Chapter 1 The Certainty of Time

“Tobias Martin Cain, in accordance with this court and the verdict of the jury of guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, I hereby sentence you to hang by the neck until dead.” The rough, grey-haired judge slammed down a gavel to seal his sentencing. “Do you have any final words for the court?”

Tobias cleared his throat and smoothed back his perpetually greasy hair. He cast his steely blue eyes downward. “Just this.” He raised his head and looked directly at the judge. “Sacrificium maleformium distancium.”

The judge blinked and his eyes appeared to glaze over, then his face contorted into a snarl. “I give you the change to save your condemned soul and you choose to spout gibberish at this court. The hanging is to be carried out two days hence at the completion of the town gallows. Perhaps you can think of something more appropriate to say before the executioner consigns you to oblivion!” The judge slammed down the gavel again. “Court dismissed. Deputies, take this idiot away!” Two deputies moved to shackle Tobias. The condemned man repeated the words with a slight variation on the last. The first deputy clamped the irons tighter. The judge paused for a moment as he left the bench to shake his head at Tobias before he disappeared into his chambers.

“Damn it, I used to know that spell pretty well.” Tobias muttered.

“Shut up, you fool.” The second deputy said. “Spells and nonsense, I can’t wait to see your stupid ass hang.”

“Me neither,” The other deputy said, “It will be pleasant to hear your neck snap from the hangman’s rope.” He leaned in closer to emphasize the final two words.

The two deputies sequentially pulled and pushed him out of the front courtroom door and down a flight of stone stairs. Tobias almost lost his footing more than once.

The jail was merely across the dirt laden street from the newly built court house. The deputies threw Tobias Cain into one of the empty cells and made sure it was secure. The second deputy lingered. “Use your spells to get you out of here, dumbass.” He jeered, followed by a long stream of brown spit, which connected with Tobias’ chest.

“You’ll see, you poke fun of me, but I have seen things…there are vampires and all sorts of other frightening creatures out there. As soon as I get out of here I am going to make sure they find you.”

He deputy laughed. “You hang in two days? Good luck with that.”

“Leave him alone Rusty. Can’t you see he’s simple minded.” The first deputy said as he removed his hat and tossed it to the hat rack to the left of the front door. The one called Rusty also took his hat off revealing a severely receding red hair with tinges of grey at the temples. Cain never quite understood why red-haired people were called Rusty or Red. No one called a brown-headed man Brown, or Poopy. He chuckled at his last thought and Rusty threw something at his cell.

“Don’t start your chuckling and laughing tonight or I’ll make sure to give you something to shut you up.”

“What is all that about?” The first deputy asked.

Rusty spit in the brass spittoon beside the sheriff’s desk, “You haven’t had to sit with him the past two nights. He chuckles and laughs to himself and makes stupid noises to annoy you. I ignored him the first night, but by the second night it just gets to be too much and you want to stab him in the throat!”

Cain sat down on the narrow bed at the rear of his cell. He chuckled to himself, this time silently. He enjoyed making the deputies as uncomfortable as he was and he liked being called simple minded, it meant he was convincing. Sure, he had a unique way of thinking, but he knew, and his friend knew, he was anything but simple. Maybe he had not been alive long enough to accumulate the knowledge of his friend, but he had been around longer than most of his kind, dwindling in numbers as they were. He eyed the two deputies with an almost sorry feeling in his heart. It was they who were simple minded, especially if they were comfortable with him being behind bars and them being out in the exposed open. It was just the opposite.

Something hit the bars again, “Stop starting at us that way, you freak.” Rusty said. “I don’t think anyone would care if we took you out back and beat you to a pulp as long as we left enough of you to hang.”

“That’s right.” The other deputy said.

Rusty looked out the barred window before he sat down, “Lucky Cain was the last sentencing of the day, looks like an evening storm is coming.”

“A storm is coming all right.” Cain said. His eyes sparkled and his voice was light.

Rusty sprang up from his chair again and made it to the cell in two strides, his badge clanking against the bars as he lurched forward to point a finger at Cain. “Boy, I told you I didn’t want to hear you tonight. You speak another word and I swear I will drag you out of this cell.”

Cain made locking gesture over his mouth and pretended to throw away the imaginary key.

“That’s better. Not a peep out of you. Do you understand me?”

Cain nodded.

Rusty turned back to the first deputy. “Get the cards. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long night.”

When the skies began to darken and the time of evening began to pass, Cain thought of a verse he had read once while exploring an ancient tome… nothing is certain but the certainty of time.

A knock rang out against the thick of the wooden front door, a forceful knock. Rusty, clearly irritated at the interruption, threw down his cards to answer it. When he opened the door, a big man dressed in a long black duster and a functional brimmed hat stood in the doorway, lightning from the approaching storm flashed ominously behind him, outlining him in a black silhouette. Rusty put his right hand on his firearm.

