“Almost there,” said Arc, calling back to Jack and Julie who were dragging their feet along the asphalt road leading towards Pembroke. The twins were exhausted and failing to hide it, while Arc was exhausted and hiding it behind a big smile. Had the twins not witnessed his occasional grimace, they would have believed he was unphased by the gruelling journey.

  The trio had been walking for two days solid and all had been quiet since the emerald golem turned on them and Jack blasted it to pieces. They were all grateful for the peace, but the constant danger had broken the monotony of cautiously moving along the many roads of Nuvaria.

  “Beautiful, little hole in the desert, isn’t it?” asked Arc, rounding a bend atop the hill. Jack and Julie looked at each other, hoping he wasn’t playing a joke on them, and ran to catch up with him.

  The town of Pembroke stretched out before the three of them, looking an equal mixture of dishevelled and inviting; truly an uncanny oasis. The buildings were mostly repurposed brick houses and shops from the world before the fall, but a couple of wooden towers had been erected near the main roads in and out of the town to serve as guard outposts.

  Arc knew rightly that these were largely decorative as the constant desire from the local bandit groups to claim Pembroke as their own kept things surprisingly peaceful. The biggest trouble the town tended to see was bandits from rival gangs killing each other only for it to be swept under the rug because the leaders didn’t want all-out war. No, Pembroke being disputed territory that brought an uneasy truce worked well for them because the money continued to flow their way when all was said and done.

  The streets of the town were quiet around the edges, save for the occasional quiet straggler making his way deeper in. Antisocial as they may have been, other humans were a welcome sight, especially to Jack and Julie. All this time on the road was starting to make them feel like the world had been wiped out all over again with Arc and Minator being the only living people they had seen in a week, and Arc was the only one of those two still alive.

  The spellslinging bounty hunter was used to being alone for days at a time, but travelling across the wasteland was something the two younger ones only did when Jack got them kicked out of a settlement. This journey, however, had been the longest one the twins had ever had across the Nuvaria.

  “Go now and be free, young vagabonds,” said Arc, stopping and holding his hand out while making fluttering motions with his fingers. “You’re no longer in danger.”

  “And just like that, we’re kicked to the kerb?” asked Jack with a sideways smirk.

  “Yes, now beat it,” said Arc before chuckling. “If you feel like tagging along while I cash in my bounties and sell these shotgun shells weighing me down, be my guest.”

  “You aren’t going to a visit a medic?” asked Julie, cocking her head to the side.

  “Nah, I’ve over the worst of my injuries,” said Arc, massaging the faded bruises on his face. “No point paying for something I don’t need anymore.”

  “Hard times, eh?” said Jack.

  “I consider myself an economical fellow. Pinching the pennies is what keeps my fed well enough to have the strength to do my job.”

  “How much would that spellcaster gun of yours be worth?”

  “More than I would get for selling the pair of you,” said Arc as he started walking again. “Not that I would do such a thing. I’d sell everything I own all the way down to my boots, but my spellcaster and my scarf will still be by in my hand and around my neck.”

  “Why do you never the scarf off?” asked Julie.

  “I like it,” shrugged Arc, but the twins knew there was more to it than that.

  “Where’d you get it?” asked Jack.

  “Got it from a friend.”

  “And that’s all there is to it?”

  “It’s a scarf, Jackie Boy. Let it go. Are you pair coming or not?”

  “No better way to get the lay of the land than to follow a wise sage like yourself,” said Jack, following Arc.

  Julie beamed brightly as she walked along after her travelling companions, excited for that prospects a new town could bring for her and her brother. Perhaps they could get jobs somewhere, even if it was cleaning up somebody else’s filth. Anything to earn some silver and afford a living without having to cross the wasteland sounded like a good deal, especially after the trying week she’d suffered through.

  “You’ve been here before, right?” asked Jack.

  “Yep,” said Arc, tapping his pack. “Pembroke is my home away from home. It’s how I found out about Colt the Scourge and the idol of Purdue.”

  “What are you going to say to that Millar man?”

  “Nothing. I haven’t completed the bounty, so I won’t seek him out until it’s done.”

