San Angelo, A Short Story of Open Wounds

By M. K. Dreysen

Way out west, where the wild wind blows,
A young woman has been told it's time for her to go out and make her way in
the world. When Megan finds Tony D'ags, a Righteous Man whose job is to
protect and champion plain folk when they seek justice in the Empire,
she doesn't know just what she's gotten herself into. Her mentor seems like
such a simple man, and his crew a funny collection of misfits brought together
from all corners of the world.

Their first night in San Angelo, Megan finds out that Tony, his crew, and now
Megan herself, have greater responsibilities than political representation.
They owe their lives to their hosts, and there are bandits out there ready to
take them.

So tonight, eating food given to them in joy, playing with children and
listening to the elders list their complaints to her mentor, Megan learns the
first lesson of being a paladin.

What do you do, when the wolves on two legs come howling? What do you do when
men who are more animal than not decide they're after the children you
protect, and they'll do anything to get them? Where do you stand?

San Angelo is the first in a series of shorter works set in M.K. Dreysen's
Open Wounds Universe. Here, Megan meets Tony D'ags and begins learning
what the Empire means to people who don't have a position in it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: M. K. Dreysen
• Release date: Feb 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370149001

Book preview

San Angelo, A Short Story of Open Wounds

Open Wounds Short Stories 1

By M. K. Dreysen

Copyright © 2017 M. K. Dreysen

Aimward Drift Publications. Visit aimwarddrift.blogspot.com for news, updates, and upcoming stories.

Dedication

To all my family and friends.

But most especially for my wife and daughter, with all my love.

There was a time when Tony D'ags was a Righteous man. I have to remind myself of that, occasionally. In that time and place, it meant he was the voice of the Empire, insuring the people on the fringes of the Empire had an advocate to the Courts.

Mostly, the little troublemaker was as far from anywhere as he could be sent. None of the powerful wanted an honest man to find out just how the native tribes and their neighbors were being used.

He still managed to find a way to get us into trouble. Even out on the ass end of nowhere, Tony D'ags could always find a way to make sure that we had more than we knew what to do with. Native talent, I think.

Tony gathered our little crew of misfits from across the Americas. Brother Charles was from somewhere in the Caribbean. There was something about an arranged marriage, and an older brother we were supposed to keep an eye out for. Absinthe claimed to be