Riders on the Storm

by Rob Blackwell

“Is that what you call it?”

  “I bring salvation. I bring a world without dissent, poverty and fear. A world where all share in the benefits of the community.”

  Jules had heard similar lines before, of course. In the West, there was no shortage of would-be prophets who promised the good life. But she knew them for what they were, charlatans who wanted power.

  “Well, far be it for me to interfere with your humanitarian pursuits, but on behalf of the people in the town you just attacked, I can tell you we don’t want what you’re selling,” Jules said.

  “You should,” the voice said. “Soon we will be ready to begin my plan in earnest. We’ll head west, I think. I’ve always wanted to see San Francisco.”

  The thought of these things loose in a city made Jules nauseated. If there were this many already gathered in the mountain, how many would be added to that number?

  “Who are you?” she asked. “Why won’t you show yourself?”

  “I had a name once,” the voice replied. “I had many names.”

  Before Jules could puzzle out what it meant, a figure appeared from the same black hole where Duggett and his men had emerged. It was a Viper—the black, scaly skin, the red eyes and wings spread out behind it—but it was also clearly unique among its kind. For one, it was bigger. If all the Vipers had previously been human, they appeared to have shrunk a bit after their transformation. They were a little over five feet tall.

  But this new one was much bigger. It was eight feet tall at least, and glided into the temple rather than scrambled.

  Only “it” was the wrong way to describe it. Jules could see the Viper’s breasts and there was a female shapeliness to the form. Her face, too, was feminine underneath the scales. Despite her terrifying visage, this Viper might almost be considered beautiful.

  But her red eyes were hard and pitiless. She might not be human, but Jules had seen this expression on others she’d met. She could expect no mercy from this thing.

  Other Vipers emerged from their holes in the cavern and immediately knelt on spindly legs. Jules realized that her comparison to a beehive was more apt than she knew. The Viper she was looking at was clearly the Queen.

  She glided up the steps to the center of the temple, passing Duggett and Jacob, who shrank away from her. She ignored them, and sat on the throne that had been obviously built for her.

  She stared imperiously down at Jules, looking at her as if she were the insect. Yet there was also an almost human expression of curiosity.

  “There now,” the Queen said. “You said you wanted to look at me. Does this please you? Are you satis—”

  Jules drew her gun and fired. She shot off six silver bullets in rapid succession and would have volleyed more if her left hand hadn’t still been holding the torch instead of the gun.

  The Queen jerked her head to the left just as the weapon sounded. All six shots hit the throne exactly where her head had been a second earlier.

  There were outraged shrieks from the cavern, so loud that they were deafening. The Vipers surrounding them started to surge forward, taking to the air. Many headed straight for Jules, but she never so much as looked in their direction. She kept her eyes on the Queen, who held up a blackened, scaly hand. The noise in the cavern died abruptly and the Vipers dropped to the floor and knelt. None approached Jules herself.

  “You are a brave girl,” the Queen said.

  Unlike her flock—or swarm, or whatever they were—she appeared completely unperturbed by the interruption. Jules was tempted to drop her torch and fire again. She would have to make her shots less precise so they would be harder to avoid. But she doubted she’d get a second chance. At least four Vipers had emerged from the shadows nearby. Though they were kneeling, they were only a few feet away. If she dropped the torch, she had little doubt they’d attack.

  But she had learned something important. The Queen was bigger and scarier than the rest of the Vipers, but she’d taken care to avoid the silver bullets. They could take her down just like the others. Or so Jules hoped, at any rate.

  “How did you come here? Did the Kid unleash you?”

  “In a way,” the Queen said, and laughed. It didn’t sound particularly amused, more annoyed. “I came here looking for answers. I sought what you seek.”

  Behind Jules, there was a soft mewling sound. Jules glanced behind her to see Pete still cowering at her feet. “It’s just a dream, it’s just a dream, it’s just a dream,” he muttered. He clutched the cross in his hands, rocking back and forth. The Queen glanced at Pete with a mixture of amusement and scorn.

