A wub scurried past; Tucker whinnied uneasily on his feet and waved his head back and forth.

‘Easy, easy!’ Merrick whispered.

The wub scurried into the surrounding foliage and out of sight.

‘Easy there, Tuck! Easy!’ Merrick continued to whisper gently into Tucker’s ear; his ear twitched at the sound, his hooves firmly setting themselves on the track.

Merrick and Tucker sped back into a canter until they reached the maw of the edge land, back into the human wilderness.

A line of dilapidated shacks stood crooked on either side of the dust road. They stopped before a couple standing outside one such shack, the woman looking wide-eyed at Tucker.

‘’e’s got thum devil eyes, ‘e as, Colt.’ She turned to her husband, ‘I ent ‘angin’ ‘bout fer no devil eyed ‘orse!’

Colt rolled his eyes, ‘The ‘orse is a beaut! Ne’er sen one like it!’

Merrick dismounted and straightened the collar on his coat, up and around his neck, before holding out a hand for the woman.

She looked around shiftily before taking his hand gingerly.

‘Why,’ he lifted her hand to his lips, ‘what a ‘andsome ‘usband yer got there.’

The woman’s hand fell limp from Merricks.

A little child peered shyly around the shack door; Merrick smiled and winked. The girl withdrew back behind the creaking wooden door.

The woman’s mouth gaped open, ‘yer what? Ya got eyes fer mah man?’

Colt’s moustache rose with a snigger, ‘’e sure ‘avin’ yer on!’

‘I ent no kidder when it comes to ‘ansome men like yasel’’

Colt’s moustache flickered instantly into a frown, ‘yer what?’  I aint that way inclined,’ He spat, ‘Now if you dunt mind!’ He turned, shooing him away with a wave of the hand, ‘Leave us outta ya perversions!’ He put an arm around his wife and ushered her back into their ruined shack.

‘Well, Tucker, looks like it’s jus’ you an’ I,’ He winked at the sparkling blue eye before climbing back into the saddle, sending dust up in their wake.

Distant street lights from the cities zoomedpast, like stars sparkling through the gaps in the trees.

They came upon a street that looked as though it had just been sketched into existence. Wooden buildings stood in the shadows of the night.

He looked over his shoulder at the distant city lights, then up at the sky, ‘At least we got real stars,’ He patted Tucker, his fingers trailing through his white mane.

Tucker’s hooves clopped loudly on the cobbled stones of the next street. Merrick hitched him up outside the only building with lights on inside.

‘Now, ya know the drill, Tuck! I gonna leave ya fer a liddle while, but ah’ll be reet on in there,’ he pointed at the door to the bar.

Tucker nodded his head down, ‘That’s a good boy!’ Merrick said, stroking down Tucker’s long face. ‘Yea, good boy!’ Tuckers ears twitched at Merrick’s voice soothingly.

Merrick stepped into the shabbily built pub, only two other patrons were inside.

The head of the man behind the bar jerked up to the sound of the doors closing behind him, ‘Nearly dropped off there!’ He laughed a toothless laugh.

‘Whiskey on the rocks.’ Merrick slid the coins across the bar.

‘Ya know, not many left now,’ The barman told him as he slid a glass of whiskey across the bar.

‘Yea? Thats what they want.’ Merrick sipped the whiskey down.

‘Truth is, it’s us that got it fer’t better!’

‘I been tinkin’ ‘bout the same.’ Merrick nodded to the barman.

‘Yea. Men like you come in all’t time an’ say that. Then you win the loddery one day and…’ The man raised his brows, ‘Suddenly, they up in’t cidies, thinkin’ they cheatin’ death.’ 

‘Well, I wouldn’t worry ‘bout that. Ah don’t play the damn loddery!’ Merrick  replied.

The barman laughed, his tongue sucked against his gums, ‘The best way, the best way!’ He patted Merrick on the shoulder.

Another man entered the bar, and the barman laughed at the arrival, ‘The busiest night of me life, eh?’ He asked in jest. ‘I gonna be rollin’ in it!,’ He said, ‘Hey,’ He nudged at Merrick with his elbow, ‘I could be goin’t’ the cidies yet! Buy mesel’ a few clones, make out like I’m cheatin’ death!’

Merrick nodded and sipped the rest of his whiskey.

The man who had just arrived approached the bar and sat beside him.

‘Rum ‘n’ Coke, please.’ The man looked at Merrick , ‘That your ‘orse back there?’ He gestured with his thumb over his shoulder.

Merrick  turned to look over his shoulder, ‘It might be, ‘pends whose askin’?’

