Chapter Three: The Bounty Claimed

Before they left the forest, actually about ten paces from where they began, Even stopped them.

“Hang on, my weapon’s still hidden away. Let me get it,” he said, and jumped strait up into an overhead cloud of leaves and branches. “Got it!” he said, voice somewhat muffled, and jumped down again, landing on his feet, which were covered in odd cloth “slippers,” or basically a bag tied to each foot with a string. He had, in one hand, a large pole-axe type weapon. Its blade was at an end, and was curved, producing a point for stabbing. Like most pole-axe class weapons, it wasn’t on a separate “head” like other axes; it had been attached directly. It had a decorative notch.

“THIS, lady and gentle-dragon, is called a bardiche,” he said enthusiastically, putting it up on one end, so that it was vertical. “I asked my temple’s master for it instead of a standard staff. It’s deadly!” he explained, grinning. “It’s named ‘Unaga,’ an ancient word for ‘swarm,’ here meaning it has a particularly nasty sting!” He smiled and put Unaga on his shoulder.

They pressed onward, and upon leaving the forest, Hanson shoved Jackson to Jessie and Evan. He flew up and was a speck against the sky. After a few moments, he came back down, a compass in hand.

“Okay, Tripeace is…” he turned a bit so he was facing southwest, “thataway!” He pointed. “That’s where the place that put up the bounty is,” he explained. He put his compass along with his pocket telescope, which he also had had out, and took Jackson again.

After about an hour of walking, Jackson woke up. He tried breaking free, but not only had Hanson tied him up pretty good, Jessie put a dagger to his throat. When they had to stop for lunch, they had to sit, Jackson still held about an inch from the blade, to think of what to do.

“We can’t keep him like this, I’m tired and have two arms on him,” Jessie said.

“I’m stumped,” Evan agreed.

“I dunno—wait. I have…” Hanson started, and looked up, a maniacal smile and glint in his eyes, “…AN IDEA!!”

Ten minutes later, the three were eating stew, and Jackson, alive but wishing not, serving as Hanson’s chair.

~*~*~*~*~*~

When they finally reached Tripeace, it was sunset. Jackson was frog-marched up into the Sheriff’s office, then when he stopped in front of the front desk, he sighed. I’m dead.

“HEELL-ooh, there!” greeted the cheerful, young, fox officer. She looked at Hanson and the others. “Oh,” she said, dropping her cheerful attitude, “bounty office is in there.” She pointed her finger to a door to the left. Sighing, she got back to her paperwork, mumbling something about bounty hunters.

They entered the office and saw other hunters there. Some had tied-up bounties, others had body bags. Some of the bounties were nervous, others just grimacing, like Jackson. The room was square, had benches, and a few pane-less windows. They held bounty registration workers. One became free, and the group beat a few others to it.

The green-clad hare was leaning his head on his hand, bored. After he saw Jackson’s face, he bolted upright.

“Well, well, if it ain’t Jackson Mesa, the scoundrel who ransacked two—“ he began.

“Three,” corrected Jessie, who stepped from behind Jackson. The hair gawked at the resemblance, then continued, scribbling something down with a fountain pen, which were new at that time and still expensive.

“Okay, three towns. Now, who caught him?” he asked, pointing his pen at both Hanson and Jessie. Evan stepped from behind Jessie.

“We all did, I guess,” he said, and Hanson and Jessie nodded.

“I’m the hunter though,” Hanson said. He pulled out a piece of paper from his shirt pocket. Unfolding it, he set it on the desk. On it were his name, age, level (ranking), race, gender, and alignment (which was in an “Optional” place). It read, at top, “Official Bounty Hunter Card.”

“Right, so you’ll have to split up the cash, if all of you did it. That ok?” the hare added, taking the paper and writing in a box at the bottom of it.

“Yeah, but I’ll get most of it.”

“Okay then,” the hare said, pulling a thin rope that went up into the ceiling. A bell was faintly heard off in the distance. “Our boys’ll take it from here. Now, because it’s a known bounty, I’ll not put you through the heck of identifying Jack here. Lemme get the bounty money, you hand him to the guards, as well as his weapons.” At this time, two green-clad bears came through some double doors.

Hanson and Jessie handed off Jackson while Evan watched the hare run on back to get a bag of the reward money. He came back and Hanson went to him.

“Okay, Hanson, here’s your reward of 5,000 Gnats,” he said, handing him a bag of golden coins. “Enjoy the first bounty, and have a nice day,” he said, handing back the Bounty Hunter Card.

Smiling slightly, Hanson took it and they left the building. Once outside, he folded it up and put it away with pride.

“My first bounty…” he said, trailing off and holding up the bag of the currency used there. They went to an area outside the town and made camp. Once the fire was added as a finishing touch, Hanson divided up the reward. He gave 1,000 Gnats to both Evan and Jessie, keeping his own 3,000. They put the money in their bags, and Hanson sighed.

“You know, I was thrown out of my clan because I had to prove I was a tough, money-getting dragon. Now, this bounty we did—er, I’ll say I did—will show them I’m both tough and I can get my own treasure.”

Evan and Jessie were silent. Evan spoke up after a bit.

“So, you did this as a test?” Hanson nodded. Jessie got angry.

“You mean, we went through all this for YOU?!”

“Yeah, and I’m sorry,” Hanson apologized, a little fearful. Jessie can be very scary if angered. She laughed, and smiled.

“Oh, I’m pulling your leg! That’s okay,” she said, “And so is the next stop to your clan?” Hanson nodded.

“Be careful, only my buddies are okay. The others are very quick to anger. You’ll have to be on guard. Oh, Evan? Can you use a Water Shield? Just in case…”

They continued talking before midnight came. All of them then turned in, awaiting the next adventure.