Chapter 21

At Fisherman’s Nook in Dezi, Ryall Connors ambushes Georg, a deft card cheat, by dunking and knifepoint intimidation. He forces Georg to confess publicly in four bars and to leave town by noon, carving an X on his forehead as Youngblood’s warning. That night, Ryall monitors Georg’s contritions, restraining a near-lynching at the Two-Headed Parrot.

Ryall reports to Rosewood Hall, trading clipped updates with Ayden Hestin while Buzzy the Duster fusses around them. Payment secured, Ryall plans a celebratory meal, uneasy about Jack Sawyer’s freedom to “flip” between worlds and resentful of his own limits.

A memory interlude shows Sophie telling Jack that Youngblood secretly loves the books Jack brings, shamed for reading by his late father. Another flashback recounts how Hestin selected and abducted Ryall in 1976 Manhattan—stalking Gambino hangouts, confronting him near Central Park, and pushing him through the door into Youngblood’s garden to become Dezi’s enforcer.

The next day, while Ryall makes collections and errands, Larry “Spinner” Magruder summons him urgently. At Rosewood’s garden, Youngblood, Hestin, George Elgin, and Alice Stines reveal a bukka of rusted firearms and ammo salvaged from a flooded hold, plus Oriza plates Alice can hurl to razor effect. Larry test-fires an M4-type rifle; it works, thrilling Youngblood.

Youngblood details the threat: redheaded youths have destroyed towns and are converging on Dezi. He assigns the Ladies of the Plate to the Great Road and orders Ryall to test the weapons with expendable men, then gather fifty to sixty defenders along the Old Gilead Road near the trolley line. Inflamed with battle-fever, Youngblood vows to annihilate the invaders; Ryall, uneasy yet committed, departs to raise and position the men.