The Huntsman and the Nix Ch. 04

CHAPTER 4

[Isobet]

She watched Sutter rise, shedding his pack, still holding his pistol. Sutter's face was cold the way he got, his eyes fixed on the Nix man, who didn't have a gun. Isobet straightened to standing. The Nix was big and he had long brown hair that blended into a full, bushy beard.

A Nix like her. Isobet had thought she was the last one. He was living out here. And Sutter was a huntsman cut off from communications. Nobody knew either of them were alive.

Nobody would know if they died out here, either.

"That's good right there," Sutter said.

The Nix stopped coming up the path. His eyes shifted to her. "I recognize you, Isobet," the Nix said. Isobet stared back, her heart pounding. "I'm Rab. Or, as your father named me, NIX-541."

Her breath drew in sharply as another Nix emerged from behind the rocks, making his way up the path, also long hair and a full beard. A third Nix emerged from the trees to the right of the small path. They looked huge and rough. Sutter had a gun, but the Nix were genetically enhanced and trained soldiers.

The Nix were hiding out here and she and Sutter had just wandered into their territory. Sutter was a huntsman, a representative of System Central Authority. If the Nix were hostile, and they had no reason not to be, they might kill Sutter. They might kill her, too. Maybe they would keep her alive and she would just want to be dead.

"Tell them to stay where they are, Rab," Sutter said, resting his pistol in his other hand, still pointed downward. He didn't seem afraid. Sutter never seemed afraid.

The big Nix with the full beard measured the distance between them with his eyes.

"I know it looks like it might be easier, big guy," Sutter said, "but I promise it wouldn't."

The Nix put his hand out, signaling, the two Nix behind him stopping. "Who are you?" the Nix said, his face impassive, or as much as she could see of it.

"I'm Sutter, a licensed huntsman."

"A huntsman," the Nix echoed, his eyes getting hostile, his nose flaring. "Who're you hunting?"

"I was brought in for Isobet."

Rab glanced at her and back. "What does system authority want Adelaid Forsyte's daughter for?"

"Forsyte is dead," Sutter said. "System authority was told Isobet had murdered him and a guard and then escaped. I was sent here with a kill order for her. I brought her out here to keep her safe until I could get her off Tilles Moon."

"A kill order," the Nix echoed, his brows going up, looking at her again and back at Sutter.

"Bruja laReine might have exaggerated the danger a little," Sutter said.

"A little," Rab agreed, his face still expressionless.

Isobet frowned lightly. "I'm dangerous," she said, looking at Sutter.

"I know, killer," Sutter said, not looking at her.

"Let her come down to our camp," the big Nix said. "She's a Nix. We won't hurt her."

Isobet noticed the Nix didn't give the same assurances to Sutter.

When she looked at Sutter's face, his eyes had narrowed, his face getting even tighter, Isobet's brows going up. His lip curled, Sutter looking frightening. "Isobet isn't going anywhere."

The Nix eyed him, his eyes shifting to her, putting them together, she saw. "Both of you come down. Sit and talk with us. She'll be under my personal protection. Nobody will touch her, Huntsman."

"Not a fucking chance."

"Don't bother trying to reason with him, Rab," a voice said.

The three Nix in front of them tensed and Sutter made a disgusted sound, his eyes not leaving Rab, the Nix in front of them. "Jaunt?" Sutter called.

Isobet searched for the source of the voice, the three Nix also looking. The man who broke from the trees not far had a pistol in his hand. The two Nix behind Rab began to walk up the path again, looking alarmed, Sutter's gun coming up and shifting to them. They stopped.

The new man had his gun on Rab. He was sturdy and compact, with short blonde hair and a scar beginning across his forehead and moving into his scalp, a mustache that was long on the sides, falling below his chin. He was dressed similarly to Sutter and had a pack. He reminded her of Sutter, that same way he moved, his manner.

"It's about time, Jaunt," Sutter said as the man came and stood to Sutter's right, Isobet to his left.

"Did you not notice when I drew off the handro?" Jaunt said. "I would have been here earlier but there were three big pissed-off potentially sociopathic Nix running around. I figured you'd find them the hard way. I figured you'd need saving. Again. And I was right. Again."

Neither the new man nor Sutter had taken their eyes off the three Nix men, who hadn't moved.

"Why would system authority send you?" Sutter said to Jaunt, still not looking at him. "They know I hate you."

"They didn't send me, stupid," Jaunt jeered, also not looking at Sutter. "Everybody thinks you're dead, blown up in a transport crash. Like I would be so lucky. They didn't authorize me coming here. They're going to hold my balls over a flame when I get you back, and you fucking owe me, Sutter, because I'm going to be running my tongue all around and up the system authority's--Hello, beautiful," Jaunt said, his eyes going to her briefly before returning to Rab, and then another quick glance. "I didn't get a good look at you before."

