Coyote Calling
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~~ Buck ~~
The silence struck me first of all. Vin had been fidgety all night long, tossing and turning and muttering about seeing things none of us could see. It was downright eerie to listen to him sometimes. Nathan and Chris did what they could to make him comfortable but still he just seemed to get worse and worse for the longest time. He was calling out for his ma and talking to her like she was there among us. I was expecting to be out digging a grave come daylight, that was how bad he was.
JD and Josiah were both sleeping sitting upright on the floor near the warm stove with their backs to the wall. Chris was sitting still as a statue on one of the chairs by the bed and Nathan was sitting with his head in one hand as his elbow rested on the table by one of the windows. Couldn't tell if he was sleeping or not, but most likely just dozing. Ezra was standing by the books, taking out some of them, looking them over and then placing them back on the shelf again. Several times I watched him take out a book that was the wrong way up and put it back the right way. He never did read from any of them, he just looked at them.
Then Vin just stopped talking and moving around. We were all so tired that it took a little while for us to realize it. I had grabbed a chair and straddled it in a way that I could cross my arms over the back of the chair and rest my weary head on them. Now I looked up again and I could see Ezra turn slightly to look at the bed. He must have been struck by the same thought as I, that this was the end.
Vin lay there as silent and still as death. I couldn't see if he was breathing. I hardly dared to breathe myself. I heard Chris's tense voice break the silence as he sharply said, "Nathan!"
Nathan went over to the bed and checked on Vin for what seemed like forever before he turned towards Chris with a huge smile on his face.
"It's all right," he said. "It's all right, Chris. The fever's broken. He's just sleeping now."
"He's gonna live?"
"Yeah, I think so."
It took almost another day before Vin was awake enough to tell us himself that he really was on the mend. After that he got better real fast. He hardly did anything but eat and sleep for a few days but in between he was awake for longer and longer times. One of those times JD decided to tell him about the old trapper that had come up to the cabin. I had clean forgotten to tell anyone about it until then, don't know why.
"Hey, Vin," JD said. "We met an old friend of yours, he came to the cabin."
"When was this?" Vin asked. He was propped up against what seemed a mountain of blankets, most of them donated by Ezra. Vin still looked like death warmed over but getting healthier by the minute.
"When you were the sickest," JD answered.
"Who was it?"
"Jeb Tyler," I said.
"Weren't," Vin answered back.
"Yes it was," I told him and looked at JD who nodded back at me.
"Weren't," Vin said again. He was nothing if not stubborn that one.
"He said it was Jeb Tyler, I heard him clear as day," I told him, close to getting angry now. Doubt my word, did he?
"Jeb Tyler's dead," Vin near whispered. "Buried him myself."
"You're joshin'" I said.
"Buck," Nathan said. "We came across a grave a few days ago with a hat that said Jeb Tyler. I'd clean forgot about it until you said that name...."
"But I just talked to him," I protested.
Suddenly I heard a strange sound. It took a few seconds for me to understand that it came from Vin. He was laughing. We all turned to look at him.
"What's so funny, cowboy?" Chris asked.
"That old man," Vin said. "He's still not sure I can find my way out again on my own."
Talking, or maybe laughing, must have tired him out because his eyes closed again and he fell fast asleep right away.
My mind was still wrangling with what I'd heard earlier. Jeb Tyler was dead? But that must mean that it hadn't really been Jeb Tyler at all or that I had spoken to a- a-
A flash of silver danced in front of my eyes. A hand was holding up a flask and shaking it slightly, just inches away from my face.
"Care to imbibe, Mr Wilmington?" Ezra must have read my mind. I could sure use a drink right then.
"Thanks Ezra," I said and took a large swallow. It felt good going down. "Sometimes you ain't half bad to have around."
Ezra didn't look too pleased at hearing that.
"Why thanks," he said dryly. "I've been waiting all day to hear a compliment like that. It's nice that someone finally appreciates me fully, even if it is someone of your disreputable standing."
You gotta hand it to Ezra. No one can trade insults with you in a better manner, all polite-like. I glared at him a bit and then I grinned and he glared back at me before he grinned too.
