Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
My spine stiffened. I knew where this was going.
“While the well workers were digging, they found diamonds,” my dad continued. “They didn’t know what they had. No education. Most of them didn’t know how to read. They just found these shiny rocks that kept getting in the way of the digging, and brought it to the boss. Asked him what he wanted to do with them.”
“And,” Legend pressed when he stopped. “What did he do?”
“He shut down his factory and fired half his workforce. Those that remained had a new job.”
“Mining for diamonds,” I finished.
“Yes.”
Ivy picked up the thread. “The owner didn’t want anyone to know. Everywhere they dug, they just kept finding more, and more, and more. He was the wealthiest man in the entire United fucking States, and he wasn’t sharing. Why should he? It was all his free, clear, and legal. He owned the land. He could do what he wanted with it.
“But his miners,” she said. “They may have been illiterate, but they weren’t stupid. They figured out pretty quickly they wouldn’t be doing this back-breaking work if they were just digging up some shiny rocks. One night, a couple of the men snuck out of the bunkhouses, rode to the next town, and asked around. What is this thing? How much is it worth?
“The minute they got their answer, the tide turned for the owner.”
“They killed him,” I stated. “Made off with as much as they could get.”
She shook her head. “I’m sure a few did run off, but remember, illiterate. Not stupid. A group banded together and came up with another idea. They informed the owner the secret was out, and things would be done a little differently from then on.
“If he didn’t want the whole world finding out what he was sitting on, he had to promote them and give them a cut of the haul. If word ever got out, every fortune-seeker in the country would descend on this part of the world like locusts. It’d be the gold rush all over again, except he and his sweet little family would become targets. Couldn’t claim the land and everything from it was his... if he was dead.”
“What deal did they propose?” Jacques asked.
“They’d help him. They would oversee the workers—keep them mining and keep them quiet. Anyone who stepped out of line or even had the thought of slipping a little extra into his pocket, would be caught and subjected to their swift and quiet justice. It wasn’t like they could bring the thieves before a real judge and have them admit what they stole.”
Roan’s eyes widened. “Oh, shit. Are you saying...?”
Ivy nodded. A connection was just made that I was clearly missing.
“What? What is it?” I demanded.
“That group of men,” Roan said, eyes unfocusing. “That said they’d oversee the workers. Watch them. Punish them. Run the unofficial, private town under their own brand of justice.
“They were the Men of Honor.”
“Yes,” Dad whispered. “Yes.”
“No wonder they gave themselves that name.” The mattress dipped under Ivy’s weight. “They probably did see themselves as honorable, because they didn’t do what they could’ve done, and run off in the night with a cart of this man’s diamonds. They stayed to work with him. Help him protect his land and secret.
“For a time, Crystal Canyon prospered. The weapons factory reopened. Families returned to live in the area. They went to school. They worked in their shops where they were paid well and lived well. If the trade-off was steering clear of the Men of Honor, and not asking questions about what went on in the mines—fine with them. At first. Of course we all know how the story ultimately ended.”
“The power and wealth went straight to their empty heads,” I said. “They started terrorizing the people, believing they could do whatever they wanted to the serfs within their kingdom.”
Dad glanced at the water. Ivy reached for it, but I was there first, helping him drink. She wasn’t going near the guy again until this story was finished.
“We know the story, so I won’t repeat it,” Dad went on. “The town people rose up. They slaughtered the Men, their family, and the owner, Amadeo de Souza.”
Our heads swung to Ivy—the calm and silent figure at the end of the bed. She gave us what would’ve passed for a smile, if it reached her eyes. “Surprise, boys. I’m the direct descendant of the owner of Bedlam.”
“And that,” Dad said, “is how we got here.”
“I don’t understand.” I backed away, eyeing her through slitted lids. “Her great-great-great grandpa owned the land. What’s that matter? Bedlam is a town now. Our mothers run it.”
“But it isn’t,” she said, “and they don’t.”
Arsenio came in, moving in front of her. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“Bedlam is unincorporated.” Dad tried again to sit up. “It never became a real town because the threat of ripping up the land, and throwing off the people that had come to live on its back, was a threat that always hung over the Society of Sisters’ heads.”