Phantoms of the Wasteland: The Bandit King

[AmbiguousStoryteller]

Trouble in Old Tree Settlement​

The sun was beating down on the desert with little clouds overhead for shade. A hot breeze pelted Gabriel's face with the smallest grains of sand as he walked alongside his old Prong-horse, Jasper, a sizable brown prong-hose with a blond mane and two horns of average atop its head. The empty saddle resting on the back of the prong horse stood up to Gabriel’s chest. With his tongue, Gabriel could feel the grit caught between his teeth and lips. His desert drake, a slender brown and black scaled drake, named Ripley had gone off somewhere. Gabriel had lost track of the drake in his thirst. He had stopped sweating a few hours back; he didn't remember when exactly but was close to the Old Tree Settlement, where he could get some drinking water. And cash in on the dead bandit on Jasper's back that started to smell in the hot sun. When the wind stopped whistling in his ear, Gabriel could hear Ripley barking in the distance. He pulled on Jasper's lead, and the prong-horse followed him in the direction of Ripley's call.

The prong-horse slowly dragged a sled piled with bodies of bandits. Gabriel arrived at the location where Ripley was making noise. Ripley had been digging, and as Gabriel got closer to his surprise, Ripley had been searching. Upon closer inspection, Gabriel noticed that the sand was damp. Gabriel rushed to the hole Ripley was digging and helped the drake dig deeper until water started pooling in their spot.
"Good Boy, Ripley!" Gabriel shouted, ecstatic to have water finally in this desolate desert. Winter used his Shemagh to keep any of the sand grains from getting into his canteen though he would still have to boil the water thoroughly before taking any sips from the liquid of life. Gabriel looked to the sky, covering his eyes with his hand like a visor est, mating that the sun was at the highest point and would start sinking in front of his direction of heading west. Gabriel would make it back to his little shelter and family by the time the sun was beginning to drop. It would be gruelling but worth the trouble with the bounty he had collected.

In the proximity of the Farmhouse. Gabriel with his family the order of bounty hunters guild house in the Wasteland. From the direction he was travelling, this would be a sign he is close to Old Tree. But Gabriel could tell something was off. The silence was deafening, and the smell of fire with burning flesh was in the air. Ripley whined; Gabriel cut the ropes attaching his horse to the makeshift sled. Gabriel mounted the horse and snapped the reign sending the horse into a gallop towards home, laying eyes on the gruesome scene as the house in coals smouldering earth the three bodies tied to posts of what was once the porch; One female and two male. Gabriel noticed a note attached to the farthest body on the left. He pulled the letter from the knife tearing the paper at the top. Edges scorched the paper read; Meet at Hangman's Saloon in Old Tree or the rest die. Gabriel crushes the note in his hand, turning back to his Prong-horse.

***​

“There is no way this guy is as tough as you say he is, boss,” Skinny said, wiping the sweat from his brow, the sun high in the sky, scorching sandblasted the landscape. The bandits were just coming upon Old Tree. The old dead tree just outside the settlement is a sign. Skinny recognized one of the corpses and swallowed hard.

“Let me tell you a story about his place, Skinny,” The leader spit on the side of his horse. “I worked for a man named Jenkins once. He took this town. Had us all held up in the saloon drinking and having a good time.”

“Well, the bounty hunters sent this guy.”

“And my father killed over twenty bandits,” Quinn interjected.

“He killed 29 out of 30 of us that were here at Old Tree Settlement. I never even saw him once.”
“Wait, So you don’t even know what he looks like?” Skinny asked as they dismounted and entered the saloon, dragging Victoria and Quinn behind them. The leader shook his head.
"What's a guy gotta do to get a drink around here?" The leader of the bandits said as he motioned for his men to spread out. Six bandits walked into the Hangman Saloon at Old Tree. Upon entering the Hangman Saloon, the bar is across from the main entrance.