A.N: I would like to thank MorganeChelsa, somuchforu, RavenHuffle and JackSparrowsWench92 for following the story and/or adding it to your favorites! Alright, let the next chapter start in three, two, one and START!

Chapter 5: The tale that started it all

They made a new camp, after riding for over half an hour. Django made the fire. After he helped Nera take a seat on a nearby boulder, Schultz prepared their dinner. They ate in silence. No more than five words had been spoken the entire time, until Django asked Schultz a question.

"How did you know Broomhilda's first masters were German?"

Schultz swallowed the bite of food, before he answered the younger man. "Brünnhilde is a German name. If they named her, it stands to reason they'd be German."

"Lots of gals where you're from named Broomhilda?"

"Brünnhilde is the name of a character in one of the most popular of all the German legends."

"There's a story about Broomhilda?"

Schultz was still chewing his food this time when he replied. "Oh yes, there is."

Django put the rest of his dinner aside and slowly made his way towards the German. "Do you know it?"

"Oh, every German knows that story." Django sat down in front of Schultz. He stared expectantly at the other man. "Would you like me to tell you?" The doctor asked him. Django nodded his head once.

Schultz started to tell the legend of Brünnhilde and her hero, Siegfried. Django interrupted the German a couple of times to ask a question. Nera was also listening to the tale with interest. When Schultz neared the end of his story, both he and Nera could see that Django wasn't so different from Siegfried.

"He walks through hellfire, because Brünnhilde is worth it." Schultz finished the story. There was a moment of silence.

"I know how he feels." Django told Schultz, his voice filled with sadness.

Schultz looked at Django and spoke in understanding. "I think I'm just starting to realise that." Another silence followed, as Schultz tried to find the right words. Django kept looking straight ahead. The pain he felt was hidden by a mask of indifference. But one could not miss how his pain hung in the air as he watched how the light of the fire reflected on the rock in front of him. He didn't look away as Schultz moved to sit elsewhere.

The bounty hunter's voice was gentle. The compassion he felt was hard not to notice. "Look Django, I don't doubt that one day you will save your lady love." Django slightly shook his head at this. He would fight dragons and more if it meant that he and his wife could be back together. "But I'm afraid I can't let you go to Greenville in a good conscious." Django turned his head to look at Schultz, finally making eye contact with the other man.

"The slave auction town in Mississippi isn't a place for you to visit." Django turned his head away to look at the reflection of the light again, breaking the eye contact. "Free or not. It's just too dangerous." Schultz continued.

Nera spoke softly, for the time since they had arrived. "Please understand Django. If you go now, your freedom will be taken from you again. You will be right back where you ended. The possibility of getting your wife's freedom, whilst being a slave, is very near to non-existent. Almost impossible"

Django peered at her. He couldn't imagine how he would be able to find his wife, if he were to be captured and sold as a slave again.

Schultz nodded once to affirm her statement, and the tone of the man's voice changed audibly. A flicker of cheer curiosity was audible when he asked the following question. "Let me ask you a question." He moved to sit right in front of Django. "How do you like the bounty hunting business?"

"Killing white folks and they pay you for it? What's not to like?"

"I have to admit, we make a good team." Nera thought she saw Schultz glimpsed at her after he said that. But she wasn't quite sure whether or not she'd only imagined it.

Django couldn't completely believe what Schultz just told him. "I thought you were mad at me for killing Big John and Little Raj?"

Schultz didn't beat around the bushes when he answered him. "Yeah, on that occasion you were a tad overzealous. Little Raj could have killed you if it wasn't for Nera. But normally, that's a good thing."

"How'd you like to partner up for the winter?" Schulz asked curiously.

"What do you mean, partner up?" Django questioned in confusion.

"You work with me through the winter till the snow melts. I'll give you a third of my bounties. So we make some money this winter and when the snow melts, I'll take you to Greenville myself and we'll find where they send your wife."

Django was, understandably, a bit suspicious towards the bounty hunter's offer. He pondered for a moment, before he gave answered. "Why do you care what happens to me? Why do you care if I find my wife or not?"

