“I think you Guns are all ready for the basis of advanced Resolve techniques.” Crickett looked between his students. They had all sat in a semicircle around him. “Let’s learn about hand signs.”

  “Oh yeah!” Cal grinned, “Like the Rite of Release.”

  “Indeed.” Nodded the old sage. “In brief, Resolve is conveyed through pathways in our bodies, all starting with the brain. They travel out down our spine and through our extremities. We call these magical capillaries, like the ones which transport blood across your body. They ultimately end in your fingers and toes.”

  Calvin watched as Teddy wiggled his fingers with a grin. He had to look at his own hand.

  “You guys can’t see these pathways, not at your level.” Crickett told them, “But they’re there. It turns out, we can manipulate the flow of Resolve throughout our bodies by fixing up the shape of these pathways to make up different patterns. Everything from the angle of your head, your shoulders, posture, your stance, and especially the orientation of your fingers. They have the most of these capillaries, outside of your brain. Grady studied the Eastern masters while they performed what they call ‘Mudras’ to affect the output of magic within their bodies.”

  “The Gunslinger guy learned this from the East?” Elise piped up, sitting on her broomstick like a chair as it floated behind John. “Like from China?”

  “Yes.” Crickett chuckled, “Our ‘guy’ learned it from Chinese masters of the Taoist arts, though I believe the word Mudra comes from India. I’m not too sure anymore. We call them the Rites, and we develop and cultivate them over time to fit Resolve sorcery, not the Taoist arts. Resolve owes much of its practice to the teachings of the East. The hand signs are one element. First among them that all Six-Guns learn is actually not the Rite of Release.”

  Crickett could tell the boys were confused by the looks on their faces. “Yes, in fact you have already learned the first Rite and use it without knowing.”

  The old sage pulled his pistol from a holster on his hip, the corrupted old model revolver which looked very different from the MD Mark 5 “Obliterator” pistols each of them carried. It was an MD Mark 2 “Vanquisher” model, something rarely seen in the 1930’s. Regardless of how old it was, how corroded it looked, the Gellerite still had the words “Manus Dei” engraved on the barrel. This was still the Hand of God. Seeing it in Crickett’s hand made the hairs stand on Calvin’s neck. He had never been so close to Death incarnate.

  “I try never to draw it at the camp. I like to come down here to practice shooting.” Crickett nodded to them.

  Crickett pointed the gun at a tree and pulled the trigger. The round left the chamber with a resounding crack. With the expertise of decades the sage controlled the recoil of the powerful round such that it was barely perceptible to his students. His finger was still held, the hammer securely lowered.

  “Observe the shape of the hand, three fingers and one thumb curled around the handle.” He gestured with his free hand, still holding the gun straight. “My trigger finger has curled to operate the mechanism. I have performed the Rite of Triggering. When we do this, our Resolve heightens our perception to better observe the trajectory of the bullet, its ballistics, and the effect on target. Normally, you find yourself releasing the trigger as quickly as you pull it. But if you hold it, the effect will persist. It burns just a little more Resolve to stay this way, but it is manageable.”

  Buster tried to imitate holding a pistol, using Comedy to generate an imaginary gun in his hand which only he could see. It was mimery, though his was only a pale shade the real thing. Crickett at once recognized what the Rodeo Clown was up to.

  “Oh.” Buster dismissed the mimed pistol. He focused again on the sage.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “That’s an interesting idea, Buster.” Crickett smiled, “But that won’t work. The Rite of Triggering actually involves more than just your hand. The Gellerite of a Six-Gun weapon conducts Resolve like electricity, and the shape of the pistol in addition to the shape of your hand is required to perform the Rite. Think of it like an extra finger.”

