Chapter 5 - Red Knife Canyon
Clara fired first.
Not at a man.
At the lantern hanging from Silas's supply wagon.
Glass exploded.
Oil flared across the ground.
Men shouted and turned instinctively toward the sudden fire.
That half-second saved lives.
"DOWN!" Clara screamed.
The first volley meant for Tahka's riders went wild.
Some bullets struck stone.
Others vanished into the dark.
Tahka's warriors scattered with disciplined speed.
Silas roared at his men to reload.
Clara ran toward Martha.
Amos Vale intercepted her.
He swung his rifle.
Clara ducked.
The stock passed over her head.
She slammed Thomas's rifle into Amos's ribs.
He stumbled.
Then smiled.
"You've got his gun."
Clara froze.
Amos looked delighted.
"Thomas begged me to give that back to you."
Clara hit him again.
Hard.
Amos fell against the wagon.
"You murdered him."
"He should've minded his own land."
Clara raised the rifle.
For one dangerous moment she wanted to shoot.
Not in defense.
Not to save anyone.
Simply because Amos Vale had taken Thomas from her and smiled while talking about it.
Amos saw the temptation.
"Go on."
Clara's finger tightened.
Then Martha cried out.
Clara turned away from Amos and cut her ropes.
That choice almost cost her.
Amos lunged.
Nokoni struck him from the side.
Both men crashed into the dirt.
Clara pulled Martha free.
"Run to the ravine!"
Gunfire erupted above.
Tahka's warriors were no longer targets.
They moved along the ridges, forcing Silas's riflemen to keep their heads down.
Benjamin reached the central wagon.
He shouted at Silas.
"It's over!"
Silas fired at him.
The bullet struck wood inches from Benjamin's face.
Apparently not.
Samuel Bell threw himself behind a barrel.
Cal Pike tackled Sheriff Coyle.
The sheriff smashed Cal across the jaw with his revolver.
Clara ran toward them.
Coyle saw her.
His gun turned.
Before he could fire, Samuel struck his arm with a shovel.
The revolver discharged into the air.
Cal drove his shoulder into Coyle's chest.
They went down together.
Across the camp, Nokoni and Amos fought in the dust.
Nokoni was wounded and weakening.
Clara picked up a fallen rifle.
"Amos!"
He turned.
Clara aimed directly at him.
"Move away."
Amos laughed.
"You won't shoot."
Clara remembered choosing Martha instead of revenge.
She knew the difference now.
"I'm not angry anymore."
Something in her voice changed his expression.
He stepped back.
Nokoni rolled clear.
Clara said, "On your knees."
Amos's eyes narrowed.
Then Tahka appeared behind him.
Amos slowly knelt.
Silas saw the camp collapsing.
Half his hired men had fled.
The others were pinned.
Coyle was disarmed.
Amos was captured.
Martha was free.
So Silas did what men like Silas always did when power disappeared.
He ran.
He mounted a horse and drove it toward the northern trail.
Clara saw him.
"Benjamin!"
Benjamin turned.
Silas was heading toward the spring.
Toward the old mine cut beyond it.
Benjamin swore.
"He has the lockbox!"
Clara mounted the nearest horse.
Nokoni grabbed her rein.
"No."
"He has Thomas's letter."
"We have other proof."
"He has the original ledger."
"Clara."
She looked at Nokoni.
He understood.
This wasn't only evidence.
It was Thomas's final truth.
Clara pulled free.
"I need it."
Nokoni mounted another horse despite his wound.
"Then not alone."
They followed Silas into the canyon.
The trail narrowed.
Silas fired backward once.
The bullet sparked against rock.
Clara ducked.
"He's heading for the mine!" she shouted.
Nokoni nodded.
The abandoned silver mine had been closed for almost twenty years.
Its tunnels ran beneath the ridge.
Silas reached the entrance first.
He abandoned his horse and disappeared inside.
Clara and Nokoni followed on foot.
The air became cold.
Dark.
Clara lit a lantern.
Tracks showed clearly in the dust.
They followed them downward.
At the first fork, Nokoni stopped.
"Two trails."
Clara saw it too.
Fresh footprints to the left.
Drag marks to the right.
