Wolf Dreams
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Chapter Seven
~~ Last Sunrise in Gila Flats ~~
Awareness came back to him suddenly, not the slow glide into reality it had been the first time he'd woken up in Sarah's spare bed. One second he was nowhere and the next he was wide awake and staring up at the smooth planks in the ceiling. He could recall everything that had been happening up until that moment with perfect clarity.
"Did I really try to shoot Vin?" he asked out loud, having a hard time believing what he'd done and hoping that it had all been a bad dream.
"Try?" a soft drawl answered him. "Hell, you did shoot me, cowboy. Got my hat and all."
Chris looked to the left and there was Vin, leaning against the wall right next to the window. He had lifted the curtain a crack so he could look out at the mountains without letting the burning sun shine in too much on them, the room was already nearly as hot as an oven. Vin looked reassuringly unmarked for a man who'd been shot twice in the past week.
"Vin? Is that really you?" His head was pounding and Chris wasn't quite sure that he wasn't just imagining things.
"Sure ain't no ghost," Vin said and walked over to sit down on the chair next to the bed.
"But I shot you," Chris said and felt twice as sick from hearing himself say it.
"Only gave me a hair cut," Vin said. Chris could see that the hair near Vin's left temple looked jagged and slightly singed and he knew it must have been clipped short by his bullet. So that was how close he'd gotten. Too damn close.
"Saw it coming a mile away so I threw myself out of the way. Reckon I'm lucky you cain't hit the broad side of a barn even on a good day."
"Ain't never missed since I first learned to draw," Chris grumbled.
"Could chalk it up to Buck distracting you at the last minute. Reckon he knocked some sense into that hard head of yours at the same time. Not often you let someone sneak up on you, pard. Must have known somehow it was a friend."
Vin's voice trailed off a bit when he said that last word, not much, but enough that Chris noticed it and he felt sick again. He'd let Buck sneak up right behind him, near enough to knock him out, but he'd hardly let Vin come within twenty paces before he'd shot him.
What the hell was wrong with him? If he had recognized Buck then why not Vin? It made no sense to him. Ever since he'd met Vin they'd relied on each other without a moments doubt in battle after battle. They'd had some serious disagreements before about how some things should be handled but it had all been over and done with as soon as the situation was resolved. He'd thought that the trust between them had been absolute. Until now.
He should have known. He should have known.
Why hadn't he?
"I'm sorry," Chris said and knew that it wasn't nearly enough. He didn't know what could ever be enough, but whatever it was he knew he'd have to find it.
"Ain't got nothing to be sorry for," Vin said but there was a distance between them now that hadn't been there before. An uneasy silence stretched out for far too long until Chris felt that they'd better start talking about something.
"Vin, when we were up on that mountain I saw you fall. I knew you were hit and hurt bad. What happened?"
"Well," Vin began with a faraway look in his eyes. "I don't rightly know. I remember walking through the desert, but -" he broke off and shook his head as if he couldn't find the right words. Chris could see that he was holding something in his hand. It looked like a small white stone and Vin's thumb rubbed over it continuously and unconsciously as he was thinking.
"Think it's better left alone," Vin said finally. "Should let it be."
He looked Chris right in the eye as he said the last bit and they both knew that it wasn't the only thing that was better left alone right then. This time it was Vin that switched subjects.
"Nathan thinks you'll be ready to travel in a day or two unless you're feeling poorly. You're not seeing double or something, are you?"
Chris was about to say, "No, one of you is more than enough," but he didn't quite feel he had the right to just fall into their usual banter. Not this time.
He settled for a simple, "No," instead. Vin gave him a long and searching look as if he didn't quite believe him but he didn't call him on it.
"So, you're ready to go back to Four Corners and be a lawman again?" Vin asked.
"Yeah."
"Good. 'Cause I gotta tell you, cowboy," Vin said as he tugged on a strand of his singed hair "- you sure ain't much of a barber."
He swiftly stood up and started to move away. Chris grabbed hold of his arm to stop him from leaving.
