"So what's it for?"
"It's an amulet."
He rolled his eyes, "I'm aware of what it is. I'm askin' what it's for. What's the deal with it?"
"The deal with it?" She hesitated a moment, "You wanted me to explain things as they came along, so I expect you to not complain when I do."
His brow creased, "How strange is this gonna be, you reckon?"
Her face scrunched up for a moment, trying to figure out how to put it simply, "Well… How much have I mentioned about other realms?"
"Mentioned somethin' 'bout an 'Outworld' and some 'Eden' place. That's all I recall."
She huffed, "Edenia."
Tanya collected herself before she got too snippy with him again - she didn't need another escalating argument in one day, "Well, there's… a lot of them. Lots of smaller realms, like Vaeternus or Zaterra. They've long since been merged with Outworld, but that's not the point. There's… five realms that could be considered 'major'. Earthrealm and Outworld are two of them."
"An' the others?"
'Getting there…'
"There's the Netherrealm, where the souls of the dead or those who've committed extraordinarily horrendous crimes go to suffer eternally-"
"Hell?"
She wasn't expecting him to interject with a term she'd actually heard before, "...yes. Some call it that."
His expression darkened as he muttered, "Well I'll be damned."
She continued, "There's also the realms of Chaos, and Order - polar opposites, naturally. The former is where I'm almost certain this amulet originates from."
"How would you know?"
"I've seen it before." Her response was curt, since she wanted to continue her thought, "It would explain why those men were acting so erratically. You said yourself they're not normally like that, right?"
"Yeah."
"And we noticed every single one of them was wearing one of these." She held it up to emphasize it.
"...yeah. So what's it do?"
She frowned, "What do you mean? I just told you what it did."
"It makes people act dumber than a box of rocks. That's it?"
She was getting sick of not understanding these strange phrases he'd let slip. She squinted and shook her head, "What-no that's not 'it'! What that means, is that at some point Chaosrealmers have been here, in this realm. There's only one way in or out of realms, and that's through a portal of some kind. Meaning…" She'd hope he'd catch on to her meaning.
"Meanin' there's gotta be one around here somewhere, right?"
She snapped her fingers, "Now you're following, bounty hunter. I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm proud of you."
Another semi-serious roll of the eyes from him, "Har-har. So where's that mean we're goin' now? Any idea?"
She voiced her thoughts aloud for him, "Well, I recall there was a rather considerable feud between the Chaosrealm and Seido-" She glanced pointedly at him, "The realm of Order - regarding water. For whatever reason, the Chaosrealmers were extremely offended that Seido as trying to take some of it."
"What, they ain't got water of their own or somethin'?"
"No, no. They had water. I'm… not sure of the specifics, to be completely honest. I was just a child when I visited it."
"The Chaosrealm?"
It was her turn to roll her eyes, "No! The Orderrealm! By the Elder Gods, you wouldn't catch me there, if I could help it." She sighed but continued, "Look, all I know is they're protective of water for whatever reason. Are there any considerable water sources around this area? Rivers, lakes… a noteworthy pond, even?"
The bounty hunter shifted his weight to one side while he seemed to ponder the query for a few moments, "Dependin' on how considerable we're talkin'... There's some kinda spring half a mile or so from Wolfpoint. An' obviously there's the Great Salt Lake in the north-"
"How large is it?"
"Largest settlement in Utah up there. Don't think yer other-worldly folk would be up that way though. The Mormons don't take kindly to anyone that ain't themselves."
"I meant the body of water, but you make a good point regardless. Anything around here? Near the place we were?"
There was another moment before he responded, "Not that I'm aware of. Wolfpoint ain't all that far away when you think about it."
"Hmm…"
"Why? What're ya thinkin'?"
"I suppose we can narrow it down by process of elimination, yes? Visit each until we find something noteworthy."
He sighed, "So you ain't sure then,"
"Now now, bounty hunter. We're getting there. I suppose it'd be best to start in this 'Wolfpoint' then. Less walking would be a nice change."
