Chapter 28 - In Which The Traitor Begrudgingly Takes The Stage

The red and black crept back in from the blankness. Fires crawled out from the edges of her half vision and smoke filled everything else, bringing with it the sound of bodies crackling within the inferno and the laughter echoing out through the darkness. She was running again. Running meant survival. Of course she ran. Always running, but never going anywhere. Just away. Away from the inferno and the laughter.

But the further she ran, the longer she stayed alive, the more she started to see something finally break through the black mass choking the heavens. It was faint at first, so much so she didn't even notice it until it was burning bright in the sky. A silver sun was rising over the horizon, parting the fires and deafening the laughter with it's noxious howling. It was one she had heard before and yet somehow it still sounded as unique as the moon in a night full of stars. They all shined the same, but none came close to catching that much of the spotlight.

She could hear it now as it echoed between the forest, that boisterous bellowing that wasn't very different from the one she was running from, but at the very least eclipsed all few. In its shadow cast over the flames and shine that illuminated the ashes, she and the others fled whether the figure intended it or not. Just running and running and running and this time, the ashes and flames trailed behind.

A voice came into focus as they rushed towards that light in the sky. One that cried out something along the lines of "but he was slower than arching the sun! I riddled him full of lead before he could even grip his gun!" It continued rambling on and on, it's words growing louder and louder with every step she took towards them until they burned in her ears like white hot coals. Still, she raced towards it even as the pale glow rushing forth from it joined it's words in shearing her flesh, unsure what it was, but certain it was better than what was behind her. The laughter died in its tracks and raging fires were swallowed up by that sneering light and that was all that mattered. No matter how much it kept hurting, it was always better than before.

The phantom pain grew and grew with every step she took until even the patchwork of moonlight woven before her started to part. Unseen flames lapped at her body and spread out through the forest, swallowing even the other flames until everything was consumed by that sheering agony. Then, in an instant, when the pain felt to have reached its climax, it all parted like it had never existed at all. A bolt of lightning shot through her and ignited every nerve in her body at once, making her mind race as it perceived hundreds of attacks all at once. Her eyes flew open and her body erupted into a panicked flurry before she even knew where he was. She thrashed her limbs around and caused her to toss what felt like blankets off of her as she beat down on some soft surface.

When her lizard brain relaxed it's panicked grasp on her, her hands raced down to the holster at her side to find her weapon missing from the leather holder. Her alarm resurged as she found herself unarmed and she leapt back onto her feet, not caring where they were planted as she tossed her all around her surroundings. She expected and was pleasantly relieved when she realized she wasn't inside a cage. Instead, she appeared to be inside a tent of sorts made of a familiar tan fabric propped open in a cone formation by a single pole rising from the center. The bed she now stood on was on of three places at equidistance from each other and her own was placed parallel to the opening.

There wasn't anyone else in the tent and her weapons lay around the base of the pole keeping the tent up. More importantly however, all of them looked like they were still in working condition. Strange. She assumed they would have been torn apart by now or distributed among her captors. Wait. That didn't sound right. What was going on? Why wasn't she dead? Or at least chained up? Where was she?

Questions started piling up in her mind and suppressed the fear that she had felt dredged up by that dream yet again. Her primal mind subsided and allowed her to start thinking back to how she arrived. She was tired, more so than she ever thought she could be, had arrived at a village and then.....she couldn't remember passing that. It didn't look like she was in any danger and from the sound of it, it was like there was a festival going on. She could hear the crackling of fire accompanying the sound of pleasant muttering of a crowd that was rather lax from their low volume and the occasional laugh.

An eyebrow raised itself as she scanned around the area one more time, trying to find anything to excuse the hairs standing on ends covering her skin. It took her a minute to wrap her head around what was happening and suppress the part of her that insisted there was an immediate danger somewhere nearby. She slowly crawled off the bed she had been standing on, cringing in fear as she heard it's wooden frame creak and then spending a minute longer calming the part of her that feared someone would be alerted to her. Lozen wasn't sure there wasn't a threat, but she knew the bread of panic trying to bury its fangs into her was motivated only by her dream. It wasn't real and so she needed to be focusing on what was.

She clipped her belt back into place and swung the one rifle she still had left over her shoulder before creeping towards the tents entrance. The melo bustle outside grew louder as she approached and her ears cringed as they remembered the pain brought about by the dream, but it was unwarranted. If anything, hearing so many cheerful voices rising up and mixing into a mesh of gentle noises was relieving to hear after spending so long out in the middle of nowhere with nothing but psychopaths and killers. As if a long time friend was whispering to her "Come now. It is safe here."

