Hilo walked the horse through the trees, staying on the path, and thinking about his money. Bounty hunters, it seemed, almost always got shafted for the rewards. But not this time. This time he’d tell Sheriff Ashburn that he hadn’t had any help in apprehending the thief. Ashburn had plenty of money to give out, but if he could manage to keep any part of the thousand crown reward, it would be his. Hilo wasn’t going to put up with that this time.

The wind picked up and Hilo slowed the horse to a crawl as leaves blew back and forth across the path, looking for a good place to land. He sniffed the air and he could smell the rain. He frowned and looked at the sky above and behind him. Still sunny. He hated the weather when it got like this. It didn’t make any sense. Hot and sunny behind him, rain coming from the front. He could actually see the rain now, falling hard, just ten yards ahead of him. And coming this way.

Again he was glad that he’d worn the leather armor. It was lighter, and brown, making it easier to hide in the trees with. Especially with the green cloak. Ashburn had warned him to wear his chain vest, but in the rain it would have rusted, and it was too heavy.

The rain hit him hard, and pelted him mercilessly until he sped the horse up to a trot. In a few minutes he felt that they would be back in the clear skies, just a patch of rain passing by on it’s way to somewhere north, but he never got back into the clear. The horse snorted and reared just a little, stopping cold on the muddy path. Hilo looked around to see what had spooked it and felt his stomach knot up as the man stepped from behind a tree and into the middle of the trail.

He cursed himself for not paying attention. Thinking about the rain and his armor, and he’d missed the man completely. It made him feel unprofessional, and tore at his confidence. He tried not to look too startled, but he was afraid he wasn’t going to be able to. The man had a sword in his hand, point down in the mud, and was wearing something that looked like a black fur vest. With his long dark hair and black beard it almost looked like a bear had walked out of the woods holding a sword, and was now staring at Hilo and his horse.

“Enjoying the rain?” The man asked, his voice deep and gruff, and Hilo thought again that he might be a bear.

“Better than the heat.” He was confident in his answer, and he kept his eyes traveling about the woods above and behind the bear-man, and off to the sides. Trying to look nonchalant, as though he weren’t worried, but his stomach was still knotted.

“Aye, that’s true my friend.” The bear still standing there, his look unreadable. Hilo hadn’t put his hand on his own sword hilt yet, or reached back for the bow slung across the horses flank, but he was thinking about it.

“What’s your name?” The bear-man asked, his eyes narrowing, making him look like he was suspicious of Hilo’s answer even before it came.

“Are you looking for someone in particular?” Hilo dropped his hand to his sword hilt calmly. Quite calmly he thought. The man’s eyes tracked Hilo’s hand and then slowly climbed back up to meet his gaze. He snorted and spit a large bit of spittle back towards the tree he’d appeared from.

“Bounty hunter or thief?” The man asked.

Hilo started to say ‘Bounty hunter’ but then stopped himself before he made a sound. He was afraid the man had seen his eyes widen, though, and eventually he asked, “What makes you think I’m either?”

“Well you’re no mage.” As though that settled the question. He spit again and shifted the sword to his other hand, though he still hadn’t raised it.

“I don’t follow.” Hilo said honestly.

“Have you ever ridden this trail before?”

“No.”

“It leads to a tower, where a mage currently makes residence. He has in his employ a thief, who has stolen from the villages south of here. You’re not the mage. You don’t appear to be the thief. Which means you’re either lost, or you’re hunting for the thief, like I am. If you were lost you’d have died before getting this far.”

Hilo wasn’t sure what the man meant by that last comment. He’d encountered nothing resembling trouble on the path so far. He stared at the man calmly for a moment and then decided to ask the question.

“So you’re a bounty hunter then? Paid by the villages to the south?”

“Aye.” The rain slacked off as he said the word, as though he was magically controlling the weather with his voice. It still drizzled but it made the conversation much easier.

“If you came from the south and passed the tower why don’t you have the thief with you?”

“He wasn’t there. I hoped to intercept him on this trail. I’ve been following his horse’s tracks all day. You’re the first person I’ve seen.”

“Then he must have slipped past you. I’ve been tracking him from the north. From Senna.”

“He’s stealing in Senna now?” The man asked. Hilo was tired of conversing in the rain and he spurred the horse on until it stood next to the man and he could look directly down into his eyes.

“What’s the bounty in the southern villages?” Hilo asked.

“Two hundred crowns.”

“It’s a thousand in Senna. Perhaps we should work together. Take him north and split the money.” Hilo didn’t really care whether he got five hundred or a thousand, as long as the sheriff didn’t get his usual cut.

The bear-man looked thoughtful and then shook his head. “No, I’ll continue north. If I find him first I’ll take him south. If you find him, you take him north. If we cross paths again I won’t do anything to hinder your work. I expect the same from you.”

“And you’ll have it.” Hilo answered. “Professional courtesy.”

“Where I come from they just call it good manners.” And with that he walked north up the trail a few feet and vanished back into the trees.

Well, at least I’m headed in the right direction, Hilo thought.