by Jake Henry
Inside was something else. To say that it was lavish was an understatement. Polished timber, silver, brass, and gold. The stuff was everywhere.
Wills’ jaw dropped. Paradise sure kept throwing up surprises.
A long aisle ran down the center of rows of pews. The floor looked to be made of marble blocks. At the end of the aisle was a huge platform with a large alter on top of it.
Becky took him by the hand and said, ‘Come with me.’
Wills, still in awe of his surroundings, allowed himself to be led along. Before he knew it, he was standing on the stage surrounded by statues and other shiny trinkets that sparkled with all kinds of jewels.
Suddenly he became aware of Becky’s closeness. Her shoulder touched his, the back of her hand brushing the back of his. And then there was her breathing. Next to his ear.
Small jolts ran through Wills into his brain. All his nerve endings tingled.
‘Can you feel it?’ she whispered in his ear.
‘F—feel what?’
‘It,’ Becky said, her lips touching his ear.
Wills swallowed hard. ‘I can’t feel nothing.’
‘It’s the power of the Gods.’
Becky’s right hand traced a line up his arm and Wills stiffened.
He gasped, ‘I think I’d best go.’
Becky’s hand travelled across his chest and downward until it reached the young cowboy’s crotch. She found the bulge and gave it a gentle squeeze.
Wills drew in a sharp breath and felt himself grow hard.
Becky ran the tip of her tongue up the side of his face and said, ‘See, you do feel it.’
The cowboy stood there like a rock, afraid to move. Becky reached down and grabbed his right hand and lifted it. When she reached her left breast, she placed his hand there and said in a hoarse voice, ‘Squeeze it.’
Wills did as she commanded and through the material of her dress he felt her nipple harden.
Becky moaned in his ear, ‘Do it harder.’
It was as though he’d no control over his actions and his movements followed her every wish.
Suddenly her other hand dropped down and she fumbled with his belt. Within a matter of moments, the gun belt had fallen to the floor and Wills’ pants had dropped lower on his thighs. From below his shirt jutted his erection, thick and hard.
Becky immediately started to massage it and as she did, her lips touched his. Her tongue darted forward, and the young cowboy’s mouth opened to accommodate it.
Another moan escaped from the now panting young woman and her hand started to work him faster and faster.
Wills began to tremble as he neared his point of release. ‘You gotta—stop.’
‘Shh.’
‘I can’t … you can’t … oh shit.’
Wills started to spasm with his release and he buried his face in the junction of Becky’s neck and shoulder. He jerked and gasped as she kept up her ministrations and drained him of everything.
Finally, Wills gave one last jerk and pulled his head back to look into Becky’s eyes. ‘I’m sorry. I ain’t never had that done to me before.’
Becky remained silent and he realized she wasn’t looking at him. Her gaze was directed over his shoulder.
‘Hey!’ a voice said from behind him.
Wills whirled about and his mouth and eyes flew wide. The last thing he saw before the lights went out was a pair of piercing blue eyes.
The rifle butt smashed into the young cowboy’s face just above the bridge of his nose, his eyes rolled back, and he hit the floor and remained still.
Becky looked at Osborne and snapped, ‘About frigging time. Where the hell were you?’
‘Is he the one?’
Becky shook her head. ‘No. Tlaloc did not send him to give me a child.’
Osborne nodded and looked down at Wills. ‘We can still sacrifice him. Already the landscape underneath all of its green is drying.’
Becky nodded. ‘Okay.’
‘There is a trail herd close that he came from. There are two others, a man and a woman, here in town. Maybe if we hold them then more will come to search for them. Maybe the right one will ride with them.’
Becky nodded thoughtfully. ‘Yes. Maybe you’re right. The one we need is close. I can feel it.’
‘That’s the last of it,’ Grub said as he paid the clerk behind the counter. ‘We’ll get this all on the wagon, find the young un, and get on back.’
