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Charles had only been in the camp for about a month now and he’s never really seen Arthur yet; however, he’s heard the rumors. The horse is very famous actually. The Curious Couple and their Unruly son and his demon horse. Some of the rumors are very far-fetched, claiming Arthur is 15 feet tall or that he has horns protruding from the sides of his skull.
Hearing members of the gang talk about the horse didn’t help matters either because they all had different reactions. None of them provide Charles with any sort of confidence.
A week after joining the gang, Charles worked up the courage to ask Javier about the rumors of the demon horse after Uncle brought him up through drunken rambling.
“You can’t believe how glad I am to finally have a BREAK. Having my friend Hosea sending John and Arthur on that mission was the best thing you could have done for me.” Uncle exclaimed.
Which, Charles now realized that was a weird name in itself, but the man never introduced himself as anything else so that's what Charles was just going to have to continue calling him.
Hosea chuckled in response to Uncle, and shook his head, “Arthur loves you and you know it or else you’d end up just like Ollie.” Javier snorted.
Charles looks up from where he was whittling and gazes at Javier who was next to him, “Arthur?” he questioned.
“Si amigo. Arthur is John's demon horse that's been with him as a child. Hosea and Dutch swear that Arthur and John grew up together and were just completely adorable, but I don't see it. You see John gut a man and his horse stomp someone to death and then call them adorable.”
Charles frowned a little, while Hosea guffawed next to him, nearly spilling the drink in his hand.
Hosea, still chuckling, spoke, “Oh hell, Charles, don’t listen to Javier. Arthur is an adorable bastard.”
“I WATCHED HIM KILL A MAN TWICE!!”
Hosea continued as if Javier didn’t say anything, “There are only 3 rules about John and Arthur,”
“You can’t set your tent next to Arthur-”
“Unless you’re Hosea or Tilly,” Javier interjected
“Only John can ride Arthur-”
“Unless you’re Hosea.”
“Would you stop interrupting me?”
“I’m just trying to be truthful to the new guy; we don’t want him to end up like Ollie.”
“There’s no reason to bring up Ollie, you just want to scare poor Charles.”
“Who’s Ollie?”
“DO NOT SAY A WORD” Hosea glared at Javier, who raised his hand in surrender.
“And the third and last rule is-”
“Arthur goes wherever John does.” The final interruption being Dutch.
He walked up behind Hosea and put his hands on his shoulders. “The last time we tried to leave camp with the boy, we had a horse following us for 20 miles until we slowed down and put John on his back. That horse is relentless.” Dutch explained.
Hosea chuckled in amusement. Dutch calling John “boy” wasn't lost on Charles, clearing up some of the rumors of the three men and their relationship. All around the fire people were laughing at Dutch’s stories, each lost in their musings of John and his “adorable” horse.
Just then a voice called out, “Pa, I’m back,”
Everyone turned their attention to the front of the camp where John was riding in. John rode past the horse resting area completely and went straight into the camp. Out of the corner of his eye, Charles saw Miss Grimshaw open her mouth to protest, but then shook her head and simply didn’t say anything.
The horse looked completely at ease just walking into the camp as if he owned the place, which, if Javier was to be believed, does own the place.
John stopped in front of the fire and hopped off Arthur. The first thing he did was hug Hosea and Dutch, Charles was pleasantly surprised by these shows of affection every time they happened around him. Men showing any emotion besides anger or lust wasn’t very acceptable, to say the least. It truly proved to him that this camp might be really good for him.
A nice friendly place where he could feel wanted and safe, shaking himself out of his thoughts Charles turned to look at the horse and observed it.
The horse was a little big for the typical Appaloosa, being typically 5’4 at most, while Arthur was a whole 6 ft. He had a bay blanket and white around his right eye and hoofs. He was standing very still, taking a good look at all the people perched about the fire.
Charles turned and looked at everyone here too. Bill was on guard, Micah was out doing whatever he did, the Callander brothers were at a table not too far away from him playing cards with Jenny and Lenny. The only one not here, Charles realized, was Molly.
Charles noticed around the same time Arthur did and the fire grew quiet as everyone turned to watch the horse walk through the camp.
He walked toward Dutch’s tent and stuck his head inside. A loud shriek was heard followed by, “Arthur you scared me.” Molly’s loud Irish brogue was heard from inside the tent.
Dutch, now sitting next to Hosea on a tree stump, sighed, “You’d think Miss O’Shea would have learned by now.” Charles’ curiosity was most definitely rearing its head now.
The appaloosa snorted and stomped his foot as it walked further into the tent. Charles listened as Molly tried with no success to get the horse out of her tent.
“Arthur please… no I …. Arthur please would you just…… FINE!”
Molly stormed out of the tent with a huff and straggled over to the campfire. She proceeded to throw herself into Dutch’s lap while glaring up at the horse that followed her out.
“Are you happy now?”
The horse snorted and shook his head, and began walking away when Charles caught his eye. It was as if the world stopped for a moment. The only thing Charles focused on was the eyes in front of him. The laughter of the camp faded away as the onlookers watched in curiosity and wondered just how this interaction would go.
Arthur stared at him for an uncomfortably long time and then did nothing.
What that's it, the way he looked at me I thought something interesting would happen but no.
Charles watched Arthur walk away toward his resting post next to John’s tent which was another fight with Mrs. Grimshaw from what he heard. He watched and couldn’t help but feel like he missed something.