  “Hang on, hang on,” said Jack, running in front of Arc and forcing him to a halt. “Even after what happened, you’re going after Colt again?”

  “Didn’t I mention that?”

  “No.”

  “I seem to recall—”

  “If you mentioned it, then you weren’t very clear,” shouted Jack. “You almost got yourself killed last time and my sister and I won’t be there to drag you away if it happens again. Maybe you would have woken up anyway, but maybe not before one of the trucks blew you to smithereens or Colt returned with backup. Maybe he would have thought it funny to tie your body to the back of his bumper, dragging you until you were a battered pulp of a man who wouldn’t be able to string a sentence together.”

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  “The man is evil and he has to go,” said Arc sternly. “Knowing that he’s a spellslinger only makes him that much more dangerous in my mind, my friend. He. Has. To. Go.”

  “I agree,” said Julie, attracting the stunned gaze of her brother. “I think it’s the right thing to do. And it’s better that Arc gets the money and uses it to kill a few more bad guys rather than some thug who will use it to wage more bandit wars.”

  Arc smiled at her. “See? You get it, Julie.”

  “I get it too,” said Jack, holding up his hands. “I know you well enough now to know that your intentions are pure and you’re a skilled man, I just think it’s too risky when you failed once already.”

  “I took out a bunch of his men, four of his vehicles and learned some valuable information. Now, I wouldn’t call it a success, but it was far from a failure, Jack. Sometimes you just have to take the hard-learned lessons and come back wiser.”

  “And better armed,” said Julie.

  “Again, Julie, you get it,” said Arc proudly before tapping his pack. “Now let’s go turn in this head and get ourselves something to eat, alright? My treat.”

  “But what about causing a power vacuum?” protested Jack. “Wouldn’t that throw the entire town into disarray if one of the major bandit gangs suddenly vanishes?”

  “Less taxes for the citizens,” shrugged Arc. “Evil is evil, Jack, and I’m not going to step aside while it ebbs away at lovely little Pembroke.”

  “But—”

  “Jack,” said Julie, shaking her head. “Please just let it go. You aren’t going to win this argument.”

  “I appreciate the sentiment, nonetheless,” said Arc, tussling Jack’s hair.

  Jack wasn’t pleased at being dismissed, nor having his hair tussled, but he knew that Arc wouldn’t listen to him, so he stayed silent and followed along once more. If he was going risk his life, that was his problem. Jack would focus on his sister and himself.

  “Feels good,” said Arc, jingling the pouch on his belt containing his newly acquired silver and a couple of small gold pieces.

  He had been paid a small bonus for passing the stone idol of Purdue over. The client, a gentleman named Dorian Duke, had been waiting for three years for someone to successfully find the cursed totem. He told the trio of the many failed attempts by other bounty hunters and mercenaries, only half of whom had made it back to Pembroke and had refused to ever set foot in the ghost town again.

  “The money may feel nice, but I’m hungry,” said Jack as his stomach growled.

  “Well, this money is going to get you your breakfast,” said Arc. “I was a little light on funds before this, as you know doubt know from your rummaging through my stuff while I was unconscious.”

  “Do we need to keep dragging up the past?” asked Jack nonchalantly.

  “Exactly, dear brother,” said Julie with a grin. “Let’s put all that behind us.”

  “It already is,” chuckled Arc, “but it still happened.”

  “Where to, navigator?”

  “Right this way, Julie,” said Arc, walking ahead and beckoning the twins along.

  The three walked along the street and passed a series of glass windows. Upon peering inside, Jack and Julie could see people chatting away as they ate and drank. It seemed like a pleasant place and the sight of food made their hunger that much more intense. Arc led them to the corner and through the door, above which sat a sign that read Tina’s Diner.

  The smell of fried food immediately hit the trio’s nostrils the second they stepped inside, making them all salivate. It had been far too long since they had a proper meal, having had to settle for rations on the road as well as a coyote that Arc had shot, gutted, and cooked for them the previous evening. The tables in the diner were scuffed and there wasn’t a single leather seat without a tear, but the beautiful scent of the food took away all care they may have had for the condition of the upholstery.

