I was sitting in that hard-packed dirt, smelling horses, hay, and other delightful things, while Sands and Sarah stood on either side of me and a dozen old west civilians scattered around the area stared at us like we had just flown down from Mars or something. Actually, they were probably staring at us even more oddly than that, since if we had literally flown down from another planet, the Bystander Effect would have kicked in to fix their memories. The fact that they were still clearly taken aback by our presence meant it wouldn’t be that simple.


    The last words from Ceili were still ringing through my ears distractingly. Ehn had been wrong, he had fucked up. Now he was dead, his body--hell his damn soul was exploding through the timeline to take his power all the way to the Fomorians in the present. If we didn’t stop that--we had to stop it. That was all there was to it. We had to make sure that didn’t happen, or we might as well wrap up the universe, put a bow on it, and hand it to Cronus.


    I was so lost in absorbing all that, in thinking, however briefly, about what the stakes to this whole situation were, that I didn’t respond to anything at first. I just stood there after being pulled to my feet, staring at the people who were staring back at us. Sands and Sarah, meanwhile, kept looking back and forth between me and the other people as though expecting someone else to react. We were all frozen like that. To be honest, it probably looked funny to anyone watching from outside the whole situation.


    Before I could pull myself together (in all honesty it was only a couple seconds, but felt like longer), a male voice boomed out, “Enough gawking, get ‘em in the saloon!” The owner of the voice, a large heavyset man with gorgeous, almost hypnotizing deep blue eyes came forward. He wore the same sort of old western clothes as the rest of the people around us, though he also had a sheriff’s star on the front of his old brown jacket, and a revolver prominently displayed on his hip. His hand wasn’t anywhere near that, however. Instead, he used three fingers to point at each of us. “You, I don’t know where you ladies came from, or why you’re wearing such savage clothing.” His eyes slipped toward the twins in their jean shorts and tee-shirts. Sarah was wearing a pink one with a white anthropomorphic bunny on the front that was holding a couple swords, while Sands’ was red and had Winnie The Pooh eating honey out of a jar on it. Suffice to say, they really didn’t blend in here at all. “But you can’t be standing out here right now.”


    I was about to ask what he meant by that, but already several of the townspeople were rushing over to take us by the arms. I would have resisted, but I didn''t get the impression that they were hostile at all. No, it actually felt like they were worried about us. These guys half-guided and half-dragged us toward the saloon in a rush, even as a call went up that someone named Saign (I only learned the spelling later, as it was pronounced sane) was coming. That made them push us along even faster, like they were desperate to get us out of sight. When I looked over my shoulder the way people were pointing, I could see several horses coming into town, but couldn''t make out any details about the riders.


    Just like that, we were rushed into the saloon. An older woman standing by the stairs ordered the men to get us up there and for the three of us to keep quiet. Her tone was very strict, but I could hear an underlying current of fear beneath that. She wasn''t telling us to be quiet just for her own sake. She was worried about us.


    Finally, we were up the stairs, where the men took us into one of the rooms. The one who seemed to be in charge of this little group stood by the door and spoke in a quick, hushed tone. It was like he was afraid of being overheard by the people who were still galloping closer. “Whoever you are, whatever you''re doing, just stay here and be quiet. Trust me, you girls don''t want to let Saign or his thugs see you.” He paused before grimacing visibly. “They''ve got a real taste for the young, pretty ones.”


    Okay, now I really felt yucky. I was going back through my memory of what I have seen out there, replaying the faces before coming to the inevitable conclusion.


    There were no young women, zero youthful girls, my current ride-along partner confirmed. Almost and nearly no women at all. The only two we''ve seen are the old and elderly lady downstairs, and an even older and more physically mature woman who was standing near one of the other buildings, the barber and hairdresser.


    That style of speech made it easy to place who was with me right then. It was Wordsmith. That was the name she had settled on for the time being, anyway. She had spent years and years staying with a group of people who tended to repeat things using different words, and that had clearly rubbed off on her. I had yet to find any powers to give her.


    Sands was grabbing my arm, squeezing tightly as she hissed, “Flick, seriously, what the hell is going on? I really don''t want to be pushy about this, but one second we were minding our own business in our house, and then all the sudden we''re standing in the Old West being shoved into a tiny room and told to be quiet? Is this something Ehn put together? Are we supposed to help you somehow?”


