Alive Till Morning

The Stars hang high in the young Alberta night, moonlight illuminating a rugged dirt path through a cool expanse of the desert.

Alone on this path; a traveler works the trails riding his horse slowly, careful not to catch a hoof in an errant hole along the way to his destination.

It was not his way to make camp a day out from his destination. The traveler always figured that it was better to arrive early in the morning and then late in the afternoon. However, on this particular night he saw a strange sight about a mile off of the trail. A soft orange glow that was unmistakable as a roaring campfire of a fellow traveler. His heavy wool covering protected him from the worst of the night's chill, but it was the prospect of companionship and a hot meal that had garnered his curiosity.

And as a sharp wind tried to cut the cold into him he left the trail on a steady pace towards the light.

As he approached the camp he could make out the shape of a lone figure sitting next to the fire and the prospect of something other than salted pack jerky began to scratch what was left of his imagination.

He decided to walk the rest of the way and quickly hopped off his horse, taking the reins to lead him into the camp.

The traveler stopped just past the edge of the fire as he saw what was waiting for him. The stranger by the fire had on a wide brimmed hat and a thick scarf wrapped up past their nose which hid their face behind it and their eyes in shadows.

But it was what was in their hand that gave him cause to stop. The stranger was holding a queer shaped gun in their right hand. Far too long, too wide and too squat to be even compared to the iron six shooter that was strapped to his own hip.

"Toss your weapon over to this side of the fire real slow like" Said the stranger, voice muffled by the scarf

"I'd rather not if in you don't mind, if it begs your pardon I'd rather just depart on this here horse of mine." The traveler said while he raised his left hand up in a sign of peace and his right hand towards his iron.

"Well I'm sorry to say friend, but I in fact do mind, I mind a great deal. It'd be mighty rude of you to leave, given how long I've been waiting here for you."

"Well, aren't we just one sorry bunch, because I don't think I've had the misfortune of making your acquaintance. Least not long enough to have garnered such a rude reception. That face of yours might be covered but I know voices and fraid to say yours is not one I've had the pleasure to know."

The stranger did not respond right away instead they raised their pistol into the sky, and in the moment before he would draw his iron on the stranger, they fired into the air.

The shot rang out clearly on the dusty plain, scattering wildlife for miles around and sending the travelers horse in a mad dash from the fire.

From the barrel erupted a beam of light so sharp and clear that it appeared to pierce the heavens above, bathing it in an unnatural glow before fading back into the now comforting darkness.

The traveler hand rested on the hilt of his iron, the attempt to retrieve it stopped short by this display of awesome power. In his long travels he had never seen a sight such as that outside of his most vivid nightmares.

"Now I've been waiting for a long time, and I'd be lying if I knew who I was waiting for, but seeing how you're the first one to have graced my presence I'm fairly sure that your the one."

"Nice and slow like?" The traveler licked his lips nervously.

"Nice and slow"

His moment to strike well past, the traveler took his iron in between two fingers, letting it sway by the handle before lightly tossing it over the fire at the stranger's feet.

"Alright what happens now?"

"If in you like you can pull up a stool next to that there pile of wood and warm your old bones by this here fire."

The stranger followed the traveler with their gun.

The traveler knew his situation all to well and had elected to follow their instructions to the letter, atleast, as long as he reckoned that his gun and his horse where the worst things he was fixed to lose this night.

"You settled? I've got some water and jerky in my pack, or, if in you'd like, I've got a stronger kind of drink I've been saving for just such an occasion"

"Well I'll take some of that water I am mighty parched from the ride. And seeing how my horse has had the fear of god put in him, I'm likely not to see my pack again this night"

"Or any night I'm afraid" The stranger leaned over to the pack resting on his stool. "I'm not gonna lie, my daddy never taught me much but he did let me know that lies are only for a man in love or politics."

They tossed the water skin over the fire and right into the lap of the traveler. Who proceeded to uncork it before clearing his throat. "Well I thank you for being upfront with me right now. The horse is yours ifin you'cen find it. I'll be sure to drink up now though, long walk to Moab in store for me tomorrow"

The stranger didn't move for a few seconds. The tip of the gun deathly still in their hands.

"Now I'm mighty sorry for breaking your illusions but I feel obligated to clear this up for you. Your not going to see that pack again because before the night ends your going to die here. I'm going to kill you dead and your soul will ascend to the heavens as the man you once were lays in the dirt by this here campfire."

"Now wait let's not ge.."

"Unless your life's deeds point downwards of course, then you'd be lucky to spend the rest of your eternal afterlife wandering these wastes"

The traveler paused, eyes wide and mouth agape. His gaze switched from the gun in the stranger's hand to the unknown eyes that played behind that thick scarf.

"Now I..I just don't know why you'd have to go and do a thing like that."

"Like I said, I've been waiting here for a long time and that's been for one reason, to kill the first man who came to rest their bones by this fire."

"Seems like a waste of good water then" The traveler took a moment to swing the water skin up to his lips and then a few more to drain it. "Seeing how you were fixing to shuffle me off this mortal coil." The Traveler sighed, old shoulders groaning with the effort. "If it's all the same to you I'd like to waste that drink of yours too."

"Course you can. personally, I'd never touch it, but I've been told it's mighty fine stuff."

The stranger bent back down to retrieve a stout, unlabeled glass bottle and held it aloft until the traveler raised his hand to catch it. A light toss through the air and it was in his grasp. Uncorked in the next moment and a deep swig after that.

"Mighty fine bourbon you have there" He wiped a dribble of the liquor off of his lips. Staring coldly at the space past the scarf which he knew held the face of the man who'll kill him.

"How long you reckon before the sun rises?"

"Excuse me?"

"I told you, I'm as honest as they come. But I have been waiting a long time for you and it's in my nature to be curious, and I'm thinking that the nights still got some life in it."

"I'd rather you didn't take that time just to talk nice to me"

"I'm rather hoping you talk to me actually. I'd like to know what kind of a man I'm here to kill."

"And why would I figure to do that?"

The stranger shrugged "I guess so you can think of a way to cross over this fire and take my life before the sunrise when I take yours."

"Reckon that you'd come to regret givin me that time."

"I reckon I won't."

"... what is it you want to know?" the traveler took another swig of bourbon.

"I guess you should start where your story does and we'll get as far as we can before your last sunrise."

"Well..." The traveler paused as he gathered his thoughts.