2.1 A Fist Full Of Warlocks: The Wild Wild West

Published: June 25, 2021, 7 a.m.

b"McAnally's Pubcast - A Dresden Files Podcast\\nThis episode we discuss the short story A Fist Full of Warlocks, which has very little to do with Dresden and a whole lot to do with his Universe.\\n\\nA Fist Full Of Warlocks Summary:\\nWarden Anastasia Luccio is making her way through the wild west.\\n\\nIt seems she has made her way to Kansas in search of a wayward warlock, and is making the trek in style. To the outside observer, Luccio is riding a magnificent all-white steed, seventeen hands tall and more than up to the task of ferrying her around the American landscape. To those in the know, she is actually riding atop an immortal fey-beast known as a n\\xe4cken, dubbed Karl.\\n\\nLuccio has pressed him into service by outwitting the beast at his own deadly game, and now he is bound to serve her for the duration of her mission here.\\n\\nTheir final destination is none other than the famed Dodge City.\\n\\nBeing a bad sort of dude, Warden Luccio can count on her bounty being holed up in a bad part of town. Luccio heads for the wrong side of the tracks (literally in this instance) and stops at the first sizable building she comes across - a brothel and bathhouse.\\n\\nAfter a job offer, a bath, and directions to the local dens of iniquity, Anastasia heads off in search of her quarry.\\n\\nApparently \\u201cthird time\\u2019s a charm\\u201d holds just as true for wizard cops as the rest of us, and Luccio is fairly certain she\\u2019s found her target at the Long Branch Dance Hall and Saloon. She enters a fairly typical old west bar and is almost immediately stopped by a tall, moustachioed deputy keeping tabs on the door, and is asked to surrender her firearms in accordance with public ordinance.\\n\\nAfter a brief exchange concerning the rules, some mild flirting and a friendly wager, Luccio hands over her gun, keeps her warden\\u2019s blade and moves to the centre of the room to survey the surroundings for her prey. She dons some nifty, steampunk-esque wizard specs to better view the mystical energies in the saloon without having to resort to opening her full wizard Sight, and quickly zeroes in on four gentlemen playing cards in a little balcony on the upper level.\\n\\nRealizing her villain has teamed up with three more dastardly dudes, Luccio decides she doesn\\u2019t really fancy her odds against all of them at once and figures she will retreat, observe and wait for reinforcements.\\n\\nHer mind made up thusly, Anastasia turns to leave and collides with a handsome, middle-aged German fellow whose demeanour is at odds with his jovial appearance. He has a small pistol jammed into Luccio\\u2019s ribs. Excuse much; rude or anything? \\n\\nHe instantly calls her out as a warden of the White Council and while Luccio initially tries to play dumb, the man ain\\u2019t buying it. He instructs her to come quietly since he harbours no compunction over killing her here and now, and nods an acknowledgment to his card-playing compatriots. \\n\\nLuccio tries to talk her way out by stating that she is only here for Alexander Page and all the others are free to go at this time. Her captor isn\\u2019t interested, though, and attempts to coerce Luccio\\u2019s compliance by way of a few more not-so-veiled threats. Luccio allows some of her natural anxiety to show through in the hopes of distracting him.\\n\\nIt world, and the deputy from the door gets the drop on the gun-wielding German sorcerer.\\n\\nThe three of them have a quick, quiet exchange, (wherein Luccio gets back some of her own by turning the ruthless rogue\\u2019s words back on himself - HA!), and when he gnashes his teeth and snarls and sputters demanding to know just who this up-start deputy thinks he is, we are formally introduced to Warden Luccio\\u2019s new ally.\\n\\n\\u201cMy name is Wyatt Earp\\u2026. And I think I'm the law.\\u201d \\n\\nWell damn if that don\\u2019t beat all!\\n\\n\\u2026\\n\\nThe German warlock is taken to the local jail at the Marshal\\u2019s office, and Luccio tries to impress upon Earp that this arrest may be more complicated than he anticipates; however, Earp surprises her. Initially by divesting their guest not only of his..."