“State your business, stranger?” Rusty said. “We don’t allow visitors this time of evening.”

“Tobias Cain.” The man spoke clearly with a deep but not unpleasant voice, “He’s my business.”

“Excuse me?” Rusty followed. “Are you deaf?” He placed his hand on the firearm at his side. “We don’t allow visitors at this hour.”

The stranger was undaunted, “I have come for Tobias Cain. I know he is here.” Another streak of lightning flashed behind the stranger and this time Rusty took an involuntary step back.

“He’s a condemned man.” The first deputy said. “Sentenced to hang just a few hours hence, stranger. He’s not going anywhere but hell. You best turn around.”

“I see.” The man said. “I heard tell it was two days not mere hours. Care to amend your timeframe?”

The first deputy swallowed hard, “I think it’s time you turned around and left, stranger. We don’t want the paperwork that comes with us having to shoot you dead where you stand.”

The stranger took a step inside the sheriff’s office, “Sacrificium maleformium disanctium.”

“Disanctium! That’s the word I couldn’t get right.” Cain said.

The man’s eyes darted in the direction of Cain’s voice. He returned to Rusty and the two locked eyes for a long moment. Rusty moved first and the stranger ducked out of the way as he drew his pistol and started shooting blindly into the doorway. Cain clasped his hand over his mouth. “Sorry, I forgot.” He shouted.

Rusty rounded his pistol stumbling through the door to the jail cells where he shot wildly toward Cain’s cell. The first deputy began unlocking the rifles as the stranger seemingly ignored him to follow Rusty. Cain sat back down on the bed ogling the sight of the smoking bullet hole in the wall not far from his head.

One shot rang out from the doorway and Rusty spun on his heels, grasping on to the bars of Cain’s cell. Cain watched him slide down the bars to the floor, a single bullet hole right between the eyes. The door between the jail cells and the sheriff’s office creaked open enough for Cain to see the first deputy’s head was slumped back and the rifle he was preparing to shoot lay across his lap.

The stranger clenched his teeth when he looked Cain in the eyes.

“Sorry, Knox, I forgot to keep quiet.”

Knox huffed at the remark and stomped back into the office, his face reddening. “What have you made me do now, Cain? No one here needed to die tonight.”

“I tried to use that spell earlier.” Cain said.

“Your outburst killed my spell. You know how precious spells are.” He looked back at his handiwork. “Now, more of them will come after us.”

“Well, that’s a given. They would come after us anyway after you rescued me from the noose.”

Knox gave him an icy stare. “Where do they keep the cell keys?”

“In the drawer of the desk over there.” He pointed to the first deputy’s desk.

Knox stopped cold. “Maybe it isn’t too late. I can take it all back.”

“What are you going on about? Get me out of here, Knox.”

“No, I don’t believe I will. You’re right about your rescue. The last thing I need is the law chasing after me trying to get to your sorry ass. Did you get the information on the girl?”

“Well, she’s more a woman than a girl, but yes, I did. If you get me out of here, we can be after her within the half hour.” Cain said.

Knox headed for the door, “You sit tight. This spell takes a lot of power. I will be out of it for a day or so, long enough for you to hang.”

Cain looked worried now. “What did you say?”

“Stop fretting, I won’t let you die, if that’s what you’re worried about, but if you hang, I can pay off the caretaker and we can be on our way without a hitch. No law, no posse, no muss, and no fuss. I know the caretaker here. I’ve paid him off before.”

“Knox, you can’t be serious.”

“Quiet, don’t speak until I’m done. I only have a few more minutes before these men are gone too long to do anything.” He pointed at Cain. “Don’t go messing me up on purpose to get out of there or I really will let you hang.”

Cain held up his hands in front of him in reassurance. “I guess you know what you’re doing.”

Knox put his hands on Rusty’s face and began chanting. The bullet backed its way out of his forehead and into Knox’s hand. The man took a deep breath and Knox let him slump unconscious. He did the same spell for the first deputy.

Knox turned to Cain when he was done. “The caretaker is also the executioner. I will rig the gallows so you don’t really hang. When he pronounces you dead and puts you in your pine box, I will be waiting to let you out when they move you to his shop. He’ll bury a couple of sandbags in your place.” He moved the men back to their game of cards, propping Rusty up in his wooden chair. “I hope the information you gathered was worth the man you killed to get you in this mess!”

Cain smiled. “Oh, it is. I think you‘ll like it when you hear it.”

“I’d better or the next time I may just hang you myself.” He tightened the hat on his head and prepared to leave the room. He paused. “These two will be awake within the hour. They will think they dosed off. Don’t go antagonizing them, you hear me?”

Cain nodded.

Knox paused at the door, “You have wasted three valuable spells and I expect you to pay for them in full.” He closed the door behind his exit.

Cain slumped down in his cell. “Great! paying for those spells will be worse than hanging.” He lamented.