16 Chapter 16 - Wherein Several Horrible Ideas Compete

That train ride was close to one of the worst experiences Lozen ever had. Not that it was particularly dangerous, at least so long as no bandits decided to rob them, but the sheer amount of time she had to spend inside that car was uncomfortable to say the least. Alberta kept trying to talk through her bandana, Judas made her waste a dozen bullets trying to step inside, and Beatrice on multiple occasions tried to do the same, but that was the worst of it, that would be because of the time.

Nothing happened in the hotbox of a train car. Nothing. So all she was left with were her own thoughts and they didn't settle. What Alberta had said was allowed to freely roam through her head and it only made her more and more uncertain of whatever was happening. She didn't believe for a second that there was something else like Judas just roaming around out there. As much as she hated to admit it, he was a very special case. That was obvious. Deadman don't have a habit of walking out of their graves. The odds of that happening once were impossible. Twice, it would just be moronic.

It was the other reason he might have claimed such events were happening that startled her. In her experience, it was the insane that had caused her the most trouble when it came to their finding and capture. There was never any pattern or rationality to their thinking, so predicting where they would go or finding people who knew were impossible. They could be hiding out in a cave to escape the mole people for all she knew or maybe digging a hole out in the literal middle of nowhere trying to find God.

It was even worse when they were wealthy. Lack of resources was the one thing that restricted a maniacs movement, and without that, there was quite literally nothing they couldn't do. And with Judas's existence having been proven, that meant quite a lot. Sirius was supposed to have afforded a mansion, so he was definitely very well off. At least Alberta had enough of a rational mind to be predictable. All she had to do was counter the most logical action. With the insane, she had no idea.

When a situation like this came up and she an abundance of time on her hands, she liked to think. Thinking meant there was something she do, a way through that she could find and with it, succeed. Think about what a target might do, what she needed to do next, or try and figure out how to go about what she needed to do next. With the insane, she couldn't do that. No matter how much she thought, it wouldn't get her anywhere. It made her feel so helpless, like a useless child that could only watch while a city burned to the ground. But she thought, coming up with hundreds of different actions she could take only to realize they wouldn't be able to do anything. She wouldn't be able to do anything. Not in the face of pure, saneless madness without a shred of reason behind it.

She distracting herself. Lord knows she tried, but it wasn't until the sun started to hang low and the train came to slow, grinding halt. Her chair lurched backwards as the screech of the engine shutting off echoed through the car. She stood the second she felt the deceleration and holstered her pistols before picking up two of the rifles lying on the ground that still had ammunition. After swinging them over her shoulders, Lozen took one last glance at the former patron before marching over towards the front door and stepping out of the compartment.

She climbed up over the coal cart and poked her head up until she looked over the engine compartment to see what was ahead. Like she had ordered, the conductors had stopped it once what looked like a city had started to loom in the distance. She didn't know which one it was, the Rita line was unfamiliar to her, but if she had to guess, she'd say it was Austin. Or Dallas or one of the major metropolitan areas. She couldn't say for certain. As a general policy, she stayed away from those parts of the state. It was bad enough having to wander into one of the fringe towns. She didn't like to think about how a thousand more people would react if they all saw an "Injun" walking their streets with a revolver and now two bolt action rifles.

Though, they didn't have much of a choice at this point. Many mores eyes would be drawn to them if they drove less than half a train through either a public station, worse if it was a private platform. All those rich folk wanting to know why their train abandon them, they'd have every Pinkerton this side of the Mississippi chasing after them out of sheer pettiness.

She glanced down at the terrified, heat syncopied conductors as she marched across the coal and jumped down right behind them. They jumped as she did and one of them let out a yelp before she said "Good. Now, when each of you wake up, run to the nearest station and do what you will." Before one of them had the nerve to ask, she slung one of the rifle back over her arm, spun it around and proceeded to smack the both of them right upside their heads. They both went down like bricks and once she was sure they were down for the count, Lozen hoisted the rifle back over. She then pulled out her knife and cut each of them loose of their bondages, letting their bodies fall flat on the floor.

