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Abyss Trinity: Happy to hear you're enjoying it.

This is a bit of a filler chapter, hence why I'm using an Aerosmith song for the title. Something to build up the characters before the real action begins next chapter.

Once Upon a Time in Hyboria

Chapter 4: Back in the Saddle

Walker needn't have worried about Sonja setting a pace that would cook the horses, the forest was dense, the trail narrow and winding, not allowing them to move with any sort of speed. Through the trees, the Bounty Hunter could see the sun high above, signaling it was around midday, which felt about right to him considering how long the pair had been on the move. About an hour ago he had reluctantly removed his duster, considering the heat and humidity that he wasn't used to when he roamed the southwest territories, but he was still on the look out for any signs of trouble around them.

Thankfully, there had been none, but that didn't mean that there wouldn't be before they arrived at their destination.

Rounding a bend, Walker noticed that the two had stumbled upon a clearing in the woods and Sonja had come to a halt in the middle of it. Tombstone came to a stop and reached for his Winchester, "Calamity Dame?" he began lowly, "Do we have a problem?"

"Yes," she replied, causing Walker to instantly draw the lever action repeater and narrow his eyes. Pulling on the reins of her horse, the redhead turned around to face Walker and then dismounted, looking around, "I am growing hungry." Joshua stared blankly at the woman, even if she ignored his stare as she retrieved a bow like the Comanche used from her horse along with a quiver of arrows and slung the quiver over her shoulder. "I will go on the hunt, there is bound to be game in these woods."

A rumble from his stomach persuaded Tombstone to not argue and instead put the Winchester back and dismount himself. "While you do that, I'll see about getting a little fire going." Sonja gave him a curt nod before heading off the trail and into the forest, soon vanishing in the thick brush. As much as he enjoyed watching her go, Walker soon set to work, retrieving a few scattered rocks and dead brush before fashioning it into a small campfire.

Pulling a match form the box in his pocket, Walker struck it and used it to light the campfire until it was burning nicely. Then reaching for a cigarillo, the Bounty Hunter used the fire to light that and took a puff of the tobacco and going back to Shelby, "I know you're not used to company boy, but we'll manage," he assured his mount as he retrieved a small blanket and kit from the saddle.

Setting the blanket down, Walker drew one of his pistols and sat down, disassembling the gun and setting each part down neatly on the blanket as he puffed on the cigarillo. In a set of well-practiced motions, Joshua drew both Schofields and unloaded them before opening the kit and pulling out a screwdriver that he used to disassemble the hinge that enabled the weapon's break action, separating the barrel and cylinder from the grip. After undoing two more screws and removing the latch that held the cylinders in place on both guns, Walker set the screwdriver aside and took up a brush for cleaning the gun and ran it through each barrel and each chamber in both cylinders.

Stuck in the unknown, Walker knew that he was going to have to rely on his weapons if he was going to get through this alive and that meant keeping them in working order. Looking down at the 12 cartridges, the Bounty Hunter was at least confident that he still had over 200 rounds in his saddlebags. In addition to that, he had spare primers and was keeping his brass, if he could get his hands on lead and powder, he could always make more if needs be.

Then there was his 'partner' for lack of a better term. The woman was a capable fighter, even if she dressed like the farthest thing from one. Walker pushed that train of thought aside, his focus was on getting out of here and she would help him do that, that was the only attachment he had with her. Once he found Gath, they would go their separate ways.

Satisfied that his pistols were clean, Walker went through the practiced process of reassembling and reloading them. Holstering the loaded Schofield revolvers, Walker then packed up the cleaning kit and returned it to it's place with Shelby when he sensed a presence behind him and spun. Sonja was standing at the edge of the clearing with her bow in one hand and a dead rabbit in the other, bright green eyes looking at him intently. "That didn't take long," observed Walker as he went back and picked up the blanket he had set down, shaking the dirt off it before putting it back as well, "You must be pretty good with that bow, a real sharpshooter."

The woman didn't reply, just giving him a perplexed look as her eyes met his, but Walker caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of his eye. Focusing in on that, he saw another bush rustle and reached back for the Winchester. "Sonja," he began before coolly asking, "You make any friends out there you want to tell me about?"

One of her eyebrows cocked up, "No," she replied, turning to look back at the forest, "Why?"

