Fire Wind

by Guy S. Stanton III

  Finding the Appaloosa I saddled it up and then taking a small pouch of gold from my pocket I laid it in a drawer of Nathan’s desk in the barn. It was a fitting wedding present for the young man and his new bride.

  They’d just gotten married yesterday and of all people he’d asked me to be his best man. It had a been an experience that I had cherished and now looking around smiling I wondered how long it would be before Nathan could manage to drag himself away from his new bride. Not for a long time was my guess.

  Life went on and so would mine one day. The wedding yesterday had lit a yearning once more in my heart to someday try at love again.

  Leaving the stable yard I mounted up and headed for the last place I intended to visit before leaving town.

  *****

  My boots sounded loud as I walked down the central aisle of the church. I’d learned a lot here and experienced God all over again. The place for me would always be hallowed.

  Stopping at the front pew I sat for a moment and turned my hat in my hands. Pastor Lonigan had been and would always be one of the most influential people in my life.

  He’d taught me so much and I’d wished for years of instruction by him, but a month ago he had gone on to be with the Lord in his sleep. I missed him deeply.

  The sound of shoes had me looking up into the eyes of the new pastor. He was a young man. I really hadn’t formed an opinion of him yet. My prayer though was that he’d grow into the man of faith his predecessor had been.

  I patted the pew beside me, “Take a seat Pastor.”

  Hesitatingly the man responded as I had commanded and sat. Letting my arm lay along the back of the pew I regarded him with an unwavering stare. The man stared back at me nervously, but to his credit he didn’t break the stare.

  “You have a great responsibility before you Pastor in the spiritual management of this growing town.”

  Nodding he said, “I know.”

  “You’re not going to be able to do the work that needs done in this community on your own. I wish I could stay to help you, but my place is elsewhere. There are good men and women in this town that will be your friend through thick and thin, but your help doesn’t lie with men alone but in God.”

  The man nodded resolutely and looking away I said, “Battles have been won in this place and wars fought, but one day, even perhaps this day, evil will return. It is your duty as a shepherd over this community to stand in the gap as your predecessor did.”

  “God so help me I will!”

  Nodding I stood up and stepping forward I emptied most of the rest of my money both gold and paper into the offering plate. I turned away and putting my hat on I came to a stop before the still seated Pastor and fixing him with my hardest stare I said, “If I hear of you misleading the flock entrusted to you into any heresy of belief outside of the Bible laying beside you on the pew so help me I’ll be back to put an end to you myself. Understand?”

  The man nodded and I headed for the door my boots loud in the still atmosphere of the church. I heard the Pastor stand up and I stopped as he called out, “Where are you going?”

  “I don’t rightly know, but if I had to say it would be somewhere that’s in need of deliverance.”

  “Well then you better take this.” He said rushing forward with one of the church’s Bibles.

  Smiling I accepted it and said, “I already have one packed, but I don’t suppose it would hurt to have more than one to take along with me.”

  I patted him on the shoulder, but he grabbed a hold of me and looking into his face I saw the sincerity to be seen in his eyes of the words that he spoke, “I’d like to pray over you before you go.”

  The last bits of unease over leaving the town unchaperoned went away and smiling I said, “I’d like that very much.”

  *****

  The town behind me, I headed westward. At the sound of hard riding I looked back to see a rider fast approaching. Now what?

  It was Edgar. Pulling even with me he gave me a smile and said, “Going West?”

  Looking over the supplies strapped to his horse and the out of place looking gun belt around his waist I asked, “What of Elizabeth?”

  He shrugged and looked away with a pained look to his eyes, “She’s taken a liking to another.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. I thought you two were all but hitched.”

  “Yeah, me too.”

  Patting him on the back I said, “Better you find out now instead of later once you were married that she wasn’t the one for you.”

  “You were married?” Edgar asked with keen interest.

  “Once.”

  “What happened?”

