Arc felt his head roll to the side and he jolted awake. He was aching all over and parts of his skin felt as though they were burned raw, but all things considered, he had had worse injuries; at least far as he could tell without having had the chance to look himself over. No doubt after a hearty meal and a good night’s sleep, he would be right as rain.

  Even before opening his eyes, he could tell that he was tied up as the frayed rope binding his wrists together rubbed against his skin. And that was without mentioning the jagged rock pressing into his spine; it was more unpleasant than the ropes. Someone had saved him from the pass, but for what purpose, he couldn’t say.

  The bounty hunter’s eyes adjusted to the low light and he realised he was in a cave. The rock he was tied to should have been a clue, but the deserts of Nuvaria were filled with rocks so he cut himself some slack.

  Arc was facing the back wall of the cave and a stream of light was shining from somewhere behind, creating a shadow on the wall, yet all he could see of himself was his elbows and knees jutting out. It was not a simple rock he was tied to and could wriggle himself free from; it was a pillar of stone that stretched from the rough ground to the stalactite-covered ceiling.

  His neck felt stiff and he tilted his head to the side, cracking it to relieve himself. He felt a little looser already and swallowed before clearing his throat, trying to rid himself of the dryness. To say he felt as golden as his gun would have been an exaggeration. Still, he felt considerably better than he did thirty seconds prior.

  “Jack, I think he’s awake,” whispered a soft voice from somewhere behind him.

  Arc’s eyes darted to a shadow on the ground that extended to the base of the wall. He had previously presumed it to be a stalagmite, but it was clear now that it was the young girl he had heard after briefly awakening in the pass. He couldn’t remember her name. Jane? No, that wasn’t it. Jenny? No, still not right. Even if it didn’t come to mind, he could no doubt get that information out of her easily enough.

  It suddenly dawned on him that either Colt the Scourge was dead or he had barely managed to escape with his life, but that left Arc without a bounty to claim no matter which outcome was reality. He’d wasted two Arcane Shots and had only scrapes, burns, bruises, and a handful of dead bandits to show for it. He would take the dead bandits as a minor win—dead bandits were normally his bread and butter—but his failure to ensure Colt’s death was a black mark on his record.

  “I don’t want to go round there,” muttered the girl.

  “Alright, I’ll do the talking,” came Jack’s voice.

  Arc heard a pair of footsteps approaching. The young man was wearing worn leather boots; Arc was more than familiar with the dull thuds they made against the stone. Was the boy well-travelled or simply poor? He would have to get a read on the situation quickly if he was to try and talk himself out of his current predicament.

  Jack stepped in front of Arc, keeping ten feet back just in case the bounty hunter lunged for him. Tied up or not, Arc presented a threat. It was a sensible move and Arc would have done the same had he been in the young man’s position. Jack was someone with his head screwed on the right way so, with any luck, he could be reasoned with.

  Even though his voice was barely pubescent, Arc was surprised to see just how young Jack looked. He must have been no older than thirteen years of age, but he had a dirty face that had seen plenty of hardship. Under the grime, Arc could see Jack had lightly tanned skin as many locals did; the Nuvarian sun was proficient at giving out tans.

  Jack’s shaggy brown hair was pushed away from his emerald eyes and he could certainly have done with washing that too. He wore a tan t-shirt with a blue jacket over the top that was in sore need of a needle and thread. His frayed sleeves were rolled up, revealing the boy’s skinny arms, which he kept folded in front of him.

  “Hello,” said Arc after waiting nearly seconds for Jack to speak.

  “Hello,” said Jack, staring at the bound man intensely.

  “My name is Arc the Hawk. I take it that you’re Jack?”

  “Yes.”

  “A pleasure to meet you.”

  Was the boy too nervous to say anything further or was he trying to read Arc the same way Arc was trying to read him? The bounty hunter didn’t want to push his luck and risk annoying his captor too much, so he stayed silent and waited for Jack to speak again.

  “So,” said Jack after a minute, “what should I do with you?”

  “What should you do with me?” asked Arc, not breaking eye contact with the young man. “Well, letting me go would be appreciated, of course, but I suspect it isn’t that simple.”

  “No, it isn’t that simple.”

  “Understandable, considering where you found me. For all you know, I could be anyone; you wouldn’t know me from the bandits. Ask me whatever questions you need me to. No matter how difficult, I’ll answer them truthfully and you can make whatever judgements you need. If you decide to leave me here to rot in the cave, go for it, I won’t hold it against you.”