  “Now then, I will teach you the next Rite you should learn. The Rite of Release. This one is easy, and it only takes one hand.” Cricket demonstrated by forming a finger gun with two fingers and a thumb, “Shape it like a pistol, with your pointer, your middle finger, and your thumb. This is the Rite of Release, it forms an appropriate shape to activate your Resolve and increase the output. A lot of Resolve spells use the Rite of Release as a gate to trigger them, they are conditional, with the Rite of Release as a requirement. However, on its own the Release will kick up more power into your Resolve Stalls, improve your Lanes, and generally allow you to access more of your magic faster. Go on and try this one, youngins.”

  John made the sign, attempting how he had seen his brothers do it. They used the offhand, freeing up the pistol hand, and kept the fingers pointed up in front of their face. He could feel the Rite activate his Resolve. The rush of power was startling, but comfortable. He felt like he had more control of his body, and could see a lot farther along the currents of magic. However, he could tell he was burning through more of his Resolve in a shorter period of time. He let off the hand sign, returning to his normal output.

  “I think I’d only use it in the moment I need to.” He looked back to Crickett.

  The sage nodded, running a hand through his beard. “This is how Grady did it back in the day. Proper budgeting of your Resolve will keep you in the fight long enough to outlast your quarry. I seen too many youngins burn themselves out and get gored by a Dire Boar or a Corn Fiend.”

  With a new tool in his belt, John felt more confident than he had in a long time. He wasn’t tired from the race, a testament to how well their conditioning was going. He had sense enough to tell how much Resolve he had left and act accordingly. He could shoot quick enough to blow apart a falling tree branch, and he could interpret Critical Moments fast enough to avoid explosive fireballs bombarding him. John had to admit, he was feeling much stronger as a sorcerer-gunslinger now.

  He looked to Calvin, practicing the Rite of Release with a smirk. John couldn’t fight a smile. Calvin had been there right next to him, learning all of this and improving. He recognized that he had been cold to the young Baird, horrible at times, but Calvin had stuck through it next to him until now. Growing up in a massive mansion, the member of a renowned family in the Posse, had not afforded little Johnny many friends. His mother had been there to play with him and keep him company. No friends, though, no boys of a similar age whom he could relate to. John let himself believe that he had finally made a true friend in Calvin. He could see a lot of anger and shame in Calvin’s eyes, at times when he knew Calvin wanted nobody to look. He felt at last that there was somebody who could understand his struggles with himself. He wondered if he could understand Calvin’s struggles.

  “Hey, uh, John…” Elise’s voice was soft, cutting through his contemplation.

  “Yeah? What’s up?” He turned to her, still smiling. He was in a good mood, and even Elise’s attitude couldn’t ruin it.

  “Some of the girls were talking.” She rubbed her neck nervously, “I don’t really care, but I was just wondering you know.”

  John found this uncharacteristic of her. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah anyways,” Elise struggled to connect her thoughts in a straight line, “I don’t know if you like this kind of stuff so I don’t know why I’m asking. I don’t like these things really, but we got a Pact and all so I figured I oughta ask.”

  “Elise.” John quickly found himself confused. His tone became firm. “What are you talking about?”

  “The Fall Dance.” She blurted, almost unwilling to speak the words. “Are… we going?”

  “Fall Dance. What?” John had no idea.

  “Yeah the Barn Fire, man.” Teddy butt in, “It’s next Saturday night. I was wondering about that too. We’re all going, right?” he looked to the group.

  Eugene looked to Dorene, who smiled. He nodded to them. After a moment, Esteban gave a nod as well.

  “Yeah. We’re going.” Esteban smiled. “If Smallmouth will let us.”

  “I think we should ask Logan.” Mavis grinned, “I would LOVE to go, my mom says it’s a huge event every year.”

  “Yeah they do it at the start of the fall season.” Calvin told John, “I haven’t been yet, it’s for pistol-carrying Guns. I hear it’s awesome. Sometimes they call it the Barn Fire, on account of one year a long time ago the barn caught on fire during the Dance. I thought that was funny.” He let out a chuckle.

  Crickett smiled, “I think you whipper-snappers ought to go. You only get one youth, after all. I think we can spare a single night of training.”