“Knock it off!” He yelled at the group of brawling men.

It didn’t have the effect he hoped. One man stood up after knocking another on his ass and took a swing at John.

He sidestepped the blow and smashed his elbow into the man’s ear, sending him to the ground in an instant. A few more judicious uses of his fists and only three of the brawlers were left standing. They backed away with their hands up.

“What is all this nonsense about!” John demanded. When nobody spoke up, he pointed to one man. “You.”

“I- Um… We just came to trade our gold in and they accused us of claim jumping.”

“That’s because you were, ya rat bastard! You and your whole crew!” another one of the standing individuals spat.

“This true?” John asked.

“Absolutely not. We mined this gold from our claim. They’re just jealous that our mine produces more.”

“Horseshit!” the other man yelled and tried to go for the first speaker, but his buddy held him back.

“If you don’t settle down, I’m gonna make you,” John stated pointedly.

The man took one look at the group of unconscious men and backed off, but John could tell he was a comment away from exploding again. He sighed internally. If he had his way, he would knock all these idiots out and let Wyatt and Seline deal with them. But he needed to find out what was going on.

“Why do you think they were claim jumping?”

“Our mine isn’t far from town. It's one of the few you can safely get to without worrying about the Harc’otti snatching you up.” He pointed at the other man. “Theirs is on the other side of French’s hill. There’s no way they would risk mining it with those barbarians waiting in the woods to gut ya.”

The man was probably correct, but if this was all he had for evidence, there wasn’t much John was willing to do. “Is that all? A hunch?”

The man glared at John, before realizing who he was glaring at. “N- No. It takes a full day to get out to their claim. Yet they all left late yesterday and returned early this morning with their bag of gold. There ain’t no other claims they could have gone to but ours. And nobody’s daft enough to mine in the middle of the night unless they are trying to hide things.”

If true, both of those things didn’t paint a good picture for the other group. He turned to the first man, who had sweat beading down his face. “This true?” The man looked panicked and about to run, but John settled his hand on his holstered pistol. “If you run, I shoot. Now answer the question.”

“It wasn’t my idea. I was just following my boss's orders. He said we were out of money, and if we didn’t bring in something, we were all gonna starve. And with the valley being too dangerous, he said we could make a quick buck by going to a closer claim.”

Idiots and their gold. “Which one is your boss?”

The man pointed to the first guy John cold-clocked with his elbow. He was starting to stir.

He nodded to the irate fellow. “Get your people, and you.” He pointed to the other guy that hadn’t spoken. “Go fetch the Sheriff.”

The man nodded and hurried off.

“Next time, if there’s an issue, talk to the Sheriff or the Deputy. If I find you starting another brawl in town, you’re going to end up like these fine folks.”

“Wha- what's gonna happen to us?” the claim jumper asked.

“That’s for the Sheriff to decide. For now, I think you’ll all be heading to jail so you can have some time to think.”

By the time the Sheriff arrived, everyone had woken up. John kept the parties separated so there would be no more funny business. While the aggrieved party spoke with the Peacekeeper, John kept his eye on the group of six claim jumpers he had sitting on the ground.

“We wouldn’t a had to jump claims if you'd remove the restrictions,” the leader of the second group grumbled.

“Oh, I wasn’t aware people were gnawing at the bit to get snatched or killed by the Harc’otti. By all means, have at your shiny rocks if you care so little about your lives.”

“…”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

After the Sheriff finished questioning the first group, he dismissed them and walked over. “Alright, you lot. On your feet! You’re going to sit in jail for a while until we decide what to do with ya.”

The group grumbled but got to their feet, some a bit more unsteady than others. They led the criminals back to the jail and stuck them in two cells. Three to each. It would be cramped and uncomfortable, especially with only one bed, but they were criminals.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

After locking them up, John followed Wyatt back out into the main room.

“If tempers are already flaring, we may run out of space to keep everyone.”

John nodded at the man’s words. “I could reopen the mines. But I feel like the Harc’otti will just take advantage of that to kill more townsfolk.”

“Can’t keep them locked up forever,” Blackwood stated. “Sooner or later, they are simply going to risk it to earn some money. These are hardy people, why not just tell them the risks? Or post a contract for people to defend the mining sites?”

“With what money?” John hissed quietly.

“Yeah… I supposed that could be a problem. You could tax the independents or have them post their own security contracts. I’m sure there are some people that would take up the offer.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Think quick, because shit like this is just gonna get worse.”

He nodded before exiting the building. Perhaps the Sheriff was right. Locking down the mines for the entire town was probably not a good idea. And should he care? His only priority was to protect the Terminus Mining assets, not the independents. It just seemed wrong to let people wander to their deaths.

After some thought, he headed to the mining office and grabbed a sheet of paper and a quill. He wrote out a notice and posted it to the board outside. It let all the independent miners know the risks, and it recommended that they hire guards. He also pointed them to Madam Cassandra as the replacement for the late Mr. Thumb. One last warning also stated in plain wording that there would be no attempts to rescue anyone dumb enough to get captured by the Harc’otti.

