URIAH MOON MOVED silently astride his mustang through the constant rain as the sky lit up every few seconds and made his fearless advance appear like something from another realm of reality. No ghostly apparition could have cut a more formidable sight as it travelled slowly down the center of the wide thoroughfare.
The storm was becoming a tempest and yet the sound of colliding thunderclouds rumbled far off in the distance as though luring its prey away from Apache Springs to their destruction.
Flashes of blinding light erupted above the remote settlement as the haunting horseman rode his gelded mustang down the sodden street towing another saddle horse behind him. Yet for all the lethal lightning which snaked across the heavens and eerily illuminated the towns structures, there was very little sound apart from unearthly rumblings.
Moon was well aware of the potential danger which could strike at any moment from any angle. A hissing fork of blinding light splintered across the embattling clouds above the vigilante but neither Moon nor his sturdy mount paid it any heed.
There was nothing on the mind of the intrepid avenger apart from once again chasing and administering his own brand of justice to the men he had been informed of. Men who had robbed and brutally killed innocents in Tuscan.
The avenging vigilante had vowed to find and punish them with no hint of emotion. Moon was once again judge, jury and potentially their executioner. Bank robbers Slim Hogan, Tanner Dale and Leo McCloud might have eluded the law but when they had entered the vast forested hills their fates had been sealed.
The outlaws had no idea of what horrors lay ahead of them as they raced toward the crystal mesas. Uriah Moon was determined to teach each and every one of them that there was another law in this lawless land. His own brand of law.
White sheets of unimaginable power erupted amid the black clouds over Apache Springs. Every shingle upon every rooftop shook as finally the storm announced its venom. The deafening sound rippled throughout the settlement but the horseman continued on down the street through the unceasing downpour.
Apache Springs was no stranger to the storms which plagued the region as it seemed to have been constructed directly in the path of nature’s venomous wrath, but this storm seemed strangely different.
The black clouds were moving far faster than was usual and headed to somewhere else. Uriah Moon steered his gelding toward the bright lantern lights of the hardware store set a few buildings before the strangely subdued saloons.
His unblinking eyes glanced at the store sign nailed to the porch overhang. The hardware store gleamed as water ran down its wooden walls and met the sandy street. Moon pulled back on his reins and stopped his mount at the buildings hitching rail.
The vigilante dismounted, gave a glance upward at the storm and then looped his long leathers around the rail and secured his mount. Moon glanced at the Salty Sally saloon a few structures ahead of him and then turned and glared into the lantern lit store.
As the vigilante stepped up on to the soaked boards, he paused for a moment and rested a hand upon a porch upright. Moon could sense something was wrong yet could not work out what. The brutal storm was somehow different to any other he had ever encountered.
Most men might have been apprehensive but not Moon.
He strode toward the stores wide open doors. He did not slow his pace as his long legs walked to the long counter where the elderly owner of the establishment looked up from his well-thumbed newspaper. The unexpected sight frightened the elderly man. He visibly shook with fear.
Uriah Moon was a strange sight at the best of times but drenched in the constant downpour of rain, he appeared even more awesome. The tall figure stopped across the counter from the hardware store owner and simply stood watching him.
‘Anything I can do for you, sir?’ the man feebly asked as he slowly rose from his chair and stared at the unholy vigilante as Moon’s eyes studied his wares.
‘Dynamite,’ Moon whispered in a low growl as he remained totally immobile.
The man swallowed hard and gave a nod of his head as he scurried along to a large drawer set in an even larger cabinet at the rear of the building. Pulling the drawer open he turned to ask how much of the lethal explosive was required and was taken by surprise. Moon loomed over him and stood less than three feet away from his shoulder.
The man jumped in terror.
‘Oh heck,’ he blurted as he looked in surprise at the strangely silent figure. ‘You scared the life out of me. I didn’t hear you walking, stranger.’
‘Most folks don’t,’ Moon said.
The elderly man glanced at the spurs on the vigilante’s boots and scratched his jaw. He could not quite understand how the spurs had not betrayed the tall man as he approached.
‘Reckon them spurs must be rusted up,’ he suggested.
‘With dried blood,’ Moon drawled.
The store owner was uneasy. He turned his attention back to the deep drawer and its deadly contents.
Moon remained expressionless as water dropped from his long tethered beard. His narrowed eyes squinted into the drawer at the sticks of dynamite wrapped in bundles of six and stacked to the very top of the compartment.
‘One bundle will do just fine, friend,’ Moon uttered before turning and walking silently back to where the cash register stood upon the wooden counter. He then paused.
