The mountains felt different that day.

They didn't seem so colourful and idillic anymore, but like a long way into danger.

Your eyes wandered through the trees.

Long shadows crawled over the ground and into the depths where they couldn't be seen anymore.

A shivering breath escaped you.

Without thinking about it, your grip tightened around Arthur.

It felt like he was calm, but maybe he was just better at pretending than you.

"Keep calm.", he suddenly said in his low voice.

Somehow it managed to make you feel saver from one moment to another.

Your eyes fell onto the river.

The water seemed darker as well, but maybe that was just because of the clouds that darkened the sky above.

"What are we doing here again?", you asked. "Didn't you tell Dutch where the cave is already?"

With a hum, he shook his head.

"I told him it's better if we don't go there as a group.", he said and made the horse walk into a different direction that led away from the cave and mines. "We need to lay low now that things have taken a turn."

Curling your lips, you pressed your cheek against his back.

"Apologies.", you chewed on the inside of your cheek. "I would have done it differently if I would have known that the consequences are so heavy."

A chuckle made his chest press into the palms of your hands.

"You really thought you could get away with it like that?"

"No. But I thought I'd be more sneaky."

"You'd make a terrible outlaw."

"I once was a good one. Maybe I got too comfortable..."

The hand that was resting on his leg moved to grab yours and give it a gentle squeeze.

"I'm sure you weren't in for the long run.", he said, almost mumbling to himself. "Sometimes there ain't a choice."

For a moment, you let yourself enjoy the warm, soft feeling of his touch hand on yours.

Your fingers twitched, wanting to lock with his. But you held yourself back.

He was just trying to be nice, you were sure of that. There was no need to push his limits with stupid things like your desire to be closer to him.

He was nice and helpful. Now he even offered protection.
You needed him.

But you couldn't have him. That would have been out of line.

"I never had a choice.", you said as your eyes wandered over a rock that was covered in paint and drawings of the natives. "But it will change. As soon as Dutch fulfils his side of the agreement I will have a choice."

A sound escaped him.

"Dutch will take care of those rich bastards.", Arthur assured, but the way his hand moved on yours gave away that there was something on his mind that he didn't add.

Your eyes narrowed and you couldn't help but glare at him from behind.

Why did it feel like a betrayal was about to knock at the door?

"He's not going to steal from me too, will he?", you finally dared to ask in a lazy voice.

Arthur's shoulders stiffened.

"He won't consider it stealin'."

"It's my money. They rightfully owe it to me."

"But he will rightfully steal it. And therefore he will consider it his."

With a clenched jaw, you grabbed Arthur's hand and gave it such a firm squeeze that there was no way for him not to see it as a warning.

"I would hate to have you as my enemy too, Arthur.", you said, dead serious. "But I need that money. And if Dutch is planning on keeping it from me, I might need to overthink the agreement we have."

A thin, but sly smirk appeared on his bearded face.

"Don' worry about it, sweetheart.", he shook your hands off his body to get down from the horse. "I ain't plannin' on fightin' ya. If you'll ever find yourself with a gun pointed at your head, it won't be mine."

He raised his hands in a silent offer to catch you.

For a moment, you stared at him.

There was no lie visible in his eyes.

But despite Arthur seemingly being an honest soul, you couldn't shake off the feeling that something would go terribly wrong with your plans once you got too close to him.

To add to that, he didn't even seem like he wanted to get any closer.

He accompanied you because it was Dutch's order. He might have been talkative, but that also could have been just curtsy.

Or to kill time.

Either way, it was nowhere near a friendship.

Or anything beyond that.

Without paying attention to his kind offering of help, you leaned over the horse and managed to swing one of
your legs to the other side.

Now, you were sitting on the horse as if it was a chair and stared down on Arthur.

He took a step towards you, his arms almost resting on the side of your hips.

But you didn't take his help. You slid down yourself.

"You learn.", he said with a smirk, but the look in his eyes gave away that he got the hint to be more distant from now on. "Alright. Let's get you to the shooting range."

While fixing his black hat, he walked past you, eyes glancing at your face from the side, and walked straight into a huge bush.

The green leaves and branches swallowed him in one bite.

You frowned.

"Shooting range?", you asked, but remained standing in front of the wall of green.

"Dutch wants you to know how to defend yourself.", his voice answered from afar. "With a gun."

You rolled your eyes.

"Obviously...", you pulled your head in and dived into the bush to follow his footsteps. "And he ordered you to be my teacher?"

As you popped your head out on the other side, the words left you for a moment.

Arthur was standing at the edge of a hill, hands on his belt, and looked down into a valley.

A lake shimmered at the bottom, surrounded by a meadow that was covered in wild flowers.

He glanced over his shoulder to point down the hill where a small tent and a fireplace were visible.

"We'll spent some hours down there.", he said. "I hope you brought plenty of time."