Hopefully, that would relieve some of the pressure in the town. And also get some income flowing in again. But now he needed to figure out how to keep the Terminus Mining workers safe. He certainly couldn’t be out there every day patrolling, even though he would prefer that over babysitting the town.

John had an idea about how to remedy the protection issue. Certainly not a good one, but it was an idea.

After getting directions, he headed out. There were a few groups that didn’t make Ember Creek their home. These people either preferred to farm or just not live inside the stuffy confines of the town. Most were single families, scattered along the eastern road.

Being so far away spared them from most of the Harc’otti attacks.

The family he was going to speak with, was unlike the single-family farms. This family lived west of Ember Creek, deep in the forest, and with who knew how many family members.

The trail leading to the Klein property was well-worn, but also winding and treacherous. No wagon would ever be able to cross the steep ravines and roughly hewn bridges that crossed over small streams and crevasses.

John had to give the Klein’s credit. The parcel of land they had chosen was nearly unassailable. Soon he arrived at a sign nailed to a tree. It simply read, ‘Private Property, Keep Out!’ on it.

The painted warning sat at the opposite end of a bridge. A very familiar man sat below this sign, one of his legs dangling over the railing.

“When one of my boys alerted me that you were coming, I thought he had been dipping too deeply into the hooch. But lo and behold, you’re actually here. I do hope you have a good excuse for trespassing on Klein property, Mr. Smith.”

Considering his run-in in the forest, John had hoped they had been keeping an eye on him. “Town records say your property doesn’t start until that side of the bridge. So I would hardly say I’m trespassing. If nobody was here to greet me, I would have simply waited.”

The man lifted his leg over the railing and hopped off to stand back on the bridge before approaching him. “Some of my family disagree with the recorded boundary. You would do good to remember that.”

John wasn’t intimidated by the man’s words or grandstanding. He expected as much based on his previous encounters. “I’ve come with a job offer.”

“A job offer? And what would me or my family need with more work, hmm?”

“Call it mutual interest.”

The patriarch of the Klein family stopped just shy of the end of the bridge, his hands never stopped carving the chunk of wood he had been holding.

“Well, now. How the high and mighty come crawling when they need help. I assume this has something to do with little Danny’s mines? I can’t picture any other situation that would get someone such as yourself to pay us a personal visit.”

It was easy to forget this man wasn’t a fool based on the way he dressed and how his family acted. But Pappy Klein was a cunning and quick-witted individual. He just bent those features in ways that suited him and his family.

“It does,” John stated. “The camps need protection from the Harc’otti.”

“And what if your other friends return, hmm? You expect my family to throw their lives on the line for people they don’t know or care about? Or for a man who would prefer to see us driven out or killed? That doesn’t seem like a very good offer, John.”

“Ten percent,” John offered. He technically didn’t have the authority to offer anything but the useless Terminus Mining notes but he had no other options. Daniel Novarez would just need to be happy with ninety percent of the mined ore. If John couldn’t get someone to protect the sites there would be zero coming in.

“Ten percent of what, John? Let's be specific here if we’re going to make a deal. For example, if you said ten percent of the profits, paid in those useless pieces of paper you call ‘money’ I might just have my boys shoot you for wasting my damn time.”

This time John had noticed the men hiding in the woods on the far side of the bridge. It's why he kept close to the trees on this side instead of crossing onto the bridge himself. It's probably also why Pappy hadn’t left the bridge.

“Ten percent of the material pulled from the mine.”

“I hardly have any need for rock, John. Now, if you offered me ten percent of the refined material, we may come to an understanding.”

The mines in question were rich in iron, copper, and trace amounts of gold and silver. Offering up ten percent of that was already a significant investment. But offering ten percent of the refined ore would quickly make the Klein family one of the richest families out here.

John gritted his teeth, not because of the counteroffer, but because he had no other choice. They needed the iron and copper as soon as possible. And even a shit deal was better than no deal.

“Fine, it’ll be paid in refined material. Do we have a deal?”

“I want fifteen percent,” Pappy replied.

“What! You said you would agree to ten.”

“You should get your ears cleaned, boy. I said we may come to an understanding.”

“Eleven percent.”

“Fourteen,” the man replied with a knowing smile. “I think we both know where this ends, let's stop beating around the bush.”

Getting outplayed by this bastard irked John, and made him itch to pull his gun out and just get rid of the man. He resisted that temptation. Those were thoughts and actions from back in his military days and he put those to rest long ago.

Despite the man’s words, John didn’t offer to split the difference and go straight to twelve and a half percent. He knew if he did, the man would push for more. The pair haggled a bit more and eventually, they reached an agreement.

“It’s been a pleasure doing business with you, John. I’ll have my boys head out to the three mines. I suggest you get your people moving. If they aren’t pulling rock in a week, I’m going to cancel our deal.”