DASHRA: Cowgirl of the West(Travis Archer) The year was 1885 in the wide-open desert of the American frontier near Guadalupe Peak in Texas, where the large and gargantuan mountains surround the entire area. The cactuses stood in every part of the American plain with small grass covering the ground. The desert is filled with enormous hill-like slopes covered in sand as the dust from the sand rolls through the wind and carries off into the sky. An American Bold Eagle soars through the massively wide open plain and continues to glide through the desert. The large eagle continues to soar through the majestic plain and soars further towards the massively steep mountain ranges from shortest to tallest. While soaring through the sky, the eagle spots a 14 year old cowgirl with a Texas accent, wearing cowboy hat, a cape that blows through the wind and two black boots named Dashra, walking up towards the tall and steep slope of the dusty hills with a staff in her hand. When she makes it to the top of the slope, the eagle lands on a tree branch right next to her and makes a loud screech to get her attention. The cowgirl looks up to the massive bird and said, “Uuh, hi…you lost?”

The eagle smiles and screeches in response with her wings flapping.

“Sorry, I don’t speak bird.”

While Dashra continues her walk, the bold eagle glides and perches on her shoulder, which made Dashra confused. “Um, why are you on my shoulder?” The eagle screeches while she looks at her with a smile. “Don’t you have some other place to be?”

The eagle looks at her hat with curiosity, takes the tip of it with her beak and flies away. “What the-…hey! Get back here!” Dashra runs up the slope and runs through the desert, chasing the American bald eagle as she flies through the atmosphere while carrying her hat with her beak. The young girl jogs towards the tallest slope of the sandy hill and jumps towards the eagle, struggling to snatch the hat away from the flying bird while constantly trying to reach it with her hands and staff until she falls over the tip of the hill with the sand in her face. The cowgirl rises from the sand and brushes it off her face, “What in tarnation?!” The eagle continues to glide through the plain with her talon while Dashra continues to chase her towards another hill and shouts, “HEY! YOU GET BACK HERE WITH MY HAT NOW!” As soon as Dashra jogs faster and faster towards another steep hill next to the great mountains, the young cowgirl reaches towards the top and stops to take her breath as she bends over with her hands on her knees, panting with exhaustion. “Crazy Buzzard! What does an eagle want with my hat anyway?”

Suddenly, Dashra heard a loud neighing noise from a far distance that got her attention. She rears her upper body up and sees a large female white bronco horse named Lagrunta, struggling to get out of the quicksand on her four hooves as she stretches her neck and her upper body out of the quicksand while moving rapidly and uncontrollably, grunting and whining in distress. The large wild horse slowly sinks as her whining gets louder and louder. Dashra stares at the horse in awe and whispers softly, “A white bronco!” The eagle squawks to her with the hat in her beak while standing on a tree branch right next to her. The cowgirl walks towards the eagle on the branch and asked, “Is that why you brought me here?” The eagle squawks with response and tosses the cowboy hat towards her. The young woman catches the hat in her hand while walking down the steep hill and responds, “Thanks.”

Dashra places the hat on her head and rushes towards the bottom of the hill to where Lagrunta is. The horse continues stretch herself out of the pit until she becomes tired and pants with exhaustion. Dashra walks and slides safely down the hill and approaches towards the horse with curiosity, walking softly and quietly through the sand until her foot stepped into the quicksand, startling the young girl and causes her quickly pull her leg from the pit. Lagrunta turns her head towards Dashra and makes a loud roar-like neighing sound toward her, her teeth showing and her eyebrows meeting in the middle. The cowgirl puts her arms up and says to the horse in a gentle tone of voice, “Easy girl, its okay, I’m not gonna hurt you.” Dashra walks into the center front from the quicksand and sees the top part of Lagrunta’s body sinking slowly. “Okay, you may not like what I’m about to do, but trust me it’s the only way I can get you out.” Dashra brings out her long rope, which startles Lagrunta, causing her to neigh loudly and keeps stretching her body. Dashra waves her rope up in the air side to side, rapidly, with a large hoop at the end of the rope, throws the hoop towards Lagrunta, capturing the wild horse with the rope around her neck. The cowgirl grabs the rope and pulls the horse out of the quicksand with all her might while Lagrunta continues to stretch and moves her upper body around in a panic. “Easy, girl, easy!” Dashra cried, struggling to pull the massive horse. “You gotta trust me here! I’m here to help you!” The eagle glides towards the end piece of the rope on the other side of Dashra and pulls the end piece with her massive wings flapping.

Lagrunta continues to make a high pitch neighing sound as she gets dragged further and further away from the quicksand. Dashra stretches her upper body backwards and squint her eyelids with her teeth showing as she pulls Lagrunta out of the quicksand until the white horse’s lower body rises out of the pit with her four hooves walking towards the cowgirl. As soon as Lagrunta rushes out of the quicksand with high energy, enthusiasm and recklessness, Dashra smiles with her hands up, “Your free!”

