The Cowboy Who Strolled Into Town

by Riley Moreno

  “Gone to see the family he was compelled to leave behind there fifteen years ago, yes.”

  Chapter 5

  Davron bounded over the fence that enclosed the mansion. All the security cameras registered was a monstrously huge dog dashing across the well-kept, ever green lawns of the compound terrain. There was nothing cute or cuddly about its movement, there was a precision of movement about it signaled chilling intent. Two security guards were sent after it; the animal looked dangerous, and it was heading poolside, where Ms. Keegan was taking a late morning swim.

  Davron stopped just short of the sparkling blue ripples of the pool. His eyes blue and attentive, watching Molly sunbathe just off the other end.

  Molly was startled by the appearance of the dog-if you could call it that. It had to be the biggest she had ever seen. How could the security guards have let one of their dogs run loose? Somebody would have to answer for the oversight she made up her mind. She shifted uneasily in her pool seat; there was something odd about the way the dog stared at her. If she did not know better, she could have sworn it was a leer. Dressed in a bikini, that covered only the tiniest of flesh, there was certainly a lot to leer at. She stared getting up gingerly from her pool chair, not wanting to provoke the dog before she could reach the safety of her home.

  “Fifteen years ago, you were not nearly as good looking as you are now.”

  Molly was so shocked; she stumbled into the pool with a messy splash. The dog just spoke!

  She burst out of the pool like someone drowning, grabbing ledge to steady herself. She turned to stare at the monster dog that now stood stock still as if nothing had happened. It had only been in her head. She thought with relief getting out of the pool slowly.

  “What you mean you don’t recognize me?”

  Molly slipped in again with a splash just as messy as before. She struggled up towards the shimmering image of the sun, her heart pounding out of her chest. For Pete’s sake it’s a talking dog!

  Davron the dog had bounded over the width of the pool, and was now leaning over the pool to stare right into her face when she resurfaced. Molly’s face met his just over the pool.

  “It’s in the eyes! Look deeper!” Davron growled, stretching out a human right hand to grab hold of her as she fainted and started sinking into the pool.

  The two security guards arrived just in time to see him stark naked, his muscles rippling as he carried Molly, still unconscious, back into the house, “it’s okay, Molly just needs some rest, she’s had a nasty shock; nothing a little rest can’t set right.”

  When Molly woke up a few minutes later, she was on the soft silken atmosphere of her own room. Davron sat on the end of it looking at her with a mixture of concern and amusement.

  “Finally you are awake! Are you okay?”

  “Wait, where is the dog? I saw a talking dog, it was right in my face; you have to believe me.”

  “You mean a coal black, monstrously big dog, with piercing blue eyes, and the temerity to stare at your smoking hot body while you were sunbathing?”

  Molly was shaking her head hysterically, “Yes, how did you-“ she began before illumination hit her eyes, “How is that possible? Davron, you, you were there?” she stammered.

  Molly felt an ice cold chill run down her spine, and she shifted deeper into the bed. It was you, it was him she thought, “It was you, you asshole!”

  Davron nodded gravely, as she bounded up off the bed towards the door. Her heart sank as she tried it and found it locked, “You can turn into a dog?!”

  “Humph, and a lion, and a bear, and the term is shift. Turn sounds so un-noble.” Davron said getting off the bed, and heading towards where she was at the door.

  “You can turn-I mean shift to all these things? And you are here to hurt me and my kid? I could scream.”

  “And I could tear your throat out before the sound ever got loud enough to signal anything was amiss.” A tense silence descended upon them like an ice sheet, “Sorry that came out wrong. I have no intention of hurting you or my son. You are my family!”

  Molly looked at him skeptically, “Who are you? Why are you here? You say family? Family does not run off for fifteen years! Since my parents passed away, Josh is the only family I have. For all I know, you could be some thief, who hit a hard spot and is looking for a quick score! You don’t even have a last name!”

