But getting there would require crossing nearly one hundred miles of dangerous country.
And Crane now knew they had evidence.
They left before dawn.
Tomas led the families through the hills.
Lena rode ahead.
Mara guarded the documents.
Sela stayed beside Ethan.
For two days, they traveled without incident.
On the third morning, they found the first dead horse.
Then another.
Someone was following them.
Ethan examined the ground.
“Eight riders.”
Sela dismounted.
“Ten.”
Ethan looked at her.
“How do you know?”
She pointed.
“Two sets of tracks disappear behind the rocks.”
Ethan smiled despite himself.
“You really do see everything.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“Just what matters.”
That afternoon, the ambush came.
Crane's men attacked from both sides of the canyon.
The families scattered.
Ethan fired from behind a rock.
Lena took position above him.
Mara moved the children toward the rear.
Sela rode directly into the open.
“She's insane,” Ethan muttered.
Lena replied without looking at him.
“She does that.”
Sela fired twice and disappeared behind a ridge.
The attackers followed.
Then the Apache defenders closed the trap.
The canyon erupted.
When the shooting stopped, Crane's men had fled.
But Tomas was wounded.
The chief survived.
Barely.
That night, Ethan sat beside the fire.
Tomas called him closer.
“You understand now.”
Ethan looked at him.
“Understand what?”
“Why I offered you my daughters.”
Ethan remained silent.
Tomas continued.
“A family survives when people choose to stand together.”
He glanced toward Lena, Mara, and Sela.
“You already stood with them before you knew what they meant to you.”
Ethan looked into the fire.
“I care about them.”
Tomas smiled.
“That is more important than any ceremony.”
Over the next several days, something changed between Ethan and the three sisters.
He and Lena developed a quiet understanding.
They did not need many words.
She trusted him to cover her position.
He trusted her to cover his.
Mara challenged him constantly.
She questioned his assumptions and forced him to consider the law rather than simply the rifle.
Sela remained impossible.
She teased him.
Argued with him.
Saved his life twice.
And refused to admit she had done either.
Eventually, they reached the territorial capital.
Mara presented the original records.
The forged lease was exposed.
The official who had signed it disappeared before investigators could question him.
Crane was arrested for fraud, intimidation, and attempted seizure of protected land.
But Crane had one final move.
He escaped.
Ethan knew where he would go.
Back to Dry River.
Crane wanted the spring.
And he was willing to destroy it to prevent anyone else from controlling it.
They returned immediately.
The final battle began before sunrise.
Crane arrived with nearly forty men.
Tomas was still wounded.