May, 1938

  Billy Baird’s son sat at a desk in the classroom, at the Smoky Mountain Sanctuary. His boot heel tapped the floorboard as he fidgeted impatiently. He had just about outgrown his assigned desk in the years he had spent learning his school subjects and he was itching to get out and actually study under his new mentor. That night would be the night he would be assigned a mentor Gun, who would take him to get his pistol made.

  The Six-Gun’s true weapon was his mind, the Sanctuary had drilled this into Calvin for four years. This was the reason he had sat in that slowly shrinking classroom desk, carving little doodles into its wood top, listening to plaid-shirted teachers lecture about English, math and science. Calvin had come to accept this fact, but it did not change his enthusiasm for the pistol; that glorious six-chambered wheel gun that gave every member of Grady’s Posse their name. Every Six-Gun was taken on the day he turned sixteen to get his very own pistol made. This was to be their first handgun, one they would carry with them for the rest of their lives if possible. They would be buried with the gun, unless they had some obligation to pass it on to a brother. Calvin’s sixteenth birthday was currently going about as he could imagine, being that he had to be in school for the first half of the day.

  “So, let’s recap the suits again, shall we?” The hefty Plaidshirt woman at the front of the classroom smiled. The class was full of students around Calvin’s age. Each classroom in the school building housed a group of students who received education together. That same room would be used for the duration of their stay, as opposed to switching classes. It was done this way because children of all ages entered the Sanctuary at different times and they could reliably keep track of those who were on the grounds if they always reported to the same room. The teacher in plaid turned to the long chalkboard and drew three symbols; one heart, one diamond, and one club, as they appeared on the playing cards the Guns carried with them.

  “Each of you was assigned one of these suits. I know it must have been confusing for you, as we never really taught you what the suits and the cards even mean.” She giggled, “But now is the time in your life where you will have to go out and ride for Grady’s Posse. As such, it’s only fair that you are taught the nature of Resolve.

  This lecture caught Calvin’s attention. His emerald greens leveled on the teacher now, focused on her words. He remembered being assigned his card, the Two of Clubs. Lou Cobb had told him his father was a Club as well. Since that day, over four years ago, Cal had wondered what that could have meant. Through his onerous chores and physical labor on the Sanctuary, he still thought of it. Through the bruises and callouses of horsemanship as he learned to ride and keep the equine partners of the Six-Guns, he still thought of it. Through the lonely nights in the bunkhouse without Lou Cobb around to talk to him, he still thought of it. Calvin had been singularly focused on finding out what made him close to his father. It was the only thing of his Pa he really had to cling to.

  Calvin’s father had never come to visit him, in the four years since his mother was killed. Neither had Calvin received a letter or a package, a birthday or Christmas gift. Nothing. It seemed to Calvin as if his father were dead. Many spoke highly of the great Billy Baird and all he was capable of. But the great Billy Baird never appeared. At times Cal wanted to feel more melancholy about this, to brood and be pitied, but he couldn’t live so dramatically. Billy Baird abandoned his son a long time ago, before Calvin lost his mother and took the oath of the Six-Gun.

  The teacher continued. “Gunslinger Grady recognized early on that Resolve takes three distinct forms. Three different magical natures which spin and churn together.”

  She drew three comet-looking nodes on the chalkboard, positioned in a wheel to indicate their perpetual motion.

  “Grady broke those natures down into terms he and his posse could easily understand. Hearts, representing a compassion and willingness to help others. Resolve of this type is dispositioned towards a defensive mindset. Every Six-Gun helps people, of course. This is our mission. But Hearts have a greater tendency to learn Resolve techniques geared towards protection and connection with the creatures of this world. You will find a great number of Hearts at strongholds like this one or in towns keeping watch for negative forces.”

  Cal thought of Lou Cobb, an Ace of Hearts. Lou had mostly been gone in the time Calvin had been there, but he still thought of him as a warm, kind man. He remembered feeling Lou’s strong Resolve. He knew by the feel of it that he was safe with Lou, who would protect him at any cost. After all, it was Lou who saved his life in the first place.

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  “Next is Diamonds.” She pointed to the diamond on the board, “Diamonds represent the aggressive mindset of the gunfighter, focused on taking down threats. A Diamond is a Gun who goes for the kill first, taking satisfaction in overcoming enemies. They more easily learn offensive Resolve Techniques, and typically draw more power from alchemical substances than others. You will find many Diamonds out on the road hunting and eliminating the terrible monsters that plague the Earth.”