  “Okay first off, I am not a thief. I am a prince from another world similar to this one, only far more brutal.” Davron was speaking rapidly now, “Are you with me so far? I came here for the first time many years ago, and I met you, you were different than the other girls at the party that day. You were strong, and you sat there independent, getting your own drinks even though men were falling over themselves wanting to buy them for you. You noticed me watching you that night: Well I thought you were beautiful, the crude dancing lights looked far more exciting when the played on your dark hair.”

  “Stop please; you left and all this is just a bunch of talk.” Molly asked, she remembered the night well, all the passion that had followed their crossing of paths. She also remembered the ease with which he had put down the drunken mugger, “Tell me more about this animal thing you can do? Were you some part of some experiment in some lab?”

  “It comes in stages over a lifetime, and it’s not for everybody. When I met you all I was able to do was shift into a dog, which is also one of the reasons why I left; Dog shifters are super loyal. It cuts across space, and time! I had to go back to my family. Less than a year later, those loyalties shifted, and that was when I knew I had a child; another family-a stronger one. One I had to protect at all costs. That was why I stayed away; if I had come over here, my father would have killed you all, as well as your families. I told you I come from a place far more brutal than this one.”

  Molly sauntered over to the bed, and slowly sat down, “This is insane. I don’t know which is more so; the story you are telling or the fact that you are actually saying it.”

  “You know what I am saying is true. You have not been able to attach yourself to any other man since that night because of the bond we have; a bit off me rubbed off on you during those days, and it has only grown stronger since Josh came along; stronger still since I arrived.” He rushed to her side with unnatural speed, arriving with a loud swish. Molly was shaking her head, vehemently, reluctant to get pulled into a nightmare, trying to push him away, but Davron held her hands, “You know what I am saying is true; we are more bonded than any family you have ever met, and I could no more hurt you than I could hurt myself. Neither you, nor Josh.”

  “Let go of me!” Molly retorted, standing up and moving away, leaving him on the bed, “What sort of man threatens another man’s child? How could you all be so cruel where you come from? I know what you can do; I saw what you did to that drunk. You were willing to kill him just because he was your enemy”

  “I can do a lot worse believe me. You ask how we can be so cruel where I come from, well how can your people claim to be so peaceful. I snuck a look through your visual device recently; the television; nothing but wars and conflict. Yet you claim to be at peace with each other. You cannot claim something which is not your nature; inside you are all beasts. The only difference is some of my people are not scared to bring out the inner beast, but we remain the same. The laws are decided by a few, and enforced by the strong. We are not ashamed to admit it; we accept it and are the better for it. Eventually in such a world you will want to keep your friends at all costs, especially the loyal ones; even if it means driving them into a stalemate for the time being.”

  “So loyal Davron sides with his father: where does Josh fit into all this? Is he going to be like you?! I don’t want my son involved in your own version of reality.”

  “Things are never that simple Molly, and yes he has the ability to shift; I don’t know what into but I saw him in action yesterday at games with his friends. He was phenomenal!” Davron said, pride shining in his eyes, “don’t look at me like
that. The bond means I can find any of you anywhere given time.”

  “Okay, okay so what now?” Molly asked, passing her hands through her long dark hair, clearly distraught. “I don’t want anything happening to him.”

  “Relax, nothing will happen-at least nothing he can’t handle. That fever yesterday, all the attitude lately, things like that; that’s all: till he changes. It gets better after the first time.”

  Molly finally sat down beside him. She was calm all of a sudden, “Our lives are never going to be the same again are they?”

  Chapter 6:

  “I can’t do this, I’ve tried and failed.” Josh complained. His face was red from exertion.

  “You have to focus, and concentrate, look within, and bring out the anger raging within.” Davron tried to explain. They were in woods privately owned by the Keegan estate. The night atmosphere, plus the tress provided lots of cover for what they were doing. Davron, and Molly had seen the wisdom in secrecy, at least in these early stages.

