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screamed, while another drove his knife into his belly.
    It seemed as if a cloud of bloodthirsty insanity drifted over the men. They shot their compatriots in a wild melee. Horses mercilessly trampled the men who’d fallen.
    Finally, only one remained.
    “What the hell . . . Everyone just started shooting . . .” he groaned in disbelief as his hand rose to his temple. His bolt gun spat flames before the man even figured out what had caused all this.
    The weight of the dead exerted a modest pressure on the earth, and in return the ground thudded dully. A very brief silence visited the twilight.
    “Wow,” Baron Macula finally muttered, his pudgy face turning to look straight ahead. Toward the first person who’d been shot—the real patrolman.
    “Hey, you got what you wanted. You can get up now.”
    After the Noble spoke, the man got up, without any stiffness. He still had a gaping hole in his chest.
    “I’ll be damned,” the baron groaned. He seemed impressed. “I can pretty much guess what happened, but it was you who killed these guys, wasn’t it?”
    “I suppose it was,” the man replied, knitting his brow as he inspected the damage to his chest, then put his right fist into the hole. Time and again, he put his arm through all the way up to the elbow. There was something humorous about the act, though on further reflection, it was also chilling.
    Watching with an expression of intent fascination, the baron said, “You’re quite an interesting fellow. Say, you wouldn’t happen to be after me, would you?”
    “That’s right,” the man replied, nodding as he pulled his arm back out. “We’ll wait here a little bit. The gang should be along soon.”
    “You’re a bandit, too?”
    “Right you are. I had a plant of my own in the village of Satori. But as coming through this here valley was a little too hairy, they took the long way around. I couldn’t be bothered with that, so I went on ahead alone. I’m the boss, JQ,” the man with the hole in his chest said, grinning at the baron. “I imagine you know the deal with this valley. I bet you planned on letting these assholes go in without saying anything, figuring you’d be the only one to survive.”
    “Hmph!” the stunned baron snorted, as the man had apparently been right on the mark.
    “You’re kind of a slimy bastard for a Noble. But you’re worth a fortune, no doubt about that. Those folks in the Capital will piss themselves for joy. All right, get down from there.”
    Though the baron was still stunned, he suddenly pulled down the bottom of one eye with his index finger and stuck his tongue out at the man.
    “What the hell ?” JQ remarked, and the moment he understandably furrowed his brow at the unconventional response, the baron delivered a spirited kick to his steed’s flanks with his stout little legs.
    “I’ll be damned,” JQ shouted to the heavens.
    The baron and his steed were like one as they leapt over the man’s head, landed some fifteen feet away, and galloped into the valley without a backward glance.
    “Seems I might’ve underestimated him,” JQ muttered just before the thunder of iron-shod hooves faded in the distance. “I was able to make it through once, but I don’t think I’d ever like to set foot in that valley again. Looks like I’ll just have to let him go.” After glowering at the stony world around him, he finally broke into a grin. “Well, he still has a long way to go. At some point, when he’s clear of the valley—”
    JQ didn’t finish what he was saying as he whirled around with lightning speed. He hadn’t intended to turn—he’d been compelled to do so by a sense beyond comprehension.
    Far down the same road the bandits had traveled, a horse and rider had suddenly taken shape. The ring of iron horseshoes striking rock was growing closer.
    “Who goes there?”
    There was no answer.
    JQ then did something rather odd. “Who goes there?” he asked again, and then he viciously snapped, “Shut