Partners

The iron stench of blood in the air mixed with the potent scent of gunpowder. Five bodies lay sprawled on the ground, unmoving, courtesy of yours truly. I set to reloading my revolver, putting the hammer in the half-cocked position and then filling each chamber in the cylinder with black powder. I then used the loading lever to jam six lead balls into their corresponding holes. After that was done, I began attaching the percussion caps to the metal nipples on the cylinder. Finished with the reloading, I uncocked the gun and returned the weapon back into its holster. Six more shots ready to go.

Lee was sitting on his horse, watching me work, all with a wide smile on his face. On any other person, the smile would have looked smarmy, but on Lee’s face, it wasn’t. It was just a plain old smile like he was happy with everything going on in the world.

I turned my attention to the bodies surrounding me.

“Status,” I said.

Name

Nero

Level

14

Race

Lizardman

Proficiency

Swimming- lv8, Hold Breath- lv9, Hunting- lv6, Firemaking- lv10, Smithing- lv16, Magic- lv11, Language (Common), Language (Drakkis)

Standing

CoR: HATED

VE: NEUTRAL

FAA: WARY

ZF: NEUTRAL

I checked my stats while searching through the bodies. Looks like I went up a level after taking care of those five bounty hunters. My magic level also rose by a few points. The numbers still weren’t as high as they had been in Avanta, but then again here in Hell, there were no “PvP Safe Zones” to take advantage of. I’ll be climbing the ladder the old-fashioned way: through hard work and determination. Maybe when I’m strong enough I’ll find a way back into Heaven.

One could hope.

Another thing that changed was my standing with the “FAA.” It went from neutral to wary. Doc told me that there was some type of “Free Association” right before we arrived at Garret. Could my killing that Garret boy have affected my reputation with this Association? I wonder if there was some way to fix it?

My search of the bodies turned up a lot of things that I could sell. Their weapons were in pretty good quality, especially the lance. I could get some good money for it if I could find a town that would allow me to go inside without the population having a fit. Doc said that that town was Wayfaire, and if my map was right I still had a ways to go before I reached it.

I packed up most of the valuables onto the saddlebags of one horse, then climbed on top of another really carefully so as not to spook it. The saddle was a bit uncomfortable, owing to the fact that it was designed for folk without tails, but other than that it was serviceable.

“So, where we headed?” Lee asked, smiling all the while.

“We are headed novhere,” I told him. “I am going one direction, you are going the other.”

“Come on now, don’t be like that,” he said. “We’re both men with prizes on our heads. Well, I’m a man and you’re a lizard, but regardless my statement still stands. We could watch each others’ backs.”

“Last time I had shomeone watching my back, he shtabbed me in it,” I said, thinking about that traitor Tycho. I wondered what that scaley son of a bitch was up to.

“Ah, now that I understand. Getting burned by a friend, that is mighty nasty.” Lee’s smile grew wider. “Don’t worry. If I ever betray you, I give you permission to kill me in the most horrible way you can imagine.”

I snorted. “Pal, I don’t need permission to do that.”

Lee laughed. “No. No, I suppose you don’t.”

Without another word, both of us started heading north. Nothing further was said about being allies or partners, but it was just implied. I guess it was good to have someone watching my back again, even if it was only temporary. And like the man said, if he ever did betray me like Tycho did, well…

Dying would be the least of his concerns.

It was high noon a day later when we rode up on Fayson. I curled my tail around my waist and sat up a little straighter on the saddle as we neared the town, making my silhouette as human as possible just in case someone was keeping an eye out from afar. If anyone got up close, though, I’d be identified immediately since there was no hiding my long snout or green skin.

“You know,” Grin Lee spoke up as we neared the town, “I can take the second horse and sell all the stuff you found in Fayson. Shouldn’t take more than a few hours.”

He could. It was a good plan. The only problem was whether or not I trusted him enough to do it without running off with the money.

“If you’re worried I’ll run off, don’t be,” Lee said. “You can keep an eye on the town up on that rise over there,” he pointed at a hill nearby. “That way you can see me running off if I were ever to become possessed by a suicidal spirit.”

He made a good point. And it would sure make life easier to sell the extra horse and loot here rather than lugging it all the way to Wayfaire.

“Arright. I’ll trusht you on this one,” I told Lee.

“You won’t regret it, partner,” he said with a smirk.

I watched him take the extra horse’s reigns, then gallop away towards Fayson.

He was gone no more than an hour when he came riding back. Unfortunately, he wasn’t alone. Following him on horseback were four men, each with the air of hungry weasels about them. They were a ways back, but definitely close enough to be following Lee.

“We got trouble,” Lee said as he rode up.

“I can see that,” I said. The party of four stopped a hundred yards away and seemed content to just watch us.

“More bounty hunters?” I asked.

