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Arthur was a fool to think it was over. His eyes widen and he shrinks back in preparation for what to come, hoping to avoid it. “No, no don’t, that ain’t fair, wait stop- Sadie!”
It’s too late, she’s already ridden up on him and has leaned over as far as she possibly can in her saddle to the point she nearly falls out, still effortlessly landing a painful punch to his shoulder. “Squirrel!” She shouts.
He rubs the spot on his shoulder, counting the eighth hit shes gotten on him since they hit Roanoke Ridge. “That ain’t fair, you need to pick a different animal.” He grumbles.
“It ain’t my fault you picked skunk and I had the good sense to pick squirrel.” Sadie laughs, gearing up for another but he steers his horse out of the way, spurring his horse onward to outrun her.
“Yeah well I’m done with this game,” Arthur shouts over his shoulder back at her, “Unless you wanna switch.”
“Hell no! Get back here, I’ve seen three more since you’ve taken off, Morgan I owe you three punches.”
“I got a bruise bigger than a damn squirrel.I’m done.” He’s not sure it’s actually that big but with the way it hurts from her constant abuse it feels as if it may be. He’s tempted to peel off his coat and remove his button up just to prove a point. But Sadie holds her hands up in defense, still laughing her full off off, and back off from him.
“We need a new game though, or else I’m gonna fall asleep in the saddle and we ain’t even half way there yet. What if I let you have squirrel and I’ll take rabbit or something. That fair?” She tries to reason, tipping her head back and facing up at the tree canopy in a dramatic fashion with a big sigh in a show of dramatic fashion, “I’ll even let you ride on the left side of me instead of the right. Then you can have matching bruises,” the grin she flashes him tells him he knows theres no winning. At least with a more common animal he’d have a chance to get her back.
“Ah knowing you you’ll end up seeing more rabbits than I can find squirrels. What if you gotta prove you saw it first? Deal?”
“Fine. Deal.”
What happened between then and when they finally arrived at the campsite to meet Javier and John, Arthur didn’t remember other than getting a little too competitive, but he had the beginning of a black eye and she had a split lip that was still bleeding by the time that they rode up. John had asked if they got jumped but Sadie just laughed and laughed and Arthur did too, all because of some damn game he had been destined to lose.