Keeping her hands hovering over her weapons, she peered through the curtains and saw a forest of tents surrounding the one she was in. It was nighttime with only the gentle beams of amber light illuminating the tents, the source of which was coming somewhere from the right. The festive chatter also sounded like it was coming from the same spot, but instead of investigating further, Lozen stayed braced behind the curtain cracks for one strange reason. There was no one else around. No playing children running between the tents, no guards on patrol, and not even a random person who decided to find a place to piss. There was simply no one, but before long, she had a sinking feeling as to why.

That voice she had heard bleeding into her dream was exploding out from the same spot as the chatter and light. Worst of all, she knew who it belonged to and if he was the one expounding, it was no wonder no one else would be seated.

Lozen rolled her eyes and straightened out the strap of her rifle before she stepped out of the tent. She made sure the steps she took down the paths cutting through the tents were as quiet as she could, waiting for someone to come jumping out from anywhere. The voice grew louder and louder as she approached, but she tried everything she could block it out before she made her way towards the center. Tent after tent passed by before she found the pathway end at a suddenly clearing in what had to be the center of the village. Dozens of people were gathered there, each dressed in familiar, tribal garbs that put her slightly at ease. Some of them were sitting on the stumps of trees chatting to their close by, others were seated around tables they had bought from a colonial town, but most were standing or sitting in a semi-circle around the last man she wanted to see.

Judas. And by Jesus, he wasn't shutting up. "I emptied nearly fifteen rounds into the damn thing, but the safe still wouldn't open up!" He cried out, waving his arms and half dancing across his makeshift dirt stage for effect. Lozen felt the urge to shoot him as he flaunted himself like that, but everyone else seemed to be utterly entranced by his movements. "Without that combination, there was no way we were gonna get to the cash in the safe! The guards were closing in, the train wasn't slowing down, and little by little, we were running out of ammo! So, what did we do?! Well we couldn't stay there! So we leapt off the train just before the next tunnel! We just took the safe with us!!!"

A few people laughed at that and some of the children cheered while Lozen was left oddly enough wanting for there to be some danger. At least she'd get to see the deadman trampled by four dozen tribesmen. Great.

But no. They were instead partying. Or at least trying to have a good time. They were smiling, laughing, and chatting with each other. Strange, but not unexpected. They were approaching an area mainly home to tribal territories. If there was ever such a thing as a safe place for them, this was as close as it got. She understood the urge to relax just a little, but still found it all foolish. If someone found out about this, they might use it to attack. And that was if they were lucky.

Still, it didn't look like there was much of a threat around here. Just a whole bunch of loud idiots gawking at their king. Though they had a good reason for her to stay. Her nose twitched as she detected the familiar scent of cooked meat and boiled greens. She couldn't remember the last time she had eaten something and upon finding a tiny trace of food, she felt her stomach grumble like the start of an earthquake. A part of her wanted to duck back before someone heard that, but it was eclipsed by the simple urge to eat something.

She started looking around the area to try and find the source of that smell, but only noticed that various individuals seemed to be carrying around small bowls filled with what looked like soup or bits of meat. For a while she couldn't make out where they were all coming from, but as it turned out, she didn't have to.

"You looking for one of these?" A voice said to her left and pulled her attention towards a single spot near the edge of the gathering. There was a line of empty stump chairs outlining the perimeter and sitting in one of them was just about the last person she expected to see in an event like this. A colonizer and an ancient one at that. His clothes were colored very dusty shades of blue and he appeared to be wearing almost the same get up as her. Spur tipped boots covered his feet and a hat topped his head with a faded azure vest and fine formal shirt whose color was already starting to fade. His face didn't bode much better.

He wore his age on his sleeve. His sunbaked skin was a map of wrinkles and indents spreading across every inch of him, entombing him in a layer of valleys and hills that threatened to break apart like the cracked surface of a drought ridden desert. Each inch seemed to be hanging from his face like weights trying to drag him down into the earth and the rest of him looked tired of fighting their pull. His eyelids were barely open and the humble smile had shined was restrained, making each expression look like a challenge to him, but he was still trying. More than Lozen would have at least. There were a few wiry strands of hair descending down from his heat and a thin beard of deathly grey hair, but all of them looked like they were on their last leg. Soon they'd fall like the strands she could see floating down from his face even as his cheeks contorted into a mere grin.

