Harley Bruce stepped out of the Sheriff's office and surveyed the town centre. It was desolate; the only movement was the dust on the ground that the wind turned into little eddies. He tuned round to address his deputy, Whittey Concade.
"Where the hell is everyone? It's like a goddamn morgue out there".
Concade smiled. "Hell, you mean you don't know? Think about it, what day is it?" Harley was still evidently clueless. "Jacki…"
Harley's cold, grey eyes lit up at the very mention of her name. Jacki and her band of whores were like the small town of Empire mascot. She was everything the town stood for and people from towns as far away as Nevada came to gaze upon the beauty that was Jacki.
"Wanna take a trip over, Whit?" Concade didn't take much persuasion, after all, who would?
Locking the door to the Sheriffs Office behind them, Empires law enforcement began the short walk to Hastings, Empires premier Saloon.
Concade said, "What times the public hanging at?"
"What?"
"'Cos that's what it'll be if Magruder catches us".
"I think you forget sometimes who is in charge of this town. I am the Sheriff, Whit".
"Yeah, but Magruder can still stir up a real shit-storm if he wants to".
"I can handle Tom Magruder, okay?"
Whittey finally nodded in agreement. "I sure hope so".
"Just forget about and have some fun". The pair stepped through the swing-doors and entered the smoky environment of the Hastings. The saloon was full so the pair stood at the back taking in the bar.
The Hastings was a refined inn with oak tables and bar top. The bar stool along the bar were all occupied. At the far end of the bar was a staircase that leads up to the vacant rooms that were occasionally let out. Beneath the staircase was a grand piano that Derek Forrest was currently playing. At the rear of the piano were four rows of three tables that ran the full length of the premises. The two top rows of tables were normally used for poker games but today was different. Just then the rattle of the bell behind the bar silenced everyone, including old man Forrest.
"Okay…I'm glad to see so many hear today", the barman, Eddie Brix, announced. "And I'm sure the girls will really appreciate it".
At the mention of their name the bar went into uproar. Shouts of 'Get 'em out' and cries of Jacki's name broke the silence. Again, Eddie silenced the crowd with his bell.
"Silence or you'll take the fuckin' roof of my damn drinking hole". Eddie laughed. "Enough of the talking I think, it's now time to introduce the woman themselves. R U READY?"
The riled up crowd burst into even louder applause and cheers, but this time they weren't silenced by Brix and his bell. Instead, Forrest began to play an upbeat melody on his piano. Simultaneously, Jacki's star girls began to descend the staircase, the long hair and billowing skirts flying high in the air as they danced and entertained the roaring crowd.
Harley and his deputy watched silently from the back with identical grins on their faces. They were eager for more.
The girls finally reached the bottom of the staircase and lined up beside old man Forrest's Grand Piano, smiling their professional dazzling smiles.
"Introducing next, the most beautiful, mystical gypsy woman in the world, Ms. Jacki…"
Forrest played a dark melodic tune accompanying Jacki's appearance from the shadows of upstairs. She wore her long flawless, dark hair down straight, sitting on her delicate shoulders. The deep red lipstick and eye shadow she wore enhanced her perfectly chiselled features and full lips. She wore a long flowing red dress that stopped just below her ankles, and nine-inch heeled boots that brought her a little shy of 6"5. She was perfect.
Every man watched her slow progress down the stairs, flicking her hair teasingly and kicking her skirt high in the air and briefly flashing he long legs.
"Whoa, she's some piece of ass, ain't she?"
Harley agreed. "She sure is".
Jacki meet every leering mans gaze briefly as she descended the steps, flicking her long eyelashes.
Brix yelled something that was incoherent beneath Forrest's dark melody and the other customer's roars of approval.
Then there was silence, Jacki had reached the bottom of the steps and had joined star girls. She stepped forward and addressed everyone present.
"Welcome, everyone… it has been over a year since me and my girls have last been here. Have you missed us, gentlemen?"
"There was many roars of yes.
"We I'll tell you, my girls have missed you. Haven't you girls?" Jacki's star girls all agreed, hastily shaking their pretty little heads.
"Okay, Ed, whose our first contestant?"
The barmen nodded. "Cheers Jacki, our first contestant of the night is our very own, Jacob King. An elderly gunslinger with a cigar stuffed in his mouth, got up from one of the stools that lined the bar and approached Jacki and her girls.
"'ello, girls", he grunted.
Jacki smiled. "Are you ready, Jacob?"
Jacob nodded, eyeing Jacki's abundant bosom.
"Which girl do you want if you win, Jacob?"
Without hesitation Jacob pointed at Jacki herself. "You", he declared, pointing at her. Jacki smiled teasingly. "Maybe, but first you have to beat me to the draw. Ready?"