  It was a warm night, but the woodland trees created a cool atmosphere in which Davron had hoped he could teach Josh the basics about changing. It had been three nights now and still nothing had happened. Even Molly had tried pressuring him that maybe all the signs and symptoms might have been a fluke. Davron had ignored her. There was no way his son was normal. He just did not entertain the thought.

  “You are too pampered. This place,” Davron spread his hand around in exasperation, “It’s too soft. You never know just how scary you can become until you have been pushed to the very limit.”

  “Well excuse me sir, not all of us were privileged to grow up in a repressive, world ruled by a dictator, who also happened to be my grandfather.” Josh retorted in indignation.

  Davron ignored his childish rant, “I don’t understand it, this natural setting should be helping you trigger the connection, even if it was a bird you were supposed to change into.” Davron pondered, “There is only one thing left to do.”

  “What is that? Go home and try tomorrow?”

  “No, I have to try and kill you.” Davron said, his eyes shaded in the dark shades.

  Josh barely had time to stumble out of the way of the incoming lion claw. He clambered up to his feet, his heart was racing, and he was confused, he wanted to ask what was going on but was too afraid to risk a backward glance. He sped off along the clearing they had taken to that point in the woods. He could barely see ahead of him, but he was aware of Davron just behind him on the track, claws swinging, and he growling; a guttural, menacing sound as deep as the terror it inspired.

  Josh stumbled, and fell with a scathing thump among the dead, damp leaves of the track. He cried out in terror, expecting Davron to be upon him the very next instant. Josh gasped as he was enveloped in harsh lion breath, and in the next instant he was screaming in abject terror, his heart almost jumping out of his chest, as he spiraled through the air.

  Davron watched him go fifty feet into the air. He was already gearing up to speed up and catch him if the plan did not work. He could not help smiling; it had been a while since he had thrown anyone into the air like that. The smile soon vanished from his face however.

  “No way; it can’t be!” Davron gasped confused. He was exasperated, no he was flummoxed. A dragon shifter had not been seen in over a thousand years and, yet, here was one; in the flesh.

  A mixture of pride, fear, and wonder swelled within Davron’s chest as he beheld Josh spewing forth searing hot bursts of flame that ended just short of the trees. No wonder the woods could not evoke any connection for the boy. His connection was life itself!

  Josh spewed more flame as he sought for Davron among the trees, “Where are you?! Come out so I can end your life like you tried to end mine. ”

  “Oh you know that is not true. I just had to take drastic measures because of the circumstances.” said Davron, who had shifted into a lion, and bounded up into the trees just underneath Josh. His golden red fur and mane where barely visible in the trees, but were as clear as day to dragon vision.

  “You tossed me fifty feet into the air!”

  “And look what you’ve become!”

  “I feel glorious!”

  “Yes, you are so glorious you have not been seen in a millennium. Now change your glorious self back before your mother gets worried and starts calling.

  “I, I uh,” Josh stammered

  “You what?! Get back so we can go home before somebody sees you, and puts you on the internet.”

  “I don’t know how! You have not told me how!”

  *****

  Jon was in full armor, standing with his back to the throne as he watched Jarden his uncle ushering in two guards bearing the rebel leader, Dada, shirtless, and in restriction cuffs before him. The light beams that enveloped his hands over his head, and restricted them, along a sturdy wooden beam, could not be breached; an attractive measure used when restricting powerful shifters like bears, and wolves. It was unheard off that a tiger was restricted, for they were rulers; those who had ascended the throne for the last thousand years. This rule stood simply because they were the only ones ruthless enough and powerful enough to enforce it.

  Jon who was the only tiger shifter of his generation, sneered at the defiant chin of the older cat, “The last generation saw two tigers, one, a great king, lies with the ancestors dead, allegedly by the hands that now lay restricted by the restriction beams.”

  Dada spat on the floor, the dark complexion of his skin accentuating the intensity of the eyes set therein, “I would kill you too if not for these cuffs. You better kill me now while you can.” He hissed, spitefully.