The gun strapped to his hip did little to make him look anymore intimidating and the hand he had outstretched to Lozen tempered what little of her still demanded caution of him. A bowl of steaming hot broth with tiny pieces of meat floating inside them. "No need to be scared, Miss. The cooking ain't that bad." The man said with a tiny chuckle. Lozen took one more glance at that figure before marching on over to him and taking the bowl from his hand. The limb flew up as if he had been putting too much effort into holding the plate before he retracted it back down and patted on the stump next to him. "Chairs could use some work though, but it doesn't look like you'd mind." He said as Lozen poked around at the meat chunks inside and then plucked one out. "Oh, you might want to use a fork or something. It's still quite hot to the touch." The man tried saying before Lozen started ripping out meat chunk after meat chunk from the bowl.

It was hot, but the pain was barely noticeable compared to what she had felt. Especially when the taste was so overwhelmingly divine. She never thought she would miss something so much before. If she was lucky, she could find a piece of old bread to hold herself over. It had been years since she tasted fresh meat before and the sensation itself scourged up memories she didn't know she had forgotten.

"Yeah." The man said with a chuckle. "I guess it's been a while since you've had real food." Lozen shot him a cautious look even as she continued to scarf down the meaty broth. "Sorry. I don't mean to offend." He said the second after noticing her discomfort with him. "And what are you doing here?" She asked rather bluntly. The man didn't see me to take offense however and replied "I get it. Not that man people like me around these parts, are there?"

"No. So why are you here?"

"I'm just a traveler. Not much more to say."

"You're rather well armed for a traveler."

"Aren't we all? In these parts, we gotta stay on our toes. I think you'd agree."

"What does that mean?"

"From what I've heard, you've been passed out ever since you arrived. Some even though you were dead. No one pushed them to that point without having a good reason for it out here."

A good point, she thought and after another moment looking over him, took the seat right next to him. Her eyes fluttered over towards Judas for a moment and caused her cringe as he saw him continuing to dance around like a overly enthusiastic whore. "Enjoying the festivities?" The man asked as he noticed her discomfort.

"No. They're....decent."

"Sounds like a glowing endorsement to me. Though you'd be more supportive of your buddy over there."

"It's......complicated."

"Really? Because that looks about as simple as it could get."

He gestured over to Judas just as the deadman cried out "So we strapped some dynamite to the damn thing blew it half way to kingdom come!!"

"Simple isn't the word I'd use." Lozen said as she rolled her eyes again.

"Come now. There's no need to cover for you friend over there. I've seen his type before."

"Pardon?"

"Down on his luck, lacking self esteem, and drawn to the west by the promise of fame and fortune. They're a dime a dozen around here and always have some sort of crazy story they like to repeat every time they've got the spotlight."

"Congratulations. You have two pairs of eyes." Lozen remarked.

"Well, he seems to be fooling everyone else."

"Fooling is a strong word. Captivated is more like it."

"And that's not impressive?"

"Anyone with a rifle and a loud voice can captivate people. It's not especially difficult."

"Looks like you're only halfway there."

Lozen glanced over at the figure and saw that his eyes were scanning over the various weapons covering her. "You got a problem with that?" She asked to which he replied "No. More of a curiosity. I've seen a lot of people in my times and not many of them were as armed as you."

"And the ones who were?"

"Well, let's just say they weren't as harmless as I would have hoped."

Lozen raised an eyebrow before asking "You gonna shoot me?"

"Depends on if you are going to shoot me."

"Same here. You don't hurt me and I won't hurt you."

"Then would you mind answering me a tiny question. Just to put an old man's mind at ease."

Lozen took another look at the man, her suspicions of him growing the more he talked. He seemed to be asking a lot more questions than she thought he would, especially for a "mere traveler". She wasn't afraid of him yet, but she was starting to wonder if she should have been.

"You ask a lot of questions for someone passing by." Lozen commented to which the man replied "I'm a traveler. Not an idiot. You're clearly someone ready for an extreme amount of combat. I'd just like to know you're not here to stir up trouble while I'm staying."

"You got any important business you don't want interrupted?"

"Living, for a start."

"Then don't worry." Lozen commented before taking a moment to think up a lie. "I got into some trouble a while back and haven't found anyone willing to pay the right price for them."

The man simply stared at her for a moment as if he hadn't heard a word with his eyes glancing over her once again as if trying to find where he heard whispers coming from. He didn't seem to have a clue as to what was going on or was too tired to care. The weight in his eyes made him look as if he was struggling to stay awake let alone alive. If anything, he resembled more of an old foul weighed down by many regretful years and a life he was now trapped within. A cage he had built brick by brick, day by day.

"Tale as old as time, ain't it?" The man said after a momentary pause or lapse in consciousness. Either way, it was relieving to hear his tone fall calm again, though she wasn't entirely sure why. She had been afraid for a moment, but the reason for it eluded her. It was just some old man within a single six shooter at his side. Nothing about him should have been frightening. Everything he did was just a little too off. Like he was close to appearing like some harmless old codger, but missed the mark just enough to be noticeable.

