I guess there was some confusion about the gun Mr. Browning gives to Arthur. On record, it is an early prototype of the Colt M1911. Yes, John Browning designed that too, at least according to my sources. No, I'm pretty sure it's not in existence by 1899, but I wanted to give Arthur a 1911, dammit, so I'm gonna do that. Anyway, on with the story.
They arrived at Riggs Station to a torrential downpour. Sadie had seen rain before, but never as bad as this. Within seconds of leaving the train, they'd both been soaked through to the bone. And to top it off, they were so far north that the raindrops were freezing on impact. If they stayed outside, they would freeze.
Arthur and Sadie made their way inside the station, where they were greeted by the post man. He knew Arthur by name, probably from the amount of time the man spent in this area.
"So what now?" Arthur asked, his breath making clouds in the air even inside the building.
"I don't know," Sadie replied, brushing flakes of frost off her coat. "There's no going out right now, so I guess we'll be waiting it out in here."
Arthur guided her to a seat and they sat down together, huddling close to find some semblance of warmth.
"So, Sadie," Arthur asked, "what are we doing here? You didn't exactly tell me."
"Oh, um," Sadie stammered, searching for words. She couldn't tell him the real reason they were here, it would ruin the surprise.
"I... There was a guy at the stables, he said he might know where I could find a really nice horse."
"Really? What kind of horse?" Arthur tilted his head to the side.
"Oh, it's uh, an Arabian." Sadie looked away. So far, no real lying exactly. All that was technically true. She just didn't tell him the Arabian wasn't coming from the stables or that it, according to the stable master, had a coat the color of flame.
"Huh. Never thought you liked Arabians," Arthur mused, pointedly glancing outside to Bob.
"Well, it seemed interesting, so I decided to branch out," Sadie replied, sounding perhaps a bit more terse than she intended.
Arthur looked out at the pounding rain, lost in thought.
"I'm sorry I said it like that, Arthur. It's just something I'm interested in now. I was told it's a beautiful horse."
Arthur turned back, his mouth turned slightly up in a tentative grin. "Nothing to be sorry for. Now come here," he said, pulling her closer, "you look like you're gonna freeze to death."
They stayed that way until the rain stopped in the early evening, the sun starting to dip below the not-so-distant mountains.
"Damn," Sadie cursed their luck. "Wasted a whole day waitin' for the weather."
"Well," Arthur replied, "I wouldn't say it was wasted." He kissed her hair gently, resting the bone of his cheek against the same spot.
Sadie melted into his arms. "Still," she said, her voice muffled a little by the heavy coats. "We should probably spend the night in Strawberry. Wouldn't want to spend any more daylight than we have to riding to our destinations."
Arthur hummed into her hair. "Five more minutes."
"Okay, she replied. "But only five."
By the time they arrived in town, darkness had fallen and the street lamps were lit. They made their way to the Strawberry hotel. Once inside, they booked a room and headed up the stairs.
As they entered the room, Sadie noted the one bed in the room. She cursed herself for lack of foresight. "Shit, I forgot-"
"S'alright," Arthur cut her off. "Nothing'll come of it, unless you want it to. We can sleep in the same bed one night without anything happening."
Sadie let out a relieved sigh. "Thank you, Arthur."
"Let's just get to sleep," he replied, sitting down on the mattress and removing his boots, coat and hat. Sadie copied him, settling under the covers. Soon enough they were both asleep.
Sadie's eyes opened to Arthur's blue gaze staring back at her. "'Mornin," she said.
"Good morning to you, too," he replied. He squinted ever so slightly. "Were you dreaming?"
"Yeah."
"What about?" He pressed.
She gave him a gentle kiss for an answer.
"Oh. Were you dreaming about me?"
"Mmhmm," she replied, pulling closer.
"Well," Arthur said, kissing her nose, "was it a good dream?"
"Mm, yeah," Sadie replied.
He kissed her forehead and pulled away. He sat up and put his coat and boots back on. "Come on you, you got a horse to buy."
"Fine," she replied, rolling out of bed. "But there ain't gonna be no buyin."
"Please remind me," Arthur inquired, "why I thought getting a horse with you was gonna be as simple or easy as going to a stables?"
Sadie glanced sideways at him, shrugged, and went back to scanning the tree line with her binoculars.
