Free The Return of Santiago: A Myth of the Far Future by Mike Resnick

5.
     
                         The Scarlet Infidel is odd—
                         He has no quality of shame.
                         He spits into the eye of God,
                         And commits sins that have no name.
     
           Virgil Soaring Hawk's skin wasn't really red, but Dante decided to exercise some poetic license, especially since Virgil kept referring to himself as a redskin.
           Besides, the Scarlet part didn't interest Dante anywhere near as much as the Infidel part. Virgil would never discuss any details, but from what Dante heard on his first few worlds, the poet concluded that if a race of oxygen breathers— any race—was divided into sexes, Virgil had spent a night or two with a female member of that race and another night with a male. There were a few races that boasted more than two sexes, and Virgil had sampled some of their wares as well.
           Virgil also didn't speak much about his other areas of physical prowess, but Dante noted most people were content to disapprove of the Scarlet Infidel from afar, that no one wanted any part of him in a fight.
           As for Virgil, he was thrilled to be written up by the new Orpheus, and was constantly nagging Dante to give him more verses.
           "Come on, now," he was saying as Dante's ship neared Tusculum II. "Orpheus gave Giles Sans Pitie nine verses. Giles Sans Pitie, for Christ's sake! Take away his metal hand and he was nothing, a second-rate bounty hunter. I mean, really, who the hell did he ever kill?"
           "Who did you?" asked Dante.
           "I'm not a bounty hunter, so I'm not in a position where I can brag about it without certain legal repercussions. But the things I've done, the places I've been, surely they're worth as many verses as Giles Sans Pitie!"
           "He only gave one verse to the Angel," Dante shot back. "And Peacemaker MacDougal and Sebastian Cain got just three apiece. Are you sure you want all those verses?"
           Virgil grimaced. "Well, I was sure until about twenty seconds ago. Now I have to think about it."
           "While you're thinking, suppose you tell me why we're going to the Tusculum system?"
           "You said you wanted to meet Tyrannosaur Bailey."
           "What makes you think he'll be on Tusculum II?"
           Virgil smiled. "He owns it."
           "He owns the whole world?"
           "Well, there's not that much to own—a couple of Tradertowns and a landing field."
           "How did he get to own a world?" asked Dante. "Did he win it in a card game?"
           "Nothing so romantic," replied Virgil. "He killed the man who owned it before him."
           "I take it the laws of inheritance don't work quite the same out here as in the Democracy."
           "Well, yes and no."
           "What does that mean?"
           "It means they might very well work the same, but no one felt compelled to argue the point with Tyrannosaur."
           "No one hired any mercenaries?" asked Dante. "I mean, hell, with a whole planet at stake . . ."
           "Tyrannosaur Bailey eats mercenaries for breakfast," answered Virgil.
           "Has he got a price on his head?"
           "A big one," said Virgil. He smiled. "He eats bounty hunters for lunch."
           "How did you get to know him?"
           "I met him at a gaming table out on the Rim, years ago. One of the players accused him of cheating, and he killed him. Literally ripped his head off his body."
           " Was he cheating?"
           "Absolutely."
           "But you didn't complain?"
           "I don't have that kind of death wish," said Virgil.
           "So you just kept playing?"
           "For another hour or so," replied Virgil. "I won forty thousand New Stalin ruples. He asked me if I was cheating, and I said of course I was, that