  Jack nodded slowly and his expression softened the tiniest fraction. It was as though the guilt he felt in holding a man captive had been lifted off his shoulders upon hearing his prisoner did not mind being left tied to a column in a cave in the middle of nowhere. To Arc, this meant that the boy had some empathy and that was exactly what he had hoped to discover.

  “Alright,” said Jack. “I have many questions running through my mind and I’m not sure where to start. How about the most awkward one? Arc the Hawk…have you ever killed a man?”

  “Yes,” replied Arc truthfully. “Presuming it’s the same day that I first lost consciousness, I killed a few men this very morning. All bandits. I couldn’t give you an exact count, I’m afraid, because I don’t know how many survived my ambush. I would say that seven is a reasonable estimate.”

  “You’re the one who blew up those cars?”

  “Most of them, yes.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m a bounty hunter,” said Arc. “The man I was hunting is a fella named Colt the Scourge. Real nasty piece of work, he is. He’s tied up in all sorts of atrocities from murders to raids on towns, and that naturally leads to him making more than his fair share of enemies in the area. There’s a hefty chunk of silver set aside for whoever brings proof of his demise to the client.”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Colt the Scourge?” asked Jack, furrowing his brow and biting his lower lip. “I’ve heard the name, so I suppose that’s plausible, but who’s to say that you aren’t Colt the Scourge and the bounty hunter was one of the dead bodies lying on the road.”

  “That’s a fair question,” said Arc before smiling. “Like I said, you wouldn’t know me from the bandits. Luckily for me, I have proof. You’ve been through my pockets, haven’t you?”

  Jack said nothing.

  “It’s alright, I’m not angry about it. There’s a folded piece of paper in there that might interest you. It’s Colt’s bounty notice.”

  Jack leaned to the side and gave a nod to the unseen girl who lurked closer to the mouth of the cave. There came the sound of the girl rummaging through Arc’s small pile of possessions and then the distinct rustling swish of paper being unfolded.

  “Yes,” came the girl’s voice. “There’s a picture of Colt the Scourge on this and it isn’t him.”

  “Julie,” muttered Arc and Jack spasmed in horror. “Sorry,” said Arc. “I woke up briefly when you two were planning to mug me near the wreckage. I heard you say each other’s names, but I couldn’t remember the girl’s until just now. It was Julie. Are you brother and sister?”

  Jack kneeled before Arc and looked him dead in the eyes. “I’ll ask the questions, Arc.”

  “Be my guest,” said the bounty hunter.

  “If we were to let you go, what would you do next?”

  “Well, I would hope that you would return my possessions and I could move along to the next town over. If we’re roughly where I think we are, that would be Pembroke, which suits me just fine.”

  “I’m afraid we can’t return your possessions no matter how much I would love to believe everything you’re telling me is true,” said Jack, shaking his head. “We have no guarantee that you won’t just shoot us when you leave.”

  “Fine,” said Arc. He contemplated for a moment. Again, it was a reasonable statement even if it was irksome. “At the very least, would you return my spellcaster? It’s the golden gun with the blue markings. I don’t care about any of the ammunition, but the gun itself is precious to me.”

  “No.”

  “I must insist that you give it back, Jack.”

  “And I already told you I won’t do that.”

  “Jack, please,” said Julie sympathetically. “How’s he supposed to trust us if we leave him with nothing?”

  “Alright,” grumbled Jack, “but just the gun. No ammo and nothing else.”

  It would have to do. The Golden Hawk was one of two possessions Arc truly cared about; the other being the orange scarf wrapped around his neck. He could wander the desert completely naked and wouldn’t feel unsafe as long as he had that gun. It wouldn’t be ideal if some ugly monstrosity reared its head from a hole in the ground and tried to eat him, but he would find a way to survive. He always did.

  “Thank you,” said Arc, but his voice was growing hoarse from all the talking and his words were barely audible.

  He heard Julie’s footsteps approaching and Jack held up his hands. “Don’t even think about it,” he warned her, but she ignored him.

  A red-headed girl walked before Arc, holding a dented canteen. She smiled at him sweetly and her bright green eyes—the same green eyes that Jack had—twinkled from the evening light that shone into the cave. She couldn’t have been much older than Jack, but she certainly wouldn’t have been younger. They were siblings, there was no doubt about that, for Arc could see the similarities between their faces. Were they twins? They must have been.

  Once Julie had unscrewed the canteen lid, she held it to Arc’s mouth and gently tipped it up. He gulped down two mouthfuls of water to quench his thirst before giving her a nod to signal that that was enough. If he took all of his sister’s water, that wouldn’t ease Jack’s reservations about him. No, as thirsty as he was, he was best to take only what he needed.

