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"Why?" Nix de this?"

Preacher Jack drove the tip of Benny’s bokken into the soft ground and leaned on it, laying one cheek against the polished hardwood "Now that’s a wonderful question, little girl Why indeed? Why did I come out of ‘retirement’? Until December of last year I was content to tend toto the Children of Lazarus"

"Zo the word to wipe the smile off Preacher Jack’syour enemy Did Tom teach you that? Or is it your own natural sinfulness that leads you to insult a servant of God? No … don’t answer, boy, because if I hear that word coue and nail it to your forehead Don’t think I’, little Benjamin, ’cause it wouldn’t be the first tiue of a sinner Ain’t that right, boys?"

"A

Preacher Jack nodded approval "When word came to me that Tom Imura had murdered Charlie Matthias and Marion Ha me to do other work"

"Tom didn’t murder anyone!" declared Nix "Charlie Pink-eye was the irl I believe you’d find it hard to speak lies with your lips sewn shut"

Nix spat at him Benny tensed, ready to throw himself between Nix and Preacher Jack’s retaliation, but the preacher hed and wiped the spittle from the lapels of his dusty black coat He shook his head, and his smile dim up sins in the storehouse of the Lord," he said softly "You speak ill of Charlie, but he was a good ood to his family, and a role model for everyone in these troubled, troubled times Stupid and sinful people can’t see past their own inadequacies to understand the difficult choices a man like Charlie has to make in order to protect what’s his" He closed his eyes for a moment "To know that the man who murdered him still walks this earth is like a splinter inthe Matthias fa with authorized trade, and now he’s a bloody-handed ht better of it Fro about his horrible threats He briefly wondered if there was any value in telling Preacher Jack that Charlie ht still alive, that he’d seen hiue

"I’ve seen Tom’s type in a hundred places around the world," said the preacher "Before First Night, before I heard the calling of the Lord that directed me to my sacred purpose, I was a different man More like Charlie and White Bear You see, I was a soldier once A special operator, though I don’t suppose that label ’uns I servedoperations in Africa and Asia, in the Middle East and South Ahteous ones, the hard ones Heartbreakers and life takers" He sighed "Then things got … coulations imposed on the military So me and a bunch of my brothers in arms went private We became contractors"

"You mean mercenaries," sneered Nix

"I’irl Mercs or contractors, it’s all the same … we served the best interests of the Aain "Surely you didn’t think I learned to handleI was a saint because I was loyal to flag and country Nope, I won’t spit that lie into the wind Truth to tell, I was a sinner back then, I’ll admit it and testify my sins, and yet still on the side of the white hats Still proud to be an American, no matter where I was or on what piece of backwater land I stood" He leaned closer "Then caht Ah … that was the miracle that opened the eyes of this poor sinner The dead rose to claim the earth Those who had been left to decay into dust rose instead and clai The Children of Lazarus rose, and in their purity they showed us the errors of our ways Our sinfulness was revealed That’s when I changedfrom the Good Book"

Benny found his voice and very quietly asked, "If you’re so holy, then explain Gaed "This world may be paradise for the Children of Lazarus, but to snot-nosed little sinners like you … this world is hell How’s that for a cos out here in the Rot and Ruin, and the two of ’eht consider thement As for Gameland … noould be God’s own truth to say that Gae your sins"

"By fighting z--" Benny caught hi the dead in pits?"

Preacher Jack nodded "When a person faces one of the Children, both are being tested for their worthiness If the Child wins, then it has shown that God’s power is alive within it, even though the vessel is dead … and the sinner hi as he joins the Children If the sinner wins, then by God he’s just shown that he isdown one of the Children he has removed imperfection from the holy landscape"

What a bunch of crap Benny’s inner voice yelled it, and he almost said it aloud, but he knew that those would be the last words he would speak He wondered if the old a that he’d earned the right by helping to establish the trade routes that kept the towns alive Was this lance at Nix The bleeding had slowed, but her eyes ith hatred and terror It hts burned in his own eyes Aloud Benny said, "What are you going to do with us?"

"I think we all know the answer to that question Purgatory awaits all sinners" Preacher Jack rose and nodded to histhem"

63

LILAH FELL ASLEEP WITH THE CAT IN HER ARMS AND WOKE TO FIND HERSELF alone She looked out theand saw the Green at a picnic table outside The oldin the doorway, smiled, and bent over his work once more Lilah came tentatively out of the house and stood on the far side of the picnic table, watching him The table was covered with bowls of herbs and leaves, bunches of flowers, a small flower press, and piles of pine-cones and other itenize There were various tools around Knives, a cheese grater, carving tools, sewing stuff, wire, and cutters

"If you need to use the bathroo up, "there’s an outhouse behind that row of pines"

Lilah drifted away and came back in a few minutes When she did, she found a fresh cup of tea at the far end of the table The Green nuts into a small wooden bowl He paused and pushed a bowl of water, a bunch of flowers, and a pair of tweezers to within her reach, always careful not to et too close

"If you want to help," he said, "I’ll tell you how"

Lilah looked at the flowers and then at him She nodded

"Use the tweezers to remove each petal and place it in the water Let it float Be careful not to get your skin oil on the petals We want them pure Once you fill the boe’ll cover it with cheesecloth and set it out in the sunshine for four hours We have that h a coffee filter into some jars I’ll add a little brandy, and we’ll set it in my root cellar"

"Why?" It was the first word she had spoken in hours

"We’re ens" He nodded to the thick bunch of large purple floith yellow centers "It’s very rare for those to bloom this early Usually don’t see them until June or later, but we needed it now and nature provided Funny … but I didn’t knohy I picked them yesterday Now I understand"

"What is it for?"

The Greenman smiled His face was heavily lined, but when he smiled, all those creases conspired to e, Lilah," he said

Lilah tensed "You know my name?"

"Everyone in these hills knows your name," he said "Lilah, the Lost Girl You’re fa down Charlie Pinkeye and the Hammer"

She shook her head