They paused only briefly in Wolfpoint itself, picking up some supplies in advance for what could be a somewhat tedious journey. The bounty hunter had insisted on finally getting Tanya a weapon of some variety, courtesy of what the short man apparently had 'laying around'. Tanya had insisted on a map of some kind for her own reference, and much to the short and scarred men's horror, the bounty hunter had simply yanked it off the wall without much care, tearing the corners where it'd been pinned clean off. Not that it was important information, to be fair.
As the bounty hunter checked over his weapons one last time before they left the hostel, the scarred man spoke up, "You're not seriously going to keep walkin' around like you have been Black, are you?"
He received an uninterested glance, "Draw less attention that way."
"You're making a woman walk miles, you know. That's not exactly-"
The weapon was slammed onto the table, "Look, I ain't a damn cowboy, Jacobs."
"Still doesn't mean you have to walk everywhere and act all rumbumptious an' nasty to good folk-"
"Go saw yer damn timber, ya bluebelly windbag. I don't care."
Though she didn't understand what a word of that meant, the tone alone would've tipped her off to the fact it was meant to be insulting - and insulted the scarred man was.
"If it weren't for your marksmanship, I dare say you'd've been picked off a long time ago, you hellion. All I'm suggesting is putting some of your newfound fortune into making your life - and hers - easier. Is that too much to say?"
"When yer a notorious lunkhead, yeah - it is."
Why did this man insist on being so abrasive sometimes? Amusing as it had been at the start, this was very quickly becoming more and more of a waste of time.
She cut into their continued argument sharply, "Gentlemen. If you're done stalling with this nonsensical discussion, I'd much like to be on the way before nightfall. You can sort this out at a later point when I'm not presently in need of one of your services."
There was a tense silence before she added, "Although I must admit, the sentiment would normally be appreciated, scarred man, the fact of the matter is - I know my limits. Walking great distances is nothing new to me." She glanced briefly at the bounty hunter, "Neither is being among ruffians."
He didn't seem impressed with the jab, but it prodded him into motion nonetheless. About damn time, too.
Before they could exit the room, the scarred man interjected with one last thing, "I still have respect for you Black, which is why I'm telling you what I'm about to say." He paused until the bounty hunter gave him his attention, "There's been lowlife types askin' 'bout your whereabouts in Wolfpoint. Donnigan an' I haven't said anything, but I'd stay cautious. You're fortunate they haven't been able to be present while you've been here."
All the bounty hunter did in response, was acknowledge his words with a slight tip of his hat, before leaving.
Tanya had noticed the bounty hunter was walking much faster than he had been when trying to leave the first time, almost as if he was genuinely taking the scarred man's words entirely serious for a change. She mulled the idea in her head for a bit. Were these people only looking for Black? Or perhaps it was something she was involved in?
She looked in his direction, "Bounty hunter, are you a wanted man, by chance?"
He didn't slow his pace, "Probably."
"Should I be concerned about this?"
She really did mean it. It could put a serious kink in her plan if they had to make what could be a very serious divergence, whether it was to avoid these men or to deal with them directly.
"I'll deal with it if it catches up to me."
She frowned, "You don't exactly instill me with the most confidence."
"That ain't my job."
Something wasn't quite right about how he was acting. It was reminding her back when they were at the quarry - his entire personality seemed to shift to something much more paranoid. He became curt and dismissive, keeping his eyes forward. She could respect that, but it became irritating when she wanted a straight answer from him.
She was, however, still leery on getting confrontational with him after the earlier argument they'd had. He seemed to let it go easily enough, but the last thing either of them needed was more problems stacked on top of ones that seemed to come back to haunt him. Instead, she remained quiet and focused on the task ahead.
All she could do was hope her theory was right, so she was out of this place before things got worse.
They arrived at the spring he'd mentioned a few minutes away from the settlement they'd come from without trouble. Though nothing was out of the ordinary here… the bounty hunter gave her a look that expressed some serious doubt.
She didn't blame him. She never said it was a good theory… it was the only one she'd had at the time, and she wanted to stay productive. In her haste to try and find the exit to this place, she was starting to realize it wasn't going to get her there any faster.
