Tannis Bram

[Jewomie]

Hey everyone, long time no see!

I haven't really done much with Malifaux in a few months due to college and promotions at work, and moving... you know how life gets!

Anyway, i have made a goal for myself to write a story each month for the year. Here we are in January and i am well on my way to finishing one, and since it is kind of set in Malifaux, i thought who better to show it to than you guys?

This is the fist time i have posted my work, so go easy on me? haha

(also, to avoid issues since this is ultimately for a portfolio i have avoided all the common phrases one would expect in a Malifaux story, but it isn't hard to tell where i've set this story.

I'd love some feedback!

without further ranting, here is part one.

Tannis Bram sat with his feet up on the guard-rail. The old rocking chair he occupied creaked and moaned as it moved across the boards of the terrace. He watched the sun slowly begin its descent toward the horizon, awed by the brilliant pink and red hue of the sky. From up here, the sunset would light the entire valley with its beauty, and Tannis loved every second of the view. The crimson light washed over the rooftops of the small mining village below. A tower of smoke billowed out from one of the buildings, obviously the refining facility. The black soot rose up like a colossal serpent in the sky. Tannis had never worked in the mines and had no idea what went on in the plant, but every evening the black worm would begin to appear again, stretching out above the town. The town was modest at best. Maybe five hundred people remained this far out from the rest of civilization. Most were convicts looking to escape either the law or their past, while others were here trying to make an honest living with their families. Tannis often worried about the latter group bringing their children to this place full of scoundrels.

Tannis looked down at his companion who had passed out on the floor next to him. The old dog was asleep, snoring and drooling all over the wood floor. Bowler was an old hound, born to a couple stray mutts. He was the weakest of the litter, yet Tannis did not have the heart to put it down. Instead he kept it for himself and trained it to track people. Bowler and Bram was the name of his business, they found missing people, and they were the best at their job.

As the sun finally vanished behind the western mountains, Tannis grabbed his duster and threw it over his shoulders. He gave the dog a nudge with the toe of his boot to wake him.

“Come on boy, gotta catch the train tonight.” He spoke in a gruff and weathered tone. It was the tone of a man who had been to war, of a man who had seen and done horrible things both for the good of his country, and for the evil men who now ruled it.

He opened his revolver and carefully loaded it. He had spent the afternoon cleaning the gun, and took a moment to admire his work in the low light from the fire. After a moment he holstered the weapon tucking it out of sight behind coat, and grabbed his walking stick and his hat. The dog hardly moved until Tannis took a step toward the door. Then Bowler jumped up and stood right at his master’s side. The pair made their way down the road to the train station.

A large billboard stood right before the station that read, “Welcome to MT104” an acronym for “Mining Town One Hundred and Four” most people, however, referred to this town as Redtown because the mining union in this area always wore red uniforms. Twice a day, both morning and evening while the workers were out and about, the entire population appears to be wearing red. The station was just on the edge of town and the electrical wires didn’t run this far out, so the billboard was light with lanterns and mirrors, as was the interior.

“Plenty of shadows to hide in at this hour” Tannis thought to himself as they made their way to the door. He eyed the man standing at the front door analyzing him in case he needed to find an alternate means in. He looked over the man as he neared. “Pressed uniform, sweat under the armpit; he is wringing his hands together. The trembling lip gave it away. He was new here.” Tannis smiled at him and spoke,” Evenin, your first day?” He tipped the brim of his hat at the boy.

“Yessir” he spoke quickly. “P-p-picking someone up?” The boy stuttered, Tannis could not tell if he was nervous, or just had an impediment.

“Yes and hopefully not another psychotic!” Tannis joked, but the clerk looked even more frightened, eyes bulging at the thought. He opened the door for Mr. Bram and his dog quickly followed.

The room was large; several rows of benches filled the main floor leaving only narrow walkways to traverse the area. He scanned the crowd looking for someone out of place. Platform three was the destination and though there were few people awaiting their ride, any of them could be the latest batch of the governor’s spies. He mapped out the longest route to his platform, hoping that if someone had come looking for a fight, they would get it before he met his guest. The governor did not appreciate nor approve of his line of work. He much preferred to have his minions handle these things, however their success rate was abysmal at best, leading Tannis to the thought that if you went missing in this country, you were not supposed to be found.

To add to his secrecy, he leaned on the walking cane as though he needed it to walk. Most every man in Redtown had mining injuries or old war wounds that crippled them and Tannis stood out when he walked without pain. He made his way toward the first platform eyeing the crowd as they boarded the train. No one seemed to notice or care about his presence. He slipped past them with little effort. There was no train at the second platform so a small gathering had settled while they waited. Most of the people sat lazily in the benches, it was getting late and a few had dozed off. Tannis thought to himself that his apprehension may have been for nothing. He limped his way across to platform three on the other side of the station.

Bowler trotted next to Tannis at a steady pace, sniffing the air. Most of the enforcers spent time around the Governor or members of his cabinet so they all smelled of perfume making them easy for the hound to spot, even in a crowd. Tannis eyed his hound, looking for any subtle sign that the enforcers might be around; nothing yet.

He took a seat in the third row of benches as close to the outer wall as he could. In the distance he could see the light from the front of the train. It would be here soon, and he could get out of this place. He hated being anywhere the Governor controlled. His rule was elitist and iron fisted, he was corrupted in every sense of the word. After the second civil war, the Governor’s party had become a superpower, infesting most of the cabinet and had plants in many of the other party’s high ranking posts. President Adlai Stevenson’s final move was to appoint one supreme post governing the entire country. The Governor’s plans had finally been unveiled, now running the country as a monarchy and creating laws on a whim while making sure anyone who opposes him is quickly silenced.

