Rathus and the Princess continued along the road, and before long came to a large, moss-covered boulder, which towered ostentatiously in their path. The road itself curved around the boulder, cowed into submission by the absolute size of the lad. As Ruth steered the mules to follow the trail, a shot rang out in the distance, echoing through the trees. The mules started, and birds flew from the bush, startled. By the time Ruth ducked down, Rathus had already drawn his gun and vaulted from the saddle.

He leapt from his horse to the back of the wagon, knocking one of the bags from the side. The Gun Knight caught the handle of the bag as it fell, and protectively tossed it on top of Ruth.

"H-Hey!" the Princess protested, "You're going to make me spill my ink everywhere!" Rathus peered into the woods, heedless of the glare she gave him as she shoved the bag to the side. "You're using a ballpoint pen," he pointed out.

"That's not the point, Rathus! It's a matter of principles!" The Princess scrabbled to cap her pen and put it and the notebook back into her carrying bag.

Rathus scanned the treeline, and along the sides and top of the boulder. The shot had come from somewhere in the woods behind the boulder. Based on the sound, it had either been relatively far off, or a particularly weak gun. The Imperial Knight glanced once at his ward.

"If your principles include 'staying alive', then it's best you stay down." Ruth glared at him, but nevertheless ducked low behind her bag.

Rathus waited, listening and carefully watching for movement, but when no further shots came, he cocked his head, and jumped down from the cart.

"Wait here." He waved back to Ruth, motioning with his hand for her to stay low. The Gun Knight moved to the treeline and cautiously entered the forest, weapon at the ready. He picked his way carefully through the underbrush, sliding around branches and stepping methodically, taking seemingly random paces that left the foliage largely undisturbed as he passed. His eyes darted across the trees and bushes, checking for any sign of movement, any possible trails, such as broken branches, disturbed rocks, or discarded food wrappers.

He passed a large tree with a low-hanging branch, and paused as he noticed an impact mark in the side opposite the road. A bullet hole. He crouched down low, bringing his gun up and bracing it with his other hand. Clearing his mind, he activated the eidetic memory instilled into him by the Contract that had made him a Gun Knight. He brought his recent memories to the surface, gathering the details in picture-perfect clarity to determine where the assailants might be. His mind noticed things his eyes and ears had missed the first time. Holes and torn leaves, shattered twigs, disturbed branches, small details that painted a clear line of fire from the distant forest, ending in the wounded branch. He fixed his gaze in that direction, but saw only more trees, hanging ivy, berry bushes. No sign of the shooter.

More details from his recent memories sprang to mind. Noises: sounds of branches being moved, the quiet murmur of an amateur attempting to move quietly, the whisper of fabric and the grinding of steps. Noises, which were coming from behind him. He stood, narrowing his eyes.

"I told you to wait in the cart." He said, without turning. Ruth stood up from behind the bush where she had been hiding, and fixed him with an indignant, yet patient sort of look usually reserved for when the shop attendant watches you push on the door marked 'Pull'.

"Yes. I know. You might be an Imperial Knight, but you're not very good at being a bodyguard, are you?"

Rathus blinked in surprise, and turned, frowning at the Princess. "I-"

"You think the best option is to leave me alone in the middle of the road while you go traipsing into the woods?"

Rathus flushed at that, but kept his voice composed. He wagged his finger at her. "You think it's safer to go traipsing after me, towards the danger?"

Ruth scoffed and flicked a branch from where it hung, caught on the fabric of her dress. "I think it's safest," she replied evenly, "to probably be close to the person with the gun."

The Gun Knight sighed and looked up, away from the impertinent Noble and her annoying facts. His eyes lit on the branch that had been shot once more, and he stared at the impact wound. Something about it was sticking out to him. Squinting at the mark, he reached his hand up and brushed his fingers across it. A crater had formed in the branch, with scarred, barkless wood surrounding it. A mass was wedged in the center of the crater. Rathus puzzled as he rubbed at it.

Princess Ruth cocked her head at him, then walked in his direction, ducking to try to see the side of the branch he was looking at. "Find something?"

Rathus nodded. "It's cold. If this had just been shot, it would still be warm, at least. The wood's scarred, as well. This branch was shot at least a few weeks ago. Maybe more." The Gun Knight leaned a bit closer, and then drew his knife from his belt.