"You gonna stay in Four Corners?" Chris felt foolish and uncomfortable asking it but he had to know the answer, had to hear Vin say it. He let go of Vin's arm and waited. He wouldn't blame Vin if he said no.
Vin gave him a searching look and then a short nod.
"Are we still friends?" Chris asked, feeling even more awkward.
Vin just gave him that searching look again. Then he looked at the wall behind Chris's head and kept his eyes there as he carefully chose his words.
"See - it's like this, Larabee - if we ain't, then I got shot and walked through that desert to find you and then got shot again for nothing."
Vin looked away from the wall and instead pinned Chris down with his eyes as he slowly said, "I ain't doing something like that again."
Chris got the message. He'd just gotten one more chance. One. He held out his hand and felt Vin's hand meet his own, just holding on without measuring his strength.
Warm. Solid. Real.
Alive.
"Thanks, Vin," Chris quietly said.
"Wouldn't have it any other way, cowboy," Vin replied sincerely.
He let go of Chris's hand and took a step back, turning towards the door.
"Buck's waiting outside. He's deeply sorry he had to hit you but he saw no other way to stop you." Vin gave Chris a lop-sided grin before saying, "Told me to hide your gun before he dares to step into this room."
"Think I'm done shooting anyone for a long time to come," Chris said wryly.
"Sure hope so," Vin said, sounding very serious. He disappeared out the door before Chris could think of anything more to say.
Buck came into the room looking very contrite. He was talking loudly from the moment he stepped through the doorway and it made Chris's head ache something fierce.
"Chris, I swear, if I'd seen any other way I wouldn't have knocked you out. I mean - it's not like it's the first time I've had to - but - this time I hit you real hard and .... you didn't even know it was us. But you do now, right? You recognize me? I'm real sorry. If there's anything I can do-"
"Yeah, you can quit being sorry so loud."
"Sorry." Buck lowered his voice to a near whisper and asked, "How are you feeling?"
"I'll live. And so will Vin. Thanks to you."
Buck sank down on the empty chair and shook his head.
"I tell you, Chris ... I never thought I'd see the day- How's he taking it?"
"Me shooting him in the head?" Chris said and winced at hearing his own blunt words. "Better than I would if I was in his shoes."
"Vin ain't one to hold a grudge against a friend."
"Yeah. Guess that's more than I deserve. A friend wouldn't do what I've done."
"He ain't blaming you, Chris. I know that much. There was something else at work here-" Buck broke off suddenly. He always felt uncomfortable when thinking about things that couldn't be explained by men. "Did you feel it, Chris?"
"Feel what?"
"Like there was more going on than someone wanted us to know about."
"Maybe," Chris said. Everything that had happened since he'd first been hit on the head seemed pretty strange to him. Parts of it might have been just a fever dream for all he knew. "Vin said something like that. Said it was better left alone."
"He's probably right," Buck said. "It's just that it reminded me so of last year when we - well - never mind."
"What?"
"No, it was nothing," Buck said again and tried fight down his uneasiness. "You ready for travel in a couple of days? Nathan said you might be."
"Have to take care of some things before I can leave."
"You mean Parker? Don't need to do anything about him. Josiah should be reading the final words over his grave right about now."
"What? What happened?"
"Found him sitting dead in a chair in that big house of his. Have you seen the insides of it? Real fancy. Crystal glasses, fine linen, silver ware-"
Chris cut him off with a sharp, "Buck!"
"Now hold your horses, I'm getting there. Nathan said that it looked like his heart must have stopped suddenly, just like that. Josiah told us it was the Lord calling home a sinner. From the look that was on Parker's face I'd say he looked like he'd been scared to death of something. Whatever it was he's beyond human justice now."
"If there's any justice at all in the after life he went straight to hell."
"Must have been a bad one, huh? You know, that's what the little lady said also, maybe not in the same words as you, but still."
"Sarah?" Chris said in alarm when he realized that he'd clean forgotten to even ask about her until then. "Is she all right?"
