The trip back to town felt an awful lot longer than it actually was, mainly thanks to the fact that Kate and I were bringing back our unexpected assailant. In my defence, I was far from being physically weak. Years of physical work out in the Scorch and hauling my own equipment as well as hefty bags of gem chunks had kept me in decent shape.

I just wasn't used to dragging people around the Scorch. If I had taken up a career as a bounty hunter, I probably would have had more experience with it, but people in that profession didn't usually last long out here.

If we had been attacked by more crystal creatures, I was absolutely ready to leave the mysterious green-haired man behind, but for better or worse it didn't come down to that and we arrived in Clearvein with him safely in tow.

There was quite the uproar when we arrived and some of the rooks patrolling the outskirts spotted us. We explained the situation and they brought us in for separate questioning while the still unconscious man in black was left in a cell to rest. The questioning had gone on for nearly an hour, but we had reached a point where the rooks seemed to buy our story.

Kate was an official member of the research guild, and I was at least known by reputation to the rooks if not by my name or face, so they gave us the benefit of the doubt over the unconscious stranger that nobody recognised. For now, the rooks had moved us both to a more comfortable room.

“Here, I want you to hold onto this.” I carefully handed Kate one of the ebony revolvers our assailant had carried before I had disarmed him, stowing the other in one of my duster pockets for easy access.

I didn’t usually carry a regular firearm, they were next to useless against crystal creatures and I didn’t make a habit out of hunting down bandits or anything, but better to have it and not need it than end up in another situation like before.

“Do I really need to? Ya know I could always just zap someone right?” Kate made a finger gun and made a “pew pew” sound to demonstrate.

I rolled my eyes at this.

“True, but guns don’t fry you every time you fire one.” I carefully opened up the cylinder of the revolver, taking out one of the bullets as I talked to Kate.

The rooks thankfully didn’t seem to have an issue with us holding onto these smaller firearms, as long as we didn’t do anything stupid. The bullet in question was gem-tipped, and further inspection revealed the entire cylinder was loaded with similar finely crafted gemshots.

These were a simple non-explosive build, more likely to annoy a large creature than deal it any significant damage. An odd choice of weapons for someone wandering the Scorch alone. I wanted to examine it more, but I also didn’t want to be tackled to the ground for playing with a loaded gun around the rooks, so I tucked it safely back in a pocket, making sure to unload it first.

“I guess but I still prefer my magic, much more satisfying and I don’t run out of bullets.” Kate tucked the gun away into one of her bags regardless, gripping it in a way that made it clear she didn’t know how to handle it.

I would have to take the time to teach her some basic handling when we got out of here, if she still wanted anything to do with me. I was honestly surprised she had recovered enough from the shock of the attack to be making jokes.

I found it more likely she was trying to cope, especially since she hadn’t even mentioned what had happened directly, but calling her out on that wouldn’t help things so I played along.

“Fair, but the chances of that gun backfiring are a lot less than your magic doing it, right?”

"Hey, so far my success rate is pretty solid." Kate stretched her hands over her head, standing up from the simple wooden bench we were both resting on.

Clearvein didn’t have a proper prison like most of the larger settlements, what it did have was a building with a jail and quarters where several rooks would rest when they weren’t patrolling the outskirts of the town for danger. I was thankful that they at least had a bench and a few chairs for us to sit on while the rooks discussed what to do with us.

“I’m guessing you’re one for one?”

“Yup, I wanted to test it a bit more, but my teacher told me I was only allowed to use it if it came down to a life or death situation.” Kate winced, likely remembering some harsh scolding.

“One of those conditions you mentioned?” Kate looked surprised I had remembered her mentioning them.

“Yeah, no using magic unless I have no other options, no going out in the Scorch alone, no gambling with my stipend, no trusting strangers…”

“No staying up past bedtime?”

“Yeah, that was like rule number fifteen.” I rolled my eyes again at this, part of me unsure if she was joking or not.

I pretty much always had trouble with that when it came to other people.

