The Empress & The Gunslinger

Chapter 2 - Arthur Morgan, Another Day in the Van Der Linde Gang

Today was the day Dutch told the gang they were going to be robbing the hotel back in Valentine. Arthur didn't see what the purpose was as it was just a shitty run down establishment full of degenerates like himself. Being a gang lieutenant within the Van Der Linde gang he didn't really have much say. Dutch always has a plan and 9 times out of 10 they always ended badly.

As the campmates went about their lives, Dutch, Arthur, John, Lenny, Bill and Charles were preparing for the robbery of the hotel in Valentine. Polishing up their guns, packing dynamite into their saddlebags, ensuring their horses were ready for anything that came towards them.

The sun was beginning to set over Horseshoe overlook. Pearson had cooked up a stew for the camp which had the campmates queuing to fill up their bowls with his amazing food. Arthur was last to grab a bowl. Once plated up he went and sat on his bed, eating his stew whilst watching the sun go down over the mountains. He kept telling himself how daft this whole robbery was. There were bigger places to rob like banks and trains but for some reason Dutch wanted to rob a small hotel.
He sat watching the rest of his campmates go about their business. Playing Dominoes with one another, some was doing chores, others lazing about and others drinking whiskey by the bottle. Arthur felt his eyes getting heavy and decided to have a nap until the moment came.

Arthur was woken up by a big slap on his leg "Arthur get up its time" Dutch said. Arthur rose to his feet, grabbed his hat, lit up a cigarette and walked behind Dutch towards the hitching post where their horses were waiting for them. "Let's go boys! Mount up!" Dutch commanded. Arthur flicked away his cigarette and mounted up onto his jet black race horse which he called Black Sparrow. The gang rode out of the camp, guns over their shoulders and in their holsters heading directly for Valentine.

Once in Valentine the gang jumped off their horses and burst through the door of the hotel, guns pointing at anyone who stood in front of them. "This is a robbery! Now we don't want to hurt nobody so do the right thing and hand over all of your cash" Dutch commanded the small jolly fatman who was shaking and panicking. The man reached behind the counter and handed over the bag full of money "Here take it! It's not much but that's all I have" Dutch collected the money off the man and ordered Bill to tie him up and other guests who had made themselves present during the robbery, placing them all in a room out back, killing anyone who didn't follow his orders. Dutch ordered the rest of the gang to check all the rooms and take anything worth of value. Arthur and John searched the rooms on the right while Lenny and Charles checked the rooms on the left.

Arthur approached a room at the very end of the corridor. Trying the handle he felt something blocking the door and called John over to help him get the door open. The two barged the door open, breaking the legs of the chair that held the door closed. The room looked empty even though the bed hadn't been made. They both searched the room but couldn't find anything valuable. They found women's clothes and a photo of a man and a woman who looked like Royalty to them both. After finding nothing John left the room and Arthur followed behind but remained standing in the doorway as John made his way down the corridor and down the staircase. Arthur couldn't help but wonder who was in this room and where did they go. The bed wasn't made, belongings were still in the room, and the window hadn't been opened so they haven't escaped when they've heard the commotion downstairs. They must still be here he thought to himself. He suddenly heard the floorboard underneath the bed creak and it suddenly hit him the person staying in this room was hiding and had been all along. He walked back into the room and headed for the bed, he could see long black hair sticking out the side of the bed. He made his way to the bottom of the bed, bent down and grabbed the ankles of the person under there. Pulling them out he was shocked to find a young beautiful woman, surrendering. He didn't know why she was surrendering to him till he realised he had his gun under her chin. Arthur got up off the woman and stood beside her. She remained on the floor, scared and shaking. He didn't know what to do other than shout on Dutch.
"Duuuuuuuuutch!!!!! I think you wanna come up here!" Dutch entered the room and looked down at the young woman terrified on the floor. "Arthur! What did you do to this poor woman?" "What do you mean what did I do? I didn't do anything besides drag her out from underneath that bed!" Arthur replied. "That's no way to treat a young woman Arthur." Dutch walked over to her and extended his hand out to her. The young woman very cautiously reached out and put her hand into Dutch's. He helped her to her feet and grabbed a blanket off her bed to wrap around her and escorted her out of the building unharmed.

The rest of the gang were outside on their horses waiting for Arthur and Dutch. As Dutch walked out with the young woman the rest of the gang looked in shock whilst Arthur followed behind Dutch looking just as confused as the rest of the gang. Not a word was spoken as they walked out. Dutch helped her up onto his horse before mounting the horse himself. Without a word to each other the gang rode off back to camp with a new face.