Coyote Calling
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The night surrounded us with a thick wall of silence but I had a strange feeling that there was something out there listening to us. Maybe it was the wild itself.
"You're the one who sent the dreams, ain't you?" I said.
He just nodded.
"Why? What do you want with me?"
"I merely want to speak to you. You can put down the gun now. I won't harm you, you have my word on it."
I didn't know his name and couldn't tell if his word was any good but I relaxed my hold on the gun slightly and lowered it until it rested on my knee. I did that mostly out of a feeling that the gun wouldn't be any good against someone like him anyhow. Still, I did half believe him when he said that he didn't mean me any harm. He could have killed me already ten times over if he'd wanted to. The knife probably wasn't of much use either so I laid it down beside me but I didn't intend to let go of the gun for even a second. Whatever he'd said I wasn't fool enough to think that the danger was past.
"Thank you." He smiled at me. "I must say I'm impressed that you found me out so soon. Most people don't."
"What do you want with me?" I asked again.
He was quiet for a while and looked into my eyes as if he was trying to see right through my skull and into my mind. I felt something, like the feather soft touch of wind on my face, and then my skin started to itch like it had been burnt by the sun.
All of a sudden I couldn't move. A shiver ran down my spine.
"There is a living fire in every being," he said in a low voice. "You have a spark in your heart. Out here it burns brighter and it calls to all the other sparks around it. I've seen others of your kind in here but so few of them see the life surrounding them like you do. You belong out here and you know it. But you keep going back to the town... why?"
"I need-," I said and stopped for the words failed me. It was funny too cause I realized just then that words was one of the main things that kept me going back to towns.
Out here you could lose yourself in the vastness of it all, you became one with the land and the sky and your thoughts could wander as free as the wind. There was always something new waiting beyond the horizon, new trails leading into unknown country. Life was freer but it was also harder out here and when you saw the mountains up close or watched the stars at night you knew that you were just one tiny speck on the face of the earth and not very important at all.
After a while the silence would get to you, the emptiness that came from not hearing another voice. When you'd gone without speaking for a time it flowed into your mind and made you one with the wild. At first it calmed your mind and made you feel more alive. You didn't need to think so much, you just acted and trusted your body to do the right thing. But the longer you listened to that silence in your mind the more it made you feel as if you weren't really all there in the world. Like you'd left a part of yourself behind, the part that needed someone to share your thoughts with. If you got too wrapped up in that silence it was harder to go back to being among others. Some people went crazy from the silence - alone in the mountains for years on end with only the cold wind to keep them company and no one to talk to.
Much as I loved the wild I didn't want to end up like that. Sooner or later the quiet would get to me and I would go and search out people and sit and listen until their voices drew me back into my mind and away from the wild. Hearing your name spoken by a friend or a lover put you back among things that mattered. It was so simple, yet it mattered so much.
But I still couldn't find the right words to explain it, it was just there in my heart. He seemed to understand all the same. Maybe he really could see right into my mind or my heart. See all the reasons I couldn't say out loud, that I wasn't even sure of myself.
"One day you're gonna to have to choose between one or the other, Vin Tanner." He spoke gently, as if speaking to a child. "I hope you live long enough that you can make it yourself and it doesn't get decided for you."
He turned his eyes away for a second and suddenly I was free to move again. I squeezed the butt of my gun to keep my hand from shaking and took a deep breath. Didn't want him to see how much he'd really gotten to me. Reaching out for my canteen I took a drink of water.
"Ain't fair," I said.
"What isn't?" He raised an eyebrow.
"You know my name but I don't know yours."
"You're quite right." He grinned. "Like I said before - care for a game of cards?"
"Depends," I answered.
"On what?"
"Who's rules you're gonna use."
"My rules, of course."
He had the same look on his face that I'd often seen on Jeb's when I was sure he was silently laughing at me. Pulling out a deck of cards from his coat pocket he let the cards slide through his fingers much like the way the real Ezra used to do.
"Highest card wins and best out of three tries wins you the right to ask any question you'd like. If you win three games in a row I'll even tell you my name - what do you say?"
I nodded and he dealt me the first three cards, one at a time. When he turned up his own cards I found that I'd won that hand quite easily, most likely because he wanted me to.
"Did Jeb die just to lure me here?" I hoped he wouldn't say yes, that would mean that Jeb died because of me. But he both looked and sounded sincere when he answered me that it wasn't so.
"No, I'd rather hoped you'd be in time to save him. I quite liked that man. We had the most interesting conversations ... did he tell you that?"
I shook my head.
"No, I didn't expect him to. You were right in thinking that you should have died the first time you were here if it weren't for him. We don't like strangers, especially of your kind, but he saw something in you and decided to protect you. He must have seen that spark even then.... A quite remarkable man. I think I'm going to miss him."
He dealt me another hand. Three cards and I beat him again. This was much too easy. He was playing with me, I knew that. I just didn't know why.
"Well?" he smiled as he waited for my next question. I let him wait.
"Why'd you bring me here?" I asked.
He stopped smiling then.
