Valentine is a small farming town made up of mud, shit, drunks and not much else. I fought the urge to block my nose as Dice strode steadily towards the main street. The saloon was my first stop, as with most towns, it is the centre of the town community. It is the place to go for information, observation and the place most likely to hold the drunks that lived and ran with Van der Linde.
The saloon itself was not much at all with holes scattering the walls and the slowly crumbling structure. A thick layer of mud coated the floor and a puddle of blood sat in front of the main entrance. Obviously, a bar fight gone wrong, quite common in the west, less common here but it does still happen. Something I am sure I will have to get used to when I find the Van der Linde gang.
I hitched Dice to the post out the front next to a pretty, little bay horse that seemed to flirt with my loyal steed. I gave him an extra helping of sugar cubes, and one to the bay, for spending the last three full days with me on his back and not complaining about it once.
I could feel the eyes of the locals on me, a stranger in their midst. As a farming town you do get your far share of travellers through the area, but the locals still do not take too kindly to them. I ignored them and pushed through into the building which turned out to be a nicer on the inside. Only a little.
A short bar sat to the left filled with the afternoon regulars, tables layered the floor in various patterns and a poker game was just starting on a large table to the right. A barber waited patiently in the back right corner for his next customer. His feet tapped along to the beat of the piano which was perched on the other side of the large staircase in the middle of the back wall. It led up to an elegant painting of the nearby river before the stairs split to either side and up to the second floor which held the rooms for the prostitutes I could see flirting with patrons.
"Move!"
Two men, one white and ragged, the other black and looked well put together, pushed past me for the bar and leant against the end waiting for a drink. I shrugged the event off, I needed to find information, not fists. I rested against the bar at the opposite end to them but watched as the bartender warned them about fighting and another man hassled them. I was pulled from my thoughts by the barkeep clearing his thought.
"What'll it be?"
"Beer. Please," I threw one of my coins on the table knowing I could only afford the one beer.
I took a small sip, trying to make the bitter drink last, while keeping an eye on the two men from earlier. They intrigued me, not because of their rowdy and rude behaviour but because of the way everyone in the bar eyed them every minute or so. Like they were strangers, strangers that brought a whole lot of trouble with them. Maybe they knew Van der Linde.
I stuck around for the night, watching as they got drunker and stupider. It seemed to win the bar patrons over though as, before I could blink, they were all doing the can-can together along the bar. I watched the well dressed one stumble up the stairs as his partner was distracted by a pretty prostitute. Men.
"Lenny?" The man called as he whipped around to find his friend. "Lenny!"
He stumbled to the stairs, taking the same stair twice before stumbling up three before repeating the process. I sculled the last mouthful of my beer before heading after him. I had to fling myself back when a glass came out of nowhere and smashed to floor right where I had been standing. I looked up and saw the two of them giggling and holding on to each other. I rolled my eyes.
I stormed up the stairs prepared to give them a piece of my mind. Observation be damned, they nearly killed me, or at least injured me. I stopped at the question coming out of Lenny.
"Well, why ain't you never married?"
"No one would have me," The other mans face dropped slightly before they both burst into laughter again and stumbled my way.
Lenny stopped to grab some persons beer, but the other man fell straight onto me. I tried to catch us both, but we tumbled to the ground with a groan.
"Get off me you oaf," I grunted pushing at his face that rested on my chest. He was giggling again, probably enjoying the comfort of my breasts. Thankfully I was wearing a long sleeved shirt and vest to protect my modesty.
"Arthur?" Lenny slurred. "What are you doing on the floor?"
"Get him off me!" I yelled with a glare to both men, but Lenny just started laughing and walked straight past us and down the stairs. "Hey! Get back here.
"Lenny?" The muffled voice of Arthur sounded. "Lenny? Where are you?"
"He's gone you idiot. Now get off!" I gave one last shove and finally he rolled off me. I could breathe once more, and I would never take breathing for granted again. Wait did Lenny say Arthur? As in Arthur Morgan, Dutch's lacky? It cannot be, it would be too easy.