Regardless, she still wasn't afraid. Not yet at least. "You know, there's a trading town a few miles north of here that might get you a good price for that thing." The man continued. "You been up that way a lot?" Lozen asked in return.

"Not as much as I would like. Made a few enemies that way."

"As a mere traveler does."

"As anyone who's lived as long as me does." He said that last part with a sigh.

"You look tired." Lozen jotted. "You in your own scuffle recently."

"No, no. Nothing of the sort. Just age I guess."

"I can see that. Kinda strange that someone as old as you is out here on their own."

"Well....my troubles didn't wait for me to get young again. You make enough of them and soon you'll spend the rest of your life running from them."

"Troubles you'll bring here?"

"Maybe, maybe not. They'll come soon. Just a matter of waiting by now."

"Then leave. These people don't need you to make their lives anymore difficult."

The man raised an eyebrow and said "Strange hearing you say that."

"Why might that be?"

He waved a hand over at her clothes before saying "I figure you were from one of those schools. The kind that Washington set up to civilize you lot. Don't see much sympathy from you people towards some random tribe."

Lozen kept her tongue in her mouth. Something was wrong. The man was asking too many of the right questions and she was starting to suspect that wasn't by accident. She let one of her hands fall to her side, hovering over her pistol but not touching it just yet. "Why do you care?" Lozen asked and the man answered "I have a lot of enemies, Miss, most of which aren't above sending lackies to do their dirty work."

"Why'd they do that."

"Cause I have a good reason for them to be afraid."

"That so? I'm not impressed."

"No. I suppose you wouldn't be."

"Because I'm not even older than you."

The man chuckled at that, but Lozen hadn't been joking. If someone was afraid of a decaying wreck like this, it could only have been because they had somehow lived even longer.

"Come now. I ain't senile yet. I can still...." His eyes drooped to the ground for a moment as his voice skidded to a halt. He stayed quiet for a moment, his expression being dragged down with his gaze as a familiar sadness filled his eyes. Lozen's train of thought froze as she laid eyes on it. For all the off putting semi-realism the man expressed, there appeared to be something oddly genuine about that one somber look he didn't realize he was giving. She still didn't trust whoever he was, but she didn't doubt what she saw on him and found a small amount of sympathy for nothing but that single emotion.

"I can still fight." He finally finished. "Been doing pretty well up to now."

Lozen held her tongue for a second longer before saying "I suppose we all have....Get's to be a bit much after a while. Doesn't it?"

The man smiled and then said "I suppose it does. Turns out you never make it over the horizon. You just keep running and running and running and your troubles don't stop following you."

"Rather poetic, aren't you?"

"Just old. Gives you a lot of years to think."

"Too many?" Lozen asked, trying to place that tired, somber look she had seen on him. "It wouldn't surprise me. I like to think of it as I'm just too good at staying alive."

"Doesn't sound like you do."

"Well, I guess I'm not as much of a showman as that one up there." He gestured to Judas as he spoke.

"Would you want to be?" Lozen asked.

"Would you?" The man retorted, causing her to fall silent for a moment longer.

"I.....I haven't done much of the sort. I'm not a clown looking to captivate and inspire. I just stay alive long enough to make sure people can enjoy them."

"Ah. You're a survivor."

"Indeed. But when every hero's a martyr.....I guess someone has to."

"You got people you're looking out for?"

Lozen paused before saying "Something like that."

"Good, good. Better then just saying alive for yourself."

"Yeah....." She couldn't bring herself to back that up. Something felt wrong about the words that would come, enough to cause her to pause. No. That wasn't it. She wanted them to sound wrong and have some part of her tell her to take them back, but they didn't. "Sometimes it feels like we should be doing more though. As if another day isn't enough." She found herself saying to which the man replied "Well, can't say I agree."

Lozen didn't say a word.

"Trust me. You don't want to wake up one day and realize the only noteworthy thing you ever did was live. But don't be like that guy." He said gesturing to Judas as he continued his little song and dance. "Trying to be the legend everyone fears or looks up to, the big shoot who stands above the rest, it's not all it's cracked up to be. You can bask in fortune, fame, yadda-yadda-yadda, but if you stay there long enough, it'll be the only thing you have. Then, for better or worse, you'll be living a life on a stage, staying true to a mere caricature of yourself. You ain't a man anymore. You're just a name. You won't have a life. You'll have an act. And if you stop playing it for even a second......you'll have nothing."