  A middle-aged woman with curly brown hair and a large mole on her left cheek gave Arc a nod as though she recognised him. “What’ll it be, blondie?” she asked.

  “Afternoon, Tina,” said Arc pleasantly. “We haven’t eaten a thing all day, so it’ll be the full breakfast works for each of us, a tea for me, and two milks for these little knuckleheads.”

  “Milks?” asked Jack, but Julie looked happy enough with the order.

  Arc put his arms around their shoulders stuck his head between theirs. “You two are too young for caffeine.”

  “Coming right up,” said Tina before walking over to the window where the bald chef could be seen working away at a grill with his spatula.

  The three walked past the weird assortment of customers, many of whom were visibly armed with guns, swords, knives, and clubs. There was even a scarred gentleman wearing a cowboy hat with a spear slung over his back that looked like it had been sharpened that very morning.

  “They have cows in town?” asked Jack, sliding into the nearest free booth.

  “Nope,” said Arc, taking the seat opposite Jack while Julie slipped in beside her brother. “Too much of a liability to have half of Pembroke defending the food supply if there’s a monster attack. There are a handful of ranches a couple of miles from town and they supply both Pembroke and the nearest bandits with produce. The bandits help guard the livestock in exchange for food and let the ranchers sell their excess. It’s a fairly decent arrangement, even if private security would be preferable, to having bandits skulking around your land. They’d be cheaper too. All the more reason to dispose of Colt, eh?”

  “Huh,” said Jack.

  “What?”

  “I didn’t think that bandits could actually be useful for something.”

  “They’re good monster fodder too,” chuckled Arc. “But make no mistake, they’re guarding the food out of self-interest, not because they want to ensure the ranchers can supply the town.”

  A waitress walked over and set down two glasses of milk and a cup of tea for Arc. The twins immediately glugged down their drinks while Arc took a sip of his tea. His eyes widened briefly and he tried to hide the fact that he had burned his tongue.

  “Did you burn your tongue?” asked Jack, slamming his empty glass down on the table.

  “No,” replied the bounty hunter calmly before setting the scalding tea back down. “I’m just shocked it’s that nice. I’d love a coffee, but it’s five times the price.” He could see Jack opening his mouth to comment on his deflection so he decided to deflect some more. “So, how do you two like your new home?”

  “It’s…” said Julie, cocking her head to the side. “It’s a town, I suppose.”

  “How eloquent of you.”

  “I don’t know what else to say, Arc. We’ve lived in so many different places recently and I don’t want to get too comfortable.”

  “Then I hope this place can become your new permanent home. You pair are much too young to have to deal with all the hardship that comes with adulthood, but you’ve been thrust into it. I’ll make sure you’re pointed in the right direction and check in on you both from time to time. Things will be alright.”

  “Thank you,” said Jack quietly. “I know I can be a pain, but you got us here safely. Who knows how long we’d have been wandering around trying to find somewhere to stay.”

  “We’d probably have starved if we hadn’t met you,” added Julie.

  “Well, you won’t starve today,” said Arc, tipping his head towards the approaching waitress.

  She was carrying three plates loaded with pancakes, sausages, eggs, and bacon. Jack and Julie’s mouths fell open as though they had never seen that much food in their lives. They had already gotten used to the smell of the diner and hadn’t given it much thought in the last minute or two, but having the food in their faces made their mouths water all over again.

  “Tuck in,” said Arc, picking up a rasher of bacon and taking a crispy bite. “Our meals on the road have been a little light, so let’s indulge ourselves this morning, but don’t get used to this lavish lifestyle if you want to afford a bed.”

  “This looks better than the coyote,” said Julie.

  “That’s very hurtful,” said Arc with a mock frown. “I spent ages skinning and cooking that little critter.”

  The twins thanked him through mouthfuls of sweet, buttery pancakes while Arc chuckled.

  “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “We’ll grab a couple of rooms at the motel after this, relax for the evening, and I’ll take you to meet my buddy, Jamison, tomorrow. If you’re looking to defend yourself in Pembroke, he’s the man to talk to.”