The gears grinded in their horses as they rode the dusty red hued land. The gears whirred and hummed, they broke up the eerie silence of the Red Mesa. The clouds slid across the sky, thick and dark, as if made of mercury. Kaplan watched Corris Lee guide his mechanical steed through the craggy rocks of Fenris Canyon as they made their way to the Shadetown of Lethe.

  “What's the story with you and Abby? She's highly protective of you.”

  Corris Lee said nothing.

  “Did I ask the wrong question?”

  Corris Lee said nothing.

  “I know she wears that choker of hers. I know there is history between you two. But the age difference makes an odd friendship.”

  Corris Lee said nothing. He rode his horse. Kaplan kept up her questioning.

  “If it's personal I get it, but she openly defies her father because of you and we are told to—”

  “I bit her in the neck.”

  Kaplan stopped talking abruptly.

  “I didn't think…”

  “Because you're too damn noisy.”

  “You mean nosey?”

  “I said what I said.”

  “May I ask why?”

  “You can.” Silence reigned between them as Kaplan waited for Corris Lee to reply. He didn't.

  “I thought you were going to tell me.”

  “Like I said. You're too damn noisy.”

  “You don't have to be rude. I was just making conversation.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “No, you were fishing for information. You got an answer. How much more do you want? That's rhetorical, by the way.”

  “I have to be honest. I never heard a black man who talks the way you do. I figured you as a brute.”

  “Am I supposed to take that as a compliment?”

  “Is there a reason you are this onnery?”

  “Is there a reason you are this damn nosey?”

  “You mean noisy?”

  “I said what I said.”

  “You are out here on this hellfire mission for the chance to marry her? You think the Judge will allow it?”

  “He will keep his word to me.”

  “The man has a track record of breaking his word to those he has been in business with. That's why he is part of the law now.”

  “Even more so, he is a man of his word. Business is business. The law is the law. The two do intersect.”

  “God you are—”

  “Do not take the Lord’s name in vain.”

  Corris Lee stopped his horse and turned it to face Kaplan. His face was a cold slab of concrete resolve. Kaplan knew this was not a subject to test. So she nodded in agreement.

  “Business and the law cross paths, because the to him they both can be exploited.”

  “I am aware, but not Judge Nagy. The law changed him. Made him a better man than he ever was before. I believe in that part of him.”

  “Funny. When we were at your home—”

  “I didn't say I liked him.”

  “But you do trust him.”

  “As do you.”

  “It’s complicated.” Kaplan turned her face from Corris Lee’s blistering stare.

  “How complicated can it be? It can't be all that complicated. What are you doing out here if not for trust?”

  Kaplan said nothing.

  “Finally, we reach an agreement. Let's keep our conversation this way.” Corris Lee sneered.

  Kaplan sucked her teeth in frustration and trotted her horse forward.

  A few hours later the red hue cast a deep shadow coming from a shimmer in the distance. When the wind blew the sound of groaning wail caught the two by surprise. The tell tell sign of the Shadetown, Lethe.

  “What can we expect when going in Lethe?” Kaplan asked.

  “Heavily armed, trigger happy men and women on the fringe of society. Flesh peddlers, Outfitters, Blacksmiths, Gunsmiths and black marketeers. The only law they know is a man by the name of Atwater. He doesn't come cheap for policing the Shadetown.”

  “Will Judge Nagy’s name carry weight here?”

  “Oh yeah his name carries weight. Heavyweight shooters will show you just how much.”

  “Why do you despise me so much?”

  “It's not you more so that who you represent.”

  “Not too long ago you worked for Nagy.”

  “We weren't employer and employee. We were equals. It just so happened that he chose the law and Ichose the peace.”

  “And Abby?”

  “What about Abby?”

  “How is it your bond with each other is so deep? Some say it is more than her love for her father.”

  “Nagy has a habit of making enemies from those closest to him.”

  “You two bonded over your hatred of Judge Nagy?”

  “You a gossip hound now?”

  “Eat buckshot Corris Lee.”

  “You might get your wish if my name and reputation is recognized in Lethe. We both may share that fate.”

  “Who is Billy Trigger?”

  “Just a name for so-called bad asses.”

  “When? What are you saying?”

  “You walk like you have it all figured out. Like knowing what this mission is all about.”

  “The Judge hired you to hunt down and kill the Grimsby. You went way past justice Corris Lew.”

  “Justice and the law are not bedfellows. At best they they are congruent allies that rarely cross each other unless they forced to intertwine. That friction doesn't subside with time. It just gets more aggravated.”

  “You can't believe that Corris Lee. Justice and the law are two sides of the same coin.”

  “But never hand in hand. One is drastically different.”

  “What’s the difference then Corris Lee? I’m curious?”

  “Laws are created by governments, legislatures, and courts. Justice stems from justice is a moral principle focused on doing what is right. Justice often times challenges law. That's where I come in.”

  Kaplan rode silently alongside Corris Lee. Surprised at the man’s hard-line stance on law and justice. It almost matches Judge Nagy's interpretation. She didn't think Corris Lee as a thinking man. She was impressed as she was perplexed at the rugged man.

  “So what you did to Paul Jacob. The cruelty he su

  ffered at your hands? You decided his sentence without the law. But with…

  “Frontier Justice.” Corris Lee snapped. then let out a deep sigh.