Rusk looked toward the distant valley.
"Vane never stopped looking for that evidence."
A gunshot cracked.
Rusk fell.
Caleb spun.
Mara stood on the ridge with a rifle.
She lowered it.
"I told you I could protect myself."
Caleb stared.
Then he laughed despite everything.
"Remind me never to argue with you."
They returned to the village with the cattle.
But the victory lasted less than a day.
At sunset, smoke appeared on the horizon.
Awan's warriors spotted riders.
More than twenty.
Caleb counted.
Twenty-seven.
"They're coming here."
The chief nodded.
Mara looked at Caleb.
"They know about the spring."
Caleb tightened his gun belt.
"We have to evacuate the children."
Awan shook his head.
"No."
"Chief—"
"This is our home."
Caleb looked at the old man.
For the first time, he understood why Awan had survived so long.
The chief wasn't fearless.
He simply knew there were things worth defending.
The villagers prepared.
Women carried water.
Children were moved into stone shelters.
Warriors took positions around the canyon.
Caleb organized the defense.
He had been a soldier once.
Now he was using everything he had learned to protect people the army had once taught him to hate.
The irony was not lost on him.
Night came.
The attack began.
Rifles cracked from the ridge.
Arrows answered.
Men shouted.
Horses screamed.
Caleb fired only when necessary.
He did not want revenge.
He wanted time.
Mara fought beside him.
Nakoa moved between positions.
Awan remained near the spring.
The battle lasted for hours.
Then a figure appeared through the smoke.
Colonel Elias Vane.
He was older than Caleb remembered.
But his eyes were the same.
Cold.
Calculating.
He stepped into the firelight.
"Caleb Mercer."
Caleb raised his rifle.
"You killed my father."
Vane smiled.
"Your father made a foolish choice."
"He chose people."
"He chose savages."
Caleb's jaw tightened.
"You came here for water."
Vane shrugged.
"I came here for land."
"And the spring?"
"Without water, these people leave."
Caleb understood.
Vane didn't need to kill everyone.
He only needed to make the valley impossible to survive in.
Then he could claim the land.
But Vane had made one mistake.
He had underestimated the people living there.
The Apache had lived through droughts, wars, forced removals, and broken promises.
They knew how to survive.
And Caleb knew how to fight.
The final confrontation happened before dawn.
Caleb and Vane met beside the spring.
Neither man spoke for several seconds.
Then Vane raised his pistol.
Caleb was faster.
He shot the weapon from Vane's hand.
Vane reached for a knife.
Mara fired.
The bullet struck the ground beside him.
"Drop it."
Vane froze.
Mara stepped forward.
"My mother died waiting for your lies to end."
Vane looked at her.
"Your mother?"
Mara lifted the broken watch chain.
Vane's face changed.
Recognition.
Fear.
Caleb saw it.
"You remember my father."
Vane swallowed.