The Way of the Cowboy
Chapter 4
Previous ChapterNext ChapterThe Way of the Cowboy
Chapter 4
Silence…resonated within the cave, save for the heartbeats pounding inside our chests, along with the steady intakes and outtakes of breath. I pulled out my phone, and it had no bars, all it said was “NO SERVICE”. I opened my Maps app and the only thing that was showing was a gray grid line background. “What the hell is going on? Where are we?” I thought, while having a little mental breakdown. “Am I…dreaming?” I pinched myself on the arm…nothing happened. I pulled on one of my ears…nothing. I wound my hand back as far as it could go, then proceeded to give myself the biggest slap to the face.
“ARGH!!! Damn that hurt!” I complained after I had just successfully bitchslapped myself, though I was grateful my beard was there to help cushion the self induced blow. I hit myself so hard that my hat went askew. Straightening my lid back to normal, I kneel down to the cave floor, and pick up a handful of the cave soil and run it through my fingers. It feels just like how I would expect it to, cool and damp. The cave itself smelled earthy, a lot like the fragrance of a dirt floor root cellar, or the smell after a heavy rain in the summertime.
Well so far, four out of five of my senses tell me that this is all very real and that I am very much awake. Standing back up, I carefully walk towards the cave entrance to get a little better understanding of where I am. No sign of a four headed monster, “Thank god it's gone…I hope.” I quietly prayed to myself, then glanced up to the sky, “Now it's a regular looking blue sky.” Looking to my right I see the stairway that I tried to climb with the 4650. My eyes get wider as I start to remember what I had seen at the top of the cliff directly up above me. Walking past the cave entrance, I stumble out just far enough to be able to see bits and pieces of the high points of the castle. Looking at the top of the stairs, I look right and see a rope bridge I hadn’t noticed earlier. It spans a smaller canyon that feeds into the drainage I’m currently standing in. “ I need to climb out of here and get a better look,” I determinedly said.
I walked back into the cave to see the dogs patiently laying by the Deere. I climbed up into the cab to retrieve my thermos. I held it to my lips, and drained it dry, the now cold coffee quenching my thirst. I grabbed a couple fresh bottles of water and climbed back out of the cab and went to the front to the bucket of the loader. “Lyra, Shay, come get a drink, I bet you two are thirsty also,” I offered. Pouring 1 bottle into the bucket, the two cattle dogs came over and lapped it up quickly. With only a few bottles of water remaining, we better use it sparingly, unless we find water. Looking at all the vegetation, I assume it either rains a lot or there is a nearby creek.
I climbed back into the cab, and saw that my breakfast sandwich still hadn't been touched, and it was about that time my stomach decided to give a little growl, so I ate it quickly. Pulling my rifle from its scabbard, checking to see that it is indeed fully loaded with 6 shots in the tube. I climbed down from the cab with the rifle, and headed to the back to the 3-point to grab my fencing pliers and stuffed them in my back right jeans pocket. I stuffed the bottle of water into one of my shirt pockets. I pull my revolver out and check it over once then place it back into my shoulder holster.
“Alright dogs, we can't just stay here, we need to find a way out of here, maybe that there castle has some answers.” I declared. With my right hand grasping the receiver of the Model 94 Winchester, I set off towards the entrance of the cave. Once more, I peered around to make sure that the hydra was indeed gone for good. Seeing no monster, I set off towards the stairway. Once there, I started to climb, with Shay and Lyra following my every step. The three of us had our heads on a swivel, but I was climbing a bit slow. About every four or five steps I'd stop to listen and look around. If you had a giant lizard monster chasing you, you'd be a little leery of your surroundings too.
About halfway up, the carved stone steps started to get a lot better and were more unified. I suppose the lower steps were more susceptible to erosion from snow runoff, or heavy rain. The width of the stairway itself had to be at least 15 feet, if it wasn't for those few odd shaped steps I could have easily made it up here with the 4650, but I regress.
Reaching the last few steps, we slowly stepped out of the canyon and were almost immediately surrounded by a dense dark forest. The overgrowth even partly covered up the pathway that led up to the bridge. Taking in the view of the rope bridge and the castle beyond, the rickety bridge looks to have definitely seen better days, but it does look sturdy enough to bear our weight. Though on second thought, maybe we should cross one at a time, just to be safe.
“Shay, Lyra, sit, stay.” I commanded, both obeyed immediately. I grab hold of the rope and justle it around a bit, it seemed sturdy. “Well here I go” I said. Stepping out onto the first few boards, I test my weight, so far so good, I grab the left side rope with my left hand to brace myself just in case. Half way across, everything is still going smoothly, even the squeaky boards are holding up ok. Judging by the thickness of the boards, they look like they were built to withstand heavy loads. Stepping onto the solid ground on the other side, I let out a deep breath I didn’t know I was holding. Looking back I shout out “LYRA! COME HERE!” The merle colored k9 slowly tiptoed across. Once she made it back to my side, I hollered for the other, “SHAY! COME HERE!” She was a bit more braver, she was skipping over planks.
With that obstacle out of the way, we continue our journey on the path to the old castle.The closer we get, the better I can see what remains of the crumbling fortification. Arriving at the foot of a stairway that leads up to a set of heavy looking doors, I try to get an understanding of what is left of the castle. A few towers remain standing, one on the left and one on the right, each with their own set of dark windows here and there. A hall of some sort resides in the middle. The surrounding forest has shown no mercy to the fortress, trees jutting here and there, growing where they can. Tree roots push and buckle the castle's stone bricks, thick bushy vines cover portions of the walls. Nature, slowly taking everything back.