"Maybe bandits or somebody has been stalking these woods for a while?" The Princess suggested. She gestured towards the road. "That boulder is a pretty good landmark for an ambush point. You see it all the time in stories. You have to pick somewhere notable and exciting for ambushes." Rathus did not respond, but instead began to pry at the branch with his knife. With a bit of effort, he pulled out the offending object, and examined it, turning it over in his hand.

Ruth looked at it. It wasn't lead, or any other metal she recognized; in fact, it looked almost organic, as if somebody had shot some sort of a nut, or... Rathus closed his hand around it and brought it up to his nose to smell it, before tossing it aside, into the bushes. He stood and turned to face the direction he had determined the shot had come.

"What is it?" Ruth asked, following his gaze. "Some kind of special bullet? Something dangerous?"

"No, nothing dangerous." Rathus shook his head, then paused and reconsidered. "Well... it is dangerous. But not a threat."

The Gun Knight began moving further into the forest. Ruth trailed him, keeping close behind. " 'Dangerous, but not a threat?' Is that supposed to be some sort of Puroreso koan or something? Some deep kernel of knowledge?"

Rathus chuckled. "Do you see me holding a cudgel?" He moved ahead, and Ruth stopped in place, more confused than before. She decided the best bet was to just file that away for later. She hurried after him, shaking her head.

As they headed further into the foliage, Ruth saw more and more such impact craters, in branches, and in the sides of trees. She also noticed a few gleams of white among the underbrush. Shards of bone. A deer skull peered out at her from underneath a small sapling; its ribs formed a protective cage around the base of the tree.

She hurried her pace until she was right behind the Gun Knight, and tugged on his sleeve.

"Rathus," she hissed quietly. "Are you sure it's a good idea to be here? Whoever it is that's been operating in the area has clearly been quite active." She gestured about at the scores of bullet holes. "Or else they have a passionate hatred for trees."

Rathus chuckled, and continued on. The trees began to thin out as they moved further into the forest, until they came to the edge of a small clearing of sorts. Scattered around the clearing were the splintered trunks of dead trees. The ground was littered with the dried, fallen branches of trees no longer standing. The scent of fresh sawdust and stale blood hung in the air. Lush undergrowth grew, but the saplings which poked above the rest looked tattered, and dying. The Princess peered around the Gun Knight, and saw more animal bones, scattered about the clearing. The only tree which still stood was one large one, in the center.

The Gun Knight smiled. "I thought so." He turned to his ward. "Stay here, and stay behind this tree." He indicated a thick oak tree, pockmarked heavily on one side by bullet holes. "I know ya don't care much to listen to instructions, but this is for your own safety, so pay attention this time."

"What is it?" the Princess asked, but moved behind the tree as directed.

"Some good foraging," Rathus replied. He holstered his gun and stood, both hands at the ready. He stepped slowly into the clearing, never taking his eyes off the tree in the center. Ruth peeked around the tree to watch.

The tree in the center had a pale gray trunk and thick branches, bristling with large, sail-like leaves. From each of its branches, smaller limbs curled off, each laden with dull yellow fruit, of a unique, instantly identifiable curved shape.

"Bananas?" Ruth asked. She scowled at the tree. This wasn't anything like the climate for a banana tree. Was it smuggled here? The Princess gasped. Had they stumbled upon some sort of operation? Her mind raced with the implications of their involvement with some kind of fruit-based underworld.

Rathus shook his head. "Not quite a banana, no." He gestured towards one of the fruit, hanging a few paces from him. "You can tell by the color, mostly. They're a bit more gray than bananas, a bit less curved, and a lot thicker skin." He drew his knife and advanced slowly to grab the fruit. "Not to mention all of the... y'know." He gestured to the destruction surrounding the tree.

The Gun Knight took a careful half-step forwards and grasped the nearest fruit carefully around the base of the stem. With his knife, he cut the twig the fruit hung from, and stepped back, holding a plantain about as long as two fists, complete with the stem and a bit of branch hanging from it.

He stepped quickly away from the tree, bringing the fruit back to the waiting Princess.

"Musa Perimo," he said quietly. "You might also know it as a-"

The Princess stepped back instinctively, even though the business end of the fruit was not pointed at her.

"A Gun Fruit," she finished, her voice quiet with awe and mild trepedation. "I didn't think they still grew wild."