Things were finally moving in the right direction. Now we just needed to get back to town and then everything would be all right once again.
~~ Vin ~~
I woke up slowly and found Nathan sitting by my bedside. There was no denying it - I was still alive. And I was feeling better too but still awful weak. Took a few tries to get my voice loud enough for him to hear me.
"My leg?" I finally croaked out.
"Still there, believe it or not." Nathan smiled. "Might regret that later."
Huh, not likely! "No, not ever," I said and fell asleep again.
Sleep and eat was all I did for a few more days and then I was almost back to feeling like my old self again. Well ... enough to start irritating Nathan at least.
"I swear, Vin," he said at one time after catching me balancing on my good leg as I tried to hop across the cabin to get me something to drink. "Next time you do that I'm cutting off your left leg."
"Was my right leg that was hurt," I reminded him. He just looked at me and said, "So? If that's what it takes to get you to stay put...." I went back to bed.
I think Nathan would have like to keep me there for a few more weeks but we didn't have the time to stay. Jeb had told us we had a week and one morning when JD looked out the window he spotted a wolf outlined against the sky, looking up at the house. When he saw us watching him he turned and ran. I knew then that it was time to leave.
They had fashioned a litter for me out of blankets and saplings and I had no choice but to make use of it. I told them to just tie me to the saddle but I knew even as I said it that there was no way Nathan would agree to that. He didn't.
"Don't want to have to take off that leg when we've all gone to such lengths to keep it. So you rest now. In that litter. Hear?"
"Yeah, yeah. I hear," I told him.
Peso neighed in greeting as soon as I stepped out the door. I swear that horse was grinning when he saw me and he would have come running up to me too if Chris hadn't been holding on to the reins. Worse than a dog sometimes that horse. He was a bit surprised at first to find that I was travelling in a litter behind him instead of in the saddle but he soon got used to it and we made better time down to the grassland that I would have thought possible. Just one more day and we would be out of Ghost Country.
We made camp on the plains and spent the night there. I don't remember dreaming, I don't think I did. I don't know if any of the others did but no one said anything about it later.
Bright and early next morning we set off again. Again it turned into a smoother ride than I had thought it might be. It was like the valley had flattened itself out to make the way easier for us, it sure seemed to want us out of there.
Even so, when we reached the mountainside and got in among the trees we nearly got lost. Took some time to find the right trail leading up but when we did I knew we couldn't be more than a few miles from the opening.
Half a mile further up the trail everyone suddenly came to a stop. I was in the middle with Nathan right behind me and with, JD, Buck and Chris up ahead.
"What is it?" I tried to turn around and see what was going on but only got a view of Peso's behind. Damn, I felt useless laid up like this.
"Buck, JD," Chris ordered. "Find out what that is."
"Right, Chris," Buck called from further up and I heard them dismount and walk away a bit.
"What's going on?" I asked again and pretended not to hear Nathan's mutterings as I got up from the litter and walked around Peso. Felt good to be standing on my own two feet even when the wound protested a bit.
Chris told me that he had spotted a gathering of birds in a treetop nearby that seemed to be watching something on the ground a stone's throw away from the trail. We waited. Didn't take long for Buck to come back with JD trailing behind.
"Found a dead one," Buck said as he got closer.
He swallowed hard and looked pale. JD walked towards us then seemed to change his mind and stepped off the trail. Leaning against a nearby tree he was violently sick. Whatever it was they'd seen it must have been bad.
"Young feller," Buck said. "No older than JD." That told me why he was so shaken. "Looks like he was mauled by something, a whole pack of somethings. Never seen the like. Wasn't eaten, just killed. Ripped apart. His face was untouched ... there was a look on it-"
Buck broke off suddenly and rubbed his hands over his face as if he could wipe away the memory of what he'd seen. JD came back around to where I could see him clearly, he was looking whiter than a sheet. Buck promptly put a blanket around his shoulders and led him away.
Buck had told me enough. No need for me to traipse up there and see for myself, I had known who it must be even before Buck had said anything.
