ANDREW SCORAH

Eastern Fury and Other Tales-I found the process of writing my short story for inclusion in Matt's anthology so enjoyable and also the character I created Chihiro Kitagawa i found likeable made me decide to do a collection of short stories featuring the  adventures he has on his journey back home after completing his mission. The stories have a religious madman, cannibals, and a prison where he has to fight to the death to gain his freedom and once arriving in New York to catch a ship home he makes a discovery that changes his life forever, you will have to read the book to find out what it is. For now here is a sample of one of the stories.

The Quick and the Fury.

His name was Chihiro Kitagawa, he sat on the bed attached to the wall of the dank room as the man slammed and bolted the cell door. Adam, Isom and he had been bushwhacked outside the town of Darnell, and thirty miles from their destination; New York. A posse of fifteen riders had descended on them from behind a hill. Isom had been brought down by a flurry of blows from the men wielding billy clubs, Adam had been pistol whipped and a lasso had caught Chihiro, pulling him from his horse. Quickly binding them with ropes, the leader, a peppery looking man with slitted eyes and a neat little mustache approached them once they had been secured. He stated they were fugitives wanted for the murder of Jubal Kane, he called Chihiro ‘The Eastern Fury.’They were to be transported to what he called the Roundhouse to await the arrival of circuit judge Josiah Spicer. The Roundhouse turned out to be a secure stockade consisting of outbuildings within a walled fort and at the center giving it its name was a three story circular building. Chihiro checked out his surroundings, the cell had a bed attached to the wall by chains. The only light came from a square opening in the door and a pot had been placed in the corner, somebody's idea of a toilet. Chihiro cursed himself and wondered why he had not sensed danger. There was nothing he could do to change his situation so he just sat cross legged on the bed; and waited for something to happen.

Time passed differently for Chihiro than it did for other men, he had drifted into a meditative state, when somebody dragged the bolts back and opened the door only a few minutes seemed to have gone by.

“On your feet yellow man, the boss wants to meet you.” Chihiro uncurled from his position on the bed, and stepped towards the door. Two men with rifles waited for him, one attached manacles to his hands and feet. The cell was in a corridor lined with other cells similar to his own, one of the men nudged him towards a door at the end.

They stepped out into a courtyard lit by torches and he was propelled towards a crowd of other inmates, he saw Adam and Isom looking dejected at the circumstances they found themselves in. Standing nearby, their guns trained on the crowd, were several guards. The prisoners had assembled in front of a colonial style brick building with a small garden next to the door and flowers in pots hung from the eaves. Chihiro shouldered his way through the crowd till he reached Adam and Isom.