The small hardware store owner returned carrying the bundle of six sticks of dynamite and placed them down before the vigilante. He forced a smile but it was not easy when faced by the tall grim-faced Moon.
‘Do you want fuse wire?’ the frightened man asked.
Moon nodded without uttering a word. As the coiled uncut wire was placed before him on top of the dynamite he raised his right hand and dipped his long fingers into one of his vest pockets. He produced a golden eagle and placed it down before the shaking man.
‘Thank you kindly. I’ll rustle up your change, stranger,’ the smaller man said as he moved toward his cash register and pressed down upon its keys. As the drawer opened toward his rotund girth he noticed that his strange customer had already left his establishment. He felt an icy shiver trace the length of his backbone as he placed the gold coin into one of the drawers many compartments. He leaned over the top of his counter to see where his mysterious customer had gone but there was no sign of Moon. It was as though he had vanished into the bowels of Hell. The small man nervously gulped. ‘Well I’ll be damned.’
Walking through the rain leading the saddle horses behind his wide back, Moon defiantly refused to acknowledge the constant downpour as he paused outside the Salty Sally saloon and glanced at its swing doors. He turned and slowly mounted the gelded mustang and gathered up his loose reins.
He had a much better view from the high shouldered mustang and started to nod to himself.
Moon’s ice blue eyes looked from beneath the wide brim of his hat across from his high perch into the heart of the quiet saloon and spotted the young cowboy he had been searching for.
The vigilante glared at Billy Rocco’s back for a few moments when the cowboy seemed to realize that he was being observed and started to rub the nape of his neck. Billy turned toward the saloons swing doors and spotted the distinctive vigilante as a flash of lightning illuminated the entire street.
‘Moon,’ Billy exclaimed as he downed the last of his beer and marched toward the street. Without pausing he placed a hand on the doors and pushed them open before stepping out on to its porch. His smile filled his face as he stared up at the mounted vigilante. ‘You’ll catch a cold in this weather.’
‘I never catch things I can’t kill,’ Moon disagreed.
The cowboy still could not understand the strange man who watched him intently. He bit his lower lip and moved closer to the mounted Moon who seemed oblivious to the continuous rain which beat down. He noticed that the vigilante had brought his quarter horse from the livery stable. Billy wondered why but knew it was a pointless exercise. Moon was one man who could not be figured in the same way that most folks could.
‘This ain’t the weather to go for a ride, Moon,’ Billy said as thunder grumbled off in the distance.
‘It’s just wet, Billy,’ Moon said in a deep tone as he untied the reins to the cowboys mount and tossed it into the cowboy’s hands. ‘I brought your quarter horse for you to go back to the Double K and see them females your boss is giving refuge to.’
Billy pulled the collar of his jacket up and then stepped out into the rain. He mounted his horse and eased it to the side of the haunting figure.
‘Them gals are mighty good looking but,’ he said.
Moon looked across at the cowboy. ‘But what?’
‘Hell,’ he sighed heavily before grinning. ‘One of them females is too old and the other two are way too young.’
Uriah Moon concealed his amusement as he looked down at the reins in his hands. ‘They sure are pleasant to look at though, Billy.’
The youngster gave out a belly laugh in agreement.
‘Where you going, Moon?’ he asked as the vigilante turned his geldings head away from the saloon with a jerk of his reins and faced the curtains of rain which filled the entire width of the main street. ‘You going to see them womenfolk?’
Eruptions of bright lightning lit up the haunting features of the bearded horseman as he stroked his long beard thoughtfully.
‘Nope.’ Moon tapped his spurs and started his horse walking through the sodden sand.
The cowboy got his horse moving and trotted to the side of the vigilante. He stared at the expressionless face as Moon looked out into the eerie darkness as a mist rose from the ground and taunted his eyes.
‘Then where you going?’ Billy asked as lightning forked across the sky and spooked his quarter horse. He steadied the skittish animal and cleared his throat. ‘You going back to Fort Hook?’
‘Nope,’ Moon answered.
‘Then where are you headed?’ Billy pressed as both their mounts continued on through the driving rain.
Spray started to rise off the sodden sand as both horses slowly increased their pace as they headed for the outskirts of Apache Springs.
‘I’m going to find a few bad hombres and make the varmints pay for what they just done,’ Moon rasped without looking at his companion.
Billy Rocco frowned. ‘What they done?’
‘They killed a bunch of folks over at Tuscan,’ Moon said as the rain burned into his face. ‘They rode into the large forest near Tuscan and are headed in this direction. I intend stopping the varmints before they get a chance to kill more folks.’