"Right as rain. Seems she had some idea that you might need her and drove into town right after I knocked you out. She was mighty upset and called for that old guy, Doc Webster, and he came running out with a shotgun. Thought he was going to shoot me on the spot but I managed to talk him out of it."
Chris raised an eyebrow ever so slightly and wished he'd been there to see it for he was certain that their first meeting must indeed have been something to see.
"She took it all in stride, I must say," Buck continued. "Told us everything we needed to know about how things stood. Vin had scouted around enough beforehand to vouch for her so we brought you over to her house and set about to clean up the town."
"How long was I out?"
"Nearly a day," Buck said and frowned. "Thought I'd about killed you. Had me worried."
"No need," Chris said and added dryly, "I've been told I'm pretty hard-headed."
"Really? No kidding," Buck said and grinned. "Yeah, that's what they told me."
"They?"
"Nathan, Doc and Mrs McKay. She's a strong woman that one. Name shook me up some and seeing her did too. Reminded me an awful lot of ...." Buck's voice trailed off and Chris could see a look of profound loss and grief shadow his eyes for a moment.
"Yeah," Chris said, his own heart pierced with sorrow. "I know."
Feeling suddenly weary beyond belief he sank back against the soft pillows and closed his eyes.
"You look tired," Buck said quietly. "I'll let you rest now. Be back later."
Chris never heard Buck leave, being too worn out to really care. He started awake for a brief second when he felt a cool hand on his forehead but it was just Sarah and she whispered to him that everything was all right and to go back to sleep.
So he did.
Chris spent the best part of the next day in bed recovering, sternly watched by Nathan to see that he didn't overdo it. He talked a lot with Buck, JD and Josiah to find out exactly what he had missed while he was away. Turned out it was rather a lot, it sounded like they were real lucky that the town was still standing. Vin never came, he'd gone up in the mountains to look around. He had probably heard it already.
Laying in bed tired him out and Chris fell asleep in the afternoon and didn't wake up until the sun was going down. His room was empty and since no one was there to stop him he got out of bed and got dressed. Carefully opening the door he listened to the nearly silent house. Most everyone had to be out somewhere except for a lone person quietly shifting and moving some things around. It sounded as if it came from Sarah's room and he gave in to his curiosity and walked over to the door, risking a peek into the room.
Sarah was kneeling on the floor and carefully wrapping a pair of candlesticks in soft cloth before putting them in a battered old trunk that was nearly full with all sorts of small things, similarly wrapped up. She looked up and got on her feet when she heard him enter.
"I'm going with you when you leave," she said determinedly.
For a moment he felt something clench in his gut. What was she thinking? Had he misread her feelings towards him? A woman like Sarah, she meant serious business and he wouldn't like to see her hurt. Did she feel more for him than he had known?
"Sarah," he said and got no further for she made a slight gesture with her hands, clearly to ward off whatever he was about to say.
He cared for her, maybe he even loved her a little. There was a bond between the two of them that couldn't be denied. But it wasn't enough, not for him, not for either of them. The care they had for each other was just a ghostly echo of the love that had been torn from both their lives far too soon. The feeling was just as real, but nothing compared to what they'd lost and it was nothing to build a brand new future together on. He knew that but so did she, he could see it in her eyes when he looked closer.
"It's time for me to move on," she said. "I'd like some company on the road. Nothing more. If you don't mind."
He wondered if he was always so easy to read or if it was just the fact that she seemed to know him so well. Sarah was an uncannily perceptive woman. Maybe that was why she had gotten The Sight.
"I don't mind," he said. He watched as she picked up a bunch of letters neatly tied together with a red ribbon. She looked at them for a moment and then put them down and carefully covered them with a small quilted baby blanket.
"Not much to show for fifteen years of life with someone," she said softly and then she resolutely closed the lid of the trunk.
All Chris could think about was the ruins of his own home. He would have given almost anything to have even that much left after his family but he never said it. It was an old pain. No need to dwell on it.
