Bounty Hunter

Act I - The Great Trail

[Author's Notes]

Hello and welcome back everyone!

Wow, 20 chapters already and we're at 150K words now, this story only grows larger per update and I'm proud to announce that we're not stopping anytime soon!

Your patience is infinitely appreciated and it amazes me how some of you have followed this story this far, you're all awesome and your feedback has certainly gone a long way!

For the first time in a while, we're hitting the road inside of this chapter and I can't wait to get into the action! I loved writing this and I hope you enjoy reading it!

Okay, I really need to break this habit of ranting as I bet it gets repetitive sometimes, hm? Without further ado, Naidvar proudly presents to you...

The Great Trail

1 PM - Eastern Provinces - Pao's Holding Block...

Lynqi awoke consumed by an intense daze, unknowing of the environment around her. Usually, they would sedate her with her last portion of the night, as she had gotten used to the undying urge to sleep mere minutes after ingesting the final bite of her rations for the night. Usually, this daze and the sedation wouldn't lead to her feeling this woozy and disconnected from reality, yet she was completely oblivious to why this had been done.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

Pao's display of anger frightened Lynqi, she knew she wasn't with her currently but his mumbling slowly turned into coherent sentences, phrases that she could understand slowly began to seep through the cracks of the heavy plank of wood that she called a door. For once, she felt a ray of hope enter the light-deprived room as Pao accidentally slammed the door so hard he cracked it open by an inch.

He slipped his paw into the crack and grabbed the handle from inside, to Lynqi, this was just another blur of reality as she slipped back into her cuffs, eager to listen to the conversation occurring at her doorstep. Despite being a prisoner for so long, she had very little insight into how Pao's kingdom was run. His detention centre was shrouded in mystery as very rarely did noise seep from the outside world and into her cell.

Lynqi partially thanked the strange mixture and heightened dosage of the sedative used to tame her for allowing her to hear better once she woke up. It seemed that the larger dose of sedative also heightened her senses, as she momentarily saw into the dark room and discovered its true size. She wasn't staying in a large room, she was staying in a room that barely laid outside of the bindings of her cuffs; an illusion.

Her head throbbed with pain, she rubbed her temples as best as she could, her restricted paws leading her to bend down to massage her head and to clear her of her vicious headache... That's when the mumbling turned into words.

"WHAT? You're joking, right? We're NOT transferring her until we get the full ransom!" Pao bellowed, clearly going from banging the makeshift door to guarding it as Lynqi heard his weight press up against the hinges making up this contraption. A sprinkle of sawdust fell as the words swiftly turned into fighting. "You're paying me at least half or you'll have to return to your boss and tell him that we're no longer working for him!"

"That's interesting, this might be a way out for me..." Lynqi whispered, the void of darkness around her suddenly kissed with her voice as it had previously remained absent from its presence since she arrived. "Wow, I sound a little raspy... I just hope Pao's in the mood for one more final chat," Lynqi softly cleared her throat, shortly after, the door blew open as Pao made his way into the room with a boastful smile on his face.