Chapter 6 - The Price of Sacred Water
Aayoka's fingers closed around Elias's wrist.
“Do not go down there.”
Below them, Silas Creed stood beside the spring with fourteen armed men.
Dynamite had been placed along the canyon wall.
Elias counted the charges.
Five that he could see.
Possibly more inside the cavern.
Creed shouted again.
“Five minutes, Boon!”
Elias studied the canyon.
“You know another way down?”
Aayoka nodded toward a narrow ledge.
“My people used it.”
“Can Creed's men see it?”
“Not at night.”
“Good.”
She understood his idea immediately.
“No.”
“You don't even know what I'm thinking.”
“You are thinking I take the ledger while you walk into the open.”
“That is exactly what I'm thinking.”
“No.”
“Aayoka—”
“No.”
He almost smiled.
“You're difficult.”
“You are planning to surrender to a murderer.”
“I'm planning to keep him looking at me.”
“And if he shoots you?”
“Then improvise.”
“That is not a plan.”
“It has worked surprisingly often.”
Aayoka stared at him.
Then she took the ledger.
“If you die, I will be angry.”
“I'll keep that in mind.”
Elias descended openly.
Creed saw him.
“There he is.”
Rifles turned.
Elias raised both hands.
Creed smiled.
“Where's the book?”
“Safe.”
“Wrong answer.”
“Where's the dynamite trigger?”
Creed held up a burning cigar.
“Right here.”
Elias stopped.
“You really plan to light it by hand?”
“I enjoy tradition.”
“You always did enjoy making things unnecessarily dramatic.”
Creed laughed.
“You've changed.”
“No.”
Elias looked around.
“I just got tired.”
“Of what?”
“Being afraid of you.”
Creed's smile faded.
Elias continued.
“You know the funny thing? For three years I thought you ruined my life.”
“I did.”
“No. You stole three years.”
Elias looked toward the hidden ledge.
No movement.
Good.
“But the rest is still mine.”
Creed raised his revolver.
“Not for long.”
A pebble fell behind him.
Creed glanced sideways.
Aayoka dropped from the ledge.
She cut the rope securing one dynamite bundle and kicked it into the spring.
Elias drew.
Chaos erupted.
He fired at a lantern.
Darkness swallowed half the canyon.
Aayoka ran toward another charge.
Creed shouted.
“Kill her!”
Elias fired again.
A gunman dropped his rifle.
Another charged.
Elias struck him with the revolver.
Aayoka ripped loose a fuse.
Creed ran toward her.
Elias tackled him.
They crashed into the shallow water.
Creed punched Elias's injured shoulder.
Pain exploded.
Elias fell.
Creed drew a knife.
“You should've died in that wash.”
Elias caught his wrist.
“Probably.”
They struggled.
Creed forced the blade downward.
Then Aayoka appeared.
“Creed.”
He looked up.
She held his revolver.
For one moment revenge was entirely hers.
Creed smiled.
“Go ahead.”
Aayoka's hand trembled.
He wanted her to shoot.
Perhaps he believed killing him in anger would make her like him.
Elias saw that realization in her eyes.
Aayoka lowered the gun slightly.
“No.”
Creed laughed.
“Weak.”
“No.”
Her voice remained calm.
“You do not choose who I become.”
Creed lunged.
Elias knocked the knife away.
Before Creed could recover, hoofbeats thundered into the canyon.
Major Mercer.
Cavalry.
Creed's men surrendered one by one.
Creed tried running toward the cavern.
Elias followed.
“Silas!”
Creed turned.
“You think this ends anything?”
“It ends you running.”
Creed smiled bitterly.
“You sound like her.”
“Maybe she has a point.”
Creed reached inside his coat.
Elias raised his gun.
“Don't.”
Creed pulled something out.
A match.
He struck it.
Aayoka screamed.
“Elias!”
Creed threw the match toward a fuse.
Elias dove.
His hand closed around the burning cord.
Flame raced toward the dynamite.
He grabbed the fuse and ripped.
The flame stopped inches from the explosive.
For several seconds nobody moved.
Then Mercer placed Creed in irons.
Creed stared at Elias.
“You could've walked away.”
Elias looked at Aayoka.
“Yes.”
He finally understood.
That had been the point.
He could always walk away.
For years he had mistaken the ability to leave for freedom.
Now, for the first time, he had chosen to stay.
And the whisper returned.
Not in his ear.
Not in his mind.
It seemed to rise from the water itself.
Home.
Aayoka heard it.
Her eyes met his.
Neither spoke.
They didn't need to.
But the fight was far from over.
Because when Major Mercer searched Creed's saddlebags, he discovered a letter bearing a government seal.
May you like
And the name written at the bottom belonged to a man far more powerful than Silas Creed.
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