In Part 13 of Blood Merid­i­an, the sto­ry takes a dark turn as a group of mer­ce­nar­ies, includ­ing Glan­ton, head north­ward through the harsh wilder­ness. The group, rid­ing in the cold morn­ing light, has a bru­tal rep­u­ta­tion, and their arrival in town is marked by the dis­play of sev­ered heads and scalps from their vio­lent mis­sions. Their com­man­der, Glan­ton, leads the men with pur­pose, while the towns­peo­ple, caught between fear and awe, react to the grue­some tro­phies. Local author­i­ties, includ­ing the governor’s lieu­tenant, wel­come them with promis­es of pay­ment, indi­cat­ing the pow­er these mer­ce­nar­ies hold. The fear in the air is pal­pa­ble as they are treat­ed like fig­ures of impor­tance, despite their bloody his­to­ry. The peo­ple are unsure whether they should view these mer­ce­nar­ies as a nec­es­sary evil or as an omi­nous threat.

The scene shifts as the mer­ce­nar­ies, seek­ing respite, vis­it a pub­lic bath­house. Here, they cleanse them­selves of the dirt and grime from their vio­lent jour­ney, reveal­ing scars and tat­toos that serve as a tes­ta­ment to their bru­tal past. Among them is the judge, a tall and impos­ing fig­ure who stands out due to his lack of body hair, adding to his already unnerv­ing pres­ence. The judge’s aloof­ness and his detached air con­trast sharply with the oth­er men, and his strange demeanor only adds to the grow­ing ten­sion in the town. Mean­while, the towns­folk, eager to cap­i­tal­ize on the mer­ce­nar­ies’ arrival, offer goods and ser­vices, show­ing an oppor­tunis­tic side that con­trasts with their fear of the mer­ce­nar­ies. Despite their trep­i­da­tion, the town is drawn to the mon­ey and pow­er that these men rep­re­sent, cre­at­ing an uncom­fort­able dynam­ic between the two groups.

Night descends, and the atmos­phere shifts to one of drunk­en rev­el­ry. The mer­ce­nar­ies, adorned with their grue­some tro­phies, make their way to the ban­quet hall, where they indulge in food, drink, and vio­lent behav­ior. The ban­quet quick­ly turns chaot­ic, as fights break out among the men, and the vio­lence esca­lates into a full-blown fren­zy. Glan­ton, as the leader, dis­trib­utes the spoils of gold among his men with a sense of cold author­i­ty, rein­forc­ing his com­mand over the group. The night becomes a blur of glut­tony and sav­agery, with lit­tle regard for the lives or well-being of those around them. The mer­ce­nar­ies’ actions reflect the law­less­ness of their exis­tence, where pow­er is main­tained through force and dom­i­nance, and moral­i­ty is aban­doned in the pur­suit of sur­vival.

The sto­ry then takes a dark­er turn as the mer­ce­nar­ies, intox­i­cat­ed by their new­found wealth and vio­lence, slaugh­ter a peace­ful group of Tigua Indi­ans with­out provo­ca­tion. Their actions are mer­ci­less, leav­ing behind a scene of destruc­tion and blood­shed. The bru­tal­i­ty of their behav­ior serves as a chill­ing reminder of the sav­age world in which they exist. With no remorse for their actions, they con­tin­ue on their jour­ney, treat­ing every native they encounter as an obsta­cle to be removed. Their rep­u­ta­tion for sav­agery con­tin­ues to grow, as they leave behind a trail of vio­lence and death, rein­forc­ing the idea that in this world, sur­vival often comes at the expense of oth­ers. The group’s descent into mad­ness and vio­lence seems inevitable, and their jour­ney becomes increas­ing­ly defined by the bru­tal choic­es they make.

As they approach the city, ten­sions rise, and the governor’s promised rewards begin to lose their lus­ter. The mer­ce­nar­ies’ vio­lent actions have begun to catch up with them, and the peo­ple they encounter start to ques­tion whether these men are tru­ly worth the price they demand. The fear of ret­ri­bu­tion begins to hang over the group as their bloody past catch­es up to them. Their pres­ence in the town is no longer seen as a sign of pow­er and pres­tige but as a reminder of the chaos they have caused. Their jour­ney through the desert has left them moral­ly bank­rupt, and the inevitable con­se­quences of their actions seem to be draw­ing near­er. In this chap­ter, the bru­tal and unfor­giv­ing world they inhab­it con­tin­ues to unfold, with each step fur­ther into vio­lence and deprav­i­ty lead­ing them down a path from which there is no return.