He rode away.
The others followed.
When the last rider disappeared, Ethan turned toward Tomas.
"My father was searching for this place?"
"Yes."
"And Mercer was with him?"
"Not exactly."
"Then tell me the truth."
Tomas stared at him for a long time.
Finally he said:
"Your father came here because he wanted to protect the spring."
"From Mercer?"
"From men like him."
"Why didn't he tell me?"
"Because he believed silence would keep you alive."
Ethan felt the weight of those words.
He had spent eighteen years thinking his father's last years had been ordinary.
Perhaps they had not.
That night, Ethan did not sleep.
He walked to the spring.
Moonlight rested on the water.
He knelt and touched it.
Cold.
Clear.
Alive.
Behind him, Tomas approached.
"Your father sat there once."
Ethan looked back.
"Where?"
"On that stone."
Tomas pointed.
"He asked me what would happen if the water was discovered."
"What did you tell him?"
"I said people would fight."
"Did he believe you?"
"He said people always fight over what they fear losing."
Ethan looked at the stream.
"And what did he fear losing?"
Tomas answered softly.
"You."
The Fire on the Ridge
The surveyors arrived at sunrise.
Mercer had brought twelve men.
They carried measuring equipment, rifles, axes, and dynamite.
Ethan watched them from the ridge.
"They're not surveying," he said.
Tomas nodded.
"They are preparing."
The first explosion came before noon.
The canyon shook.
Birds exploded from the trees.
Children cried.
Ethan mounted Boone.
"Where are they going?"
Tomas pointed toward the western cliffs.
"The old channel."
Ethan understood.
Mercer intended to divert the spring.
If he could blast open the underground passage and redirect the water, the settlement would lose its source.
The men reached the cliff.
Ethan rode down.
"Stop!"
Mercer turned.
"I told you this morning was business."
"You brought dynamite."
"Surveying sometimes requires excavation."
"You'll collapse the spring."
Mercer looked at him.
"Perhaps."
Ethan stared.
"You know what you're doing."
"Of course."
"You'll kill people."
Mercer shrugged.
"People move."
Tomas stepped forward.
"This water has fed families for generations."
Mercer looked at him.
"And now it can feed thousands."
"At what price?"
"Mine."
Tomas's face hardened.
"That is why you will lose."
Mercer laughed.
"Old man, I have spent forty years building an empire."
"And forty years believing an empire makes you immortal."
Mercer's expression changed.
"Enough."
He gestured.
Two men moved toward Tomas.
Ethan drew his revolver.
"Touch him and this ends badly."
Mercer looked at him.
"You think you're faster than eight rifles?"
"No."
Ethan's eyes moved across the men.
"I think you're slower than eight men who don't trust you."
The hired guns looked at one another.
Mercer noticed.
He lowered his voice.
"Fire."
Nobody moved.
One of the men finally spoke.
"You said no killing."
Mercer stared at him.
"I changed my mind."
That was the moment Ethan knew the situation had become something else.
Mercer was losing control.
The explosion came before anyone could move.
The cliff face shattered.
Stone crashed down.
A wall of dust swept through the valley.
Ethan heard Tomas shout.
Then everything disappeared.
When the dust cleared, the spring had changed.
The water was running faster.
Too fast.
The blast had cracked the underground chamber.
Water poured through the rocks.
Within minutes, the narrow stream became a rushing channel.
It flooded the lower settlement.
People screamed.
Ethan rode toward the trees.
"Get the children uphill!"
Tomas shouted instructions.
Ethan jumped from Boone and carried two children at once.
Others followed.
Mercer's men stood frozen.
Then one of them threw down his rifle.
Another followed.
Mercer shouted at them.
"Get back to work!"
No one listened.
The valley was filling with water.
Ethan saw a woman trapped beneath a fallen shelter.
He ran toward her.
A timber pinned her leg.
"Hold still."
"I can't!"
"You can."
Ethan lifted the timber.
Another man helped.
They pulled her free.
Then Ethan heard Tomas scream.
He turned.
The old man had fallen into the flooded channel.
Ethan ran.
The current caught Tomas and dragged him downstream.
Ethan jumped into the water.
The current slammed him against a rock.
He grabbed Tomas's arm.
For several seconds neither man moved.
Then Ethan pulled.