  “I seek my father,” Jules said.

  “No, you seek a vase,” the Queen replied. “A vase of power.”

  “I don’t give a damn about the vase!” Jules yelled. “I never did.”

  The Queen leaned forward. “Are you sure? You’ve become such a good thief, I hear. Do you have any idea how much the vase is worth? Men have searched for it for centuries.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “Interesting,” she said. “You would trade all these riches for your father? Would he do the same for you, I wonder?”

  “Yes,” Jules replied without hesitation.

  The Queen cocked her head, considering. “Yes, I believe he would. Being a parent can change a person, even one as cold as him.”

  “Who the hell are you? What do you want with me?”

  “Can I not tell you a story first?” the Queen said, and her tone was more amused now. “It will answer many of your questions.”

  Jules thought about defying her, but what was the point? She wanted to know where her father was, but as of yet there was no sign of him. Was he really still alive? Or had he been turned into one of the nameless horde in front of her? But the Queen had talked about him like a special pet, and those bodies in the tunnel let her know someone else was out there.

  “I was like you once, not so very long ago,” she said.

  Jules raised her eyebrows in surprise. The Queen was different than the other Vipers. She’d begun to suspect she’d never been human, but was the origin of this evil.

  “I grew up in a small town back east,” the Queen said, sounding almost wistful. “I was raised in a wealthy family. We even had a few slaves. My mother had hopes for me to catch the eye of the plantation owner’s son next door. I do believe she started planning our wedding when I was not even fifteen.

  “I might have gone along with this idea, but my father made a single mistake. For the most part, he ignored me, treating me as a pretty bauble with which he could impress his friends. But one day he showed me his father’s revolver. He even allowed me to shoot it. And after that, I was lost.

  “I was good, you see. Even when I was only eight years old, I was good. My father knew it, and much to his later dismay, he encouraged my talent. He’d take me out hunting. By the time I reached womanhood, I was a legend within my town. They used to make an exception for me to enter during the local contests just to please my father.”

  Jules mimed a yawn. “Is it possible for me to have a stool? This story is getting a might bit tiresome.”

  “Jules,” Miranda whispered behind her.

  “Patience,” the Queen said. “I found that winning local contests was not enough. I began to question why I needed special permission to enter at all. I was a better shot than any in the town, any I knew. And the thought of marrying some plantation owner’s son suddenly made me sick. I wanted more. I didn’t know what awaited in the wide world, but I wanted something different. So one day I left. I took the guns with me, left a note, and walked off into the wilderness.

  “It was harder than I imagined, and there were those who would have taken advantage of me, but my skills and smarts saved me. By the time I came out West, I’d earned a reputation as a sharpshooter. You may even have heard my name. Elizabeth Gatton.”

  Miranda gave a sharp intake of breath. In fact, Jules did know the name. Elizabeth Gatton was a champion sharpshooter from decades before. Some of her
records still stood.

  “I could get work with a traveling show, shooting apples off people’s heads or using a mirror to shoot at something behind me,” the Queen continued. “It was all very empty. Do you want to know why?”

  “Not really.”

  “Because I was still put in my place,” she said. “I was reminded at every turn that I was a woman. They paid me less than the other performers in the show, though by then I was a famous draw. The manager made crude advances and expected me to be grateful enough to share my bed with him. Some women in town thought me unnatural or a bad influence, all because I had dared to live my life the way I thought fit, instead of listening to them.

  “I had gone further than I imagined, but still it wasn’t enough. I wanted more. And it occurred to me that my skills with a gun could be useful in another profession.”

  Jules could tell the Queen was enjoying telling this story. Unlike the other Vipers, her expression was the most human, as if she were bridging some gap between them and human beings. She was so focused on noticing that, she was barely listening to the Queen’s words.

