"I don't care what'n the hell we do. I ain't ever going back there."
The sound of a horses whinny followed by the steady rhythm of galloping hooves caused the two men to turn around and look behind them at the road curving up the mountainside. When they saw the horse with its rider pounding up the hill, the duo glanced at each other with raised eyebrows. Unusual to see someone in such a hurry at this time of night. Even more unusual was the fact that it appeared to be a woman.
The rolling cloud of dust kicked up by her pursuer's horse caught their eye and the two watched as a man in a black suit on horseback, riding a horse just as black, overtook the young woman then yanked the horse to a halt almost immediately in front of her. The young woman nearly fell off the animal as it reared, terrified by the sudden road block, and the man in black sat quietly waiting for her to calm it down.
Austin looked at Cole with one eyebrow raised. Cole shook his head. "Not our problem," he said dryly and turned his back on the scene. Austin, knowing that his friend was right, couldn't quite manage to tear his eyes away as quickly though and watched for a while longer, trying to make out what the situation was about. When the sounds of raised voices floated down from the road, he couldn't bear to sit by the peaceful river any longer.
"I'm going to just pop up there and see if everything's okay," Austin said, standing up and brushing the dust off his trousers. "I'd hate to be just sitting here if there was someone that might need my help."
Cole shook his head but didn't move.
"If they need our help, they'll ask for it," he buzzed, dryly.
"Well they can't ask if they don't know we're here," Austin half-spoke, half-yelled at him from over his shoulder. But the man and woman up the hill didn't notice him approaching, or the fact he'd yelled, as he'd hoped they would. No use surprising folk on the open, lonely road. He'd met a few too many trigger happy cowboy's to know that the element of surprise could just as well work against you as it could for you. As he approached the duo, he made sure to make plenty of noise and when it still seemed like they hadn't seen him, he finally gave up on trying to be subtle and shouted a friendly "Hello!" up the hill as he started to climb his way towards the road.
Sure enough, the mounted man in the black suit had a six-shooter at his hip and pointed towards Austin faster than a jack rabbit down a hole and Austin raised his hands slowly, easily, with his palms facing out to make sure the man knew he meant no harm. As he approached, Austin glanced at the man and noticed the silver sheriff's star on his chest. His heart sank almost immediately. Either he'd gotten in the way of an arrest, or worse, the man was up to no good and sure as hell didn't want him knowing about it. The worst part of all was that it probably meant that Cole was right and he should have just minded his own business.
"Now hold on there," Austin called out to the man, "I don't mean any harm and I sure as heck don't want to be butting into anyone else's business, it's just it looked like quite a commotion from my camp site down by the river and with my eyes being what they are I just thought I'd,"
"Shut-up, son," the sheriff growled, waving his revolver from Austin to the road in front of him. "State your business."
"No business, sir," Austin replied, trying to sound as conciliatory as possible, "and as I said I don't want to be interrupting yours I just thought that..."
"Like I said, shut yer mouth!" Along with raising his voice, the suited man pointed his pistol at Austin, silencing him in mid-sentence, even making him take a step back. Without letting on that he was doing so, Austin began to take quiet stock of the situation. The size of the man's horse. The distance between the end of the pistol and himself. The distance between the man and the woman, whom Austin had yet to get a good look at. The situation began to come together in his mind, like pieces of a puzzle that had many solutions, fitting themselves together to make the best one. "Now, what're you doin' out here?" the sheriff rumbled at Austin.
"Well, sir, if I may," Austin began, still surveying angles and counting steps required to move from one point to the other, "I was just passing through and thought that bend over there in the river might make a nice campground for the night..."
The sound of a pistol being shot registered slightly later than Austin felt the gravel explode around his left boot as the bullet grazed the ground directly beside him. The sound of the woman's scream came not too much longer after that and it gave Austin the first opportunity he'd had to glance at the woman on the horse who'd caused all this commotion.
It wasn't the first time he'd ever seen a woman, but in that moment, he wouldn't have minded too much if it had been the last. The woman seated on the horse, just past the sheriff's own was possibly the most beautiful creature he'd ever laid eyes on. Even though her hair was in a bun and the light was already low, Austin drank in every color, every shape of her as if by doing so he could somehow keep the memory forever. Her hazel eyes, the slight freckles on her nose, the way her chest curved out then back
