8 Seconds Going On Forever

Chapter 4 The Attention of the Queen

Roman led his beautiful paint mare towards the entrance gate of the arena with a rolled up American flag clutched in his hand. The sun had started to set, giving the light a golden glow that gleamed off of Roman's bejeweled shirt and his horse's rose decorated tack. He had changed into his chaps made of white leather and fringed in gold with red accents. His personal brand, a shield with a castle, was on his hip.

Even though it was not quite dark yet the lights were on with streamers connected to all the poles and people were covering the stands. Roman turned back to his mare and checked the cinch one more time before adjusting the flag holder near the stirrup. He placed his left foot in the stirrup and swung his right leg over Aphrodite, careful to keep the flag from hitting her. Once he was situated he guided the flag into the holder and placed his left hand on the pole to balance it. With his right hand he gripped the leather reins and brought Aphrodite up to the gate.

He turned his attention to the announcer's box, searching in the window. Once Logan looked up, he held his thumb up, showing that he was ready. Roman nodded his head, mirroring the announcer's message.

"Welcome Cow-guys, Cow-gals, and Non-binary pals to the 48th annual Rocky Springs Rodeo! We have a packed night for ya'll tonight starting out with some roping. At intermission we will have the calf scramble led by the wondrous Patton! But first to honour what a great privileged we have here in the United States. Will you please stand for the National Anthem." Logan's voice came out a little staticky on the old sound system but perfectly clear. Like a wave everyone began to stand and a ring assistant opened the gate.

Roman urged Aphrodite forward as the music began as he had done a thousand times before. He counted the beat in his head, silently singing along. Then towards the end, as the song became louder, he urged his mare faster until they were galloping around. He took one and a half laps before halting in the center of the arena and backing her up a few steps before stopping completely. As the last notes rang out, Roman smiled into the crowd.

"A special thanks to our Rodeo Queen, Roman King," Logan called out. With a few indirect waves, Roman was out the gate once again. Quickly he dismounted and wrapped the flag back up before handing it off to one of the helpers to put back into storage.

"You did a wonderful job, Princess," Roman cooed as he stroked his mare's forehead.

"I'm just saying it would have been fun," Came a loud voice. Roman traced it back a mustached man in a bright green shirt, black and green chaps, and a brown hat.

"I'd rather be able to ride tonight. We need the points if we're going to make it to finals." The man talking now caught Roman off guard. Half of his face was a mass of scars and his eye was slightly milky. The second thing that he noticed was their belt buckles. One was a sword with a moon and what seemed to be tentacles. The other was a snake with two heads but they both read the same thing which matched the one that the cute, shy cowboy in the announcer's box had had. They must have been his friends.

"Hello gentlemen," Roman greeted with a smile. They both turned their attention to him, confused. "Do you know where I might find Virgil?" Roman had a little free time before his next assignment and he would like to know more about the cowboy. Besides he didn't really know much about anyone here and Logan and Patton would be busy.

"Depends on whose asking," The mustached one said, turning to him with a wicked grin. Something about the this man's smile unnerved him.

"We met earlier today and I wanted to talk to him. I'm Roman King, the Rodeo Queen for the Sanders Circuit." He flashed a smile and held out his hand to them.

The man with the scarred face shook it. "Dallas and this is Remus. Virgil is usually by his trailer, the one with the black gelding with purple tack. He likes to hide out before the show but he should be up here closer to ride time," he supplied. Roman thanked the men before walking off in the direction of the trailers, his paint mare in tow.

"That was odd," Remus stated as he slid his hand into Dallas's. " I thought Virgil despised all other people." Dallas watched as the fancy rodeo queen walked away.

"Yeah it is very odd. I wonder what our shy little Virgil has done to gain the attention of the Queen himself."

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Sorry for such a short chapter but I have the next one almost complete so it will be posted soon! Please stay safe during this unfortunate pandemic and hopefully I will have more chapters done soon with all my quarantine free time. I will be posting the next chapter on Thursday. Wash your hands!