Elijah Gray, I thought to myself. That made three for three.
I remembered what I'd said to him; I'm jus gonna let you lie where you fall. The wolves can get you ... if they'll have the likes of you.
He'd been a bad seed, but he'd seemed to me to be the least bad out of a bad lot. I felt near sorry for him. He had come so close to making it out. It was almost like I'd sealed his fate with my words. Maybe I had.
I just hoped Jeb could be at peace now that his killers were all dead. I also hoped that their ghosts wouldn't follow us out of this valley.
It worried me much that we had found him out in the open like that.
"We should bury him," Nathan spoke softly.
"No," I said. I saw Nathan about to protest and quickly added, "We need to leave now."
"Shouldn't we at least-" Nathan tried but I broke him off.
"It's a warning. Wouldn't have found him otherwise. Believe me, we need to go while we still can. Something's about to happen." I could feel it, like an itch all over my skin.
Nathan still looked doubtful. I had thought Josiah would take his side, him a preacher and all, but he surprised me.
"Nathan," he said. "I think he's right."
"Do you see anything? More crows?"
"More than I've ever seen before. Lord, there must be thousands of them...."
We all looked around but no one else could see them this time. It was enough that Josiah said he did. I hobbled back to the litter.
"No time to waste then," Chris said. "I for one don't wanna get stuck here for the rest of my life. Lets go." Chris seemed to feel it too, just like Josiah and me, and he was itchin' to get out of here. He started to lead us all up the trail that would get us out of the valley.
It was hard riding and to tell the truth it wore me out a bit, even though I just lay there taking it easy. Before we reached the highest points we had to stop and dismantle the litter since I didn't think it would make it safely on the narrow trail down. It irked me terribly that I needed help getting in the saddle but I managed to hold back my temper to the point where I at least didn't shoot anyone. Nathan wasn't too happy about me riding but there wasn't much he could do, it was the only way we could all make it out of there.
And it turned out to be a near thing too. We had barely gone more than ten miles away from Ghost Country when we heard what sounded like a loud rattling or grinding sound behind us, it was louder than the worst thunderstorm. I've never heard the like before and I hope I never do again.
We stopped and turned towards the mountain range. I could hear Buck softly swear beside me. Didn't need to use my spyglass to see what had happened. Parts of the mountain had fallen. It looked like a river of stone running down the mountainside and spreading out for a mile or more on the flatter lands below. The ridge looked dented now and the only way in or out had been closed off for good. All those sharp rocks made it hard for even a single man on foot to make it up safely. I didn't think many would try it. Only the crazy ones and I didn't think they would make it back out again.
We were lucky not to have been caught in that slide but then I think that luck had very little to do with it. Someone had let us go. Now we had to honor his wishes and never come back. Truth was I didn't think I would need to. Ghost Country was within me now and would stay there until the day I died.
Come twilight we had long since made camp near a fresh stream and had eaten too. We could all sleep easy tonight under the stars. At least I could, no one was making me stand guard. But somehow I knew we were out of danger now.
The question was what we should do next. Nathan told all of us that there was no way I could ride all the way to Four Corners just yet. I was sorely tempted to sneak out in the night and ride without a break for four days just to prove him wrong but I didn't want to make Peso ride his heart out for me.
"There's a town south of here called Trouble," I told them. "Could rest up there."
Josiah started laughing and the rest of us looked at him, wanting to be let in on the joke.
"What you laughing at, preacher-man?" Buck finally asked flat out.
Josiah reined in his laughter but he was still smiling when he answered, "Oh, just thinking that no matter where we all go we always end up in trouble."
Didn't seem all that funny to me but then Josiah had a strange sense of humor.
"Besides ... see that?" he pointed up at the white thin sliver of the moon. "That's the new moon and we're all still here. So I say I've got cause to laugh."
"Hey, I ain't about to stop you," Buck said. "You wanna laugh at nothing like a crazy person you just go right ahead."
Luckily Josiah took that the right way. "I'd rather have a drink instead. Got any of that whiskey left, Nathan?"
