Unshaken

Polite Society, Valentine Style

Liam woke up the next morning as the sun started to rise. He looked out of his tent to see Colter laying on the ground asleep. He let out a small laugh as he'd rarely seen horses lie down. He had gotten approximately four hours of sleep, but that was more than enough for him at that moment. He slid on his boots, jacket and hat and sat by the fire eating some canned strawberries. He would need meat soon. Back in Rhodes, he was able to help out at the saloon during the day and received free meals as payment. His parents had never cared if he'd eaten or not.

As he sat in the warmth and watched Colter sleep, he had heard horse hooves coming toward his camp. He stood up and looked to see two men wearing green bandanas and black clothing coming toward him. He had his hand near his gun incase anything was about to go down. Colter jumped up as he'd also heard the hooves hitting the ground. They got off their horses with nasty looks on their faces and walked up to him. He didn't budge, but was scared out of his wits. "Can I help you?" Liam asked the strange men. In a distinctive Irish accent, the man replied, "Nice to meet you too, big guy!" In a sarcastic tone. Liam glared at him and the man behind him. The man slowly pulled a knife out. "This is your only warning. Come anywhere near O'Driscoll territory, and we'll let Colm himself deal with ya." The O'Driscoll menacingly laughed as he held his knife near Liam's throat. Liam had said nothing as the O'Driscoll spat on his boot and walked off laughing with the other man.

While thankful they didn't hurt him or possibly killed him, he was still angry. He had never heard of the O'Driscolls. He calmed down and started to pack his things. He took down the tent and materials and packed them accordingly on Colter. He was headed to Valentine in search of some work. He put the fire out and climbed onto his horse, feeding him a carrot from his satchel. They came onto a road with an arrow sign with "Valentine" written on it, along with an arrow pointing towards Emerald Ranch, and his hometown, Rhodes.

It was around fifty-five degrees outside. He thought it should've been warmer for it to be May. He rode on admiring the country land. He couldn't take his eyes off the rock formations and vastness of the Heartlands. As he was riding, he heard a voice in the distance. "Help the blind!". Liam rode up to the man and climbed off of his horse. Before he could ask the man if there was anything he could do for him, the man said, "Help a blind man." and held out an old mug. Liam grabbed a dollar coin out of his satchel and dropped it in the mug. He didn't have much, but knew he had many more opportunities than the blind man did. "There ya go." He said as he gave the man the money. He started off to his horse when the man said, "You keep on seeking, and you'll find what you're looking for. There is more than meets the eye with you." Liam turned around and looked at the man in a surprised fashion. How did he know anything about him? Was he a prophet? He didn't know what else to say except, "Thanks, I'll bear that in mind." As he climbed onto Colter and rode off with his thoughts and questions.

He passed an oil refinery called Cornwall Kerosene and Tar. He already didn't like the place. He hurried past it and came up onto Valentine. It was around eight in the morning now. He hadn't been there in a few years, but remembered the way the livestock town had smelled. He rode past a small saloon and onto the main road. He rode through the small town and rode up to the horse stables. He walked up the the stable owner and asked if there was any work that the man needed done. The man pursed his lips and looked around. "Alright, I got something for you. There's some horse shit I been needing shoveled for a while now. You do that and work for me today, and you'll get paid." Liam smiled and thanked him profusely as he picked up the pitchfork and started shoveling.

He was thankful that he found work pretty easily. He started to think about what had happened the night before, with his dad and hearing his mom scream in horror. It seemed like the only time she'd actually cared about anything. He shook his head and temporarily erased the memory.

A few hours later, he went on a lunch break and saw a wagon with an old man and a younger man pull in with three women in the back. They got off and the girls went to the saloon and the men entered the general store. "Must be a big family." Liam said to himself as he went and sat on the steps of the hotel where he ate a can of beans.

The men walked out of the store and sat on the bench and eventually passed out. He felt like doing the same until he saw a young woman in a pink dress walk up to the men and start talking until being interrupted by a ruckus by the side of the bank. The large and younger man got up angrily and walked over the side of the building and said something Liam couldn't make out. He walked back with the girl who wore yellow and then walked past Liam to go into the hotel where the blonde had pulled in a drunken man.

He heard clatter and banging above him and wondered what the hell had went down. The man and the blonde woman exited the hotel. She had bruises on her face. Liam winced at the sight. He knew what had happened. It almost brought back memories of his past when a man on a horse started to yell at the odd group. "Weren't you in Blackwater a few weeks back?" The man yelled at the large younger man. "Me? No sir. Ain't from there." The man replied. "Oh, you were. Well, I definitely saw you. With a bunch of fellers." The desperate man yelled back. The large man denied his claim. "Me? No. Impossible. Listen, buddy, come here for a minute." The worried man said "I saw you! Come on!" as he took off on his horse out of Valentine.

The burly man ran to a horse that obviously wasn't his. Liam watched as the large man took off after the man from Blackwater. All the while, a sickly looking man was yelling things about charity and such. Even though he liked what the man was doing, his preaching was starting to annoy Liam. The large man took off and the others left Valentine too. This left him confused, but he got up and went back to work anyway.

As he was digging dirt out from under a horse's hoof, he heard a man say, "Hey! You actually were just borrowing it!" Liam walked outside and saw the man return the horse he had taken in the midst of a moment. That restored a little faith back into humanity for Liam. He knew most wouldn't have brought a horse back, but this man did.

He worked from around eight in the morning until around six in the afternoon. He was dripping in sweat and worn out. But as the stable owner promised, he paid him three dollars for his work which made Liam more than happy. He climbed onto Colter and headed towards the Dakota River to wash off before going to sleep. The river was nice and cool because he'd been burning up. He washed off, even splashing Colter a bit with a small laugh. He got back on and headed east into the Cumberland Forest as the sun went down to find a place to camp.