Western Hearts: Part One
Meredith yawned as she felt the sun shine on her face, the morning sun was shining brightly, the glow from the sun bringing it's radiant warmth into the small cottage in the middle of the verdant and pristine forest, her home lay near a town a small village really of only two hundred or so animals. Meredith rose from her bed, stretching her arms, she could feel the stiffness in her joints give way to a dull relief, the seminal pops of her bones only heard to her in this lone house. Looking to the side of her, she bemoaned the emptiness of her bed, the spot where her partner used to lay, walking to the bathing room in her cottage, she looked at the small basin that held no water and walked downstairs and out of the house, the water pump outside her house lay there still, and silent, a few feet away from it stood a hollowed item, a cruciform, etched on it were several words, "James Holden, 1850-1885," she let her mind linger at the grave a bit longer than she'd liked to, buried there was her late husband and she sighed, she said a small prayer to herself and went the water pump. Pumping the water into the basin she carefully walked back into the house and into her bathing room, she then rinsed her face allowing the grime from the previous days work to be cleaned, she then took a bar of soap from where the basin was and rinsed her wool. She washed her face with a towel, grabbing the bucket next to her tub she then made the trip to the water pump again.
After getting the water she dumped it into her tub, the water was hopefully lukewarm, she didn't feel like bathing in cold water today. Disrobing her sleeping gown, she dipped her hoof into it up to her ankle and felt the water was just warm enough to not be too uncomfortable. Fully submerging herself into the water Meredith let out a content bray, the water wasn't hot or even warm, but it was still relaxing-picking up some fragrant soap, one of the few luxuries she afforded herself she began to scrub and wash her wool, allowing the grime of the day before to slide off of her, it was a calming and therapeutic experience. When she felt she was clean enough, she stood up her wool stuck tightly to her skin and she let it dry in the warm summer air as she ringed the excess water from her wool, when she was dry or as dry as one could get, she walked to her room and sat down at the mirror of her nightstand and began to brush her wool, Meredith revealed in the feeling of the brush against her will-she imagined many sheep did, it was as much a part of her morning as anything, but it was something she absolutely did with great enjoyment. The feeling of the comb working its way past her pristine white wool, though she noticed she was getting a bit more unruly, she'd probably need to shear the wool off her body soon. With her wool, grooming done, Meredith got dressed.
Breakfast that day were some of the vegetables from her garden, and black coffee, walking into the garden she began to water, tend and weed her garden, the sun was now about halfway into the sky, meaning it must have been midday when she heard the sound. Crack, crack, crack it echoed through the woods like a dull thunder reverberated through a house during a thunderstorm, then another series of them erupted, crack, crack , crack. She could see in the distance a flock of birds fly from the source of the sound.
"What in god's name is that?" Meredith asked as she put her hoe down, picking up the hem of her dress she ran towards where the sound came from, it was deeper in the woods, it took a few moments until she reached where she guessed where the sound had originated from. Looking around she tried to figure out the source when she nearly tripped over what she thought was a log, until she looked at what tripped her. It was a wolf; this had elicited a gasp from Meredith; or rather the wolf's condition is what made her gasp. He was bleeding profusely from his gut; his breathing was shallow and labored, and he had a revolver in his hand.
"H-Help m-me." He gasped out holding his hand out for Meredith, before he passed out completely, Meredith had to act fast, doing what her father taught her when it came to helping gunshot wounds she put pressure on the wound and ripped off a sliver of the apron she wore and wrapped it as tightly around the wound as she could, she then tried her best to help him up to his feet, the wolf was limp and particularly tough to carry, so she had to use all the strength she had to carry him about.
"Come on Merry, you can do this." She said as she began to hobble to her home, hopefully she would keep him alive and get the doctor in the town before he died. An hour passed before she could manage to get him into her house and she laid him on the couch in her living room, she then ran outside and got on her horse, it would take her thirty minutes at best to get to the two and fetch Dr. Crown; she hoped that it wouldn't be too little too late. Taking off she rode off to the town.
