The man with no name stared up at the face in the sky. He had been tasked with

hunting human monsters. He supposed his sponsor wouldn’t care if he killed

something unhuman and dangerous.

“We’re going to play again,” said the face in the sky. It took a breath to calm down.

“It should be two out of three after all.”

“Do you really want to push this?,” asked the dead man. “I have a job to do. I don’t

have time for games.”

“It looks like you’ll have to make time since you can’t leave unless I say you can,”

said the face in the sky. “We’re playing again.”

The man with no name pointed his pistols at the face and pulled the triggers as fast

as he could. He was not disappointed in the fire lighting up the monster above him.

He ignored the screaming and the invective. His job came first. And he didn’t feel

merciful to something that ate people with relish after working them to death in a

giant game.

He didn’t feel like mercy was in his job description.

Giant columns of wood fell out of the sky. They hit the weird ground and bounced,

or rolled, on impact. None of them were close to the dead man. He put it down to bad

aim.

The roar of a giant beast told him that he had been wrong. The columns had been

placed where they were supposed to be. They had made something other than a giant

tower.

The dead man looked over his shoulder. A giant lizard marched toward him on legs

of wood connected to a barrel torso reaching into the purple tinged sky. Small

forelimbs bent to the chest of the thing. The head looked as big as half of the body he

looked at with teeth made of blunt wood dowels.

It couldn’t cut him if it bit him, but it could crush anything it grabbed in its massive

mouth.

The man with no name shook his head at the new enemy as it charged at him. He fired

at its legs, burning the wood away with the fire from the revolvers. The beast fell on

its stomach. It slid forward, snapping at him. He stepped back and unloaded his

weapons into the beast’s mouth, blowing the head apart with concentrated fire.

“You’ve killed Barney!,” shouted the face from above. “I can’t believe you killed

Barney!”

The man with no name turned to look at the face. He raised his weapons, aiming them

at a spot above the tip of its nose. He fired into that spot. Something lit up under the

fusillade but he couldn’t make out what it was. The face cracked apart. Something

screamed as it faded away to nothing above him.

The dead man watched the sky. The purple faded under his gaze. He had killed the

thing and protected the outside world, but it looked like he was stuck. When his

weapons cooled, he holstered them. They weren’t going to do much good in this

situation.

He wished he had been given instructions on how to get out of a situation like this.

He couldn’t remember anything about how to escape another reality when the reality

creator was dead.

Something fell out of the sky. He frowned at it. It looked like a rope. He nodded to

himself. It was a rope. Better than that, it was his rope.

He grabbed it, wrapping it around his waist. The rope retreated back into the sky. He

looked down. The edges of the pocket were coming apart in little flowers that faded

to black.

He started pulling himself up the rope to speed things along. He could feel the sky

drifting away from him. He had to get clear before that drifted to nothing. His status

wouldn’t protect him from a natural mechanism of the universe.

The dead man fell to the floor of an alley. He pulled himself along a few more feet for

safety. A bell sounded behind him. He closed his eyes and lay there. He was alive.

Stupid dropped the end of the rope in his mouth and snorted quietly. He bent down

and breathed on the dead man’s neck. He shook his head when the rider looked up.

“I got caught playing a child’s game as a murder device,” the dead man said. “Thanks

for the rope. It was exactly what I needed.”

Stupid snorted and nodded his head. He displayed his blocky teeth in a grin.

The dead man got to his feet. He brushed his clothes off and straightened his hat. He

picked up the rope and start winding it up. One end had a clean cut where more

should be. He shook his head. He supposed when the pocket had stopped, the door

sliced through the rope and consigned the rest to the nothingness he saw.

He stored the rope back where it belonged in his saddle bag. He grabbed the reins and

led Stupid out of the alley. He still needed to track the rest of his quarry down before

he ran into something that could stop him for good.

He needed rest first. He felt weariness crowding down on him. He needed to take a

minute to recoup before he went back into battle.

And he might be trying to hunt the Alvas in the wrong way. He might need to rethink

his strategy.

He should give it some thought while he settled in. Maybe the Alvas had known he

was on the hunt and lured him in front of the face in the purple sky. Letting him think

the trap had worked might be the way to go for now.

Stupid probably needed a break from carrying him around everywhere at this point.

Letting him have a little time without work might be the thing to do until their path

opened up in front of them.

The dead man decided they should retreat south and find an inn to house them until

they were ready to move again. If they happened to come across another of the people

named on a warrant card, they would grab them up. Otherwise, they should change

their methods to meet their prey.

The dead man didn’t think they could change much. He liked making sure the person

he was chasing was dead and gone. That required being able to see the whites of the

target’s eyes.

“We’re going to stop at an inn down the way,” the dead man said. “I need a moment

to think about our next move, and some food that wasn’t cooked by me.”

Stupid snorted in his ear. He pushed the horse face away.

“You’ll be able to wait in a corral with other horses while we’re at a stop,” said the

dead man. “It’ll be a chance for you to take it easy until I’m sure what we can do.”

Stupid snorted again.

“I’m not giving up,” said the dead man. “This Alvas on the list has to be the most

dangerous fugitive given us. If we nail him, the rest of the fish here will be easy by

comparison. The problem is finding him. I need to think of a way we can do that

without just wandering around and hoping we see him.”

Stupid nodded his head in agreement. A destination was better than just roaming for

the sake of riding around.

“Wait,” said the dead man. He pulled one of the cards from the pack and held it up.

A light blue stripe marked the border. He looked at the building that had attracted his

attention. “One of our fugitives is in that building somewhere.”

