The Atchafalaya Basin is a home to giants.

Alligators, boars and other strange things that an unwary traveler may fall prey to when traversing the swamp alone. Such foul creatures stalk the waterways and pockets of dry land, shrouded by ancient trees that survive amongst the muck, that only a fool would travel through such a place on foot. Let alone late at night.

The sucking sound of mud on boots added to the deluge of noises in the twilight of the swamp. A narrow path made its way through the swamp, but the man from Salem, Massachusetts, was unbothered by the noises or the fading light of the sun in the west. What nocturnal creatures fed here, or during the day, didn't seem to bother him. Even the mosquitoes stayed out of his way.

The most dangerous creatures in this swamp were likely men after all. Thieves. Bank robbers. Murderers. From both west and east of Louisiana, it mattered not where they came from. There was a long list of outlaws who would seek refuge in such a place, braving the alligators rather than face the long arm of the law.

But the man from Salem was no law man. He was tall and well built, handsome even, despite the black beard and wavy black hair, with a lean waist and scars on his well muscled arms and hands. His piercing grey-blue eyes stared into the darkness, shrouded by the brim of his black stetson. How old he was was anyone's guess. Thirty? Forty? Fifty? There were touches of grey in his beard and hair, but his face seemed to be grizzled more by the mileage he had traveled rather than by the years he had lived.

One might have mistaken him for a law man, perhaps, but just as likely they might think he was an outlaw too. An outlaw down on his luck as he had no horse, but carried over his left shoulder a dark brown saddle speckled with dried blood. He could be a Confederate soldier too, or a deserter, judging by the twin LeMat revolvers snug in their holsters of his well worn gun belt, but he bore no other markings of such a man.

...

Want to keep reading this historical dark fantasy / weird west short story by Charles Moffat? Learn more about the Alt-Earth series by visiting fiction.charlesmoffat.com.