Advent Of A Gunslinger

“...Yeah, I don’t get it neither,” Axel added, “Seemed like a nice old man. But then he suddenly came out with that…” He turned to the visibly shaken she-cat and asked, “You alright, Kora? He didn’t rustle yer jimmies, did he?”

Kora let out a small shudder as she stared at the ground. “Hooogh…I…I’m fine. Ahem!” She cleared her throat and spoke more clearly. “I’m fine! Just fine...and to be honest, he had a point. I can’t let my fear overtake me and be put on display. Otherwise, they’ll find out what I’m feeling…”

“So long as you’re willing to talk to us about what hurts ya,” Vido added, “then that’s what matters. Don’t put your feelings down that deep.”

“I won’t.” Kora replied curtly as to end the conversation. The less time spent discussing such a thing, the better. After all, they had a job to do. “Anyway…we should head off in the direction the nice gentleman pointed us towards. Shall we?” Kora started walking ahead of them towards the Northern Road.

Vido would turn to Axel and voice his opinion. “...I think she’s hiding something, boss.”

“No shit,” Axel said with a sigh as he started to follow her, “But we can’t force her’ta cough it up. It’s on her, friend…”

And so, they would continue to make their way up the road towards the castle…

Meanwhile…

A certain someone had been following in their tracks. “Aha. I knew it. They’ve been through here already.” Stratus had strolled into the Diamond Dog territory after them and followed them all at a safe distance so they would find him. Why?

“As soon as they figure out where them dogies are, I’m headed there first,” he thought to himself as he observed them from afar. The young finch man was adamant in following the gunslinger and his group for the sake of his own desires. “Deny me, will ya? You gon’ see what I can do…”

With Axel and co…

The trio had made their way up the cobblestone path and would soon find the castle in view. All was suspiciously quiet near the royal building, which probably had to do with what the old sheep-dog had mentioned previously…

“...I don’t hear a thing,” Kora commented as her ear flicked, “Odd. Most castles tend to be bustling during the day.”

“They prolly rounded everyone up,” Axel thought aloud as he flew into the air, “Wrangled ‘em up for questionin’ to find out what happened to the Reserve’s gold.”

Vido followed him into the air and tried to sneak a peek into the castle via its windows. Unfortunately, he was unable to see anyone or anything. “Okay this is muy extraño,” he remarked, “Is it just me, or does the castle seem rather empty to you, Axel?”

“Hm…”

Down below, Kora sniffed the air for any hint of canine scent but found nothing. “Well this is strange. I suppose there’s no other option…” Since the eagle-eyed gentlemen above her were watching over the entire area, she decided to go for a more direct approach.

That is, to simply knock on the castle doors directly.

Tap-tap-tap.

“Hello?” she called out, “We’re visitors from out of town and we’re curious about some criminal activity that’s been going on lately.”

A voice would call out from beyond the door. “What sorta activity?”

Kora leapt back, recoiling as she wasn’t expecting an answer so readily. “Erm…gang-related activity. I suppose you could say we’re mercenaries looking to collect a contract?”

“We’re busy,” the voice called out once more, “Come back later.”

“I wonder…” Kora decided to try something different. “Understandable. I’ll let Axel Remington know that we’re unable to request an audience.”

The castle door opened ever so slightly. “...Remington? You mean the Axel Remington? One of the most famous gunslingers this side of the equator?”

“That’s him,” Kora said with an amused purr, “But I suppose we’ll come back later--”

“Wait!” a large, fluffy golden labrador woman with a blue vest and a pink collar opened the castle doors, “He might be the perfect one for the job!”

“Hm.” Just as Kora had planned. Axel was famous enough to be recognized by name alone. “One moment, please.” She looked up into the sky and called out, “Lord Remington! Lord Magpie! Down here!”

The griffon and hippogriff heard the she-cat call out to them and made their descent. They landed in front of the castle to be greeted by the yellow dog lady.

“So it is you,” she squealed upon seeing him in person, but quickly collected herself and stowed her enthusiasm as she cleared her throat. “Ahem. I mean--my name’s Fiona Floppyears--one of the Six Queens of Caninia--blah blah blah--” she rolled her eyes and skipped over the scripted introduction she was supposed to give. “I’m glad to meet you.”

Axel raised a brow. “Are ya now?”

Fiona nodded, causing her ears to flop about--befitting her namesake. “Mm-hm! I am! The other queens are busy grilling the royal advisors over what happened to the gold in the reserve. But they’re not really focused on where the gold actually is…”

Vido scoffed, nearly spitting on the ground. “Ach. Classic misguided authoritative figures. Instead of trying to tackle the problema’s source, they try to keep blame off of themselves.”

“No kidding,” the golden lab replied as she folded her arms, “But listen, if you guys can do me a favor, and hunt down the ones who stole our gold, we’d be grateful.”

“We’d be more than willing to assist,” Kora replied, “The only conflict therein is…we have no idea where the suspects would be located.”

“...The Junker Yard,” Fiona clarified with a growl, “A place filled with gross, silmy dog criminals that refuse to accept the ways of domestication. They’re downright mean and will do anything to get what they want.”

“Anything, huh…” Axel muttered.

“Anything,” the dog queen continued, “But that area is far removed from Canid Borders so we can’t really do anything about them.”

Vido spoke up while pulling his companions in by the shoulders with both claws. “That’s where we come in, señorita perra. We’re the masters of out-of-bounds work.”

Axel rolled his eyes and slipped free of the griffon’s grip. “He’s right. Now…how exactly do we get to this here Junkyard, ma’am?”

“Are you sure?” the golden lab questioned with a worried set of eyes, “It’s very likely that they’d hurt you…really bad.’

“We wouldn’t be here if we wasn’t,” Axel confirmed with steeled eyes, “We know what we capable of ma’am. Trust me.”

“Verily,” Kora added, “Remington has no equal.”

“Si,” Vido vouched for the group, “We can handle it.”

“Alright…” Fiona reached into her vest and pulled out a map. “Come a bit closer and I’ll show you.”