Stupid froze at the realization that they might be fighting their next target in seconds.

He didn’t want to stand that close to his rider if that was in the offing.

“We need to set up in a place where we can keep an eye on that building,” said the

dead man. “Once we’re sure, we can go in and look for him.”

Stupid started walking again, pulling on the reins with his great weight. He led the

way to an inn a few blocks away from the building identified as a hotel by the sign

out front. He paused at the corral for guest horses.

“I’ll go in and get some temporary lodgings,” said the dead man. “Then we can see

what is going on at the hotel.”

Stupid nodded. He jumped the fence and started talking to the other horses in the

corral. They whinnied back at the new arrival.

The dead man left him to gather up the local gossip and walked inside the inn. He

looked the common area over before walking to the bar, and talking to the owner. He

needed a room for the next few days, and the place looked clean enough.

He had been in worse places since he had started handing out his cards.

“I was hoping to get a room for a few days,” said the dead man. “Do you have

anything open?”

“I have a room at the back of the top floor,” said the keeper. “There’s not much of a

view from the window.”

“I don’t need a view,” said the dead man. “I just need a place to rest up for a bit

before moving on. I have some business to take care of north of here.”

“It’s a gold piece a day,” said the keep. “Food is additional.”

“That’s fine,” said the dead man. “Can I see it?”

“I’ll have one of the boys take you up,” said the innkeep. “Give me a second.”

The dead man waited silently. He noticed people taking notice of him, but no one

came forward to ask questions. He didn’t have a lot of answers to give.

“Are you the new lodger?,” asked a boy. “Master Bors asked me to take you up to the

last room at the top.”

“Go ahead,” said the dead man. He took one last look around the room as the servant

started up the stairs. He followed silently.

The boy led him up two flights of stairs, down the hall to the back of the building, and

then to the last door of a hall around the back. He figured there were four rooms

forming a block to look out the front and right side of the building, while the rooms

on the other side of the L looked out the back and left sides.

His room was in a corner with windows looking at the building next to his, and the

back alley behind the inn.

The boy opened the door for him and showed him the room. He noted that there were

three entrances/exits. The door could be blocked at night, but there were windows on

either side of the corner of the wall. The bed was against the wall away from the

windows so you didn’t get a sudden breeze blowing across you while you slept.

No fireplace for heat.

This room would be the worst room to have in the middle of winter.

“Thanks,” said the dead man. He gave the boy a copper and shut the door in his face.

He went to the windows and looked out. He could jump to the next building’s ledge,

or climb up on the inn’s roof from where he was.

He thought he might be able to jump down to the ground without killing himself if

he was desperate enough. It wouldn’t be the first time in his new job he had done

something like that.

He needed to get some dinner, and see about Stupid. He didn’t want the farrier next

to the inn trying to sell his horse. That would just cause problems all around.

Someone had tried to steal the horse once. The dead man had found him on the side

of the road with his head kicked in. His murderer stood there chewing grass like

nothing had happened.

He had gathered his stolen things, saddled the horse and went back to his business.

He left the body for the monsters to eat.

The dead man went downstairs. He attracted the innkeep’s attention again. The man

came over with a smile.

“Do you serve food here?,” the dead man asked.

“I do,” said the keeper. “My wife is a great cook.”

“I have to settle my horse,” said the dead man. “Could you prepare a dinner for me

to eat upstairs.”

“We surely can,” said the innkeep. “I’ll have Owen bring it up when it’s done.”

“Thanks,” said the man with no name. “I’ll be back as soon as I make sure Stupid is

settled.”

“Stupid?,” asked the innkeep.

“My horse,” said the man with no name.

He walked out of the inn and down to the corral. His horse pranced over as soon as

he saw the dead man walking toward the fence. The other horses kept to the other side

of the fenced area.

Apparently he had shown them who the boss was until they could be sold down to

another owner, or their owner could come back and pick them up.

It was time for him to warn the farrier about the dangerous beast he had in with the

regular animals.

“I need to arrange for your board,” said the dead man. “Don’t kill anybody unless you

have to.”

Stupid grinned at him.

“Seriously,” said the dead man. “Don’t kill anybody unless you have to. Leaving

bodies behind us is part of our job, but let’s try to only leave bodies that deserve it.”

Stupid whickered at him. The suggestion that he would do anything like that was

hurtful.

The dead man nodded. He walked around the corral and the building of stalls where

the horses could be put up at night to the little shack that served as an office for the

enterprise. He glanced at the two guys inside, looking at horseshoes from a local

smith.

It was better than he expected. At least the office looked clean enough to his eye.

“How can I help you?,” asked the smaller of the farriers. He was still taller and wider

than the dead man.

“I need to board my horse for a couple of days while I take care of things,” said the

man with no name. “How much would the cost be?”

“Two coppers a day,” said the farrier.

The dead man handed him a gold coin.

“This should cover to the end of the week,” said the man with no name. “Hopefully,

I’ll have my business finished and we’ll be moving on. If you have any trouble, come

get me at the Inn.”

“Trouble, sir?,” asked the farrier.

“He thinks he’s smart,” said the dead man. “Just keep an eye on him and give him

some food and water. Don’t try to get too close, and don’t try to sell him. He will kill

you.”

“Thanks for the warning,” said the farrier.

“We’ll be gone by the end of the week,” said the dead man. “If we can’t do the job,

we’ll have to move on to the next one and come back later.”

“Yes, sir,” said the farrier. “Your horse will be here waiting on you when you come

to get him.”

The dead man went back to the inn, stopping to talk to the horse on the way. Both of

them would eat a meal, and then start sorting out their problems.