Chapter 2: Guten Abend

Django and King left soon after the marshal payed King his two hundred dollars. Though, they didn't know that they were being followed. She made sure she stayed out of their sight.

It was late in the afternoon when both men finally stopped near a rock formation. Django dismounted his horse and Schultz freed his horse from the wagon. The latter gave his horse an affectionate pat on the neck.

She waited for a while, before she dismounted her horse as well one hundred feet away from their campsite, and stealthily sent towards them. She peered from behind a rock as to what they were doing and saw Django eating his supper and Schultz putting on his clothes. She instantly turned around to give the man some sort of privacy. Her face had transformed into a tomato in only a matter of second after seeing Schultz in his state of undress.

The two men started to talk. Django told the doctor about his wife and how he wanted find her and buy her freedom once he and Schultz had dealt with the Brittles. She waited behind her rock until Django finished his story, because she herself was interested in what he had to say as well. And she had been dead silent the entire conversation, but fate decided otherwise. She had moved only the slightest bit, to be more comfortable in the squatting position, when a branch snapped beneath her foot.

As she mumbled some curses and prayed, to whoever was listening, that her little mishap went unnoticed.

It didn't.

A click came from behind her and she froze in her tracks. "Guten abend. Would you be so kind as to turn around with your hands raised above your head? Oh, and if you were wondering. My gun is pointing at the back of your head." King Schultz calm voice came from above her.

She did as she was told, while also standing up right so she could look at him at eye level. Now that she could see him this close, she noticed that he had a well-groomed full beard. As he leaned in closer to take her gun, a whiff of his eau de cologne entered her nostrils. Wow, you've got a cool beard and you smell nice. What kind of bounty hunter are you? She wondered

Her mouth was still covered by her scarf and her hair was tucked beneath her hat, so Schultz had no idea that it was a Fräulein who stood in front of him. He did raise an eyebrow for a second, when he noticed the guitar on her back.

He motioned for her to go ahead to the campfire. "After you." Django looked confused at the intruder. "Who's that?" He asked Schultz. "And what's that on his back?"

The three of them stood in front of the fire. Schultz was still aiming his gun at their intruder, and he didn't take his eyes of her as he answered Django's question. "That, Django, is a guitar. An instrument that produces sound as a result of the vibrations that are being produced when you pull the strings. Those vibrations go in the resonance-box, to strengthen the sound." Schultz answers.

Django gave him a confused look.

"It makes music." Schultz clarifies. "As to our guest, I would like to know that as well."

She glanced at the both of them, hands still raised above her head, and decided that two could play this game. "Who wants to know? Your wagon says dentist, but your gun says killer." She asked him in a well done, fake southern male voice. Mocking the little gun in his hand, as she pronounced killer. "You know what they say about the size of a man's gun and his manhood?" Django obviously did. He, unsuccessfully, tried to mask his laugh into a cough.

Schultz squinted his eyes at her mockery. "My name is Doctor King Schultz. My friend over there is Django." He began as he pulled the hammer of his revolver back. "Now please, tell us who you are and lower your scarf." He was dead serious.

She sighed and lowered her scarf, as well as her hat, without any hesitation. Fun's over.

Both Django and Schultz were more or less shocked by the discovery that followed. Schultz looked at her in curiosity after recovering from the initial shock, and Django looked quite confused at the turn of events.

She started to feel a little bit annoyed when they just kept staring at her, so she decided to end the uncomfortable silence.

"Hi." She said in her normal, yet foreign, accent to both men as a small smile graced her lips. Wow, you sure know how the break the ice, don't you? She thought to herself.

Schultz lowered his gun, but still firmly held it in his hand, and she took this as a sign to slowly lower her hands. "Well, my name is Nera." She turned to Django and shook his hand. A gesture that stunned Django, a man who had never seen any kindness of a white person towards him. All of that had changed in less than twenty-four hours.