“Nah, just some regular ol’ theives, I think,” Lee said. He chuckled. “They saw all the money I got for selling the horse and those other valuables. I think they wish to divulge me of it.”

“Do they now?” I reached over and wrapped my hand around the grip of my revolver, ready to draw it.

“Hey, now. Hold up.” Lee raised his hand to stop me from drawing. “If you let loose with that dragon fire, everyone in Fayson will hear. Then we’ll have every hunter and killer in town running after us.”

Damn, he was right. I let go of my gun and said, “Fine. We’ll jusht ride off and lead them away from the town. When we’re far enough away, we kill them.”

Grin Lee’s smirk widened. “Just what I was about to suggest.”

With a plan agreed upon, we quickly set off.

“Hiyah!” I shouted while flicking the reigns and kicking the horse in the side. The beast grumbled as it rocketed forwards, running at a brisk pace northwards. I could hear Lee’s horse behind me doing the same.

The thieves kicked their horses into motion as well, obviously believing that we were running. They chased after us like a hound chasing a rabbit. We were all set to have them continue charging after us until we were far enough away from Fayson, but we hadn’t counted on one of them having a bow. Nor did we count on him having the skill to shoot it while riding.

The first few arrows zipped past over our heads. The third one hit the hard scales on my back and broke apart. Although it didn’t do much damage, it still fucking hurt like hell.

I looked back at Lee and saw that he didn’t seem to be worried at all; he had a content grin on his face as he and his horse galloped wildly through the fields. We suddenly entered a heavily wooded area and had to slow down our horses lest we hit a tree. Thankfully, this meant that the goons chasing us also had to slow down, and the trees around us made the bowman’s job of peppering us with arrows that much harder.

I figured we were far enough away from town, so I looked over and gave Lee a nod. He returned it with a smirk, then pulled back on the reigns to stop his horse. I did the same, then leaped off the animal onto the leafy ground. The four thieves were still coming at us on horseback, and they made excellent targets.

I drew my gun and fired. The retort spooked their horses, causing them to rear up and toss one of their riders off. The lead rider I managed to graze with my bullet. I aimed again and shot, this time hitting him directly in the chest. The rider fell off his horse and crashed onto the ground, where he remained still.

The remaining two thieves quickly got off their horses and hung to the side, using the animals as cover. The rider who had fallen off his horse got up and tried to run for cover behind a tree. Lee tossed what looked like a small knife at him, which pierced him in the shoulder. I heard the man cry out as he got behind the tree.

I dodged an arrow as it sailed through the air towards me. The archer was standing to the side of his horse, sending arrows towards me. I took cover behind a tree, which he began pelting with arrows.

The remaining thief went after Lee and I could hear them fighting on the other side of the glen. The thief was using a sword while Lee fought with two long daggers he had gotten out of somewhere.

I suddenly felt intense pain and couldn’t help but yell out. I looked down and found that an arrow had embedded itself into the flesh of my tail. I became consumed with rage, and I rushed out of the tree’s cover very much intent on killing that archer.

The archer saw me coming and let loose two arrows. One I dodged, the other pierced the scales of my left arm. I ignored the pain and aimed my revolver. I cocked the hammer and pulled the trigger twice, sending two balls of lead into each of the archer’s eye sockets. Blood erupted from his face as he fell backward into a bush.

I heard a pained yell and looked over to where Lee was. I saw that he had just dispatched the thief he was fighting by burying both daggers into the man’s chest.

“Well, that was fun,” Lee said with a grin, casually pulling the daggers out of the corpse and letting it drop.

“Maybe for you,” I grimaced as I pulled out the arrow imbedded in my bicep. Thanks to my hard scales, it didn’t go in very deep. “I don’t much ‘preciate being used as a pincushion.” I yanked the arrow out of my tail; that one hurt like a son of a bitch.

“We got one more,” I said, remembering the man that Lee had tagged with a throwing knife.

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about him.”

Lee was right. I found the man behind the same tree he had taken cover in, dead and lying on the ground. From the froth dribbling out of his mouth, I’d say it was obvious Lee dipped the blade of that knife into something special.

“So, what’s the score?” Lee asked. “Two for me, two for you. A tie, then.”

“No. Shcore is seven to two,” I told him. “Remember the five I killed when I found you?”

“Ah, so we’re counting those, too? Okay,” Lee shrugged, a smile still on his face. “Means I’ll just have to work harder to catch up.”

I grunted, then looked around the scene of the carnage. Four more corpses. The would-be thieves’ horses had run off, frightened by the loud retorts of my pistol. Lee and I began to loot the bodies, but in the end, found nothing much of value.

We then hopped on our horses and began to ride further north, towards Wayfaire. I didn’t wanna admit it, but that had been fun. I forgot how enjoyable it was to kill with a partner. Maybe I’ll keep Lee around after all.