The High Ground - A Samuel Branch Short Story

1

Arjun gazed at me with unfocused eyes, his face as blank as pristine printer paper. I’d hate to play poker with man. He had no tells. That explains why I barely managed to avoid getting punched in the face, kicked in the solar plexus and elbowed in my temple. It’s not that I’m a slouch at hand-to-hand combat, because I’m not. I’d had a whole lot of training and practical experience over the last few years. Arjun was just that freaking good. Then again, he did have a few thousand years of practice on me. The worst part was that, to anyone who knew him, it was obvious he was going easy on me. Right up until he did something my eyes didn’t even register as motion. The world spun out at crazy angles. Then the ground caught me in her gentle embrace. Well, the ground caught me anyway. One out two isn’t bad.

After I caught my breath, I ordered my body to stand up. It complied, grudgingly. I took a moment to ostentatiously brush some dirt and grass off my clothes. Then I turned my attention to the lost sheep. Three of the four were present. Lisa was at Black Crow’s hospital for the magically damaged. Her basic nature and personal inclinations suited her much better to healing. The brutal, in your face, violent magic I practiced nine days out of ten wasn’t for her. The jury was still out where the other three were concerned. They all had the necessary power, but personality mattered.

I thought Eddie had the most natural aptitude, but his thinking was a little rigid. He lacked the improvisational bent that takes you into what if territory. He needed to see something to know it was possible. Elle had the essential instincts for violent magic and the creativity for off the cuff evocations. What she lacked was conviction. I’d done something to her a while back out of cruel necessity. It shattered her confidence, and she’d never really recovered. I wasn’t sure she ever would. Bill, of the unnaturally average appearance, was just a question mark in my head. He showed the occasional spark of creativity and a willingness to learn. If Arjun hadn’t already laid permanent claim to the title of King of Calm, I’d have assigned it to Bill. That was a problem for me. His fuse was so damn long that I’d never actually seen Bill angry. That meant I couldn’t gauge the depth or violence of it. You need to train people with deep, violent anger in a different way.

Bill was the last one to take me up on my offer to teach them. That suggested to me that he was the most conscious of the costs. Once you learn how to do crippling and lethal things to someone else, you get to spend the rest of your life deciding whether or not you should do those things. I’ve made that call so often that it’s a permanent subroutine in my psyche. It’s usually not even a real decision. At the end of the day, almost no one deserves that kind of action. The difference was that I’d been in more than my fair share of genuine life-or-death situations. They lost sheep hadn’t. I pushed those thoughts to the side as I surveyed my students. My questions wouldn’t be answered today. That wasn’t the point of this exercise.

For their part, the lost sheep were staring at me and Arjun in stunned, abject horror. That had been the point of this exercise. I wanted to shake their assumptions and impart a kernel of wisdom. I looked over at Arjun and gave him a little nod. He nodded back and turned his attention to the kids.

“What have you learned?” Arjun asked.

The lost sheep traded confused looks. No one said anything for a good long while. Eddie seemed focused on Arjun. Elle was watching me, as though looking for some kind of signal. Bill was focused on something in the middle distance. I couldn’t tell if he was distracted or thinking.

Eddie finally mustered some courage. “Don’t pick fights with strangers?”

Arjun smiled. “That is an important lesson and one to remember. That is not, however, the wisdom this day’s exercise should impart. Perhaps I should rephrase. What was Branch’s mistake?”

Bill perked up at that question and his focus shifted to Arjun. “He tried to fight you your way, not his way.”

“Yes,” said Arjun. “Please continue.”

“Once he knew you were a better fighter, he should have backed off and used magic. That’s how he fights. He had a better chance of winning that way.”

“Agreed,” said Arjun, nodding. “So what can we learn from this?”

Bill had the puzzled look of a student who just discovered he only knew half the answer. Eddie was just blinking rapidly, like his brain couldn’t quite make sense of the problem. Elle looked from one to the other with a pained, nigh-disgusted expression. That disgust must have temporarily replaced her hesitance, because she started talking.

“It’s about the high ground, you dolts,” she said.

