The flames erupted; the heat searing her back while the stage illuminated with dancing orange and red flames, waving like finger. Her eyes found the flickering fire, burning bright and as hungry as the one that took her ranch. Evil and hot. Hellfire, she remembered, hearing the neighs of her horses. How their hooves pounded the ground, beating loud as her heart on that night, while the flames mounted their backs and consumed them.
The trap doors snapped open.
Roars came from both sides of the room; two furry black blurs barreled down the caged tunnels and before she knew it they appeared in center stage. The beasts collided, claws swiping and snouts snapping. The barbaric people cheered from their feet.
"Kill em. I've got good coin on you, Bitch!"
After several more swipes and chomps, Leslie recognized the two beasts. Bears, she thought. Each one large as a Grizzly yet their fur was black as death. The larger of the two, the female Leslie assumed from her name-Bitch, the barbarians called her; her claws came downward, tearing the males snout; red chunks and liquid painted the stage while the cheers grew louder.
Across the table, the tribesmen were gathered together each one pointing at the female. Whispering in grunts and growls; an old language, as old as the woods around Lone Creek.
Leslie turned back to the brawl; the fire had turned the beasts into shadows, two silhouettes merged as one, slamming into the cages. Bones cracking and popping. After a few seconds her eyes found their focus. The male, who seemed the seasoned brawler, his fur matted and patchy, with exposed flesh from old wounds; h was beating down his advisory. Slamming the female into the ground, jaws clamped around her throat, tugging the fur violently.
It was too much to bare, Leslie turned towards the boys whose mouths were hung like a noose. Eyes as opened and stiff as the dead.
"I'm going to grab another drink," Leslie told Barrot, "watch over them." He nodded but she wasn't quite certain he'd heard her, staring as much in awe as the boys were.
Leslie slipped from the bench and weaved her way through bodies, pushing and squeezing, everyone fighting to get a glimpse. And, for once, nobody focusing on her, watching her or trying to get a lucky squeeze. She climbed the stumpy steps that rose to the balcony-
There was a roar from the bears and the crowd. Leslie looked over shoulders. Both creatures fur was dripping of crimson liquid. The female had found her feet, this time on the attack, pressuring the beast with her clawing. One swipe. Two swipes. A double swipe. The male stumbled backwards losing his paws, he slammed to the ground.
"No!" Boomed a giant man leaning on the balcony railing. It was the man in the furred robe. On closer look she could see scars; flesh pink against his black skin. As scared as the bear he rooted for. "Get up, Baxtus. Get up!" He slammed his hand on the railing. Between his teeth was a sliver of wood, bent in his clenched jaws. "I said get up, My Friend!" He waved an arm.
Leslie kept her eyes on the man until she bumped something and gasped. "what'll you be having," a man with a mangy beard asked. Dark-skinned as the others.
Leslie looked around, realizing that she'd strayed to the bar. Her lips peeled but another voice spoke the words. "One Grizzly," the voice said. "In fact, make it two." Beside her a man dressed in a deputies uniform stood. Tall and broad shouldered with a wide chin and salty black hair. His gaze upon her was sickly and twisted. "Good to see ya, Sheriff."
"Kenneth," Leslie's said, shocked. A frothy beer was set down close to hand, and not a second late. She took a large gulp. "What are you doing here?"
He smirked, "just came for the show," his eyes didn't leave her, creeping from her face to her chest and back. "Looks like it's two for one," he laughed.
Leslie's nose wrinkled, "you keep quiet or I'll have you on street duty for a month."
Kenneth raised his hands, "woah, there, Sweetheart. Why the hostility?" The people cheered and his attention drew from her and to the stage. "Damn, that Bitch can wrestle." He looked back at her,
"Maybe we can have at it next."
Leslie scowled at the man and allowed a hushed laugh to leave her lips. "Oh, ya?" She leaned closer to the man. "Too bad it'd be a quick affair."
"I don't know...this old bone might have a few tricks." He whispered in her ear. "One's you've never experienced before-"
Leslie shoved him back.
"So you like it rough?"
"Kenneth, I'm in no mood for your shit." She took a swig of her drink "Back off."
"What's got your breeches in a bunch? The mayor taking your badge."
Leslie was thrown off by his words. He knew something, she could hear it in his rustic voice. But how? "What do you know?"
Kenneth shrugged leaning his back against the bar, "you really think the Mayor wanted you watching over me?" This drew her eyes to his lips. "He sent me to watch over you, Sweetheart."
Watch over me? "Why?" She spoke sharply, whipping her hair back behind her shoulders. "Why would he send a dog like you to watch over me."
"You wouldn't expect it. Hell, you didn't expect it. I can see the surprise look on that freckled face of yours."
"I take it that's why you've acted like an ass."
"Nope. I'm just that — an ass — but you need to be in this world...shit smeared beneath a boot, that's life." He laughed. "Frankly, I'm surprised you hadn't figured it out."
Leslie had in fact. "The promotion..."
"Damn, right. He didn't want the woman who'd help his reelection get killed by some farmer with a shotgun, and so, after my mishap he told me if I watched over you I'd be made Leadgun again. That was the deal."
"But what about Jack?" She heard herself say. "He's Leadgun."
"For now...He'll likely get your badge when I get mine."
Leslie's felt fire beneath her chest. As hot as the one behind the stage and the one that engulfed her farm. For a moment the cheers and roars silenced; her breath is all she heard. How could I be so foolish? The Mayor, the man she trusted, was only in it for himself. Jostice had warned her...but never told her why. Why did you hate him so? The question resurfaced.
She heard a loud snap. Leslie searched the room finding the female bear standing over a stiff mound of fur, roaring victoriously. The bear pulled down the hanging meat and devoured it.
Against the railing, the giant man gowned in his furred robe, groaned. He threw aside a table, glass shattering. The place silenced except the chomping of fangs.
"Bear was never defeated," Kenneth said, "killed every foe he was up against...Just goes to show, you can't always stay on top."
Leslie thought of the Mayor; his lavish attire, curled mustache, slick black hair. The smell of lavender wafting off of him to disguise his stink. She shook her head and grimaced. "No...you can't."