Rathus smiled and nodded. He lifted the fruit, holding it carefully by the stem, much as one would hold a pistol. He pointed out into the forest. "If you know their Academy name, you probably know how they work, right?"

The Princess nodded slowly. "More than I'd like to, truth be told. They were a favorite subject of my tutor, and she covered them beyond extensively in my history classes. Primitive savages —erm, that is to say, our honored ancestors— would use them as weapons."

The princess carefully extended a finger to point at the end of the Gun Fruit, making sure not to get too close. "There's a heavy pit in the small end, there. The body of the fruit is filled with an explosive compound. When the stem is snapped, it triggers a chemical reaction, and the fruit ignites inside of the peel, causing an explosion.

She pointed to the various parts of the fruit as she explained from memory. "The peel is thick and heavy, except for at the very end. The pit is fired out, at lethal speed. Professor Cartwell didn't explain the fruit or tree itself much beyond that, but she did tell me that eventually technology progressed, and the fruit was no longer used by itself. They eventually moved on to making artificial Gun Fruit, harvesting the contents of the fruit to make primitive blasting powder to fire stones or slugs from metal tubes."

Rathus nodded. "Makes sense, of course. Gun Fruit are mighty delicate things. Difficult to ship them in bulk."

Ruth gave a scholarly wave of her hand and put an air into her voice, obviously mimicking somebody Rathus had never met. "As time progressed ev'r onward, the march of science prevailed, and the humble Gun Fruit was refined and modern firearms were soon developed. Of course, nowadays most gunpowder can be synthesized, but we must never forget the humble Gun Fruit from whence the weapons arose, shaping inexorably the art of warfare for centuries to come."

Rathus tucked the fruit under his arm and gave the Princess a slow, polite clap. "Very studiously told, yer Highness. Here I had you pegged for the sort who would spend her study sessions writing some raunchy story instead of listening to teacher."

Ruth crossed her arms and turned haughtily away from him. She spoke quickly, and sharply as she rebuked him.

"You impugn my character, Sir Knight. You reach beyond your station with such scandalous remarks." She peered at him from the corner of her eye and gave him an impish smile.

"I'll have you know that I paid attention to my studies WHILE I wrote my indecent works."

Rathus gave her a mock bow. "I stand corrected. I should have never doubted your ability to slack off."

The Princess gave an offended laugh and threw a handful of leaves at the knight. Rathus brushed them away, then looked down at the Gun Fruit and held it up, gesturing with it.

"Have you ever had the chance to fire one of these?" Ruth looked down at the fruit and shook her head. At her response, Rathus shifted his grasp, gingerly holding the fruit around the middle with two fingers. He offered it to the Noble, carefully pointing the tip to the side.

"Grab it firmly by the stem. Not so tight that you snap it, but not so loose that it tilts under its weight and snaps itself."

Ruth gingerly reached out and took hold of the fruit. She held it at arms length away from her body, leaning her head away from it. "It won't explode, will it?" She eyed the fruit nervously, as if daring it to disobey her.

Rathus shook his head. "Not unless you break the stem, or set it on fire." He gestured out to the trees in the distance, ducking behind the Princess and pointing out to a tree with a large, visible knot where a branch had fallen long ago.

"Go ahead and try to hit that one. Hold the fruit with your right hand, then clasp your other hand around it. When you're ready to fire, you want to squeeze with your palm and snap the stem. It's not exactly the same as firing a gun."

The Princess held the fruit up, peering along the end of it, towards the distant knot. She closed one eye and held it at arm's length. Rathus scrutinized her as she aimed, making a quiet, disapproving sound under his breath, almost too quiet for the Princess to hear.

"Unless I'm about to hurt myself, you can save the lecture." Ruth shot Rathus a quick glare before going back to the fruit.

The Gun Knight shrugged. "Nothing important. Just that your stance needs a little work, if you want to use a real gun."

The Princess rolled her eyes. "Should such a thing come to pass, I assure you that you'll be the first one I seek out." She exhaled slowly, and squeezed with her right hand. The stem remained intact for a moment, before suddenly giving under the pressure. Ruth felt something inside the fruit snap, and the peel suddenly began to grow warm under her fingers. The fruit began to swell, and after a second, the pressure built up, and the end of the Gun Fruit exploded, the peel flying back to slap her fingertips as the pit launched forth.