    Before I could respond to that, Sarah shushed her sister and beckoned for us to come over by the window. There was a heavy curtain across it, but she had knelt next to the corner and was peeking out. Already, I could hear the sound of those heavy hoofbeats slowing, along with a few loud cheers and whistles, clearly from the riders themselves.


    Sands and I exchanged a glance before I murmured a promise to explain in a minute. Then we stooped down and moved to the window. She went by her sister, and I knelt at the other side to peek out that corner. They did need to be told what the actual situation was, obviously. But first we needed to know what all this stuff going on outside was about. I had a bad feeling, and it wasn''t exactly getting any better.


    Finally, as we picked out that window, I got my first real look at who and what we were dealing with. The man stepping down off the lead horse was very clearly Saign himself. He also wasn''t human, though something told me these townspeople didn''t know that. His skin was dark orange and clearly hard like scales. He stood just an inch under six feet, with a trim build. He wore a white suit that was somehow pristine and almost gleaming despite the fact that he had just been on a horse galloping through heavy dust. A rifle was slung over his back. But it wasn''t anything that belonged in this time period. At least not amongst Bystanders. This was very clearly a laser rifle of some sort. That much was apparent even from this distance.


    The man had five others with him, three of whom were human, or at least didn''t set off any alert in my mind, and two of which looked like the same species he was. They were also each similarly armed with advanced weaponry. I could even see armor on their horses, along with mounted weaponry. To be honest, it was strange seeing old normal cowboy-type horses wearing silver-white plastic-looking armor with what appeared to be laser cannons attached. But then again, what wasn''t strange about all this? The entire situation was completely odd. And if I thought that, I couldn''t even begin to consider how baffling it was for the twins, who really had simply been thrown into this without even the slightest hint of what was going on. With all that in mind, they were rolling with this incredibly well.


    In any case, we knelt there and watched as that Saign guy rolled his shoulders exaggeratedly before taking a few steps up to where that sheriff was standing. When he spoke, we could hear him easily. He was clearly raising his voice so everyone would understand. This was a guy who was accustomed to being the center of attention.


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    “Weeeeeelll now, Peters,” he greeted the sheriff with obviously false cheer, “isn''t it just fantastic that you''ve all managed to come out to greet us properly this time?”


    He was right, I realized a second later while looking up and down the street from our vantage point. There were a lot more people outside than there had been a minute earlier. Everyone in this small town had emerged and were standing by the buildings. They all seemed upset, but no one made any sort of move against these intruders. Something told me they had already learned better than to try something like that. Which was a thought that made my fist clench tightly. I might not know much about this guy, but I definitely didn''t like him. Not in the least. And the impression I was getting about what happened to the girls in this town wasn''t helping that opinion, or my desire to do something about it. My eyes narrowed that way. It was probably a good thing I didn''t have laser vision, or I might have disintegrated that guy on the spot.


    Sorry and apologies, Wordsmith put in, what exactly is good about that? I''m pretty sure and relatively certain laser visioning that guy into dust and atomized flakes could only be an improvement all around.


    The sheriff, Peters apparently, grunted under his breath. Then he spoke in a flat voice. “What are you doing here, Saign? There''s still four days before the next taxes are due, and we’re paid up in full until then.” From the tone of his voice, I could tell he was itching to put his revolver right against the man''s forehead before pulling the trigger until the thing was completely empty. But he didn''t. Which, again, told me that he somehow knew such an attempt would be pointless. All these people here, most if not all of them armed in some way, and none of them tried to shoot any of these guys. That was definitely giving me bad feelings about what was going on here, and what had already happened. These people, the way they acted now, and the way they had reacted to us showing up in the first place, all made it clear that they had been hurt very badly. The only way they could possibly have those guns and yet not do anything about these guys was because they knew it was pointless. They had obviously fought back before without getting anywhere.


    Saign, for his part, gave a soft chuckle before rolling his shoulders in a shrug. His voice was casual. “Now, why do we need a reason to come down here and visit our old friends? Especially,” he added slightly while looking over his shoulder at the rest of his men, “friends who have been so kind as to provide such exquisite entertainment for us?”


    Those words sent a shudder of revulsion through me, even as his people audibly snickered. The rest of the townspeople looked like they wanted nothing more than to draw and quarter all of them. Which, at that point, I would have gladly helped with.


