Chapter 6 - The Burning Ranch
Flames had reached the porch when Elias arrived.
He jumped from his horse before it stopped.
Naelli caught him.
“No.”
“The documents are inside.”
“You will die.”
“Without them Mercer walks.”
She looked at the burning house.
Then wrapped a wet blanket around herself.
“What are you doing?”
“Going with you.”
“Absolutely not.”
“You are wasting time arguing.”
They entered together.
Smoke filled the kitchen.
The ceiling groaned.
Elias crawled toward the bedroom.
Naelli found the tin box beneath the floor.
A beam collapsed.
“Elias!”
He shoved her clear.
Fire caught his sleeve.
Naelli smothered it.
They escaped seconds before the roof collapsed.
Outside, Elias fell to his knees.
His home burned.
Thirty years of solitude disappeared into flame.
Naelli sat beside him.
“I am sorry.”
“It’s wood.”
“It was your home.”
Elias looked at her.
“No.”
He realized the truth as he said it.
“It was a house.”
Naelli understood.
Sheriff Burke arrived with townspeople.
They fought the fire until little remained.
Walter Briggs approached.
“You can stay above my store.”
Sarah offered her spare room.
The pastor offered the church house.
Elias stared.
These were people who days earlier had whispered about Naelli.
Now they had come because she had become part of their story.
Burke carried news.
The territorial marshal had been contacted.
Mercer would face investigation.
But Scar-face remained free.
And sometime during the fire, he had disappeared.
Naelli looked toward the mountains.
“He will not run.”
“No,” Elias agreed.
“He'll come for the documents.”
That night they slept in Briggs's storeroom.
Elias woke near dawn.
Naelli was gone.
On his blanket lay a note.
Elias,
This began because they followed me.
If I stay, they will keep hurting you.
Do not follow.
He crushed the paper.
“Damn you, Naelli.”
Outside, her horse tracks led west.
And beside them were another set of tracks.
Someone was following her.
Elias saddled immediately.
Thirty years earlier, Naelli had disappeared and he had been a child powerless to follow.
This time was different.
May you like
This time, Elias Carver rode after her.
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