[ CS ] Darkest and Stormiest Night

Soon, the riders were upon him. He stood fast as a rock, over which the riders eddied around like the currents of a river. Their horses circled around him, making the air heavy with dancing dust. Their faces were hidden in ragged cloth and harsh morning shadow, but their eyes glinted of cold steel and spent bullets. 
 
 The man was the first to speak. `` You know this is n't your land. You know you are n't supposed to be here. The weight of the law is behind me.'' 
 
 A rider emerged from the pack, and the rest fell behind him like a pack of baying hounds behind their master's heel. He sat astride a beautiful horse whose coat shone like the breaking of the day. 
 
 `` Your land, however, was unlawfully acquired. And since when has the law stopped me? Or you?'' The rider's voice was like the wind whispering over the open plains. 
 
 `` This land was entrusted to me, brother,'' the man replied. 
 
 The rider did not reply. The two men locked eyes, one on the ground with his hands resting on his weapons, one on his horse whose empty hands promised even greater danger. The world seemed to hang still about their shoulders. 
 
 A rider at the back of the pack broke the silence. `` They're coming! They're coming! My god, they're beautiful!'' 
 
 Out of the sunrise, dark shapes were appearing, hundreds, thousands of them, bounding across the flat land towards the men. They were deer, their nostrils stretched wide, their ears pressed flat against their heads, their pelts burning gold with the sun. 
 
 The pack of riders turned away from the man and drew their weapons. 
 
 `` Do n't you dare touch a single one of them'', the man growled.