“Well hey, I follow most of those myself, but didn’t you already break the stranger rule?”

“Hm?” Kate seemed genuinely surprised at this, so I pointed to myself.

“Oh you don’t count, you saved my life before we even started talking, pretty sure that meant I could trust ya.”

“I was still a stranger though, and I’m not a hero or anything. Just some guy doing his job.”

“I mean yeah, but I could tell it was more than just a job for ya.” I furrowed my brow at this, and was about to ask Kate what she meant when a pair of rooks entered the room.

“You two, free to go, but we’d appreciate it if you stuck around a bit.” One of the two, a bulky woman with long black hair who had introduced herself as simply “Zari” when I had asked, jerked a thumb over her shoulder as she talked.

“Our guest is awake, doesn’t deny anything you told us, but says he wants to talk to you.” I sighed with relief.

We had caused quite a panic dragging an unconscious stranger into town, and the rooks had asked us quite a lot of questions. It had been a small miracle that they hadn’t confiscated my gun during the process, but thankfully a couple of them recognised me from the caravan that had come into town and allowed me to hold onto it, with the implication that if I even thought about loading it I would be sorely sorry.

“What do you think?” I turned to Kate.

She hadn’t responded to the rook, her expression frozen.

“I… don’t know…” Her face fell to the ground.

I was never all too good with comforting people, and I didn’t have the words to comfort Kate. I tried to think of something, anything to say, but it was a struggle.

“I think we should go and talk to him, Kate.”

“Why? Why would he even tell us anything? For all we know it could just be a trick. He could have a weapon in there we didn’t find or…”

“He’s basically unarmed now as far as we can tell.” The rook pitched in.

“Couldn’t remove that armblade but we cuffed him, so it shouldn’t do him any good unless you run right up to the bars. We have someone in there watching him at all times to make sure he doesn’t try anything” The woman spoke without emotion, just stating the facts to us as if filing a report to a superior.

It wasn’t very comforting for Kate, but it did give me an idea.

“So we have a crystal scorpion acting like a scout or something, a weird guy trying to kidnap you, and a mysterious chicken that showed up in the wilderness?”

“Hm?” Kate looked up at this, clearly confused.

“Oh just saying, imagine your report on all this is going to cause quite the stir back at the guild. Would be a shame if you missed out on any details.”

“Cy, are you really trying to bait me with my report?”

“Depends, is it working?” The red-haired researcher sighed, rummaging around in one of her satchels and bringing out a notebook.

“Look, I appreciate it but I’m not some animal you can bribe with a treat or something.”

“R-right, I just…”

“At the end of the day I know we need to go and talk to him, but give me a little time? I’ve never been in a fight before, and that guy could have killed me. I’m not sure I want to know what he was planning to do with me.” Kate somberly looked at the ground once again.

I considered placing a hand on her back. That was what people did to comfort others right? I raised my hand slightly but it just felt strange, what would patting her on the back accomplish? I quickly lowered it before she could notice.

“S-sure, do you mind if we wait here until she’s ready?” I addressed this to the rook who had been standing over us the whole time, looking slightly bored.

“He ain’t going anywhere.” She shrugged in response, heading back through the door she came in through.

I was left with Kate and another rook watching the door, an awkward silence falling over the room. I felt like I should probably say something, but once again I was lost for words, and Kate seemed to be examining her notes.

“So… you know how out here we call the members of the protector guild the rooks right?”

“Hm? Oh yeah, I’ve read a few reports about them. Some of the most skilled fighters on the continent joined up, even some from continents other than Lux came here to join and get some trainin’.”

“I know, have met a few interesting foreigners over the years, will have to introduce them to you sometime.”

“I’d definitely like that, why are ya bringing up their name though?”

“Oh right, well I was wondering if the research guild had a name for the researchers like you? I’ve never heard one other than researchers, and no offense, but it’s a little boring compared to the rooks.” Kate narrowed her eyes at this.

