Sincere thanks to my inspirational beta, Con

Warning - This is the first part of a three part piece of nonsense!

George

Part 1

Smoke from the campfire curled lazily skyward. Johnny watched it briefly before turning his attention back to the job in hand: that of filling two mugs with the coffee he had just made. Setting the battered coffeepot to one side he sat back on his haunches and sighed in contentment.

The noonday sun hovered high above him in a cloudless summer sky, the birds were singing and all was right with his world.

Picking up one of the mugs he sipped tentatively on its steaming contents, his blue eyes drinking in every detail of the glorious vista that sprawled endlessly before him.

A smile parted his lips and his eyes sparkled. Today was his first real day of freedom since being shot and he was going to enjoy every single minute of it.

The back shooter had been caught; Scott had made sure of that. All Johnny had had to do was recover, and he had; it had just taken time. Too long a time and he'd almost gone stir crazy!

Just yesterday, Doc Jenkins had called by. The visit had resulted in the youngest Lancer getting a clean bill of health, along with a very warm and affectionate handshake.

Johnny's smile grew wider at the memory, he liked Sam. The big man with an even bigger heart was so much more than the town saw bones; he'd proved a good friend to the entire Lancer clan, his sympathetic ear and wise counsel given freely.

But then there were some things you couldn't put a price on, like saving a life and Doctor Samuel Jenkins had saved his so very recently. If Sam hadn't been the skilled professional he was…well, Johnny wasn't going to think about that today. No not today because TODAY he could once again come and go as he pleased. He was also free to tackle whatever work needed doing around the ranch, and he'd decided his first job would be checking and repairing fences. That meant a long time in the saddle and some sweat inducing labour, and boy was he looking forward to it.

The smile faded as Johnny remembered the past month, Murdoch had ridden roughshod on his day to day activities; the Old Man doggedly following Sam's instructions to the letter.

"Break him in gently Murdoch..." Sam had said and Johnny had seethed silently as the two men had discussed him like he wasn't there. He cringed when he remembered how later that day, when alone with his father, he'd gone on to lose his temper. Murdoch had simply listened to him rant before stating firmly: "You WILL do as the doctor orders BOY. Do anything to jeopardise your recovery and believe me you'll regret getting out of bed that morning!"

Johnny had swallowed his angry retort. He'd lost the battle but he'd realised the victor was actually on his side, and that thought had put a smile on his face.

An eagle glided into view, Johnny watched in awe as it swooped silently to the ground, then soared triumphantly away with its prey. As it disappeared into the distance he let his thoughts drift back to a little earlier that morning.

Murdoch had said, "Take care son." Scott had plastered a stupid grin on his face before instructing Jelly to "keep my little brother out of trouble…if you can!"

Johnny chuckled to himself; there wasn't much chance of him finding any out here, especially with Jelly playing nursemaid.

Looking around to see where his friend was. He spied the bearded handyman standing about twenty yards away, staring down at the ground, cap in hand and scratching his head.

A wicked grin crossed Johnny's face and he called over. "Hey Jelly! Keep scratching ya head like that and ya'll end up with a splinter in ya finger."

Jelly turned to look in the younger man's direction. Ignoring the good natured teasing he said, "Come look at this will ya!"

Johnny eased himself to his feet and sauntered over to Jelly. He gazed fixedly down at the ground his face quickly clouding over in puzzlement.

"What is it?" he finally asked as he crouched down for a closer inspection of the strange animal tracks Jelly had found.

"I don't rightly know! I ain't seen nothin' like it before."

"I vote we track it down." Johnny jumped to his feet and ran towards Barranca, a sense of adventure leaping into his heart.

"I vote we don't. We can't! We've got too much ta do and the boss ain't gonna be too pleased if we don't get it done." Jelly glared after Johnny, sometimes the boy plain forgot how to use the brain the good Lord gave him.

"Barranca votes we do too! And as your horse don't talk to YOU..." Johnny's eyes sparked with pure devilment, "YOU are out voted."

Jelly shook his head the boy had too much sass for his own good.

Ten minutes later after hurriedly packing up camp the two men were trailing the mysterious beast. Jelly was mumbling to himself and Johnny was doing his best to ignore his friend's remonstrations, quickly finding it impossible.

"Aw Jelly, we ain't going to get within a mile of the creature if ya carry on like that, now hush will ya."