"You'll have to wait until I've had a look at Vin's wound, might need it."
Damn. There was no escaping Nathan's attention now. I told him I was fine a number of times but he just wouldn't listen to anything I said. He took a long look at my wound and hmmed a few times before he bandaged me up again. Then he pestered me until I had to go and lie down just so he would shut up for more than a minute and leave me alone.
"Now get some rest," Nathan cautioned and locked eyes with me.
"Don't you ever get tired of sayin' that?" I couldn't help but mutter but I didn't feel like fighting Nathan tonight. I really was kinda weary and my leg throbbed and ached something fierce.
"Nope," Nathan said. "- and I'll clobber you on the head if I have to, jus' to make sure you don't get into more trouble." I think he would, too. He pushed me down on the soft bedding and resolutely pulled the blanket up to my chin.
The soft crunch of Chris light step on the ground warned me of his approach no more'n a split second before his voice floated towards us in the darkness.
"Don't worry, Nathan, I'll make sure he stays put."
I've been told some times that I move as soft as one of them big cats but Chris ain't far off. With them black clothes it's real hard to spot him coming in the darkness. I was glad he was on our side.
"I never asked ...how'd y'all find me?" I asked when Nathan had left. Chris shook his head slightly and said, "It's a real long story, Vin."
He sounded real tired when he said it and I was weary too so I told him, "It'll keep then."
"Didn't think we'd find you alive," Chris went on after a while. "We almost didn't."
He said it so quiet-like, almost as if it was of no importance. But there was something in his voice that told me to take a closer look. When I did I could see a darkness in his eyes that told me that it still bothered him some. We had just come down from cold country and Chris looked like he had a layer of ice around him. Maybe Ghost Country had set him to remembering things he thought he had forgotten. Old wounds, older losses, things you didn't want to remember but that you couldn't quite forget. But you had to try.
And this time nothing had really changed. We were all still alive. Maybe he just needed to be reminded of that. I hoped that was it.
"Won't get rid of me so easy, cowboy," I said for lack of other things to say and then I yawned as I settled down under the blanket and Chris gave me a half-amused, half-irritated look.
Just before I fell into sleep I heard Chris do something strange. It seemed to me that he walked some ways away from me into the darkness and quietly said, "I don't know who you are, but I thank you."
Who was he talking to? I raised my head and called out, "Hey, Chris." And he was back by my side almost immediately so he couldn't have been far away.
"Yeah?" he said and I asked him "Who you talkin' to?" since I couldn't see anyone but us out here.
"No one, cowboy," he said and settled down on his blanket. He leaned back against his saddle and for a short second I could see his eyes clearly in the light from the match he used to light his cheroot and he looked thoughtful but calm so I knew there was no danger nearby.
"Go to sleep, Vin," he said and I reckon I must have been more tired than I had known up until then 'cause I fell asleep almost before he finished saying that.
~~ Josiah ~~
Nathan, Chris and I stayed in Trouble with Vin for more than a week while he rested up. The rest of the boys decided to go back to Four Corners after a days rest. They promised us they would wire Chris if something was up in Four Corners but they never did. Everything was quiet and stayed that way, thankfully.
When we finally rode back into town Vin was still looking pale and a bit thin but at least he could stay on his horse without much trouble. He limped quite badly at first and Nathan cautioned him that the limp might be permanent, especially if he didn't rest that leg. Vin just nodded and went about his business the same way he always had. No one said anything about it, we all knew it had been a near thing. Too near.
Some time afterwards Vin came to me and asked me to help him purchase a piece of land. I asked him why he didn't ask Ezra since that would perhaps have been the wisest choice. He asked me if I would do that if I were in his shoes and seeing the amount of money set aside for the purchase, I agreed. Lead not your brother into temptation.
So I helped him purchase the land and set up the money so it could be used to preserve the valley and the land surrounding it. Vin wouldn't take any money for himself. I felt he had earned at least some of it but he kept insisting that it wasn't his money. So I set things in motion with help of a man I knew could be trusted back east. When word came back that the purchase of Ghost Country was set in motion I went and asked Vin what his plans for the future of that valley was.