‘Why?’ Billy asked as they reached the last of the structures and left Apache Springs. ‘Why risk your life like this?’
Uriah Moon turned his head. ‘Because I’m a vigilante, Billy. It’s what I do. I make the evil critters pay for what they’ve done to innocent folks.’
The cowboy did not turn his mount and head toward the distant Double K ranch. He continued riding alongside the tall horseman as they headed in the direction of the vast unnamed forest.
‘You want company, Moon?’ the smiling cowboy asked.
Uriah Moon raised an eyebrow. ‘This ain’t gonna be pleasant, Billy. You any good with that gun?’
The rain hid the cowboy’s blushes as he maintained his horses pace bedside the fearsome vigilante.
‘Well, not hardly,’ he admitted before grinning. ‘The last time I had call to draw it was when we rode into that bloodbath outside the banker’s house. You killed most of the folks before I managed to get the damn thing cocked.’
‘You did okay, Billy,’ Moon said as they increased their speed and started to drive their horses through the tall range grass.
‘So you don’t mind me tagging along?’ Billy asked as the dark sky erupted into bling light again. ‘I promise I won’t get in your way. Besides, there ain’t nothing for me to do back at the ranch.’
Moon’s eyes lit up like Roman candles as the flickering lightning illuminated his bearded features. He glanced at the young cowboy.
‘You ain’t scared of them young golden haired gals, are you?’ he smirked.
Billy laughed as the driving rain beat into his youthful features and started to nod.
‘Well they are kinda scary, Moon,’ he sighed. ‘I bet you were a tad frightened by them. Were you?’
Uriah Moon did not reply. He just kept whipping the shoulders of his gelded mustang with his long leathers as the young cowboy rode at his side toward the distant trees. Trees which were the eastern edge of the vast forest. A forest which could only be seen clearly when the lightning turned darkness into light across the imposing range.
The eerie light was almost haunting and cast a strange hue over the terrain they were riding across yet neither horseman slowed their pace. The cowboy had not noticed anything odd about the ground they were travelling over but Moon’s keen eyes had.
He slowed his mount and pointed at the trail between their horses.
‘Look at that, Billy boy,’ the vigilante announced in a low growl. ‘Reckon we found the tracks of our missing trooper.’
Billy Rocco squinted hard. He could barely see what Moon’s long finger was pointing at. He looked back at the imposing Moon and shrugged.
‘You can see his tracks?’ the cowboy gasped in awe.
‘Yep.’ Moon nodded, drove his spurs deep into the sodden gelding and galloped away from the still confused cowboy.
With his mane of long white hair flapping on his shoulders Moon heard Billy racing after him. When the cowboy drew level he looked hard at the vigilante.
‘But we ain’t after the trooper,’ he shouted through the driving rain. ‘I thought you said we were after three bank robbers.’
‘We are,’ Moon drawled.
Billy Rocco tightened the drawstring under his chin to keep his hat on his head as he urged his quarter horse on. He could not understand why Moon seemed so interested in Trooper Davis when he had revealed that he was hunting the men who had robbed the Tuscan bank.
‘That soldier lit out coz he was scared of ending up like his comrades, Billy,’ Moon said as another massive bolt of lightning crackled its way down from the sky and struck the ground a mile or so to their left. As it exploded they could see the forest a few miles ahead of them. ‘Davis don’t know it but he might just be riding toward something far more dangerous.’
‘You mean them bank robbers?’ Billy piped up.
‘Maybe,’ Moon drawled before glancing at his companion. ‘I hear there’s something even more dangerous lurking in that forest. If the tall tales are right, those bank robbing vermin are the least of that trooper’s worries.’
Billy looked almost as terrified as he actually was.
‘What you heard about that forest, Moon?’ he gulped desperately. ‘Tell me. What you heard about that damn forest?’
Uriah Moon stroked his rain soaked beard and raised an eyebrow.
‘Do you believe in monsters, Billy?’ he teased with a jerk of his long leathers. Billy Rocco swung his head and stared at his ominous companion in stunned terror.
‘Monsters?’ the cowboy croaked as terror gripped him by the throat. ‘Did you just ask me if I believe in monsters? Are you serious?’
The vigilante wryly stared ahead with unblinking eyes and spurred his mustang even harder as they advanced toward the mysterious forest which now was clearly visible even in the murky atmosphere. Moon looked briefly at the cowboy at his side and gave a tormenting sigh.
‘Me neither,’ Moon smirked. ‘I sure hope I ain’t wrong.’