Mid-Arc
Mid-Arc
The first five books of the Wielder Series©
David Gosnell
First Edition
ISBN-13: 978-0-9976367-8-9
Copyright March 2012-2019, David Gosnell- All rights reserved.
⁂
License Notes, Ebook Edition
Thank you for downloading this eBook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy.
Thank you for your support.
⁂
These books are works of fiction. All characters are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
FOREWARD
Hump-day. Midway. Almost there! Light at the end of the tunnel. Yes, the series is at the halfway point. Way back in 2012, when I started Arthur’s trek, the entire story arc was laid out. So yeah, all of this madness was planned. As is the madness to come ending in …
Nopes. No spoilers today.
It’s been a crazy, educational ride for me. I’ve learned a bit (understatement) about the craft and the business. Heck, I’m still learning and hope to keep doing so for a while. The most important lesson I learned was, “get an editor.” Betrayal still carries the scars of well-deserved one-star reviews because of the lack of professional outside editing/proofing. Now, two editors, a proofreader, and a re-write later, Betrayal is in the shape it should have been before going out.
I hope you enjoy the tale. Yeah, it’s five books, but really it is one tale and a rather long one at that.
One that’s only halfway told.
Thanks for taking time with Arthur and his “Wielderverse.”
Betrayal
Book One of the Wielder Series©
David Gosnell
Fourth Edition
Copyright March 2012, David Gosnell- All rights reserved.
⁂
License Notes, Ebook Edition
Thank you for downloading this eBook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy.
Thank you for your support.
⁂
This book is a work of fiction. All characters in this novel are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Find out more at:
thewielder.com or on Facebook at The Wielders Place
Special thanks to my wife Beverly - my life, my love.
Table of Contents
Beginning
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Epilogue
Beginning
North Carolina, 1934
“Kid! He done it again,” Bigs says, breaking into the room.
Durned fool. At least I already put my dick away. The girls are still on their knees, their smiles wiped away by the large man’s news. But the evidence of my earlier pleasure hasn’t exactly been yet.
“Damn, Bigs, can’t you see we’re having a moment here? Couldn’t you tell Uncle Ardan about this? We’re celebrating my marriage, you know.”
“You’re so bad, Kid,” Lucy says, running her hand up my thigh.
“Kid. You know the old man’d kill the fool,” Bigs says.
“Damn,” I say, knowing he’s telling the truth. Uncle Ardan warned him once. That’s all the warning you get with him. “Bigs, give me a moment to finish up with these fine ladies here, right?”
I take another pull from the mason jar because that’s what I do.
“Okay, Kid. I’ll just wait out here.”
He leaves the room. He may be one huge man, but he ain’t that bright. I guess I could have told him to go deal with Geoff Franklin, but the truth is Geoff is just as large as Bigs, but a whole lot meaner.
“Don’t go get yourself hurt now, Kid,” Sabrina says, wiping a little of my seed from her chest and bringing it to her mouth. “Give me a sip to wash it down?”
I turn the mason jar carefully, and she opens her mouth like a baby bird. I flow a nice drizzle into that willing mouth.
“You going to kick his ass, Kid,” Lucy asks. “What he did to her last time wasn’t right.”
“Now, now. You know I’ll deal with it. Don’t you fret your pretty brown behind. The Kid has this all under control.”
She buttons my fly. I appreciate that. She’s a damn fine whore. One of the best my Uncle Ardan has. She’ll do anything. And she’ll do more for me because I’m The Kid.
I leave them behind and join Bigs out in the hallway, making sure to close the door. I gesture for him to follow me and about halfway down the hall, stop. First to take another sip of this fine corn whiskey, second to ask a question.
“How bad he mess her up?”
“Not as bad as last time, but bad. She’s crying, and her face is messed up.”
“Well, why didn’t you just beat the shit out of him?”
“He’s scary. I need someone having my back in case he gets on me.”
I shake my head at Bigs in disappointment. Then I laugh. He’s a mountain of man coming to me. I’m at least half his size. But I have a reputation for being a little … unpredictable.
“I got this. But if he gets on me, you damn well better have my back. You hear me?”
“Yeah, Kid, yeah.”
I head to the bar area trying not to weave around too much. After all, it’s where he’ll be. That’s what he does, beat our whores then drink our whiskey. At least he pays.
Entering the room, I see his back and take in my surroundings. I take another sip from the mason jar and a plan forms. A simple plan, but simple is all I’m good for right now. I walk to the bar and grab one of our stools, pulling it over to me.
“Geoff,” I say as nicely as I can. “You can’t keep damaging our stuff; Uncle Ardan’s talked to you about that.”
I set my mason jar down on the bar.