    Saign was about to say something else, mouth open as he raised a hand to point at the sheriff. But before any more words could come out, there was an incredibly loud bang. It was a rifle shot, coming from just down the street. After jumping, I turned my attention that way, and saw an older man who had lost most of his hair. He looked like a stereotypical old prospector from the movies, complete with a scraggly beard and very few teeth. He was holding a rifle to his shoulder. A rifle that he had just shot Saign with.


    Unfortunately, the bullet had accomplished little more than to make the man''s head snap to the side a little. This guy had hit him dead on, but it clearly wasn''t leading so much as a bruise.


    Before anyone else could do anything, two of those human looking guys vanished from where they were standing and appeared on either side of the old man. One ripped his gun away, while the other lifted him up off the ground and threw him a good fifteen feet to land in the dirt at their leader’s feet.


    Sheriff Peters immediately started to say something, but Saign raised a hand to put a finger against the other man''s lips. Then he put his foot on the old guy’s head, resting it there with just enough force to make the man groan. “Well, well, well. Who might this delightful toy be? If my eyes don''t deceive me, this would be the grandfather of that lovely little morsel we picked up last time we were here. Such a shame about that one. She was pretty enough, but not nearly as flexible as she looked. You people do break so easily.” He added that bit while the old man was making furious noises, which turned into pained groans as the piece of shit applied just a little more pressure to his head. “All we do is push a little bit and you pop like zits. Puss and blood everywhere, it’s disgusting, honestly.”


    This was why the town couldn''t fight back. Not only did these guys have advanced weaponry, but their leader could take a straight-on rifle shot right to the head from close range and barely react to it at all. There was nothing they could do about this fucker.


    Saign continued to stand there with his foot on the old man, playing up his reaction. It was apparent even now that he had no intention of letting the guy live. He was going to kill him, but he was also going to draw it out as much as possible. He wanted to send a message to the rest of these people about how much of a mistake it was to even think about fighting back. But then, I was pretty sure the old guy had known he was dead before he pulled the trigger. He knew it wouldn''t work, but he had to do something. He had to at least try to hurt these fucking bastards, no matter how hopeless it had been. And now, he was going to die for it.


    Well fuck that. Right then, I didn''t care about preserving the timeline, or anything like that. I didn''t care what was supposed to happen here, or about what sort of damage we might be doing. I just wanted to make this piece of shit feel the same fear he was inflicting on these people. I wanted to make him understand just what a mistake he had made.


    And, apparently, I wasn''t the only one. Because in that second, I heard Sarah hiss her sister''s name. A quick glance that way revealed that the other girl had transformed into a cloud of smoke that was already passing through the crack in the window. Both Sarah and I looked at each other before our gazes snapped that way in time to see Saign smirking as he started to step down more firmly on the poor old man.


    It was at that moment, as he had clearly gotten tired of drawing it out and was about to finish the job, that the cloud of smoke swirled down right beside him before resolving into Sands herself. As the man''s head turned to look that way, her mace fucking slammed into the side of his head with a thunder-like crack that echoed through the entire town. A rifle shot had barely made him flinch, but the blow from that mace was a different story. He wasn''t killed or anything, but it was enough to knock him sideways, making the man stumble and cry out in surprise. And God was that ever satisfying. As was the way two more of those guys were sent flying as Sands lashed out with her mace in the other direction, summoning a pillar of dirt and rock under their feet that knocked them on their asses.


    Well, so much for blending in and not attracting attention. At least it was already clear that these people had definitely seen more than they should have. Whether the Bystander Effect was just waiting to erase their memories about specifics, or made them think their gunshots always missed, or what I couldn’t be certain. But whatever it was, they had clearly experienced supernatural, impossible things already.


    And speaking of impossible things, Sarah had her rifle out and pointed off to the side as she sighted through a couple scope-portals she’d made. Just as one of the other men down there started to take a step toward her sister, she pulled the trigger and nailed him with a quick shot that made the guy recoil.


    Well shit, there was no sense in holding back now. Without wasting another second, before the guys could finish reacting to Sands’ appearance or one of them getting shot out of nowhere, I teleported myself down there. Just like that, I was standing with my back to Sands, extending my staff to send a blast of concussive force into two of those guys who were already starting to grab for their weapons.


    Saign had recovered by that point, rubbing the side of his head as he straightened up. “Well now, what do we have here? Boys?” Even as he said that, the street was suddenly filled not only with those few guys he’d brought with him, but several dozen more who clearly teleported in out of nowhere, thoroughly surrounding the two of us.


    “Teach these girls a lesson.”