**********
Chris spent the rest of the evening by himself in quiet reflection. He called up every bit of his history that he could recall, even the things he most wanted to forget. The whole shameful affair with Ella Gaines. The guilt felt like a terrible weight around his heart. And she was still out there somewhere. He shied away from it and Ella was replaced by Sarah's father Hank Connelly, gone crazy from his grief and his guilt. Chris remembered him dying on the street in Four Corners and telling him not to forget. And Chris had told him he'd never forget. But he had, though not for long.
Chris felt free to remember things he rarely dared to think about for it always made him feel like his heart would crack asunder. All the good things. Adam's first day on earth. Sarah on her wedding day. The rush of joy he'd felt when he'd heard her say her new name for the first time. In his mind he could hear her voice again as she said it, Sarah Larabee. Remembering her full name meant more to him than finding out his own. He closed his eyes as a bittersweet feeling took hold of him. Never forget. Never again.
He must have fallen asleep for a while and something had woken him but he didn't know what it was. Chris knew where he was, in Sarah McKay's house, stretched out on the bed and he felt a presence nearby and so he opened his eyes to see who it was. There in the moonlight he saw his love stretched out beside him, her head a familiar weight on his arm.
"Sarah," he whispered in wonder and she opened her eyes, those glorious eyes that had always held such love for him. He could see it shining in them still. "Oh, Sarah," he whispered, all his longing breaking free as he raised a trembling hand to stroke the hair out of her eyes. How could this be? It couldn't be a dream, he could feel the strands of her hair as soft as silk between his fingers. "I'm so sorry," he told her what he had longed to say for so many years. "It should have been me, Sarah. Forgive me. It should have been me."
She lay a finger on his lips to stop him from speaking, hushing him gently. "I love you, Chris," she whispered back. "There's never been anything to forgive. Don't give up your life for me. It's not over yet."
He could hear her whisper so clearly in his mind that he was bitterly disappointed when he was suddenly wide awake and found himself alone. Had it been just a dream? But his arm was numb as if something had rested there. Chris didn't know what to think, but then he was too tired to think about it for long. He fell into uneasy sleep but there were no dreams that he could later remember.
On the morning of the second day he was up and dressed soon after sun up. He decided it was high time to take care of his new beard and while he shaved he thought about everything they needed to do before going home again.
Home. He actually had somewhere to be after drifting for so many years. Felt good.
Chris stared at his reflection in the mirror as he scraped away the stubble on his jaw. Yeah, he recognized that face now, he concluded with satisfaction. Just as he was finished there came a knock on the door and Sarah came into his room. She silently handed him a fresh towel and he could see an unfamiliar gleam in her eye.
"There's something I've been meaning to do," she told him very seriously, "and I think now is a very good time to do it. In all this time we haven't been properly introduced. Would you be so kind as to tell me your name, Stranger?"
"It's Chris. Chris Larabee."
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr Larabee." She curtsied and held out her hand towards him, saying, "My name is Sarah McKay."
He took her hand and was pleased to notice that she wasn't wearing her gloves. She wasn't hiding from him anymore. Chris tried to keep a solemn look on his face as he shook her hand but then he saw the corners of her mouth start to twitch and they both grinned at each other.
"Sarah ... I can't thank you enough," he said.
"I think I know," she said, her eyes shining brightly. He could see in them the memory of their first and last kiss.
Chris became aware that they had been standing in silence holding hands for some time. Instead of letting go he suddenly raised her hand to his lips and ghosted a kiss across her scarred knuckles. She looked shocked and pleased all at once.
"Sarah, I wish you joy," he said quietly but with feeling. She smiled. For the first time since he had met her all shadows were gone from her eyes and she looked truly happy.
**********
Vin stepped out of the store and squinted against the sun in his eyes. He tightened a buckle on his saddlebags and swung them up behind his saddle. It had been three days now since the showdown in town and even Nathan had to admit that Chris was back to his old self and well enough to go home.
Home. They were going home, all of them. Felt strange.
He could hardly wait to get away from this town but he wasn't so sure that he really wanted to return to Four Corners. But maybe it was for the best. Things might feel better in Four Corners. Might get back to the way it had been before. Getting up in the saddle he quieted Peso down a bit and hoped that it was so.
