Advent Of A Gunslinger

Meanwhile, on the hill overlooking the madam’s building…

The mage she-cat scoffed at the minotaur’s gun. Since she had her outnumbered by a large margin of seven to one, she was more than confident. “Pray tell--how do you intend to compete with us? You’re all alone…”

“No. I. Ain’t.” Roseanne responded with a cold growl as she pulled the trigger.

PHEWWWW-CRACK!

She shot the emergency flare. The red explosive flew high into the sky and exploded into a flurry of fireworks. Even though it was broad daylight the red sparks scattered across the sky like miniature bits of wildfire...or laser pointers.

...And what do you know? The Abyssinians were all distracted by it, momentarily. Their eyes were wide as they all stared up at the small display of fireworks.

Roseanne was confused for a split-second. “Seriously?” But she quickly snapped back into focus, and took aim at the leader...

Meanwhile, on Celaeno’s ship…

From within her quarters, the Pirate Queen herself could hear the emergency flare. She immediately jumped up, and out of her office to run out to the main deck. “What the--was what--?!”

She along with Monocrow, Rusty, and Chang all arrived at the same time as she. Vido and Kora would appear moments later.

They could all view the situation from where they were. Roseanne had fired off the emergency flare.

“They need our help,” Celaeno rallied everyone together, and tried to figure out who should tackle the conflict presented to them. “We can’t all go because we need a decent amount of us still stationed here just in case.”

The primate doctor was the first to offer. “I will go. If anyone is hurt, I can patch them up within seconds.”

Out of concern for his safety, the she-cat would also voice her input. “I would like to volunteer also.”

Celaeno looked at Kora with a concerned stare. “...Are you sure? Things have been hard on you these past few days, and…”

But she was unmoved in her stance. With a flick of her tail, she repeated herself. “I am certain. I want to keep myself active so that I do not succumb to despair. It’s exactly what my sister would want me to do.”

The bird woman knew there was no time to debate the issue. “...The griffon guy knows her best. Guess there’s no other option.” However, she wanted to make sure everything went as smoothly as possible. “You,” she glared in Vido’s direction, “Go with them both.”

Vido shed a few feathers upon hearing her address him. He almost couldn’t believe it. “W--you want me to--?”

“Do you have an objection to this?” she asked, eyebrow raised.

“N-no, not at all, señora!” He responded as quickly as possible.

“Good.” She would then turn her attention to her other bird crew members. “Any objections gentlemen?”

“Aw! I wanted to--” Rusty was about to complain, but qas quickly silenced via a nudge from Monocrow.

“No objections,” he said, “But we’ll be ready to assist if things don’t go right. Ain’t that right, Rus?”

The vulture rolled his eyes and folded his feathery arms. “Hmph...whatevs, mate...”

With a relieved sigh, she looked over at Chang, then Kora, then Vido. “Alright you three. Head out when you’re ready. Stay safe, and come back alive.”

“Come on, compadres,” Vido walked towards the edge of the deck, and spread his wings, “I’ll carry you there so we can make it as fast as possible.”

Neither Chang nor Kora were hesitant. They approached the griffon, and each grabbed one of his claws. Kora on his left, and Chang on his right.

“Ready?” the griffon asked.

“I am prepared,” Kora replied.

“Shì de,” Chang responded.

With their express consent, Vido took off, carrying them both towards the direction of the flare…

As they left, Celaeno would watch. All she could think was, “...Show me what you’re good at, Mr. Magpie.”

Back in the greenhouse…

Axel flat out ignored the older faun lady’s orders to stay back. If there was one thing he was certain of, it was the fact that her body was being utterly ravaged by the immense force applied to her from absorbing magic through the dreamcatcher. He wasn’t just going to stand idly by and watch as she essentially destroyed herself trying to save these three minotaurs from corruption.

Without a word, he pried the feathered trinket from her frail hands. As soon as she let go of it, she was about ready to collapse to the floor. But Axel reached out, and wrapped his left arm-claw around her waist to keep her upright.

