Abilene City, Kansas Territory, a wild lawless town on the cattle trail, and a railhead for both the Santa Fe Railroad and the Kansas Pacific Railroad that shipped cattle to the New Chicago stockyards. The Saloons were crowded the brothels constantly busy as the cattle drovers and cowboys drank, whored and gambled as they received their pay at the end of their cattle drive from the Texarkana territory. Since forever there had been little law in the town, the elected sheriff, townspeople and the occasional Federalé had tried to control the violence, the shootouts and drunken behaviour that were all too common, but were unable to fully impose law and order in Abilene.
The Stranger led his white horse down from the stock car at the rear of the train that had transported him from Astro City in the Missouri Union. He wore a long brown duster and a black hat still pristine after his train journey. On his belt sat his pistol and Tanto – his short stabbing sword, and strapped to his back was his razor sharp silver hued Katana, trotting quietly alongside him was his big black red-eyed dog.
The Stranger walked his horse into town, pausing outside the largest and rowdiest saloon on the boardwalk; tethering his horse to the hitching rail outside the saloon, The Stranger entered.
The saloon was crowded, the piano in the far corner noisily playing out of tune, the girls dancing on the stage, cowboys constantly climbing the stairs accompanied by the female or male of their choice to the rooms above. Many, many of the customers were crowded around the various gaming tables or drinking at the bar, but despite the noise, the music, and the shouting, there were no fights, and no violence. Behind the long crowded bar, the four bartenders poured drinks, chatted to the clientele and chittered to each other.
As the stranger entered with his red-eyed dog at his side, the saloon went quiet and everybody turned to look at him. The Stranger, who, despite being dressed in his brown duster and black hat appeared the same, but was not quite the same as the many saloon customers.
But there standing at the bar clearly oblivious to the sudden silence around her, she stood sipping her drink from a half full glass, her handsome leonine features crowned by a mass of blonde hair swept back in a Lion’s Mane.
Memories flooded back as The Stranger recalled their first meeting on the Planetary Kingdom of Lycia an eon ago. He had been sent there by the The gods of Olympus to deal with the wild Chimera, but when he had first seen her he had been instantly smitten, he had tried to tame her wild and violent spirit, he had adored her, together they had loved and danced under the planet’s twin moons, they had sworn endless devotion, and then suddenly she was gone.
His adoration for her had turned into anger, and then into hatred, and he had tracked her from planet to planet, star system to star system for more than a thousand years. He had followed her trail of destruction, violence, mayhem and death on those many settled planets where law and order were rare, and chaos ruled supreme. Finally, finally, here in the backwater city of Arkansas on the planet Taurian in the outer reaches of the New Orleans System he had at last caught up with her.
Looking up at him and raising her glass, she said ‘Belle, my love, my very own Belle, you’ve finally, finally found me, are you here to love me, save me, or kill me?’ As she spoke, small flames spewed from her mouth accompanying her words.
As The Stranger took a step forward, three giant Taurian Cowboys towering over The Stranger suddenly blocked his path, with the largest of the three snarling, ‘Stranger what do you want with our Shimmy Shimmy-Ra? One step forward and we will kill you.’
The stranger remained silent, made no movement other than to raise his hand; his red-eyed dog growled and the three Taurians froze and were instantly turned to stone.
Laughing Shimmy Shimmy-Ra said, ‘I see you still have Medusa’s dog with you,’ the flames continued to flicker from her mouth.
The Stranger silently nodded as he unsheathed his Katana, and in the blink of an eye took her head off.
The Gods of Olympus had ordered that The Stranger should hunt down Shimmy Shimmy-Ra and destroy the Chimera, the harbinger of Mayhem, Chaos, and Death.
His task now complete, The Stranger called Bellerophon, re-sheathed his Katana turned and left the Saloon together with his red-eyed dog Cerebrus, he untethered Pegasus his horse, she now spread her wings, and the three flew upwards and onwards to Olympus out on the very edge of Time and Space.
About the author
Henry is a retired surgeon and member of the Canvey Writers Group. He has published a number of stories on the CafeLit site
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