For the Honor of the Hunt

By Lazette Gifford

The world of Andradora has been ruled by women since the first landing, but that's changing. They've applied for membership in the Inner Worlds Council and must accept their constitution and allow basic rights to everyone, no matter what their gender. Britta is a registered and professional bounty hunter on the path of a dangerous criminal and is about to learn what equality means when she discovers that the world's first male bounty hunter has gotten in ahead of her. The man they're both tracking may be the least of their problems.

The first story, For the Honor of the Hunt, was originally published by Yard Dog Press. Also included are two new stories: The Hunter and the Hunted and Hunter's Game.

• Language: English
• Publisher: A Conspiracy of Authors
• Release date: Oct 18, 2013
• ISBN: 9781936507436

Lazette Gifford

Lazette is an avid writer as well as the owner of Forward Motion for Writers and the owner/editor of Vision: A Resource for Writers.It's possible she spends too much time with writers.And cats.

Book preview

For the Honor of the Hunt

By

Lazette Gifford

Copyright 2013 Lazette Gifford

An ACOA Publication

www.aconspiracyofauthors.com

ISBN 978-1-936507-43-6

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

A Conspiracy of Authors Publication

www.aconspiracyofauthors.com

Epub ISBN: 978-1-936507-43-6

Copyright 2013, Lazette Gifford, All Rights Reserved

The short story, For the Honor of the Hunt, was originally published by Yard Dog Press in Honor Bound

Cover Art copyright 2013, Lazette Gifford, All Rights Reserved

Cover art created with DAZ Studio, Adobe Photoshop

Table of Contents

For the Honor of the Hunt

The Hunter and the Hunted

Hunter's Game

About the Author

Preview: Ada Nish Pura

For the Honor of the Hunt

Rain pounded the bike's cab as I arrived at the edge of the wildwood refuge. I'd been wise to pull the top over before I left town and forgo the joy of the wind in my hair and bugs in my face. The intensity of the deluge took me by surprise, though, and I almost swept straight past the black and gold Andradora Police Force vehicle sitting at the side of the road. I abruptly braked, cursing when my bike slipped on the wet pavement. Careful, sister, I told myself. Careful. Not even this bounty is worth getting killed over.

However, my headlong race from the city seemed to have paid off. I couldn't see another transport in sight, which meant I had arrived ahead of the pack. I would be the first bounty hunter in and I'd only have one competitor, somewhere behind me. Time to move quickly.

I found Milisin leaning against a stout old bara tree. Her black Force uniform made her nearly invisible until she took one last drag off her cig. She ground the remains into the dirt and stalked over to my bike, a formidable and unhappy woman forced to wait here in the downpour.

I pushed open the cab and climbed out. Rain hit my neck with cold, icy spikes and I grimaced at the bitter scent of wet bara leaves and dank, rotting vegetation.

Hey, sister, Milisin said with a slap on my shoulder. I'd expected the blow and had already braced my legs. Bad night for the bastard to show, eh?

Bad night and bad place, I replied, tossing my waterproof pack over my left shoulder. I unlocked the rifle case and pulled my weapon out. Though an older model, we'd had a long, good relationship together. I hope he didn't think a little rain would keep him safe.

Milisin grunted agreement as she dug a comp out of her own pack and keyed the screen on, obviously in a hurry to get out of the weather. She leaned forward, shielding the screen as best she could from the falling rain. Britta NiGwen, do you swear by the Laws of Andradora that you are a licensed Hunter in good standing, and you are fully cognizant of the danger and responsibility with which you now accept this Hunt?

I do.

I, Milisin NiJulia, do entrust you with the hunt for one Pal Delphison, wanted on seventeen counts of murder. A bounty of forty thousand credits shall be paid for the delivery of the quarry, alive, to any Andradora Police Force station or patrol. A consideration of fifteen thousand credits will be paid if the quarry is delivered dead. Do you understand and agree to these terms?

I do.

Then I do grant you leave, and luck, on the Hunt. Please place your palm on the scan for confirmation.

I shook water from my fingers and put my hand over the computer screen, watching the bar shift from red to green as the officials drew the thousand credit fee from my business account for the hunt registration.

You want the bad news now? Milisin asked as she snapped the comp closed.