Tombstone drew the Winchester, "Because it's awful damp out there. Your friends don't come out, then they're liable to catch a cold," he called out before working the lever action, "Or a bullet."

He wasn't sure if his threat would be clear to whoever was out there if they had never seen a gun before, but it drew a reaction regardless. The bushes rustled again as a man stood up, "I'm more afraid of the cold than that toy!" he shouted back as he waved his sword around and four more men emerged from the brush. "Come on lads! We'll take the horses and the whore! Have at them!"

Sonja reached for her sword, but before she even grasped the hilt, Walker had already pulled the trigger of his repeater and popped the leader's head like a melon, sending bits of it into the tree behind him. The Swordswoman began to draw her blade after Joshua had worked the lever and fired again, putting a round in the second man as Sonja got her weapon out and dropped the rabbit. By the time she was ready to fight, Walker had fired a third time, killing his third bandit before they even reached the edge of the treeline.

Sonja raised her sword as Walker nailed the one in front as he finally charged out of the brush, causing him to fall forwards as his axe clattered on the dirt. The last man raised his own blade to meet the redhead, but as he swung and she made to parry, Joshua fired again. A .44-40 bullet shot just over the Hyrkanian woman's shoulder before going through the bandit's chin just as his sword met Sonja's and he collapsed to the ground, dead.

"When you said there might be bandits," drawled Walker as he cycled the Winchester one last time, sending the brass case through the air as smoke wafted up from the barrel, "I didn't think you were serious, so I guess I owe you an apology." Pulling a handful of cartridges from his belt, the Bounty Hunter began reloading the rifle through the side trap door while he walked towards the nearest body to investigate, a well practiced routine taking over. Kicking the first man onto his back and gestured to the man with the muzzle of his Winchester before looking to Sonja. "You recognize him? He worth anything?"

Sonja's confused look continued, "I do not understand what you mean."

"There a bounty out on him? Does he have a price on his head?" tried the Bounty Hunter as he crouched down and looked for any valuables the man might have had. A rummage through the man's pockets revealed nothing, and Walker looked back up at the redhead.

She stared down at him, confused for a moment before answering, "No, he is a mere bandit. A local lord would not offer a reward for him." Walker grunted, disappointed that there wouldn't be any payday and wondering just how lawless this land was. "Why would you ask such a question?"

Walker snorted, "Because Calamity Dame, I'm a bounty hunter," he replied as he stood back to his full height and turned back towards Shelby, noting that Sonja was still giving him the same curious expression. "It means that I hunt down dangerous men, bring them to the law, and collect a reward for my trouble." Sonja seemed to understand that and so Walker went to put his rifle back before turning to see that Sonja had sat down and set to work skinning the rabbit she had killed with a small knife.

"You serve a lord then? Or a king? To keep peace in your land?" she asked as Walker sat down across from her.

Joshua shook his head, "Nah. You could probably say I have something of a problem with authority. I just go from town to town to see who needs killing and don't stick around long enough for any mayor or foreman to try and convince me to stay. Have had a few try though." With that admission, Walker puffed a bit on his cigarillo.

Sonja looked up from her work and tilted her head, "Mayor?" she asked.

"Oh, shit, uh… it's like your 'Lord' I suppose," answered the Bounty Hunter, "We don't have lords and kings in my land."

"And what land is that? I have never heard of one that has no lords or kings except for the nomad tribes to the east. Do you belong to one of them?" inquired the redheaded swordswoman.

That got a bark of laughter from Tombstone, "No, that sounds like the Comanche, I ain't one of those. Have had to deal with them on occasion though," he recalled. Taking another puff on the cigarillo, the Bounty Hunter removed the tobacco from his lips and let out a long stream of smoke. "As for what land I'm from? It's far enough from here that you'll probably never see it I reckon. It's called the United States of America."

Sonja gave him another odd look, "Your people have very strange ways Joshua Walker. To give your land a name such as that? To dress as you do? And to have men act as 'bounty hunters'? It is unlike any land I have ever heard of." Before he could respond to her, the redhead went back to work on the animal.

Chuckling a bit at the woman's observations and mannerisms, Walker then asked, "If I may ask, why do you find my profession so strange when it's what you do too?" Sonja paused and looked at him again, perplexed. "I mean, this Gath fellow is a rather unsavory sort. And here you are, hunting him. Makes me think that you and I ain't that different."