She leaned in. "You know him, Sutter?" Isobet said.

Sutter nodded, watching the two Nix behind Rab. "Isobet, this is Jaunt. He's also a huntsman. He's my best friend. We were at Ohktan Minor together, at the prison. Jaunt, this is Isobet Forsyte, my target."

Jaunt took his eyes off of Rab again briefly, glancing at her, still speaking to Sutter. "Baliba said it was a kill order for a Nix."

"It was."

"What the fuck is going on?" Jaunt said.

"Bruja laReine lied to system authority and didn't tell them my target was her stepdaughter."

"So she's not a Nix?" Jaunt said.

"I am a Nix," Isobet said.

"A Nix," Jaunt echoed, and then spoke to Sutter, an accusation. "Are youwith her?"

Sutter shrugged one shoulder. "To protect her," he said.

"Protect her," Jaunt echoed again, his nose flaring. "Are youwith-with her?"

Sutter was quiet for a moment. "You're getting upset, Jaunt," Sutter said.

Jaunt glanced at her again, his gun never wavering, speaking to her for the first time. "You're a gorgeous, sexy, incredibly put together Nix? Fuck, look at you."

"I'm a Nix, yes," she repeated.

"You bastard," Jaunt said to Sutter, although he had returned to looking at Rab, just as Sutter had never stopped looking at the other two Nix.

"I was in real danger," Sutter said. "Bruja laReine blew up the shuttle. She tried to kill me."

"I don't blame her," Jaunt said. "I don't know if we can be friends anymore, man. I'm serious."

"Here we go," Sutter said. "You're like an old woman."

Jaunt's voice was rising. "We go back, Sutter, but I passed up a job and I've been staying in Atelone on Corsa for the last month, which you will compensate me for, including meals and I got drunk twice, waiting to find a way to get here to save your ass because I thought you'd end up as some kind of monster shit at the bottom of a hole on this big rock toilet and you came out here and metthat woman in a jungle and have been out here for weeks with her on vacation?"

"Don't do this," Sutter said. "Don't be like this."

"No, man" Jaunt said. "It's just one time too many. It's over. It's been nice knowing you, Sutter."

"I helped you on Ethia Six four months ago."

"And you've never stopped bringing it up, have you? Every time we talk."

"We haven't talked since then. That's my jacket," Sutter said.

Isobet, whose eyes had been shifting between them, met Rab's eyes for a long, strange moment, both of them looking back at Sutter and Jaunt.

"I don't think so," Jaunt said.

"Yes. It is and you know it. I lost that jacket eight years ago."

"There you go. It can't be this one, then, if you lost it."

"You took it. Youstole it."

"Don't be a cunt, Sutter. I'll let you borrow my jacket."

"How can you? You don't have a jacket. You don't own a jacket. Your jacket is my jacket."

"It can't be both, stupid."

Sutter's jaw was jumping. "Fine," he said, his voice clipped. "Keep the jacket."

"Thanks, I will."

"Sutter?" Isobet said.

Sutter nodded, running his hand through his hair and gesturing at the other huntsman without his eyes or gun moving from the two Nix down the path. "Sorry, Jaunt and I haven't seen each other for a while."

Jaunt spoke, addressing Rab, who seemed to realize it. "So what're we going to do here? You're Nix, but we're armed."

Rab eyed him, his eyes shifting to Sutter. "Like I said. Come down to our camp. We'll talk."

"What's wrong with talking here?" Sutter said.

Rab shrugged. "Nothing, Huntsman, but we have food cooking."

Sutter glanced at Jaunt, Jaunt glancing at him. Sutter nodded. "Lead the way, big guy."

#

It was dark before they got to the camp, the Nix walking in front of them, Isobet walking between Sutter and Jaunt, where Sutter had put her. Not too long after that, three big Nix, the brand on Rab's arm showing through his homespun clothing, herself, and two huntsmen were sitting around a large fire from which the flames had mostly died.

It was getting dark and she and the other Nix could see in darkness while Jaunt and Sutter couldn't. There was a spit over the coals and a large animal looking very dead skewered there. Isobet was still between Sutter and Jaunt, who had never put their pistols away, although they weren't pointing them at anyone.

Jaunt shoved his hand in his pack and came out with a torch, slamming it on the ground. It lit the area, bright, the Nix wincing away, and Isobet did.

"Sorry, beautiful," Jaunt said, turning it down.