Lagrunta charges towards Dashra and knocks her towards the cliff with her neck, causing her to fall off the cliff. The horse rears up on her two legs, neighs and leaps towards the cowgirl. Dashra continues falling down the tall steep hill, flipping her body up and down uncontrollably. Lagrunta falls towards the sand of the steep hill, slides towards her direction through the sand and leaps to the air. Dashra falls further and further towards the bottom until she lands safely on Lagrunta’s back, riding her down the hill. The large white horse gallops on her four legs with Dashra on her back and makes another powerful leap over the cactus field and lands on the ground. “Well,” said Dashra, “That worked.”

Suddenly, Lagrunta runs forward rapidly and leaps up and down on her four legs repeatedly, trying to get Dashra off of her back. “Hey! What are ya tryin’ to do, you crazy horse?!!” The wild horse continues run around and around in circles while the cowgirl holds tightly to her mane. The white bronco leaps into the air again as the cowgirl still rides on her back. She rears up on her two legs, making a loud whinnying sound and gallops forward towards the desert at a faster pace. “Whoa! Slow down! Slow down!” Lagrunta neighs furiously in response as she continues to run faster and faster. The wild bronco gallops rapidly through the American desert with her hooves pressing harder and harder through the sand like dirt until she makes a giant massive leap through the air and falls on her left side with Dashra on the ground.

And just when Dashra was about to rise on her feet, Lagrunta rears up on her two legs and makes a roar-like neighing sound while standing over Dashra. She looks up and rolls her body over once the horse stomps on the ground in front of the cowgirl with her front hooves. Dashra raises on her two feet and Lagrunta chases her through the desert until she leaps over the cowgirl’s head and runs through the desert. Dashra stares at her in disbelief and utters, “Whoa.” Lagrunta continues to gallop through the American plains on her four hooves until a bear trap catches her on her right leg while the bear trap is chained to a cactus. The bronco rears up and neighs in a panic as she hops up and down on all fours and kicks her hind legs in the air.

Dashra gasps, runs towards the bronco and puts her two hands up in front of her, “Whoah! Whoah! Easy! Easy! Take it easy, I-…” The bronco knocks her away with her neck and Dashra falls hard on her rear end while Lagrunta panics with a bear-trap on her front leg. Dashra rises from the floor and snaps, “WILL YOU JUST CALM DOWN ALREADY?!” Lagrunta slowly stops and flaps her lips irritatingly. “Yeah, don’t you think I feel bad about being alone in a big scary world like this?! I’m hurting just as much as you are! You’re not the only one with a scar like that! In fact, my scar is even worse, just look!” Dashra rolls up sleeve and reveals her long and gigantic whip-like scar stretching on her arm as most of her arm is slowly morphing into sand, which made Lagrunta startled. “Yeah, that’s right! It’s a scar from a whip! And it’s that sand demon that did this to me! And also, my arm is slowly turning into moving sand. And on top of everything else, he killed my own pet horse! It was my favorite horse! And he killed her!” Dashra rolls back her sleeve. “I don’t know where he is and I don’t know where he’s heading off to but I need to find that demon, take him down, and find myself a cure for my arm! But I can’t do all of that without you trusting me!” The white bronco flaps her lips loudly while looking suspicious with her upper and lower eyelids shown. “Just this once! Its not gonna hurt!” Dashra bends down towards her bottom leg where the bear trap is. “I had bear traps in worse places you can imagine. The last one I had was on my buttocks and it was the worst pain imaginable! But did I survived and gotten through it? You better believe it!” Lagrunta looks worried and concerned at Dashra and turns away with her eyes closed. “Trust me. I’m gonna remove this bear trap, niiice and eeaasy.” Dashra slowly takes the tip of both sides of the bear trap and gently opens it up, releasing her front foot. “Okay, you can look now.” The white bronco looks down below her and opens her eyes widely and steps off the bear trap. “All better, right?” Lagrunta flaps her lips while rolling her eyes and gallops away from her on all fours, running past her. “Your welcome!” Lagrunta makes a loud neighing sound in response.

Dashra stares at Lagrunta taking off into the wide-open desert and continues, “That be the largest most wildest horse I’ve ever seen.” The cowgirl rises from the ground and brushes the dust off of her cloths and puts on her cowboy hat. “And not to mention, rude.” Dashra hears a loud screech, turns her head quickly and sees the bald eagle soaring towards her with a long staff in her talons. The eagle throws the staff to her and Dashra catches it in her hands. “Thanks. Again." The cowgirl turns around and walks towards the desert with the staff in her hand. While walking, the eagle flies and lands on her shoulder with a smile. Dashra turns her head and exclaimed, “Your still following me?!” The giant bird squawks in response. “I don’t have any food!” The eagle squawks twice with her large wings. “Well, I do have some crumbs in my pocket if that’s what your looking for.” Dashra digs into her pocket and brings out some bred crumbs towards the eagle. The giant bird pecks on her hand with her large beak. “Hey! Whoah! Not’s so hard! My hand isn’t as hard as stone you know.”