Arjun shot me a look as if to ask whether he should chastise Elle for mocking the other two. I waved him off. It was harmless, as such things went. I was also impressed that she got there as fast as she did. I’d expected the conversation to go on for another five or ten minutes before someone stumbled into the answer. Elle must have sensed me focusing on her because she looked over at me.

“What?” She demanded.

“That was a fast insight. I’m impressed.”

Her face slipped into a resigned expression. “That’s because you’re a man. I’m a woman. We learn about power imbalances and choosing the high ground from the day we’re born.”

That statement left me speechless for a few moments. I guess that I must have known it was true, but only in a background, intuitive way. Most of the women I interacted with on a regular basis were what one might describe as frighteningly dangerous. Any discussion of the high ground with them would, by mental default, be framed in a discussion about fighting an enemy. It had just never occurred to me in a meaningful way that such considerations were a lifelong and daily concern for women. Who’s the rigid thinker now, I mused.

“Point,” I said.

“What about the high ground?” Asked Eddie, staring straight at me.

“Don’t ask me. Ask her,” I answered.

Eddie blinked again and then turned to Elle. “Well, what about the high ground?”

There was a weird shift in his expression and something changed in his tone. It was subtle and, I’d have bet money, unconscious. Even so, if he’d ever spoken to me like he just spoke to her, I’d have done something immediate, violent, and humiliating to him. It was like he’d automatically downgraded the importance he placed on what she said. I waited for her to punch him in the throat and, instead, she just stood there. I couldn’t believe it. I went to say something but Arjun, God bless him, closed the distance and slapped Eddie across the face so hard that it must have loosened some teeth. Then, Arjun backhanded him and the kid went down hard. Arjun stared down at Eddie for a moment before he spoke in a very calm voice.

“You are a disrespectful child. She offers you the gift of wisdom and you spit on that gift with your disregard. Men have died for less. You should be ashamed.”

Eddie started to push himself up and then Elle’s voice rang out. “Stay where you are, Eddie.”

She took a few steps and looked up at Arjun. Then she slapped him across the face so hard I felt the crack in the air.

“Oh shit,” I whispered.

I expected something very ugly to happen, only it didn’t. Arjun just stood there.

“You overstep yourself,” she said in a matter of fact voice. “I don’t need you to defend me.”

Arjun gave Elle a respectful nod. “I apologize for my rudeness.”

He spun on his heel and walked toward me. I raised an eyebrow at him and the man winked at me. It was my turn to blink rapidly, trying to process what had just gone down. Then, I heard Elle speak again.

“Eddie, you should be glad it was him. I was about to do something a lot uglier than that to you.”

Eddie looked up at Elle from the ground. There was some real fear on the kid’s face. Then, because Elle is apparently a little classier than I am, she reached a hand down to help pull Eddie up to his feet. I couldn’t have engineered a better lesson. I smiled a little on the inside.

“Eddie,” I said.

“Yeah,” he said, not quite meeting my eyes.

“So endeth the lesson.”

2

While Elle pulled Arjun aside for a little heart to heart about something, Bill came over to me.

“Branch,” he said.

“Bill. I was kind of surprised you didn’t intervene back there.”

He gave me a half smile. “Oh, I’d probably have pulled Eddie aside for a chat at some point, but I guess I won’t need to.”

I snorted. “No, I think he got the point and the lesson. So that worked out with a minimum of bloodshed. I’m taking it as a win. Your girl surprised me there.”

“You and me both. We’ve been working on her assertiveness, but that was some next level stuff. I’d have expected that from the old Elle, but not since you did that job on her.”

It was an observation, not an accusation, but I still felt a fresh wave of guilt. “Yeah, I’ve been worried about that. Worried I did too good of a job on her.”

“Really? I wouldn’t have thought you’d think much about it.”

I shook my head. “I know it wasn’t a good time on the receiving end of all that, but it was no picnic to do it. Of course I think about it.”

“I guess I hadn’t really thought about it from your perspective,” admitted Bill. “You always seem so certain.”

“I was certain that it needed to happen. I’d do it again in the same circumstance. Still, I don’t enjoy inflicting pain. I damn sure didn’t want to emotionally cripple Elle for life.”