  “If you’re going to ask questions all the time then feel free to go back to town. If you want to go along with me I suggest we keep the personal stuff to a minimum.”

  Edgar remained silent and I immediately felt bad for my harshness. He’d stumbled across a still raw issue for me though.

  Sighing I said what I knew would make him happy, “I was raised in the South, but there in the hills things were different. I never had a slave and I didn’t hold with the South fighting to keep men of color still bound up in the yoke of slavery. Besides the moral objection to it I have as you’ve noticed a darker complexion than many so-called whites. My wife came from a high society family, which owned several plantations. When it was suggested to her by others that I had slave blood in me things changed. She left me and went back to her family. I went to get her and her family ambushed me and carted me off in chains, while she stood there saying nothing. I managed to escape, but even the mountains weren’t safe, because there are a lot of desperate people there and her family put a bounty on my head to be paid in gold. I packed up and went north and joined the North in the fight against slavery. At least I thought that was what the war was about, but now I know different.”

  “What was the Civil War about Taran?” Edgar asked interjecting softly.

  I shrugged bitterly, “No doubt for some it was to free the slaves, but it was really a usurpation by the federal government to seize the rights gifted to the states by the Constitution and set up the federal government as the dominant power in the country. The issue chosen to go to war over just happened to be slavery. A noble endeavor of ideal meant to mask over the true intentions of a few evil men that wanted complete control over the nation as a whole. Republican or Democrat it does not matter. Among the losses of untold men caught up in a merciless conflict the loss of individual state liberties is an often overlooked thing. No longer can the voters of one state truly do as they wish if their desires lie outside of what the federal government wants. I’m glad the slaves were freed, but freed to what? The whole nation back East has become its own prison and it will only get worse with time as the federal government seizes more and more power from the people. It’s one of the reasons why I came West. Out here there’s still some measure of freedom to be had, but that will likely disappear in time as well.”

  Edgar nodded and was silent for a while before asking, “What happened to her Taran?”

  “The men of her family were hauled out into the street and hung by a mob of black men under the watchful eyes of a group of Yankee soldiers. She escaped to Charleston. There to keep from starving she became the mistress of a Yankee Lt. Col. in charge of administering the town. When I found out I beat the Col. practically to death and landed myself up in a court-martial proceeding. During the holding process before the trial my wife died in childbirth. In bitterness she wrote me a note as she lay dying. In the note she told me of how I was at last having my revenge upon her for leaving me years earlier and for what she’d done after she’d left me. She’d been pregnant with my child when she left and not wanting to bring a child of mixed blood into the world she drank some herbal potion of poison that an old hag gave her and aborted my baby. She looked at her death during childbirth as divine judgment finally catching up with her.”

  Edgar’s face wore a horrified expression and shrugging I said, “Now
you know the wisdom of marrying the right woman. I married based almost solely on outward appearance and for what I thought I really wanted in life and what I got was heartbreak.”

  “Were you court-martialed?”

  “No, I’d done too many exploits during the war to be hung for beating up a Lt. Col. that had been using my wife as a whore. They stripped me of my rank of Captain and dishonorably discharged me. I’ve been drifting ever since.”

  Edgar nodded and said, “Thanks for telling me. I don’t feel so bad now about things.”

  Smiling I said, “Glad I could be of help.”

  Miles of riding drifted behind us and casually I said to Edgar, “You know the journey I’m embarked for is not an easy one, right?”

  “Will there be danger?”

  “Yes.”

  “The discovery of ancient places and the unraveling of mysteries held in place since the dawn of creation?”

  “Most likely.”

  “Then what are we waiting for?” Edgar said, as he quickened the pace of his horse.

  Laughing I called out, “Get back here the mule will only go so fast.”

  Chapter Eleven

  In need of Deliverance

  It was getting on towards sundown. Edgar was looking at me with curiosity and finally he asked, “Shouldn’t we stop while there’s still a little light?”

  “No, we keep going.” I said, as something drove me from within to quicken the pace.