“She was mine. I paid for her. Go shit yourself, drunk-ass Kid.”
He doesn’t even bother to look at me. I know how to fix that. I shove him off his stool.
Geoff immediately starts to get up to pound me into a fine pulp. I grab the mason jar, and he gets one hun
dred twenty proof right in the eyes. Stepping to the side, I take hold of the stool and rather than putting it upside his head, I slam it right against his shin bone as hard as I can.
He goes back down. I slam my knee into the side of his head since it’s in range. Broken bar stool leg in hand I flip it around and jamb it down on the big man’s collarbone. Then I shove it into his throat.
Not far enough in there to kill him. Uncle Arden has influence, but not enough to get me out of murder.
Cold-blooded murder anyway.
“Yeah, you just make a move, and I’ll end you here, big man.”
I pull the stool leg from his throat and drive my knee a few times into his head. He’s a big guy. He can take it. He starts to get up again. There’s an easy answer there. I bring my foot down to the side of his leg with a crack. He screams.
I take a step back. He’s less an arm and now a leg. He has a face of one hundred twenty proof. I could set him on fire. That’d be a hoot.
Wait … still in uncle’s bar. Best not to start fires here.
“I’m going to kill you, Kid,” he screams out.
“Really?”
“Tell you what, big man, how about I just mess you up, drop you off at your house, tuck you into bed and then burn the whole goddamn place down, huh? Sounds like fun to me. You like to beat our girls? I think I might have to pay your mother and sisters a visit.”
“I’ll …”
He doesn’t get to finish that statement thanks to the blunt end of the stool leg I jam into his mouth.
I pull it out as quickly as I jammed it in there. He pukes all over.
This is fun. I’m thinking of the next thing I’m going to do to him, when the words, “What the hell, Kid,” come bellowing from the side of the bar.
Uncle Ardan arrives.
The regulars playing cards give us a little attention.
“Uncle, this piece of shit beat on our girl again. Then he mouthed off to me about it.”
Out of the side of my eye, I see Geoff starting to realize the seriousness of the situation. Uncle tends to bring out the serious.
“He did what?” Uncle asks.
Geoff is now concerned.
“She was mine. I rented her,” Geoff says.
Ardan walks up to us; I step back.
“You rented her, but I own her. You think it’s all right to break my property, boy? I warned you.”
“It won’t happen again, Mr. Mac. No way. I understand, sir. Yes, I do.”
“That’s what you said last time you good for nothing sack of crap. I’ve of mind to let my nephew here, pay your family a visit in the middle of the night. He does like to set things on fire.”
I do like to set things on fire. Yes, I do.
“Tell you what, Geoff,” Arden says with a smile, “You’re going to pay me for the damage to my merchandise.” He turns to me, “How bad is she?”
I turn to Bigs, “How bad?”
“Her face is messed up.”
“Well, I figure a week then,” Uncle Ardan says. “You owe me one week of what she’d make me with that pretty face. You got a problem with that? I figure a hundred fifty.”
“Hundred fifty dollars?” Geoff protests.
“Fine then. Gentlemen, please leave the room, private matters are about to take place you do not want to be witness to,” Ardan says to the men playing poker.
“Listen, Mr. MacInerny, I’m just saying that’s a whole of money.”
The men and bartender hustle out of the room, leaving our fine establishment.
Once we’re clear of onlookers, Ardan looks over at Bigs. Then he pulls out his Colt.
“You may want to step out too, Bigs. I can’t have you puking all over after I spray his brains across the floor. I know how you get about this kind of stuff.”
“Hundred fifty dollars, sure! Please, Mr. MacInerny, I just get carried away. Please, you ain’t going to kill a man over no whore, are you?”
That makes me laugh.
“Hey, Geoff,” I say to get his attention. “He’ll damn sure kill you over his whore you dumb-shit. She’s his. And you ain’t.”
Geoff goes into a panic when Ardan pulls the hammer back on the gun.
“Please, I’ll pay it back. I will.”
“Yes, you will, big man. You’ll pay me for a week’s wages in a week. If you can’t, then we’re adding twenty percent to the balance you owe. That’s twenty percent every week you’re late. You understand?”
“Yes, yes.”
“And you ain’t ever, ever, coming back here again. You lost your privileges boy. And if you get any funny ideas, I’ll send the kid here out to pay you a visit. He may not be your size, but trust me, you won’t see him until it’s too late. Kind of like tonight.”
“Yes, sir,” he says, his eyes locked on the Colt.
“Good. Pay me quick, and we’re done. Pay me slow and owe me a long time,” Ardan releases the hammer on the Colt and holsters it. “Bigs, get his arse out of my business. Kid, you’re with me.”