"That's Miter," Rab said, indicating the big sandy haired Nix sitting to Rab's left, more facial hair, and then the other Nix to his right, dark-haired and dark-skinned, his beard full and black. "And that's Ero. Miter, Ero, this is Sutter and that's Jaunt. We already know little Isobet," he said, shifting his eyes to her. "They sent a huntsman and you didn't even kill anyone?"

Isobet stared back at Rab. "I did kill someone."

"Who?"

"A guard."

"Which one?" Ero said, her eyes shifting to him.

Isobet's voice was flat. "Speculo."

"That bastard. How did you kill him?"

"I stabbed him with his own knife."

The three Nix were looking at her. She stared back at them.

"She's a Nix, all right," Ero muttered.

"I don't suppose you brought your flute with you?" Miter said.

Isobet blinked, unfocusing her eyes, leaning back a little. She shifted her eyes to Miter. "No," she answered. "You heard me?"

"We all remember your playing, little sister," Ero said.

"I wasn't sure you could hear me," she said, glancing at him.

"Yes," Miter said. "You used to tell the guards that your father said you could practice anywhere on the grounds and that they better not bother you or you'd tell your father to fire them."

Isobet shrugged. "I was lying. I was twelve. I didn't really understand."

"All the Nix would stay quiet to hear you," Miter said. "You never missed a day. It was something to look forward to."

"You kept men alive in Block Eight," Rab said.

"You're fierce, to kill a guard," Ero said. "Were you trained to fight?"

Her eyes were darting, her shoulders relaxing. "No. Sutter has been teaching me."

"He's teaching you a few things, I think," Ero said, his eyes sliding to Sutter and then back to her. "Tomorrow, we'll find out what you can do, little sister."

"And more Nix will come," Rab said.

"How many more?" Sutter said beside her.

"A few," Rab said.

Jaunt leaned forward as Sutter did, both of them looking at one another, and then both of them leaned back.

Across from them, Ero looked to his left at Rab. "What are we going to do about the huntsmen? They know we're here. If we let them go, they'll tell SCA."

"We could kill them and keep our little sister with us," Miter said on the other side, looking to his right at Rab.

"They're both armed and huntsmen are supposed to be fast," Rab said, looking straight ahead.

"Not to mention System Central Authority already knows I'm here," Jaunt contributed. "If I don't come back, eventually other people will come. They'll send people here like me and Sutter. You won't be able to hide from them."

"Yeah, we kind of figured that," Rab said, sighing, Ero and Miter sighing directly after.

"Come back with us," Jaunt said. "We'll escort you in. If Bruja laReine finds out you're here, she'll tear this place apart trying to get to you so she can finish what she started. This is your chance to get off this moon and to system authority, to get a hearing."

The Nix were quiet. Rab finally spoke, his eyes shifting between Sutter and Jaunt. "Thank you for the offer, Huntsmen. It's too much of a risk for us."

"The risk is here, Rab," Sutter said. "It's time to leave."

"And go where?" Miter said to Sutter. "At least we know how to live here, and we're hidden from everyone. The moment we show our faces to system authority, we'll be wards of Forsyte Institute. We'll be detained for our own good while they sort it out. Seven years ago, we helped save Aloet System, and in return they allowed Forsyte Institute to gas most of us to death."

"Jaunt and Iare system authority. You've already shown your faces," Jaunt said. "I know that happened. We'll take you into protective custody. We'll go to the justicas and make it right."

"And we're supposed to trust the system authority after what they did?" Rab said.

Isobet agreed with them, but quietly.

"You could be free," Jaunt argued.

"Free," Miter echoed. "To do what? Who's going to take crazy Nix soldiers? This is the place for us. We can live out here, where they can't."

"If we were lucky," Ero added, "they'd just send us to mining some far-edge moon. If that's what's waiting for us out there, we'd rather stay here."

"You're not criminals," Jaunt argued. "Well, besides Isobet."

"What?" Isobet said, turning to look at Jaunt on her left. 


"Don't worry about it, beautiful. I won't let Sutter take you in," Jaunt said, not looking at her. "Just agree to run away with me."

"Sutter?" Isobet said, turning to look to her right.

"He's being an asshole. He can't help it. You're not a criminal," Sutter said to her, also not looking at her, speaking to the Nix men. "Nobody's going to blame you for escaping after what the institute did to you. You shouldn't have to live like this. This is your best shot to present your case to the justica on Corsa."

"No," Rab said, shaking his head. "We can't rely on them."

The huntsmen on either side of her were quiet. Everyone was quiet.

Ero sneezed. "Fuck," me muttered, dabbing.

The silence stretched on.

"So, you were both at an Ohktan prison?" Rab said.