Nera walked towards Schultz to shake his hand. He carefully placed the revolver in the holster and took her hand. Her thin fingers seemingly lost in his strong but warm grip. She looked into his piercing blue eyes that had a brown ring around the pupil. He looked into her stormy grey eyes with great intensity.

They held their staring competition, trying to find anything into the windows of the soul, until Django scraped his throat. The spell was broken and she took her hand out of his.

Schultz also scraped his throat and addressed Nera. "Would you mind telling us who you really are and why you were spying on us?"

She involuntarily thought back at the moment he dressed himself when he enunciated 'spying'. Her cheeks reddened slightly at the memory. "I didn't… Alright, in theory, I did spy on you." She admitted. "But that wasn't my intention!" She defended herself.

"Please." Schultz sat down on a nearby rock and motioned with a hand gesture to do the same. "Indulge us."

She sat down and clasped her hands together, to warm up near the fire. When she spoke again, her eyes were aimed to the flames of the fire. "Well, you kind of stole my bounty."

Schultz looked confused at her statement and tried to explain himself. "I did what? My dear, I don't know if you know this, but I had a warrant from Judge Henry Allen Laudermilk…"

"Of Austin Texas. Yeah yeah, I know the buffoon as well." She finished his sentence. All the while drawing figures in the sand with a stick. "Look, you may not know this out of experience, but being a female bounty hunter isn't really the most grateful job. They don't want to hire you because you don't have a penis or they give you the shitty jobs that don't even pay enough to buy a boot."

Schultz and Django were stunned by her language. They had never heard a lady curse, let alone like that.

"Look." She said, observing the both of them. "I'm not going to beat around the bushes, I really needed that money for reasons you don't have to know."

Schultz absentmindedly stroked his beard and looked her dead in the eye. "Well, if that's all it takes." He answered calmly as he reached for his wallet.

"No!" She exclaimed in distress. "I don't want your money."

"I'm sorry, but you've lost me." Schultz answered, trying to understand her unclear motives.

"I don't want you to give me your money." She explained. "I want to have earned the money that gets into my hands."

Schultz was confused, yet fascinated at the same time, by this strange woman. "What do you suggest?"

"I heard about your next bounty, when I wasn't really spying, and I want to join you."

"And why would I agree to that, my dear?"

She slightly squinted her eyes at the pet name. "Because, I will follow you whether you like it or not."

King took in what she said. He could understand why she wouldn't accept the money, how she only wanted to have earned her money. But that wasn't very common among a lot of men or women.

"Why?"

"Because maybe then, I can finally break through. I can finally be a respected bounty hunter and not just a stupid girl who tries to be one of the big guys." That was the truth, but not the complete truth.

As Schultz pondered about her proposition for a while, Nera became nervous and started to chew on her lips.

"Deal!" The German exclaimed after a long silence, and he held out his hand.

Her surprised expression quickly changed into a smile that could melt steel as she shook his hand in excitement. "Deal! Now who's our bounty exactly?"

Schultz explained who they were looking for and what Django's role was in the whole ordeal. Schultz tried to get Nera to talk a little bit more about herself, and her motives to become a bounty hunter.

But it was clear that she didn't wanted to talk about herself very much. Django then asked her to play the guitar, and even though Schultz didn't say it, he wanted to hear her play as well. The look on her face made it obvious that she felt anxious to play the guitar in front of them. And therefore, she declined the offer. But as soon as she saw the disappointment on Django's face, she felt bad for saying no and denying him one of life's small delights, after all he must have been through.

"What if I play over there?" She pointed at a spot, roughly twenty meters in front of them in the dark. "I just find it difficult to play in front of people I don't know." She admitted unsure.

The two men nodded. She went to the spot and started to play Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig Von Beethoven. The doctor listened in awe, even though his face was void of any emotions. He hadn't heard Beethoven being played by someone else in five years. He watched how she stared into the darkness as she struck the strings with her skilled fingers.

A German bounty hunter, a female guitar playing bounty hunter and a former slave. We make quite the trio. Schultz couldn't help but think to himself.