Reaching the edge of the forest she could see the city, and more specifically the doctor's office, she ran towards the office, panting heavily when she opened the door. This had surprised Dr. Cross who was reading a book and nearly dropped it. He adjusted his glasses and his vest and coat. Dr. Cross was a fairly old crow.
"Mrs. Holden, what a pleasant surprise, do you need something?" Dr. Cross asked, waiting patiently for Meredith to catch her breath.
"I-I got a wolf in my home, he's badly injured, I need your help." Meredith managed to breathe out, Dr. Cross stood up and grabbed his doctor's bag and the two mounted their horses and rode to Meredith's house. Opening the door, Dr. Cross saw the wolf, he was a young one at that and he went to work mending him as best he could. This wolf was lucky if Dr. Cross were to be believed, he would have died if she waited longer and he was able to at least stabilize him to the best of his abilities.
"Well he'll be out for a while; but, he should be fine though." Dr. Cross said as he bid Meredith a farewell and told her to fetch him if any problems came up. Looking at the wolf his shirt was soaked with blood. Unbuttoning his shirt, and being careful so as to not reopen the wound in his side, she looked at the shirt, it was probably white at one point but weeks and months from sweat and days in the sun bleaching a yellowish colour, and now it was soaked with blood, hopefully she would be able to get most of the blood out.
Roy let out a gasp of breath, he looked around himself trying to figure out where on God's green earth the fuck he was. Sitting up he felt around his body where he had been shot, he felt a bandage wrapped around his chest and side. He looked around for his revolvers and that they too were missing alongside his bandoleer oh and his shirt-all in all this was a strange day for him.
"Where the fuck am I?" Roy asked as he sat up he felt weak, hungry and his stuff was missing, he was not sure what the hell was up, but he was at least thankful he was alive. The run in with the Denver Brothers was not the best thing in the world, namely cause he got shot and left for dead. He took in his surroundings and tried to piece together where he was-he retraced his steps from when he got into that gunfight to now. Eric Denver pulled a gun on him to betray him and take his share of the money they had, they fought he got shot they took off and someone found him, that someone was probably who took him to wherever he was.
"Oh, thank goodness you're awake," Roy heard a feminine voice say, he turned its source and saw a petite sheep. She had in her arms his shirt and his guns and bandoleer, "Oh sorry if your out of it, I found you in the woods near my cottage bleeding out, but Dr. Crown, the doctor in the town patched you up after I got through with you." The sheep woman said as she handed him his shirt and his guns and ammo.
"Oh, these are yours, I managed to get most of the blood out, though it's sorta stained." Roy looked at his clothing and saw that his shirt was now a sort of orange hue due to the blood.
"Thanks, um I'm Roy, Roy Jones." Roy said to the woman as he put his shirt on buttoning it up.
"Meredith Holden, and your welcome." Meredith said as she went to take care of some things, "I imagine you're hungry so dinner will be ready in a few, make yourself at home." Meredith added as she left the room, Roy sighed and stood up, his movements were way more exaggerated, meaning he must have lost a good amount of blood, the fact that he wasn't dead was a damn miracle. Well now he had to do some planning: namely of the "Get some revenge and shoot those fuckers who shot me," variety. But he wouldn't be able to do that in his current state, if he tried to get into a gunfight again, he'd die. If he tried to fight the Denver Brothers hand to hand, they'd beat him to a pump...then he'd die. No, he had to take this slow, he knew those knuckleheads wouldn't leave the town anytime soon, so he had time, not a lot, but he had time. But, his first course of action: recover enough that he could win in a fight.