The Princess had been expecting the sharp report of a gun, but the Gun Fruit made instead a wet sort of squelching blast. It brought to mind the time that a much younger and much less responsible Princess Ruth had snuck into the kitchen with her friends and dropped a firecracker in the pot of hot oatmeal the chef had been preparing.

However, instead of spraying the kitchen with hot oats and earning a lecture from her minder, the Gun Fruit instead fired the pit at high speed, sending it colliding with the tree a few feet below and to the left of the knot. The pit impacted and ricocheted off into the forest, splintering off a good chunk of bark and wood.

"Nice shot," Rathus commented. He gave the Princess a thumbs up and a genuine smile, as she limply held the steaming Gun Fruit and turned to face him.

"I missed, Rathus." She tossed the peel to the side and shook her hand clean. The Gun Knight merely shrugged.

"It was your first time shooting anything, let alone a Gun Fruit. At 50 yards out, that's a pretty close shot. If it were a person, it woulda probably still winged 'em."

The Princess crossed her arms and huffed. "Don't patronize me, Rathus. I missed the shot. You shouldn't praise failure."

"If I were patronizing you, you'd know it," Rathus said. "It was a fine shot, even if you didn't hit dead center. With more practice..." He trailed off as he saw the sour expression on Ruth's face. He shrugged and toyed with his knife. "Well... I'm going to collect more fruit. It's delicate work, and sometimes they go off if ya grab them wrong. Make sure to keep a tree between you and the clearing, just in case."

With that, he moved carefully back into the clearing, stepping lightly around the bushes and shattered wood. Ruth sat behind the large oak, staring with irritation at the tree she had fired upon. Despite her withering glare, the tree remained uncowed. After some time, she stood and turned to watched Rathus at his work, from behind the safety of the tree.

She was curious how he would store the fruit without it going off, but as she watched, Rathus trimmed another fruit from the tree and dropped his hand to his Holdster. The leather Artifact opened to accept the fruit, disappearing it into its extra-dimensional storage. Ruth gaped at it. Was a special consideration made for Gun Fruit? Would the Holdster just accept any item, or did it have to resemble a gun closely enough? She pondered that as Rathus set to work, gathering a few dozen fruit. He returned once more to her, and gestured with a nod back towards the road. The pair set off back the way they had come.

They soon returned to the carts to find, thankfully, that nobody had happened upon them while they were away, and nothing was missing. Grue gave them an appraising look, then snorted, clearly irritated that they had taken so long. The mules said and did nothing, as few things occur to mules in general.

Ruth gestured to the Gun Knight's Holdster as he adjusted Grue's saddlebags. "So, what are you going to do with those fruit? Distill them into gunpowder?"

The Gun Knight shook his head. "I could do it if I had a pressing need, but I'll probably just sell them to an Alchemist. They'd get more use out of 'em. Anything I could make would be sort of half-assed."

Ruth stepped onto the wagon and shoved her bag back into place. She settled onto the driver's seat, taking hold of the reins. Rathus mounted up as well, and looked at the position of the sun in the sky.

"By my estimation, we should be nearing Pheasantgrove soon," Rathus announced. "Probably an hour or so of riding."

Ruth nodded. "Do you think that's enough time for more of your story?"

Rathus took a sip from his canteen. "Well..." he started, "maybe a bit of it. We'll want to keep our wits about us when we get to Pheasantgrove, but until then, I can tell a little bit more.

The Princess smiled, and drew out her notebook and her pen. Rathus stretched and set back in to his story.

***********************

Agatha Grimm watched Rathus from across the room, as the Gun Knight quickly weaved his way back to the table. There was no sign of Musashi, and he briefly wondered whether Captain Grimm had killed him, before the younger Gun Knight appeared behind him, slapping him on the back with glee. Rathus winced, partly from surprise, and partly from the fact that Musashi had clapped his hand directly on a bruise.

"Brilliantly fought, Rathus!" Musashi exclaimed. "Such poetry did you make, it made my heart and wallet soar!"

Rathus rolled his eyes, scoffing, although he was secretly elated at the praise. "It wasn't much. I just had to remember the basics of... hang on, what do you mean, wallet?"

