Inkslayer

Chapter 5: Nox the Ox

And there you had it. A deal. Not the deal Nox was expecting, and not the deal that lone gunslinger could've ever imagined taking. But he needed speed, and he needed allies. He had enough enemies out there already. Maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be so bad to have a clan.

"You drive a hard bargain," Nox said, and he said it with smoke as well as words, just to show he didn't quite approve. You see, he couldn't give in easy, just like Lokk couldn't. This wasn't just about the deal. It was about reputations, about names. Nox had enough of those alright, but more than anything he had a weight of meaning behind each one—and a heavier weight of fear.

"Well, so do you," Lokk said, and he puffed his chest instead of puffing smoke.

"So here we are then," the Coilhunter said, "meetin' in the middle."

"In the no man's land."

"Where the Iron Empire doesn't tread."

They exchanged a knowing look. Folk called it that because there was a lot of knowledge to be had in one of those glances, the knowledge of the soul, the knowledge of a person's sins. You didn't just stare them down. You stared them deep, right down to their core, where you could tell if they were true. You learned a lot then by a look. You learned if they'd pull that trigger. You learned if they feared you'd pull yours first.

"So, how do we do this?" Nox said at last. You could've taken that as capitulation—and the bravest of the clansmen did—but most took it as the Coilhunter firing first. He just did it with words this time instead.

"Oh, it's simple enough," Lokk replied, and he clicked his fingers and nodded to one of his clansmen. Scratch that. That man would soon be one of Nox's clansmen too.

What a world, Nox thought. It was a wild idea this, but then this was the Wild North.

The clansmen huddled together to exchange some kind of bonded greeting, and perhaps to exchange any lingering disapproval of their leader's plan. But you could bet a hefty sum they wouldn't go voicing that disapproval too loudly now. You could've said their leader had them on lockdown.

While this was going on, Lokk took the Coilhunter aside. "I'm gonna level with you, Nox. We didn't just happen this way, y'know."

"I know."

"We figured you'd be here, if you were anywhere. What's a bounty hunter without a Bounty Booth?"

Nox grumbled at the term bounty hunter. He didn't like it, because he'd spent as much time hunting bounty hunters as anyone else. Now, some'd say Coilhunter meant much the same thing, but Nox liked to think that maybe it meant something else, something more. He liked to think it meant he hunted the things that coiled their way around men's hearts. No, not just money. The devilry and the darkness. Some others liked to look at the image of the Iron Emperor on those coils and think it meant a promise to hunt him too. Well, it didn't quite matter. It was the name that stuck.

"So, you found me," Nox said, thinking that maybe if his monowheel could be trusted, they might not have, and yet thinking just as clearly that maybe this chance meeting might benefit him even more.

"We found you, and I'm glad we did." Lokk nodded to one of his clansmen. "That there is Toothless Toby, and he's gone lost more than just his teeth. That Ink Brannon took his brother too. And all with a damn letter. That ain't no way to die. He wasn't even on his hog when it happened. Just dropped like a fly after thinkin' he got wind of his wife down south. She was the lettered type, y'see. Well, old Toby's mighty shook up 'bout it. We all are. Ain't no way to die. Ain't no way to kill."