"JUDAD!! GRAB ALBERTA!! WE'RE LEAVING!!!" Lozen shouted at the top of her lungs as she jumped out of the engine car. The soles of her boots hit the dirt covering the desert before she started making her way back down the cars. She spied Beatrice in the distance, coming to a gradual stop after having to run for hours on end. There was still blood on her about, but Judas wasn't on her back. At first she was alarmed, but then she remembered Judas must have just been sitting in the back of the car instead of being left in the middle of the desert by a carnivorous equine. It wasn't even surprising to her that scenarios was now a possibility.

"YEAH, YEAH!!" She heard Judad call back right before she saw Alberta being kicked off the back of the car and land right next to the train. She was still tied up, the only problem was that she was still tied to the chair. One that was apparently durable enough to survive falling right onto the desert floor. Judas hopped off seconds later and pulled Alberta chair onto its feet just as Lozen arrived. "What's this?" She asked and Judas replied "What!? I got her off the train! How could you possibly have complaints about that!!?"

"Because she's still tied to the chair."

"And?!"

"And why is she?"

"Why wouldn't she be?!"

"Because people would notice if we literally dragged a person tied to a chair around the city."

"Not literally!"

"How else would be move it?"

Judas tossed his head back and exclaimed "Uggggggggghhhhhhh!!!!! Fine!! Then how do I get her off!?"

"Cut her loose."

"Right! And why don't I just give her a horse while I'm at it!! Unless you have a better way to aid her escape."

"Then restrain her. She's 80."

"With what?! My hands!!?"

Lozen raised an eyebrow at that and said "Yes!" Alberta rolled her eyes at that, a reaction Lozen couldn't blame the senior for. She turned her attention back up to Beatrice and after taking a moment to not notice the blood still on her jaw, said "You know what to do. Stay away from the city, but be prepared to come running if trouble arises." The horse gave a sarcastic snort that, guessing what she had said, Lozen replied to "I don't know. If you see one of Judas's bullets flying through the air, assume we need you." It snorted again to which Lozen answered "Then entertain yourself. Go hunting, maybe. There's plenty of critters out there to run down." The beast let out what sounded like a huff and then a loud neigh that sounded eerily closed to a groan before she trotted away from them, head hung low and leg kicking the ground.

But it wasn't eating her, so Lozen didn't care how disgruntled it looked at the moment. She turned back to Judas, seeing that both him and Alberta, still tied to the chair, were staring at her with these confused, if slightly concerned expressions. "What?" Lozen asked, genuinely wondering what in the last five minutes broke the mold of what to expect. "Lozen, and I want to you be honest with me here," Judas started in a time that wasn't even trying to hide it's intent to insult. "Does the horse talk to you?" Lozen let out a small sigh before saying "No, but what else could she have possibly said? It's the same three concerns. Meat, boredom, or pride."

"Yeah, that sounds about right. Still seems strange."

She raised an eyebrow at that, waiting for the deadman to realize what he was before he said "I know what I said, but I at least have can understand the horse."

Lozen titled her head at that and said "Do you?"

"Yes!!"

"Fantastic. Now get her up." She pointed again to Alberta and didn't wait for Judas to complain. The city didn't look too far away, so she started marching towards it before her companion could start airing more pointless grievances. She heard him swearing behind her and shouting out "FINALLY!!! NOW GET UP!!!", so she was confident that he was getting something right.

The city up ahead never became familiar to her. No part made a possible inventory click into place. It just appeared like every other major city she had come across in her years. Red brick structure both vast and sturdy seemed to rise up all over the area with massive names written on the sides in white paint. Nothing was below two stories tall and was crawling with hundreds upon hundreds of people, even as the day started to dip away. Carriages ran through the streets as well, a fact that only made Lozen's stomach churn. They were just another reminder of where she was.

She stopped just outside the mouth of one of the roads leading into the city and turned back around, keeping her bandana pulled over her mouth as she gazed back at her companion. Thankfully, he had enough intelligence to cover himself against before approaching the city, but not enough to address their prisoner. He had freed Alberta from the chair, but for some reason kept the gag in and had her arms clearly pinned behind her back. Judging from the expression on Finch's face, even she didn't quite believe what was happening.

"What are you doing?" She demanded as she stopped in front of her.

"Jesus god, woman, what is it now!!?"

