Riders Part 1

It was midday, the time when the blazing sun reached it's peak and the wind started to blow up all the dust on the ground, the same colour was everywhere the sky and the ground, orange, that's the colour He was in as he got dragged into town tied to the back of a horse. He had been caught trying to steal off the bandits and so came his punishment from them. There were five of them, four were chip toothed and filthy hooligans but the leader stood out from the rest, he had perfect teeth, an expensive trench coat, finely cut hair and a magnificent stallion to ride. These five were on their way to the hanging platform to have themselves a show.


Now He didn't even manage to steal two gold coins from them as the first thing he tried to steal was their hot, roasting chicken and that was what got him caught, he always loved his food. So to be hanged for something he didn't even get seemed quite unfair but they were bandits what did they care about fair. "Come on, I didn't even take anything." He pleaded as he spit the dirt out of his mouth. "Who cares 'bout dat! We jus wan' a hangin!" replied one of the bandits, causing an eruption of laughter between them.


Even though His death loomed before him he complained no more and willingly walked to the platform, not even the look of despair crossed his face. The leader grew angry from the lack of pleading Why isn't he crying right now thought the leader as he finished untying the thief and started walking him to be hanged. "Why don't you go ahead and cry!!! Your gonna die soon!!! Hahahahaha!!!" screamed the men jostling, laughing and joking amongst themselves. Yet He stayed firm and showed not a care for what was about to come, he actually giggled at them. Only the leader heard the sound He made and the anger in him seemed to finally bubble over as he launched Him at the platform screaming at the loudest his voice could, "Why aren't you begging for your life, you lowlife, miscreant, maggot, vagabond?!", silence reigned supreme amongst the men.


Each man shocked and confused turned to face the one on his left and then his right just to see if they heard right, the leader was burning red and shaking violently while He looked up from the floor with a cut lip from hitting the platform, smiled at him and spoke "You can't kill me, the only reason I'm here is because I wanted the ride." He laughed at the leader while looking directly in his eyes. Each foul breathed, crooked teeth, rancid bandit blazed with shock and anger, they moved towards him as one unit. The leader silent and raging grabbed Him by the neck and lifted him off his feet, while the bandits set up the hanging platform and the noose for his neck. He was being held up in the air by the leader while being led to the hangman's knot, each inch closer the leader's grip grew tighter around His neck cutting down his air supply until he stood an inch apart from it and he could see all the frizzled strands of rope some of which held fragments of skin and blood from previous victims. The leader handed Him off so the noose could be wrapped around his neck and tightened, so he couldn't escape. The bandits had finally set Him up and now stepped back to watch the show, the leaver to release the trap door and hang Him was in front of the stage so that was where the leader situated himself. The leader stood next to the leaver ready to watch Him drop knowing he had the greatest view of all, while the others surrounded the platform in excited anticipation of the coming event.


The leader glared furiously at him and with a voice full of contempt asked "Any last words before you hang!" The leader expecting a bashful reply waited but He just stared back and replied calmly "No." The leader shocked at his reply yanked the leaver and let him hang. As the trap door opened and he fell through, the noose took hold around his neck and started to strangle him. His breadth was fading as no air got to him through the noose, this made the leader grin so wide and crooked that he looked more evil than all the other bandits combined. Each bandit cackled and smiled their crooked teeth smile while passing their hooch between each other and rejoicing that they finally had a hanging. His vision started fading, the sight of the bandits were growing dimmer, the bright orange landscape started turning grey and then a high pitched whistling sound rang in his ears but not just his also the bandits as he saw them twitch at the sound and then everything went black for him.


The bandits stood there in shock each eye turned to each other then to the leader hoping he had an answer for what had just happened but he was in shock just as much as the others. "Boss where did that come from?" one of the goons asked hoping for an answer but the leader just turned around to stare at the bandits with disbelief in his eyes.


"Oi Tyzan! You alive in there or what?" A strange voice bellowed through the orange dustlands surrounding a stranger walking with a horse and holding a bow in his hands. This stranger drew the attention of the bandits as one by one their eyes turned to him and all their shock had turned to anger and understanding. The leader knew what happened as soon as he saw the stranger holding the bow, he knew the whistling sound came from him. The leader without a second of thought and purely on reflex as if he had said it a million times, shouted at his men "Go and kill him!" The bandits only had knives on them as all their rifles hung on their horses to far away and the only one worthy of a pistol awong them was the leader but he didn't want to get his hands dirty with this stranger. The bandits ran at the stranger with rabid hunger in their faces ready for a bloodbath, they raised their blood crusted, blunt edged, crescent curved knives and slashed towards the stranger. The stranger just danced around them with spirited delight, a smile gleamed on his face from end to end, he was having fun while the bandits were trying to kill him. The bandits slashes were just inches from him before he dodged them and moved closer to the next bandit, and he kept repeating this process for his own entertainment over and over again, BANG BANG, two shots fired and one bandit falling to the ground.


Everyone stopped including the stranger, especially seeing how the dead body lay in front of his feet. "You missed me Mr Leader!" Spoke the stranger, causing a strangled expression on the face of the leader to appear, his burning red face had switched to a sour blue face in the blink of an eye. "Who are you and why shouldn't I shoot you where you stand?" asked the leader raising his gun to level the strangers head. The stranger not phased by the action calmly replied "Well, my name is Straga and it's nice to meet you. Oh and the reaso..."


"I win!" a voice screamed from behind the leader and as he turned around there was Tyzan standing in the hole where the trap door was, smiling a childish grin as he took the noose off his neck. "I beat you here Straga that means I win the bet. Oh yea, thanks for the wake up call Mr Leader it seemed as though I had fallen asleep just now." The leader dropped to his knees with his lips quivering and he kept repeating "How?" over an over again until it became a mumble unhearable to anyone. The bandits all stood around wondering what to do while Tyzan and Straga just walked to each other and gripped the others wrist performing their general handshake greeting and started laughing.


Straga turned to his horse and reached for an orange, dust stained, silk wrapped package which he handed off to Tyzan. Tyzan threw the package over his shoulder, steadied himself and then waved farewell to the bandits and walked off. Straga grabbed the reins of the horse and trailed after Tyzan, the bandits not knowing whether they should go after them or not just stayed frozen like statues as no order was given for them to move. Tyzan looked back over his shoulder with his childish grin and shouted to the bandits "Thanks for the ride." turned around and walked off in the direction of the nearby town. He had no qualms or issues over what had just happened, he brushed off getting dragged through the dustlands, thrown into the platform, being strangled and hanged. The only thing he cared about was the fact he had won the bet.