With a heavy sigh, she gave the area a once-over. It'd been cleared, so it was definitely still in use. But if Wolfpoint was using it, the doubted the origins of the madmen was here… and if it wasn't here or north, perhaps it was a more hidden source? If entities from the Chaosrealm actually had something to do with it - and she was still convinced they did - then you'd think Earthrealmers would find them… bizarre. Out of the ordinary. They'd practice somewhere out of sight, but still near enough to another settlement, perhaps.
After all, how do you convert more to the ways of Chaos, if there's no one around?
"Bounty hunter… there's been no mention of other strange sightings in the areas we just were, was there?"
His tone was short, "No, not that I heard."
At this point, she was just upset at herself for being stupid and foolish, getting her hopes up so soon for such a slim chance. Frustrated, she just wanted to leave, but this realm seemed to have dug its claws into her and kept her there.
She wasn't the only one who was frustrated, "So yer tellin' me, we went outta the way for nuthin'. Great."
"I have nothing else to go by, bounty hunter. This is our only lead-"
"An' it's obviously a bust. Yer better off waitin' 'round till you hear news of somethin', than us wanderin' around like a pair of damn fools."
"I- I know. I apologize for just wanting to get out of this place sooner than later."
He scoffed, "Can't say I blame ya there. Hate this damn place."
"Then why stay?"
He hesitated, which worried her, "Got debts to pay first."
"You have debts to pay."
"That's what I said."
She glared, "Did I not compensate you more than plenty for your services? Why didn't you put it towards that?"
"Cuz it ain't that simple to repay."
It was her turn to scoff, "So, what? You agreed because you… just wanted to wander around? Maybe get out of the territory?"
"Damn it, woman. It's none of yer business."
"It is my business when it's sounding like it's working its way towards being a serious problem!" She caught herself before she continued, and lowered her voice again, "What do you owe?"
"That's-"
"Just tell me how much you owe!"
He didn't take to being yelled at very well - not that anyone really does. The stormy expression that crossed his face lingered for quite some time before he released a pent up sigh, "I owe a high-binder four horses an' some money, an' another man some fancy trinket I was supposed to get 'im."
"And where's this fancy trinket now?" Her tone was that of reprimanding a child. It as humiliating.
He drawled, "It got stolen from me by a hustler. Same kid you stabbed with a knife when we met, now that I think 'bout it."
So that was the connection.
"Do you think those men are the ones inquiring about our whereabouts?"
"Wouldn't surprise me. Got a lotta unfinished business with 'em."
"Fantastic. So we're going to go back to Wolfpoint and walk right into their arms?"
"Reckon so."
"...what was so special about it? The trinket, I mean?"
He shrugged, "Nuthin', far as I know. Looked kinda odd. Figured it was somethin' from the Orient."
"What did it look like?"
"...a trinket." He hastily made an addition when he saw her roll her eyes, "I ain't keepin' track of every queer thing I've handled while doin' work, Tanya."
She waved a hand dismissively, "I was only curious. Anything sounds like a lead, when you find yourself without any, I suppose."
They'd both taken to sitting down a moment, though he remained visibly tense.
Shifting the cloak around her shoulders somewhat, she rested her arms on her legs while hunched over, drooping her head somewhat dismissively. She had to address what was on her mind though, "So where do we go from here?"
He looked up from his drink he'd been taking, "Hm?"
"You said it yourself, you have men after you and outstanding debt. Unless we want to walk into trouble, it's not likely we can go back."
The bounty hunter offered her the flask - she didn't refuse this time, "That's what I reckon. Don't rightly know what they'd want anyway. They stole from me, it ain't the other way 'round."
She frowned, "Did it ever occur to you that perhaps the man who hired you to get it, set you up?"
He held her gaze for a long moment, before his brow furrowed, "...no. I didn't think o' that."
Crossing a leg and folding her hands together over her knee, she continued, "Any good mercenary or bounty hunter makes many enemies. Maybe he wanted to kill two birds with one stone?"
He chuckled, finally letting his guard down for an ephemeral moment, "You got that sayin' where yer from? Good to know." He sobered almost instantly, "It was meant to be my last job here, 'fore I went back home."
"I was under the impression you were a nomadic sort."
The corner of his lip jerked into a momentary, sardonic smile, "Usually, yeah. Sorta missin' the freedom of home though. More my kinda lifestyle down there."