Suddenly, Dashra hears a loud growling noise behind the bushes. The cowgirl quickly turns to the other side and exclaimed, “Is that what I think it is.” A large mountain lion leaps out of the bushes with a loud snarl-like roar and charges towards Dashra. “OH DANG!” Dashra runs towards the desert while the mountain lion chases after on its four legs. The cowgirl runs faster and faster with her staff in her hand until the mountain lion pounces on her foot with its claws and teeth and Dashra kicks the mountain lion off her boot. The cowgirl rises from the ground and fights off the mountain lion with her staff while the mountain lion fights back with his massive teeth and claws. Dashra continues to swing her staff towards the wild cat and kicks the mountain lion in the face with her two feet. The mountain lion pounces towards Dashra while she falls to the ground. The large wild cat bites at her with its teeth and scrapes at her with its claws while Dashra blocks the mountain lion with her long staff and then kicks the cat off of her chest with her foot. The cowgirl brings out her massively long whip and strikes the mountain lion with her whip repeatedly while the creature continues to fight her off with it’s claws. The large desert cat pounces towards the girl again. The lion and the cowgirl wrestles each other on the sand and dirt until Dashra puts the mountain lion in a headlock with her arm wrapped around the creature’s neck and punches it in the nostril repeatedly with her fist. The mountain lion swipes away from it with its claws and knocks her away with its long and swift tail.

The eagle soars towards the mountain lion and scrapes the cat with its large claws. The desert cat claws the eagle away and leaps towards the eagle, fighting and wrestling the bird with its claws and teeth until the eagle swipes it away with her large wing. The two animals continues to fight each other forcefully with their claws as the eagle zooms towards the desert cat and knocks it into the sand with her beak. The mountain lion leaps towards the bird and bites her talon until Dashra comes in and knocks the mountain lion away from the eagle. The desert cat swipes the cowgirl away, causing her to fall on her rear end next to a nearby rock.

The monstrous mountain lion lunges towards the girl on its four legs while Dashra screams in terror until Lagrunta, the white horse, leaps towards the mountain lion, blocking Dashra away from the lion and rears up on her two legs, making an aggressive neigh-like roar at the desert cat. The mountain lion scrapes its claws towards the horse and Lagrunta turns her body and kicks her hooves towards the creature on its shoulder and pushes it to the ground. The two animals circles around each other while their walking until white bronco charges towards the mountain lion and the mountain lion pounces on Lagrunta’s back with its claws and teeth, causing her to leap up and down on her four legs repeatedly, trying to get mountain lion off of her back. The mountain lion struggles to reach her neck as it struggles to hold her down. Lagrunta runs around and around and leaps up in the air with the mountain lion falling off of her back and into the ground. The large desert cat quickly rises from the ground and charges towards Lagrunta and the white horse turns her body and kicks the mountain lion hard in the face with its canine tooth falling out of its mouth.

The mountain lion slowly rises from the ground with its nose bleeding and makes a loud snarl-like roar at the horse. Lagrunta makes a loud niegh-like roar in response with her teeth showing and rears up on her hind legs, roaring at the lion until she stands on her four legs with a lip flapping sound. The feline walks backwards away from the bronco in fear and responds with a snarl. Dashra stands next to Lagrunta, facing the mountain lion and said, “When she want’s you gone, you stay gone!” She brings out her whip and strikes towards the mountain lion, “Now GET!” Lagrunta stomps her hooves repeatedly towards the mountain lion and charges towards it as the mountain lion runs away towards the wide-open desert on its four legs.

Lagrunta flaps her lips with a snorting sound and makes a fierce look on her face, watching the mountain lion running off into the desert. Dashra stares at the horse in awe as Lagrunta turns her head towards her. “You…just…saved my life.” Lagrunta flaps her lips again with her blue eyes rolling and walks towards the cowgirl on her four legs. “Hey, come on! Don’t react like that! You knew you like humans! Hypocrite!” The wild horse stretches her neck and sniffs her pants and her upper body. “Wha-what are you doing?” An apple drops from her cape-like cloak, the girl picks up the apple from the ground and replied, “Is this what you want.” Lagrunta neighs in response and bites at it as Dashra stretch her arm away from it.

The cowgirl looks into the fruit and said in a calm and respectful manor, “Oh, I’m so sorry, where my manners.” Dashra lends her the apple, “here you go.” Lagrunta smiles and gently leans her head forward with her teeth showing, leaning closer to the apple until Dashra flips the apple in the air and the eagle catches it in her talons. The white bronco stomps her hoof in anger and neighs furiously at Dashra. “I’ll give you the apple, IF you would take me to the Indian village.” Lagrunta flaps her lips with an irritating look on her face and walks away. “Hey-hey-hey, don’t walk away like that!” Dashra walks along with Lagrunta, “I just saved you from quicksand, you just saved me from a mountain lion, so lets just make a little compromise once in a while.” Lagrunta makes a snorting sound while she looks at Dashra, “All you gotta do is escort me to the Indians, if anybody knows how to heal my arm, its them!” The horse grunts with her eyes rolling.

The cowgirl continues, “Hey, you do this and I’ll give you a whole cape full!” Dashra opens her cape and reveals all the ripe apples stored into the pockets, causing Lagrunta to stare at them in awe with her tongue slurping through her lip. “Aand as an added bonus I’ll give you one of these from my pocket, IF you allow me to ride you, unless you do wanna spend the rest of life hungry and would not want a delicious…fresh…ripe…juicy…fresh from the tree…apple.” Dashra smiles at Lagrunta while she offers her the apple. The white horse looks up to the eagle and the giant bird nods at the horse with a smile. Lagrunta flaps her lips while she shakes her head down and gently kneels on her one knee. “That’s the spirit!” The girl brings out one of the apples from her pocket and tosses the apple towards the horse, “Think fast!” The apple flies up to the air and Lagrunta catches the fruit into her mouth and eats it. Dashra looks into her eyes while she rubs her muzzle, “You ready.” Lagrunta neighs in response while she kneels on her one knee.