"Why is she still gagged!?"

"Because you asked her to be!!"

"On the train! Don't you think it'd be a bit suspicious if two masked strangers wandering into a city with a gagged woman obviously being moved against her will!?"

Judas paused for a moment before clearly taking a guess "No?"

Alberta tossed her head back and laughed a bit through the gag before muttering something that just sounded like a series of moans. Lozen rolled her eyes and reached behind the patrons head to undo the gag. "I said, that's why they had to hire me." Finch clarified as Lozen shoved the spare cloth into her pocket. "I figure." She bluntly replied before glancing back up as Judas and said "Let her go."

"Why!?"

Alberta answered "Because you are terrible at hiding the fact you're holding my arms."

"Hey!!"

Lozen cut in "Hush. You can complain when she's not wrong."

"Can I?"

"No. Now let her go."

"And what's supposed to stop her from running away?!"

Alberta again pointed out the obvious "Because I'm 54. And you can shoot me dead." Judas seemed to perk up at that and said as he let Alberta's arms fall to her sides "Oh right." With that, a familiar blue glow was cast against his front and Alberta stumbled forward for a moment. "Judas, when she said you could shoot her dead, she didn't mean point your weapon at her back the entire time." Lozen corrected as she started rubbing her forehead.

"Why not?!"

"Because I have a suspicion that people will notice a glowing revolver at dusk."

"Jesus!! Then what can do it!?"

"Stand there, follow me, and don't say a word. As for you," She glanced down at Alberta. "You know this town I'm assuming?"

"Better than the builders."

"Good. Then you can tell me where the police station or else I'll shoot you and start asking around."

Alberta didn't even hesitate. She leaned over to take a look behind Lozen before saying "Follow this road for three blocks. Take a left, continue for two more, follow that road until you hit Salisbury Drive. You'll see it." Lozen replied "If you're lying-"

"I'm well aware of what you'll do in the event of my deception. Now then, shall we?"

Lozen raised an eyebrow at the before deciding that her word was going to have to suffice. "Alright. Judas, keep her close, but be discreet."

With that, they all started marching off down the road.

They had to curve off onto the sidewalks to avoid the carriages and horses that strolled down the streets, but the crowds never vanished. Lozen made sure to keep her pace steady so that Judas wouldn't fall behind and her head low for obvious reasons. There were way too many prying eyes for her comfort and all of them felt like they were seconds away from calling the police on her. Though that didn't seem to concern the literal dead man or the woman they were threatening.

"So, Jebediah, you've been dead for nearly six years now." Alberta started much to Lozen's eternal hatred.

"Yeah? There a problem with that?" Judas replied, tossing oil onto what Lozen could already tell was going to be a fire.

"There may be. What in God's name kept you for so long?"

"Ohhhhh, you better not have said what I think you just-"

"Though I don't find it too shocking you took so long. You were never the sort who could find much on his own."

"Right. Thought so. Well, I never thought you'd be the one to do something so stupid but-"

Lozen froze in the middle of the sidewalk and cut Judas short "Alright, Judas, before you do whatever you were about to do, would you care explaining it to me step by step?"

"And why should I do that?"

"Because I imagine you're thinking about shooting this woman dead for mildly insulting you, hoping that since we do not have far less to ground to travel and you could volunteer to carry her corpse that I wouldn't be so angry and I'm hoping that you would realize just how moronic doing that would be if you said it outloud, but now I'm starting to realize that if you did, you'd be even more confident in your idiocy."

"That was basically our entire professional career." Alberta added to which Lozen replied "And you can shut up and stop tempting the undead bull before I can no longer control it."

"Hey!!" Judas interjected "Will you two stop acting like I'm so predictable!!?"

"It's not acting if it's true. Now shut up and don't you dare draw your weapon."

"Why not!!? I could just-"

Sensing what he was going to say next, Lozen interjected "Not in the middle of a crowd." Judas seemed to freeze up again, a reaction that she took as an excuse to resume heading down the sidewalk. As she expected, the deadman wasn't far behind her, but only because she heard the voice of his prisoner wafting up from the road. "Impressive. How long have you two known each other for?" Alberta asked, but Lozen didn't dare reply. "It took me nearly two years to get him to shut up like that. And bear in mind, that was my job. So how did a savage manage to do so?"