Walking out of the house onto the patio he looked around, the homestead was small well for a homestead, he'd seen a bigger way further out West back when he used to do his trade in Utah. The things he did observe were a water pump, a small stable for a horse (he noted that for later,) and a small cross sitting out in the open, walking down the patio stairs he looked at it and saw the name, no doubt his host's husband judging by the name. He could also see the forest from where he was, the same forest where he got shot, he wonders if he walked far enough would he find the small clearing where he had gotten shot; putting that morbid thought aside for a moment, he took in the air, his breathing was harder than normal but he chalked that up to being injured.
"Dinners ready." Meredith said from the door, he turned around and nodded before ascending the stairs, dinner consisted of several roasted carrots, parsnips and some squash, a bit different than what he was used to eating, since he mostly ate wild game and dried foods, but his mama said never turn down food when you're a guest and he took a lot of what his mama said to heart, plus it was always nice to not eat dried foods for a day.
"Thank you kindly madam." Roy said as he dug into the food, Meredith was a bit taken aback by seeing her guest eat, then she laughed at this and watched him eat.
"My, you must have been hungry." Meredith said as she took a bite of some carrots savoring the taste of root vegetables, she wasn't the best cook in the world, but she made do with what she had.
"You could say that, hadn't eaten since I got shot." Roy said as he took a bite of some parsnips, before downing some water.
"I've been meaning to ask you; how did you get shot?" Meredith asked looking at Roy intently, Roy had to be careful with what he said, it would probably not be conducive to tell his host that he used to be a bandit/robber. Thinking quickly, he thought of a cover story that wouldn't be too hard to believe.
"Ran into some crooks, tried to fight 'em off, and well you know how it goes." Roy said, Meredith seemed to accept this and continued eating, and Roy breathed an internal sigh of relief at not having his cover blown. After finishing their meals Roy went outside to take a quick smoke, thinking of what he was going to do in the meantime, he had his plan but he also had to think of how he was going to carry it out-well he had one person he'd go to first, one of his former associates in their little gang: James Crawford the snake was probably too dumb to leave town like the rest of the gang, he figured he'd pay him a visit tomorrow, not like James had any chance of beating him in a straight up fight, even in his current state.
Upon entering the house again, Meredith was sitting in the living room, reading the bible, and smoking from a pipe. Roy hadn't seen a bible in most of life doing what he did; Jesus probably wouldn't approve of any of what he did, not that he cared much.
"You mind showing me to where I'll be sleeping ma'am?" Roy asked, Meredith nodded and got up from where she was sitting and showed Roy to the spare room in the house, "Thank you kindly ma'am, and goodnight." He said as he closed the door taking off his shirt again and laying it alongside his guns on a chair sitting in the corner of the room he also took of his pants leaving him naked, he'd have to get the bandages replaced in the morning but for now he enjoyed being naked and fully able to stretch his limbs for a bit laying down on the bed he let sleep overtake him not even bothering to cover himself.
He would wake up in the middle of the night to a sound, it was faint and coming from across the room from him, cautiously he opened the door and peeked his head out upon seeing nothing he moved out of the room and saw that the door of the room across from him was ajar slightly, opening the door so only his eye could be seen, maybe if the person inside squinted he saw something that nearly made him gasp aloud but he kept such outbursts to himself. Sitting on her bed, only illuminated by faint candlelight was Meredith, her dress discarded on the floor, her bloomers pulled down around her leg and her hands messaging one of her breasts and the other digging deep into her cunt. Her soft moans drifted through the air like sweet music to Roy's ears as she fingered herself and played with her breasts. Roy could feel his cock emerging from its sheath, it twitched and throbbing with a great need, a great want for the woman before him, reigning in his libido he watched carefully as she pleasured herself. Taking a hold of his cock , Roy began to stroke it, slow and steadily making sure not to let out a sound as he did so. Meredith for her part continued to plunge her fingers deeper and deeper into her snatch, she thumbed her erect nipples with her other hand, tweaking and pinching them eliciting a guttural groan from her as she enjoyed the sensations that she gave to herself, her voice reaching a few octaves higher whenever she hit a spot that made her especially happy, and they made Roy all the more hornier; hearing his host moan and groan in ecstasy. His mind imagined his cock being the one giving her that pleasure, plunging into her deep and hard-each thrust bringing her closer and closer to sweet and voluminous rapture, he could see in his mind's eye growling with pride as he claimed her and knotted her, her sweet voice begging for it. Gritting his teeth to prevent a moan from erupting from his mouth Roy came hard careful to not hit anything and aimed it in his off hand (he'd have to wash it later) he could hear Meredith cum as well a few minutes after his orgasm. Quickly he removed himself from the scene.