The others were already mounted with the exception of Chris. Vin suddenly noticed that JD kept staring at his coat.
"Vin," JD said with something like awe in his voice. "There's a big hole in your coat."
Vin looked down at it. A row of neat stitches held the flaps of hide together where it had been torn by the bullet that had almost ended his life. Round the edges were faded dark brown smudges. Blood stains. His blood. A brief image flashed by in his mind of a girl with strange eyes but that might just have been a dream and soon it was all gone again.
Vin looked at JD and shrugged. "So?"
"So, there's a big hole in your coat!" JD said.
"Ain't half as interesting as the fact that someone's mended it," Vin said cryptically and smiled when he saw JD looking thoroughly lost. His eyes then went to where Chris was talking to that old doctor and Vin's smile disappeared.
Something felt wrong between them and Vin had no idea what to do about it. He felt like the ground between them was covered with patches of sand and quicksand and you never knew which one you were gonna step in next. It had made him avoid talking to Chris on his lonesome and he'd never done that before. He'd never been one to shy away from trouble in his life but this was different somehow.
Chris said goodbye to old Doc Webster and turned to find his friends all ready to go. Vin gave him a long look from where he sat slouched in his saddle but his face gave nothing away as to how he was feeling.
Chris felt relieved when he could turn his back on Vin to get back in saddle. He had no idea what to do about this awkward feeling of shame that came over him whenever Vin was around. Well, it was nothing he could do anything about right now, it would have to wait.
When they got out on the road Chris could see the lone figure of a woman out by the cemetery. As they drew nearer he could see that it was Sarah, standing in front of one of the few proper tombstones. Her wagon was packed full and waiting by the cemetery gate. Chris wanted to talk to her alone and he turned towards his friends.
"You go on," he told them. "We'll catch up with you on the road."
Vin gave him another long look and Buck winked at him but there were no protests, they just moved on while Chris dismounted and tied Pony's reins to the gate. Sarah never looked up, her head was bent down and her eyes were closed. Was she praying? He thought so at first but when she spoke her voice sounded strained and lost and he knew that she was trying to hold back her tears.
"I've stood here so many times, wishing I could change time itself or that the desert would take me and make me forget it all. I never realized until you came how many years I've wasted this way. Not dead, yet not quite living."
"Sometimes just surviving is all you can do." Chris spoke from experience.
"The difference between before and after... that memory never softens. I've thought so much about that moment, that line between knowing and not knowing. You know it too, don't you, that moment when everything changes forever? When you cross that line nothing ever looks the same again."
Chris stayed silent, but he knew. You would never again be so sure that nothing bad could really touch you. Never be sure that you could protect the ones you loved. You were allowed no more illusions.
"That wolf, it gave me a gift, I see that now," she continued. "Changes will never catch me unprepared again. I can see them coming now. I didn't ask for it and it still scares me, but now I think that I wished for it deep in my heart. And the wolf knew that, even if I didn't. Not until now."
Chris studied the worn tombstone and frowned a bit when he found that the late John McKay had been born in the same year as he. In fact - Chris Larabee and John McKay had been born just seven days apart. Huh! Wasn't that odd....
"I had the strangest dream last night," Sarah said and diverted his thoughts once more. "I dreamt the wolf came back to me."
"What did it say?"
"It wasn't quite words, it was more like feeling things. It breathed on me and it was like it was breathing away all my sorrow. When I woke my cheeks were wet. I must have been crying in my sleep." She brushed at her left cheek as if mapping out the tracks of her tears. "I couldn't go back to sleep again so I went up and made breakfast instead. It was early but one of your friends was up and about and we talked a while. Now I feel better."
"Which one?" He figured it had to have been Buck but she replied, "The quiet one."
Vin. She had talked to Vin. What could they have had to say to each other?
"Did he say anything-" Chris said and regretted it the moment the words left his lips.
"-about you shooting at him?" she finished his sentence. "No, he didn't. He doesn't want to talk about it any more than you do. I don't think either of you should just let this be."