The cowgirl climbs onto Lagrunta’s back and faces forward as the horse rises on her four hooves, facing the desert. “Now lets go find those Indians and take down that sand demon!” Dashra whips the horse with her mane and Lagrunta follows the eagle through the desert until she pulls her mane, motioning her to stop. “Oh wait, how would I even find them if we’re all stranded in the middle of the desert?” Lagrunta points out towards the horse tracks and footprints on the sand. She sniffs them with her nostrils until she looks towards a gigantic trail of footprints leading through the enormous mountain pass in the distance. “Alrighty I guess where we’ll find them!” Dashra whips her mane once more, “Y’AH!” Lagrunta rears up on her hind legs and makes a loud confident neighing sound and gallops through the wide-open desert on all fours while the eagle soars ahead of them, with the apple in her talons.

The large white horse continues to follow the eagle through the wide-open American plain while Dashra rides on her back as holds tight to her mane. Lagrunta gallops through the sand with her hooves pressing through the dirt while the cowgirl looks down towards the tracks. The horse lowers her neck as she trots slowly and sniffs out the tracks once more. Lagrunta opens her eyes in realization and neighs in response as she gallops faster and faster through the American frontier. “Lets go, crazy horse!” Lagrunta neighs at her, scoldingly. “What! You have a better name?” The horse flaps her lips with her eyes rolling and runs towards the edge of a steep hill.

“Okay,” said Dashra, “I guess we’re doing this.” Lagrunta leaps from the top and slides through the enormous sand while she fallows the eagle with the wind blowing through their hairs and faces. The horse continues to surf and slide down the enormous sand-like mountain until she leaps from the bottom of the hill and onto the ground, galloping across the American plains with Dashra on her back. The cowgirl rubs her neck softly and says, “don’t you worry, girl, as soon as I find the natives, I’ll leave you alone forever and then I’ll never bother you again. I promise.” Lagrunta grunts and snorts in response as she continues galloping through the wide-open desert plains. The eagle continues to soar in front of Lagrunta while also flying and gliding at the same pace as the horse.

Suddenly, they hear a series of clopping noises from underneath the sand as Lagrunta continues to gallop through the desert. The horse looks to the left side of her against the sun and grunts with suspicion. “What’s going on, girl?” Dashra hears a mysterious distant neighing noise from the distance. “Hey, do you hear that?” Dashra and Lagrunta stares at a mysterious yet sinister cowboy bounty hunter made of sand called the sand demon slowly rises from the sand as he rides on his horse made of sand. Dashra stares hauntingly at the tall statuesque figure.

The demonic sand demon lower the bandana on his mouth and speaks with an intimidating baritone voice, “Well, well…” The sand demon picks up his cigar and smokes until he blows the smoke out of his mouth, “if it isn’t Dashra McGraw herself! Daughter of the sheriff!” The bounty hunter chuckles with his mouth closed, “In the Flesh!”

“Sand Demon!” Dashra said in a scolding manor, “What do you want this time?! Haven’t caused enough damage like what you did to me?!”

“I don’t make damages, I make masterpieces! And you are the best one there is, little lady.”

“Yeah right! I ain’t your masterpiece! And I ain’t your little lady either!”

“Your right, your not. And that’s not a massive sandstorm behind you.”

Dashra and Lagrunta turn their heads and see a gigantic massive sandstorm behind them with a large gargantuan sand cloud flowing towards them. “Oh crap!” Dashra whips the horse with her mane and Lagrunta gallops away from the sand storm while sandstorm chases them through the wide-open desert. The horse gallops at a faster pace with her hooves clipping and clopping through the sand as the storm begins grow closer and closer to the two females. While riding on the horse, Dashra squints her eyes and the bronco continues to make a high pitch neighing sound as she gallops rapidly across the American Plain. “C’mon girl! You can do it! Its just sand!”

Lagrunta continues to gallop faster and faster through the American desert until the massive sandstorm catches up to them and blows through them. While they are in the sandstorm, Dashra continues to ride on the horse and Lagrunta gallops through the desert until the Sand Demon pops from the sand, in front of the bronco, on his horse, causing Lagrunta to rear up on his hind legs and whinny. The sandstorm begins to swirl around them as the Sand Demon continues to ride his horse made of sand and circles around Dashra and Lagrunta. “Just…Sand?” The bounty hunter remarked, “Is that what you call my wonderful work? And my men?”

“Men?”

Two horseback riding cowboys made of sand rides behind Dashra and Lagrunta carrying a large massive net as they catch the two females inside the net until Dashra cuts the net with a dagger, releasing both her and Lagrunta out of the net and strikes the cowboys with her whip. Lagrunta charges towards the cowboys until they catch her with their sand-like ropes.