  Julie took the canteen away and twisted the lid back into place before Jack grabbed the back of her faded purple garb. She was in arm’s reach of the stranger and he swiftly pulled her back. She almost dropped the canteen as she quickstepped to remain upright and then shot her brother a dirty look.

  “Thank you,” said Arc, his voice coming through more clearly now. “I can tell that you’re kind.”

  “I think we should let him go,” whispered Julie to her brother, but not as quietly as she had intended. “We don’t want to kill him or leave him for dead, right? It’s why we dragged him all the way out here in the first place.”

  “I know,” sighed Jack, shaking his head despondently. “I know…”

  “His story about the bounty checks out and you’ve heard Colt’s name before, right?”

  “Yes, you’re right,” said Jack. He glanced over at Arc who tried his best to hide his frustration at Jack’s deliberation.

  “Can we untie him now?”

  Jack’s expression was that of anguish and the confidence that he had tried displaying earlier was slipping away as he was faced with the agonising choice of his next course of action.

  Had it been his own safety at risk, he wouldn’t have cared half as much, but he couldn’t let anything harm his sister. If there was even a small chance that her life was on the line, he couldn’t let Arc go free. Yet still, he felt the inclination to do just that.

  Jack turned to Arc, trying to put on a brave face once again, but failing miserably. “Why should we trust you?” he asked. “Make your best case.”

  “My best case?” asked Arc with a faint chuckle.

  “It’s not funny. Why should we trust you and let you go free?”

  Arc brought his arms around from behind the pillar with the small strand of rope in his hand. He rested his arms on his knees and his smile widened.

  “Because I already freed myself two minutes ago and didn’t attack you.”

  Jack and Julie leapt backwards into the cave wall with horrified expressions, but Arc stayed perfectly still.

  “Y-you…” began Jack, raising a finger and pointing at Arc. “H-how did…how did you?”

  “It was a good knot,” said Arc earnestly, “but the rope was already frayed and all it took was a few subtle movements against the sharpest parts of the pillar before it was loosened enough for me to slip my wrists free.”

  Jack stared silently with his mouth agape. It moved ever so slightly, but no words escaped.

  “So, what do you say?” asked Arc, dropping the rope. “Have I proven I can be trusted yet?”

  Julie took a tepid step towards the bounty hunter. “You were already free when I gave you water?”

  “Yep,” said Arc, giving her a firm nod. “And it would be very easy for me to overpower the pair of you, even with that knife your brother is concealing behind his back.”

  Jack held up his hands. “I don’t have a knife. You’re mistaken, Arc.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Yes, it is so.”

  “Turn around,” said Arc with a smirk.

  There were three seconds of silence before Jack spoke again. “No,” he said, annoyed to have been rumbled by the vigilant bounty hunter.

  “A wise word from the experienced, Jack. If you’re concealing a weapon, don’t keep fiddling with it. It’s a dead giveaway.”

  Jack grimaced. “Alright, I’ll note that for next time.”

  “Next time?” asked Julie.

  “Here’s the deal, kids. I’m going to take all of my stuff and walk away. I won’t touch the food, water, weapons, or whatever else you may have. That’s a solemn promise and my word is valuable to me, so please trust that I won’t break it. Everything you already had remains yours; I’m not interested in it. I’m a wasteland wanderer, not some freak who kills children to get his kicks. I simply want to move around Nuvaria without hassle and find my next mark, alright?”

  “And what if we—”

  Jack’s words were broken by a high-pitched squealing from somewhere in the wasteland outside. And that somewhere, wherever it may have been, was nearby.

  Arc leapt to his feet, rounded the column and then rushed over to the mouth of the cave. He stared out into the desert while leaning against the stone wall. He could see the faint outline of a hunched creature with sallow skin disappearing across the badlands and moving towards a swarm of black dots that drifted along the horizon.

  “Goblins,” spat Arc as the twins rushed up beside him, their young hearts filled with fear.

  “Did they see us?” squeaked Julie as the colour faded from Jack’s face.

  “That one was a scout,” said Arc. “He wouldn’t be hightailing it if he didn’t know we were here. He’s reporting back to the rest of his tribe and they’ll be on the move in seconds. Even if we were to run, they’re quick little beasts and would be on us like a disease before long.”

  “What do we do?” whispered Jack, unable to speak any louder.

  Arc reached out his hand without looking back. “Give me my weapons and all three of us might make it out of this alive.”