"Sarah," he said and his tone warned her off the subject.
"But then," she continued undauntedly, "who am I to speak about the unwise silence of a heart that need not be so lonely?"
Chris frowned, not quite sure what she meant with her words. He'd stopped trying to figure her out and decided it was best not to say anything at all. They stood in silence for a while before Sarah abruptly said, "Is it time to go?"
He nodded. "Yeah. You can still change your mind."
"No," she said firmly. "I've seen my last sunrise in Gila Flats. I've packed what I'm going to keep and arranged everything with Doc Webster. He's going to sell the land and the things I leave behind and send me the money."
"What about the water rights?"
"With Parker gone it's going to be all right. I wouldn't leave unless I was sure. Besides, soon it won't matter much. You said there was a stage line in that town you're from?"
"Yes there is. You've decided where you're gonna go?"
"Yes, to my sister in Denver. She's been wanting me to come see her for years but I couldn't leave. There were so many reasons for staying. Especially Benjamin. I couldn't leave him all alone here like this in the cold ground. I think I was most afraid I'd forget about him if I left."
"And now?"
"Now I realize that he's with his papa. I won't be leaving him alone. And I carry both of them with me wherever I go. In my heart."
For a second she was unable to continue talking and she stroked slowly over the top of the worn headstone. A few tears fell and were soaked up by the dust covering the grave. Chris looked the other way, not wanting to intrude on such a private moment.
His eyes fell on the hazy figure of a small boy standing just outside the fence that separated the cemetery from the rest of the desert. It was hard to see with the sun right in his eyes but Chris was pretty sure it was Ben, the small boy he'd found fishing by the river. When he saw that Chris was watching the boy gave him a grin and a small wave of the hand and then, inexplicably, he was gone from sight.
Chris blinked and squinted hard against the sun. There was no trace of the boy, even when he looked all around the burial ground. There was no shelter out here, nothing to hide behind, nothing but the desert outside the fence. The boy couldn't have just disappeared into thin air - but it seemed he had done just that. Chris walked a bit closer to the fence and saw that the dust outside was untouched by human feet. No one had been standing there for quite some time.
There was no shade out here but he could feel a cool breeze against his back all the same and he shivered. He hadn't made the connection before but now he suddenly did.
Ben. Benjamin. Sarah's child. Her heart, just as Adam was his.
If Sarah's child was watching over her, then maybe Adam was out there somewhere too. Maybe love could survive even death.
A wave of emotion swelled within him with this thought. He fought it down like he always did, it was not for others to know or see. But it left behind a strange sense of peace and expectancy that breathed new life into his battered soul.
Sarah's voice drew him back to the here and now again and he turned towards her.
"I know they wouldn't want me to spend the rest of my life here," she said. "This town is dying, there's no future for it. A few years time it'll be just the dust blowing through here."
"What about your wolf, Silver?"
She was quiet for a while as she looked one last time towards the blue mountains.
"He'll find me if he needs to," she said with certainty. Sarah smiled. "And he's not my wolf, he's very much his own wolf."
"You've seen it?" he asked.
She shook her head, "I just know. Well, Stranger, you've certainly turned my life upside down. I think I'm actually going to miss you."
"We've got some days yet before we have to part," Chris said, thinking about the road ahead. First on to Four Corners where he'd see her safely on her way to Denver. After that was done, well, he'd just take it easy for a while and then who knew what might happen.
He helped her climb up into the wagon and get settled in her seat before he got back in the saddle. Out on the road he could see his friends hadn't gotten very far. Instead they had stopped at a distance where they couldn't overhear his and Sarah's conversation and were watching and patiently waiting, even though he had told them to move on.
"Ready?" He looked at her and she nodded as they urged their horses on.
"I've said my goodbyes," Sarah said and never looked back even once.
But Chris did. He turned slightly in the saddle and looked at the town one final time. In a sense he had been reborn there. Perhaps Sarah had the right idea. Time to move on. The burden of guilt and sorrow he'd carried with him for so long seemed a little lighter today, out here in the sun. Maybe he could put it down for a while.
