Chapter Five: Enter the Big, Brawny, Giant-Killing Competition.
After the Chupacabra's head had been removed, and stuffed into a canvas bag that Jack had produced from his belt, and Puss had cleaned and placed the spines in a jar that had been found in Donkey's packs, he finally got to ask Jack-the-Giant-Killer the question that had been nagging at him.
"Why were they following us?" he asked, without preamble.
Jack looked up from where he was cleaning his hands and face at a small stream running along the edge of the clearing.
"Why?" came the answer.
"Who wouldn't want to know why some freaky mutant thing and an old hag were following them?" Donkey butted in sarcastically.
Jack sighed theatrically. "The hag had the Chupacabra waiting outside, and they followed you from the Poison Apple. They lost the trail for a while, but the Chupacabra found it again, and then followed it here, to you. I'd been following them for a few days. You were just the finale to the hunt. I was only hired to get the Chupacabra for five thousand gold, but she's also got a price on her head. She was in with that Hammelin Piper kidnapping/murder thing, but she got out before the Inquisition nabbed him. And the bounty on her's more than triple the Chupacabra's, so I figured it was worth tailing them both. I know where she's gone now- back to their hiding place in Neverland- she was talking about it while they were stalking you, 'course. They always do, idiots. Think they're all safe, start talking about their hiding places, and who they're gonna get, then wham. I go after them, and then they're all mine." Jack snorted, and Puss was beginning to doubt his and Donkey's personal safety around this guy.
"I don't know where their place actually is, of course," Jack rambled on, "but it shouldn't be that hard to find. After all, how many old hags can there be in Never Land?"
"You still haven't answered my question," Puss stated flatly. "Why were they following us?"
"They knew what you were… are, Puss in Boots. So do I. They wanted to get back at you for your part in the assassination of the Wendigo that was trying to start an uprising in Toyland."
"Oh, that." Puss remembered that fiasco all too well. The Wendigo had caused much grief among its enemies, since what it did was herald a death in the family of someone who saw it. Unfortunately for those sent to kill it, seeing it could also kill someone in your family; a problem that had yet to be solved by anyone who studied the things, since no one wanted to volunteer for testing. He had finally been the one to kill it, since none of the other assassins wanted to get near it when they found out just what it was that they had been hired to kill. Being that he didn't have any family or loved ones, he had cheerfully (as he could get) accepted the job, and slain the Wendigo without much difficulty.
"But why would they be after me?" he asked. "I didn't do anything to them, well, really, her, personally, except kill the Wendigo."
Pause.
"And that Bodach just jumped in the way," he added.
Jack snorted. "And that Bodach is the problem. He and the Black Annis were… ahem… together, if you catch my drift. So now she wants to get back at you."
"What about the Chupacabra?"
"You think I know? It was probably just along for the ride."
"Great."
"And that's that. You wanna come along and give me a hand hunting the Black Annis, Puss in Boots?"
"Why?"
"Mmm, you seem like an interesting guy, and I could use your help. She's probably got friends waiting for her, and you're a master swordsman. Or you were," Jack added, looking doubtfully at the now mini rapier sheathed in Puss's belt.
"I really should get a new one," Puss said, following Jack's train of thought. "May Donkey come?"
Something akin to displeasure crossed Jack's face, and his voice turned sour. "Sure. Just make sure he doesn't get in the way. You help me kill the BA, and you get a quarter of the gold."
"Half," Puss said instantly.
"A third."
"You're cheating me and you know it. Forty percent or no deal."
"Done," Jack said after some thought.
"Good. When do we go?"
"Now." Jack whistled, and a large sable horse trotted out of the trees. Donkey led the horse over, interested, and Puss realized something; three people, two horses, much baggage.
"Um, Jack, there's only two horses, and there's three people here."
"That's alright, you can ride with me, Puss," Donkey said.
"On that thing?" Jack said rudely, as he mounted his horse. "You have too much weight on the animal as it is. I travel lightly. Come on, Puss. My horse can carry double."
"Hey. Puss is my- mmph!" Puss clapped his hand over Donkey's mouth before the mule could say anything damaging. He needed to defuse the situation if they wanted to get out of here without a fight.
"It's alright, Donkey. I'll ride with Jack." Puss nodded at the bounty hunter and leapt up behind him, in front of the baggage strapped to the horse's rump.
Donkey scowled and got on his horse, which hardly blinked at the humanoid's weight.
"Too much weight, my ass," he muttered.
"Relax, Donkey. How far is it to Neverland?" The latter part was directed at Jack.
"About… two days from here. Since we can't exactly fly, we'll be taking a more mundane way- we'll be walking, and later on sailing" Jack said.
"I thought you had to fly to get there," Donkey frowned.
"Of course you wouldn't know. The people in the other worlds can't get to Neverland except for flying, but it's just another tiny island in the vast body of water that we all call the Western Sea, which in itself, links to Narnia."
He suddenly grinned at back at Puss as he spurred his horse. "And that, my friend," he said, completely ignoring the fuming Donkey, "is where her second hideout is."
"What would she need a second hideout for?" Donkey asked curiously.
"For precisely this reason, Ass," Jack shot at him, yet for no visible reason that Puss could see. The man seemed to have an inexplicable dislike for Donkey. "To retreat to when she's got hunters on her trail."
"Oh."
"So how will we get to Neverland?" Puss asked curiously.
"I've got a few friends who own ships. One of them should be at or near Gryffin's bay. If they're not, I'll just buy some space on a Neverland-bound ship. Hopefully we won't need to travel on the Jolly Roger; the new Captain's a jerk, and the crew's not much better."
"And how long will it take to get to Neverland, or from here to there to Narnia?"
"Well, to Neverland'll take about a day or two, depending on the weather, and from there to Narnia's about another day… so in all, it would take us about four days to get to Narnia if we're lucky, six if we're not."
Puss calculated everything in his head, and came up with one summary. 'That would make it a week, and when we get to Narnia, I'd have to make my decision, on top of everything else… Can I do this?' Yes, he told himself. 'I can do this, and I'll make my decision, and it will be the right one.'
Yet as they rode off, neither Puss nor Jack noticed the determined expression on Donkey's face, but the longing within his eyes as he stared after the couple.