Lozen still didn't say a word.

"It would make sense that you summoned him and have some mastery over him, but if you don't, that just makes things more complicated. Though, I am more curious as to why you would even try to. All for the money? I doubt that. No one in their right mind would agree to go on a killing spree with a deadman who could kill them at any time. No. You're desperate."

Lozen tried distracting herself from the prisoners' words, but all the white noise around her made it impossible to focus on anything else.

"But why though? Do you owe all the wrong things to all the wrong people? Maybe. Though I haven't seen many people trying to hunt you down at the moment. No. There's something else, isn't there?"

Lozen glanced behind her for a moment, but again tried to push down whatever Alberta intended on saying.

"You need this money for something else. What is it that would make you risk your life and ride with a demon across the state? Maybe you've got someone that needs my bounty more than you?"

Lozen's heart skipped a beat when she heard that and felt the urge to slug the former patron before she continued. She knew what would be coming next and the only other person she would prefer not to hear any of this from was still in ear shot. The only comfort she had was that they must have been getting close to the station if Alberta's directions weren't nonsense. "I've heard the situation in the reservations has been more than dire. Without proper supplies, I imagine a lot of men, women, even children are going to die. Think you can stop all of that, darling?"

Her pace increased and her hands curled into fists. A gesture Alberta must have seen.

"Ahhhhh. There it is. You're protecting someone. A family? Or what's left of one. No. Moore's bounty could have easily paid for one, but you're going after all of us. You need more. Much more."

They rounded another corner, her pulse pounding in her ears and her sights starting to go red.

"A tribe perhaps. Yes. That sounds about right. You're trying to protect an entire tribe." Alberta chuckled a bit after that. "How amusing. Yet not entirely unexpected. I've seen what the conditions are like on your reservations. I doubt even your people would enjoy making a home in such decrepit place, but that's not the problem, my dear. You know that, don't you. They don't care anymore."

The second she heard that, Lozen came to a sudden, dead halt right in the middle of the sidewalk as a chill rushed down her spin. It felt like a needle had been stabbed into her at just the right spot, the last place she had ever hoped to be hurt. Judas must have stopped too because Alberta didn't come bumping into her anytime soon and he was proving to be intelligent enough to know when to keep his mouth shut.

"So you know what I mean. I thought you might. You're a smart girl. You see it. Floods, earthquakes, storms, wars, you're people have survived all of it, but now, they're simply stopping, aren't they. I wonder why that might be? The years of being hounded by every man with a two bit firearm? The shame served by our proud folk up in Washington? But why did they stop fighting? Such a curious course of action in the face of such hostility. Perhaps they're simply tired from all these years. Or perhaps-"

One chance. One tiny chance and if it was thrown away, she didn't know what she was going to do.

"They forgot why they even strived in the first place? Maybe they've realized they're not a people worth fighting for. Like you."

At that, something snapped. Something deep and primal and long, long buried. Every single sense she had in her body just stopped. All she could hear was this ringing that eclipsed the murmur of the crowds around her and her sight seemed to blur into a mesh of red. She slowly turned on the spot until she found the one image that was still as clear as day.

Alberta wasn't worried. She barely even looked interested. And that only made things all the worse. There were so many ways it could happen. Shooting, but not with Judas's gun. No. It'd be with bullets and right in the gut so she could feel the life drain from her. Hanging, burning, letting Beatrice have her way with her. It could be so easy. It was so easy.

But it wouldn't help anyone. If it happened here, she'd be arrested and hanged my morning. Then her village would starve.

He crammed her eyes shut and sucked in a tiny breath of air as she grabbed her hands by the wrist, trying to suppress the urge to strike the prisoner. It may have taken longer than she would have liked and increased the chance that someone was going to shove her into some cell. She dug her nails into her arm and bit down on her lip, letting the pain mask all the rage she felt coursing through her veins until she was certain it was repressed.

The murmurs of the crowd and the sounds of the city came back into focus and when she opened her eyes, the red had vanished from her sight. Everything seemed to resume as it should have been and she didn't wait for that to change. Without taking another look at their prisoner, she spun back around and growled "Keep moving." before resuming her march through the city.

