“That’s enough of that. This one still has his uses.”

A furry body stepped between the blades and his chest. Mischief had appeared and easily interrupted the attack.

“Hmm and what are you now to stop my blades so easily?”

“I am what I am, and I am Mischief.”

The name reverberated like a cacophony of scratching behind his ears, threatening to suffocate him with its presence. Then Mischief was on his shoulder and his discomfort faded. While Jaeger had suffered another, albeit temporary, wound, the woman had a look of shock and terror on her face. She stepped back, cautious but ready as her hands went to the blades now at her side. Jaeger began to move slowly, trying not to draw attention as he maneuvered his powder horn.

“This adventurer what is he to you?”

“My contractor.”

“My people say you are nothing now, a chained pet of Those Who Wait.”

Mischief disappeared from Jaeger’s shoulder and appeared a hand's breadth from the woman's face, startling her. With a sharp-toothed smile, he licked a paw and looked disdainfully at the woman. “Your people are proud, arrogant fools, lost in their pursuits, forgetting all the favors and debts they owe. You do not chain a pet, you chain what you fear, and I am their fear.”

A harsh laugh ripped from the woman. “You're not wrong about my people. Why this human, surely one like you can do better?”

Jaeger had managed to slide into position by now, and in one smooth motion he opened the powder horn and swallowed its contents. Fire and pain coursed through his body, followed by popping sounds. Then, with a roar, Jaeger rolled to his feet, raised his axe, and aimed his pistol; fully charged.

“Because this human is resourceful and above all entertaining.”

The woman raised an eyebrow at Jaeger and nodded. “He is, but that doesn’t change things. I have a need for his blood price and he owes me for saving his life I wanted to take his life to balance the scales, but I see now that things have changed and he would not be taken so willingly or easily.”

“No I won’t and I don’t owe you a damn thing.” Jaeger said.

“I killed Xorro, and I didn't attack when the rest of my party did; that means I saved you twice. You solved one of them by being the catalyst that revealed Xorro's treachery. But you still owe me, and I will collect what is owed to me.”

The woman had resumed her fighting stance and held her blades at the ready. Jaeger's pistol had not wavered an inch, ready to fire the moment either Mischief moved out of the way or she moved into it. Mischief turned from the woman to Jaeger.

“My dear contractor, she is a Chaos Elf; her kind must maintain a sense of order or they will lose themselves. Her culture considers saving a life a debt; if the positions were reversed, she'd be indebted to you. If you don't help her, she will hunt you until she kills you, even if it is to her detriment.”

Jaeger stared at the woman, meeting her eyes for the first time, and what he saw sucked him in. Her eyes weren't just red, they were every shade of red Jaeger had ever seen. Blood, sunsets, apples, fire, leaves, berries, and everything else he'd either barely seen or never glimpsed; that was what her eyes were made of. A whirlpool of chaos that tried to draw him in, and it took a supreme willpower to pull his eyes away.

Now he had to rethink his plan. He'd been ready to fight her when he thought he could kill her or, more likely, send her running. But if Mischief was right, she might hunt him forever until one of them was dead. He felt a twinge in his back as he remembered something he'd been told and ignored: Never hunt zealots, lunatics or fanatics, it never ends well. He'd ignored that once and ended up with the scars of a thrown bear trap. He slowly lowered his pistol to no longer face the woman.

“Fine, let's say I do owe you. I’m not dying, and I sure as hell ain't letting you turn me in to whoever hired you. So talk, what can I do for you to make this even?”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Tension slowly left her as the Chaos Elf lowered her blades. “I want a payment equal to or greater than what you are worth.”

The figure she gave was more than Jaeger had expected, but not beyond his soon-to-be wealth. The only thing keeping him from paying was professional insult, it bothered him to pay a killer who came for him. He thought about it and remembered something she'd said.

“You said my death would pay for a 'noble hunt'. What if instead of paying you, I helped you hunt. To track down whoever or whatever it is you are looking for?”

“Your tracking skills are unknown to me.”

“Yeah, and aside from your blade skills and being a back alley hitter, you're a complete stranger to me. I have no idea who you are, why you're here to kill me, or who your friends are.”

