Ashley stepped into the shadows of the barn and looked around. The barn where trick riders warmed up and their horses worked on was empty now as their event had ended yesterday, leaving the area deserted. Perfect place for a quiet meeting with several barns and buildings separating this barn from the main rodeo. The perfect place to meet one of her rivals without anyone knowing about it. “Alexis?” She called. 

From the shadows of one of the stalls, her most direct rival stepped out and sized her up. Alexis and her went way back, both starting in rodeo at a young age and gaining an interest in trick roping until now they stood apart, 20 years old and still fighting for the top spot in their region. Ashley was still convinced to this day Alexis only took up trick roping to copy her, but she had proven to be very good at it. But now there was a new challenger, an up and coming 18 year old Sarah, who had defeated both in the previous two competitions which now led to this meeting. 

Alexis was dressed entirely in black. Her cowgirl boots were black with black patterned stitching, along with black pants and a long sleeve black costume shirt with decorative fringing. A wide black belt with a large silver buckle sat at her waist, and the one piece of colour in her outfit was a light blue bandana tied around her neck. It was a complete contrast to Ashley’s outfit, fitting given their rivalry. She was dressed in white cowgirl boots with black stitching, a light denim skirt that left her legs bare, and a red and white short sleeved top. A wide brown belt was buckled around her waist and a black bandana was tied around her neck.  

“So…you spoke of a new trick to push us ahead of Sarah?” 

Alexis grimaced. “I hate that I have to share what I’ve been preparing in secret but I’ll show you.”

Unfurling a coil of rope from her belt, Alexis began twirling it into a loop then performed a series of spins in place, jumping over the rope in a complicated pattern as she twisted her arm behind her to continue the twirls. Ashley blinked as she finished and stood facing her rival. “I might need to see that again.” 

Alexis looked a little annoyed but nodded and demonstrated for a second time, the rope never hitting the ground and she performed it flawlessly, showing she had put a lot of time and effort into working on this trick. Using one of the shorter poles in the barn as a reference that was about her height, Ashley twirled on the spot in an attempt to duplicate the movements without a rope first. Ensuring she was only a couple feet away from the pole and twirling in the same spot, she pulled off the action once or twice but a bit clumsily. “You’re sure about this getting more points than what Sarah has in her run?” She asked as she steadied herself. 

“I had a camera watching her practice, I know there’s nothing more technical than this.” 

Ashley nodded and practiced again. But this time as she twirled, a lasso landed neatly around Ashley’s torso and the short post behind her. The rope was yanked tight, unexpectedly pulling Ashley backwards until she felt the post against her back. The shock of contact caused her to drop the rope from her hand and immediately worked on loosening the rope around her stomach. “What the hell?”

Distracted by the rope, Ashley didn’t see Alexis approach her until her rival was practically on top of her, seizing her wrists and wrenching them behind her back. Still connected to the post, Ashley switched to using her body weight to try and loosen the rope as she twisted in Alexis’s grip. “Get off of me!” 

Instead, Alexis made a quick noose with another rope and slipped it around her wrists before pulling it tight. Ashley gasped as the rope dug into her wrists, followed by multiple loops and then a tight cinch to secure her crossed wrists. “You BITCH!” 

“Shutup.” Ashley winced at the venom in her rival’s voice as the waist rope was yanked tight and slender arms passed it around her body multiple times, pinning her arms to her sides and her wrists against the back of the pole as the rope locked her in place. 

Realizing how quickly she was behind made helpless, Ashley switched tactics to trying to kick this snake of a girl while simultaneously calling for help. She got one shout off before a handkerchief was stuffed into her open mouth. “MMMMPH!” 

She felt her rival’s hands fumbling with the bandana around her neck and had nearly spit the cloth filling her mouth out before it was yanked back in by her bandana now folded into a band. The cleave gag was knotted behind her neck, leaving her only able to glare at Alexis as she knelt and began binding her legs. Her boots squeaked as they were roped tightly at the ankles tight enough to dent the leather, followed by more rope at the knees and thighs. The final set of ropes went around her waist to keep her further pinned to the pole. Ashley furiously tugged against her bonds as Alexis finished the ropes around her waist and stepped back with a glint in her eye. “She’s all set.” She called out. 

Ashley gasped into her gag as Sarah stepped around the barn doorway. Their mutual rival was dressed in black cowgirl boots with white patterns stitched in, white pants, black belt with a pewter buckle, and a black and white long sleeve shirt with white fringing around the top and front. “She looks good like that.” She said as she looked Ashley up and down, 

“And she won’t be going anywhere anytime soon with these ropes.” Alexis started checking each of the ropes that kept Ashley helpless. “So my part of the deal is done. Are you ready to uphold yours?” 

“About that.” 

Alexis turned just as a lasso neatly landed around her upper body and pulled tight. Caught off guard, Alexis stumbled forward and with her arms pinned to her sides, she was unable to catch herself as she fell to the floor. Sarah was on top of her in a flash, straddling her as she went to work with coils of rope. The brunette was also a competitive roper, and her skill clearly displayed at how quickly she got Alexis into a simple hogtie. 

It was so simple, yet effective as Alexis found her wrists crossed and bound behind her back, followed by her booted ankles and a short rope soon linked the two together. She struggled and fought under Sarah’s weight the whole time, cursing and shouting but nothing she did could prevent her inevitable helplessness. Sarah added additional ropes as well, tying her elbows together, followed by a chest harness above and below her breasts and then her knees. By the time Sarah stood up off of her partner in crime, Alexis could do nothing but swear vengeance as she rocked back and forth on the floor of the barn. “Not this time Alexis.” She said sweetly as her hands quickly untied the teal handkerchief around her neck and folded it into a band. 

Knowing what was coming, Alexis tried to close her mouth but she was too late as it was forced between her teeth and knotted under her dark hair to complete the gag. Growling behind the cloth now separating her lips, she glared daggers as Sarah stood up. “Little too trusting I have to admit.” She bragged as she used a boot to tip Alexis onto her side. 

Alexis squealed as she lay on her side. “Should’ve seen it coming, but you two were always so caught up in the rivalry with each other to think anyone was even close to your level.”. 

Sarah took one last rope from a hook and tied a connector from Alexis’s wrists to Ashley’s ankle ropes. “I would say I’m sorry you got the butt end of all this, but I’m not.” She said to Ashley. “With you both out of competition, I’ll win easily. Maybe you’ll free yourselves in time to see me get my trophy.” 

She spun on her heel and headed for the door. “And then they’ll see that I am unrivalled at my craft. Maybe I’ll take up trick riding next, we’ll see!” 

With a final wave she was out the door, leaving the two rivals to grumble muffled curses at each other as they strained against the ropes. Ashley knew it was going to be a long process to get out and resigned herself to the thought that at least if she got out of the ropes first she’d have some time to get some revenge on her rival. Now she just had to hope that Sarah’s ropework was better than Alexis’s. She got to work.