She didn't care if Judas followed or not. Her mind kept reeling away from the thought of him or the white he had once decided to keep as company. They strode through the streets, following Alberta's instructions to a tee until they eventually arrived in a rather empty part of the city. The rugged industrial structures and flashy store fronts that filled the rest of the city vanished and gave way to rows upon rows of massive, mansion-like houses. All of them were gated with iron bars and had massive gardens separating them from the gates. More obviously, nothing that even resembled a sheriff's station.

They stopped at a screen corner right where Alberta's instructions ended, a moment Lozen took to slowly turn on her heels as she took a look around. She nodded a few times, feeling her mind empty out at the sight of no station around her before let out a small huff and saying "Alright. Judas, hold her still." Her hand fell onto the but of her weapon as a wave of irrationality swept through her right before a solid idea formed in her mind. Seeing there weren't any people around, Lozen drew her weapon and pointed it right in front of Alberta before saying "You have ten seconds to think up an explanation."

Alberta raised an eyebrow before saying "You're not going to kill me."

"8."

"You'll bring the entire city rushing this way."

"6."

"Fine. It doesn't matter anyways."

"5."

"I brought you here because you'd never come if I told you to."

"4."

"All I need you to do is take a look at the sign two house up form here and I promise this will all make sense. After that, you can do what you want with me."

Lozen stopped at that, despite her urge to keep counting down the seconds until she could put one right through the whore's brain. But, she had more important matters to attend to. There had to be a reason Alberta was telling her this and for better or worse, that wasn't nothing. "Judas, do as she says." Lozen ordered to which Judas said "Really? Even I know this is a trap!!"

"Which is why you're going to spring it. Worst case scenario, you wake up with a migraine. Now go."

"Can I kill her if this turns out to be nothing?"

Lozen narrowed her eyes at that and tossed another venomous look down on the former patron before saying "No." Judas let out another groan before he did as he was told and started marching up the street.

"So what do you have in store for him?" Lozen asked and Alberta answered "Nothing. I'm just increasing my value."

"Oh! Yeah, this looks about right! Hey, Lozen, you might wanna take a look at this!" Judas cried out and to which Lozen replied "Or you could just tell me."

"If I could, I wouldn't be calling you over!!"

Lozen rolled her eyes and grabbed Alberta by the arm before dragging the woman along with her. Judas was standing right in front of one of the stone columns that divided the left side of a massive gate from the rest of the fenceline. They were usually decorative as far as Lozen knee and sometimes had a tiny placard on them declaring who's owner the property was. She wasn't sure what she expected, but what that should have been became obvious when she saw the inscription.

Monrinwell Mansion

Residence of Sirius A. Crane

She didn't believe it. She actually didn't believe it. Her jaw dropped slightly as she saw that sign, but she pulled herself together before she could be thrown off guard. She wrenched Alberta in front of the sign and said "What is this?"

"Oh it's a bit more complicated than you think."

"Obviously. Is this even Denison?"

"No, actually. We're in San Antonio, but Sirius is much more clever than that."

Judas chuckled at that before saying "Really? Sirius is clever? I thought his name was an antonym to that."

Alberta laughed a bit before saying "No. He's a coward," She turned around to face Lozen again and said "But he's not an idiot. When we were all still apart of the same coalition, Sirius was in charge of monetary management. Weapons shipments, bribes, even paying for extra muscles.

Judas cut in "Wait, what? When did we have extra muscle!?"

Lozen added in "You really expect us to believe any of that?"

Alberst shook her head and said "No, but it wasn't as major as you expected. At least not according to Sirius. He said they were mainly ammo and resource supply runs, but I knew what he was really doing. About 15 of every 100 dollars Iscariot sent Sirius to spend on weaponry was instead deposited into a bank account under a pseudonym. In total, he saved about, oh, two million dollars over the course of our activities."

Lozen's eyes widened at that and Judas sounded like he gagged for a moment before saying "What!! How the hell did he manage to do that!! Our shares were shit!!!"

Alberta answered "Yes, because most of the finances our jobs accumulated when into the expenses Sirius handled. It was honestly rather clever, if it wasn't so obvious."