"I do not view Gath as a prize," she countered coldly. "I am not after him because he has 'a price on his head.' I am Red Sonja; I have battled man and beast for reasons that are my own and not at the whim of the 'law.'"

"Still sounds like we have more in common than not, don't you think?" he asked before his cigarillo finally went out and he flicked it away. Sonja didn't answer, but that didn't deter Walker, "For what it might be worth, I don't begrudge your choice to make your own way. I made that choice once, to strike out on my own, it led me to this."

"You had your choice, and yet you chose to simply hunt men for others?" asked the Swordswoman.

The question sent Walker's mind back a couple years, to when he had just started life on his own. Delusions of grandeur and being the hero, being proud of what he did. Some of that was true to an extent, but he hadn't expected the toll it had taken too. Still, he didn't regret his path one bit. "I simply found what I was good at and stuck with it, just so happens that what I'm good at is this. It's better to enter an arrangement like mine by choice than to go down a path paved by another without your consent, don't you think?"

To that, Sonja had no answer.

Turning back, Sonja watched Walker guide his horse across the stream and out of the thickest of the woods that the pair had been riding through all day. The 'Bounty Hunter' was still a mystery that Sonja was keen to unravel because he was so unlike anyone else that Sonja had come across ranging from his manner of dress, to how he spoke, to the weapons he used and how he fought. "We should be at Meroe before dark. The town has an inn where we can get rooms for the night." And a tavern where I can drown myself in ale added Red Sonja internally before coaxing her horse to continue along the trail.

She was not used to losing a fight.

"Glad to hear it," replied Joshua Walker as he brought his horse alongside Sonja before asking, "Do you know Meroe? What's it like?"

Sonja thought about it, "It is the capital of Kush, separated into two areas. One ruled by aristocrats, the other by bandits and smugglers. They trade in both arms and liquor," she recalled. Their ale was famous around the continent and the swords they produced were some of the finest in the land.

"Any town that sells weapons and alcohol has gotta be a rich one," observed the Bounty Hunter.

The Hyrkanian frowned slightly, "Not the town, only ones who buy and sell. The leaders are the ones who grow rich from the trade," explained the Swordswoman as she saw the man's jaw tighten in the corner of her eye. "While we are there, it would do you well to find yourself a blade. You will need it," she suggested.

But Joshua Walker merely chuckled lowly at the words, "You can use a sword Calamity Dame, I'll stick with my iron."

"Iron? No, these blades will be made of good quality steel," she corrected. "You would use a blade made of iron?"

A snort of amusement emanated from the man that had Sonja send him a confused look. Joshua Walker reached down and withdrew one of the strange, smaller weapons from his belt and held it up. "Not a blade, this is a 'shooting iron,' I prefer them," he said, spinning the weapon about his finger and then placing it back in his sheath.

"A 'shooting iron'?" asked Sonja, "I have never heard of such a weapon."

"No, I don't suppose you would've," replied the Bounty Hunter. "The small ones are called 'pistols' or 'revolvers,' specifically a pair of Schofields. The large one I used earlier is a Winchester repeating rifle." Sonja raised an eyebrow at the strange names, but did not question them, not as the man revealed more about the weapons. "As for how they work? They fire small arrows, very, very fast."

"How? They are unlike any bow I have ever seen," exclaimed the redhead, "Where is the string? Every bow must have a string."

"Because they use gunpowder instead." The word 'gunpowder' had no meaning to Sonja, but Walker offered no further explanation. "The bullets these shoot fly faster and farther than an arrow from any bow."

"This 'gunpowder' you speak of, is it the magic that makes your weapons seem to shoot fire and thunder?" ventured Red Sonja. "Is that the nature of your land? To use magic?"

There was a small upturn of the corner of the man's mouth, "It's not exactly magic. It's more like… I suppose you would call it alchemy."

His answer did little to help the Swordswoman understand, Alchemy was the occupation of crazed men who tried to turn things to gold, make themselves masters over creation and put themselves on the plane of the gods. She could not see how one might create something like this 'gunpowder.' "But that's just to make the powder, the pistol itself is crafted by a smith, a gunsmith," explained he Bounty Hunter as he drew one of his pistols again and seemingly broke it open, causing the six yellow colored cylinders inside to be ejected into his waiting hand. Walker stuffed the cylinders into a pocket on his coat and then closed the gun and offered it to her, grip first. "Take a look at it, tell me what you think."