"I'm gonna forget all about it and just let it be," Vin told me. I wondered if he could really let go of Ghost Country that easily and if it in turn would let go of him. I hoped so.
One day, some weeks after we had come back, I had just finished putting the first coat of paint on the inner walls of the church and it was looking better than I had imagined. Now I could stop for a while in good conscience. I had been joined for the last few days by a young cat who followed my every move with great interest when I worked. Every morning he turned up to watch me and every evening he left me again and I have no idea where he went in between. He liked to lie down on the steps leading up to the church and bask in the sun for most of the day and he lay there now with eyes closed and golden stripes of fur almost glowing in the sunlight. It looked so comfortable I thought I would follow his example and sat down on the steps to rest my back. I turned my face to the sun and closed my eyes for a moment.
While in Trouble Vin had told Chris and Nathan and me most of what had befallen him since he had left us and gone to Ghost Country. I got the feeling several times that he didn't quite tell us all there was, but it was enough to understand that it had been quite a harrowing and strange experience. In return we had told him about our own mystical experiences in town. Now I sat there thinking and wondered what to make of it all.
There was no doubt in my mind that we had been visited by at least two strong powers that had involved themselves in our lives for whatever reason. We had been pawns in some game and I didn't think we would ever find out what for. What had been the stakes? What had been gained? I knew far too well what had almost been lost.
Vin had been in the center of most of it, did he know why he had been chosen? If he did he wasn't telling anyone and I wasn't about to ask him. I think he was afraid that we would think him crazy if he told us all that he had seen and heard.
It almost seemed unreal what had happened to us. Sitting there in the sunshine I could still feel the intense cold that had surrounded Sorrows, it was as if I had carried a piece of that valley back with me, a piece I didn't want. I think people who have survived a great storm feel the way I did, the lingering awe and terror over finding out that there existed forces so incredibly more powerful than oneself. It takes a while to get over, even when the storm had long since passed.
I looked over toward the barely visible mound where the crow was buried. I wondered about that crow... had it come from Ghost Country? Did all of them come from there? Who sent them? Some days I wasn't sure I wanted to know that answer. To me it felt like that crow had started it all. I had dug a small pit right near the church and said a few words of peace over the remains, that was as close to a proper grave as I could get it.
I looked more closely. Something didn't look right about it. I got to my feet and went over there and stared. There was a fresh paw print from a large wolf in the dirt right near the center of the grave. One print, that was all, no more to be seen anywhere near it.
Had it been there yesterday? I didn't think so, but I couldn't be sure. It couldn't have been there the day before that. A great deal of rain had fallen the day before yesterday and that would have erased all traces of it.
I looked up and down the street to see if any of the others were around but they were all off in other parts of the town. Suddenly I felt something stroke against my leg and looked down. It was the cat who was now looking up at me while meowing inquiringly.
"I don't know, cat, I don't know," I told it and I stood there for a moment, hesitating over what to do about it. I wondered if it had been put there as a warning or a greeting or maybe a bit of both. I looked at it a while longer. Finally I made a decision.
I bent down and brushed it away. I didn't stop until the earth looked smooth and untouched once more.
Then I forgot all about it, or at least I tried to.
And life went on.
~~ Vin ~~
Some weeks after we made it back to Four Corners I had one more dream of the hangin' tree, only this time it was different. In earlier dreams it had been barren and dead but now it was in full bloom and jus' swaying peacefully in the wind. I discussed with Josiah the meaning of this and he said he didn't know what it meant but when I pressured him he said that he thought it was a sign of some kind. Either that old Jeb was at peace or simply that I should stay where I was and 'not be in such a danged hurry to get yourself strung up', as he put it.
Sounded fine by me, I wasn't about to leave anytime soon. I no longer limped around but the still leg ached some, reminding me of how close I came to losing it. Didn't want to risk that again.
Another thing that stopped me was that I had a home now. Down in the shaft when Ezra said they'd come to bring me back home I had felt it in my gut. This was home. I don't know why I doubted that before but I can guess what Chris would say, he feels I'm jus' too stubborn by half, but then he's got that same flaw hisself.