"I needed to see what manner of man you were. For as long as the Moon has been in the sky I've watched over all this. I saw the first people born here and I saw the first of your people walk into this valley. When I look across to what will come I saw the end of the Ways. I saw your kind fill up this land until there'll be no one left who knows who we are. Only the dust will know our names. You were asking me why. I wanted the answer to that question too."
He froze me with a look again. There was power in his voice though it was barely louder than a whisper now.
"You had a different destiny when you came to this place many years ago but when you changed your future changed with you. Once I made a decision and I didn't see what might come of it until it was too late. The Mother must have created your kind for a reason. Maybe you can learn, maybe we all can so the balance can still be upheld. You have given me much to think about."
He let go of me again and this time I could feel my head spin for a moment afterwards. I felt real tired now, like something had sucked all the strength right out of me.
"One final game," he told me.
This time our cards matched each other, ten for ten and then king for king. He dealt me the final card and I put it down in front of me. Ace of Diamonds. He'd be hard put to top that.
He put down his own card. It was the Ace of Spades.
"I think this is what they might call a draw, Mr Tanner."
He stood up and brushed off his coat. I knew he was leaving and there was nothing I could do to stop him.
"Wait-" I said. I had to know. "Did you know beforehand that Jeb would die?"
"I thought he might."
"Then you could've saved him. Why didn't you?"
"I could not. Just as I won't save you from what's to come. Maybe we'll see each other again before the end."
"What is it? What's coming?" Whatever it was it didn't sound good.
"I'm sorry," he said and he did sound a bit sorry too. "But I cannot say. I made a promise long ago never to interfere again in the matters of life and death."
"Why?"
"I didn't know the price for doing so at first. When I did, I found it too high."
And just like that there came a strong wind and dust and leaves whirled all around me, blinding my sight. When the dust had settled I was alone. I got the feeling that come morning I wouldn't even find a single footprint that would show he'd been here.
I remembered years back, a campfire and friends now dead who'd told me tales of the one who liked to play tricks on people. Had anything of what he'd said to me been true?
"I know your name," I called to the listening dark. "You're the one who plays tricks. Ain't you? I know you - Coyote!"
The sky was changing in the east. The clouds lifted enough that I could see the first rays of the morning sun painting the sky fiery red on the other side of the mountain range. Far away in the part of the valley that was dark and still untouched by sunlight I could hear a coyote call.
I had my answer.
~~
As soon as it was light enough I was on the move. The air was much colder now than it had been before. The clouds had grown thicker and looked gray and fuzzy around the edges. It took no more than an hour before snow started to fall but by that time I was already up in Sorrows and could take shelter in the house Jeb had talked about. I had expected a change in the weather ever since I'd seen a ring around the moon just two nights back so I wasn't surprised.
Jeb'd done a fine job with the old cabin, fixin' it up so you could live snug all through the winter with plenty of supplies and all. There had been two buildings left by the settlers but the other one wasn't fit for a man to live in. Lucky for me there was enough of the roof and the walls left that it made a fine shelter for Peso. He wasn't as sure of that as I was and protested a bit at first but then I found a barrel of apples stored in the hay for the winter and I let him have one. Bribing him always shut him up real fast, if he hadn't been a horse I would have sworn he must be kin to Ezra.
The cabin was filled with things left behind by previous owners. There was a small iron stove, a table, some chairs and a simple bed. I couldn't see Jeb bringing the small iron stove up here so I guessed that must have been left by the settlers.
Someone had searched the place none too gently. The chairs were overturned, the mattress had been torn and the hay stuffed inside was mostly spread out across the floor. There were books strewn across the wooden floor too. I picked them up carefully and weighed each one in my hand. They were of fine quality, leather bound and heavy, with gold print on the outside. They looked important.
There were two whole shelves full of books, those must have belonged to Jeb. I'd known from the start that he had book-learning but he'd never talked about it much. I could recall one time when he said he preferred the company of a good book over people since books let you down less often than people did, but that was about it. Made me sad to see them books, knowing that he'd never pick them up and read from them ever again. I wished I could have done that for him, now no one ever would. I had to settle for putting them back on the shelves instead and cleaning up the place.
A paper fell out of one of the books as I put it in place. It was an ink drawing of a young man and a woman and a baby. They were dressed in their finest and looked like they had money. There was life in the small picture, it was skillfully done. The lines had faded in some places of the drawing. It looked like someone had traced the sweet curves of the woman's face and the baby's head with a loving hand and time had worn the paper thin right over those spots. I had no trouble recognizing Jeb as the young man so I figured that it must be the family he'd talked about, the one he'd lost. Thinking it over I decided not to put it back where I'd found it but to keep it. I folded it as careful as I could and put it with the papers Jeb'd asked me to care for. Think he would've wanted me to have it.
There was nothing more for me to do here but a look out the window told me I might as well stay for a few hours. Any tracks I might have found up here had long since been covered by the snow. Ghost Country was working against me once again. Seemed like it wanted me holed up here for a while. Wasn't such a bad idea. As long as it snowed this heavily there wasn't much I could do but stay indoors and hope I wouldn't get company.