"Your dad ain't going to like this, not one little bit, no siree!"

"The Old Man ain't going to find out, not unless someone tells him, and Barranca ain't betrayed a confidence yet."

"You saying I have..."

"Jelly! Come on. I was just pulling your leg."

Jelly harrumphed. "You thought on what ya going to do with this critter when ya find it?"

"Let's find it first, then we can decide what to do with it."

Both men rode in silence for a few miles, then Johnny turned sheepishly to Jelly admitting. "Guess I didn't think on this much."

"Ya didn't think at all!"

"Murdoch's gonna be mad as hell."

Jelly's heart softened at the deflated look on the younger man's face.

"Only if'n ya go doin' somethin' foolish! He worries about ya."

"I know, but there's no need."

"As long as ya his son he's going to worry about ya."

A small smile settled on the younger man's lips but it soon faded "Taking off after a…a…whatever it is, was a fool thing to do. Ya should have talked me out of it. We'd best go back; whatever it is can wait."

"Talk ya out of it! If I remember rightly I was out voted! Ya can go back if ya want but I got my mind set on finding that critter now"

"Jelly, I don't know, Murdoch expects me to…"

"Murdoch expects ya to stray occasionally, he ain't perfect ya know and he was young once. Where d'ya think ya get that wild streak? The stories yer dad's told me, make yer hair curl they would. Maybe you should ask him about the time he got cornered by that cougar or the time them saloon girls had him locked in the…well maybe not that one…"

"Saloon girls! MY Old Man? Hot damn! " Johnny's voice soared in amazement.

"Now don't ya go blabbing about that." Jelly bristled, wishing he'd never opened his mouth.

"Ya got to tell me and Scott that one, what else he tell ya Jelly?" Johnny pleaded.

"Never you mind…" Jelly began in a warning tone only to be silenced when his horse suddenly reared up, unseating his unsuspecting rider before running off.

Johnny jumped from his mount and rushed to the older man's side.

"Jelly! Are you hurt?" Johnny quickly scanned his friend for any obvious injury.

"Nah, cept my pride. That horse's been skittish a while now; should have been a mite more cautious."

Both men turned quickly towards Barranca who had suddenly started to stomp the ground nervously. Johnny drew his gun and whispered to Jelly, "Get up, could be that animal. It takes a lot to spook Barranca…and he's spooked!"

Johnny caught hold of his horse's reins and spoke softly into his ear. Once Barranca settled both men then walked towards a nearby rocky escarpment.

"Can you hear anything?" Johnny asked quietly.

"Only my heart!" Jelly admitted, "Its palpatatin! Ya know I've got a bad feeling about this Johnny! My elbow's aching something fierce. I don't like it....I think we should..." Jelly suddenly grabbed Johnny's arm and wrenched him backwards. "Come on boy we're going back!"

"I ain't going back." Johnny swatted Jelly's arm away indignantly.

"Look Johnny…the length between them prints makes that critter a big un. Your dad will have my hide if anythin' happens to ya. Now even if I have to hog tie ya boy… we ARE going back."

The snapping of branches hushed both men, stopping them dead in their tracks.

"That came from around back of those rocks…"

"We ain't goin' no further…"

"You ain't, I am. Now stay here Jelly." Johnny ordered.

"Leave ya go by yourself! What do ya take me fer?"

"OK, ok we'll both go…but you stay behind me…"

"Stay behind you! I ain't hiding behind no kid!"

"I ain't a kid!" Johnny snapped back but immediately regretted his tone. "Look, this ain't the time to argue Jelly!"

A strange noise fractured the uneasy silence that followed.

"What was that?" Johnny whispered, "I ain't ever heard a noise like that before…"

"Somethin' just snorted!"

"What kind of an animal snorts like that do ya think?" Johnny asked gazing expectantly at Jelly.

Jelly's eyes widened, "An angry one!" Then grabbing Johnny's arm firmly he demanded, "I want yer word that ya won't go doin' anythin' foolish."

"Jelly!" Johnny growled in exasperation.

"Your word!"

"Ok ok! You've got it!" Rubbing the sweat from his eyes Johnny then motioned towards the rocky tor. "Let's climb up there and get a better view of what's on the other side. I'll go first."