"But that hasn't panned out."
"Nah. Never seems like it does."
"So after all of this-" She waved her hand, "You plan on returning there? I find it interesting that we seem to have similar goals."
"Now yer reachin'."
"Am I?"
He shook his head, "We should probably be figurin' out where to go, I reckon."
"Any suggestions?"
His head whipped around to look at her, "Yer askin' me? That's new." His hand went to the back of his head, "I don't rightly know. North is Mormon land, an' they'd hate us. South an' west is desert, an' you'd hate that."
"And East?"
"...Not a lotta good out east-a-ways either, honestly. Indian Territory, Missouri, an' the like. Better for folks who make an honest livin'."
She smile, "So not us, I reckon?" She didn't give him a chance to respond, "Then I see only one way forward. We work on your debts so we can get out of this mess you've gotten yourself into."
"You ain't gettin' involved in that."
"Consider it a favour."
"I hate owin' people."
She put a hand on her hip, "Then I don't understand why you owe so much to people. I'm trying to help you, bounty hunter. I rarely do so under normal circumstances."
He seemed to roll the idea around in his head for a short while, until he stood up and huffed, "Then I guess I'm takin' yer blessin'."
The easy part about repaying one half of the debts the bounty hunter owed, was that the men who stole the object from him in the first place were looking for him, but it was also arguably the hardest part.
The man he owed the horses to - supposedly after the bounty hunter shot the man who'd won a game of cards, he was stuck in a dead-end transaction he hadn't signed off on - however, was nowhere to be found. He claimed he hadn't heard hide nor hair from him in weeks.
That struck that transaction out of the question for the time being... which left the bigger of the two problems. Just running straight back to Wolfpoint was a terrible idea, both of them agreed on that. They paused in a different, smaller town a few miles to the northwest instead. They'd sat in a quiet corner of the local 'saloon' as he'd dubbed it - her first time in such an establishment - to make some kind of plan by looking at the map they'd taken, but were interrupted by someone rushing in and looking incredibly harrowed.
The man behind the table asked him what was going on, but the man just slumped against the counter and heaved a great sigh. The bounty hunter and Tanya gave each other a look. After a moment, and a drink pushed in front of him, the man talked, "They weren't kiddin' 'bout them strange things out east-a-ways, Nick. Ungodly lookin' things."
The barman frowned, "I told you not to go out that-a-way, Jameson. People ain't comin' back the same. Just this mornin', that horseshoe over yonder was upside-down, no doubt. No one was in here."
"You think that place is killin' this town's luck?"
"It's definitely somethin' ominous, I reckon."
Tanya couldn't hold in her curiosity, but the bounty hunter caught her arm before she opened her mouth. He kept his voice down, "I'll ask 'im 'bout it."
She drummed her fingers on the table while she watched him rise up and wander over to the counter where the two men sat. This establishment was dreadfully empty… the bounty hunter had said earlier that most people came in the evenings.
They kept their voices down while they talked, much to her annoyance. The barman had come over to offer a drink, but she waved him away without a glance while she tried to hear their discussion.
"Heard ya talkin' 'bout strange things out east."
"Strangest things I'd reckon I ever saw with my own two eyes… You a lawman?"
"Not exactly."
"Well regardless who ya are, you ain't wantin' to go up that way."
"Why not?"
"There be strange things afoot. Queer structures not like anythin' of God's design. Shadows talkin' in tongues. No one believes me, but by God I'll tell you - they ain't things of this Earth."
"I can handle myself."
The man suddenly grabbed the bounty hunter by the cloak he wore, the room becoming dead silent while he emphasized, "One of my men, God rest his soul, shot one of 'em… and it smiled at 'im. You ain't seen nothin' like it, son. Just go home. It's plenty safer than here."
The barman interjected, "Jameson, yer gonna chase away any bit o' business I got left in this town. Quit that, or I'll throw you outta here like the last man who came in ravin' 'bout them supernatural things!"
The bounty hunter returned to the table Tanya remained at quietly, while watching the man dejectedly chug the rest of his drink and stumbled out of the place. She leaned over to speak to him, "Shadows talking in tongues? He seemed considerably spooked."