Roy fell asleep again, his dreams filled with pictures of his sheep host, and making her his lover. The next morning Roy woke up to the smell of coffee and put on his clothes his hand smelled bad, he'd take care of it later and ascended the stairs where he saw Meredith steeping some coffee in a pot.
"Morning Ma'am." Roy said as he sat down at the dining table Meredith greeted him with a smile as she poured a mug of coffee for herself and then Roy, "Thank you kindly ma'am." Roy said as he smelled the black coffee, he drank it and enjoyed the bitter flavor of it.
"So, what's your plan for today?" Meredith asked as she took a sip of the coffee, Roy shrugged.
"I have a person I gotta see in town, I'll probably be gone most of the day." Roy said as he downed the rest of his coffee and left out the door taking his guns with him. James Crawford was gonna get a rude surprise today and Roy was damn sure he was going to deliver it. The walk into town took him half an hour, enough time to formulate a plan, he knew where James was staying in the saloon in the town "Old Man's Walk," he knew he would only have one chance at this. Walking into the saloon his canine eyes narrowed in annoyance he scanned the room until he saw his target, James, the fox that he was playing cards with a group of other animals.
"Read 'em and weep boys, full house!" James said as he showed his cards, the other animals all groaned and spat in annoyance.
"You cheatin son of a bitch! I should shoot you right here." A opossum said venom dripping from his words, James smiled and pulled out his gun pointing it at the opossum who quickly shut up.
"Like any of you could take me in a fight anyway." James said cocckily.
"Wanna bet on that." Roy said as he grabbed James by the collar and even in his weakened state picked him up, Roy being a good three feet taller than James who let out a curse as he was shoved against a wall.
"R-Roy! I thought you were-" James spat out surprised to see Roy alive,
"Dead?" Roy said, finishing James's sentence, pulling out a Colt Single Action Army from his holster he placed it in the fox's gut, "Now listen well, I want answers and if I don't get any, things are gonna get a lot less pretty for you foxyboy.
"Y-you wouldn't shoot me!" James stammered out fear showing through his eyes, he swallowed a lump in his throat when he heard the hammer of the revolver.
"Try me!" Roy said his voice barely above a whisper but commanding more fear than most Army sergeants that James had served under when he was still in the Army, "Now first question, why did the Denver brothers try to kill me?" Roy asked. James seeing no way out of this that didn't involve him getting a gut shot he answered.
"Th-they said they had a better deal!" James stammered out, "I don't know anything else, that's all they said when they told me." James said. Narrowing his eyes Roy took this answer and dropped the fox who nearly pissed himself in fear.
"Very well, tell the Denver brothers you saw me, and I'll make sure you're six feet." Roy said as he turned around, he then saw out the corner of his eyes, James pulled out a pistol, Roy had managed to clear leather before James could even fire off a shot and Roy had tagged James square in the shoulder making him drop his gun in agony.
"AH! FUCK! YOU BASTARD!!" James yelled clutching his shoulders, rolling and wrathing on the ground in pain.
"Don't try me." Roy said as he left; the salon the patrons looking at the fox in both a combination of shock and admiration at Roy's skills with a gun. With Jame's answer in the back of his mind, Roy had to think of his next move, but there would be time for that. He had to follow another lead of his. but there would be time for that. Going to the doctor to get his bandages redone Roy thought long and hard about his next course of action, he had to find his next lead-whoever that would be.