Chapter 11 - Calder’s Last Ride
Calder came at night.
He expected fear.
Instead he found an empty settlement.
Elias had moved everyone to safety.
Lanterns burned in abandoned windows.
Calder rode into the center of the valley with six remaining followers.
“Mercer!”
Elias stepped onto the road.
Alone.
Calder smiled.
“Finally.”
“No.”
Elias looked toward the ridge.
Keme appeared.
Then Thomas.
Then territorial marshals.
Calder's men immediately dropped their weapons.
Calder didn't.
He stared at Elias.
“You took everything.”
Elias shook his head.
“You did that yourself.”
Calder fired.
The shot missed.
Elias could have killed him.
Instead he fired into Calder's weapon, knocking it from his hand.
Calder lunged.
Naya stepped from behind the building.
“Enough.”
Calder stopped.
She faced the man who had destroyed her family.
“You wanted land.”
She looked around.
“You lose land.”
“You wanted money.”
She pointed toward the marshals.
“You lose money.”
“You wanted fear.”
She stepped closer.
“I not fear.”
Calder's face twisted.
Naya finished quietly.
“You lose everything.”
The marshals chained him.
This time, he was taken directly to a fortified territorial prison.
Elias watched the wagon disappear.
No satisfaction came.
Only relief.
Naya stood beside him.
“Finished?”
“Finished.”
She took his hand.
“Good.”
Then she walked away.
Elias frowned.
“Where are you going?”
“To sleep.”
“We were having a moment.”
She looked over her shoulder.
“You slow.”
Thomas laughed from the porch.
“She has a point.”
Elias chased his brother around the house.
For the first time in years, laughter followed Elias Mercer into the night.
Yet another decision waited.
A letter had arrived from New Mexico.
The Mercer ranch—his childhood home—was being sold.
If Elias wanted it, he had two weeks to claim it.
He looked toward Naya's valley.
For the first time, he had two places he might call home.
May you like
And he had no idea which one to choose.
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