Advent Of A Gunslinger

Meanwhile, in the middle of the desert…

“...Seemz as if zere haz been quite ze uproar since we last had track of ze gunslinger,” Topaz muttered as she looked at a newspaper she was levitating in front of herself via magic. The main headline read:

‘REMINGTON SHUTS DOWN HYENA GANG!’

“Tch…they can say whateva they want,” Alade complained next to her, “I will kill him and all of those around him for what they did to Ejei.”

“...You really loved her, didn’t you?” Topaz asked with a frown on her face. “Well don’t worry, I’ll do all zat I can to help you get back at zat cowboy.”

The black tom hesitated to reply for a moment. Did Topaz really care that much about him? It almost sounded too good to be true. “...You’re sure about dat?” he asked, “Dis has nothing to do with you. Quite frankly, I’m not even sure why you’re still here.”

“Pbbbt!” Topaz scoffed, spitting with her lips rippling akin to that of an actual horse’s whinny, “Do not worry yourself, my friend. At this point, I’m mainly doing all I can to see you happy. Without you, I have no professional bodyguards!”

While odd, Alade could, at the very least, appreciate the sentiment she offered. “...Thank you, I suppose? Been a while since I heard anyone give me appreciation.”

“Zink of it as our insurance policy,” she replied with a haughty smile and narrowed eyes, “If you want ze gunslinger to fall, he shall fall. I have a feeling zat Klugetown will be ze epicenter of a massive conflict soon.”

“What makes you say dat?” Alade asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? There’s a pipeline of materials there zat are worth more than gold my feline companion,” she explained with an excited grin, giggling skittishly, “Hmhmhm…it’s going to be just like ze gold rushes of old. Everyone is going to want a piece of zat cake.”

With his mind stumped, the tom would ask another question, “...And just how do you know all of dis?”

“Don’t you remember moi’s servants?” the unicorn shot a confident smirk in his direction, “Animal folk zat are from Klugetown itself? Let’s just say zat…they’ve managed to find out a thing or two.”

“Ah…so it seems dat your efforts to tame the creatures of the desert have borne fruit,” the tom gave an impressed purr, “You’rrre much more interesting than I would’ve guessed at first glance.”

“I know I am, zank you,” Topaz continued trotting along, “Now zis way. My manor isn’t too far from here….”

At the Minotaur Valley…

Many of the warrior minotaurs had gathered up their weapons at Martha’s command, prepared to leave at a moment’s notice. Not only that, but Axel and all of his companions had all started to gather themselves up in various pieces of bulletproof armor.

Even Fleche who, much to Axel’s concern, was insistent on coming along with them.

“...Now are you sure ya wanna do this?” Axel asked while putting a claw on her shoulder, “I don’t wantcha overdoin’ it until yer ready.”

“Aye--I get that yer worried--but you gotta remember, I’m still the big sister here,” she replied while flexing each of her wing’s feathery digits. “Our ma and pa might be gone, but don’t think fer a second that I’m gonna let the last of my wee brothers kick the bucket.”

Axel fell silent as he remembered his elder twin brothers--the laughs they shared--the times they kept him out of danger. Now that they were gone, he knew what he had to do next.

“I hear ya…our tirade won’t bring ‘em back. But at the very least, it’ll give us some closure on the matter and get rid’a some backwater scum that roam around that there city. And let a certain friend’a mine remake it in the way he wants.”

“Aye. I see,” she replied “You can trust him with that, ye?”

Axel scoffed. “Tch. You know I ain’t in the mood’ta be rulin’ nothin’. Once this is all over…I dunno. Might head back home…”

“...Are you sure this place isn’t your new home, Axel?” Fleche asked with a concerned tone. “You seem happy here. As if you’ve found people that love and care for ye.”

“Hm…I s’pose I ain’t thought about that.”

“Oh quit yer joshin’,” Fleche commented with a snorty laugh, “I’ve seen the way ya been lookin’ at some of these cow lassies. Not to mention, Ms. Martha. She reminds you of ma a bit too, doesn’t she?”

The hippogriff hesitated to answer--but his silence pretty much gave it away. After all this time, he had begun to realize just what the people here meant to him. “Hm…”

Fleche shook her head. “Don’t force yerself to worry about it right now, brother. We still have a job to do before this is all said and done. Let’s make the most of our time, yeah?”

“That I will. We’re gonna head out tomorrow. So if there’s anythin’ that yer missin’ or wanna take with ya, ya better do so now. This here’s about’ta be the point of no return.”

“Och--don’t do that,” Fleche rolled her eyes at her brother’s rather ominous comment. “The last thing we need is added pressure.”

“You know what I mean…time’ta saddle up.”