  “Do you know what that profession was?” the Queen asked.

  “Carpentry?” Jules replied, shrugging her shoulders. “Basket weaving? I’m stumped.”

  The Queen smiled malevolently down at her, and Jules felt a shiver up her spine again.

  “Banditry,” the Queen replied. “With a gun in your hand, you could take whatever someone might deny you. There was no need to perform in shows or depend on the good will of a town. No, you could seize what you want by force.”

  Jules found herself nodding. “Okay. You and I agree on some things, I guess.”

  “Precisely,” the Queen said. “You are a kindred spirit, Jules Castle. Your father raised you differently than mine did me. He raised you to take what you wanted, and let no man hold you back. You were given a greater life—and I’m here to offer you even more.

  “But you didn’t ask me the most important question, the one you should have figured out the answer to already. I couldn’t just fall in with other bandits, you see. I was a woman. Most of them would have viewed me as something to take advantage of, not respect. So I took to disguising myself. I dressed like a man, even imitated a man’s walk. I formed my own gang, one that wouldn’t question my orders. And, of course, I disguised my face, hiding it behind a bandanna.”

  Jules’ mouth dropped open and she nearly dropped the gun on the ground.

  “No,” she said. “No, you can’t be.”

  “Yes, child,” the Queen continued. “You wanted to know why you’re here, why I was looking for you. Because I am the one you knew as the Kid. And you are my daughter.”

  Chapter Forty-One

  “The real question is: what happened to the Maelstrom? Some say it’s a myth, but I believe it existed. Yet it is no longer there. Some say it moved, becoming a freely-moving storm that continues to roam the world, searching for new victims. I hope that is not the case.”

  — Terry Jacobsen, “A History of the Supernatural,” 2013

  Jules stared up at the Queen in stunned horror.

  This creature was her mother? She refused to believe it.

  Except the story about the Kid made a kind of sense. It was tough enough for Jules to be taken seriously as a bandit, and she’d relied at least partially on her father’s training and his reputation to help her. She could easily conceive of another woman, one born decades earlier, deciding to mask her gender altogether.

  Everything clicked into place. All the stories about how the Kid never showed his face, his skill with a gun, even Trent Castle’s fierce loyalty to him. Luke had gotten it wrong, after all, but Jules understood. Trent hadn’t followed the Kid out of loyalty; he had been in love with her.

  “Your father was the only one who knew my secret,” the Queen said, almost as if she could read her thoughts. “He tried to rob me, you know, when I was still Elizabeth. When I bested him, I saw a man more impressed than alarmed. When I decided being an outlaw was my best calling, I sought him out.

  “I never intended to share a bed with him. I wouldn’t call it love, exactly. But sometimes a woman gets lonely out in the wilderness. Men have whorehouses for that, but we don’t, do we? And a woman has to be careful who she chooses to embrace. But Trent loved me, and that was enough. He would never betray me. Not then, and not now.”

  Jules was suddenly angry to the point of fury. She wanted nothing more than to unload her remaining bullets at the Queen and let the chips fall where they may.

  “Then why’d you leave him? Why’d you leave us?” she corrected. “I could have used a mother, you know, especially one as legendary as you. You left it all behind for some goddamned cursed treasure?”

  The Queen laughed again, but there was only bitterness there.

  “Oh, child, you understand so little, even now,” she said. “You think I risked it all for a trinket? Some priceless vase? No. I sought this out for the only person I cared for in the world—you.”

  Jules’ anger was tinged with confusion. The Queen saw the expression on her face and continued.

  “Oh, I know you’ve heard I’m cold-blooded and ruthless,” she said. “You have to be, in our line of work. You know what I’m talking about.”

  Jules set her jaw, suddenly regretting every time she’d walked away from a fight that wasn’t hers just because it was easier to do so. In this moment, being like her mother was the last thing she wanted.

  “But I was changed when I met you,” she said. “I was so besotted. I was determined to do anything and everything for you.”