I spent most of the day sitting by the window looking out over the valley as the colors changed from autumn to winter. I lit a fire in the stove and fixed me up some coffee and grub. No one would see the smoke against the gray sky, I was sure of that. Just outside the window big snowflakes danced on the winds like autumn leaves as they slowly fell from heaven. It was real pretty. I sat there for a long time just letting my thoughts drift with them flakes.
The feeling of danger was still with me but it faded some as the hours went by without anything happening. I was troubled by what Coyote had said, I couldn't deny it.
For so long the wild had been the only place where I felt truly at home. How could anyone expect me to give it up? Might as well shoot me in the heart.
That left only one choice - the town. It seemed like an easy choice, but it wasn't. I had people who counted on me now. There was Miss Nettie and young Casey. Not that they really needed me to handle things, I just liked helping them out whenever I could. Reminded me of ma and the only other home I'd had besides the wild. Then there was Chris. Wasn't as easy to just up and leave a town when you had friends there. Chris Larabee was a good man to have as a friend. A good friend to me.
I got angry with Coyote for putting all these thoughts in my head. I didn't have time to think about this now. Later maybe, some day when I was back in Four Corners, when all was settled. It was getting dark now anyhow and I was tired. Better try to get a good nights sleep for a change while I was up here. I hadn't slept much the night before and I got the feeling that it would be the last I'd have for some time to come.
Putting all the hay back in the mattress I fixed it up so it was comfortable again before I laid down on the bed with my gun by my side. Didn't bother to take off my clothes or anything. I just pulled the blanket up to my chin, closed my eyes and was asleep in seconds.
In the middle of the night I jerked awake. What the - ? Could have sworn I felt eyes staring hard at me. It was there for a moment but then it was just gone. I looked around the room but all I could see was faint moonlight shining in through the dusty windows, leaving parts of the room in deep shadow. I listened for a while but everything was calm and quiet and I soon fell asleep again.
I woke to find snow crystals all over the window panes and the sun shining from a clear blue sky. Taking a peek out the door I found the air warmer than I had expected it to be and with no wind to speak of. Still, I bundled up as best I could against the cold, ate a warm meal and put as much of Jeb's supplies in my saddlebags as they could take. Never knew when they might come in handy.
Peso spoke up as soon as he saw me leave the the cabin and he sounded like he was real glad to see me.
"Yeah, I know," I told him as I put the saddle on his back. "I feel it too."
I wouldn't be unhappy to see the last of this place, that was for dang sure.The view outside was exactly what I'd longed for. It had snowed at least four inches in the past day and night and it covered the open fields like a sea of white. The winds had pushed portions of it into small snowdrifts that looked like glittering waves when the sun touched their crests. The trees were completely covered, some of them young saplings bent down almost to the ground by the weight of the snow clinging to their branches. Looked like the most of the snow had fallen right around Sorrows for some reason. Higher up there was less snow and the wind had smeared it across the dark mountainside in patches. It looked like frosting on a cake that was only half-finished. In all this white there was a small field of brown about fifty feet from the house.
Walking closer I could see that the brown was nothing more than sun scorched grass. It looked strange. I brushed away some of the snow near the edge of the brown patch and found that the grass underneath the snow was still green. Green grass underneath the snow while the brown patch was bare? It didn't make any sense. I squatted down, pulled off my glove and laid my left hand against the dead grass. Maybe this was some strange natural warm spot like those hot springs up in Yellowstone. As soon as my hand touched the ground I knew I'd been wrong for it felt like it was frozen solid. The cold was so strong that my hand got numb within seconds of touching the grass and I drew back quickly. The chill had already started to spread up my arm towards my heart and it felt like the beginnings of frostbite. My whole arm ached from my fingers to my shoulder as it started to warm up again. Looking carefully at the open field I saw flat mounds underneath the dead grass, some real small, others man sized. I realized suddenly what they were. Graves. Lots of them.
No crosses, nothing to tell who'd been buried here but it had to be them settlers. Didn't feel like they were resting in peace. Something was lingering here for sure. Weren't just the sorrowful souls of those that had died, either. Maybe it was something that had always been here and the settlers had just woken it up. Whatever it was I wanted no part of it. I told them settlers that I was sorry I had disturbed them before I stood up and walked over to Peso.
I had never really put much stock in ghost stories before but up here I was no longer so sure. There was something about the silence up here, like the whole place was just holding its breath, waiting for something to happen. The very shadows seemed to wait for someone to come and free them or to join them. Whatever it was it made me feel a bit uneasy.
I was glad to turn my back on Sorrows and felt the wariness slip away with every step away from that place. Soon I began to enjoy the day. Peso felt the same way, he skitted around like a young colt seeing snow for the first time. Once or twice he even bucked like in the old days when he was out to throw me. We had a long tug of war with the reins before I could get him to go in the direction I wanted to go.
We went up the mountain a bit and something strange happened. I'd never gone up this far on Whisper Ridge the last time I'd been in here. I'd wanted to but there hadn't been time. But now as I looked around I knew exactly where I had to go. It was like I was seeing it all through the eyes of someone else, I was thinking it might be Jeb. This was Ghost Country all right, with all its strangeness. I could almost hear Jeb speaking to me, telling me where to go and where not to.