Chris Larabee .... Ain't just any man that will travel for a week just to go bury someone, that takes a friend. Was a good day the day we met, the day we all met.
I thought back to what Wolf had told me, the six who are like you. And I could see now how he had been right.
Josiah knows an awful lot and he told me a story from back in the old world, of women who took care of the threads of life, cutting some short, spinning others long and thin for a long life. We were like those threads, single strands that overlapped each other, all part of the same weave. That's what Wolf was saying, what I didn't understand then. But I do now.
The first time I had gone into Ghost County I'd been a boy and come out a man. This time I had gone in as a solitary man - but I had left with friends. I had gone looking for Ghost Country and it had found me, with all its strangeness, and it had reminded me of things I already knew but that I'd forgotten. Important things. I swore that this time I wouldn't forget.
Coyote said I'd have to choose between town life and the wild. He was wrong. There are more choices in life than that for a man. I could turn my back on this town in a heartbeat, but I can't just turn my back on the people I've met here. And I know something now. Where you live your life isn't as important as how you live it. That is something I don't think I could ever explain to Coyote.
Sometimes, out of the corner of my eye, I think I see him again. The shadows move, just a little bit, and Coyote is there. I never quite see him clearly and when I turn towards the shadows there's nothing to be seen. But I know he's been there - watching me.
Then I think it's all about to start over again. I know he wasn't happy with the answer I gave him and I also know that time is on his side. He can afford to wait me out, to lure me in once again. So I wait for the dreams to come but they never do and the next day when I wake I feel quite sure that our ways have parted forever. Until the next time I feel his eyes, then I know it's not over yet. He who lives long enough will find out, I guess, and Coyote is sure to outlive me. Maybe he'll lose interest in me one day, you never know.
Thinking back on my life I know that the wild has made me into the man I am today. It taught me all I needed to know to survive. I learned from it how to be independent, how to fend for myself and how to trust my judgment. It gave me skills that have saved my life more than once. But there's one thing you can't learn from the wild - that's how to be a friend. And maybe that's the most important lesson of all.
That's why I'm still here and that's why I'm gonna stay. All my life people have told me 'You were born to hang, Vin Tanner'. I've come close a few times but I've proven them wrong so far. I'll prove Coyote wrong. If it's the last thing I do.
~~ Chris ~~
It felt good to be back again. The town had been quiet while we were gone and I hoped it would keep that way. Some weeks after we had returned I sat myself down on a chair on the boardwalk to watch the town for a bit. It had rained two days before and the clouds promised that there was more to come but the air was balmy and pleasant.
On the other side of the street I could see Vin step out of the saloon with Ezra in tow. Ezra laid a hand on Vin's arm and waved a piece of paper in front of Vin's face. I was too far away to hear what they were talking about but Vin stopped just as he had stepped off the boardwalk and turned towards Ezra.
I was caught by the scene played out before my eyes. I'd seen a play once but this was much better than that and I couldn't even hear a word they were saying.
Ezra was talking and Vin listened in silence for a while and his eyes followed Ezra's finger as it trailed across the sheet and pointed out something. Ezra stopped talking and handed Vin the paper, looking at him expectantly. Vin slowly took the paper and looked at it, then he folded it carefully a few times before he started to tear it up into small pieces. When he had a good handful of paper bits he held it over Ezra's head and let them slowly rain down. Ezra didn't even bat an eye, he just brushed them away and then reached into his coat and pulled out a second paper that he thrust at Vin before he turned to walk back into the saloon. Vin's shoulders slumped for a moment as if he was beaten and then he shook his head and called after Ezra to wait. When Ezra had turned around Vin folded the paper again into a small square and put it on the ground, took a few steps back and then shot it into oblivion.
I sat up straighter in my chair. Everyone on the street froze for a second and I thought Ezra's eyes would pop out of his head but Vin just stood there, calm as all that and then he continued walking towards me as if nothing at all had happened. I could see some of the town's folk shake their heads and mutter things to each other but soon they went about their business again. Just another day in Four Corners.
