The Sword & The Gun

By John J. Law

Billy knew this would be no ordinary training course, and he would need all his reflexes and skills to get past it.
This training course was designed to test his skills to the limit, and he had to pass it. It was the only way he would be able to return home, and exact justice.
This one thought and the painful memories that preceded it, would have to be enough for Billy to carry him through the grueling course. Billy gritted his teeth and focused on the task at hand.
He had to make it this time.
He couldn't fail anymore.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J.C. Hulsey Books
• Release date: Dec 9, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223047933

Book preview

Prologue: The Scarecrows.

Focus, Billy. Focus!

The stone platforms across Billy was easily 6 feet across, perhaps it was even wider. The jumps across the platforms would be made even more difficult as the platforms moved up and down in a strange rhythm. It would be harder to gauge the distance to leap across, considering their movement and the exertion it would take to jump. One missed jump, and Billy would probably get sores and bruises all over. He knew this first hand, as he had already previously failed the course. Billy knew that this would be no ordinary training course, and he would need all his reflexes and skills to get past it. This training course was designed to test his skills to the limit, and he had to pass it. It was the only way he would be able to return home, and exact justice. This one thought and the painful memories that preceded it, would have to be enough for Billy to carry him through the grueling course. Billy gritted his teeth and focused on the task at hand. He had to make it this time. He couldn't fail anymore.

As the stone platforms shifted, they made a loud grating noise on the ground. Countless nights of meditation with the old Zaito had given him the presence of mind to detect little nuances like that. Little nuances that he would never have noticed before. Billy paused and pondered just for a moment how many long nights he had spent meditating with the old man. It was quite amazing actually. He couldn't believe that no one back home in the West ever thought of meditating, considering all the quiet time they had out in the dusty plains, or in the fields. He and his compatriots really could learn a lot from Eastern men like Zaito. Perhaps he could actually find it in his heart to teach his countrymen the things he learned from Zaito in this faraway land. Perhaps, once justice had been served.

It was these little abilities that Billy had learned that had ultimately shaped him into the man he had now become. The only question in his mind was, would that man be able to stand up to all the evils that awaited him back home? This obstacle course would be the first test of that.

Billy moved forward, using the sound of the grating pillars to gauge just when they would ascend or descend. The first jump to the first shifting platform was quite far, and Billy sprung to action. His legs carried him far, and it was an impressive jump. Only, it was not enough.

Billy landed on the edge of the pillar hard, just as it rose. If he had mistimed the jump he might have been too short or he could have overstepped it. Regardless, he made it to the pillar, albeit, in a very painful fashion. His face slammed onto the stone just as