Lozen rolled her eyes and said "And what does this have to do with us?"

Alberta gestured back to the mansion as she answered "Because I spent one tiny hour looking over our books to find out what was happening. A fact I took no steps to ensure Sirius didn't know. So he and I made a little arrangement. I don't tell Iscariot about his little schemes and I maintain certain privileges. Such as knowing exactly where he is."

Lozen cut her off "Right. We figured."

"No. He's not here. Sirius was much more cautious than that. When we disbanded, he spent most of his savings into buying and constructing places like this. It's much harder for the Pinkertons or some of the people we may have otherwise enraged."

Judas cleared his throat at that and shot Alberta an angry glare to which she replied on a dismissive, chipper tone "Case in point. He usually cycles through his homes to keep his enemies off his tail, but I happen to know how to find him."

Lozen asked "And where might that be?"

"Oh no, my dear. Not yet. I'm not finished. There's only one way to reach him. These manors are all staffed by people with the knowledge to point us in that direction and instructions to take anyone to said location if certain actions are met."

"What actions?"

"Do you see that butler sitting on the deck?"

Lozen glanced up between the bars and saw that on the deck surrounding the manor, there indeed appeared to be a butler of sorts dressed in a far to formal suit.

"Tell him.....give me a moment." Alberta said before she looked up and started murmuring something to herself as if in thought. Lozen raised an eyebrow at that before saying "Is this entirely essential?"

Alberta answered "I just need a moment. Sirius's paranoia can be quite annoying at times. He changes his little passphrase every month in an attempt to, and I'm quoting him here, make sure the mole people don't catch on."

Lozen tilted her head at that to which Alberta replied "And now you see why I was hesitant to believe a word he said. Besides the obvious talk of ghosts hunting him down."

Judas cut in "My god. What the hell happened to him? I mean, I stared into the face of oblivion and I'm more stable than Cane."

"Now that is an excellent question. One I'm certain I don't want to know the answer to." Alberta replied before glancing up as if in thought for another moment and then saying in a doubtful voice "Tell him 'the sun never sets where the walking stick roams'." Lozen again just gave her a doubtful look before Alberta said "He was good with money. Not words. Just tell the butler that and this will make sense."

Lozen didn't want to believe her. Not after the other poisonous words she spewed, but Alberta hadn't been lying about the sign and knew that the only reason either of them weren't killing her was because they still had a secrecy to maintain. Starting a shoot out or any trouble would ruin that and give them no reason not to toss her corpse into a river. So it wasn't as if she didn't have an incentive in this matter.

She glanced over at Judas and said "Did you get that?"

"Oh!! Walking stick! Cane! I get it."

"I mean the passphrase."

"Still pretty funny though."

"No it's not."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, you!!! The sun never sets where the walking stick roams!"

The butler glanced over at him with a condescending look that Lozen entirely understood only to then walk across the deck and disappearing through an overly extravagant door. All of them waited for a solid minute before Lozen spoke up "Alright. Judas."

"One step ahead of you." He said before pulling out his own weapon and pointing it right at Alberta's head, but somehow didn't elicit a reaction from the former patron. She instead said "Wait a moment. Also, Jebediah, you may want to take a few steps towards me."

"Okay, I tolerate that name from the savage! I will not take it from you!! Also, why?" Jebediah asked before he immediately pulled his weapon back under his cloak as the sound of footsteps came echoing out from the otherside of the fenceline. Another formal clad man came walking down what Lozen now realized appeared to be some sort of gravel pathway leading up to the gate Judas had been standing in front of.

"Please stand clear, sir." He said in a quick, almost forgettable voice as he fiddled around with an iron lock connected the two halves of the gate and then giving both of them a strong shove. Judas jumped back onto the sidewalk just as the butler swung the doors open and opened the gravel pathway to the rest of the road. The butler vanished, down the pathways leading up back to the house and for another minute, all of them just stood next to the gate in silence, expecting for something to happen.