Mavis followed Grub out through the door with an armful of supplies. She’d only gone a couple of steps across the boardwalk when she ran into the back of him.
‘What …?’
Then she saw them. The five men standing out in the middle of the street in a line. All were dressed the same. Standing in the center was Osborne, beside him, bloodied and battered was Bucky Wills.
‘What the blazes is going on here?’ Grub snapped as he took in the sorry sight before him.
Mavis took a step forward to stand at the cook’s shoulder and gasped.
‘Your boy here was taking liberties with one of our young ladies,’ Osborne explained. ‘Started to force himself upon her. If I hadn’t found him when I did, things may have been a lot worse. He will be held until the full moon. Then he will be put to death for his crime.’
‘The hell you say,’ Grub growled and took a pace forward.
With swift movements, frock coats were swept back, and six-guns came free of their holsters. Four of them were aimed at Grub while Osborne hadn’t even moved.
He continued, ‘Until that time, all of you will be kept here. After the time of his death has passed, then you will be free to go.’
‘You can’t do this,’ Mavis pleaded.
‘You can’t stop us. We are the elders and what we say is law.’
‘They should’ve been back by now,’ Bannister pointed out.
Savage nodded. ‘You’re preaching to the choir.’
‘What are you going to do about it?’
‘I guess I’m going to have to go and find them.’
The supply party had been gone three days and still, there was no sign of them. Now Savage was starting to worry, even though he didn’t show it.
‘I’ll come with you,’ Bannister said. ‘I’ll bring the kid along too.’
‘All right,’ Savage agreed. ‘Have Sam take over the herd. If we aren’t back inside three days, tell him to take the herd to Cheyenne, sell it, and split the money with the rest.’
‘What do you figure happened to them?’
‘I wish I knew. Whatever it is, it can’t be good.’
Bannister looked to the east and saw darkened clouds alive with lightning. Savage did the same and said, ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this.’
‘Yeah. I have the same feeling. The one that says Paradise ain’t all it’s made out to be.’
The ground still had puddles and thick mud covering it when the three of them rode into town. Their horse’s hooves kicked up splashes of brown water with almost every stride.
‘Damned if I ain’t seen anything like it before in my life,’ Bannister said again as he shook his head.
Savage knew what he meant. It was as if the rain had fallen only on the landscape surrounding the town, and did so with high frequency, going by the well-defined line between dry-brown and bright-green.
‘Let’s go and see if we can find our people,’ Savage said, and eased the roan forward.
Bannister and Hanson fell in behind him and the horse’s hooves started their squelching sound again.
They drew the attention of everyone in town. Pedestrians stopped and stared at the strangers, some pointed.
‘Is it me or does this place just keep getting weirder?’ the kid asked.
‘I take it that you’re talking about the way they’re dressed?’ Bannister asked.
‘That ain’t the only thing.’
In front of them, Savage’s horse came to an abrupt halt and Bannister had to change direction or his mount would have collided wi
th the roan.
‘What the hell you go and stop like that for?’ the kid complained.
The two riders in front of him remained silent.
‘Well?’ the kid demanded as he tried to see past both men.
‘Why’d they have to go and do that for?’ Savage asked.
Bannister spit on the ground. ‘Shit. Why indeed?’
Hanson moved his horse around the two men. ‘Why what?’
Then he saw it—him.
‘Aww, shit! Is that …?’
‘Yeah, Wills,’ Savage supplied. ‘Or what’s left of him.’
The young cowboy was tied to an erect slab of granite, his shirt was gone, and his head slumped forward. His body from the chest down was a mass of dark brown where his blood had flowed in sheets and pooled at Wills’ feet.
The kid screwed up his face. ‘Christ, have they…?’
Savage leaned forward and slid the Yellow Boy from the saddle scabbard. ‘Yeah. They cut out his fucking heart.’
Suddenly, the three riders realized the street was vacant. The townsfolk had melted away.
‘Savage,’ Bannister’s warning drew the Drifter’s attention to the far boardwalk.