  The light was fading fast now. On a ridge up ahead I saw his outline against the fading light and inwardly I relaxed even as I urged the Appaloosa and the mule to go faster.

  “Who is that?” Edgar asked with concern.

  Instead of directly answering I said, “It’s not too late for you to return Edgar, but soon it will be.”

  “No! I’m along for the journey!”

  “Okay then. Don’t hesitate to follow after me though when we get to what’s on the other side of that ridge.”

  “You’ve been here before?” Edgar asked in surprise.

  “In a dream.” I said absently.

  Reaching into a pocket I pulled free a letter I’d wrapped in oilskin. I held it for a moment with my eyes focused on the dim figure ahead before I released the letter to fall to the ground.

  As we crested the ridge the old indian disappeared with a smile. We stopped and breathing hard Edgar asked, “What was that all about?”

  I didn’t answer as the wind picked up with the fading of light from off the land. The wind got stronger and seemed to blow at us from behind. I eased down off the ridge toward the circular basin below us even as a rising column of fire began to form.

  “Oh my!” Edgar breathed out, as we rode toward the flames that reached higher and higher into the sky.

  Strangely neither the horses nor the mule were put off by the flames. It was a towering inferno of flame before us, but oddly the closer we got the cooler the temperature became. What an optical illusion this phenomena was!

  I rode straight for the heart of the flame, as outrunning bursts of flame leapt out over the ground beneath the animals. Looking to the side I saw Edgar still there beside me in the flames. So be it then.

  I stopped within the column of fire that was all about me and yet felt as if it was but cool breath against my face. Edgar sitting beside me wore an expression of profound shock. I felt rather mesmerized myself.

  Looking down I, to my astonishment, viewed myself as something that was disappearing. I was still all visible, but my image was fading as if bits of me as a whole were being transported elsewhere.

  Looking upward I saw the old indian standing beyond the flames. He waved goodbye and I lifted a mostly faded away hand in like manner. I looked my last at the dark shrouded visage of this world cast in night and then I was gone from it.

  *****

  Blinking I took in the foreign quality of my surroundings. The air was thin, but crisp and of good quality. I was glad I had packed warmly for there was a light dusting of snow upon the ground.

  Looking to the side I took in Edgar, who was staring in rapt focus at the multiple celestial bodies of what appeared to be close orbiting moons that lay in the sky above us. Everything was breathtaking to behold in the newness of our initial discovery of it and yet looking around I acknowledged the very real possibility of the dangers that this new world could hold for us.

  “Well what do you think Doctor? Still glad you came along?”

  “Are you kidding? This…… this is beyond any of my wildest expectations of what life could hold for me!”

  Chuckling I eased the Appaloosa forward in the snow, “Just remember my good Doctor that it’s a highly probable likelihood that we are in for a war just to survive from this moment on.”

  A howl swept through the chill air. It was like a wolf’s, but a little different.

  I watched Edgar swallow nervously and I chuckled out loud. Outward humor or not I eased the trigger guard free of my pistol.

  Rounding an up-thrust of stone a settlement of some kind lay before us in a depression of the land. Edgar and I looked at each other and then headed forward again.

  *****

  It was a relief to see some rather normal looking horses hitched up outside of a ramshackle construction of metal and stone that though very foreign in appearance had saloon written all over it. The other mounts at the hitching rail were not normal at all though.

  I pulled up beside one that looked to be more bear than horse. The Appaloosa looked to the side in nervousness and leaning forward I patted his neck, “Its okay boy. There’s bound to be a few hard to get used to things and for you this is one of them.”

  The beast beside us turned its hitched head to look at me and snarled. My fist slammed into its nose and it gave a surprised snort of pain before then sidling away from the Appaloosa and me as much as it’s tied off thick reins would permit.

  “You leave my horse be or you’ll get more from where that came from!”

  The beast almost twice the size of my horse whined piteously. The thing was as timid as a puppy!

