Dust

I exited the forest after two hours of running at top speed, leaving the men who were chasing me far behind. Pulling my map up from the corner of my view, I zoom out, looking for anyplace that could be nice to stay in.

Hmm, I can see three suitable towns. One is straight ahead, the second is off to the right of the first, and the third is far off to the left, and there doesn't seem to be any other nearby towns. That should be nice and quiet, so that's where I'll head to.

Turning a bit to the left, I continue at a full sprint for another thirty minutes until I arrive just outside the town.

Huh, the environment around here isn't that great. Almost all of the plants here are dead or dying, and the ground is hard and cracked. I guess it doesn't rain much, but it should still be quiet, which is all that matters. I should walk the rest of the way.

Continuing on my small journey, I arrive just outside the town.

Man, it's kind of empty, and it looks like it came right out of a cowboy movie, except for the mansion at the head of the town.

A small breeze blew across the town, carrying with it dust that lightly covered the town.

Well, it seems quiet, so that works for me. Oh, and there's a water pump, how convenient.

After I walked over to the water pump, I pumped it a few times, but not even a drop of water came out.

Huh!? No wonder this place is so empty! There isn't even water. Maybe it's a ghost town?

As the thought crossed my mind, a commotion could be heard coming from one of the buildings at the edge of the town. I can hear glass shattering as well as the sound of fists colliding with a body. It seems there's a fight going on. That isn't quiet, but maybe it only happens rarely.

"Hey, y'all stop yer damn fightin! Y'all been at it ev'ryday for the past year!"

It almost felt like my heart shattered. They fight every single day!? And what's with that accent? Did I accidently walk into an old boomtown from my old world that lost its boom? Just my luck. First those cowards, and now this? Where am I supposed to find some peace and quiet?

Well since I'm here, I might as well go check it out.

After I walked over to the building that the commotion was coming from, I stopped just outside. A saloon.

Maybe this is from my old world. Also, I can read. How useful.

I walked into the saloon. Everybody stopped and turned to look at me when I entered. There were only men inside, and all of them were skinny, sunburned, missing some teeth, and old. They all also had a hat that looked exactly ike one you would find on a cowboy! Coming here might have been a mistake.

"Hey, who're you?"

The bartender, who was cleaning an old stained glass cup with a ragged dirty brown cloth looked at me and spoke. His eyes narrowed and his grip on the glass tightened.

"Uhm, I'm Estelle."

There were a few moments of silence as everyone looked at me, sizing me up and judging me. I could tell just by the way their eyes moved and narrowed.

"Pft, she's just sum yung rich gurl. No need to wor'y."

Man, this accent is annoying, but since I'm here, I guess I could get to know everyone. Besides, I've got nothing to lose.

Moving over to a stool right in front of the bar, I take a seat. The bartender glances at me before continuing cleaning the glass in his hand.

"So, why is this town so empty?"

Idle chitchat never hurt.

"Town? Missy, you can hardly call this place here a town. More like a rundown dump."

"Okay then, why is it rundown?"

"Well if yeh wanna know that, I gotta start from the begininn'."

Oh, this is going to be long, isn't it.

"It started back when the ground here was nice for growin' crops more delicious than you could ever hope to eat. Back then, we had everythin'. Money, food, water, women, everythin' a man could want. But then there was a drought. At first we were fine cause' of our water pump, but when it ran dry, all our crops stopped growin', we lost our money to high taxes, we lost our women, and we lost our water. That big house at the front of this dump is where some noble lives. Ever since the drought, he's been robbing us blind while we can't do nothin'. Now we're poor, hungry, and most of all, thirsty, which is why we spend our time here, in the saloon."

I knew it. I knew it would be long. That aside though, that's a tragic story.

When he finished talking, he turned his head down, focusing once more on cleaning the glass. A drought caused all of these problems and now they can't do anything. I kind of feel bad for them.

As I was thinking to myself, a light came to the bartenders eyes as he quickly turned to look at me.

"Hey, you're a rich gurl, right? Why dont'chu go see if you can help us with that damn noble?"

"What can I get in return?"

His happiness vanished as soon as the words left my mouth.

"Well, we don't have anythin' to offer."

Nothing to offer? Well, that doesn't matter to me. Besides, I feel bad, so I think I'll help out, just this once.

"Okay then. I will see what I can do, but don't get your hopes up."