Walking up the ten or so steps, we are left standing on a wide landing just before the doors. I reach a fist up and knock on the door three times. The resounding noise echoing within. “Guess nobody's home.” I hummored. I push on the right door and take my first glance inside. We stumble into a rather large and long entrance hall with high ceilings complete with big gaping holes to the outside. “This place sure does look bigger on the inside than it did on the outside,’ I thought. On each side of the long hall, were three entrances that led off to other parts of the castle. The pathway leading down to the far end of the hall ended in a short but wide staircase. On top of said staircase sat two very large chairs, one a dark blue and the other a golden yellow. Two large tapestries of the same color hung above their respective chairs, but what was on them is what really caught my eye. Each wall rug had an image of a pegasus, with a unicorn horn, one a dark blue, the other a bright white....”umm…OK,” I demurred. Each had familiar looking symbols above them, the blue horse had a crescent moon, and the white one had a sun, the same symbols I had seen on the petrified tree down in the cave. “Girls I swear, this day is getting weirder and more confusing by the minute.” I said.
“Is this a throne room? Are these not chairs, but a king and queen throne?” I questioned out loud. To the left and right of the thrones, was a staircase that went up. Each leading to different parts of the castle. I headed up the side with the sun. Following the corridor, I noticed that what was left of the castle decor was mostly sun or moon themed. Coming up to a large wood door that had a large sun on the face of it. I pushed it open to see what I could find. Looks to be a very spacious bedroom, complete with a very large four poster framed bed with a huge mattress. The theme of the bedroom was the sun. The room itself looks to be in much better condition compared to the rest of the castle, it even has well sealed windows to keep out the elements. There was a large fireplace with a small pile of logs, on the far left side of the room, large luxurious looking cushions sat next to it. There was a wooden dresser vanity that had a cracked and tarnished mirror. Pulling the drawers open I found an intact wool blanket. “How the hell have mice or some critter not found this room?” I asked the castle. Looking closer at the mattress, it too looks to be in decent usable condition.
A small bookshelf with very few books on it was next to the bed against the wall. Walking up to it, I grasp a book and pull it from its place on the shelf and flip it open. “What the heck is this language? I can’t read a thing!” I exclaimed. The letters looked nothing like I’ve seen before. Closing the book, I slide it back in its home on the shelf. Hearing a dog sniffing out something, I turn my head to the bed. Shay was sniffing around the mattress. She then jumped onto the bed and started rooting around with her sniffer. I leaned the Winchester against the wall and I walked over to the bed “What did ya find girl?” I questioned. Shay had found some white feathers, “must be from an old down pillow,” I thought. “It's just some old chicken feathers dog.” I said. But that didn't stop Shay from sniffing through the feathers. I start to brush some of the little feathers off the bed, and that's when I take notice of some larger feathers. I plucked the best, most pristine looking feather I could see. It was an easy twelve inches long, and a flawless white color, the veins were all straight. Grabbing my hat off my head, I slide the feather through my hat band, and place it back onto my head.
The room was getting darker, I glanced out the windows to see that the sun was starting to set. “ Well I guess this is as good of a place to stay for a night as any.” I told the girls. I looked at my Phone and the time read 7:30. “I suppose I better take you girls back outside to go to the bathroom, myself included,” I discussed. Walking out of the bedroom door, but not without some “reading material”, the three of us head back down to the throne room, and down the large hall and out the entrance doors to go do our business. Just when we were going to go back insideI I decided that I had better grab some sticks so I can build a small fire in the fireplace back in the bed chamber. In my search for wood, I had found a few bushes of wild strawberries along a portion of the castle wall. If there was more daylight I'm sure I'd be able to find all kinds of edible plants around the old castle grounds.I ate ten or so berries and offered a few to the dogs, they just curled their nose up and just gave me a “Seriously?” look. But their hunger got the better of them.
We walked back inside and headed back to the bedchamber with my armfull of sticks. I set the bundle of wood down next to the fireplace, and start to strategically place the sticks into a teepee formation. With that finished I grab some cloth from the floor and stuff it into the center of the sticks. I grab my leatherman from its sheath and pull out the little magnesium and steel stick out of its slot, then I fold a blade out and shave some magnesium flakes off and set them on the cloth. Now using the knife against the steel striker, I aim it at the Magnesium pile and strike. I had a nice little fire going in no time.
The sun had officially set, and the moon had risen. I checked the time on my phone, it read 9:00. With the fire giving light and warmth to the room, I walked over to the door, it had a deadbolt, so I shut the door and locked it. I walked back over to the fireplace and added a couple logs to the fire, “That should last till morning.” I murmured. Over at the bed, I brushed the feathers off as best I could, and I retrieved the wool blanket I had found earlier. Slipping my boots off and setting them at the foot of the bed, I slip my hat and my shoulder holster off and hang them from one of the bed posts. I pulled my phone and wallet out and set them on a bedside table, the phone's battery read 50%. Deciding it'd probably be best to leave my clothes on, I crawled into the bed, and draped the blanket over myself. Shay and Lyra joined me on the bed, one curled up by my side, the other by my feet. It didn't take long for us to fall asleep
Author's Note
Hey people, thanks for reading the story, I know my writing is not the best, but I am trying. Please let me know how I’m doing in the comments.
And for those wondering what the 4650 looks like. Except the one in the story has a loader.
Next Chapter