Bad Beginnings (A RDR2 Fanfic)

Horse Riding

During their last couple weeks in Valentine, Arthur finally learned how to shoot a gun and ride a horse.

Dutch and Hosea insisted that it would be beneficial if Arthur would be riding with them when they were going to start heading farther west.

They decided that the first thing they would do was the horse. Dutch, Hosea, and Arthur bought another horse at the Valentine stables. Black, strong but also gentle. Arthur decided to name her Beatrice, after his mother.

One morning, Arthur, Dutch, and Hosea all went out riding. Arthur soon realized that riding wasn't all that easy. It was a lot of gripping with the legs and managing to be calm and focused.

The morning consisted of a lot of story telling, and Dutch telling Arthur that he should try going faster, with Arthur making the excuse, "I just want to enjoy this lovely morning!"

One of the stories told was about how Arthur was fishing with Copper when he was around 12. Copper had managed to rile up some wasps and Arthur had to jump into the river so he wouldn't come home full of hornet stingers.

Eventually he got more comfortable, and by noon he was racing Dutch and Hosea back to camp. After getting first place, Arthur had a sneaking suspicion that they let him win, but he still gloated none the less.

"Honestly," Arthur continued, feeding Beatrice a carrot and brushing out her mane. "I don't know how you managed to get beat by a kid, Mr. Van der Linde."

"Humility would be a great trait to develop Mr. Morgan," Hosea added with a laugh. "If that's even possible for you."

Dutch let out another one of his booming laughs, clasping Arthur on the shoulder. "I promise Mr. Morgan, next time, you'll be in last place."

That night they winded down by the fire. Arthur drew in his journal while Dutch and Hosea consulted a beat up map.

Arthur knew they were planning on heading out west, around next week, but wasn't sure where. Until Dutch invited him over.

Arthur realized he hadn't told Dutch or Hosea he couldn't read, but he fortunately didn't need literacy right now. Dutch simply pointed to the different towns and the path they were going to take.

"We're right here in Valentine in New Hanover in the Heartlands," Dutch said, pointing to a small dot in the map, where Dutch had circled the name 'Valentine'. "We're going all the way over here to Armadillo in New Austin."

Arthur nodded, trying to follow along. It was a bit difficult, saying the map was covered in a bunch of strange symbols he didn't understand, but he knew that Dutch and Hosea knew what they were doing.

"We're going to go around Flat Iron lake, meaning that we have to go north west, then back down south west from there," Hosea added. "Around 400 miles. Should take us around 2 days."

"Sounds good, sir," Arthur replied. He didn't have any other ideas, and it was his best bet to trust these nomads.

"We'll have to teach you how to shoot before we leave," Dutch said. "Right here-," he points at a part on the map around half way. "-is grizzly and wolf country, so we have to be careful."

Arthur gulped. He hadn't ever come across a grizzly or a wolf, even when he lived up in Aurora Ridge. However, he knew that they were mean, territorial, and wolves could take out their horses if they weren't prepared.

"But I'm sure you'll do fine if we ever see one," Hosea reassured Arthur, patting the boy on the back.

Arthur was observing the map when he noticed two words that looked familiar up near a town called 'Strawberry'.

"What's this town, sir?" he asked Dutch, who bent down the squinted at the small writing.

"Looks like Aurora Ridge," Dutch replied. "We can go up there on our trip to see your old house, if you want."

"Sure," Arthur replied. Maybe there was something they could salvage or see if his father was buried around there.

"Good deal," Dutch said. "I'm going to retire to bed. Good night, Arthur, Hosea."

Arthur and Hosea said it back to him. Then Hosea went into his tent for bed and Arthur was left by himself.

Arthur decided to draw Valentine, so he'd remember it, if they ever came back. He drew the saloon, the general store, and a map of the town. Then with scraggly lines he copied down the symbols Dutch had circled on the map. 'Valentine'.