“I’ll have ya know I wear the researcher title proudly, but yeah ya do have a point Cy.”

“So there’s no unofficial nickname or anything?”

“Nah, not that I know about. Think the rooks have a few choice insults for us but nothing that has stuck thankfully.” The rook watching the door seemed suddenly very interested in a spot on the ceiling, whistling innocently as Kate glared over at him.

“Well hey, since you’re trying to think up a name for my gun, how about I try to think up a name for the researchers?”

“Sounds like a fair deal, but if I don’t like it I get a free zap.”

“What if I don’t like the name you give my gun?”

“Well I’m payin’ ya so you gotta pretend you like it.” An awkward silence followed this statement, and both Kate and I tried to break it at the same time.

“I’m sorry Cy-”

“Look about before” We both stopped once we realised we had talked over the other person, then shared a laugh.

“Mind if I go first?” I ventured.

“Sure.” Kate smiled.

“I know I made things a little awkward out there, but you have to understand that I have to be a professional out here. I wouldn’t survive if I didn’t get into that mindset when I first came here.”

“I get that yeah, I just figured we were gettin’ along well and-”

“No no, don’t get me wrong Kate, I do want to be your friend.” I took a deep breath, thinking of how best to phrase things.

“I just don’t think I really know how to do friends anymore? I don’t want to talk about it too much here or now, but coming to the Scorch wasn’t a choice for me. I probably wouldn’t be alive if I was anywhere else.” I took a deep breath.

Kate waited patiently for me to continue, not prompting me, just letting me take my time.

“Let’s just say I have some major trust issues that I’m still working on, but I want to try and get better.” Kate was silent for a long few moments, then nodded.

“Sounds fair. I’m sorry for presumin’, but ya do seem like a nice guy Cy. I won’t force anythin’ but I’d like to get to know ya better and call myself ya friend whenever ya feel ready.”

“Thanks, I’ll try harder with it. Just hard to focus on much other than the job out here.”

“I can imagine so, ya do take breaks though right?”

“Not often but yeah, I try to take them when I can, every month or so.”

“Ya know that’s not nearly enough right?”

“I know.” I laughed.

“Alright, we gonna go see what this guy has to say for himself?” Kate nodded in the direction of the door to the cells.

“Sounds good to me.” I nodded and got up from my seat.

I was glad for the conversation to be over honestly, even knowing the coming one would probably be quite the unpleasant experience. I didn’t really get how to do adult relationships other than the professional kind. The smith who had carved my repeater and shown me the ropes of the Scorch had been friendly enough to me in his own way, but with no easy means of communication between the settlements I maybe talked to him once every few months.

Relationships out here in general were hard, unless you worked for a guild like the rooks, always in a squad. I at least had Barnabus, my mage friend back in Emberstone. He had set up a magical workshop on the outskirts of town and continued to help me find reliable work in exchange for the occasional request from me for materials from the Scorch, and now that I thought about it even that relationship was largely professional.

I made a silent promise that once all this was over, I would go drinking with Kate and Barnabus, and make a real effort with them both beyond my work.

“Alright you two, through here.” Zari met us at the door and escorted us through to the cells.

Kate led the way and I followed closely behind her. My fingers itched to be holding my repeater again, but I left it attached to the specially made quickdraw holster hanging on my belt. It was a little awkward compared to the holster on my back, but inside I preferred to keep the long gun at my side as drawing it over my back could be troublesome depending on the location. It also made sitting down a pain.

I didn’t like to admit it, but I was also more than a little paranoid at the idea of someone grabbing it from behind me and just running off, so at my side my ruby repeater stayed. From the looks of things, I wouldn’t be needing it anyway. Out of the four cells in the jail only one of them was occupied. The rooks had opted to give their prisoner the last cell in line, and he was simply sitting in the corner, hands cuffed behind him, whistling a soft tune.

“Well howdy again you two, been a while!” The man stopped whistling and grinned at us as we came into view of his cell.

