[Complete] When young Boone Rigger is pulled into the most fierce Gunslinger Tournament in the country, he must find the courage to kill, or be buried six feet underground.
The Iron Alchemist: Slinger Wars Book 1
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E'krek held out a belt of revolvers, "bring about the end."
Jostice eyes fell to the silhouette outside the ring, the ruby flickering. Like an apparition, the figure stepped back and vanished into the shadows.
Pain shot through his limbs and he stood to his feet, grabbing the belt and wrapping it around his waist. The guns felt heavy. He pulled one from the holster, examing the pearled handles and silver barrel and cylinder.
"Thank you for retrieving my guns."
E'kreks brows furrowed, lips sunk. "If you don't win, all this death was for nothing."
Jostice nodded. Left arm hung at his side, screaming in pain. Shoulder popped out of place. He lifted his revolver to his chest, wincing. The other hand useless from the missing digits.
Focused. He turned towards the blackness that concealed his enemy. Approaching with caution. The Mayor was full of trickery, there was no doubt he would use his menacing ways to end the night wrong.
Jostice moved from the ring of torchlight into the realm of shadows. Too thick to see a hand out in front of him. An orb of orange light strobing ten paces away.
From the outside, he stepped into a cave smothered by the reek of decay. There was no turning back. He crouched, boots rolling with his steps. Eyes shifting to the ceiling, sides, and ground.
Moisture gathered from the mist that rolled through open gaps in the wall. The condensation creating streams that slid through crevices whils droplets fell to rocks, echoing on impact. The rhythm slow as his heart.
A hiss echoed from the shadows, followed by shrieks.
Jostice stopped and lifted an ear. The moon peeked out from behind the cliff, watching through the wall opening, stars sprinkled around it.
Once he felt courage, Jostice continued down the narrow path that was surprisingly straight. The air thickening with every breath. Screeches and hisses grew louder while the wind stroked his flesh like invisible banshies of the night. The same ones he'd felt on that stormy night, though the storm had ceased, and the sky had calmed.
Jostice froze, eyeing a glimmering jewel suspended in darkness.
The ruby vanished. A sound of fluttering feet fading deep into the cave forced Jostice legs to work harder, moving with the creatures speed. Deeper and deeper into blackness.
The noise died. Jostice slid to a stop beneath a beam feeding in through the ceiling; a ring of white glowing around him. He piovted, twisting at his hips. Three open paths around him. And though the cave seemed empty, he didn't feel alone.
A blur darted behind him, hissing, bones cracking. Jostice turned to greet the creature; it found the shadows. The revolver barrel swayed working to find it's target. Again a hiss at Jostice back and before he could turn, vanished.
