Queen of the Cowboys

City of Lights

The fighting below ceased not long after that. It wasn't clear if it was when the cowboys and policemen heard the shots from the mayor's office and were curious to see who was victorious, or when the window shattered and out tumbled the bloody, lifeless body of Mayor Archambeau, breaking further upon impact. The policemen, fickle in their loyalty, laid down their weapons at Kristine's command, already finding a new figure of authority to pledge to, though she would never bring men such as them into her gang.

The barricades around the mayor's safe zone were dismantled as Kristine went about directing the post-raid tasks. Wounds needed to be taken care of, burials needed to be organized, and the citizens of Chicago needed to be reassured about their new leader. City-dwellers assumed their cities were safe fro the goings-on of the wild west, but Kristine brought those stories and that fear right to their doorstep. It would take some time for them to grow accustomed to the change of authority. Cleaning up the city from the raid would be a good first step.

Okala and Jess found her as her shoulder wound was being cleansed and stitched. Their forces had secured the perimeter of the city and the farms on the outskirts, and they remained there on patrol. Kristine recounted the conversation with the mayor, the talk of secession in the Great Lakes states.

"We must come up with a contingency plan if the surrounding states decide to strike back," Okala said. Though they brightened slightly at the retelling of the seemingly good relations Archambeau had with the surrounding Native American tribes, they were all business when it came to securing the city for Kristine against external military forces.

"And we will," Kristine said. "But for now, we need to celebrate the victories as they come. We won the day. We will face tomorrow's challenges tomorrow."

"How credible do you think Mayor Archambeau's story about the secession movement was?" Jess asked. "He couldn't possibly have thought his government would be any different from that of the United States, could he?"

"Men often like to believe their ideas are original," Okala said under their breath. "Anything to make them appear as if they stand apart from everyone else."

"He was passionate about his goal, I'll give him that much," Kristine said. "I will send scouts to the surrounding cities and states. See if they can infiltrate local and state governments and uncover any information about it. Archambeau could've been a fanatic or a true leader of a growing movement. But as I said, tomorrow's problem. Tonight, we celebrate."

A few more words were shared between the three before Okala and Jess left her to rest, each off to complete the remaining high-priority tasks before the night began and the liquor started to flow.

Several hours later, under the wide-open sky full of stars and in the light of a bonfire, Kristine sat in her new city, the new capitol of her empire, drinking whiskey and watching the drunken wrestling of a couple of her cowboys. Most people were still too afraid of what they saw as an invasion to leave their homes, but a few people joined them, mostly young men and women who were probably enjoying their rebellious phase drinking with the leader of the largest band of cowboys and outlaws the West had ever seen or will ever see again.

The prairie's City of Lights pierced the total blackness of night, the beacon of a new era.