Cautiously, Sonja reached out and took the offered weapon, wrapping her hand around the smooth, oddly shaped grip. Doing her best to hold it like Walker did, she found it fit well in her hand and brought the gun up to examine it more closely. It was a heavier item than Sonja had been expecting from it's small size, but that was not due to a lack of craftsmanship. There were no imperfections anywhere along the weapon's length, and besides the ivory grips, the entire gun had a deep dark blue finish applied to it that was unlike any she had seen before. A long tube at the top made up most of the revolver's length, with a more complex contraption behind it that Sonja could not truly fathom. Closer examination revealed that the weapon had been marked, the long tube had writing that the She Devil read aloud. "Smith and Wesson number 3. Cal, .44-40 WCF." While the words carried no weight, Sonja understood what they were, she had heard of some smiths that marked their creations with their names. Smith and Wesson certainly sounded like names to her, albeit strange ones. But the rest of what she had said meant nothing to her.

Almost naturally, her pointer finger extended towards the crossbow like trigger under the weapon, only pulling it did not cause it to move. Confused, Sonja tried again, but still nothing happened. Noticing another strange lever behind the tube above the grip, the redhead extended her thumb and tried to push it to either side, but neither attempt had any effect. It was only when she pulled it back that it gave, pivoting about the base of it to reveal that the top portion of the lever was shaped like a strange hammer. Even stranger, as she pulled the lever back, the large cylinder in the middle of the gun began to spin with audible clicks, only stopping when the lever could be pulled back no further. A closer inspection revealed that the trigger had come forwards and so Sonja wrapped her finger around it again and squeezed. It did not take much before she felt it give and the lever swung back to its original position, with Sonja expecting the distinct report of the weapon to fill the air, only all she got was a 'click.'

The Bounty Hunter noticed the perplexed look on the Swordswoman's face and spoke back up, "Don't be surprised Calamity Dame, the gun ain't loaded." The redhead pondered what that meant before the man elaborated. "There aren't any uh… arrows in it, no powder."

"I see," replied the Hyrkanian, though she did not, not entirely. She had never heard of a type of magic that functioned like this strange weapon she held. But that did not surprise her, magic was not her domain. "Does the larger 'Winchester' work like this one?" she asked. Walker paused for a moment and nodded in reply. "And what of the other one you carry?"

"What? The shotgun?" he asked, with Sonja just staring blankly at him. "It's similar, except it can either fire a lot of arrows at once or one really big one. Trust me, don't matter what it's firing, you don't want to get hit by a 12 guage."

Having seen and felt the effects of his weapons, Red Sonja did not doubt his claims, even if she could not understand how they worked. But there was one complaint she had about his strange arms. "In your time as a Bounty Hunter, you have never crossed swords with a foe? You prefer to snipe them down while they are unawares?" The Adventurer was not fully able to keep an accusatory tone from creeping into her words.

A hunter of men who did not even face them in fair combat? Such a thought was shameful to ponder for Sonja, that her companion would not even grant his foes a warrior's death.

"Hard to cross swords when nobody else carries one," countered Walker dryly, seemingly unperturbed by Sonja's words. "Though I have gotten into my share of gunfights."

"With other men wielding 'pistols' like you do?" asked Sonja, getting a nod in reply. "Is there no honor in your land? That men would abandon the way of the sword to take up such arms instead? So that you may just cut down all who would stand against you without the strength to pick up a blade or the courage to run it through a foe?" There was venom in the redhead's words as she was unable to hide her contempt at such a scenario.

Still, Joshua Walker did not seem put off by her words, merely shrugging them off. "Blade or bullet, they both kill a man in the end," was the simple reply, as if there were no difference between deaths.

That was not a view Sonja shared, not with the many friends she had die honorable deaths at her side.

"You don't survive as a bounty hunter because of honor or courage, you survive by being the smartest and the fastest. And I've survived a lot longer than most." Sonja turned to regard the man, noticing the subtle boast for what it was, but did not answer him before he continued. "And I don't plan on dying yet, especially here."

Closing Notes: I know it isn't much, but hopefully what I have planned for next chapter will make up for it. Until then, review and let me know what you think.

Stay Frosty, Misfit Delta out.