Mindful of his companion's capabilities Johnny carefully picked his way up the rocky incline. On reaching the top he turned around and offered Jelly a helping hand, the older man readily accepting it.

Once safely on the summit the two men sank to their knees, Jelly in particular needing to catch his breath before they investigated any further.

Just as his breathing began to even out his face contorted into a mask of pure horror, his mouth opening, his eyes becoming wide and bulging.

"Jelly? What is it? Are you sick? Jelly?"

"D…d…dev…devil…devil." Jelly stuttered looking past Johnny.

Johnny felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck and an icy shiver run down his spine. He swallowed the lump in his throat and summoning up some courage he slowly turned around.

"D...d... devil?" Johnny stammered as he stared at two horns set upon a head that tapered to a point. Two black eyes stared back at him and on either side of those soulless deep pits, sat two pointed ears. The beasts nostrils flared, seemingly sniffing the air. Then suddenly its mouth opened and out curled a long black tongue.

Johnny reeled backwards then froze in horror; but as adrenaline began to flow he grabbed hold of Jelly's arm and pulled him unceremoniously back down the precipice, falling the last few feet.

Both men sat stunned, gasping for breath, hearts beating wildly, Johnny stared at Jelly concerned at the elder man's pallor. "You ok?"

Jelly stared back open mouthed.

"Jelly? You ok?"

"D...d...devil…" the older man forced the word out.

"Devil? "As in 'the' devil? No! It couldn't be…could it?" The thought made Johnny's blood run cold.

"D...d...devil…" Jelly repeated as he lifted his head, eyes growing ever wider as he stared up at something behind Johnny.

Dread rose from the pit of Johnny's stomach. He had to force himself to turn around and was astounded at the sight that met him.

Whatever the thing was it stood at least fifteen feet high on four long, long, legs, which tapered down to large cloven hooves. Its shoulders sloped to hindquarters and attached to those shoulders was the longest neck Johnny had ever seen. It seemed to go on forever and he recognised its head as the one that belonged to Jelly's devil. A long tasselled tail swished gracefully at its other end. The black tongue reached out again and removed some leaves from bushes growing high among the rocks. Johnny was staggered as he estimated the tongue to be at least a foot long.

Neither man moved both staring in awe at the never before seen giant, finally Johnny found his voice.

"Strewth! I don't reckon it's the devil Jelly…heard tell he's only got two legs."

Jelly let out the breath he had been holding and stuttered back, "It…it's beautiful…what is it?"

Johnny turned to look at Jelly. "Beautiful? Jelly! Barranca's beautiful that…that thing is… odd!"

"Odd! It's a work of art…all God's creatures are a work of art."

"Five minutes ago it was the devil now it's one of God's creatures…make your mind up Jelly!"

Johnny got to his feet, trying not to startle the animal that now stood less than ten feet away. As he hauled Jelly to his feet he suddenly realised Barranca was nowhere to be seen.

"Barranca's gone…that thing scared him off." Johnny let out his special whistle and after a few attempts Barranca cantered into view.

Johnny walked over to his treasured mount and taking hold of his reins gently led him over to a tree, this time tying him securely.

Returning to stand beside Jelly, whose eyes had not left the animal standing in front of him he asked, "Now what?"

"We take him home?"

"Take him home! You're not serious? Murdoch ain't going to be too happy about us wasting a day as it is and if we turn up with THAT…well my days will be numbered."

"If we leave him here, his days will be numbered."

"Him! How do you know it's a him?" Johnny asked incredulously.

Jelly rolled his eyes and smiled knowingly.

"Oh!" Johnny grinned

"Get your rope."

"Rope! There ain't a rope in California long enough for that thing."

"George"

"George?"

"George, that's his name."

"You've given him a name! Jelly! He ain't a dog."

"Neither is Barranca."

"What! No I know…ok we'll call it George." Johnny conceded wearily.

"Him!"

"Alright 'him', HIS name is George and my name's gonna be mud when Murdoch gets wind of this."

"Ride back and get some help." Jelly instructed.

"I ain't leaving you with that thing! He could be dangerous."

"George ain't dangerous! Look at him Johnny, he wouldn't hurt a soul. You ride back and fetch Scott, maybe he'll know what he is."

Eyeing the strange beast suspiciously Johnny stepped towards Barranca, "I'll be right back."

TBC

Molly