Vin couldn't see it since his back was towards the saloon but I could clearly see Ezra give me a wide grin before he went back. So he was pulling Vin's leg ... I decided to keep that bit of knowledge to myself for the time being.
Vin sat down on the empty chair beside me. When he was settled comfortably he turned his head and nodded towards me before he went back to his customary pose of watching the street.
"What was that all about?" I asked him.
"Ez told me I should replace the money he might have made if he'd stayed and played poker instead of going to Ghost Country to look for me."
Ezra would think that, and probably not in jest either. I don't think he ever truly expected to see any money but he'd pester Vin about it none the less. Ezra never wasted any opportunity to make more money, except by way of good honest work.
"At least he ain't after you to replace the gold that Crazy Miner might have left up there."
Seemed Ezra had heard a song called The Legend of Crazy Miner on the way back here and he had been somewhat upset that we hadn't told him about it earlier. I don't know if he seriously thought that he could have explored Ghost Country to find that hidden gold during those days when Vin was laid up. I guess he just couldn't keep from sighing about "Wasting such a golden opportunity", as he put it.
Now Vin gave me a long look, "What you think the other paper was for?" he said.
I had to bite my lip to keep from grinning. Vin had told me what he'd seen in that mountain but we decided to keep it just between the two of us so Ezra had no idea that he had probably been closer than 50 feet to the gold ore at that time.
"You gonna pay him anything?" I was curious.
"Like hell," Vin said strongly.
I thought of the ten percent interest Ezra without much luck had tried to squeeze out of Vin for lending him them 300 dollars to purchase Nettie Wells' farm. He still talked about it sometimes. Vin still ignored him.
"Well, you got money now, cowboy. What you gonna do with it?"
Vin shook his head, denying my words.
"Ain't mine," he said. "Josiah's helped me set something up, a trust I think he called it, so Ghost Country can stay exactly as it is, free of prospectors and others."
"Think it will?"
"Cain't say. The entrance is gone, so maybe... Think they're gone too. Don't think man is meant to follow where they've gone now."
"You know, pard," I said to him. "Sometimes it's hard to believe we were there at all."
"I know what you mean," Vin said. Then he shifted in his chair and winced a bit. Leg must be hurting him. I silently cursed myself, I was a fool. Here I was telling him how it seemed like a dream to me yet he carried the scars to prove it had all been far too real. Thinking back on the time when I had dug up what I thought was Vin's grave I shivered a bit as if I could still feel the cold. I guessed I had some scars too, only on the inside.
I thought a while on the sweeping mountains and the sweet green grass up there that was forever out of reach now. All I had left was a faint memory that didn't do the beauty of Ghost Country justice at all.
Vin had that faraway look in his eyes now. I wondered what it was he was remembering. Probably nothing good.
Damn, Vin, I thought as I looked at him. You don't look cheerful at all. Aren't you glad to be back even a little bit?
"It'll fade," I told him and saw him snap back to the here and now.
"When?" he asked.
"In time. You know that, Vin."
"I guess," he said half-heartedly.
"Few years from now I'll have to remind you about it."
"You think we'll still stick together a few years from now?" Didn't sound like he thought that.
"Well-" I said slowly. "From all the trouble we went through to find you I figure you owe us at least five to ten years of your time."
Vin gave me a look from out of the corner of his eye.
"You mean I gotta spend the next ten years saving y'all from trouble?"
I nodded.
"Shoot, that's a thankless job if ever."
"Yup," I agreed.
"Can I at least get something for it? More free time? More pay?"
"Nope."
Vin was quiet for a while as if thinking it over. He voice sounded very dry when he answered.
"Well, you sure know how to honey-coat a deal, cowboy.""It's a deal then?"
"I reckon," Vin said. I held out my hand, he grasped it and we shook on it.
I had a strange dream that night. I was in a place I didn't know. It was somewhere high up and I was standing beside a waterfall with a lake spread out below it. I wasn't alone, there was a coyote staring at me from across the lake. We looked at each other in silence for a while before he turned and disappeared among some brushes.
