Levels of Heaven: Depths of Hell

Part - 1

Rovell Gammon looked at the mirror across the barroom countertop. He was sure that he didn’t like what he saw in the reflection. There was a man who’d age extensively over the passed several months looking back at him. He brought the liquor glass in his hand to his lips and emptied it’s remaining contents down his gullet. He looked over at the barkeep down at the other end of the counter and held up his empty glass indicating that he needed a refill.

Jed Sturgis, the bartender and owner of the Purple Garter, stopped working on the clean, clear glass he’d been polishing for the past fifteen minutes and reached down to pick up a fresh bottle of New Melbourne vodka #7. He walked back over to where Rovell sat sulking. Jed noticed something red dripping down his patron’s right temple.

“Fight with the Mrs. and now you’re in here wishing you hadn’t gambled that last ten coppers away so she wouldn’t have hit you with that glass vase and walked out on you.” It wasn’t a question, rather a curious sort of probing the bartender used to find out the purpose for this fellow being here.

The barkeep pointed to his own right temple in indication that there was something flowing down the side of Rovell’s face.

Gammon put his hand to his head and brought it before his eyes to see what the man had curiously been consulting him about. He noticed a smear of red across his fingertips.

“Blood!”

Rovell had been aware that there had been a pool of liquid gathering at his temple and was now running down the side of his face, but he had assumed that it had only been sweat, not blood. He became aware now that, along with the bruise that was swelling across his right temple, there was also a cut exposing the injury from the altercation he’d been involved in thirty minutes prior.

“Damn you Malcolm Reynolds,” he thought, “ damn you and all those aboard your vessel,” he had to place blame on someone, why shouldn’t it be put on the best adversary he’d ever h