Silas was trying to confuse them.
Clara studied the ground.
Then smiled slightly.
"Left."
"Why?"
"His right boot heel is missing a nail."
They followed.
The tunnel opened into an old chamber.
Silas stood beside a deep vertical shaft.
The lockbox was open on the ground.
Papers lay scattered.
He held Thomas's letter in one hand.
A match in the other.
"Stop."
Silas smiled.
"You've been saying that to men a lot lately."
Clara aimed the rifle.
"Put it down."
"Your husband had the same look."
"Don't say his name."
"He thought one stack of paper could change the world."
"No."
Clara stepped closer.
"He thought the truth could."
Silas struck the match.
Nokoni moved.
Silas raised a revolver with his other hand.
"One more step and she's a widow twice."
Nokoni stopped.
Silas lowered the flame toward the papers.
Clara said, "You don't want to burn them."
Silas laughed.
"Watch me."
"If you wanted them gone, you'd have burned them already."
His hand paused.
"You came here because there's something else in that box."
Silas's smile disappeared.
Clara knew she was right.
"What?"
Silas said nothing.
"What are you afraid of?"
His eyes moved toward the bottom of the box.
Clara suddenly remembered the brass key.
One lock.
But maybe not one compartment.
Silas dropped the match and stamped it out.
Then reached into the box.
He pulled free a second document.
A folded deed.
Silas smiled bitterly.
"Thomas found everything."
Clara stared.
Silas held up the paper.
"My father bought Red Knife Canyon forty years ago."
"Then why hide it?"
"Because he didn't buy it from the government."
Clara understood.
"From Comanche."
Silas's jaw tightened.
"My father made an agreement with Tahka's father. Shared water. Shared grazing. No removal."
"And you wanted all of it."
"I wanted what should've been mine."
"So you killed for it."
"I built something."
"No. You stole something."
Silas's eyes went cold.
"So did they."
Nokoni spoke quietly.
"Water not belong to man."
Silas raised the revolver toward him.
Clara fired.
The shot knocked Silas's gun from his hand.
He screamed and grabbed his wrist.
Then charged her.
They collided near the shaft.
Clara dropped the rifle.
Silas seized her throat.
She drove a knee into him.
He stumbled.
The deed fluttered from his hand.
Nokoni moved to help.
Silas kicked him down.
Then grabbed Clara and dragged her toward the shaft.
"You should have moved aside in the desert."
Clara clawed at his arm.
"You should have left Thomas alive."
She drove her boot against his knee.
Silas lost balance.
Both of them fell.
Clara caught the edge of the shaft.
Silas caught Clara's wrist.
For one terrible second, his entire weight pulled her downward.
Nokoni crawled toward them.
Silas looked up.
Fear replaced everything else in his face.
"Help me."
Clara stared at the man responsible for Thomas's death.
Silas's fingers slipped.
"Clara!"
She could let go.
No one would blame her.
Maybe even Nokoni would understand.
Instead Clara reached down with her free hand.
"Take it."
Silas stared in disbelief.
"Take my hand!"
He did.
Nokoni grabbed Clara's belt and pulled.
Together they dragged Silas onto solid ground.
Silas lay there gasping.
Clara sat beside the shaft.
"You saved me," he whispered.
"No."
She looked at him.
"I saved myself from becoming you."
They returned to camp before dawn.
Tahka had taken control without slaughter.
Several hired men surrendered.
Sheriff Coyle sat tied beside Amos.
Benjamin had gathered the documents.
Hale had not yet returned with the marshal.
Clara handed Tahka the original deed.
He read enough English to understand.
His expression changed.
"Father."
"His agreement."
Tahka folded it carefully.
Silas sat under guard.
For the first time, he looked small.
Then a rifle cracked from the ridge.
Benjamin dropped.
Clara screamed.
Another shot struck the wagon.
Everyone scattered.
A lone rider appeared above them.
Sheriff Coyle laughed despite his bound hands.
Clara looked at him.
"Who is that?"
Coyle smiled through blood on his lip.
"The man Silas was afraid of."
The rider raised his rifle again.
May you like
And Benjamin whispered one name before losing consciousness:
"Pritchard..."
