Chapter 11 - The People Who Came Back
For two weeks, Red Mesa remained quiet.
Elias repaired one of the surviving shelters.
Aayoka restored the burial places.
Major Mercer left six soldiers at a distant post—not beside the spring, but far enough away to respond if trouble returned.
It was Aayoka's compromise.
Not trust.
Not yet.
But possibility.
Elias built a fence.
Aayoka watched.
“What is that for?”
“Horses.”
“There are no horses.”
“There will be.”
“How do you know?”
“I plan to buy some.”
“With what money?”
Elias stopped hammering.
“That is an excellent question.”
Aayoka smiled.
The answer arrived the next morning.
Judge Webb rode into camp with Amos.
Amos carried a bottle.
Webb carried papers.
Elias preferred the bottle.
“Good news,” Webb said.
“I distrust sentences that begin that way.”
“The freight company owes you money.”
Elias blinked.
“What?”
“Back wages, damages, and a reward connected to recovering stolen funds.”
“How much?”
Webb told him.
Elias stared.
Amos whistled.
Aayoka said, “Enough horses?”
“Enough horses.”
But Webb had another document.
“The federal government has suspended all land claims around Red Mesa pending review.”
Aayoka's expression became guarded.
“Suspended.”
“Not transferred.”
“To whom?”
“That question will take time.”
“This land belonged to my family.”
“I know.”
“Does your government?”
Webb paused.
“It will hear the evidence.”
Aayoka looked away.
Elias recognized frustration.
A courtroom had cleared his name.
But no courtroom could easily repair generations of broken promises.
Then riders appeared.
Aayoka stiffened.
Seven Apache families approached.
An elderly woman rode at their front.
Aayoka stopped breathing.
She whispered a name.
“Talisa.”
The woman dismounted.
Aayoka ran.
They embraced.
Elias stood back.
Aayoka had believed she was the only survivor.
She had been wrong.
Several families had been away trading when Creed attacked.
Others had escaped before the final assault.
News of Aayoka's survival had reached them.
They came home.
That evening the canyon filled with voices.
Children.
Cooking.
Stories.
For the first time since Elias discovered the burned settlement, Red Mesa sounded alive.
He sat alone beside the spring.
A small boy approached.
“You are Elias?”
“Yes.”
“You drank forbidden water?”
Elias sighed.
“Apparently everyone knows that.”
The boy grinned.
“Did a spirit marry you?”
Elias nearly choked.
“No.”
Aayoka approached behind the child.
“Go help your aunt.”
The boy ran.
Elias looked at her.
“Spirit marry me?”
Aayoka was trying not to laugh.
“You should hear the other versions.”
“I don't want to.”
“One says you turned into a coyote.”
“Better.”
“Another says I found you naked in the spring.”
“Much worse.”
Aayoka laughed.
Then she sat beside him.
“You could leave now.”
Elias looked at her.
“Trying to get rid of me?”
“No.”
“What are you asking?”
“You stayed because I needed help.”
“Yes.”
“My people are returning.”
“I noticed.”
“You are free.”
There was that word again.
Elias looked at the spring.
“I spent years thinking freedom meant nobody could ask me to stay.”
Aayoka listened.
“I was wrong.”
“What does it mean?”
“That I get to choose.”
“And what do you choose?”
Elias looked directly at her.
“This.”
Aayoka's eyes softened.
“This canyon?”
“Yes.”
“The horses that do not exist?”
“Eventually.”
“The fence nobody asked for?”
“Especially the fence.”
She smiled.
“And me?”
Elias became quiet.
“If you'll have me around.”
Aayoka reached for his hand.
“I think the spring answered that before either of us.”
That night, Elias slept without a revolver beneath his pillow for the first time in three years.
But shortly before dawn, Boone began kicking against the corral.
Elias awakened.
A rider was approaching.
Fast.
Major Mercer.
He dismounted before the horse fully stopped.
“Harcourt escaped.”
Elias stared.
“How?”
“Prison transfer.”
Aayoka emerged.
Mercer's next words erased every trace of peace.
“He killed two guards.”
“Where is he going?” Elias asked.
Mercer looked toward Red Mesa.
May you like
“You already know.”
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