Peso was sure-footed but even he slipped a few times on icy patches underneath the snow and I got down from Peso's back to scout around some on foot. In some places the snow cover got real thin. The smell of crushed pine needles rose from the ground as I moved over those spots. It was a sweet, fresh smell unlike any other and I breathed it in as deeply as I could. The cold sharpened me and calmed me at the same time, I felt like myself for the first time in days.
If Jeb said anything else I didn't hear him, it was all lost in the sound I made as I moved. A snowy landscape looks more quiet than it really is. The snow crunched loudly under my feet as I stepped onto more level ground halfway up the mountainside.
It was a large opening among the trees that would make a good camp. Not much shelter if the wind started up but I had a good view down the valley. Water wouldn't be a problem as long as there was plenty of snow.
I tied Peso to a tree and started to build a fire in the middle of camp. Looked like someone had been here before, there were two old logs that could be used to sit on and I put one on either side of the fire. I could have gone on further up since it was early still in the afternoon but I got dead sure that this was the best place to stay. There was nothing that said Jeb's killers were still around but somehow I was sure that if I only stayed put right here they'd come to me. It was like Jeb was standing some ways away and telling me so.
I was starting to wonder if Coyote had done something to my head. Maybe I was just one step away from going crazy. I'd end up like one of those crazy old men lonely on the mountain. Well ... at least it was better than hanging. Peso gave me an odd look when he heard me laugh at nothing like I was crazy already but I soon stopped and after that he paid me no mind. I put a blanket around my shoulders, put a pot of coffee to warm near the fire and settled down to wait.
It was dusk when they came. Couldn't see how they looked at first, they were just two dark shapes in the twilight, leading their horses up the same trail I'd taken earlier.
When they got close enough that the firelight shone on them I could see that they were as young as JD, one of them looked to be even younger. They looked alike and dressed alike, brothers for sure.
Damn, they looked so young. Could I be wrong? Any other place I'd have had some doubts but this was Ghost Country. The number of people going through here in the past ten years could most likely be counted on one hand. All my instincts told me these two were the ones I'd been looking for. I looked them over real good. They smiled at me like they meant no harm but their eyes told a different story, they glittered like ice. Sharp, light-blue ice.
"Hallo the fire," they called out to show they were friendly and wouldn't come in shooting.
"Howdy," I greeted them, letting the blanket slip some from my right shoulder to cover my hand with the gun already drawn, resting on my knee. I blew away the steam rising from the hot coffee and studied them over the rim of the mug as I took a swallow.
"Didn't expect to find anyone up here," the older one said as he looked me up and down, sizing me up. Didn't look too pleased with what he saw. Didn't look too worried either.
"Didn't expect company," I lied right back at them.
They sat down on the log on the other side of the fire. The youngest of them could hardly take his eyes off the coffeepot.
"Hope you don't mind company anyway," he said and gave me what had to be his most winning smile. "I'm so cold I'd give anything for a cup of that coffee right now."
Yeah, I bet you would, I thought. You'd even kill a man for it, wouldn't you?
"Help yourself," I said out loud.
"My name's Caleb Gray," the older one said. "This is my brother Elijah."
"Vin," I said. I only gave them my first name in case they'd seen it already on a wanted poster somewhere but it didn't seem like it meant anything to them. None of them asked me for my last name, they weren't much interested.
"So ... you're up here for the gold, ain't you?" Elijah said and the last of my doubts faded like smoke in the wind. I grew cold as I remembered Jeb's body swinging in the wind. I could hear him once again, saying, "They thought I had gold."
"There's no gold up here," I said. "Never was."
"The song says so," Elijah insisted.
"What song?"
"The legend of Crazy Miner," Caleb shot in. "You must have heard it. They're singing it down south all the way to the borderlands."
I had heard it, many times too. It was hard to miss it, it was sung pretty much everywhere. I'd even heard it one time in Purgatorio of all places. Thirty years earlier there'd been a man named Walker in a small town called Trouble south of this valley. Trouble was founded to deal with the overflow of gold diggers moving towards California. Walker had been one of the hopefuls but he'd got it in his head that there must be gold up in Ghost Country and so he'd stayed and gone into it. The way I'd heard it he claimed he'd found some but he never could remember exactly where that had been and he'd spent several years trying to find his way back. He never did, he went crazy and killed himself instead.
"Crazy Miner came back with Fool's gold," I said. "That was all he found, everyone knows that."
"But everyone also knows that he came in once before with a real nugget," Caleb said.
"Where'd you hear that?"
"It's in the song," Elijah answered.
"That's just it," I said. "It's a song. Ain't true."
They didn't believe me, I could see as much. But they didn't seem to get angry when I spoke against them. They were smiling. You should never trust a man who's always smiling, he's got something to hide. What the hell were they grinning about? Something was wrong, I could feel it in my gut.
