It was one of Keona's scouts.
“Chief!” the rider shouted.
Ethan and Serena hurried back.
The scout dismounted.
“Crowe is moving.”
“How many?” Keona asked.
“Thirty men.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow.”
The camp fell silent.
Keona ordered the warriors to prepare.
Ethan inspected their weapons.
Most were old.
A few rifles were reliable.
Others were not.
“We can't win a straight fight,” Ethan said.
Keona nodded.
“We don't intend to fight straight.”
Ethan smiled.
“Good.”
They spent the night preparing defenses.
Serena refused to remain behind.
“You will stay with the women and children,” Ethan told her.
“No.”
“Serena.”
“I know the valley.”
“You know how to heal.”
“And I know how to shoot.”
Ethan looked at her.
“You shoot?”
She gave him an annoyed expression.
“My father taught me.”
“When?”
“When I was twelve.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“You never asked.”
He smiled.
“Fair enough.”
She handed him a rifle.
“I will not stay hidden.”
Ethan looked at the weapon.
Then at her.
“All right.”
Her eyes widened.
“You're agreeing?”
“I don't want to spend my last night arguing.”
“Last night?”
He smiled.
“You know what I mean.”
Serena didn't smile.
“I do.”
That night they sat together beneath the stars.
No promises were made.
No ceremony took place.
They simply held hands.
At dawn, Crowe's men appeared on the southern ridge.
Silas Crowe rode at the front.
He was a tall man with a black beard, a long coat, and a silver-handled revolver.
He raised one hand.
The riders stopped.
Then he called across the valley.
“Keona!”
The chief stepped forward.
“This land isn't yours.”
Crowe laughed.
“That's what the papers say.”
“There are no papers.”
“Exactly.”
Ethan walked beside Keona.
Crowe's eyes settled on him.
“Well, well.”
Ethan stared back.
“Who are you?”
Crowe smiled.
“The man who's going to own this valley.”
“No.”
Crowe laughed.
“You sure about that?”
Ethan looked at Serena.
Then back at Crowe.
“Yes.”
Crowe's smile disappeared.
“Then you're going to die with them.”
The shooting began.
Blood on the Snow
The first shots echoed through the valley.
Ethan dropped behind a stone wall.
Bullets struck the rocks around him.
Keona shouted orders.
Warriors moved through the trees.
Crowe's men advanced slowly, using the terrain for cover.
They were better armed.
Better organized.
And there were more of them.
Ethan fired once.
A rider fell.
Then another bullet struck the stone inches from his hand.
“Move!” Keona shouted.
Ethan ran.
He crossed the open ground toward the eastern ridge.
Serena was there.
She fired twice.
A gunman fell behind a tree.
Ethan reached her.
“You all right?”
“Yes.”
“You're hit.”
She looked at her sleeve.
Blood.
“It's nothing.”
“Let me see.”
“No.”
“Serena.”
She looked at him.
“I said it's nothing.”
Ethan smiled.
“You're stubborn.”
“So are you.”
A horn sounded from the valley.
Crowe's men were retreating.
Ethan looked around.
They had stopped the first assault.
But three warriors were dead.
Five wounded.
And the enemy was still there.
“This isn't over,” Ethan said.
Serena nodded.
“No.”
That night, Ethan discovered something troubling.
A man from the camp was missing.
One of the scouts.
His name was Tomas.
Keona's expression hardened.
“He knows our defenses.”
Ethan understood immediately.
“Someone told Crowe where the weak points are.”
They searched the camp.
Nothing.
Then Serena found tracks near the northern trail.
They followed them.
At the edge of the woods they found Tomas.
Dead.
A folded piece of paper lay beside him.
Ethan picked it up.
It contained a map.
The valley.
The river.
The camp.
Every defensive position.
Crowe had been given everything.
“He'll attack tonight,” Ethan said.
Keona nodded.
“How do you know?”
“Because he thinks we're wounded.”
Serena looked at the map.
“Then we make him think we're weaker.”
Ethan looked at her.
She pointed to the northern pass.
“Move everyone there.”
Keona frowned.
“Why?”
“Because Crowe expects us to defend the river.”
Ethan studied the map.
She was right.
The river was the obvious entrance.
The northern pass was narrow.
If Crowe entered there, he would be trapped between the cliffs.
Keona looked at his daughter.
“You have your mother's mind.”
Serena smiled sadly.
“Thank you.”
They prepared.
The camp was deliberately left looking abandoned.
Fires were reduced.
Weapons hidden.
Children moved into caves.
Warriors waited in silence.
Ethan and Serena positioned themselves above the northern pass.
Hours passed.
Then came the sound of horses.
Crowe's men entered.
Slowly.
Quietly.
Exactly as Serena predicted.
Ethan waited.
He waited until the entire group had entered the narrowest point.
Then he raised his hand.
A torch dropped.
The canyon erupted.
Gunfire.
Rocks.
Shouts.
Crowe's men panicked.
They had walked into a trap.
Ethan fired.
Serena fired.
Warriors attacked from both sides.
Within minutes, Crowe's formation broke.
The survivors fled.
But Crowe himself disappeared.
Ethan searched the pass.
Then he heard a voice.
“Looking for me?”
He turned.
Crowe stood twenty feet away.
Revolver raised.
Between them stood Serena.
Crowe grabbed her.
Ethan froze.
“Drop the rifle.”
Serena's face was pale.
“Ethan.”
Crowe pressed the revolver against her head.
“I knew you would be here.”
Ethan slowly lowered his weapon.
Crowe smiled.
“You should have left.”
“This doesn't have to end this way.”
“It does.”
“You want the valley?”
“Yes.”
“Take it.”
Serena stared at him.
“Ethan, no.”
Crowe laughed.
“You would give up everything?”
Ethan looked at Serena.
“I would give up land.”
Crowe's eyes narrowed.
“Then what do you keep?”
“My life.”
Crowe smiled.
“Not for long.”
He raised the gun.
Serena moved.