Dashra turns towards the Demon on his horse, “Quit the games, Demon! If I’m still alive you must want something from me!”
The Sand Demon chuckles diabolically, “You’ve got a fighter’s spirit, Dashra, just like your daddy. And that’s just what I need for my army! We will rid the world of this flesh-coded universe. We’ll start a new. With you by my side as my soldier!”

“Oh please! What makes you think I’m gonna be your soldier?!” Dashra punches herself in the face, “Ow!” Dashra takes off her glove and sees her sand-like hand. “What?”

The Sand Demon chuckles manically, “I knew I made that sand hand into good use!”

“You mean, you-

“Controlled it at my own will? I sure did. And look,” The sand from her arm spreads towards her elbow as she rolls up her sleeve, “It’s spreading!”

“What did you do to me?!”

“In about 5 days from now, that sand will spread all over your whole body, turning you into a mindless zombie of death! Maybe even one of my minions!” The Sand Demon opens his arms as an army of demonic cowboys made of sand rides through the sandstorm and joins him, making at a sinister grin at her.

Lagrunta begins to buck as she kicks her hind legs in the air, hops up and down rapidly, and moves around furiously on her four legs. The horse walks backwards from the horseback-riding cowboys made of sand with her head down and rears up on her hind legs, roaring and neighing furiously. The white bronco swipes the bridle away from the cowboy made of sand, charges on her four hooves as she starts to glow white, leaps in front of Dashra and makes a super loud high-pitched whinny with the sound waves vanishing the sandstorm, the sand demon and the sand cowboys away from her, making the storm and the sand people disappear. Lagrunta starts to feel weak as she struggles to stand still on her four legs and collapses on the sand.

“Crazy Horse!” Dashra exclaims as she runs towards her aid and kneels towards her while she picks up the horse’s head and softly rubs her fur on her back jaw close to her ear. The sand demon’s shadow looms behind the cowgirl while she pets the horse.

“Her name…is Lagrunta!” The demon speaks.

The cowgirl turns towards him, “What?” She stands on her feet, “What are you talking about?”

“That there horse ain’t any ordinary horse… She’s a legend! The oldest living of her kind! The one…and only… Queen of the west!”

“Wait… you mean… she’s -…” The cowgirl turns towards Lagrunta until she opens her eyes in realization as she stares at her in awestruck. “Wha- No! No Way! She’s-… she’s real! She is really real! The legends are true!”

Dashra turns her head to the right and gasps as the sand demon stands next to her. “And so am I. ” the sand demon growls, walking towards her with a sinister look. “Your lucky that horse saved you with that high-pitched neigh of hers, the next one will disintegrate her power and kill her for sure. And remember this, little lady.” The bounty hunter taps his palm into his other palm and magically unveils an hourglass made of sand from his palm; “you have exactly five days to keep that sorry flesh of yours until the last… grain of sand…falls.” The wind blows through the desert as the sand from the ground flows through the wind. “I’ll be watching you, Dashra McGraw.” The wind blows through the sand demon as he disappears into flowing sand, flying through the wind.

Dashra inhales and exhales, catching her breath from the demon’s disappearance until she spots Lagrunta, lying on the ground. The cowgirl rushes towards the white bronco, pats on her muzzle repeatedly and said “C’mon, C’mon! Wake up, wake up, Lagrunta, wake up!” Lagrunta slowly opens her eyes and makes a soft neighing sound as she smiles at Dashra. The girl embraces the horse with her arms wrapping around her head. Lagrunta lifts up her head with eyes closed, neighs at the sky, and drops her head until the cowgirl catches her head and places her gently on the sand.
Dashra stares at the white bronco with concern and sighs, “What am I gonna do?”

The bald eagle screeches to her as she flies towards a nearby cave. Dashra follows the giant bird towards the cave, walking through the sand and discovers a fresh turquoise colored fountain-like river inside the cave as its silky liquid reflects from the shining sun. The cowgirl is stunned by its vibrant colors and whispers, “So gorgeous!” until she paused and deadpans, “Wait, this WHOLE time, I was walking through the desert and I could have drank from THIS River?!”

The eagle screeches in responds and shrugs with her shoulders.

“I guess I don’t have much of an option, do I.”

Dashra brings out her canteen, opens the lid from the top, and scoops the fountain-like river five times until she recovers the lid with the top and rushes towards the fallen female bronco. The cowgirl kneels towards the horse’s face, gently lifts up her muzzle and says softly, “Open wide.” Lagrunta slowly opens her eyes as she slowly opens her mouth with her tongue showing, Dashra opens the canteen and pours the liquid towards her mouth and the horse swallows it. Lagrunta squints her eyes, smiling at Dashra, lovingly and licks her on the cheek until she slowly falls on the sand with her eyes closed.

Dashra feels devastated and lets out a depressing sigh as the eagle lands on her shoulder with her wings flapping. “I tried. I tried as much as I could.” The eagle nudges on the cowgirl’s cheek, softly and lovingly as they both stared at the horse in sadness and in a grieving manor. Dashra taps on the horse’s muzzle and said, “Sleep well, Lagrunta.” She kisses on her muzzle, rises from the sand on her two feet with the staff in her hand and slowly walks away from the unconscious horse in sadness.

