27 -Watch the Horizon

Yomi made her way toward me, a faint hobble to her gait. She was better, obviously, but it wasn’t like a person could casually walk off a knife in their soul. “I’m told I owe you for my survival,” the bounty hunter said. “Which is nice. I’m not used to anyone trying to save me. Usually they’re out to kill me. Or stiff me.”

I shrugged, keeping a good grip on the flower pots in my grasp. “Well, I try not to kill people if they’re not out for my head. And I figure the Old Stranger will judge my soul harshly if I con people in life.”

Ha. The spectre of the Old Stranger had enough to judge me on already.

“Let’s just… consider ourselves even, yes? You helped keep my farm safe, and I got that flower for you. Neither of us owes the other anything.”

“Ah. I’d heard foreigners were liars an’ craven to boot. So far? You’re doing far more than I would have expected.” She offered me a lopsided grin.

“Well. I could be regarded as craven in some regards.” I turned, starting on the path back toward my farm. To my slight annoyance, I could tell at once that Yomi was following me. She clicked her tongue and her cassowary broke away from the wall to trot alongside her. “I take it you want something?”

“Suppose I’d like a chance to see that farm of yours in daylight,” Yomi said, shrugging.

“And I take it telling you not to won’t work?”

“Likely not.”

I sighed, creasing my brow. “You’re lucky my hands are occupied,” I said.

We made our way though Tiode, venturing uphill. Gradually the village grew distant, and the outline of my farm became visible on the risen hill. “Can’t say I’ve ever seen too many westerners,” she admitted. “You’d mainly get a handful in the larger cities, and even those are mostly just merchants. Certainly, I ain’t seen many of them isolated villages like this one.”

“I’ve always strived to be unique,” I said bluntly, not looking back at her.

I could almost feel her smirk. “No doubt, no doubt.”

This novel’s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.