"You bet ya!"
Jacki stepped forward so that she was standing directly beside her opponent, and facing the saloons doors. "Ready when you are, Ed".
Ed picked up a small brandy tumbler and threw it high into the air. Both slingers, Jacki and Jacob, went for their guns but Jacki had her drawn, cocked and was aiming for the rapidly fallen target before Jacob even had the chance to thumb back the hammer. Seconds later the glass tumbler exploded into a shower of glass splinters.
Jacki rolled a fresh bullet into the six-shots chamber and retuned it to her holster. "Looks like your reflexes are a bit slow these days", she said. "Next challenger, please". Defeated and with his head hung low, Jacob returned to his bar stool.
Eddie introduced the next challenger for one of Jacki babes as Nathan Snow. Nathan Snow was twenty years Jacobs junior and twice as attractive. He approached Jacki and her star girls with a confident swagger that would have even rivalled John Wayne.
"What about ya, Jacki?" He greeted. "Think you can bet me, huh? Well, let me just remind you I ain't a old man!"
There was a shout of protest from Jacob but it fell flat under Jacki's scream for Nathan to prove his cockiness.
"If you bet me to the draw, Snow, I'll let you have me and every single one of my girls. But if I win I get every bit of cash that you won at poker tonight. Deal?"
"You bet ya!"
As before Snow and Jacki stood side-to-side and waited for that ring of Ed Brix's bell. Another glass was released spinning into the air and was reduced to a shower of glass a mere second later. Again it was Jacki's bullet.
She looked across with a sneer creasing her lips. "Come back when you're out of nappies, Kid. I believe you owe me money". Jacki held out her hand and Snow attempted to grab her but before he had time to realize what was happening she was behind him and with a blade held tight against his throat.
Harley and his deputy sprung into action and rang towards the skirmish but Jackie said, "Don't worry sheriff, this little fucker doesn't have the balls to move a got his throat slit from ear to ear. There won't be anymore trouble will there, Nathan?"
" No", Snow muttered, his heart pounding in his chest as if he had been administered a shot of adrenaline.
Jacki used her free hand to search Snow's pockets, removing a wad of notes. "Thank you. Next!" Jacki released Snow and he stared her in the eye for a moment before returning to his seat. A knife had a way of diffusing anger.
The next couple of challengers all failed to beat Jacki to the draw so she challenged two glasses against her opponent one. Klein Mayes stepped forward to take up the first challenge but failed.
"Next. Isn't there anyone in this goddamn town that can beat me? Come one, there must be someone? Huh? What about you, sheriff?"
Harley Bruce looked up. "No thanks, it's not my type of thing".
"Ugh, come on, sheriff, don't spoil the fun. Have a go".
"Yeah, go on", Concade joked. "Don't spoil the fun!"
Just then the doors of the saloon burst open and the stranger entered Hastings. He wore a long black jacket, Mexican-style hat and knee length boots. His craggy jaw and small scare directly above his left eye gave him a rather sinister look. For the first time since Jacki and her girls had arrived, every eye turned away and watched as the dark stranger made his way between the tables
""I will challenge you, one on one. If I win you are all mine. If you win, I hang at dawn. Is it a deal?"
Jacki smiled. "At last a real challenge. Sheriff?"
"It's up to you and him", Harley Bruce ruled.
The rest of the saloon was in utter silence as they watched Jacki and the stranger take their positions beside each other. The tension in the air could have almost been cut with a knife.
Jacki said, "Are you ready to hang, cowboy?"
"No! I don't intent to lose…ever!"
Eddie Brix stepped up and for the final time he ran his bell. With deliberate slowness he then picked up two more brandy tumblers and held them high above his head. "ONE!"
Both gunslingers touched the grips of their pistols.
"TWO!"
Everyone held his or her breath.
"THREE!"
Eddie threw both tumblers high into the air and they began falling towards the floor. Jacki and the stranger went for their guns, both pulled back the hammer and forced a fresh bullet into the pistols chambers and aimed for the tumbler. Both fired. Both ejected slugs went hurtling towards the spinning target at a speed far, far greater than sound directly parallel to each other, but milliseconds before the glass exploded, the strangers took the lead and tore through the glass blasting it into millions of separate shards of glass that came spilling to the floor. The stranger appeared to have won.
The Hastings Bar had emptied after Jacki had gone upstairs with that year's winner. Several had stayed to leer at the star girls but they had left soon after. The only place that was left in the Hastings half an hour later was Jim White and his gang of compulsive gamblers, Harley Bruce and his deputy, Derek Forrest and Hoodoo Brown, who were at the bar discussing what Jacki might be up to with the stranger.