The shot came out of nowhere. The way their eyes left me and strayed up the dark mountainside behind my back warned me a split second before. I ducked and dove to the right. That shot would have got me for sure but now it only got my hat, knocking it clean off my head. I shifted to get to my feet with my gun in my hand before they had time to react but my foot slipped on something in the snow and I went down flat on my back. When I looked up again there were two guns aimed directly at me and them two yahoos were on their feet and grinning fit to burst.
I struggled to my feet and they motioned me to back away from my gun and leave it in the snow. We waited in silence. The shooter was coming down the mountain somewhere behind my back. I could hear it clearly, every step he took in the frozen snow. Damn, he must have been up there all along, just waiting.
I stood out there in the open, like a bump on a log, and cursed myself for not figuring that there might be others already up on the mountain. The two of them kept their guns pointed at me until finally the third one was right behind me. The barrel of the rifle touched lightly against my skin right under the base of my skull. If he fired now he'd take my head right off. I stood very still.
A voice spoke quietly near my left ear.
"Should have looked behind you," he said.
~~
I'd been a fool. I'd let my watchfulness slip as soon as I'd gotten them two in my sights. By the time I'd figured out that there might be a third man behind me it'd been too late. I'd been a fool and now it was gonna kill me.
Should have known it from the first. A man don't smile like that unless he thinks he knows something you don't. Turns out they did.
StupidStupidStupid!
Hadn't seen him. Before making camp I'd looked up that mountainside, with my spyglass even, but I hadn't seen him. He was good. Better than me. I was in trouble.
The pressure eased on the steel against my neck and he moved around to stand in front of me. His eyes met mine as he peered from under the brim of his slouch hat. Had to be kin with them boys, his eyes were the same strange shade of light-blue. The firelight showed me that his hair and beard were streaked with gray, he was older than I'd expected. The coat around his shoulders could only be made out of wolf skin. He looked at home in it, he wore it like it was his own skin.
So this was the one, Ol' Papa Bear hisself. This was the one to watch, them other two were just cubs and not even half as dangerous. As he sized me up I could read what his eyes said loud and clear - no mercy.
He motioned me to sit down on the log I had just left. He was still holding the rifle on me so I went and sat myself down.
"Been watching you from up there all day," he said. "Figured you'd meet up with my boys sooner or later. Elijah!"
"Yeah, pa?" the younger boy stepped up close to us and old man Gray gave him the rifle. Then he picked up my gun from out of the snow and emptied out the shells before he gave that also to Elijah who placed it in his waistband.
"Keep him covered," old man Gray ordered as he went over to where Caleb was standing and cuffed him on the left side of his head. Caleb didn't look surprised.
"This ain't the one I told you to bring back," Gray said.
"I know, pa, but-"
Gray cuffed him again. "Don't you talk back at me, boy."
Caleb rubbed his ear, his eyes wary as he looked at his pa. I've been cuffed on the ear enough times to know it had to smart something awful. Told me where those boys got their mean streak.
"Couldn't wait, could you?" Gray spoke again. "What'd you do, hang him?"
"It was a mistake, pa. I only wanted to make him talk, to save time. He should have told us where the gold was-"
"I could tell just by looking at him that he wouldn't. You like making them swing. Like it too much. You gotta learn more patience. Look for a weak spot before you do anything."
"What about him?" Caleb pointed at me. Old man Gray looked me over again.
"Him? I know his kind. He ain't gonna talk. He'd rather cut his own tongue out than tell you something useful."
Caleb looked furious for a second, but then he grinned. He walked over to where I was sitting and Elijah moved out of his way to give him room. Old man Gray held back too, waiting to see what his boy was up to now.
"Not if I can cut it out first," Caleb said and pulled out a hunting knife from inside his jacket.
Caleb played with that knife, waving it in front of my eyes and letting the edge of it scrape against the stubble on my face. I stayed as still as stone, just following him with my eyes. If he wanted to see me scared of a yapping pup like him he'd have to wait for hell to freeze first. Caleb looked a bit disappointed when I did nothing and pulled back some but soon he was grinning again. No doubt he'd just thought up some new way to try and scare me.
All the time they'd been talking I had felt it build again, white hot and ready it was there now. Rage was burning under my skin, just waiting to be set free. Made me feel a bit reckless. Couldn't help it. I just had to wipe that smug smile off Caleb's face.
"Your pa should know better than to let a boy like you play with a big knife like that," I told him. "Could hurt yourself."
That got him in the gut. His smile disappeared and I could see his eyes go black. For a second I expected that knife to end up in my heart but old man Gray had other plans.
"Caleb," he barked and Caleb jumped. He turned around and looked at his pa then he turned back and drove the knife down with all his strength into the snow right near my foot. Unlucky for him there weren't just soft earth under the snow. Heard the clang of the blade breaking against stone the second before Caleb swore and bounced back to land on his butt in the snow. He sat there looking foolish and angry, staring at the tip of his knife where it had broken clean off. I could hear Elijah snickering somewhere nearby and felt like joining in. Before I could Caleb was on the move again, most likely wanting to finish me off this time. Gray reined him in once again.
"Caleb!" he called out and Caleb went over to him. Didn't look to happy about it but he wasn't about to disobey his pa.