"Who'r you?" Arthur grunted using the rail to pull himself up. "What 'ave you done with Lenny? Lenny!"
"I'm no one," I growled standing up and brushing myself off.
"Get away from me."
I looked to my right finding Lenny standing on the bar trying to get away from two men. Before I could turn back to tell Arthur about his friend, I saw him at the bottom of the stairs confronting the men. Uh oh.
I rushed down the stairs after him as the other man made to hit him. I slipped in between the men with my back to Arthur and my hand on the other guys chest.
"Gentlemen," I started pulling a fake smile from my pocket. "Let's not fight, huh?"
"What's it to you, bitch?" The other man spat.
"Hey!" Arthur shouted. A hand came over my shoulder poking the man in the chest. "Is that any way to speak to a lady with really comfortable tits?"
"What?" The man stepped back affronted with his words.
With another roll of my eyes, I reach into my pocket for my last coin. "How about you two have a drink on me and we forget about all this silly nonsense?"
The men paused and I anxiously waited for their reply, hoping they would take it and calm down. They smiled and the next thing I knew all four men were hanging off each other, chortling and downing as many whiskeys as they could afford.
Arthur had disappeared and so had Lenny, the other two men had left over an hour ago, now I was alone and sober. I had to find Arthur, if he is Dutch's right hand man then I needed to keep a close eye on him.
"Lemmy, I found ya!" A hand grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. It was Arthur looking even more drunk if that is even possible.
"Do I look black and male to you?" I pushed his hand off.
"Arthur, Arthur, what are you doing?" Lenny had grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.
Instead of answering, Lenny got a good slap across the cheek from Arthur. Lenny slapped him back, so Arthur slapped him again. It was a good minute of them just standing there slapping each other and everyone in the bar cheering them on. I may have also joined in for a cheer or more. These two have been a pain in my ass all night and it was nice to see them get slapped around.
They ended up at the bar sharing a drink, I stayed next to Lenny, leaning my back against the bar and watching the crowd. I had also managed to convince them to buy me a beer, so I was feeling content. That was until the man that was hassling the boys earlier bumped into Arthur.
"Not you again," Arthur grunted grabbing onto the man's lapel and dragging him outside.
I was torn as I watched Lenny stumble out the back door in the opposite direction to Arthur. After a moment I followed Arthur, figuring he needed more babysitting now than Lenny did. I could not believe it. I had not even known these men for a day, and I was making sure they did not get into trouble.
Outside I saw Dice by himself, the pretty bay had left already. He perked up when he saw me and nickered softly. With a smile I trotted down the stairs and gave my companion a loving pat. He nudged me causing me to stumble back with a laugh. It was short lived as I heard struggling, gasping and shouting.
Walking around the back of Dice I saw Arthur holding a man's head under water in the trough. With a startled gasp I ran towards them and pulled Arthur back. The other man spluttered and spat out water.
"Are you okay?" I reached for the man's shoulder, but he threw himself back. My hands shot to the air as I straightened.
"Just, stay away from me," The man stuttered before stumbling to his feet and down the street.
I turned to confront Arthur, but he was gone. These men were harder to keep track of then Dutch himself. Back in the bar people were closing their poker games and drinking as the saloon was about to shut for the night. There was no Arthur or Lenny.
"Sorry ma'am, we are now closed," The bartender said from behind the bar as he cleaned the wooden surface with a rag.
"Have you seen the two men I was with tonight?"
"Not since you were in last," He replied spitting on the bar and wiping it off.
"Dammit," I said. "Thanks anyway."
I walked back outside only to watch Lenny get tackled by some law enforcement and Arthur run down the side of the building with more men in pursuit. Moments later they came back out carrying an unconscious Arthur and they all headed up to the sheriff station.
I knew I was not going to be able to get them out of it and I was not willing to put myself on the local watch list for the two gang members. What she could do is bail them out in the morning and try to convince them to take her back to their camp with them. She was lucky she found them as soon as she came into town, it just shows how sloppy they are, and now she needed to put her plan into action.
Another kind of short chapter. They may get longer but if I keep them around this length then I can pump the chapters out faster.