"So, you think they're sending guards or something?" Judas asked and as if answering, the sound of hooves started echoing down from the manor. Lozen felt her hand instinctively land on her revolver as the stomping started rushing towards them, but let go again as she saw just what came their way. Another carriage led by a small team of horses with the crack of the coach masters whip keeping them marching along the path. They came to a screeching halt right outside the gate with the door of the carriage stopping in front of them.

"Madam Finch." The coachmaster greeted in a stoic, unfeeling voice as he leaped down from the drovers set and dashed forward to open the door. Before Lozen could say a word, Alberta took a step forward until she stood in front of both her and Judas and said "Quite a treat to meet your acquaintance again, good sire." She didn't use his name, leading Lozen to suspect she was being more flattering than formal, but that wasn't the greatest of her concerns.

"Likewise, madam." The driver said with a tiny nod of his head before glancing up at Lozen and Judas. "We are happy to take you to Mr. Cane, but I'm afraid he requires me to ask the identities of all persons requesting passage." He said, his eyes shifting between the two of them. Lozen started wondering if they were going to have to do something about the driver, but Alberta spoke up before she could think up a plan.

"Of course. These two are just my bodyguards for my stay."

"If you'll forgive me for asking, why only two?" She glanced over her shoulder as she said they, flashing Lozen a smug smile as if letting her know that last comment was for her.

"I only need two, good sir. Besides, with all the men Mr. Cane has at his residence, I doubt I'll have to supply many of my own." She glanced over her shoulder as she said they, flashing Lozen a smug smile as if letting her know that last comment was for her.

"Now, go wait at your seat. I have some matters I still need to address." Alberta told the driver to which he bowed and then climbed back up onto his seat. Finch turned at the spot, a subtle, yet infuriating smile plastered on her face as Lozen felt the two of them start falling into her hand.

"Alright then. Here's my proposition. Not a single one of Cane's men will ever let you near his establishment, especially wearing what you are wearing. And if you barge inside, he'll scamper off to another one of his hide out while you're still taking care of his guards. I on the other hand can get you as close as you want, maybe even in the same room as him, and then, you'll have every chance in the world to collect on his bounty."

Lozen raised an eyebrow at that before saying "And what's in it for you?"

"I thought that was obvious. My freedom."

Lozen waited to hear what the actual bargain was before Alberta said "If you're waiting for something else, there isn't."

Judas our right laughed, Lozen didn't and instead said "And why on earth would I do that?"

"Because Cane's, Florentine's, and Isacriot's bounties are worth more than triple my own. I believe you'll have enough payment to feed your people four times over after that, so I see no reason why you need my own. So that is my offer. You can either take it now and leave it."

Lozen thought about it for a moment, but her thoughts were cut off when Judas slapped a hand down on her shoulder and pulled her away from the carriage as he exclaimed "Right! Sure!! Lozen, can I borrow you real quick?!"

He spun Lozen around and pulled her in close before she had a chance to respond before whisper-shouting in her ear "You are not seriously considering this!! I came back from the dead to take my revenge on this bitch and I am not letting her walk away!"

"Do you honestly think I am?"

"And need I remind you...oh. You aren't?"

"Of course not. This is very obviously a trap. She's just going to hope that we cause chaos when we arrive and then make an escape in the crossfire."

"Hey!!"

"Remember the mine cave in and all that commotion we caused on her train?"

"That last one was both of us!"

"Exactly, you moron. Now shut up. It looks like she's telling the truth about this Cane fellow, so we're going to need her help getting to him. Just play along until she's get's us close enough."

"And then what!? We're just gonna let her go!!"

"Of course not. Whether or not a shoot out occurs, make sure she's a casualty by the end of this."

Judas paused after that before resuming in a voice that was about as close to an audible smile as Lozen ever heard "Ohhhhhhhh. With pleasure."

"And when I say whether or not, I'm not saying to start a shoot-out."

"I know."

"Do you?"

"Yesssssss." He was salivating at that word, a reaction Lozen took as about as close to a guarantee as she was going to get.

"Just don't cause a scene until we see Cane. Alright?" All Judas did to reply was slowly nod as if he were delighting in every second spent with whatever horrible thoughts were sprouting in his mind. Lozen let out a small sigh, shoving his arm off of her before turning back to Alberta and saying "Alright, Ms. Finch. It appears we have a deal."

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