"This is a mighty fine tree." Old man Gray laid his hand against the trunk of a large tree. He looked at his boy and then at me. Caleb followed his eyes from the tree and then over to me and his eyes lit up.
"Would look even better with someone swinging from it," he said. He pointed to another tree. "That one over there would look fine too. Got a branch just the right height for a rope."
"Think you're right," his pa agreed.
The air was cold but I was starting to sweat. There was no way in hell I was just gonna sit there peacefully while they picked out a tree to hang me in. Had to get away and the sooner the better.
I was sure I could handle both Caleb and Elijah but probably not both at the same time. And then there was old man Gray. I needed something to take their minds off me for just a second or so. I thought about what I could use. There was me and then there was Peso, but he was tied up at the moment. There was the small folded paper in my pocket that had some Ground Pine seeds still in it. I'd used it when treating Jeb's wounds and then forgot to put it back in my saddlebag. Wasn't really Pine, just some small green plant that could be dried and turned into powder. You put it on wounds to keep them from bleeding too much or going bad. Worked pretty good, only thing was you had to keep it away from fire since it burned real well. Could be useful right now. I saw some pine cones nearby. When I was sure nobody was looking for a second I gathered some of those too.
I watched as Gray took out a rope and started telling Caleb how much of it they needed. Elijah looked a bit skittish as he watched them prepare the rope. Couldn't tell if he was looking forward to seeing me swing or not, he just looked on edge. Maybe I could spook him some.
"Better start digging," I said. I spoke low so them other two wouldn't hear me.
"What?" Elijah said and frowned at me.
"I ain't gonna dig one for you."
"One what?"
"Hole in the ground. Should make it..." I broke off and looked him up and down before I continued, "...seven feet long and six feet deep. You'd better start right now if you want one for your ownself. Otherwise I'm jus' gonna let you lie where you fall. The wolves can get you ... if they'll have the likes of you."
"Shut up," he hissed at me under his breath. I could see his hands squeeze the rifle until his knuckles went white. Probably wished them hands were around my neck right then.
I pinned him down with my eyes and then showed him my teeth like a wolf on the prowl. Elijah swallowed hard. I grinned wider. Yeah, he looked a bit spooked all right. He threw one look at his pa and brother but didn't call to them or nothing. Didn't want his pa to think he couldn't handle hisself against an unarmed man. When he spoke up it was so low that only I could hear what he said.
"You're the one that needs the hole in the ground. That'll shut you up."
"Think so?" I told him. "The dead never rest here, this is Ghost Country. Kill me and you'll never be rid of me. I'll hunt you to your grave and beyond. That's a promise."
I meant every word of what I said and I could see that he knew it.
"Ghosts don't seem to bother you none," he spoke back. "You talked about killing me."
"Got a friend looking after me on the other side. Can you say the same? You should remember my friend, you're the one that killed him. He ain't too pleased about that."
Elijah looked uneasy when he heard that. But I had run out of time now, the rope was already slung over a branch and I could hear Gray tell Caleb to go get my horse. As he got near Peso shied away and looked to me. I gave a low whistle and Peso calmed down again but his ears kept flopping up and down and back and forth, telling me he was still upset.
Caleb pulled out his broken knife and started to cut the reins instead of untying them. Kept staring at me the whole time he did it. Think he wanted me to know that he'd do his best to make my death as drawn out and painful as possible. I had no doubts about that.
Everyone was watching Caleb as he led Peso over towards the rope. Could wait no longer. It was time to set things in motion.
"I can take you to where the gold is-" I said to Elijah and sure enough, he whipped his head around to look at me. When he turned towards me I struck him down with a fist to his chin, nearly the same time I gave a piercing whistle to Peso. He started to buck and jump around like he'd gotten a burr under his saddle. Caleb swore and grabbed at the reins but there was no way he could get Peso under control when he acted like that, I'd learned that myself the hard way. Caleb and old man Gray had to scramble to get out of Peso's way as he kicked and tried to bite anyone that got close. I went for my gun still in Elijah's waistband but he tripped me and I fell. Thought he would've stayed down longer from that blow I gave him, boy must have more staying power than I'd reckoned on. We wrestled for that gun until I managed to knock him into the fire. Could hear Elijah cry out in pain while I rolled away to safety.
I looked up and found that there was no way I could get to Peso, he was too far away and blocked out by them Grays. We'd both have to fend for ourselves from here on. Caleb and Gray were wise to my game now and moving towards me. Caleb got down beside his brother to help beat at the flames eating Elijah's clothes. I got to my feet just as old man Gray grabbed his rifle and aimed it at me clear across the fire.
"Go!" I called to Peso as I picked up my gun and threw the pine cones and the paper with the yellow dust into the fire. All hell broke loose. Peso wasted no time, he was already on the run out into the night. The pine cones sounded like gunshots as they exploded and the Ground Pine made the flames reach man high in a blinding flash. I scrambled to get out of the light while them Gray's were still blinded. I jumped, rolled and slid down the mountain as fast as I could. Most likely they'd think I'd go down to the lowlands like anyone with sense would. Fine by me. They could think that while I doublebacked and went up the mountain instead. I used up all my knowhow to make sure my trail disappeared before cutting a wide swath around the camp and moving on up. When I was far enough away from the camp I stopped ro reload and rested for a while. I listened. Nothing. They'd be coming for me but for now I was free.
