Chapter 1

Dammit, I've been chasing that bastard for three weeks, and now that I've found him, I wind up chasing across this prairie dog town after him. Shit, I know that one of us is going to regret this when his horse steps in a prairie dog hole...

Oh, shit! It must have happened to me, but how the hell did I survive the fall from my horse at a dead run like that? All I can say for sure is that I must have landed on my head when I fell, judging from this God-awful headache. Hell, what am I complaining about? I am lucky to be alive after such a fall.

Come on, if it ain't one thing, its another! Where am I, and where is my horse? The damned fool must be lying around here somewhere with a broken leg. I have to find him to put him out of his misery. Besides, he was carrying all of my food and water, my Winchester, and my spare ammunition except for the few rounds in the pouch on my belt.

On top of everything else, I am surrounded by trees big as those pecans that Grandpa had planted for a cash crop. West Texas ain't got anything like this, so where can I be, and where is that desert that I was riding through?

BANG!

Hell, I just heard a gunshot, so somebody must have found my horse and put him out of his misery. I better get moving if I want any help from that jasper. The noise came from that direction, so I guess I had better get my ass in gear and head that way. I traveled about 20 feet and came to a sight that near came to curling my hair!

There was a woman sitting on a rug kind of thing beside my dead horse. She was holding in her hand what had to be some sort of pistol, but I ain't never seen anything so geegawed and filigreed as that thing and still be called a weapon. The crazy thing was that the gun had all of that decoration, but the woman had nothing of the sort!

She was dressed, if you can call it that, in a kind of loin cloth like the Indian men wear, except that it was bright yellow and and barely covered her privates. Her tits were standing out real proud, and they ought to be, from the way they looked. Her tits were not overly big, but they were just right for her body and were down right beautiful. Her nipples were pink on pink and right good looking nubbins: neither too big nor too small. The only other clothes she was wearing were a pair of slippers like what a lady would wear in her bedroom.

On the other hand, not only did she have that ostentatious-looking pistol, but she was wearing a mean looking short saber on her back and a large knife at her waist. Lying behind her was a medium-sized round shield.

Oh, I forgot to mention the circlet of gold holding her hair out of her eyes and her long red pigtail that hung down her back. For a moment, I had thought that she was a saloon whore from the way she was so lightly dressed, but those weapons and her general bearing made that seem impossible.

"Was this your horse that I just shot? If so, you should be ashamed of yourself for leaving the poor animal in such dire distress."

"Yes, Ma'am, that was my horse, but we got separated in the last few minutes, and I have been hunting for him. Thank you for doing the necessary. My name is Henry Douglas, but most of my friends call me Hank. May I ask what your name is?"

"How dare you ask my name!? I had not thought you to be such an ignorant lout, even though you are dressed so oddly. Where are you from?"

"Ma'am, I did not mean to insult you. I suppose that there are other conventions that I am not aware of. I must beg you to bear with me until I can learn your social norms. I am originally from the state of Virginia, but lately, I have become a resident of the state of Texas. Does that answer your questions?"

"Humph! I have never heard of Virginia or Texas, and I don't know what a state is. Yes, I can see that you are from far away. Well, my name is Lady Anslee Hipselburn. This is my father's estate. What are you doing here?"

"Up until a few minutes ago, I was chasing a criminal whom I was endeavoring to capture or slay. He was a dangerous man, and worth a lot of money dead or alive."

"Ah, then, if you are a law enforcement officer, you should meet my father. He is the local judge. Have a seat beside me on my flying carpet, and I will take you to him."

I had recognized from the way that she had said her name that "Lady" was a title and not her first name, so I was beginning to get some idea of the kind of society that I was facing. I begged indulgence to strip my horse before boarding her carpet. That was granted, and we were soon flying at an altitude of about three feet through the forest. We were following what I assumed to be a game trail so we did not spend much time weaving back and forth between trees.

It was a fairly long trip, so I had plenty of time to tell her of my previous life. I told Lady Anslee that I had been a student at Winthrop Military Institute and had served as an officer of artillery in the Army of Northern Virginia. I also told her that after the ignoble defeat at Appomattox, I had traveled west and become a bounty hunter.

She told me that not only was her father a judge, but he was head of the nobility in this area of Horurie, and a brother-in-law to the King. I have to admit to myself that I am a staunch Democrat in all meanings of the term and was not very happy with the thought of a king, but I did not comment on that and waited to learn more of the father and the king before I passed judgment.

The conversation had drifted into a simple exchange of this and that when Lady Anslee let out a startled scream. Standing in front of us in the path was a monster animal which closely resembled a lion, except that it had four eyes and six legs. It took me so little time to recognize how fearful she was of the beast that I did not hesitate to draw my LeMat and fire the shotgun load into the beast's face.

I quickly thumbed the selector on the hammer to .44 pistol cartridges and emptied eight shots into the beast's face alongside the shotgun pellets already there. Dammit, that was a tough animal, but the seventh or eighth shot was enough to kill the beast at last. I swapped the cylinder in my LeMat just in case there happened to be other similar creatures around and looked for more danger.

What I saw was Lady Anslee standing behind me with her saber raised to strike if I could not stop the creature, and she was holding her shield so that we would both be protected. It was a pleasure to finally know a woman who knew how to use weapons and to fight!

She sheathed her saber and laid down her shield before she sat beside me. She seemed calm at first, but suddenly broke into tears and hugged me fiercely. "Oh, Sir Hank, you saved us both from a cruel death! I was so foolish not to reload my pistol that I would have been killed had you not been here to save me. My life and body belong to you, and I hope to fulfill your every desire as your wife."

Needless to say, I was absolutely flummoxed by her statements. Of course, I automatically returned her hug as that was something that I would have done anyway. But this business about being married to her caught me completely off guard.

"Please, Lady Anslee, please explain the reason for your assumption that we would be married. I am not familiar with that custom, and I would appreciate an explanation."

"You mean that you know nothing of our custom that when a man saves a woman from certain death that she becomes his wife and, for practical purposes, his chattel slave."

"Please understand me, Lady Anslee. I am not rejecting you. I am just confused at what I should do. Where I come from, a man must have the permission of the woman's father before he can marry her. I knew of no other customs."