“You didn’t,” said Bill with utter confidence. “She’s made a lot of progress, but you’ll probably be the last person she figures out how to stand up to.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because, to her, you are the scariest thing in the whole damn universe.”

“I’m really not,” I said. “I’m probably not even the scariest thing in this country.”

Bill shrugged. “It doesn’t seem that way from her perspective. Look, I’m not trying to make you feel bad. I just want you to understand the lay of the land.”

“Fair enough,” I muttered.

It wasn’t like there was some dearth of people and things that lived in fear of my reputation. Elle had seen me in action up close and personal. At least she had legitimate reasons for her fear.

“I thought for sure that your buddy was going to kill her,” said Bill, switching gears. “Guy must have ice water in his veins.”

“Heh. You have no idea. If I didn’t know better, I’d say they planned the whole thing.”

Bill went to say something, but stopped before he got the first syllable out. Elle was walking toward us. She shot Bill a warm smile. She looked at me and the smile died on the vine. I stifled a sigh. Yeah, it was going to be a long road.

“Branch,” she said. “Bill, we need to get going.”

I grunted something about needing to talk to Arjun, so Elle could make good her escape. Once they wandered off holding hands, Eddie stopped skulking by his car and came over. I wondered how it was going to play out. He came to a stop in front of me, but didn’t say anything for long enough that it got uncomfortable.

“So that was embarrassing,” he admitted.

“Yeah, it was. You did have it coming, though.”

“Do you really think so?”

I gave him a serious look. “Don’t you?”

He hemmed and hawed for a little while before copping to it. “Yeah. I mean, I guess I don’t really take Elle that seriously.”

“Why the hell not? She’s better at this than you are, at least in some ways.”

“It also comes a lot easier to her. You know how people are when they don’t have to work at something. They take it for granted. They coast on talent.”

I pondered on that for a little while. He had a point. Talent did have a way of eroding a person’s work ethic. I hadn’t directly observed any evidence of that on Elle’s part, but wasn’t like I saw them all the time. Black Crow might be able to shed some light on the subject. I’d have to ask him about it. I thought back to what Bill had said about how the old Elle had behaved.

“Idle curiosity,” I said. “Is this opinion based on how she is now, or how she was before you all ran into me?”

Eddie opened his mouth, thought hard for a second, and then said, “Oh.”

“I don’t know if she’s changed in that respect. For all I know, you’re right that she’s coasting on talent, but that doesn’t preclude her knowing useful things. Plus, it’s a bad life policy to disrespect people who can probably kick your ass.”

Eddie gaped at me. “Really? You feel like you’re in a position to drop that little nugget of wisdom?”

He wasn’t wrong. I seemed to make it a point to be a jackass to anything powerful enough to kill me. “Yeah, yeah, I know. Do as I say and not as I do. It’s naked hypocrisy on my part.”

“A little bit.”

“I’m still right about it. Don’t use me as a model for a good life. Do better than me, Eddie. You’re a smart guy. Do things the smart way, not the hard way.”

Eddie seemed to consider that and then a cloud passed over his face. “Speaking of the hard way, my mom wants to meet you.”

“Say what, now?”

3

I’d known that the lost sheep had family, in a general sort of way, but I hadn’t anticipated ever meeting any of them. So, like a moron, I’d never really explored the topic. If I had asked more questions, or any questions, I’d have expected Eddie’s mom to want to meet me. She’d been a single mom since he was a small boy, courtesy of a deadbeat dad who only showed up when he needed money. Eddie never used the word overprotective, but it hung in the air like fog. Of course she’d want to meet the person who’d taken on such a central role in her son’s life. What mother wouldn’t?

Knowing any of that ahead of time would have let me prepare lots of excuses for avoiding any such meeting. I don’t like lying and Eddie made it clear that his mom wasn’t in the know about the supernatural. That meant any conversation with her would mean lots and lots of lying. I couldn’t tell her why I had really invested in the lost sheep’s startup. I absolutely couldn’t talk about how we had all crossed paths. So, I’d have to tell some half-truths and some bald faced lies. Then, I’d have to remember them on the off chance I ever crossed paths with Eddie’s mother again. The thought made me tired.