Tannis checked his pocket watch for the time as the train pulled into the station. It was ten o’ clock on the dot when the door to the passenger car opened. An attendant stepped out first, followed quickly by a handful of people. No one seemed to stand out to Tannins. He looked over each person who departed the train. The first was an older man, his hands rough and twisted, wrinkles lined his eyes. Tannis figured him for a former miner. The next was a young woman. Too young to be the first man’s wife, but she followed him as he claimed his luggage from the attendant. Probably his daughter, but not who he was waiting for. The third person to exit the train was a tall man with a red and gold uniform. Tannis felt a shiver run down his back. He could see the tension well up in Bowler as well. This was a peacekeeper. The only people allowed to openly carry their weapons; he wore two large black pistols on each hip, plus a sabre. His black hair was greased straight back and his dark eyes scanned the crowd. Tannis tilted his head so his hat covered his eyes. He knew that he could handle a fight, but wanted to avoid it if possible. He was looking for a job, not another bout with the “law”.

Tannis peaked at the fourth person to depart. Then the fifth and sixth, but no one of note showed until the last person had exited the car. The last person off was a young woman. She wore a black and maroon dress with a matching bonnet. A black veil hid her face, but Tannis could see she was fair skinned, cute features, but the obvious lines of crying and mourning littered her face. She was the one he was waiting for.

He watched her as she looked around. They had never met and she did not know anything other than when he would be there. His last telegraph gave specific instructions on when to arrive and where to wait. He watched her from the bench waiting on her to sit in the second row as she was told. Tannis also eyed the peacekeeper as he strolled across the room like he owned the place. He rested his hands on the handle of the first row of pistols, walking up and down each aisle. Tannis would not approach the woman until this vulture had moved on. There was no sense in bringing his problems onto the shoulders of this woman.

Tannis could see the woman looking around nervously as though she had been stood up. Twenty minutes passed and the Peacekeeper was still circling the area. Tannis was unsure if the man knew he would be there or was simply looking for a fight, but he had not checked on the woman since their arrival.

Seeing the Peacekeeper making his way down to the other side of the room, Tannis decided to head toward the woman in black. He stood up and without a moment to spare, the Peacekeeper looked right at him.

“Damnit” Tannis cursed under his breath. He could feel Bowler tense up and the Peacekeeper began to make his way to the pair.

The woman also looked up noticing Tannis had started to walk toward her. She looked right at him as the approached, but Tannis showed no sign of slowing down and did not even look at her. As he walked past her, he whispered

“Backdoor, five minutes.”

The Peacekeeper now was obviously in pursuit of Tannis now. Mr. Bram headed for the front door that he entered from, walking outside he passed the boy again who shouted after him.

“Did you find your friend?” he yelled as though they were old acquaintances

“And then some” Bram quipped as the Peacekeeper came through the door.

“You sir!” the man in red shouted. “In the name of The Governor, STOP!” But Tannis did not even break is stride and the Peacekeeper drew his left side pistol. “I will fire!”

Letting out an apparent sigh Tannis raised his left hand and clutched the walking cane in the other as he turned around looking surprised. “M-me, sir?” he gestured to himself.

The Peacekeeper walked up to Tannis, gun in hand and ready for an altercation. He was a tall man, clearly over six feet, and easily weighing three hundred pounds. This man was a giant to Tannis Bram’s modest five foot ten- two hundred pound body. He would have to use speed and confusion to throw him off and then use his weight to throw the Peacekeeper off his footing. His gun would be too loud, it would definitely attract unwanted attention to him, and a body would only seal his fate. However, dazed or not, he could not have a peacekeeper walking around that had seen his face.

Bram looked down at his dog that had started to bark catching onto the scent of perfume. “Easy boy.” He said as reassuringly as possible. The dog immediately went quiet and sat at his feet.

The moonlight lent just enough visibility that Tannis could plan his attack. He looked over the Peacekeeper as he approached and formulated his design. He would start by kicking the hand holding the pistol and throwing a quick punch into his stomach. This would instigate retaliation as the officer would then move to draw his sabre placing one hand on the scabbard and the other on the handle; with both hands occupied he could swing the cane, once into his throat and again into the back of his right knee. He is thick though so the cane would most likely break, but he will fall to one knee and grasp his neck. Tannis would then be behind him, waiting for the assailant to draw a second pistol. Reaching around the belt, Tannis would draw the third and fourth firearms while Bowler would attach himself to the hand holding the second. The dog has a knack for disarming his foe, so the man would now be completely unarmed. Cupping his hands he would smash in the ears of the Peacekeeper disorienting him. He would stand and turn to face Tannis, though now he is off balance. A solid right hook could be caught and pulled while placing his knee right into the attacker’s chest breaking several ribs possibly puncturing his lungs. There would be little to no chance he would be able to continue the fight.

Then as though he were simply following a dance, Tannis unleashed his strategy. Moment for moment, his plan flowed exactly as he expected. Every punch and kick landed in its place. The Peacekeeper clutched his throat as Tannis removed the weapons, and stunned him. Seconds later he found himself standing over the agent, now half dead and gasping for breath.

“This isn’t going to end well for us.” Tannis said to his hound. “But you already know that, don’t ya?” The dog looked up at him and whimpered in agreement. “Well, at this point one more blood soaked Peacekeeper on our record ain’t going to hurt us any worse.”

Tannis searched him for some kind of identification, and found his tag tied around his neck. For some, the identification tag is a trophy, but Bram did not like to keep them, but he enjoyed the inconvenience it caused the governor’s men when they lost them. He took the tag with him for now, planning on throwing it onto one of the trains as it left. Turing back toward the train station he looked down at his companion, “Let’s go get our lady, eh?”