The man held his palms up, ‘Ah mean no trouble, Sir. Jus’ that is one special ‘orse ya got yasel’ there. Ah wouldn’t ‘ave ‘sen ‘im if it weren’t fer ‘is white mane!’

‘Yea, I won the ‘orse loddery, ya could say.’

The man slapped his thighs, ‘Ya don’t say, man!’ He whistled.

‘I thought you went out t’ the cidy?’ The barman jutted his chin as he asked.

‘Nah, I ent goin’ that hell ‘ole without a gun!’ He smiled.

The man looked over his shoulder, out the window, ‘That ‘orse sure is mighty fine!’ He whistled, ‘’E even got them blue eyes!’

‘Jus’ the one.’ Merrick told him.

‘Eh?’

‘Jus’ the one blue eye.’

‘Well, ones enough for me!’ The man grinned, ‘Ones enough fer me t’ fall right on over there in love!’

‘it’s the blue eyes that get ya, is it?’ Merrick asked him.

The man laughed and drank up his rum in one swift gulp. ‘Say,’ He started, ‘Ya ent plannin’ on ‘avin’ ‘im tied up out there all night, are ya?’

Merrick  held up his whiskey glass, ‘Don’t know ‘bout that, ‘pends ‘ow long this place teks to throw me out!’

‘Nah,’ The man shook his head, ‘We can’t be ‘avin’ that! That ‘orse is too damn fine a specimen to be out in’t cold of the night, like! And I bet ya there’ll be men out there eager af’er ‘im!’

‘Well, I got nothin’ else I could do wit’ ‘im, so, let them try.’

‘Nah! I won’t ‘ave it!’ He slid off the stool, ‘Say, why don’t ya put ‘im in mah ol’ stable fer’t night. And say ya could crash at mine, sleep on’t floor.’ He held up his hands, ‘No luxuries at mine, mind,’ He looked Merrick up and down, ‘But the floor’ll do fer a man lik yasel’ I reckon!’

Merrick  mulled this over for a moment, ‘Well, first, at least give me a name.’

‘Jackson Whitlock.’ Jackson nodded across to Merrick, ‘Yasel’?

Merrick  smiled wistfully, ‘Should ya be invitin’ a man ‘fore ya even know ‘is name?’

Jackson shrugged, ‘Well, tell us yer name and we won’t be strangers forever.’

‘A man can be called many names, don’t mean ya know ‘im.’

‘Reet, wise arse.’

‘It’s Merrick , though.’ Merrick  held out a hand, ‘Nice to meet ya, Jackson.’

Jackson shook his hand firmly.

Merrick  slid off the barstool, ‘Shame ah got brown eyes, ent it eh?’ Merrick walked out of the bar.

Jackson frowned and followed him outside. ‘So we gettin’ this fine boy to the stables, or what?’

They walked Tucker across the road and into the stable, ‘Ow comes ya got an empty stable?’ Merrick  looked around at the bales of hay inside the hastily built place, ‘If it can be called a stable.’

‘I used’t’ ‘ave a horse.’

‘Used’t’?’

‘’E up and died on me dint ‘e?’

Merrick looked at Tucker and stroked his long face, a feeling of dread at the thought of losing him swelling his heart. ‘Yea, ya ‘ate to lose ‘em’

‘Ent that right!’

Once they’d got Tucker in and comfortable, Merrick followed Jackson into the wooden shack beside it.

‘Luckily for you,’ Jackson said as he rummaged at the back of a room behind a bit of unfinished wall that jutted out near the toilet, ‘I got two sleepin’ bags!’ Jackson threw a green sleepin’ bag at Merrick and took out a blue one for himself.

‘Say, ya think they’ll be back?’ Jackson asked casually.

They sat back to back while they each undressed.

‘I think they came wit’ indifference and left wit’ indifference.’ Merrick replied, taking his socks off.

Merrick stood from his sleeping bag and piled his clothes neatly on a wooden rocking chair to the left of the toilet.

‘Wow,’ Jackson looked Merrick’s naked body up and down, ‘Ya ent shy at all, Sir!’ His eyes drifted down to Merrick’s feet, ‘Let’s see what ya got,’ he said, ‘Webbed feet! Me too!’

Merrick got into the green sleeping bag beside Jackson on the floor, a torch light lit up between them.

Jackson gasped now he had a better view of Merrick in the light, ‘Gills!’ He pointed to his neck, ‘I didn’t think anyone ‘ad ‘em! Thought it were a myth!’

‘Well, ‘ere I am, your mythical bein’ in’t flesh!’