Ace of Spades

[Phenora]

Lightening streaked across the sky, and thunder boomed. The rain poured down onto the roof. The sound was eerie, especially on a dark night as it was. From one of the few buildings in town with any lights on, music played. Piano music, loud and fast. Laughter and voices also filled the night, along with the music. The door of the building swung open, and a man stumbled out, a bottle in his hand.
He stumbled up to one of the supports on the porch, and finished his drink, then dropped the bottle to the floor. He stumbled around to one of the horses tied to the post between the supports, and, with some difficulty, climbed onto it. He turned the horse around, and started riding up the muddy street. From behind him, over the pounding rain and thunder, he heard hoof beats, catching up fast. He turned to look, and saw a man astride a black horse riding toward him. The man rode straight past him, and slid his horse to a halt in front of the bank just as three men came running out, carrying sacks.
The man on the horse pulled something out of his coat pocket, and flipped it at the other men. One yelled out in pain, and fell to his knees holding his wrist. The others dropped their bags and drew their guns. The shots were fire. Three shots missed. The man on the horse jumped onto the saddle, then over the first man, and grabbed the guns from the others' hands. He pulled them free, then aimed them at the men. The men fell back, hands raised.
The rider tackled them to the ground, and tied their hands behind their backs, then carried the sacks back into the bank, and dropped them on the floor inside the door. He then returned to his horse, mounted, and galloped off with a flash of lightening lighting the path for him.




The Next Day

"I'm tellin' ya', Sheriff, he stopped 'em before they even got to their horses!" he said. "He came outta' the darkness, from the direction of the river, and just went on up to 'em, and stopped 'em! Got one with a playin' card, I tell ya'!"
"Did he now? And this man, was he wearin' a mask too? Maybe a feather in his hat and a sword at his hip?" the sheriff replied sourly.
"Sheriff, I'm tellin' you the truth! I saw it with my own eyes! Why would I go an' lie about a thing like this?" the man fired back.
"Well, Henry, maybe because you were drunk, and you have a tendency to make up yarns like this," the sheriff replied.
"Please Sheriff, ya' gotta' believe me!" Henry said. "He came ridin' in on a black horse, and stopped those bank robbers in their tracks!"
"Then tell me this, why were they not there when we got to the bank earlier?" the sheriff asked.
"The got loose and ran off! I swear it, sheriff, honest!" he replied.
At Henry's last words, a woman walked into the room, and straight up to the sheriff. "Sir, it seems someone broke into the bank last night. Betty just came in and said they found bags of money by the door, which had a broken lock, and muddy boot prints everywhere. They also found this," she said and handed him a playing card, "in the mud outside the bank. There's a bit of blood on one edge."
The sheriff took the card and looked at it. "Well I'll be darned, you were tellin' the truth, Henry!" he said, and looked up at the man.
"I told ya' Sheriff! I told ya' I wasn't lyin! This proves it! That man last night stopped those three from robbin' the bank!" Henry said, and stood up. He turned and walked out the door.
"Where you goin'?" the sheriff called after him. "To go see if I can find where he came from!" Henry shouted back, and ran out the door of the jail house and to his horse tied up to the post out-side.
The sheriff sighed, and looked at the card again. It was an ace of spades.