Shared Bullets

--Gatix--

The first jump was less than interesting. We emerged in a grassland, the name of which summarized the area: grass and land. A few trees dotted the distant horizon, but there was nothing else. We stayed there for five minutes, during which Ms. Queen caught her breath, and I quizzed Nev about our location. Ms. Queen named the area Borklepti, but since neither Nev nor I could read this world's runes, we made no progress in our debate. Ms. Queen also took the time to let her scales re-emerge. A bit disappointing, but I understood the reason, so I didn't protest.

The next spin of the purple circles brought us to some cliffs, which pleased me. I've always loved some mountains, and the view here didn't disappoint either.

“We might need to stay a wee bit longer.” Ms. Queen parked herself atop a rock, blowing a deep breath and looking none too spry.

“Magic a bit lower than you thought?”

“That, and not used to having passengers.” She flashed me a smile. “Don't worry. I should be ready in about thirty minutes.”

“Hmm...” I turned my attention to one of the valleys.

“Is something the matter?”

“You might need to be quicker if you're not in the mood for company.”

“What do you mean?”

My audio sensors picked it up first. Ten - I would call them horses if the Earthen ones had six legs and were dark-green in color - had entered the valley. Each featured a rider in a metallic suit, except the leader. His armor was significantly more decorated, contrasting sharply with the broken helmet I'd seen before.

“Looks like our friend is back.”

“Dammit.” Ms. Queen stood up and stepped beside me, shielding her eyes as she looked in the direction I pointed. “Yes, that's him.”

“Will he be able to find you up here?”

“I'm not sure.” She turned around to look at the surroundings. “The rocks might help, and there is some distance between us, but he's not unskilled in magic. He might detect our presence.”

“Then we best get rid of the problem.” I unclipped Scythe. “Hey Nev, think quarter power is enough?”

“Yes, setting weapon power.”

“Much appreciated.” I pressed the Scythe's stock against my shoulder as I entered my firing stance. “Should just be a second.”

“Oh, I can already imagine the lashing.” Ms Queen chuckled.

“What do you mean?”

“Resurrection isn't easy, you know. The spell itself isn't that difficult, but it requires so much magic, hardly anyone other than deities can perform it. And if I'm not mistaken, you've killed the Knight twice with the same weapon, correct?” She chuckled again “I can't imagine his goddess being too happy about it happening a third time.”

“I see.” I turned my attention back to the scope. I could see the Knight's head bobbing up and down as he made his way through the pass. Squeezing the trigger would be so easy...

And yet...

“You know?” I lowered the weapon, taking its weight in my left hand before holding it to the side. “Here.”

“Sorry?”

“You do it.”

“I...” Her gaze altered between myself and the weapon. “I don't know how it works.”

“Here's a full tutorial. You point the barrel at something you don't like, and you squeeze that thing.” I pointed at the trigger. “Problem solved.”

She only raised an eyebrow at that.

“C'mon, it will be fun.”

“If you say so...”

“Trust me.” I would have winked if it would have helped.

Her hesitation was apparent as she reached out, but it didn't take long to see Scythe was too heavy for her. She could barely raise the weapon to eye level before her arms started shaking.

Fortunately, there was more than one way to aim a gun.

“Here.” Bending onto a knee, I stacked some rocks into two pyramids with a little gap in between. “Put the barrel between these. Lie down behind it, right on your stomach.”

“I hope you're not making fun of me.”

“It's a legitimate technique, used all the time.” I saw the tension going out of her body when she put Scythe's barrel down. “Easier?”

“A bit.” She crawled in behind the weapon, pressing Scythe against her shoulder and put her eye behind the scope. I wondered whether it was intuition or she was copying me.

Still, her posture was correct, except for one detail. “Don't press your eye against the scope. You're gonna be known as One-Eyed Azala otherwise.”

“I'd rather avoid that.”

“Hey Nev, lower the weapon strength a bit?”

“I lowered the weapon strength to ten percent. It should still be sufficient for dispatching the Knight.”

Azala raised her head to stare at me with a sour expression. “I feel like you're insulting me.”

“Far from it, we're making sure you're not hurting that pretty body of yours.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you remember that dragon skeleton? That was full power. Now imagine all that power slamming into your shoulder.”

`Ah.” She returned her attention to the scope. “What's next?”

“Remember the tutorial from earlier?”

“Aim and squeeze the triangle?”

“Yup. Do you see the Knight's head behind the red circle?”

“Yes?”

“No, you don't.”

“How do you know?”

“My armor is connected to the scope: I can see what it does. Right now, you're looking at the poor sod three people behind him.” Which, to my surprise, was somebody I recognized. “Aim a little bit to the right... there ya go.”

“Wow, he appears so close when looking through this.”

“It helps a lot when aiming at people far away. Hey, you've lost your target.”

“Sorry, concentration slipped there.” The Knight's head appeared in my field of vision again. “Squeeze the trigger next?”

“Whenever you're rea-”

BANG.

For just the briefest of seconds, I pitied the poor Knight. There he was, minding his own business while riding his mutant horse. Maybe he was on a mission for the king or a local duke, or he'd scouted some nearby void-born he wanted to harass. He gets this feeling, maybe a tiny twitch inside his chest. One he's had many times before and always creates a ping of anger or irritation. He looks around, as inconspicuous as possible, thinking just maybe, he's not alone in this canyon.

And then his head explodes.

Poor fella.

But then I remember how he attacked Ms. Queen, torturing her as he tried to bring about her damnation, and the feelings of pity vanish.

Have fun chatting with your goddess.

“Wow...” Ms. Queen had raised her head behind the scope, both eyes still present. Her grin was unmistakable; I had one of my own many years ago. Everybody who has ever fired a big gun has had that same feeling.

“Quite a rush, isn't it.”

“Can... can I do it again?”

“Have fun. Just one request, you see the guy with the blue band around his arm? Third from the front?”

“Yeah?”

“I like him. He finds the Knight just as irritating as us.”

“I won't shoot him.” She assumed the position again, aiming at one of the guard's frozen in terror this time.

BANG.

BANG.

BANG.

BANG.

More of the footmen fell off their mutant horses. The others had realized by now that going through the canyon might not be in their best interests and were rushing away at full speed.

BANG.

BANG.

BANG.

“Uhh... Ms. Queen?”

“Yeah?”

BANG.

BANG.

“They're out of range.”

“Oh, I know.”

BANG.

BANG.

“I'm just enjoying the feeling.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I gently put a hand on her shoulder. “C'mon, Ms. Crazy, you've had your fill. Besides, Scythe's not far from overheating.”

“Fine.” She allowed me to take the weapon before rolling onto her back.

“I'm guessing you like it.”

Her grin was even bigger than before. “I want one of those!”

That got an audible laugh from me. “Do you now?”

“Think you can get me one?”

“I'll ask my weapons master when I see him again.” That's going to be an interesting discussion. “But what about your fire powers?”

“I'm not giving those up.” She held a hand toward me, the intention behind it quite clear. It didn't take a lot of effort to pull her up. “But I wouldn't mind switching it up.”

“Oh, I'm sure. You're hooked on the rush, aren't you?”

“It's your fault for showing it to me .”

“Oh ho? Is that a threat to stop showing you good things?”

“It's an invitation to keep going. Now come, Alakafor awaits us.”