Since I hadn’t ever asked the questions, and therefore had no prepared excuses, I’d gotten roped into meeting the woman. That was how I found myself sitting in a bar and nursing a soda while I waited for her shift to end. I’d claimed a booth in a corner well away from the door and positioned myself so I could watch everything. Mostly I watched Eddie’s mother, Carolyn, as she pulled double duty as a bartender and a waitress.

It was clear she didn’t like the job, but she managed to smile at customers. I wasn’t sure I could have done the same. She was in her fifties, with gray starting to show in her ponytail. She looked careworn, with deep lines around her mouth and bags under her hard, dark eyes. She had the face of someone that life had used badly. I wasn’t relishing the idea of a conversation with her. I didn’t think she’d try to do anything to me, but people who survived hard lives into middle age often developed good bullshit detectors.

After twenty minutes or so of waiting, she took off her little apron and passed the torch to younger woman who cast a jaundiced eye on everyone. The new girl even spared a little of it for me, which seemed unnecessary. Carolyn walked over to the booth, eyed me, eyed the door, and seemed to draw some conclusion. She sat down across from me, pulled out a cigarette and lit it. She stared at me for a long while, like she couldn’t make up her mind about me.

“So you’re him. My Eddie thinks you walk on water,” she said in a way that made it clear she didn’t share that opinion.

“I couldn’t speak to that,” I said in a careful, neutral tone.

“Liar,” she said.

I raised an eyebrow at that and reigned in a surge of reflexive anger. I supposed I could have spoken to it, I just wouldn’t.

“You asked for this meeting,” I said. “Is there something specific you wanted to ask me?”

She took a long drag from her cigarette and then flicked it in the general direction of the ashtray. “Not really. I just wanted a look at you. Can’t tell anything from pictures on a computer.”

“Sorry?”

“People take pictures of your rich girlfriend. You’re in some of them.”

I nodded. Cheryl wasn’t as high profile as Carmichael, but the local paparazzi did take the occasional picture. I was bound to end up in a few. “So, what did you learn from looking at me?”

She shrugged. “What I expected. You’re dangerous.”

There wasn’t any judgment in the words. She was just stating what she saw as a fact. I needed to shut that line of thinking down in a hurry.

“I’m really not.”

“Liar. I know dangerous men. Can’t work here and not know them.”

The whole conversation was annoying me. I couldn’t tell what she was after or expected. I reigned in my emotions again. I wasn’t here to make Eddie’s life harder.

“Why did you expect me to be dangerous?”

“Because I’m not stupid. Eddie was running with a bad lot. I knew it. Nothing I could do about it, but I knew. Kept waiting for the cops to say they found him in a ditch somewhere. Then, all of a sudden, he’s working at some hospital I never heard of. Cleaned up his act. Working his ass off in school. Only thing that’d turn him around like that is fear.”

I said nothing. I said it loudly.

She gave me a bitter smile. “So, I figure he must have bumped into someone really dangerous. Someone scary enough to put the fear of God in my boy. And all he could talk about was you. Branch did this and Branch said that and Branch is investing in our idea.”

Her expression softened a little at that last bit.

“And?” I asked.

“And what? Didn’t need a college degree for that math. You were the new thing. Figured you scared him straight somehow. I guess I owe you something for that.”

It was my turn to give a bitter smile. “But?”

Her face went stony. “Dangerous men get people killed. Eddie is my son. My blood. Not yours. Do you understand that?”

“Of course I understand that.”

“Do you? Do you have any children?”

I managed not to snarl at her, but just barely. “No.”

“Then you don’t understand shit. But maybe you’ll understand this,” she said, standing. “You get my boy killed and I’ll end you.”

She stared at me with her hard eyes, daring me to say something back. I almost did, but then I thought about Eddie and Elle. The universe has a sick sense of irony sometimes. Carolyn waited long enough to see if I’d hang myself with the rope she gave me. When I didn’t, she turned and walked away, her shoulders slumping under the terrible weight of all her fears.

~End~