopped in her tracks. The conversation had left her with more questions than answers.

  “And trust me, sometimes having no dad is better.” He snickered as he turned to Joe, “I came to give you this. I think this may get you where you need to go.”

  He withdrew a large coin, bigger than a silver dollar. It was black, made from ebony. Inlaid in it was a golden V. Joe blinked a few times, processing what he was seeing. He didn’t think he would ever see one of those coins in person. It was the item he had been looking for the past month. Now here it was in front of his face. He hesitantly took it from his mentor’s hand.

  “Not many of those around, Joe.” Billy smiled, “But I had one after all. Figured I’d come by and drop it off. When you wrote to me about getting into Sundance, I forgot I had one. Thought I’d look anyway, on account of it I got a bunch of weird coins in a drawer. You should’ve seen me rummaging around!” He laughed and smacked Joe on the shoulder.

  Joe smiled and shook his head. He often found his mentor’s irreverent attitude infectious. “I can picture all the bullshit you keep strewn out on the floor.”

  “Oh yeah, you have it dead on. Alright well I gotta go see Rand.” He turned to John and Elise. “Enjoy the dance, you two!” He gave them yet another bright smile and turned away.

  “Wait!” Elise was still reeling from the revelation about Calvin’s mother. “Don’t you have anything to say to Cal? Any message you want us to give him?”

  “A message?” He turned back, rubbing his chin, “For Calvin.”

  After a moment of feigned contemplation, he simply shrugged and turned away, “Nope. Nothing comes to mind.”

  Elise found this both perplexing and aggravating.

  “Do you love him?” She shouted back as he walked along the road to the Foreman’s office. She was loud enough to draw the attention the people in the street. For a moment, they had turned to face them. The crow cawed a bit.

  Billy Baird continued onward, hands in his pockets. His boots clapped the cobbled stone. He did not offer a word in response.

  Elise watched the man who looked just like Calvin walk away, a sinking feeling in her gut. She wondered how many people had had the same experience with him. It was frustrating and confusing. He seemed genuine about things, but also uncaring and uninterested. She now believed that both Logan and Louey had accurately depicted him. Each had built up the picture of a different Gun, but he was both of them at the same time. She understood why the Covens didn’t care for him.

  She then turned to Joe, frustration returning. “And you! My sister is stressed out waiting for you.”

  Tornado Joe had been studying the coin. He jumped as she barked at him. “Whoa now, wait! I got her a gift!” He held up the bag, “It’s a new dress, I wanted to surprise her with it.”

  Elise blinked, calming again. That did sound like a nice gesture. She nodded, “Ok, let’s go back and see Winona.”

  John and Joe shared a look of commiseration as they started back; both Guns partnered with the wrathful, argumentative daughters of Shaina Grey.