So, now what? I thought about the things I'd left behind. At least I knew Peso would be all right. He was smarter than them Gray boys. I knew he'd come back and look for me but if he didn't find me he'd go to the lowlands and feed on the grass before going home. There wouldn't be snow on the ground down there, like there was around Sorrows. Just hoped he could stay clear of Caleb, that one was mean enough to shoot Peso just because he was my horse.
No, I thought Peso'd be fine. My hat was another matter. Darn, I loved that hat. When you don't got much you keep a close watch on what you do have and I had that hat broken in just right. Now I'd have to get a new one and start all over again.
But better my hat than my head, I knew I'd been lucky. Now if I could just stay one step ahead of old man Gray everything just might turn out fine after all.
Up ahead I could see the peak from where Crazy Miner had jumped to his death. Maybe it was all that talk about Crazy Miner that did it but I had a memory of Jeb saying something about there being caves underneath that peak.
I walked on slowly, struggling uphill against the snow. The moon was rising and the faint light was making the snow shimmer like fine white cloth in a store window.
I stopped next to a big boulder shadowing my path. There was something not quite right here, something out of place. Something that shouldn't be here. What?
The shadows moved above me and something heavy landed on my back, dragging me down. My head was pushed down into the snow so I couldn't breathe. Didn't have too good a hold on me. Knew I could break it but I'd have to move fast before I faded out completely. Could feel the earth firm and strong under my hands and I took hold and bucked like Peso when he acted crazy. Heard someone swear in my ear and I recognized that voice. Caleb.
I'd broken his hold enough that I could roll to the side and then away from him. I came up on my knees but I wasn't quick enough to get clean away. Pain shot like lightning through my whole body from the back of my right thigh. My hand went down to the wound and I could feel a knife sticking out of my leg. Before I could pull it out another hand was on the hilt twisting the knife in the wound. Heard him laugh as I couldn't hold back a cry of pain. Caleb pulled out the knife in one swift move, hoping to hurt me again. That was his big mistake.
We both had our hands on the knife now. I locked eyes with Caleb as he matched his strength with mine. Time stretched out, then slowed and finally stopped. There was only the moment, stretched out into forever as none of us wanted to let go. The hatred shining in his eyes fed the darkness in my heart and I knew this fight could only end in death. I didn't care. I bore down on him with all my strength and felt him start to buckle under the strain. Slowly the knife started to turn. I heard him give a quiet gasp as the knife pierced his heart, that was all. I could see surprise on his face for a moment but then death took over.
I took a step back and he slumped to the ground. Seeing him fall I didn't feel much at all. No regret, no triumph. Just had a hazy sense of having won and lost at the same time. Didn't matter. I'd done it. Couldn't be changed.
Legs felt shaky. Had to sit down and rest in the snow for a while. I had two bandannas around my neck to keep out the cold. I tied one of them around my leg instead to stop the bleeding. Couldn't tell how bad the wound was, felt pretty bad but not enough to bring me to a halt. If Caleb'd had any sense he'd have shot me down from afar but he wanted to make me suffer.
How could he have found me here? Couldn't have read my trail. Must have been that crafty old man. He'd sent Caleb up the mountain in case I'd happen by. Just my bad luck. Again. I really had to get out of Ghost Country.
Good thing, at least, that none of us had come to use our guns. That way it'd take a while longer for Gray and Elijah to catch up with me. Only Caleb knew for sure where I was right now and he wasn't talking ever again.
Got to my feet with some help from the boulder. Had to keep moving.
I knew I was leaving tracks in the snow, most likely a trail of blood too. The dark would cover me for a few hours yet but come morning a blind man would be able to read my trail. I stumbled and swayed. Felt sick. My mind screamed at me to keep going but my strength was gone. Before I knew it I was down on my knees and then I fell and this time I couldn't get up again.
"Hide me," I whispered into the earth before everything went black.
A sharp pain in my hand brought me back. I opened my eyes a crack to find a large black shape sitting on my arm and picking on my skin like a vulture. As I moved the bird hopped off my hand and waited on the ground instead where I could see it. Moonlight showed me that it was a crow. It cocked it's head to the left and looked at me like it wanted to tell me something. In a crazy way I felt almost like I knew this crow. Maybe it was one of Josiah's and this was just a vision. Pain in my hand felt real, though. Good thing that crow had wakened me, I was frozen stiff. A while longer and the cold would have gotten me.
"Ain't given up yet," I told the crow as I struggled to my feet once more. There was still some fight left in me and the moon hadn't moved all that much so I couldn't have been out for long. The cold had numbed my leg and dulled the pain so it was easier to walk. As soon as I was upright again the bird silently took flight. I followed it's path with my eyes as it soared towards the top of the mountain and then I spotted an opening in the rock wall a bit higher up. Sure enough, it was a cave.