Lozen just stared at the man as his words dissolved into a mumble only to then fade away entirely. It had been a while since she heard someone speak so introspectively or with such thought and hearing it all was leagues more jarring then it should have been. There she had been chasing down psychopaths, snobs, jesters, and just plain idiots and now she found company in the one man who had more to say then any of them.

"Sounds like you have quite a few stories to tell then." She said, taking her eyes off the man's pistol for a split second as she did.

"No. You don't want to listen to some old fool ramble on."

"I thought I just did."

The man paused, laughed, and took another sip of his soup before saying "Guess so. Sorry about that."

"Don't be. It's honestly refreshing in a way. When you travel around with someone like him-" She gestured to Judas. "You don't have a lot of intelligent conversations."

"Thought so. Fool's been howling on for about an hour now. There wasn't even supposed to be festivities today. He just kept screaming at some guards until a crowd gathered."

"Sounds about right."

"Has he done that before?"

"It wouldn't surprise me."

"Seems strange that you would be traveling with him then."

"Stranger than an old fool wandering around with only six bullets?"

The man chuckled again before saying "Fair enough. Can I at least have a name?"

Lozen thought about it for a moment before saying "Lozen."

"No last name?"

"Take it or leave it."

"Fine. Pleasure to meet you, Lozen." He said as he extended a hand out to her. Lozen shook it as she said "And you?"

"I'd prefer not to, if it's alright with you."

"If I was somebody who wanted you dead, I wouldn't need a name to know who you were."

The man grinned at that, but before he could open his mouth to reply, a hand suddenly reached over from his left and rested itself on his shoulder. Lozen jumped for a minute, not realizing there had been someone approaching and calmed herself down before she could grip her weapon. However, when she looked at the figure that had approached them, what solace she thought she could find in the man evaporated into nothing.

The figure standing over the senile fool was wearing pratically the same get up as him side from the pure white dress shirt that was somehow unscathed by dirt and the black leather vest covering his chest. There wasn't a hat to cover his head, a fact that most people would have hated considering was carted across his skin.

Scars. Dozens upon dozens ranging from tiny scratches so small there were barely noticeable to massive hills of scar tissue eating up his expression. A massive moon shaped slash mark started right at his left eye, blinding that organ and sending itself circumnavigating his head just to stop short of his one good eye. There wasn't an inch of hair in his head and in place of it, a scalp dotted in sealed wounds rested. Some looked like they were inflicted by an animal with crisscrossing grins carved into his scalp and others appeared to be massive gashes that signified the start of a scalping. So many sounds, it felt more like untouched skin was the rarest and whatever part of him that wasn't hidden by scars left to little humanity regardless. His one good eye rested in it's socket like a corpse in its coffin and his mouth would have vanished into his face if not for the tiny breaths he sucked in. The mouth however, was contorted in one distinct way that made her hands slide closer to her weapon.

Two thin slash marks rising from the corners of his mouth and pulling up into a phantom smile.

His dead eye rolled over to meet Lozen's, sending a chill racing down her spine as she felt something hollow and sharp reach out from that simple glance. "Who is this?" It asked, the cold in its voice failing to humanize the figure and causing a small shudder to rush down Lozen's spine. "Just a friend, Florentine."

The man turned back to Lozen and said "I'm sorry, Miss, but I'm gonna need a quick word with my friend here. If the cook comes by, give him my thanks." Lozen barely heard a word and was paralyzed by the glance Lorentine gave her. She was sure she hadn't given him a reason to be suspicious, but he was still staring at her with that empty look in his eye.

Nowhere before had she meant this type before, someone who seemed to be so covered in the shadows of slaughter, there was no room for basic humanity. She couldn't read him and the idea that he could be thinking anything terrified him. Was he suspicious, blood thirty, or did she still have time to make him think otherwise? She should be working on that right now? She should be trying to appease him? Was that even possible? Look at him. There was nothing but scars.

For the moment, she just tried her best to look as calm as possible while the man stood up and extended his still full bowl out towards Lozen. "Our troubles always find us. I hope you understand." He said with a pleasantly subtle smile on his face. Lozen snapped herself out of her concern as he said that and took the bowl he offered as she said "Right. It's just a matter of time." He gave her a small nod and started walking away along with Lorentine just as Lozen found herself saying "Wait!" She cursed herself for her sudden change in volume and as the two turned back to face her, she said in a calmer voice "I didn't get your name, stranger."

Lorentine titled his head as she asked that, his lifeless features not budging an inch. The man on the other hand tossed her another smile and tipped his hat as he spoke.

"Isacriot, Miss. Gregor Isacriot. A pleasure to meet you."