I narrowed my eyes at him and tried once again to place where I had seen that face before, but to no avail. Until the rook that had been escorting us brought out a piece of paper that made everything click into place.

“Goes by “Six Shot Sean”, or at least he used to.” Zari was holding up an old torn wanted poster.

I winced at the awful name, as did the man in the cell, Zari and Kate. Hearing that simply terrible name

“Quartz, now I remember where I know you from!”

“You know this criminal?” Zari and Kate both stared at me expectantly and I quickly explained myself.

“Oh no, I just remember seeing his wanted poster like, a year ago in Emberstone I think?”

“You remember something that far back? And since when were you a bounty hunter?” Kate had narrowed her eyes at me now.

“I always check the bounty boards so I know who to watch out for if I’m doing jobs in a town, and that name kinda stood out.”

“Because it’s so bad?”

“Pretty much.”

“Y’all know I can hear ya right?” The man, apparently Six Shot Sean, called from the cell.

“It is a terrible name, and yes, the guild set a bounty for him a year or so ago, but he seemed to vanish shortly after.” Zari nodded in confirmation, leaving Sean looking very annoyed as we ignored him.

“And now Six Shot Sean is back with some fancy new gear trying to kidnap my friend…” I concluded, noticing a small smile appear on Kate’s face before she returned to the serious expression.

“If y’all would let me talk for just a second!” Sean had stood up from the corner of the cell now, all of his apparent cool suddenly gone.

“I don’t go by Six Shot Sean anymore, my new name is-“

“Shouldn’t it have been Twelve Shot Sean anyway?” Kate piped up, pointing to the empty holsters sitting on a table near the cell.

I had been worried about her coming in to face her attacker, but the three of us collectively making fun of his name had seemingly made things a great deal easier for her.

“That’s not the point missy! And Twelve Shot don’t go as well with my name!” Sean glared at Kate as I pitched in.

“You know you could have just called yourself something else right? Twelve Shot Tony has a better ring to it?”

“But my name is Sean!”

“Yeah but why are you going around advertising that anyway if you’re an outlaw?”

“He does have a point.” Zari added, almost sounding bored.

Sean looked to me, then to Kate, then to Zari with a look of absolute exasperation on his face, before trudging back to the corner of his cell and sliding down the wall onto the floor. I imagined that if his hands weren’t currently cuffed behind his back, his face would be in them.

“Y’all know I had like, this real intimidatin’ speech planned out for ya right?”

“So you’re not even gonna try and deny tryin’ to kidnap me then?” Kate stepped forward toward the bars of the cell.

I almost instinctively reached out to grab her arm, well aware that despite how much fun we were making of him, the man in the cell was a dangerous individual who was still in possession of his crystal armblade.

I had to trust that the rooks knew what they were doing leaving him with that, even cuffing him it seemed dangerous. Kate thankfully didn’t get too close, so I relaxed for the time being.

“Oh no, not at all.” Sean seemed to shake himself out of his stupor pretty quickly, looking over to Kate with a grin on his face that made me want to punch him.

“And I’ll tell you what missy, if you know what’s good for yourself, you should have just come with me.”

“Oh yeah? And why would I ever do that?” Kate narrowed her eyes.

She was doing a good job at putting on a strong front, but I could see her hands starting to shake. It was subtle, but while I was pretty awful in terms of reading emotions in people’s voices I was quite good in terms of body language. The results of my time in the Scorch spent keeping a distance from people, but always staying aware and observing them nonetheless.

“Because now, a lotta people are gonna end up dead or worse.” Sean dropped the smug grin he had been addressing us with, his expression turning dead serious.

After all my time in the Scorch, it took a lot to rattle me, but when I heard Sean speak those words? It sent chills down my spine. Looking at his face, seeing how he didn’t falter at all after such a threat, I knew he more than meant it. From just a brief look at Kate and Zari, I could see that they were both feeling it too.