She nodded. “Hmm. My hiring alias is Kaeleth. I will hold on to why, or more importantly, who hired us to kill you. My friends, as you call them, were a group of three cutthroats I was forced to join. The job called for a group of four, and I'm told I can be difficult to work with, so I found an established trio.”

“Tell me who hired you, Kaeleth.”

“No, I don't think I will. Prove your abilities to me and I will reconsider.”

“And how do I do that?”

“I will come with you on your next bounty. I will accompany you and judge your tracking skills for myself. If I find them adequate, I will accept your offer of work. If it is not adequate, we will reconsider my original offer.” She looked up with her head cocked to the side and then smiled a vicious, cruel smile. “I will leave you for now. Do not try to delay accepting a new bounty, patience is not one of my people's virtues.”

With that, she leaned back and then her form seemed to vibrate before vanishing.

“Wait.” She was already gone, so he decided to yell in case she could hear him. “Damn woman, I have things keeping me in town, I won't be leaving for at least a week.”

“Tick, tock goes the time clock.” A velvety voice whispered in his ear before a razor-sharp blade was drawn across the back of his neck in a gentle, delicate arc.

Slapping his hand against his neck, he didn't bother turning around to look for her. He had dealt with Mischief enough to know that was what she wanted and that she was gone. He pulled his hand free and saw that it was bloodless.

“Ah, Chaos Elves. I have missed them. You, my dear contractor, will have an exciting future.”

“Why’s that?” Jaeger asked as he walked over to the bodies of the hired killers. He wanted to loot their bodies and take something identifiable; maybe one of their masks. Killers like this had to have a bounty and hopefully Lisette could tell him more about them.

“Chaos Elves are obsessive. She'll stalk you until she gets what she wants, and even then I bet she'll keep coming back. You've got that aura of order, nicely outlined by my chaos, I might add, and she'll be drawn to you. That's probably why she didn't attack in the first place.”

“Aura of order?”

Mischief played with the empty pill bottle Xorro had dropped, hitting it back and forth in boredom.

“I can't say too much, even I am bound by some rules. I can say that it came about because you seem to follow a set of rules or laws closely, and it is maintained by that as well. Neither good nor bad, it is just part of who you are.”

Jaeger thought of the Bounty Hunter's Creed, the one he had followed for decades, even as other laws fell by the wayside. “Is it something I need to worry about?”

“Not unless you plan to immediately stop following your law and betray the spirit of it. As I said, it is simply part of who you are, it is not good or bad.”

Hunter' finished collecting the loot, thinking about it. If he couldn't do anything about it, he could ignore it. So far, the worst thing that had happened was that a woman had saved his life and was going stalk him on a job.

“There's not much loot between these guys, but I took what I could. The guard's not here and I'm not going to wait around much longer, so let's go.” He pocketed the last mask and grabbed the man’s knife belt.

Jaeger stood up, dusted off his knees and made sure he had everything he needed. He'd secured all his loot except the hammer, which he had to carry. Satisfied, he made his way back in the direction of the bar; fortunately, the way the fight had gone, he could use the location of the first corpse to get his bearings. He made his way steadily through the streets, and as he left the area behind, people began to reappear. Storefronts were open and food carts were doing brisk business.

“Stop at that food cart.”

“No. No matter how much you ask, I'm not getting any food here. I'm going to the inn and we can eat there.”

Mischief had resumed his place on Jaeger's shoulders, telling him to stop at every food stall they came across. Jaeger, however, was wary of stopping out in the open; one ambush a night was enough for him.

“I will stop asking soon. All this fighting has made me hungry.”

Jaeger got angry at that.

“You didn't do any of the fighting, that was all me.”

“No it was mostly those hired killers and Kaeleth. You mostly got beaten around.”

“What was that you useless…”

Mischief interrupted him with an excited cry.

“Oh look where we are. No time for your anger my dear steed we have arrived at the bar.”

Eyes twitching, he looked up and saw that they had indeed arrived at a building. It was a stone thing, vaguely shaped like a hill, with an entrance that he could only describe as cave-like, closed by two swinging doors. Outside was a sign depicting a bear with two hands holding a mug.