Could hole up there, find cover against old man Gray. No doubt he'd find me sooner or later but I hoped I could heal up a bit before he did. Caleb was dead so he'd have to stop and bury him. At least I thought he would .... Unless his need for revenge was stronger than the urge to do right for his boy and give him a decent burial. Damn. I wouldn't be surprised if that was so. Not surprised at all.
Took some effort but I made it up to the mouth of the cave while the sky was still dark
Right near the opening I stumbled on something and reached down with my hand to feel what it was. Torches, a whole bundle of them but they looked old. As luck would have it I still had the means with me to make a fire and the torch worked fine.
It was a large natural cave with carved out pictures on the wall. Must have been made by someone long ago. The pictures showed all manners of creatures, some I'd seen, some were new to me. No carvings of people, just animals, lots of them. Looked like the real animals shunned this cave. There were no droppings or bones or anything on the floor that said animals had ever been in here. Couldn't say why, it was warm and dry. Should have been just right to hole up for the winter. Strange.
The need was in me to go in as far as I could and burrow down. There was another opening in the back wall, leading into a smaller cave. In there I could see what must be several tunnels branching off in different directions like spokes in a wheel. I chose one and continued in.
My foot hit something. I lowered the torch until the light showed me an abandoned pickaxe. All along the right side wall, down by the floor, something glimmered. Looked like gold. This must be the place that Crazy Miner had found. So that old song had some truth in it after all, should have known. Looking at that golden shine I thought of Ezra. Lucky thing he wasn't with me. If he'd seen this I'd never be able to drag him away from it.
Probably Fool's gold, all of it. Sure made people act like fools, whether it was real or not. I limped further into the tunnel. All of a sudden I came face to face with rock. A dead end. I went back to where the tunnels divided and decided to take a look down another shaft. It was different than the first, looked like these walls were naturally carved out. Didn't reckon anyone had ever been in this far.
The further in I went the warmer it got and I soon started to thaw out. Started to hurt real bad as well. Leg felt like it was on fire, every step I took felt like that knife was plunged in again.
Should have looked more carefully where I stepped. Suddenly the ground tilted and seemed to disappear under my feet. I scrambled for foothold on a steep slope but there was just slippery gravel under my feet. Gun was wrenched from my hand and was lost as I tumbled head over heels before I downright flew through the air.
Landing was hard, felt like every bone in my body was shook loose and I blacked out for a while. It was dark when I came to again and I wasn't sure for a moment if I really was awake or not. I'd lost the torch when I fell but I could feel that I lay on some kind of flat rock covered by sand and pebbles. I reached out to the side with my left arm and almost right away I touched upon rock. It rose straight up from the ground solid and smooth. I reached out with my other hand and touched air. Couldn't rightly say where I was but I guessed it was some sort of ledge. Maybe I'd fallen down into a crack in the mountain, some natural shaft or something. I rolled onto my right side and then onto my stomach and reached down over the edge to find how deep the shaft was. Deeper than the reach of my arm anyways. I felt around until I found a small stone that I could drop down the shaft. Heard it bounce around a few times further down but then there was silence. Sounded like a real long fall, the kind that would kill you dead.
Well, now you've gone and done it, Vin Tanner, I thought to myself. How the hell would I get out of this one?
I sat up as careful as I could and felt around. The ledge was barely large enough to hold me. I could stretch out comfortably my full length but that was about it. It took some careful moving around but I finally managed to stand up close to the wall. I ran my hand over it to see if I could find something to hold on to but it was as smooth as if it had been polished. No edges, no cracks, no nothing. No way to get up again.
Only way would be if someone up there threw me down a rope. I'd barely finished the thought when I heard a scuffle up above and I knew someone else had fallen into the same trap that'd caught me. I dropped to the ground and pressed close to the wall to get out of the way of whoever it was.
A torch landed in the dirt beside me on the ledge and then came old man Gray. He was too far out to land directly on the ledge, he just struck the edge but his hands shot out like claws to grab hold of my bad leg while his own legs dangled out in the air. His hold on me was the only thing that kept him from falling but he was heavier than me and I felt myself start to slide towards the edge. I could see in his eyes that he didn't care one bit if he fell to his death just as long as he could bring me down with him. His fingers felt like talons on my flesh but the pain gave me new strength. Kicking out with my good leg to shake him off I got him square in the chest. I heard him grunt and then his fingers lost their grip. He dropped like a stone. I could see his face as he went over the edge. He had a look on it as if he could feel the fires of hell already lickin' at the soles of his boots.
Never heard him hit the ground. One minute he was there and the next all was quiet. The torch continued to burn for a while but then it fizzled and went out. It got real dark again. I lay there and took it easy while pondering what I should do next.
Never could stand being closed in and now here I was, surrounded by rock. There was nothing but stone above me, mile upon mile of stone before you could see the clear sky. The sheer thought of it seemed to weigh me down and made it harder to breathe.
Didn't take much to figure the odds. No way to get out. No one knew where I was. It was dark, I was hurting and this time there'd be no Jeb Tyler to come to my rescue.
Looked like Ghost Country would finally get me.