‘I got them.’
The sound of the lever being worked on the Yellow Boy sounded almost deafening in the heavy silence that had descended.
‘Five of them,’ the kid pointed out.
‘Make that ten,’ Bannister said in a dry voice.
‘Which ones do you want to kill first?’ asked the kid.
‘Just let Savage handle it,’ Bannister growled.
The roan shifted nervously under the Drifter as the group of townsfolk closed in.
Savage placed the Winchester across his lap in an unthreatening manner.
‘Quite a welcome-mat you fellers roll out,’ said Savage.
‘We like to be careful where some folks are concerned.’
Savage and the others shifted their gazes to the speaker on the boardwalk. A young woman.
Savage motioned to Wills. ‘What did the feller do to deserve that?’
‘Attacked one of the town ladies.’
‘You cut his heart out for that?’ the kid snarled.
‘Easy,’ cautioned Bannister.
The Drifter continued, ‘He came to town with two others. A man and a woman. Where are they?’
‘Are you from the herd they talked about?’
‘We are.’
The young woman smiled and stepped down from the boardwalk. She stopped in front of them and said, ‘How convenient.’
‘I asked you a question?’ Savage persisted.
There was movement from one of the men to his right. ‘I’d tell your man there to keep still or I’m going to shoot him.’
‘No call to be unfriendly,’ a man said and stepped forward. ‘My name is Osborne. These men are Paradise Elders. We keep the peace here.’
The man moved again. This time Savage showed him no mercy. He was angry about Wills, and besides, they’d been warned.
The Yellow Boy roared, and the man was blown back by the .44 Henry slug that ripped into his chest.
A flurry of motion followed. Frock coats opened, guns were drawn and aimed. Bannister and the kid had their own weapons pointed at Osborne. Savage on the other hand had the Yellow Boy pointed at the woman.
‘Wait!’ Osborne snapped.
Savage ignored him and stared into the woman’s unflinching eyes. She smiled and said, ‘He is the one.’
‘Are you sure?’ Osborne asked, not taking his gaze from Bannister.
‘Yes.’
Savage frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘We have been waiting for you,’ Becky said.
‘I don’t much care. I asked a question before and I’m still waiting for an answer.’
‘Your friends are safe,’ said Becky.
‘Well, how about you bring them out here and we’ll be gone.’
‘You’re going to let them get away with that?’ Hanson hissed.
Becky nodded and two of the frock-coated men disappeared into a building across the street.
When they emerged with Mavis and Grub, the two men halted and stared at Becky.
‘There are your friends.’
‘Where’s the chuckwagon?’
‘In a barn on the outskirts of Paradise.’
‘Are you and Mavis okay, Grub?’
The cook nodded. ‘Yeah. No thanks to these assholes.’
Savage nodded. ‘Go and get the wagon and we’ll get out of here.’
‘Not so fast!’ Becky snapped. ‘There are conditions.’
Bannister snorted. ‘There would be.’
There was a brief silence before Savage said, ‘I’m waiting.’
‘Everyone can go except for you,’ Becky explained. ‘You must remain behind.’
‘And why is that?’ Savage asked. He indicated Wills’ corpse. ‘So you can do that to me?’
‘Oh no. I don’t want you dead.’
‘What if I refuse?’
‘Then I will order the elders to kill you all.’
Savage thought of their chances if it came down to an all-out gunfight. They could maybe take them all, but at what cost?
Out of the side of his mouth he said in a low voice, ‘Bannister, you ever heard of a place called Cottonwood in Virginia?’
‘Yeah, I heard of it.’
‘Good,’ Savage said. He shifted his gaze back to Becky. ‘All right. Let them go.’
Becky smiled, and her face lit up with excitement. She looked at Osborne and said, ‘Do it.’
Osborne nodded. ‘Let them go. Get the wagon and their supplies.’
Savage stayed on the roan and watched carefully to make sure there would be no tricks.