I grimaced. "Let me guess. I'm not the first one in."

Right, she said. She waved her hand towards the huge, black and gold vehicle. I could see a smaller, battered bike sitting in the mud to the right. Someone had hit hard times. A loner went in ahead of you. Para's kid.

Para's kid? I echoed. She'd been a damn good hunter, before she went crazy and killed herself. I didn't know she had a daughter.

She didn't.

I had pulled the rifle to my shoulder and turned to Milisin with shock and disgust. "You've got to be joking. She had a son? And the government licensed him to hunt?"

All perfectly legal, Milisin said, and then shook her head, scattering more water than a dog in a puddle. We're part of the Inner Worlds now, you know. Can't discriminate against the males. His name is Teon Parason. He went in about fifteen minutes ago. You're number two, and at least I can close the site before we get any others applying to go in there.

How the hell did he get here so fast?

Milisin shrugged. Said he'd tracked Delphison to this area, but didn't know where he disappeared until we put the call out.

Well, damn. I don't need some lunatic male with a gun in there.

Two of them. Don't forget your quarry.

"Damn crazy men, I said. I double-checked my rifle to make sure I had registered tracer bullets in place. I didn't want any question on who bagged this one. You have a picture of Para's boy? I don't want to confuse him with the other male."

You don't? Could save us all kinds of problems in the future, Milisin said. Then she shrugged and pulled the comp up. About your height, thin, and long hair. No facial hair, and real pretty, if you know what I mean. Sure didn't get his looks from old Para.

She held the screen out and I glanced at the picture of Teon. No, he didn't take after his gruff, craggy-faced mother. I nodded and Milisin closed the comp.

Pal Delphison, my quarry, stood a head shorter than me with a squat, muscled body, and wore a full beard. A shame they weren't more alike. I might reasonably mistake them . . . but I wouldn't do so on purpose. I had a reputation to protect, even with a bastard male Hunter in there trying to get my bounty.

I don't get it, Milisin said, still standing in the rain. Men can hold any job except those handling weapons. Do you know there are almost as many males in politics now as women? Hell, my next-door neighbor's husband is an exec, and he makes more than she and I put together. They can have any other job so we didn't need to give them guns besides! Why the hell did the IWC have to come in and screw things up for us?

Because we asked them to, I replied.

She grunted agreement and headed for her aircar as I turned my attention to the job at hand. Going after Pal Delphison came as close to pleasure as I would get in this job. I hated fanatics, and Free Soul followers were some of the worst I'd ever seen. Pal Delphison had walked into a sanctuary of True Believers and opened fire, killing nearly everyone. I wouldn't regret having to kill him if I had to, though I could use the full credits for taking him live.

In the last three years, Andradora had bred more than our share of weirdoes and crazies. I blamed the change on the IWC and their mandatory changes, like giving males the right to Hunt. Goddess knew men were the ones most likely to go crazy if they got weapons in their hands. Statistics, going all the way back to Mother Earth, proved the fact.

I started towards the line of trees to the side of the road, thinking dark thoughts about the future of the Hunt and the world.

Hey Britta!

Yeah? I glanced at Milisin, trying to hide how badly the through of a male Hunter bothered me, but I think she understood.

"Be careful tonight, Brit. And for the Goddesses sake, don't let this man outdo you. Make us proud."

I laughed and walked past the refuge barrier -- a flicker of warning light around me -- and into the wildwoods. The scent of the world no longer bothered me as my brain kicked into Hunt mode. I went to work.

You'd think something with leaves as wide and thick as bara trees would provide some protection from a storm. Unfortunately, the bow-shaped leaves gather rain before they bend and dump the water on the ground . . . or, more likely, on the person walking underneath the branches. I had long held a theory that bara trees were really sentient, and hated the humans who had come to their world two hundred years before. Every walk I took through a wildwood refuge reinforced the belief.

I hadn't gone more than ten meters before two different trees dumped leaves full of icy water on me. I reached over to the last, stout gray trunk and rapped the wood with the butt of my rifle.

One more time, and I'm returning with a blow torch and an axe. Spread the word.

The tree quivered in fear, I'm sure.

I hated night hunts, though in these woods there would be darkness and shadows on the brightest days. I reached into my pack and pulled out a heat glass, wrapping the band