  “Like leave me?”

  “To save you!” the Queen said, abruptly angry. “You don’t understand! That woman came to me the night you were born. She showed me a prophecy.”

  “What woman?” she asked, but even as the question was on her lips, she realized she knew. It was the Lady of Shadows, the woman she’d met at the fair, the one who had insisted on giving her the tattoo.

  “I had met her twice before,” the Queen replied. “I do not know her name. I dismissed her as a charlatan, but everything she told me came to pass. She strolled into my room the night of your birth as if she’d been expecting it, waiting for it. I see now that she had.”

  Jules’ mind reeled. That sense of being caught in a game played by other people was stronger than ever. It was like being a pawn in chess.

  “What did she tell you?”

  “You do not want to know,” the Queen replied. “It is enough to say your fate will be painful, and many lives will depend on what you do. The fate of the very world hangs in the balance. She told me this so I would keep you safe and raise you to be a hardened warrior.

  “But she didn’t understand who she was talking to. I wasn’t going to sit back and watch events play out. I knew in that moment I would do anything—anything—to help you avoid that fate. When I heard about what lay in this very mountain, I determined to seize it.”

  Jules remembered Pete’s story. Jack-in-the-box. He’d said a Viper had come out and killed the Kid. But that wasn’t exactly the truth of it.

  “I came here to save you,” she said, standing up and raising her hands in the air. “I was told of an artifact hidden in the Badlands that would give you incredible abilities. The ability to control the weather, to create your own loyal armies.”

  Jules didn’t want to hear any more. She could almost guess the rest. But the Queen kept talking.

  “I didn’t tell Trent,” she said. “I knew he would insist on coming with me, and I’d heard there were dangers in this place. Someone had to stay behind to take care of you if I failed. But I found a professor who was out here searching for it. He gave me the missing pieces of the puzzle.”

  Jules looked down at the quivering person by her feet. Pete. That was who he’d been before all this. A professor.

  “We searched for days, but eventually we found the door, used the keys and discovered the vase. It was the most beautiful thing I
’ve ever seen. There was a lid covering it. I don’t know what made me open it. Perhaps I thought there were more jewels inside.

  But when I did, everything changed. I saw everything—all the hopes and fears of the world, and then a gas escaped. It choked me until I thought I was going to die. And, in a way, I did. But my rebirth was something to behold. I was more than the Kid, more than Elizabeth Gatton. I was a God.”

  Jules wanted to make some angry retort, but nothing came to her. This was her fault. All of this was her doing.

  “You’re no God,” Miranda said behind her. The Queen’s eyes regarded her coldly.

  “Aren’t I?” she said. “I have the power of life and death over all. I have the ability to remake this world, to save it. No more doubt, no more fear, death or disease. I offer peace and harmony.”

  Jules shook her head. “It’s corrupted you. Can’t you see that? Whatever was in that vase changed you, made you… evil.”

  The Queen laughed. “A petty concept that has no meaning anymore. Don’t you understand? Your prophecy is about to be fulfilled. The Lady of Shadows told me you would make a choice that would save or doom the world. This is that moment, Jules. Come with me. We have everything that others have denied us.”

  The Queen stood up from the throne as she said this and took a step forward. Jules took a step back at the same time, repulsed.

  “You’ve already done so much,” the Queen said. “When I chased after Peter, the door to the vault shut behind me. With the vase again in my possession, we will no longer be trapped here. I needed those keys back. That’s what I sent my minions into the prairie for. At first it was just me alone in the storms, taking people one by one. But over the years, we have grown. And we have been looking in earnest. You’ve helped me by bringing them here. Let us save the world together.”

  Jules shook her head again, still not believing what she was hearing.

  “I can take you by force,” the Queen said disapprovingly, returning to sit on her throne. “But doing so would make you only a drone. I want another queen, one who can spread to new areas.”