Interlude 06: The Long Game

“You won’t regret it, partner.”

Grin Lee gripped the reigns of the extra horse as he maneuvered the one he was riding towards the direction of Fayson. He moved both horses into a slow gallop, leaving Nero behind. The two had agreed to meet at a nearby hill after he sold the horse and weaponry.

Grin Lee’s ever-present smile widened. This was fun! The Dragon was exactly as he had pictured him: cold and heartless but with his own sense of right and wrong. He was such an interesting fellow.

He thought back to the day before last, when he, Nicholai and the others had managed to track the lizardman to Darb Village. The others in the gang were all excited to just rush into the village and capture him, but Lee had other ideas.

“Now, now,” he told them. “It’s best we be smart about this. We can’t just go all out and attack. What if he has friends in there?”

Nicholai and the others frowned. “Well, whatta you suggest?” asked the blond, mohawk-sporting bounty hunter.

“It’ll be much easier to wait on the road and ambush him.” Lee stretched his arms out as he explained. “This way we get to see if he’s alone or not. Plus there’s no cover for him to get to, out here in the fields.”

“Makes sense,” Nicholai said. He then raised an eyebrow when Grin Lee laid out across his saddle on his belly. “Uh, what are you doing?”

“Be a sport and tie me up will ya?” Lee grinned while holding up his hands together as he lay on the saddle. “Hands and feet please.”

“Why?”

“It’s a joke, it’ll be funny,” Lee said. “Trust me.”

Nicholai shrugged, then dismounted his horse. “Whatever, you’re the boss.” He dug out some rope from his saddlebags, then went over to bind Lee up. He was well used to his employer’s… eccentricities so he tried not to give the bizarre request too much thought.

The gang only had to wait a few hours until their quarry was spotted. The lizardman, dressed in a floppy hat and long, ankle-length greatcoat, was traveling the road alone. He didn’t look armed except for a short sword strapped to his hip, but they knew that weapon wasn’t the extent of his offensive capabilities. They were warned about his fire-wand, and how it can take out a target from quite a distance. Thankfully, it could only fire once before it needed to be recharged. That gave his men the advantage in a scuffle.

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“Remember,” Nicholai said just before they rode off to meet the lizard. “It’s two grand if we bring him in alive. So if a fight happens, try not to hurt him too badly. We’ve got him outnumbered, so taking him down should be easy.”

Oh, how wrong they were!

Lee knew something was wrong as soon as Nicholai started talking to the lizard. Their target was too calm, too unconcerned about how he was outnumbered five to one. Lee had a passing notion as to warn Nicholai of his suspicions, but in the end decided to stay quiet and see how it all played out. He had a feeling that something interesting was about to happen. And it did!

Lee lay there on the saddle and listened as the lizardman’s wand shot out not once, but six times! Poor Nicholai and his men were completely taken by surprise, getting blown out of their saddles by the lizardman’s strange device. Lee smiled in delight as he thought about how worthless Garret’s information had ultimately proven to be.

It had been simple enough to ingratiate himself to the lizard. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Nero needed someone to watch his back. And who better to watch it than a fellow outlaw on the run?

And now here he was, earning the lizard’s trust further by going into Fayson and selling the extra horse and weapons they had looted from Nicholai and the others’ cooling corpses.

As Lee rode into town, he wondered just how long he’d continue to play being Nero’s sidekick. Sure, it was fun for now, but how long until his interest wanes and he begins to tire of the lizard? Will he then turn Nero in to Garret and collect all that prize money? Two thousand gold was just too much though.

He suppose it didn’t matter; he’d just ride it out like he usually does. He’ll play the long game if he has to, just so long as it was fun and interesting. And he could tell this strange lizardman was going to be very, very interesting.

It didn’t take long for Lee to find a weapons’ trader who was interested in taking his burden off his hands. It took even less time for the two of them to come up with a reasonable price for the sale; the dealer even offered to buy the extra horse. In the end the two of them shook hands and Lee found himself two gold coins richer.

It didn’t escape the adventurer’s eye that his discussion with the dealer was being watched. Two very shady men nearby were eyeing the sale with interested gazes, the same gaze a housecat might give a bird inside a cage when his master wasn’t looking. Lee, of course, talked more loudly than he usually did, and made sure that the two saw the shiny gold coins that the dealer handed him.

He also made sure that he was easily followed out of town, slowing his horse to a slow trot to let the men get their friends and their horses. When he was sure that he was being followed, Lee’s smile widened and he kicked his horse to go faster. He made for the hill he had agreed to meet Nero on, and he could see the lizardman’s silhouette in the distance.

Things were about to get fun again.