In his right claw, he held the dreamcatcher, and immediately felt the same pressure she did. “Fgh...damn…” It was as if the gravitational pull of the earth had increased five times over. His body felt like it had been being pressed down upon by a hydraulic press. All the way down to his bones, he could feel the sensation of extreme force that almost made him vomit by force. “…don’t let me go out like this, Lord…”

Thankfully, Martha had already completed the process part of the way. All Axel had to do was shoulder the final portion of the burden, and…

POOF!

The red runic symbols were siphoned into the dreamcatcher and off of the minotaurs. The three of them fell to the floor, fast asleep as if nothing happened…

“Ugh...mana from haven...almost lost my marbles from that one,” Axel mumbled to himself as he watched the cow ladies fall asleep.

Martha snatched away the dreamcatcher from him. “Give me that, you fool. That’s a valued family heirloom with over a thousand years of history. You could have hurt yourself in your efforts to save me. I’m not sure if it was brave or just plain boorish.” She inspected it, and concluded that the magic had been properly absorbed into the feather-clad charm. Next, she walked over to the three minotaurs and put two fingers against their necks to check for a pulse. “...They’re just fine. They’ll just need to sleep it off for a while.”

Axel breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. That there’s all that matters.” He started to walk towards the exit of the greenhouse. “Didn’t catch the one who cast that trickery, but at least the gals ain’t gon’ suffer no more.”

Before he could exit, Martha had suddenly appeared in front of him--arms folded. “And just where do you think you’re going?”

“...To the other greenhouse down the trail, and back inside’ta make sure everyone’s alright,” he answered. “Why?”

The short, crabby faun woman took a hit from her cigarette, and held it between two fingers. “‘Cuz I wanted’ta say thank you. I ain’t as tough as I used’ta be, and prolly would’a been smashed inta dust if I had tried to use that any longer. You really are Remington’s boy. For damn sure ain’t yella--metaphorically speaking of course.” She said, noting his dull, sandy body color.

His eyes went wide for a second. The last thing he would have expected from her was a compliment such as that. It was almost unbelievable, so he had to make sure his ears weren’t deceiving him. “...Ya mean that, Ms. Martha? Truly?”

She casually tapped on the cigarette to discard some of the ashes. “I ain’t got no reason’ta muck around or lie’ta nobody. ‘Specially not one’a Remington’s offspring.”

“...You talk like you know him well,” Axel said skeptically, “Mind tellin’ me a bit more?”

“Hold yer cojones, bronco-boy,” the faun grumbled, “We need’ta make sure the rest of mah girls ain’t got no broken bones or shittin’ bricks. After that, I need myself a nice, long bath to shake off all’uh these jitters.” She stared him down, and then flashed a weak smile. “Then--if I’m up for it--I’ll throw ya a bone or two over dinner. Any problems with that, young’un?”

Since those terms were laid out rather plainly, he accepted. “No ma’am. No problem at all.”

The two would leave that greenhouse, and proceed to make sure all of the minotaurs were okay. Axel knew this was important, which is why he wasn’t in a hurry to get back to see Roseanne just yet.

“I hope she’s holdin’ her own,” he thought…

Back on the hill...

Well, unbeknownst to Axel, Rose was, in fact, holding her own.

“HYAH! TAKE THAT, YA VARMINTS!” The sounds of meaty punches and kicks collided as Roseanne powered her way through the Abyssinians in front of her. They were distracted by the signal flare, which gave her a perfect opening to strike them down and fling them across the valley’s desert sand.

But when her back was turned, she found herself choked by an invisible force. “ACK!” She was forced to her knees, and had to drop her weapon.

The Abyssinian mage had her book open in her left paw, and had her right paw outstretched, controlling the choking spell with it. “That’s enough out of you…grab her weapon. And make sure she doesn’t get away.”

A few of the other Abyssinians had risen to their feet, and one of them tried to reach for Rose’s shotgun. That is, until…

PWANG!

A bullet hit the ground where one of them stood, to which the cat dove out of the way. They all hissed and looked to the sky…

To find a monkey with a rifle being carried by a griffon!