“Sure thing, Uncle,” I say hopping across the bar to grab myself a new whiskey. It’s not the special stuff that was in my mason jar, but it’ll do. Got to have my whiskey… I figure I’m in for a butt-chewing.
I head back into the hallway, and Ardan is waiting for me, patiently leaning against the wall.
“You should have sent Bigs to deal with him, boy.”
“He was scared, Uncle. I dealt with it.”
“Yeah, you did. Listen, we need to talk about important things.”
That’s interesting.
“Like what, Uncle?”
“Like your new family. You and your Dorothy. She’s with child. That’s why you got married, remember?”
“Shotgun wedding.”
“That ain’t the point. What I’d give to have a family. And trust me, I’ve tried. I’d marry any of these whores if they’d give me a child. You have a blessing, Arthur. Maybe it’s time you considered something outside of this life I lead.”
“But I’m damn good at this.”
“Yeah, you are. But you got a family on the way. This ain’t no life for raising a family. Hell, we all thought you and Dorothy would end up together anyways. Remember how you two used to play and get in trouble when you were so young? I’m sorry for you losing your mom. I’m sorry your paw couldn’t handle it.”
“He ain’t nothing,” I say, regretting it immediately.
Ardan bolts forward and slams me into the wall His forearm is in my throat. My mason jar drops. I can’t breathe.
“That’s my brother. Your father. You will show respect, or trust me; I’ll beat it into your drunken, crazy arse. You hear me, boy?”
I can’t say a word. I nod yes, emphatically.
He releases me from the wall, and I take a well-needed breath.
“I don’t enjoy doing that. You know that – right?” he says. “Your father loved your mother. When he lost her and your sister in childbirth, I think it broke him. That’s why he went and tried to hang himself. I know it ain’t been easy. We’ll talk more tomorrow—when you are thinking clearer. Hear me?”
“Yes, sir,” I say. To say anything else may get my ass kicked thoroughly.
“Have yourself together tomorrow,” he says to me. “We’ll talk when maybe you can better understand what I’m telling you. What I’d give to have a child, a family.”
“Yeah, Uncle. All right. I’ll take the truck home and drive it back for deliveries tomorrow. Gonna need me a new jar.”
“The only jar you get is your Paw’s medicine. You’ve had enough. Bring the truck back in one piece lad,” he says. “And on time.”
***
The damn thing bounces all around the road, but it’s better than a horse. The lights barely cover the road, but I still keep it on track. Then the engine goes out.
Damn it. I thought I had enough fuel. I know I did.
I step out of the vehicle. I hear moaning, a keening.
I stand there taking i
t in, It calls out, “Help. Help me …”
I walk up the hill toward the voice and see something inside a glowing circle. I walk forward, and it acknowledges me.
“You! Release me, please. The witches laid this trap for me. They’re going to let the sun burn me away,” says the smallish four foot something, devil-looking thing.
Speechless. I am struck dumb. That must have been some special hooch I was drinking. I take a moment and rub my eyes. Yeah, he’s still there.
“Yes, I’m real. Please, you have to help me. If you help me, I can reward you.”
“You’re a devil. They warn you about making deals with devils.”
“Please. It’s not a deal. It’s a kind gesture. The witches wanted to use me for evil,” he says, leaning in. “But I said no. So now they’re out to destroy me.”
“What kind of devil doesn’t want to do evil stuff?”
“You can’t believe everything you hear, young man. That’s like saying all people are good.”
“Humph.” The little devil makes sense. “How do I know you won’t try to kill me or do some devil crap on me?”
“You’d leave me here to die? To burn away in the morning light? A cruel death indeed.”
The devil looks at me with sad puppy dog eyes.
“All right. But we ain’t making no deal. So how do I get you out of this … thing?”
“Just rub your foot across it. Break the seal.”
I walk over carefully and rub my foot into the glowing circle. The light goes out, and the devil rushes out of the circle.
“Free! Thank you, Arthur, that was quite kind.”
With the light from the ring gone, my devil friend looks more like a shadow now that anything. But I don’t have to see him to know something’s amiss.
“How did you know my name?”
I can tell by the pause he wasn’t expecting that question.
“It’s a devil thing.”
That makes sense as much as any of this does.
“I see the lack of light has hampered your sight, let me set you at ease,” with the grumbling of a few harsh words I can’t understand, and small globe of light appears in his hand. He directs it with his finger to float in the air above us.
The orb casts a bluish light. I examine my new friend. He’s maybe four and a half feet tall, with thick tubes coming out of the back of his head, that must be something like hair for him. He has yellow eyes and a big friendly smile. His skin seems to move.