  One of the two guards on either side of his face punched him across the jaw, and cried out in pain as he sprained his hand, “As I was saying: you better kill me while you can.” Dada said with an evil smile across his face.

  “You and my father used to be friends once; back when your father was on the throne.”

  “Your father was the special adviser to the previous tiger king. Those were more peaceful times-relatively speaking” Jarden, who was now beside Jon, said.

  “Until he poisoned my wife, and took my kids hostage in exchange for my throne! He sparked a war that will not end until all his lineage is done with!” Dada growled.

  “Yes,” Jon said, hands clasped behind his back, and stepping towards his prisoner, “the unfortunate tale of the tiger whose strength and ruthlessness was unfortunately curtailed by his loyalty because he also turned out to be a dog shifter.”

  “You young fool,” Dada spat again, “Loyalty does not make you weak; it makes you stronger. It gives you a reason to fight longer, to run faster, because you lover deeper. I would not expect you to have learned any of that from a shit like your father. How else do you think I have been able to gather a following all these years?”

  Jon clasped his hands together before him at chest level and pulled them outward, apart from each other, so that a sword made of glistening, reinforced silver materialized slowly between the expanding space, ”Well that following will have to find some other glue to hold them together now, because I am going to kill you; chop your head off actually. Quite frankly I would prefer to hack it off in brutal chops, for killing my father.” Jaden was brandishing the sword now, twirling it skillfully before the unmoving, and quite unafraid eyes of the rebel before him.

  “I hear you have a brother who has gone to visit his young family in the outworlds,” Dada asked with a smirk on his face.

  For once a shadow passed across the tiger king’s face, “Why?”

  “Because history is about to repeat itself, fool!”

  At that moment Jon fell to violent spasms as electricity flooded through his system. He dropped to one knee, gasping for breath. He barely had the energy to turn behind, “Uncle!” The beams across Dada’s hands fell away, releasing him, so that with one leap he was away at Jon; knocking him out and sending him to oblivion with one mighty punch of his giant paw.

  Chapter 7
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  Even as Davron made passionate love to Molly he knew something was not right. The inkling, though far from compelling, was still there. As they lay side by side, he patiently waited for her to sleep in contentment before quietly extricating himself. In the past month since he arrived, he had long since graduated from the couch in the furthest living room, but now downstairs was where he headed.

  “You feel it too?” Josh asked him from behind. Davron had not bothered putting on any lights, neither did he bother turning round at the sound of his son’s voice.

  “Not only that, but something else too; I hear something.” Davron turned to face his son, “stay behind me, we cannot let them enter anywhere near the house”

  There were twenty of them. All dressed in advanced, camouflage gear that blended perfectly with the night. They could not be seen with eyes, but that said nothing about the nose. Davron, who was more used to the terrain, tracked them with his nose and his ears, Josh stayed behind him. They were moving slowly towards the house. He went round the general area where he knew they were. Using stealth, he hoped to pick off their numbers. Motioning for Josh to stay where he was, he crouched forward and picked four off in quick succession, wringing their necks.

  They are too many, he thought in desperation, and not enough time. He recognized the slick, sterilized scent of the energy cannons they carried, knowing fully well the damage they would wreak on the house, on his home.

  “Hey! If you are looking for me then here I am!” He shouted.

  The startled assailants whipped their guns around towards his voice, to find nobody. Davron had already gone round to the front, between them and the house, and picked off two, tossing their broken bodies aside, “I said over here!” The cohort was confused now, and turned to all sides to find the up till now invisible enemy, but now Davron, burst through their scattered ranks to knock down expertly knock three more down. In the ensuing confusion within their ranks, they tore apart, many of them switching on to night vision.

  “Have you soldiers forgotten me so quickly, who I am? Do you even know who you are dealing with?!” Davron asked fiercely from twenty meters away, “Besides, how dare you attack your king?!”