"On Ohktan minor, yes. Jaunt and I have been through a lot together," Sutter said, nodding. "I don't really like him, though."

Jaunt gave a small scoff on the other side of Isobet. "Prick," Jaunt muttered.

More silence.

"Where are you from, Sutter?" Miter said. "I can't place you, and we went all over the system during the war."

"Odian," Sutter answered.

"Not originally. You don't have the coloring," Ero said.

"Siclia."

"You're no Siclian," Miter said. "You don't act like a Siclian at all."

"I lived there," Sutter muttered.

They waited.

"I'm from Detuth," Sutter said.

All three Nix sat back.

"Not even the royal Heklasi family on Detuth escaped the Ohktans," Rab said. "How did you, Huntsman?"

"My mother's people were Siclian," Sutter answered. "I was training to be a drowser on Siclia when the attack happened."

To her left, Jaunt gave a small crow and a light snort. "A drowser," Jaunt said under his breath.

"Fucker," Sutter said under his breath to her right.

"What's a drowser?" Miter said to Rab.

"Where they drum for the small sea animals, you ignorant Nix," Ero said to him.

"That's real?" Miter said to Ero.

"Don't mind them, Huntsman," Rab said. "Go on."

Sutter shrugged. "There's not anything else. I was sixteen on Siclia when the Ohktans attacked Detuth and started the war. I sat through the broadcast while they executed my parents and my older brother and sister, my aunt and uncle and cousins. After that, I didn't want to be a drowser anymore. I joined up when I was seventeen, fought for a year, and went to Ohktan Minor with the sixty-four other men in my unit who survived Kazat. Two years later, out of over three-hundred men, I was one of two people to walk out of the gates when Aloet System troops liberated us. Jaunt was the other. The rest didn't make it out."

"But we carry them with us," Jaunt muttered to her left.

"Yes, we do," Sutter muttered to her right.

Rab's eyes shifted between them. "We already knew we couldn't touch a huntsman," Rab said. "It would just draw more people here and they probably wouldn't even ask any questions before they killed us."

"You don't know that," Sutter said.

"If you had found me instead of the little one," Rab argued, his jaw jumping, "would you have asked questions or would you have just pulled the trigger?"

"I wouldn't have asked questions," Sutter said. "That's true. It's not my job to question my orders. Bruja laReine lied to System Central Authority."

"But they didn't look for the truth very hard, did they? After all, it's not the first time Forsyte Institute lied to System Central Authority. It was a kill order, Huntsman."

"It was," Jaunt said, Sutter nodding. "Something's not right. Come in with us and we'll figure it out together."

"That doesn't reassure us. What are you going to do?"

"Sutter and I were going to try to bring the three of you in anyway, but now that we know there are more of you coming, that's not really going to work," Jaunt said, sighing to her left.

Sutter sighed to her right. Everyone was quiet again.

"What's next for you?" Sutter said.

Rab shrugged. "We're going south for a few days, to the lowlands. The bedloe berries are ripe. The fruit will bring gara birds. We want the feathers. And the meat."

"South is good," Sutter said. "We'll come with you."

Rab eyed him. Sutter rose, holstering his pistol and pulling out his bedroll, Jaunt doing the same.

Isobet looked around at everyone. That was it? The Nix wouldn't kill Sutter and Jaunt and take her captive, and Sutter and Jaunt wouldn't try to capture them, and they were going to pick berries together? Evidently.

The Nix watched as Sutter and Jaunt activated their bedrolls. Getting in, Sutter opened the edge of the bag with his arm, meeting her eyes when she turned to look at him.

Isobet looked around at the other Nix and then took off her shoes, joining him. Once she was in, she took off Sutter's jacket, trying not to let them see what she had on under it. Sutter pulled her snug, Isobet using his arm as a pillow, Sutter pushing his leg between hers, how she liked to sleep. His other arm came around her under the cloth, but she didn't wrap around it like she usually did, because he had his pistol in his hand.

"You don't trust us with her at all, do you, Huntsman?" Rab said.

"Don't take it personally," Sutter said.

Before long, everyone was bedded down. Isobet was sleepy, Sutter's body warm against her. Sutter leaned down and smelled her like he did, Isobet finding her spot, comfortable.

"Goodnight, Jaunt," Sutter said.

"Screw you," Jaunt muttered.

* * *

[Sutter]

Sutter woke, his eyes roaming, his arms full of a warm, pretty little female Nix with a round butt, surrounded by great big ugly male Nix, her older brothers. It was just after dawn. Jaunt's eyes opened, meeting his. Someone was here. Several someones. Sutter had the feeling there were about to be a whole lot more great big ugly Nix. He holstered his pistol and got out from behind Isobet.