"Frankly… I've never given anybody their freedom before. And now that I have, I feel vaguely responsible for you." Django thought about what the man just told him. "Plus, when a German meets a real-time Siegfried, that's kind of a big deal. As a German, I am obliged to help you on your quest to find your beloved Brünnhilde."

They stared into each other's eyes and kept staring when Django removed the glove from his right hand. He extended his now exposed right hand to Schultz. A sign that he was willing to seal the deal. Schultz looked at Django's hand for a split second before he shook it.

Schultz looked at his new partner. More specifically, at the clothes Django was wearing. "How about we get you an outfit in the morning? I presume you'll want to wear something different to look more like a bounty hunter instead of a valet."

Django leaned slightly forward. "Okay, can I keep the jacket?"

"Of course you can Django. I think the late Mr. Speck wouldn't have it any other way."

The both of them had momentarily forgotten about their female colleague, as they kept on talking. But when the conversation ended, they both heard the slow breathing. At one point, she had just fallen asleep on the boulder. Both men couldn't help but smile as she lay there in the starfish position like a baby.

"I believe we make a most unusual trio." Schultz declared proudly. A thoughtful expression crossed his face as he regarded the sleeping Nera. Without saying a word, he stood up and took one of his spare blankets. He quietly went to her and placed the fabric over her body, being the gentleman that he was.

She hummed in her sleep as the blanket started to make her feel less cold.

In the dead of night, one could not deny that winter was coming.

The sun arose soon enough. Nera was the first one, to arise under the new light of day.

She kept her eyes closed as she woke up, drowsiness overpowering her body for a little while longer. Why do I feel like I slept on a rock? She felt the boulder on which she lay. Oh, right. I did.

She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Schultz and Django were still asleep on the ground and the fire from the night before, had extinguished itself earlier on in the morning.

She made a move to get off the boulder. But as she got off and put her weight on her feet, a pain shot straight through her right ankle. A sharp hiss escaped her mouth, before she muttered curses as she sat back down. I forgot about that.

Schultz immediately sat up after he heard her.

Seems like we've got a light sleeper in our midst. Nera assumed.

The doctor looked around in confusion, until his eyes were set on Nera. "Good morning." He whispered, aware that his other companion was still asleep.

"Morning." She answered with a sheepish smile. "Sorry for waking you up."

"That's alright. It was about time I got up." And he did exactly that. "I'll make us some coffee."

Her head perked up at the mention of coffee. "That would be great!" She answered happily. She casted a guilty glance at Django, to see if she had woken him up as well. But the man was still asleep.

After Schultz had lit up the fire and made coffee, he went to Nera with two cups of coffee in his hands. He handed her one cup and sat next to her. "Prosit."

"Santé." She answered, taking Schultz by surprise. He watched how a content smile came upon her lips as she took her first sip of coffee. Her eyelids closed momentarily in pure bliss.

"You speak French?" He asked with interest, meanwhile hoping for some sort of conformation on her origins.

"Sort of." She didn't meet his gaze as she answered him matter-of-factly.

"Pardon me, but what do you mean by 'sort of'?"

This time she did meet his gaze. She replied with a mischievous smile "What? Are you expecting some story of my life. Where I come from and how I learned it?"

He nodded his head. "Expecting? No. Hoping? Yes. But I guess you're not going to tell me. Am I right?"

"Yes, you are. But I will give you a hint, detective. I am not French."

"German?"

"Nein, but you're getting close."

He stroked his beard as he pondered. "The Netherlands?"

"No, though you would be right twenty-eight years ago, but not today."

Nera could see, by the look on his face, that he understood. He knew what she meant. They sat together in silence for a while.

"How much did you hear last night, before you fell asleep?" Nera was grateful that he had dropped the subject, for now. She felt comfortable with Django and Schultz, but that didn't mean she wanted to place herself in a vulnerable position. She knew that knowledge could mean power, in more ways than one.

"You two shaking hands is the last thing I remember."

He nodded. "We're going to a nearby town after breakfast for some clothes and the necessities. Do you want to join us?" She couldn't tell if he only meant going to the town or something else, when he asked her to join them.

She answered him nonetheless, without any doubt. "Alright."

It appears that Game of thrones made a cameo. I hope that whoever is reading this, enjoys the story!