Musashi slid into the seat across from Rathus, and dropped a heavy sack onto the table, splashing Mystery Liquid (Trademark refused) about. The sack sang quietly with the clinking of many coins.

"I knew that you could pull it off after I had set the stage, but I could never dream that you would set the ante so high!" Musashi leaned back in his chair, not letting such trivialities like the chair being a backless stool stop him. He defied the law of gravity with sheer grit and abdominal fortitude.

"You see, I knew that if I sandbagged that first fight, the odds would stack against you, and we'd get better returns. You picked up on that, right? That must be why you stacked it so heavily against you."

"HA!" Ruth crowed, staring defiantly at the Imperial Knight. "I knew that Musashi couldn't have ACTUALLY been beaten by those losers!"

Rathus said nothing, as he had not described the way Musashi's eyes darted back and forth slightly when he said it. He debated correcting her, but then again, he still wasn't sure himself whether his friend had been lying. Instead, he simply sighed.

"Yes, you're very smart. Now be quiet and let me get back to my story."

Rathus stared at the bag of coins, his eyes bulging slightly. "You... bet on my fight?"

Musashi grinned impishly. "Against 16:1 odds, no less!" Rathus looked up at his teammate, and jerked back in surprise, as his eyes lit upon Captain Grimm, towering behind Musashi like the axe of a headsman.

"No need to make a face like that, Rathus! I'm going to split the winnings with you, obviously. Hell, I was even planning on giving you 60%, since you did most of the work."

Rathus cleared his throat, and tried to subtly nod his head towards Agatha, to warn his comrade without making it obvious. Musashi continued on, heedless of the warning. "I couldn't have done better if we had planned it out. In fact, it's probably better that we didn't, to get the most authentic reactions. Such a noble, proud front did you envince, Rathus."

Rathus frowned, and glanced up at Agatha, who remained silent. He spoke loudly as he stared at his friend. "It's a good thing that we didn't plan something out like that, you're right. We wouldn't want to do something unethical. Captain Grimm could be back any minute, after all. She's probably out of her talks by now. She might even be on her way over."

Musashi chuckled. "We're not doing anything unethical, Rathus. Suspect, maybe, but I can assure you, there's no rules about that sort of thing." Musashi raised his hand to call over one of the waitresses, and Agatha shot her hand out, gripping him tightly by the wrist.

"That depends heavily on whose rules we're talking about," She growled. Musashi paled, and his smile quavered, though it recovered to remain strong on his face. He turned to face the music, so to speak, although Grimm's grim countenance made it clear that the song in question was likely a funeral dirge, or maybe one of those songs where the singers just kind of grunt and scream the whole time like some kind of fucking dying animal, and probably need a lozenge after every set.

"C-Captain Grimm! So good to see you!" Musashi flashed his best smile, to no avail. "Did you find out anything usef-" Captain Grimm casually backhanded Musashi, sending him spinning in her grasp. She yanked his arm, seating him back on his stool, and settled her hand on his shoulder. She fixed her gaze at Rathus, instead. The Gun Knight swallowed his fear and found that it was sticking in his craw. Grimm sighed.

"I'm disappointed in you, Rathus. I had hoped you would comport yourself a little better."

Musashi turned on his seat and gave Grimm a plaintive gesture. "Captain Grimm, please. Rathus is blameless in this. You see, it was my idea to fight, I convinced him that-" Agatha shut him down with a glare, and his words caught in his throat.

"Obviously it was your idea." She looked back to Rathus. "I'm disappointed in him for listening to you." Rathus withered under her disappointed glare. Captain Grimm was famous for her evil eye, which could instantly bring up all your memories of boot camp, every time your mother scolded you, and the entirety of your teenage years. The Gun Knight was crushed into stupefaction as she turned to the one in her grip.

"As for you, Musashi, I can't pretend to be disappointed when this was exactly what I expected from you."

Musashi grinned a smile at her. "Oh, good! I do my best to live up to expecta-GAH". Grimm cuffed him upside the head again, and released her hold on him. She sighed once more.

"This isn't the time or the place to discipline you. Expect a write-up on this when we get back."

Rathus opened his mouth to speak, but struggled to find his voice. After a moment, he cleared his throat. "With respect, Captain Grimm, I was trying to... to maintain the reputation of the Gun Knights among the people, and err, I have it from good authority that the folks at these sort of... bars?" He looked around doubtfully. "Fight clubs? Uh.. anyway, that they respect strength."