The cowgirl continues to walk through the dry desert with her staff as the sun continues to shine through the wide-open field and the heat wave intensifies with the seat dripping from her hat. The wind gusts through her cape and hair and Dashra walks up the large sand-like slope of hill and continues to walk from the top slope with the eagle on her shoulder. “Well Buzzard,” Dashra laments, “I guess its you and me now. Looks like we’re gonna find those Indians on foot.”

Suddenly, Dashra hears a high-pitched neighing sound from a distance behind her. “What?” the whinnying sound continues as the cowgirl turns her head, “Is that what I think it is?” The hoof beats grew closer and closer up the slope until Lagrunta gallops up the slope, rears up and makes an enthusiastic neighing sound.

Dashra smiles with surprise and enthusiasm, “Lagrunta!” The cowgirl rushes towards the wild horse as Lagrunta gallops towards Dashra on her four hooves. The girl embraces the horse with a big loving hug with the arms around her neck and the horse hugs her back with her head. “Your alright!” The girl takes a step back, “But how?”

Lagrunta points to her canteen with her muzzle and Dashra looks through the inside of her canteen and uttered, “The turquoise liquid! Its what making you stronger and healthier.” Lagrunta nods her head yes with a grunting noise and a smile. “Alright girl, you ready to find those Indians?” Lagrunta kneels towards her on her one knee, “Now that’s what I like to see.” Dashra walks towards her left side, mounts on her back and the horse stands proudly on her four hooves. “You ready?” The horse nods her head yes with a smile. Dashra whips her mane on the top of her neck, “Y’AH!” Lagrunta rears up on her hind legs and whinnies and gallops through the wide-open desert while following the eagle through the massive wide-open plain.

While soaring alongside Dashra and Lagrunta, she spots the horse tracks on the sand and squawks to get their attention. The cowgirl smiles and responds, “Oooh, good find, birdy!” The eagle squawks in response, “I gotta come up with a good name for you instead of calling you birdy or eagle.” Lagrunta gallops through the sand on her hooves as she continues to follow the horse tracks on the sand. Dashra continues to ride Lagrunta until they spot a 15 year old native American princess named Aiyana riding on the back of a black horse of which she named Kai with her pet coyote named Nahale riding behind her. Aiyana carries a spear in her hand, a feather on her hair with a headband, an armband, boot covers, a breaded belt and is wearing a brown fingered dress. The native girl looked very focused with her eyebrows meeting in the middle, looking determined.

Dashra stared at Aiyana and the native girl stares at her for one minute and then continues riding through the desert. The cowgirl rides towards the native American princess and catches her attention, “Hey, you! Native girl! You speak English?!”

Aiyana turns Kai towards Lagrunta and blocks the white horse as Kai stands in front of her. The Native American girl grabs Dashra by the collar, looks her in the eye, and says, “What country do you think this is, pale face?” Aiyana pushes the cowgirl back on her horse.

“Huh? That’s weird for a second I thought that you could only-…”

“Speak Cherokee? Yeah, I get that a lot, I can speak many different languages of any trespasser who would stumble into my territory.” Aiyana points her spear towards her, “Now state your business!”

“I’m here to find your village and I don’t have enough time left!”

“For what?”

Dashra takes off her glove and reveals her hand and arm turning into sand. “This for example.”

“Oh my spirits! The demon of the dust!”

“Wait, you know him?”

“Know him? He’s an unstoppable force of death! He’s unbeatable! And the one thing I’ve learned about him is that if he ever gives you that mark, it will soon turn you into one of his mindless zombies!”

“I know! And that’s why I need a cure for my arm! I mean look at it,” Dashra rolls up her sleeve and shows her the sand spreading on her arm.

“Hmm, this looks intensely serious, but I think I might know a cure of how to get your arm back to normal.”

“Really. How?”

Aiyana reaches into her travel bag and brings out a half broken vase with some Native American symbols and designs on it. Aiyana continues, “According to this half broken vase, there is a massive gourd with mystical liquid that could actually heal your arm! All I gotta do is stab the gourd, pour the liquid into my hand and then rub it on your arm and it’ll go back to normal.”

Dashra smiles, “Well I’ll be darn too-in!” Her sand arm punches her in the jaw. “Ow!” The sand arm pulls her hair from the back of her head. “Hey!”

“Yeah, we really need to find that gourd. And fast.” Aiyana notices Lagrunta and gasps, “Oh my spirits! Is that who I think it is?”

“Oh, you mean, Lagrunta? Yeah, lets just say that I helped her and she’s helping me and we’re calling it even.”

Aiyana steps off of Kai and pets Lagrunta on the muzzle, “Oh she’s gorgeous! And she’s even more beautiful up close! And it’s not everyday that she would ever stay loyal to humans. Ever.”

“Hmm, that does make a lot of sense since she did try to kill me a few times.”

“That’s only because she’s not used to you. But now she is.”

“Hm, well, she did save my life from the sand demon. A-anyways, do you know how to get to the giant gourd?”

“Nahale, he will guide you.” Nahale barks in response and leaps off of Kai, sniffing the ground with his nose.

“A coyote? You’re expecting me to believe that we have to trust a coyote to lead us to some magical fruit?”

Suddenly, Nahale started howling very loudly and runs towards the desert, barking. Aiyana says, “Never doubt Nahale.” The native American princess mounts on Kai and rides towards the coyote. “Come on, Nahale knows the way to the gourd.”

