Western Epic (HotTexasCowboy & Lady Arachnia)

[HotTexasCowboy]

The stage could get stiflingly hot by mid-afternoon. The open windows had been covered by shades to try and prevent the sun and dust from getting into the passenger compartment. The few passengers taking this way to the new territories of the West bore the rocking of the stage coach as best they could. The more important cargo was on the roof: the strongboxes taking valuable merchandise and operating cash for businesses and banks springing up in new towns.

The stage's four horse team had been making rapid progress across the plains, but now they were going through more difficult terrain, following twists and turns, up steep inclines, the rugged excuse for a road jostling the passengers even more severely. It was also an area with many hiding places, making it all too easy for malfeasance to spring a trap.

As it did. As the coach neared a narrow pass, a tumble of boulders suddenly rolled down a steep slope to block the way. Three masked riders appeared behind the coach, covering the driver and his partner with rifles, daring them to turn and resist, which wisely, neither man was willing to do. The two men atop the stage were forced down to lie in the dust as a bandit climbed up to loosen the luggage, including the valuable strongbox. Meanwhile, the third man went to the passenger door. The tall figure wrenched open the door and greeted the passengers. His outfit of leather and denim was coated with trail dust. His stetson hat low on his forehead and his lower face covered by a tied handkerchief.

"Everyone out!" he ordered, gesturing with his drawn six-shooter. He stood back as each passenger disembarked, smiling under his mask at one in particular...

 

[Lady Arachnia]

Elizabeth Merry Taylor hadn't been in the states wrong and was pleasantly surprised at how entirely different the culture was there. She had just turned twenty and had come to the states to live for a year to experience the culture and just get away for a break. She was alone and dressed in a rather elaborate red dress, her parents being rather well off. She had long curled black hair and a rather pretty face that had green orbs that glowed radiance. She was quite curvy and had quite a few male admirers back at home.

She panicked as soon as she saw what was happening. She saw the man charge in and saw him holding a gun... this was definitely more than she'd hoped for, not the type of culture she was interested in experiencing. Her face went white and she stood up, quickly following every one else when they were all ordered to vacate the train.