Chapter 5 - Atseli’s Warning
The first bullet struck stone above Silas's head.
Atseli pulled Boon behind an ore cart.
Silas fired once toward the entrance.
“Back passage?” he asked.
Boon groaned.
“Old ventilation shaft.”
“Where?”
“Left tunnel.”
They moved.
Behind them came footsteps.
Atseli supported Boon while Silas covered them.
The shaft was narrow.
Cold air came through it.
“Go,” Silas said.
Atseli pushed Boon forward.
“You?”
“Right behind you.”
She stared at him.
“You lie badly.”
Another bullet struck the wall.
“Go!”
Atseli disappeared into the shaft.
Silas fired toward the lanterns.
Then ran.
They emerged half a mile uphill.
Boon collapsed.
Silas lifted him.
“You're heavier than you look.”
“That's insulting.”
“Good. You're alive enough to complain.”
They returned to Ward Ranch by sunset.
Boon told them everything.
Deputy Harlan had been working for Voss for four years.
Whenever complaints were made, evidence disappeared.
Witnesses left town.
Some never arrived anywhere else.
But Boon had discovered something worse.
Voss planned to seize the southern valley.
Including Ward Ranch.
Silas laughed.
“He can try.”
“He already has.”
Boon explained.
Voss had purchased old tax claims.
Several were fraudulent.
Ward Ranch appeared among them.
Silas's home wasn't merely where Mian and Atseli had found shelter.
It was the final property blocking Voss from controlling the entire creek.
Suddenly the attacks made sense.
Silas had believed he was protecting the women.
In reality, their enemies had been circling the same man from different directions.
That night, Atseli found Silas repairing the porch.
“You should leave,” she said.
“My ranch?”
“Yes.”
He looked at her.
“You first.”
Atseli almost smiled.
Then her expression became serious.
“He will kill you.”
“Probably.”
“You joke.”
“Sometimes.”
“Why?”
Silas stopped hammering.
“Because I spent three years thinking the worst thing that could happen already happened.”
He looked toward Anna's grave.
“I was wrong.”
Atseli followed his gaze.
“What is worse?”
“Becoming a man she wouldn't recognize.”
Neither spoke for a while.
Then a baby cried inside.
Silas smiled faintly.
Atseli saw.
“You like noise now.”
“Don't spread that around.”
But their quiet moment ended when Mian screamed.
They ran inside.
The window had been broken.
A stone lay on the floor.
Wrapped around it was another message.
THIS TIME THE HOUSE BURNS.
Boon reached for his gun.
Silas looked outside.
No rider.
No tracks visible in falling snow.
Then Atseli whispered, “Silas.”
He turned.
She was staring toward the barn.
A figure moved behind it.
Small.
A child.
Silas ran outside.
“Wait!”
The figure fled.
Silas caught him near the fence.
A boy of perhaps twelve collapsed into the snow.
“Don't hurt me!”
Silas released him.
“I won't.”
The boy looked terrified.
“I saw them.”
“Saw who?”
“The men who burned your barn.”
Silas's heart hammered.
“Who?”
The boy looked toward town.
“One was Deputy Harlan.”
“And the others?”
The boy swallowed.
“Mr. Voss.”
Silas crouched.
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
The boy's next words changed everything.
May you like
“And Reverend Pike was with them.”
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