  Tapping his chin, Cal searched for any Diamonds in his mind. He hadn’t actually interacted with too many genuine Six-Guns in his time in the Smokies. Mostly he learned from Plaidshirts, who gave him his chores and taught him to ride. One did eventually come to mind, Old George, the Ten of Diamonds who trained the boys in physical fitness. Old George battered the boys with long hikes up and down the mountains. He forced them to carry large logs as they did. His favorite torture method was the Tire Flip, where he made the boys flip a massive tractor tire laying on its side, up and down the road. The old man, his own physique rippling with great ropes of muscle, took joy in the progress of his boys as he ran them ragged.

  “Now, the Clubs.” The voice of the teacher once again pulled Cal out of his head, “The Clubs represent a mindset which looks inwards to oneself, focusing on what is and what isn’t. Clubs possess a tendency to learn and develop themselves, they learn a wider range of Resolve techniques than the other two suits, and their techniques favor the manipulation of self. Clubs manifest more rarely than the others, and they can have a rough time starting out, but they tend to do very well if they are allowed to properly grow. You may have a hard time bumping into Clubs, but you will most likely find them researching in our Sanctuary laboratories, or studying with the Covens if they are allowed.”

  Cal found himself a little disappointed in the explanation on the Clubs, though there wasn’t much she could have said that would have satisfied him. He needed to understand things she could not teach. Deflated, he hunched over his little desk.

  The teacher cleared her throat and ran a hand through her hair, “Now those are the three kinds of magic that make up Resolve. A person is born with a predisposition to one of the three, they get it from their parents. As they spin together, one dominates the other three, becoming the primary source of magic that we pull from when we enter a Resolute state. Everyone has all three of these, but each person has one type that makes up the majority of their Resolve. A reading of the palms determines this, and we have our suits.”

  “But Miss Alice! The intrepid young Gun amongst you may say,” She giggled, “Theres four suits, not three! What about Spades? Well, I’ll tell you, my hypothetical little man.”

  She drew a spade symbol on the chalkboard, “Spades are not a separate type of magical energy, like the first three. When a Six-Gun has become such an elite force in the Posse such that there is a substantial distance between his abilities and the average Ace within his suit, he is granted a Spades card. He begins at Two of Spades, just as you are all Twos, and progresses up from there. At that level, the differentiation between the three sources of magic is irrelevant. Each Spade is a powerhouse unto himself. And an Ace of Spades represents the very pinnacle of what a member of Grady’s Posse can achieve. You will most likely never meet an Ace of Spades in your life, but you have already met a Spade! Our very Foreman Deadeye Rand is a Four of Spades!”

  Calvin did know this, everybody did. He remembered when he had first arrived, the Foreman was a Three of Spades. Staring at the Spade symbol on the board, Cal wondered what a person had to do to progress in rank at that level, and who decided such things. Rand was the highest of the high there in the Smokies, Cal couldn’t think of who would have the authority to promote him from Three to Four.

  “Well, I know Mr. Baird is probably itching to leave today” Miss Alice smiled, her hands clasped in front of her, “It’s his birthday! He will be leaving us. So we will call the class here.”

  Calvin felt all the eyes on him, his face flushing. Exposed, he shrunk in his seat. His embarrassment was unwarranted, as most of the students were already getting up to leave.

  “Well good on ya, Cal!” The boy next to him punched his shoulder playfully, “I’m right after you. Next month!”

  Calvin smiled a bit, “Yeah, thanks Teddy… I’m ready to get my gun.”

  “Do NOT even talk to me about it! I’m itching for the trigger!” Teddy laughed. “You ready for the Trial?”

  “I think I am, yeah.”

  “I’m not gonna lie, I’m definitely shitting bricks over it.” Teddy shook his head.

  “Language, Mr. Rennick.” Their teacher huffed from her desk at the front of the room.

  Teddy rubbed his neck, now catching a bout of Calvin’s nerves, “Oh, well I’m sorry Miss Alice. I won’t let it happen again.”

  “You better not!” Miss Alice ran a file along her nails, “There’s plenty a Six-Gun walking around here with a mouth that could knock you down. We don’t need more.”

  The two boys left the classroom, passing the other classes where smaller students learned their times tables and prepositions. Stopping outside the building, they took in the muggy May air.