“A gourd in the middle of the desert? I must be out in the sun for too long.” Dashra whips Lagrunta’s mane and rides towards Aiyana as they follow the coyote the desert. Lagrunta and Kai continue to gallop through the wide-open plain as they looked at each other a smile while Kai continues to take charge while they gallop.

“By the way, I’m Dashra, Dashra McGraw. What’s yours?’

“I am Aiyana, the princess of my village.”

“Huh, a native American princess. Never thought of that. Ever got a last name?”

“I-its best not to read into it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

The two girls continue to ride through the desert landscape while following both the eagle and Nahale. The cowgirl looks up on a mountain and sees the sand demon with an hourglass in his hand while staring menacingly at her.

Dashra reacts with terror, “Uhh, Aiyanna, I think we should keep moving.”

“Alright, suit yourself, pale skin.”

The following days of their long travel, Dashra and Aiyanna rides through a stampede of moving Bison together while they laugh, leap over massive canyons, share canteens of water with each other while eating some of their rations, and even fighting and outwitting some cowboy bandits that tried to kill them.

Whenever the two girls would have breaks, they would constantly play around with their horses and even play around with each other both in the lake and when they run around, playing tag and sword fighting with their sticks.

On the fourth day in the evening, Aiyana scraped two rocks to make a campfire and the two girls sit by the campfire with their horses resting beside them. Aiyana said to Dashra, “I gotta say, you’re a lot of fun to be around. Your not so bad for a pale skin.”

Dashra smiles at Aiyana and said, “Your not so bad yourself.”

Aiyana softly touches her hair as she looks at her with a smile. “I like your hair and how soft it is.”

“Awe shucks, it ain’t nothin’.”

“I want to tell you something, Dashra.”

“What is it?”

“I never wanted to be a princess. It’s always so boring and time consuming and with not much to do. What I really want to be is a witchdoctor or healer but my father doesn’t think that’s right path for me, so I ran away from home to prove my worth.”

“Shoot! You think you’re the only one who ran away from home? I had to run miles away from my house just to catch this so call demon. That way I would become the next sheriff after my daddy.”

“You know you don’t have to be the next anything, right?”

“What? What do you mean?”

“Well, I can’t stop you from getting the life you want or the destiny you want to achieve, because let me tell you something Dashra, I believe you can achieve anything you set your mind to. But it won’t work unless you fight like your father, you have to fight like you, you have to fight your way! The way you would like it.”

“Hmm, I guess you do have a point.” Dashra and Aiyana hold their hands and rest their heads on each other as they look up at the night sky while Nahale is on the mountain howling at the moon.

On the fifth day, Dashra and Aiyana continue to ride their horses through the wide open plain while following Nahale until the coyote raises his head and howls to get the two girls attention. They stopped and spotted a giant glowing mystical red gourd, sitting beside the cactus. Aiyana gasped and said, “There it is Dashra, the gourd!”

“Oh finally!” Dashra responds as she steps off of Lagrunta. “Lets end this curse once and for all!” Lagrunta follows behind her until she catches a powerful sent from the gourd and gallops towards it. The white horse sniffs the gourd and then rears up on her hind legs and whinnies. Lagrunta stands in front of Dashra and blocks her while making a lot of snorting sounds out of fear. “Hey! What’s going on with you girl? Why are you in my way! Stop that!”

Aiyana finds the other piece of the vase in the sand, picks it up and connects the pieces together and gasped, “Dashra, I think you should see this!”

“What is it?”

“It’s the other piece of the vase and it says here that the gourd doesn’t heal your arm, it destroys it!”

Dashra is now in shock, “WHAT?! So where’s the one that can heal it?”

“It was destroyed and its power was completely drained!”

“So there’s no other way to heal it?”

“Well there is only one person, let alone one being, but, your not gonna like it, Dashra.”

“Who is it?”

A powerful wind gust with sand flowing through the wind as Dashra turns her head around and gasped, seeing the sand demon riding on his horse towards the cowgirl with a sinister grin. The Sand demon smirks, “I think I know a guy.”

“YOU?!” Dashra is taken aback. “You’re my healer?!”

“That’s right little lady, I’m can do both at the same time!”

“No! That’s not possible! I won’t let you do anything to me after what you did!”

“Already then, I guess you wouldn’t mind becoming my zombie. And as for your friends, well, I could give them just a little greeting.” The sand demon raises his hand and summons an army of cowboys made of sand to fight off Aiyana as she fights back with spear, dagger and fists. Lagrunta fights off the cowboys and horses made of sand, as do Kai, Nahale and the eagle until all four them are held tight by the demons sand powers

“Let them go!” Dashra charges towards her friends until her sand arm grows into a giant fist made of sand and punch her in the eye.

“Now I can help you get back to normal, or I can make you and the rest of your little squad into my sand zombies! Take your pick, little lady!

Dashra sighs and answered, “Alright, if it makes you feel any better, I will let you help me! Just make my arm normal again!”

“Hmm, alright, under one condition! You must challenge me to a duel. If you win, I’ll let you keep your flesh, but if I win, you will belong to me!”

“And if I win, you would have to bring back everything you stole!”

