17/12/2020
Hau! Tena koe.
I just got to Armadillo, need some feed for my hoiho and this place looked...quiet.
After this mornings coach mission, I ended up waking up on top of a snowy mountain to the north. Now I don’t know what was in that whiskey but I woke up in a little tent in spider gorge! Luckily the horse was nearby or else I would have frozen solid up there. This Māori fulla isn’t built for snow, give me the sea any day.
Anyway, so I trekked down the mountain to find warmth and came to a place called Valentine. There I met a man, name of Knossos. A dark skinned fulla; he saw the pelts on the back of hoiho and asked if I wanted to hunt together. Managed to take down a couple whitetail bucks with nice antlers; and Knossos stood by and appreciated. I chucked one buck over the back of hoiho and dumped the other on the ground. Knossos looked on, curious. I jumped on Hoiho and lassoed the one on the ground to drag along behind. Knossos yelled out “heeey partner what are you doing?!?” I told him I can’t chuck it on the back so I’ll drag the thing back to camp. He couldn’t believe it; “well I’ll be!” He shouted. “I never thought of doing that!!” Can’t beat the ol Hori knowhow eh. I asked where his catch was but he didn’t seem too interested in the deer. That’s when he said; “hunting deer is all fine and well.. but there’s nothing like hunting another human.” I went to reach for Patu but he quickly said “wait on partner I’m not going to hunt you; at least not yet anyway. I mean hunting bounties, have you done em? Can be lucrative and a good way to get a favor or two from someone with a bit of power.” I thought that sounded interesting; like hunting that escaped pawnee captive with the Lakota. “Dead or alive; either way you get paid.” Knossos continued. “Though I normally go for the ‘alive’ approach. More money that way. That doesn’t mean they have to be...in pristine condition when they are handed in. If a particularly nasty case comes by me I might wanna get me some justice all for myself with one of them big white boys.” Before I could ask he pulls his shirt up to show me all the scars across his back and shoulders; deep cuts scarred over like a thick puoro of suffering. “Virginia. I escaped across to the west just before slavery was done away with. Technically there’s still a price on my head for killing my master and escaping. Slavery might be over but murder sure ain’t.” I then told him about how I was put in jail for killing a fulla that I didn’t kill, and the pākeha lady that broke me out of jail to help find her tanes real killers. He let out a whistle and a look of surprise crossed his face.
We both agreed to not shoot each other, at least not until the bounty was done and we both took our share.
A sheriff had put a bounty on an outlaw just outside of Armadillo so we head there, dispatch the posse trying to protect him, hogtied the outlaw and put on the back of hoiho. Well s**t after that the bandits came like they were crawling out of the walls of the canyon. After 30-40 minutes of fighting through bandits and looting their bodies; we head off to meet the sheriff, drop the captive off to county and split the bounty. Before Knossos turned to ride away he said “hey Pyre, you watch yourself around here. Not many people like talking to black folk; would much rather turn us into strange fruit, hanging from the tree like.”
With that, he tipped his hat and rode away.
On the way back to Armarillo I was tracked by 2 wolves. Good timing as I was trying to find a butcher anyway. I’ll stay the night here and talk to some locals to see what’s happening around here.