"Probably challenging him to a game of fastest finger first", Hoodoo was joking, slamming another whiskey down his neck and ordering another. "Lucky, fucker", he added, almost as an afterthought. Harley and Whittey laughed together.
Harley said, "I suppose we better get back to work before that little fucker breaks out again".
"Again?"
"Yeah, he thought he'd sprung himself last week until I collared him again".
Whittey Concade got to his feet and was about to head for the door when they burst open and five masked gunslingers burst in all yielding double shotguns. It had begun.
She recognized the stranger from a dream she'd had had a couple of nights previous. In it she had been warned to obey his every word. 'He's one of the good guys', the enchanted voice had told her.Now, as she watched his activities in the reflection of the mirror she was presently sat at combing her hair, she wasn't so sure that would be so easy. I mean, what danger was she in? The prophetic dream hadn't exactly been specific as to what the danger was.
Jacqueline McQueen had had the ability to foretell the future ever since she could remember. So far she had no reason to distrust the ability, at least, not yet.
"What are you here for?"
The stranger stopped what he was doing and turned round to regard her with his black eyes. "You are not safe, you have to leave Empire straight away".
"Why?" Jacki questioned. "I mean who the hell are you? What am I in danger from?"
"I think you know already". The stranger wouldn't expand on that be he had no need to realizing that she already did.
"Who was the guy in my dream?"
"His name is Caleb Fry, a powerful magician sent directly from the 'Black Power' to take over Empire, the Canyons and the rest of Leone City. He is on his way even as we speak".
"What about Magruder, the sheriff?"
"Tom Magruder had been in BP's pockets since day one".
Jacki grimaced. Humph, that figures. What about Sheriff Bruce?"
The stranger shrugged. "Not enough. Half of Leone City, the more powerful, at least, has already joined/ blacks forces. We need to head out of Empire to gather an army ".
Stunned, "An army?!"
"It's the only way. Blood has to be spilt to retain Leone's freedom".
"Jesus this is mad! Like a bad dream!"
The stranger leaned so close to Jacki that she could feel his hot breath on her neck. He whispered, "Time had ran out for questions".
Jacki turned round and meet his gaze. "It's that simple is it, huh? Get up and go and build an army to fight Black? What about my girls, huh? This is fuckin' mad?"
Just then a rapid succession of gunfire ripped apart the relative silence. It had begun.
Main Characters
Harley Bruce – Empires Sheriff and leader of the Rebels after Empire is burnt to the ground and his deputy is shot dead by Marauder's alliance.
Jacki (& Stargirls) – Jacki is a special woman granted with a physic gift to be able to foresee the future and with an incredible fast gun-draw. She is one of the "Rebels"
Roland - Mysterious character and leader of the Rebels
Kanji – Renegade apache warrior that joins the rebels
Caleb Fry – Powerful magician and leader of the alliance. He vows to take over city of Leon.
Thomas "Tom" Magruder – Railroad and mining magnate and general of the alliance
Garrison & his men (Hollister, Bishop and Colton)– Garrison and his men work for Magruder. They are the ones that attack the Hastings.
Incidental Characters
Whittey "Whit" Concade – Deputy. He is murdered during the attack on Empire.
Hoodoo Brown – Casual friend of Harley
Jim White & Nathan Snow – Poker players in Hastings
Klein Mayes & Jacob King – Contestants in the shootout
Derek Forrest – Pianist in the Hastings
Edward "Eddie" Brix – Hastings Barman. He is killed during the attack.
Allen – one of Garrisons men but he is killed during the attack on Hastings.
Synopsis
The story starts in a small western town called Empire, one part of a large city known as Leon City. Leon also incorporates the towns: Wicklow, Ire, Segal and the Canyon. It begins with the sheriff, Harley Bruce and his deputy, Whittey "Whit" Concade going to Empires annual shooting contest hosted at the Hastings – Empires on and only Saloon – by Jacki McQueen and her "Stargirls". Jacki beats every one to the draw during the annual shoot-out until a stranger appears with an offer she can't refuse. The stranger wins the draw and wins the shoot-out, thus, getting his wish of having her all to himself. They go upstairs where he tells her all about the alliance, about black power and Merlin, the man of shadows. They are still talking when Marauder's men attack Hastings. Sheriff Bruce manages to take one of them down before he is forced to retreat up the stairs to join Jacki and Caleb Fry. Whittey, Bruce's deputy and friend are shot dead and the town of Empire is burned to the ground. Bruce, Fry and Jacki managed to escape and they head for The Canyon through Deadmans Pass where they are temporarily apprehended by renegade apaches who still wage war against the whiteman. After much discussion the apaches agree to let the company go free – Magruder is an even bigger enemy because he uses apache-slaves. Introduction of a new character, Kanji, apache warrior into their company.