"More than spooked, I'd reckon," He took a swig of his own drink, "He was pissin' himself, runnin' scared."
"You believe a word of what he said?"
He gave her a glance, not missing a beat, "Do you?"
She laced her fingers together, "It sounds far more promising to look into, instead of skirting around Wolfpoint avoiding people you insist we can't fight."
"It ain't that we can't fight 'em, it's just that it ain't a good idea. You can't even use a gun. You'd get shot in a firefight if we ran into 'em."
She wanted to protest, but he made a point. People here fought with ranged weapons, but she hadn't the slightest idea how to use those, nor was she willing to disarm herself even momentarily with a knife. They had to be careful. The bounty hunter was not immortal. Neither of them were.
After a moment, she changed her direction, "So… you're not disagreeing with me on investigating this, then?"
"S'ppose you could say that." He folded their map back up, but hesitated before standing up, "I heard a sayin' once from some old fella from overseas. Said 'curiosity killed the cat'. Means lookin' into stuff can be mighty risky."
She raised a brow, "What a macabre saying. Cats seem more cautious, that curious."
"It's not-" He sighed.
Tanya spoke up before he could finish though, "I'm just teasing, bounty hunter. Where I come from is something similar, but it's 'care will kill a cat'. Your saying is rather quaint though. Do feel free to tell me more in the future, if you feel the urge."
Shaking his head, he didn't say another word as the two set out from the saloon to head East, towards a seemingly unfamiliar area.
In Wolfpoint, a shady group of men hung in the saloon, no one approaching besides ones delivering drinks once in a while. The head man seemed irritated, but not exactly angry. He had a hand to his chin, glancing down at his drink in thought. After a moment, he broke his concentration, "So yer sayin' you've scoured this whole town, and ain't found nothin' on Black yet?"
The man across from him, with an angry looking scar on his jaw, slapped an arm down on the table, "Nothin'. No one's bitin' on any of the leads to his whereabouts, yet the rumour goes that he was here just recently."
"How recent?"
Another man spoke up from the side, "Someone said they saw Black with a woman 'bout a day ago passin' through."
The leader's expression darkened, "I thought you had people posted all 'round town?"
"We do-"
When the man shifted, a couple of his lackeys seemed to recoil, as if expecting some outburst from him. But all he did was put a hand to his forehead with a sigh, his voice not raised in the slightest, "Then obviously they ain't doin' their damn jobs, are they?"
No one said a word in response.
He stood up and glanced at the boy to his right, "You remember the woman's face?"
He nodded, "Clear as day, Abe. Ain't hard to miss a darkie 'round these parts."
"Then perhaps we've been goin' 'bout this the wrong way, askin' 'bout Black. Start askin' 'bout her instead. More people are willin' to gab 'bout a woman, than a mercenary, I reckon."
"Will do."
Abe spoke again before he could leave, "Oh, and before you go-" The three men going with the boy stopped to listen, "Try an' find out where she's been stayin'. If she ain't here, someone's hidin' her. Don't kill 'em. Just find 'em."
They nodded and left the man with the remaining lackeys. Taking a long sip of his drink, he grimaced and mused aloud for the others, "After this, I reckon we should move on. This town's beer is starting to taste like horse piss. Means it ain't profitable."
A/N: Apologies for the delay, and for this chapter bouncing around quite a bit! I got a bit worried about how I go about writing chapters because I tend to get a bit caught up/distracted with dialogue that doesn't move the plot forward...
I'll try to move things forward as best as I can, but I'm also writing this to renew a warning I *think* I've mentioned before: I'm currently writing this fic atm without my notes. All my original dialogue ideas and info pieces are in storage and I have no access to them, so I'm eventually either going to have to stop updates until I get my stuff back, or I'll have to do the best I can with what I remember.
As always, I love hearing what you think, and if you think I uh, forgot something or I repeated something... PLEASE don't hesitate to let me know! The long pauses between chapter updates sometimes means I lose track of what's already been mentioned, and I'm notorious for not proof-reading much and just flying by the seat of my pants lmao (it hasn't let me down yet)
Hope you enjoy! Even one update a month is better than nothing, and I'm trying to really get that through my head! ;D
