013-Bounty Hunter

"Hi there, if I may, have you seen any mummy lately here in the city?"

"No, I'm sorry."

And this was one of the good answers Nonoth had been getting in these past two days that she had been spending here in the City of the Desert, asking around for Mal. People were generally friendly here, some of them even greeted Nonoth first, but once they heard her question about a mummy, they all shut up and left. There was even a woman opening her door to Nonoth only to shut and locked it after that question.

Nonoth didn't know exactly what was going on, but it definitely had something to do with the word "mummy".

「Why are the people so reluctant to even mention the word mummy? Something horrible must have happened here that scared them so. But how could I ever get any information about Mal here then?」 Thinking to herself, Nonoth dragged her heavy steps along the main street of the city.

「Maybe I should try the Death Merchant!」Nonoth suddenly came up with a "brilliant idea" and was so proud of herself. 「Being a city outside of ruling, he should not be a taboo here too!」

Nonoth looked around for anyone who might seem to be willing to provide information that people normally wouldn't want to.

"Hi there, I have a silver coin for you if you can answer me some questions." A little boy looking out at the corner of the street with a scared and cautious look on his face was spotted by Nonoth, and she stopped him with that question.

The boy tried to hide the fact that he cannot move his eyes away from the silver coin Nonoth held up. Finally he gave in and nodded, still cautiously, few steps away from her.

"Do you know the Death Merchant?" Nonoth didn't waste any time. And neither did the boy because he turned to try to run the second he heard "the Death Merchant".

"Wait! Wait, wait. I'll offer you a golden coin instead. All I need to know is whether he had been here recently. I'm looking for my friend Mal, I believe he was taken by the Death Merchant."

Poor Nonoth, why couldn't you see that this was exactly the same way you got entangled with Jack? Alas, we should not be too hard on Nonoth because it's not that she trusts too easily or falls for the same trick, it's because there are just too many poor kid JUST like Jack, they are scared by the world, they are cautious and they look out for themselves because there's no one else doing that for them. They learned to appear pitiful and trustworthy at the times needed, and they have no trouble betraying people, because they have been betrayed too many times themselves.

The boy stopped a few steps away, staring at the golden coin, struggling.

"It's okay. I won't hurt you. No one needs to know." Nonoth held the coin out for him, and try as much as she can to smooth him with a soft voice.

"Follow me." The boy finally said and turned to run again.

Nonoth quickly jumped up and followed him. The boy knew the maze-like alleyways off the main road, and Nonoth lost direction only around the third or fourth turn they took.

Eventually they arrived at a remote and conceal cabin hidden among the shabby houses of the area, and the boy finally felt safe enough to talk.

"Nobody would tell you anything about the Death Merchant, or anything about no mummy." The boy started.

"What happened?" Nonoth sat by him and asked.

"You know the city is out of any law system and under no one's ruling, right?" The boy said, "but we have our laws too." Nonoth nodded to encourage him to go on.

"Any species matters. That's our only law. Peace must be maintained within the city. No species should be above any other."

"That's a great law. But how could you maintain it without...lawmen?" That should be the word for people who handles law, right? Nonoth did her best.

"Bounty Hunter. We don't have lawmen, army or anything like that, we have bounty hunters, well, had."

The "had" gave Nonoth a bad feeling. "What...what happened?" Nonoth asked, but feeling like she already knew the answer.

"They were killed, by the Death Merchant."

"All of them?!" Nonoth shouted.

"No, not all of them. Only some, but that was enough, because those that died were give horrible and miserable death, it was an intended message."

"What message?"

"Legend was, mummies can turn into sands, and if you peel the bandages off a mummy, their exposed body parts would turn into sands and fly to the direction of their buried ground, usually filled with treasure. And the Deatch Merchant was buying mummies here."

"So he broke your law."

"Yes and no. Technically the transactions weren't happening here IN the city, but he spread out the word, and there would be people who couldn't resist the high price anywhere, even here."

"I thought bounty hunters themselves are killers to be bought?" Nonoth asked hesitatingly, not sure whether that would be an offense.

"Technically yes, but they have their own principles, especially our bounty hunters. They are respected here, because they also bear the responsibility of protecting the city, hence our way of living."

"So what happened?"

"The Death Merchant are buying a lot of mummies. Usually one or two every month, but sometimes we won't hear about him for months. They say that's when he went after the treasure. Though he had been kept it outside of the city, but it was hurting our belief badly, and no one feels safe when lives can be priced and bought. The bounty hunters gathered together, looking for a solution. The last time the meeting was held, it was 50 years ago."

"Wow, that's a long time for peace." Nonoth was actually surprised.

"It's not like we don't have disputes. We have our ways of sorting things out."

"You mean whoever has the bigger stick wins." Nonoth frowned at it. She had been seeing some of the "sorting out" in the past days.

"Not just that!" The boy looked offended: "We are reasonable people! That's just how it has to be sometimes."

"I guess for a city built by outlaws, this IS already impressive." Nonoth didn't want to get into politics with him.

The boy didn't make out the sarcasm in Nonoth's tone so he kept on: "Anyways, they decided to protect the mummies from the Death Merchant in the meeting, and they saved nearly ten of them, and that's when that thing happened."

Nonoth didn't interrupt his reminiscing and just waited for the rest of his story.

"One day a man came to us with a secret deal. It was to be made between him and another citizen of the city about a mummy. The deal was gonna happen near the enter of The Desert, so 14 bounty hunters went and lied in ambush, only to be ambushed by them instead, because the man came with the information was one of them!"

"And all 14 of them..." Nonoth murmured, but was cut off by a loud, angry voice:

"No! Not all 14 of them!"

The boy who led Nonoth there let out a slight sigh but he didn't rise any refutation.

"Holy the unspeakable!" Nonoth let out a gasp when she saw who was in front of her. There stood the one person she really didn't want to see...

"Who the hell ARE you?!"