The sand demon hesitated and answered, “Deal!”

Dashra and The sand demon bends their arms and stares at each other in silence with their eyebrows meeting in the middle, looking fierce and intimidating towards each other. Afterwards, Dashra strikes him with a powerful whip two times in the face and the sand demon grabs the whip and tosses Dashra to a bolder. The sand demon strikes the cowgirl with his his powers until Dashra strikes him back with her sand arm morphing into a whip. The two characters morph their hands into swords and they both sword fight with them intensely. In the heat of the fight, The sand demon uses his powers to morph into a gigantic 35 foot tall bear made of sand and Dashra uses her sand powers to morph into a 30 foot tall bald eagle made of sand and the two sand animals fights each other with the sand demon as a bear fighting her off with his claws and teeth and Dashra as an eagle fighting him with her wings, beak and talons until finally Dashra soars all the way up into the air and zooms towards the sand demon, pushing him down into the ground.

The smoke disappears revealing Dashra and the sand demon back in their human form where Dashra holds a gun towards the sand demon’s face. She said with aggression, “Go ahead, Demon, do it! Do whatever you want with me! I don’t care! I’ve been going through enough hell and high water just to take you down! You wanna make me a zombie, do it I don’t care! But know this, I will never, ever, ever stop fighting for my flesh! So do what you want!”

The sand demon growls with irritation, stretches out his hand and strikes Dashra on her arm, pushing her away from him as she screams in agony and falls on the dirt with her eyes closed.

Dashra slowly opens her eyes and looks at her arm with a surprised expression on her face with her eyes wide opened and asked, “You-you healed my arm? Just like that?”

“A deal’s a deal, little lady,” The sand demon raises her off the dirt with his hand holding her hand. “You won fair and square.”

“But, why, you could have just-…”

“Lets just say I’m not as demonic as you think.” The sand demon snaps his fingers causing his sand powers to release Aiyana, Lagrunta, and the others.

Aiyana exclaims, “Dashra! Your okay!” The two girls embrace each other with a hug. Lagrunta neighs happily and embraces Dashra with a nudge towards her cheek and a hug while the cowgirl hugs her back.

The sand demon continues, “The one thing I cannot do is to bring your old horse back to life.”

“That’s okay, I already got the best wild horse ever!”

“Hm, good choice. And speak of which,” The sand demon uses his sand powers to make the stolen money and goods emerge from the ground. “I offer you every stolen good I have ever posses and the apology of a mystical being.”

“Huh, I guess you’re not really that much of a demon after all.”

“Please, call me, Buckly.” The sand demon, now called, Buckly raises his sand horse from the dirt, mounts on it and tips his hat to her, “Live your life, Dashra McGraw, live it well.” The sand demon rides away from her until he stops and says, “you know we will meet again…right?”

“Of course. Until the sandstorm, Buckly.”

“Until the next sandstorm, Dashra McGraw.” The sand demon rides through the massive sandstorm and disappears with the sand clearing away.

Dashra’s father, the sheriff, and the other group of cowboys ride towards Dashra and the others, looking surprised to her and the stolen goods. The sheriff stared at her with a smile and says, “Dashra! Is that you?”

“Daddy!” Dashra runs to her father and gives her a big hug.

“I didn’t know you were out here! And where did you get all of this stuff?”

“Buckly lowered his defense and gave all of this to us!”

“The sand demon?!”

“Yeah, all it look was a massive sand fight and for some reason I won. Oh, and my arm is back to normal!” Dashra shows him her hand.

The sheriff stares at it with surprise and said, “AMAZING! I guess you are meant to be a sheriff after all.” The sheriff gives Dashra his badge on his shirt and the cowboys stepped of their horses and collected the stolen good.

Dashra looks at her friends and then looks into her badge with concern and said, “Daddy, this is the moment I’ve always dreamed of but I don’t think I would want this.”

“You don’t? Why?”

“For the past five days, I thought I would want to be a sheriff like you but ever since I met Lagrunta and Aiyana, I felt more alive with them in the wilderness than I do back home. And plus,” Dashra holds Aiyana by the hand, “I wanted to create some new memories with the friends that I have now.”
The sheriff replies, “Say no more, darling, your welcome to visit my city anytime you want.” Dashra and the sheriff embrace each other with a loving hug.

“See you out there, Daddy.”

“See you out there, Dashra.” The cowgirl mounts on Lagrunta and the white bronco rears up and whinnies as she gallops through the wide-open plains. Aiyana mounts on Kai and takes off alongside Dashra and Lagrunta.

“So that it?” said one of the cowboys, “She doesn’t want to be a sheriff no more?”

“Nope,” the sheriff answered, “She belongs to the wilderness now.”

While Dashra and Aiyana are racing each other on their horses, the eagle stands on the cowgirl’s arm as Dashra says, “I still can’t think of a name for this eagle. What would be the best name that would suit her?”

Aiyana answered, “How about…Sarafina?”

“Sarafina.” The eagle, now called Sarafina, squawks happily and nods her head ‘yes’, “I like that name it suits her. Go long, Sarafina!” Sarafina flaps her wings and soars towards the wide open plain as Dashra and Aiyana chase the eagle on their horses to the sunset.

The End

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