Osborne stepped forward and held out his hand. ‘I’ll take your weapons.’
‘You want them, you take them. But I’ll tell you this, if you try, I’ll shoot you in the face.’
A hint of red came to the man’s face and he turned to look at Becky. She gave a slight nod and Osborne let it go.
Twenty minutes later, the chuckwagon rattled out of town with Bannister and Hanson bringing up the rear.
‘Satisfied?’ Becky asked.
‘Are you?’
She gave him a seductive smile. ‘I will be.’
Bannister called a halt after they’d travelled three miles. He called back over his shoulder to the kid, ‘Anyone back there?’
He eased his horse in beside Bannister’s and shook his head. ‘Can’t see anyone.’
‘All right then.’
‘What was all that about Savage asking you if you’d heard of that place in Virginia?’
‘It was his way of giving me a message,’ Bannister told him. ‘In the war there was a Confederate supply depot at Cottonwood. It also had rail lines, so supplies were freighted in rather regular like. Anyway, one night after dark a company of Union cavalry slipped into town and burned it to the ground.’
‘We’re going back?’
‘Yeah. After it gets dark we’re going back.’
‘Damn right,’ growled Grub. ‘We’ll go back and burn the shithole to the ground for what they done to the young feller.’
Bannister shook his head. ‘Not you, Grub. You get back and tell Llano Sam what’s happened. Take Mavis with you.’
‘Damn it, Bannister …’
‘Just do it!’
The cook grumbled under his breath as a last act to show his annoyance.
‘Do you think he’ll be okay?’ Mavis asked.
‘If there’s one thing I know about Savage since I met him, he’s a tough son of a bitch. He’ll be fine.’
‘I’ll kill him when I’m done. Now go before he wakes up!’
Even through the fog of drowsiness, Savage still heard the woman named Becky’s voice.
Shouldn’t have had that bastard drink, he thought, a pounding in his head.
The drink! It was the last thing he remembered. Stupid!
&n
bsp; Savage heard the door close and then soft footsteps. He stirred slightly and found whatever he was laying on moved with him. It was soft. He opened his eyes and blinked the fog away.
‘You’re awake.’
Savage stared at Becky and then tried to move. His arms shifted maybe an inch before the ropes stopped them.
‘What the hell?’ he growled.
‘Don’t struggle,’ Becky told him. ‘You’re tied off nice and tight. Even your feet.’
The Drifter looked around and saw that he was in a large room with shelves that held candles which gave off an orange glow. There were no windows, and on the walls there hung strange carvings.
Then Savage realized something else. He was on a large bed and as naked as a jaybird. His pulse quickened. This wasn’t good.
‘So, I take it that you lied and are going to cut my heart out too?’
Becky moved closer to him. ‘No. Not if you do what you’re supposed to.’
Up closer now, he could see she was maybe in her early twenties. Her dark hair and eyes seemed to reflect the glow of the flickering candles.
She reached out and ran a finger across his rock-hard stomach. It traced the bumps and ripples of his muscles as it came up through the dark hair which covered his chest. Then the digit drifted to the right and did a lazy circle around the nipple before flicking across it.
Savage’s pulse quickened even more. He was helpless to stop her from doing anything. He swallowed nervously and gave an involuntary shiver.
Becky gave him a seductive smile and then her finger started a winding trail down, down, down. It ran across his lower abdomen and then stopped briefly before the finger became a hand, and the hand gently reached down to cup his balls.
Savage tensed and then relaxed as Becky started to massage them. He felt himself respond as blood began to engorge his cock.
The hand moved, and slender fingers wrapped around Savage’s thick shaft. Slowly, Becky started to stroke it and brought forth another involuntary shiver.
Becky let his cock go so she could slip free of her dress. Once it fell to the floor, she climbed onto the bed and knelt between his splayed legs. She reached out and took his erection in a firm grip and recommenced stroking it.
‘See,’ she said in a hoarse voice. ‘That’s not too bad is it.’