A Hunter's Journey

Chapter 3: The Promise

The boy's face shone like a sunny morning.

From behind him, Katherine said, "Well, breakfast will be ready soon. Before we eat, go have a look at the thermos-regulators in the orchards."

The boy galloped off like the spirit of life itself. Katherine turned to the still prone Osiris and said, "Thank you. I know it's the iron law of hunters that they won't lift a finger for anything but dealing with their prey. I'd be in no position to complain no matter how you turned him down. You did it without hurting him...and he loves you like a big brother."

"But I do refuse."

"I know. Aside from your job itself, I won't ask any more of you. What you said to him just now will do fine. I'll handle my own problems. And the sooner you get your work finished the better."

"Fine."

Not surprisingly, Osiris's voice was emotionless and bitterly cold.

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As expected, "company" came as the three of them were just finishing a somewhat peculiar breakfast. What made it peculiar was that Osiris only ate half as much as young Anri. The menu consisted of ham and eggs on a colossal scale. Mutant chicken eggs a foot across on an inch thick slab of light, homemade ham, along with preservative free black bread hot out of the oven. Juice from massive Gargantua grapes cultivated right on their own farm. Of course, the juice was freshly squeezed and the three large glasses were filled from a single grape. And those were just the main dishes; there was a gigantic bowl of salad and fragrant floral tea. Only a farm like their could offer a rich menu like this, and the freshness of the ingredients alone should have been enough to make a good sized man take seconds or thirds on the ham and eggs. The refreshing morning sunlight and giant blossoms that decorated the table were in essence part of a sacred ritual to give all those gathered around it the strength to fight the cruel Frontier for another day.

And yet, Osiris quickly set down his fork and knife and withdrew to the room in the back Katherine had just given him.

"That's weird. I wonder if he ain't feeling too good?"

"Yes, I'm sure its something like that." Though she pretended nothing was wrong. Katherine pictured Osiris back in his room now taking his own kind of breakfast, and started to feel ill.

"Not you to sis! What's the matter? I know you like and all, but don't get sick just because he does."

Katherine was about to lay into Anri for his teasing remarks when tensions suddenly flooded her face.

Outside, a thunder of hoof beats drew closer. Lots of hoof beats.

"Damn it, here they come," Anri shouted, dashing over where a laser rifle hung on the wall. He started to call our for Osiris, but Katherine's quick hand silenced him. "But why not? It's gotta be Patches and his thugs," he said with disgust.

"Let's see if the two of us can't handle it first, If that doesn't work, maybe then..." But she was perfectly aware that no matter what was going to happen to the two of them, Osiris wouldn't do anything.

Armed with a whip and a rifle, the pair stepped out onto the porch. She let her eight year old brother join her because the law of the Frontier was that if you and your family didn't defend your own lives and property, no one else would. If you always relied on others, you wouldn't last long against the fire from dragons and golems. In no time, a dozen men on horseback formed up in front of them.

"Dear me, the local society is out in force. A no account little farm like this doesn't deserve such distinguished guests." As Katherine greated them in a calm tone, her eyes were cautiously trained on the men in the second and third ranks. In the foremost rank were the prominent villagers like Sheriff Luck Dalton, Dr. Sam Ferringo, and Mayor Rohman. Which is Patches father, whose face was unusually oily for a man nearing sixty. There was no reason to worry about any of those three suddenly trying anything funny, but behind them was a mob of brutal hooligans just itching to make a statement with the magnum guns and battered heat rays they wore on their hips should the opportunity arise. They were all hired hands from Mayor Rohman's ranch. Katherine glared as each of them in turn without a trace of fear until she came across a familiar face as the very tail of the mob, and her gaze became one of pure contempt. When it looked like trouble brewing, it was just like Patches to shut his big mouth, find the safest place possible, and try to look like he didn't have the faintest idea what was going one.