It was terrifying to think that if this man had been out to kill us from the start, Kate and I would have both been dead by now with how easily he had crept up on us. If not for him wanting Kate alive, and seemingly not knowing about her magic, we wouldn’t have stood a chance.

“And why is that, Sean?” Zari spoke up before I could.

“Cause now, my friends are gonna be comin’ for me rook, and we ain’t in the business of lettin’ people cross us and live.”

“And just who is this “we”?” I finally joined the conversation.

Sean grinned once he saw me, meeting my hard gaze and actually laughing.

“Oh stick around and you’ll find out gunslinger, you did kill one of the boss’ favourite pets after all.” Kate gasped, and I grimaced.

“H-his pet?” I wanted to tell Kate not to buy into what Sean was telling us.

It was nonsense, it had to be. That was all there was to it. The mere idea went against everything I had seen in the Scorch.

“That’s right, we’ll all miss the critter, did a fine job scaring off the miners.” Sean shrugged.

I wanted to laugh at just how ridiculous it all was. Of course, Sean must have just been bluffing. Hell, the whole thing must have been one big bluff to get us to let him go. The only issue was how genuine he seemed. He spoke so calmly and casually, I doubted that even the best card shark in the Scorch could lie like this without cracking even a little.

“Right, so you and your two bit gang figured out how to tame a scorpion to play guard dog? What did you do, feed it some jerky?” I decided to call his bluff.

“Nah, the boss took care of all that for us. We didn’t even have to feed it or nothing, came willingly.” Sean’s grin was only growing wider and wider.

“Biggest pile of quartz I’ve ever heard.” Zari put my thoughts into words perfectly.

I looked over to Kate, but she had pulled out one of her notebooks and was scribbling away with shaky hands.

“You’re not actually believing the word of “Six Shot Sean” are you? He’s just some petty thug, trying to scare us into letting him go.”

“I don’t know Cy, what about the beacon?” Kate looked genuinely shaken.

I reached over and took her hand, stopping her from writing.

“It’s all just nonsense Kate, I probably just injured the scorpion and it freaked out. This guy saw it, found us and took the opportunity.”

“But Cy…”

“But nothing Kate! Don’t let him trick you, where’s the proof? He’s just some bandit!” I didn’t mean to let anger slip into my tone, but I couldn’t help it.

“Cy, there’s no reports of something like that ever happening out here.”

“That doesn’t mean he had anything to do with it, I’m telling you he must have just seen the beacon, found the dead scorpion then followed our trail!” I was aware that I was starting to shout now, and Zari was giving us some very odd looks.

We hadn’t told her the full story about the scorpion and its strange behaviour yet. We had been more preoccupied with the attack from Sean. She no doubt had plenty more questions for us now.

“You two, calm down now.” Zari spoke with authority and both Kate and I shut up right away.

“S-sorry, it’s just…”

“Save the apologies. Whatever happened with this scorpion, we’ll sort out later.” Zari turned to the cell and addressed Sean next.

“As for you, you claim to be part of some sort of gang?”

“That’s right.”

“A gang set up near Clearvein, that is supposedly coming to break you out?”

“Sounds right to me.” Zari shook her head at this.

“Cy is right, you’re speaking nonsense.”

“Oh? What makes ya say that rook?”

“From the way these two tell it, you came from behind them alone, got yourself knocked out, and were brought straight here.”

“Yep, still a mite sore after that shock.”

“Then when did you have time to contact this supposed gang of yours? How would they know you’re here?” The smirk quickly faded from Sean’s face and I felt the strong urge to buy Zari a drink.

We all waited for a response, but Sean gave none right away. No attempt at a witty comeback, no more threats. He just closed his eyes for a few long moments, then snapped them back open and hopped to his feet.

“Well rook, gunslinger, mage, why don’t y’all ask ‘em that yourselves?”

Too late, I noticed the strange glowing light pulsing from under Sean’s plain white shirt, and before I could draw my repeater, gunshots and screams started to fill the air from outside.

Clearvein was under attack.