Foiled

Characters : Q CM CG

The Queen shares the wealth

The coach, surrounded by ten soldiers, plodded along the trail. The soldiers were nervous, as the Queen of Swords had hijacked the last two shipments of gold. Every man in the detachment, those that were still alive, had been demoted in rank and fined by Colonel Montoya. The Queen had killed four men. Two by sword and two by jumping off the coach. Montoya had executed four sergeants as a lesson to his soldiers.

Suddenly they saw a black dress figure on a horse ridding the rim above the canyon. They brought their rifles to bear, but the Queen was out of range. "There she is," shouted the point rider.

The Queen turned her mount and sped off. The soldiers followed her leaving only the driver with the coach. She couldn’t steal the gold if the soldiers were chasing her. The Queen slowed but the pursuers didn’t. A volley of rifle fire struck the rider and she pitched forward. Her horse sped away.

"We have her now," shouted the Sergeant as they continued pursuit. Another volley of rifle fire brought down the Queen of Swords. AT least five bullets hit her the second time.

The soldiers surrounded the body of the Queen of Swords lying face down and each man fired a round into her back. "She won’t get away this time," said the Sergeant rolling her over. "Let’s she who this diabla is."

He stumbled back in shock. The Queen of Swords was a Queen of Straw. The face was a tarot card. " The gold!" he yelled as he mounted and they all raced back to the coach.

As the soldiers rode down the canyon, they were met by a slow moving coach the driver in plain sight. The Sergeant relaxed. The gold was safe. As he rode up to the coach, his smile turned to horror as he spied the driver tied and gagged to the coach. A tarot card was on the seat by the driver. " She grabbed me just after you rode off," wailed the driver.

Colonel Montoya was furious. He ordered the sergeant arrested. His execution would be in the morning by firing squad. "I will make an example of this incompetent boob," said Montoya as he walked with Grisham. "We may still catch the Queen. Tomorrow morning you will have men on every rooftop. I am sure the Queen of Swords will try to stop the execution and we will have her."

Unbeknownst to either of them, two pairs of ears were listening. Marta and Tessa were walking right behind Montoya and Grisham.

That night a black dressed figure entered the jail. She had carefully checked the pueblo for soldiers. No soldiers were in the pueblo or rooftops. She quickly knocked out the jailer and freed the sergeant. They slipped out unseen but a straw sergeant was left in the cell.

"Grisham, you are a fool and as incompetent as the rest of the soldiers. Why didn’t you post men around the jail?" Yelled Montoya.

"I didn’t think the Queen would save a man who was trying to capture or kill her," replied Grisham.

"Of course you didn’t think, Captain. Did you know that not only did she free the prisoner, but she left five gold ruellas at the door of the married soldiers and two ruellas on the bed of each soldier in the barracks and no one saw her! She is making the soldiers like her. Now how hard do you think the soldiers will work to capture her?"

Colonel Montoya entered his bedroom. It had been a long and fruitless two days. He lost a sergeant, the respect of his men, the respect/fear of the people and more importantly the gold. As he went to lie down, he spied a glitter of something on his pillow. A gold Ruellas and a tarot card. A voice spoke from the shadows of his balcony.

"Don’t say that I don’t share the wealth, Colonel," said the Queen of Swords.

The End