They'd headed out west from Strawberry, toward Lake Owanjila. Once there, they headed past the northwest tip and across the stream, into the Grizzly foothills.
"Can you at least tell me what color horse we're looking for?" He asked, exasperated. "I have a good eye for horses, maybe, but I can't exactly identify an Arabian just by looking at it from distance. And I sure as hell won't be able to tell if I don't know the damn color I'm looking for either."
"Trust me," Sadie said. "You'll know it when you see it. The color is..."
She trailed off as she spotted a glimpse of its gorgeous red coat through the trees. She shushed Arthur before he could speak, pointing to the horse. It disappeared into the brush, but not before Arthur caught sight of it.
"Is that-"
"Sure is," Sadie answered, smirking. "Come on, we'd best continue on foot."
They dismounted and followed the horse into the brush. Sadie motioned to Arthur to stay farther back. She saw the Arabian enter a clearing and followed it, stepping out of concealment.
"Hey, boy," she called out to it.
She saw his eyes dart to her, his ears flattening back. He was gonna spook quickly if she didn't do something.
"Shh, hey it's okay boy," she said, trying to calm him. She continued her approach, keeping a leisurely pace.
He reared up, whinnying softly.
"Hey, hey, woah, you're fine. You are quite a beautiful stud, ain't ya?"
He snorted, his ears twitching ever so slightly.
"Yeah, you're okay. You look just fine in the morning light, don't ya?" So close now, just a few more steps.
She put her left hand to his muzzle, rubbing up and down his face. She raised her right hand slowly, so as not to spook him again, and gently placed it against his neck.
"We okay? We good?" She asked, patting his neck. His ears perked up, and he bucked his head slightly, pushing her hand playfully.
"Yeah, that's good," she said, bracing herself for the coming storm. A firestorm of sorts. She moved around to his side, every step slow and deliberate.
"And UP we go!" She jumped onto his back, grabbing fistfuls of his mane to stay on.
The stallion went absolutely mental, bucking seemingly in every direction. Sadie clung to his back like a tick on a dog, leaning every which way to balance against the horse's movements.
"Settle boy! Settle!" She tried to keep her voice level and just loud enough for the horse to hear, but still retain a level of assertiveness. He kept on bucking. "Come on, now! Let's work through this!"
After a short while that felt entirely too long of trying madly to buck her off, the stallion settled finally. He tossed his head with an agitated huff.
Sadie reached forward and patted his neck. "There we go. That wasn't so hard, was it?"
He snorted in response.
"Well, that was something," Arthur said, stepping out of the brush. "I think you could give me a run for my money with horse-wrangling skills like that."
"Thanks," she panted, tossing her own head to flip her braid over her shoulder. She noticed a few strands had come loose, coming to rest in just the right spots in her field of view to be annoying. She brushed them away. She dismounted as smoothly as she could from the bareback horse and began fashioning a halter from rope.
Arthur watched as she fiddled with the knots, slowly getting angrier. "Want some help?" He asked, chuckling.
"Just shut up and do it," she replied, shoving the rope at him.
He took the rope, chuckling. He held it out from himself so she could watch him do it. "So you thread it through here, wrap around, and then you put it over his head." He slipped the halter over the stallions head and held the reins out to Sadie. She stood there, not moving.
"Do you like him?" She asked.
Arthur frowned slightly. "I guess. I'm used to skittish horses, so he doesn't really seem to be too bad."
"That's good, because he's yours." Sadie grinned, watching Arthur do a double take.
"I thought you were getting this horse?"
"As a gift for you, dumbass!" she laughed, lightly punching his arm. She sobered quickly. "I knew you would be better used to him than I would be, and I guess I wanted to give him to you, even though you already have Spirit."
"I guess it would be neat to have an Arabian," he mused. He patted the horse's neck. The stud tossed his head in response. "Thank you."
"So he's yours now. What're you gonna name him?"
He looked the horse up and down, pondering. "I think I'll call him Red," he said with an air of finality.
Sadie chuckled. "You and your horse names."
"Says the woman who named her horse Bob," Arthur returned, hugging her close.
"Touché," she said, kissing him. She whistled to Bob. "Come on, better stable one of your horses before we go back to camp."
They arrived at the stables, and Arthur decided to stable Spirit for now, and give Red a proper test run. They exited the stables and walked to Strawberry to spend the night at the hotel, their horses following behind.
