Corps of Discovery: Blood Moon Rising

THUD THUD. "Shit!" Lewis's coffee spilled on his lap. He got up from his rocking chair by his fireplace. "Yeah yeah I'm coming hold your horses". He shouted to the door. Lewis looked through his
peephole to see who was disturbing his morning coffee. " You've got to be kidding me" Lewis whispered to himself. He unhooked the padlock from his door and swung it open. " Good day, isn't it Lewis? Clark said with a huge ear- splitting grin on his face. He reached out for Lewis' hand, as much as Lewis wasn't thrilled to see him he wrapped his arms around Clark in the way anybody would with an old friend. "Handshakes are for people who haven't seen war, we're past that Clark." Lewis explained to him. Clark's dark brown hair reflected the morning sunlight, he had his brown jacket on with a green undershirt, his hair wild and curly. His short broad-shouldered build resembled a brick house. Lewis was also dark-haired, his eyes burned like the tip of a blue flame, with brown specs inside of them. A lanky man with not much muscle to him although he had very calloused hands. This was a working man, at least he used to be. He was still wearing his pajamas, so he told Clark to come in while he changed into something more presentable. Clark entered the house instantly greeted by the smell of wood burning in the hearth. The walls were covered in spoils of war, a brown bess was displayed proudly above the fireplace. The head of a grey wolf was also shown off above Lewis' lone chair in the corner, allowing him to sit underneath the comfort of his kill. Clark noticed a stack of letters addressed to him that Lewis must have been working on, most of them were only a few lines that had not got past the formal greeting of 'Dear William'. Clark never had the taste for writing letters, he preferred adventure and would much rather travel the few hours on horseback than the

wrist aching task of penning a letter. Lewis came out of his bedroom wearing a grey tweed jacket with a brown and white striped dress shirt underneath with suspenders holding up his matching grey slacks. Shiny black boots finished the look for Lewis as he was about to address his subordinates once again in formation. Clark spoke excited as Lewis sat down at his dining room table and poured himself a glass of whiskey. Lewis motioned the bottle in Clark's direction but he declined politely. Clark knew he couldn't function riding a steed after a touch of alcohol. "Now I know what you're thinking Lewis, I'm the last person you want to see I'm sure, I know we went through a lot together before, however I come here with grand news." Lewis rolled his eyes at his old comrade, " What could be so important you traveled Forty miles for?" Lewis almost sneered back. Clark responded proudly, " The president needs us." Lewis pondered this statement for a minute and wondered what illicit drug Clark had been on, "I gave my service to the 'president' when I secured the very first one's seat, why can't I enjoy my peace and quiet?" He lifted his glass to take a swig of his drink, the whiskey went down like water lately. As much as he didn't have the taste for war anymore, he also was losing his taste for the deafening silence that echoed his home's walls at night. The sound of battle awoke him at night all the same, he didn't get a good night's rest unless it was provided by the flask. "I'm going to need more than that to leave the comfort of my home" Lewis said coldly. Clark crossed his arms and replied " If the President insists he needs your help specifically then you should at least accept his invitation to his home in Monticello."

"Fine but I'm only going to respect the President, nothing further." Lewis replied. Lewis sighed and stood up from his chair, he polished off his whiskey while he rose. He sighed and told Clark, " Let's ride and see what exactly this proposition entails." Clark followed Lewis to his stable while guiding his own horse he had tied to Lewis' post in the front of his home. Lewis was silent as they approached the stables but sighed deeply as he got the saddle onto the horse and the reins fitted onto the horses head. The horse was adorned by a light chestnut coat with a white line running from the top of it's head to about a few inches above the horse's eye. Lewis proudly patted the horse on its side as he brushed off some mud from it's coat hidden in the brown coloring of the Appaloosa. "We're only going on a short ride old girl, do you think you can handle that Glory?" The horse neighed and sniffed Lewis' hand as he fed his horse some grain from his palm. He mounted on top of Glory and adjusted his reins length, he lightly clicked his tongue and Glory took off alongside Clark's horse. The dusty road led away from Lewis' house, he looked back at it without the knowledge how much time would be away from it. He had actually dropped Seaman his Newfoundland off to his brother's to breed with his brother's Saint Bernard Lucy, he was hoping for a good litter by the end of the winter. Lewis and Clark rode towards Monticello which was a few towns over from Lewis. "What have you been up to since you left the service, Lewis?" Clark was curious about his comrade's homelife. Lewis shrugged, "You were looking at it Clark, sipping Whiskey and reading." Clark thought to himself how lonely that sounded. However It wasn't far off from what he had been doing the past couple of years, going town to town looking for work drinking at every inn he could find. Clark wasn't particularly skilled at much besides finding people so he mostly stuck to that, bounty hunting. It only took a few hours to