He turned his eyes back to the road ahead of him and thought about Adam. If he was out there then Chris might even get to see him one day.
It was something worth hoping for. But more than that, it was something worth living for.
At least he could try.
Epilogue
~~ Coyote ~~
The moon rose in the dark sky and with it rose the winds. They were always unpredictable, could hurt as well as soothe, but tonight they weren't sent to torment the land and break the old trees or bend the young saplings. They were just there to pass messages along for those who were listening.
Coyote raised his head and called out a greeting to all his kin, far and wide. It warmed his heart to hear the answering calls of his many children coming from all around.
A deeper howl behind him made him jump and turn and he found Wolf standing right behind him, staring at him. He looked quite angry.
"I am angry," Wolf confirmed Coyotes silent observation. "I've told you this before -they are not just something for you to play with, Coyote."
"I didn't start it!" Coyote protested. "They did that all by themselves. I didn't really harm them at all. Nearly all I did was to watch. And it's not as if I was the only one to take an interest, you did too."
"Only to try and set right what you had changed," Wolf told him.
"Hah! Then what about that man?" Coyote asked. "He was so afraid of you that he died. And what about the woman?"
"Her fate is not your concern. She was owed a kindness. You were the one to set things in motion, you should have let it be. I know you've been waiting for another chance to interfere in their lives but it ends here. You already know what can happen if you interfere too much. You just never learn. Leave them alone, Coyote."
"But-"
"Promise to leave them alone!" Wolf thundered and Coyote hung his head.
"I give you my Word that none of them will see or hear any more from me for this the rest of their lives," he said but his eyes flashed defiantly.
"Good," Wolf said and trotted off into the dark.
Coyote waited to be sure he was really gone before he let out a short barking laugh. Wolf's will might be stronger in this case but Coyote was always the wily and inventive one. Wolf really should have known better than to let Coyote use his own words to make up the vow that was meant to bind him.
Coyote's Word was strong and it would hold him, but it didn't much matter in the long run. The seasons, the stars, the sun - everything around them turned in an endless circle and sooner or later it came back again to the same spot.
He'd made a promise to leave the seven well alone, but only in this life, and he knew that a man such as Vin Tanner couldn't be lost forever to death. Souls like his were ever wandering, ever searching. It would turn up again. And when it did Coyote wouldn't be bound by any old promises made to Wolf.
They would meet again, it was inevitable. He could leave them alone, for now. It wouldn't last forever. Nothing ever did, except for those few that were like him and stood outside of time.
Sometimes he wasn't so sure that he truly was eternal. Coyote looked up at the stars and found that he couldn't remember if he had been created before the heavens or if it was the other way around. He couldn't recall a time when he hadn't been here or, likewise, a time when the heavens hadn't been there either. Some of the stars had changed since first he'd seen them. Some were gone, others had been born. It was the one thing that almost made him feel humble. Where did they come from? Where did they go? If even stars died, then what chance did he have?
For a second he felt the almost unbearable weight of his own loneliness that was ever growing as year was added to year, but he quickly shook it off. It wasn't in his nature to feel that much sorrow for very long.
He rested his head on his paws and closed his eyes for a little while so he could focus on hearing. Something was out there, something fun. He listened to the wind and two names came to him, whispered by the wind coming from the east. Denver. Colorado.
Coyote knew it held some significance for him but he didn't quite know how or when yet. It felt like it was still far into the future from the place where he now was but he decided not to find out more about it just yet. Wolf had said that Coyote never learned, but he was wrong! Anticipation could be sweet sometimes with so much to look forward to. He could be patient. Yes, he could. No need to hurry. Time time would tell, it always did. And he had plenty of time.
Meanwhile, there were so many others out there to play with. Most of them would not be as entertaining as the seven, though. Ah, well.
"Until next time, Vin Tanner," Coyote whispered back as the wind turned and small tendrils of air ruffled through his fur.
He put his paws firmly on the ground and stretched out his spine, preparing for the run. It was time to dance with the stars and chase the moon.
END of Wolf Dreams