"An authority." Grimm crossed her arms, and glanced over at Musashi, who waved helpfully, grinning ear-to-ear.

Rathus nodded to her. "Yes ma'am. An expert in the ways of tricksters and scoundrels."

Agatha chuckled once at that. A quiet fell about them, interrupted only by incessant shouting, the sounds of combat, the clinking and occasional breaking of glasses, a gentleman in the corner shouting a bawdy song about a farmer with a crop of massive baguettes and a washerwoman. In short, it wasn't quiet at all, even if the trio said nothing.

Finally, Captain Grimm shrugged. "Well, far be it from me to doubt the words of an expert," she said drily, "but we'll still discuss this once the mission is over. It's good that nothing serious came of it, but you still violated protocol, not to mention wasting perfectly good healing potion."

Musashi winked at her. "Oh, don't worry about that, my Captain." He slapped the top of the coin bag. "I can replace those potions with no issue. In fact, I could buy enough potions for the whole squad, for the next few weeks."

Agatha looked at the bag of coins. "About that..." She lifted the bag from the table, hefting them up as Musashi watched. His eyes darted from her face to the bag, as horrible realization came to him.

"It's against Imperial Knight code for any Knight to earn gold on the side, or take any other jobs while they are assigned out to a mission." Musashi shook his head quickly as she lifted the bag off the table.

"You'll get back the amount you bet, of course, but I'll have to confiscate the rest, and it will go into the general fund. In the future, make sure to keep the gambling to your own free time."

As Rathus and Musashi watched, the latter making an exaggerated show of heartbreak, Captain Grimm tucked the money into her bag of holding, and it disappeared from sight.

"I hadn't even spent a single coin yet," Musashi said, his voice hollow. Agatha pulled out a stool and sat besides the pair.

"Now then," she began, "Woodrow told me that a stranger came into town about a week and a half ago. He matched the description for our target, and set up shop somewhere in town, trying to build a reputation and ingratiate himself with the local scum. Apparently, he was looking for somebody to smuggle him into Gloom."

Rathus frowned. "Are we too late, then?"

Grimm casually broke the wrist of an attempted pickpocket, and shook her head as the thief howled and fled. "Not yet, no. He eventually found shelter with the Sharks. They're a dockside gang, and hired him on to do some odd jobs. Woodrow thinks they've got something big planned, because they didn't seem to care that he was a wanted man. Although I doubt he told them he was being chased by Imperial Knights."

"Dockside?" Rathus glanced towards the door. "Isn't that where Vyaz and Kugelblitz were headed? Do you think they..."

Agatha waved him off. " 'Dockside' spans almost the whole length of the town, if not the breadth. This little city squats low on the river. There are at least 3 or 4 gangs that operate 'Dockside'. We'll meet back up with Vyaz and Kugelblitz before too long. That's our next stop."

Musashi tapped his fingers on the table, then realized his error, wiping his hands off on the back of a drunk sleeping at the table next to him.

"Still, if Vyaz and Kugelblitz were to go up against a Dracula and an entire gang of river scum, that might be kind of risky, don't you think, Captain?" Musashi mused.

Agatha shook her head. "We'll meet up with them before they have a run-in. We can hurry over there if it makes you feel better, but the odds of them running into the Dracula right off the bat are next to zero. I don't think they have anything to worry ab-"

A loud explosion in the distance rocked the building. Glasses rattled off of tables. The bartender desperately dove to catch falling bottles. The fighters in the ring stopped as the clientele looked up in drunk and/or stupefied silence. The loud bass THUM resonated through the room, as Agatha broke off her sentence and paled slightly.

The trio pushed away from the table, and rushed outside. The bright light of the afternoon sun blinded them, coming out as they were from the smoky darkness of the club. But their eyes quickly adjusted, and fixed on a plume of smoke, rising in the distance near the river. Another blast lit up the plume, and sent debris flying into the air. The wind whipped past them, carrying with it the high staccato of rapid gunfire. Trouble was brewing at the Dockside.

Musashi slowly drew his Nugget and spun it around, resting the rifle on his shoulder as he stepped forward and turned to Rathus and Grimm.

"Well, Captain," he said casually, "I can see why you're not fond of gambling."