  Shaking my head I dismounted and moved towards the door of the establishment. It was an odd door. I wasn’t quite sure how to operate its rather complex looking latch system.

  Edgar reached out and flipped some levers and the door sprang open quite unexpectedly. Edgar cleared his throat and said, “After you.”

  Yeah. I ducked inside and headed towards the bar. Some things didn’t change apparently.

  Reaching the bar I stared down an individual beside me that stood at least a foot taller and had the face of a cruel brute. He growled threateningly like an animal and made to grab at me, but I sidestepped and kicked his feet out from under him. In the process of him falling my hand found the back of his head and I slammed it down to connect hard with the metallic surface of the bar top.

  The oaf grunted and fell unconsciously to land on the stained floor hard. Among other things the floor showed a good bit of blood both old and new.

  The atmosphere the place reeked of vomit and unwashed bodies. Yet apparently one more thing universal about saloons whether on Earth or elsewhere.

  The atmosphere of the place now seemed much more relaxed though. I moved down a spot at the bar and immediately a woman of middle-aged bearing was before me.

  She was Chinese in appearance, but thankfully she spoke in English of all things, “What will it be gents?”

  “How’s the water?”

  “Growing new worms every day. I got some Yarka milk?” She finished with hopefully.

  “Yarka milk it is. Make it two.”

  She nodded and stepped off the stool she had been standing on and moved away. She couldn’t be an inch over four feet in height.

  Looking about the room I saw a mixture of many races present. Oddly I felt like I’d come home in some ways.

  “Yarka milk?” Edgar asked questioningly.

  I shrugged.

  “What if it’s poison?”

  “Then I’ll shoot
her. I think she knows that to. Relax Edgar and enjoy the adventure.”

  The woman was back with two glass mugs full of a thick bluish looking fluid.

  I picked my mug up and drank deeply. Putting it down I slapped Edgar on the back and said, “Try it.”

  He did and with surprise he tried another longer sip of the cold blue milk.

  Glancing to the woman I asked, “Would there be any work to be had in town?”

  The woman looked around before leaning as far over the bar as her diminutive stature would allow and said, “We could sure use a man of the law in town! You wouldn’t be interested in the job would you?”

  I started to speak, but she waved me to silence and said, “Forget I said that. Men of law don’t last long and you have a good look to you and I’d hate to stand at your ash scattering ceremony on the morrow because of something I said.”

  Leaning forward I said to the woman, “I’m not much for law, but I do have experience at keeping the peace. I’ll take the job.”

  The woman gave a gap toothed grin and loudly said to the whole barroom, “Take it easy on the new Marshal boys, because I like him!”

  Edgar groaned and I turned from the bar to behold the room that had suddenly come to attention at the bar mistresses words. It looked like I’d have my work cut out for me.

  Doing my best to make the best of a bad situation I smiled confidently and said, “Who wants to go first?”

  Four individuals of the thirty or so in the room stood up and I gestured for them to come forward. I unsnapped my gun belt and handed it to Edgar.

  Life in these outer worlds certainly wasn’t without trouble, but then I’d never known anything else.

  A note from the Author

  A little bit about what went into influencing the story.

  - As a boy I discovered the western fiction of Louis L’Amour. I don’t often re-read a book, but many of his books in my collection have seen the covers peeled back a number of times through the years and yes I own all eighty or so of them. His work helped to inspire me as a boy to become the man I am today.

  - The times of the Wild American West of years gone by reflects a time of fierce individuality and adventure. A person had the ability to shape their own future and in the struggle to do so both the good and the bad of humanity met their end in various ways, often brutally. Those days of freedom are all but over, but in the exploration of deep space a new frontier as it were has been opened up, at least in my imagination, and thus in this series I am combining the best of the past and its possible reemergence in the future, when desperate times will call forth for the actions of the tough men and women that defined the wild days of yesteryear, when Americans truly were free.