I woke up in a cold sweat. It was morning and the sun was up. The handle of my gun felt smooth and solid in my hand as I went looking for tracks outside. I never found any. Just a crazy dream, that was all. Just a crazy dream.
That morning I sat down to think on everything that had happened and what Vin had told me about Ghost County and the beings he had encountered in there. There was the one that had helped us and then there was the other one. The one that started it all. Coyote, Vin called him. The one who plays tricks on people. I had another name for him. Enemy.
I don't know if he'll ever find his way back here. I hope not. But if he comes ... I'll be ready.
*******
~~ Epilogue ~~
Coyote ran fast over the rim and down towards the valley but stopped suddenly when he found Wolf blocking his way.
"So, old friend, old enemy," Wolf said in greeting. "What are you up to now?"
"Who said I'm up to anything?" Coyote grinned.
"You walked in the dreams of the one with the great sorrow in his heart, didn't you?"
"I did no harm. I merely ... looked around."
"You said to me that you would leave them alone."
"I said nothing of the kind. I just said I wouldn't bring any of them here again."
"Leave them be," Wolf said and let the whole weight of his gaze fall on Coyote. Coyote locked eyes with him for a while but he soon gave in and looked away.
"I don't know why they named you the reasonable one," Coyote grumbled. "Is it reasonable never to dare to have some perfectly harmless fun?"
A strand of moonlight wove itself into a circle of light right in front of Coyote. Coyote leapt through it and in a fraction of a heartbeat he was Elsewhere. As soon as he was through the circle faded as if it had never been. Wolf shook his head and continued on his way without another thought to the encounter.
The Mother was speaking, her voice was the wind sifting through the grass, the fall of rain and the rustle of leaves. The clouds gathered and pushed against the mountain ridge until the Mother let them go. Her gentle caress was in the slowly falling snow that covered the land like the softest of blankets.
Standing as far up as he could come on Whisper Ridge, in a part that was as yet untouched by snow, Wolf lifted his head and listened for a moment. When the Moon shone through a rift in the clouds Wolf let his voice call out his renewed joy and wonder to the land and his voice was heard and answered far beyond the rim of the valley.
In the darkest hour of the night Coyote slipped into the town of Four Corners. He sneaked around the house corners and back alleys until he found what he was searching for. There it was - the wagon where Vin Tanner lay sleeping. Coyote shifted through the shadows and when he was near enough he reached out and put his mark carefully on the side of it.
He looked at what he had created and was satisfied with what he saw, two pale and dusty paw prints that stood out clearly against the darker wood. The moonlight made them seem like they glowed. His work done Coyote grinned and turned away in the darkness. He was tempted to stay until morning and watch when the tracker woke to see how long it took him to spot the prints but another feeling was taking hold of Coyote. A longing that was in the very core of his being, a wish to run as fast and as far away as he could get.
It was time. Coyote stretched out his limbs and took a deep breath in anticipation. He let the joy of moving take over as soon as he was out of the town and was many miles away in no time. He stopped near the river where Vin Tanner had spent his first night out of town so many weeks ago. Spotting the Moon's reflection in the water he lifted his head and howled his greeting.
A faint echo of his cry wove itself into Vin Tanner's dreams and he shifted uneasily in his sleep but didn't wake. Soon he was still again, sinking deeper into dreams. In his dreams he heard Wolf and Coyote speaking but this time he couldn't understand what it was they were saying. It no longer mattered to him, he was done with it.
Underlying their voices he could hear the soft murmur of the earth singing an ancient song for all of her children to hear and it soon took over and made all other things fade into the background. As the quiet sound of her voice filled his heart with peace he finally knew that it didn't matter if he kept moving or if he stayed put for the rest of his life. As long as he listened to her she would be there and as long as he heard her he would be home.
THE END
Now this is the Law of the Jungle -
as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the
Wolf that shall break it must die.As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk
the Law runneth forward and back -
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf,
and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.
END of Coyote Calling
CONTINUED in Wolf Dreams