The desert sun beat down unrelentingly as Violet Swift rode along the dusty trail, her loyal bully Rascal by her side. Their supplies were running low and they were headed to the nearby town of Ricochet Gulch to restock.
As they crested a hill, a strange sight met their eyes. Down in a gulch, a group of rough-looking cattle rustlers had surrounded a lone horseman dressed all in black. His hat was pulled low, obscuring his face in shadow. The rustlers were trying to loop a noose around the dark rider's neck, but he held them off with ominous warning shots from his gleaming revolvers.
"Something ain't right here, Rascal," Violet murmured. Spurring her horse forward, she raced down the slope, bullets flying from her smoking six-shooters before the rustlers even realized she was upon them.
Rascal launched himself into the fray with ferocious barks and snarls, keeping the despicable rogues at bay while Violet freed the dark rider from his binds. Now side by side, woman and shadowy stranger wordlessly fell into sync as they fought off the cattle thieves.
Violet's bullets sang as they split the air with deadly accuracy. The dark rider was just as swift and sure, his own shots echoing hers in a perilous rhythm. Rascal nipped at the heels of the rustlers, sending them tumbling to create openings for Violet and the stranger's guns.
The tide soon turned against the cattle thieves. Their numbers dwindled as the lethal dance of Violet and the dark rider picked them off one by one, leaving no survivors. During the bloody fight, Rascal yelped as a bullet grazed his shoulder, but he valiantly kept fighting to protect his beloved master.
An eerie silence descended on the gulch when the last rustler fell. Violet turned to face the dark rider, whose features remained obscured beneath his hat. He dipped his head silently in thanks, then spun on his heel and strode toward his horse. Within moments, he was galloping out of the gulch, disappearing as suddenly as he had arrived.
Violet watched him go, intrigued by the stranger's skill with a six-shooter. It was clear they were equals when it came to gunslinging prowess. Perhaps their paths would cross again someday, but for now, his identity would remain a mystery.
"You did good, boy," she said, tending gently to Rascal's injured shoulder. "Let's get to Ricochet Gulch before any other trouble finds us." With a flick of the reins, she rode on, the image of the dark rider lingering in her mind. Something told her this would not be the last she saw of the enigmatic gunman.
Originally published November 16, 2023 by Jason Lau
This story is based on my interactive western story, "Ricochet Gulch" -
https://youai.ai/ais/e2d64080-c743-4b86-8438-b45df0cceeeb
This image can be purchased on canvas: https://my-store-e765f4.creator-spring.com/listing/violet-swift-rascal-the-da