Sadie let out a long sigh. "This is so nice," she said, slowly twirling as she walked. "We should come up here more often."
Arthur laughed. "You mean YOU need to come up here more often. I'm up here once a week, at least."
Sadie laughed alongside him. "Yeah, you're right. It would be nice to have a place up here, up north, don't ya think?"
Arthur pondered that as they walked across the southern bridge. "Maybe. We'd have to make sure everyone else will be okay before we can think of anything like getting our own place."
They rounded the corner near the butcher's stall and the post office, weaving between people. Arthur bumped into a man walking in the opposite direction. The man turned to them, irritation in his eyes.
"Hey watch where you're goin, ya hear?"
Arthur stopped, turning back toward the man. "How about you watch yourself? The lady and I are walkin here, plain as day. No reason you couldn't go around."
"A wise guy, huh? Try to tell me what to do?" The man's anger built, and he threw the left side of his coat behind a holster, revealing the weapon concealed there. "I ain't gotta take no lip from the likes of YOU, mister!"
"Calm down, will ya?" Arthur put out a steadying hand, attempting to cool the man's rage. "I'm sorry, all right? I don't mean nothin by it."
"Like hell you don't! Now are you gonna throw down, or just stand there?!"
"Look, buddy," Arthur said in a low voice, "you really don't wanna do that. Trust me, it won't end well."
"Shut up! Now fill yer hand, you son of a bitch!" The man shouted, reaching for his revolver.
Sadie looked to Arthur to gauge his reaction. When she turned, she saw the skin of his face blacken and fall away to reveal the skull that was his Deadeye. She froze, unsure of the emotions raging. Surprisingly, fear was not among them. She knew Arthur was still here, he still loved her. Deadeye was not something to be feared, at least not by her.
Arthur drew his weapon faster than thought, firing once, hitting the man right between the eyes. Sadie turned and saw him crumple and fall to the ground, lifeless.
She turned back to see Arthur once more, the face of the man she loved back again.
"Damn fool," he said, spinning his gun before holstering it. "just couldn't let it go, could he?"
Suddenly, Arthur bent double, grunting in pain. He clutched at his head with one hand, the other put out to catch himself. Sadie moved to support him, trying to help him stand back up.
"Arthur? What's wrong?"
Arthur turned to her, a confounded and scared look on his face. "Sadie?" He put out his hand, touching her face. He brought it back down, and Sadie gasped. His eyes hadn't changed back, remaining black with red and gold irises. "I can't see you. What's happening?" He bent over again, clutching his head with both hands.
"You're gonna be okay, honey," Sadie said, praying that would be a true statement. "You're gonna be fine."
She slung his arm over her shoulders and led him the rest of the way to the hotel. Upon entering, Sadie tossed the clerk a pair of silver dollars and began leading Arthur up the steps to the one-day room. She turned back to the clerk, and asked, "do ya think you could send one of the girls up? My fella ain't doin so well, and I might need some help."
"No problem, ma'am," the clerk replied, retreating to a back room.
Sadie half-led, half-dragged Arthur up the stairs to the second floor. They got to the room, and Sadie put Arthur down for a moment to open the door. As she picked him back up, he groaned in pain. She led him to the bed, where she gently lowered him onto the mattress. His eyes squeezed shut, and he let out another groan. Sadie heard a knock on the door and opened it to a young girl carrying cloths and water. Sadie invited her in, taking a few cloths.
Sadie raced back to the bed, soaking one of the cloths and dabbing it against Arthur's forehead. "You're gonna be alright, honey. Just hold on, ya hear?"
Arthur opened his mouth to answer when another lance of pain pierced him and he arched his back, howling in agony.
Sadie and the girl both backed away as his howl took on an unearthly tone. Sadie glimpsed his skin crack and fall away to reveal his Deadeye, and she enveloped the girl beside her, averting her eyes.
Yeah, I'm doin a cliffhanger.
So the day I'm finishing the first draft of this chapter, I received a bit of pretty major news regarding some family business. That, combined with going back to school, means that next chapter is going to be very much delayed. Sorry to have to leave you with this ending for now, I don't like it either. I just need some time to process stuff. I promise to get started on the next chapter as soon as I'm capable.
Thanks to everyone who reviews, favorites and follows. Please provide feedback on your experience reading this, it really helps me improve my writing.