Ethan looked at her.
“You don't know me.”
“No.”
She returned to repairing the bridle.
“Not yet.”
That night, Ethan slept badly.
Not because of the cold.
Not because of the wolves.
Because he could hear men talking near the northern edge of camp.
Crowe's men.
They had come closer.
Much closer.
At dawn, Ethan found Copper resting beside the fire.
Someone had fed him.
Someone had treated the raw skin beneath his saddle.
Rosa was standing nearby.
“You did that?”
She nodded.
“He was hurt.”
“Thank you.”
“You're welcome.”
Ethan saddled Copper.
Keona approached.
“You are leaving.”
“Yes.”
Keona nodded.
“I understand.”
Ethan mounted.
He had barely turned the horse when he heard shouting.
A rider came racing into the camp.
“Crowe's men are coming!”
Everything changed.
Women gathered the children.
Men grabbed rifles.
Mara moved toward the northern ridge.
Elena gathered the documents.
Keona shouted orders.
Ethan looked at the road.
A line of riders appeared in the distance.
At their center rode Gideon Crowe.
He was dressed in black.
His coat was expensive.
His smile was cold.
He stopped several hundred yards from the camp.
“You have until sunset,” he called.
Keona walked forward.
“This land is not yours.”
Crowe laughed.
“The papers say otherwise.”
Elena held up the original documents.
“Your papers are forged.”
Crowe's smile disappeared.
“You should be careful what you accuse a man of.”
“I am.”
Crowe looked at Ethan.
“And who is this?”
“No one,” Ethan said.
Crowe smiled.
“Then stay no one.”
Ethan looked at the camp.
He should have ridden away.
He knew it.
But then he saw a little boy standing beside his mother.
The boy was holding the same kind of blanket Ethan had given Keona's family years ago.
The blanket was patched.
Old.
Faded.
But still there.
Ethan remembered the winter.
He remembered the children.
He remembered thinking that no one should be left to die simply because they were born on the wrong side of an invisible line.
He turned Copper around.
Rosa saw him.
“You're staying.”
“For now.”
She smiled.
“That sounds like a lie.”
“It probably is.”
The first shot came from Crowe's men.
It struck the dirt beside Ethan.
Then the valley erupted.
Mara shouted instructions.
Elena moved the families behind the stone shelters.
Keona and the other defenders returned fire.
Rosa rode toward the western ridge.
Ethan followed.
“What are you doing?” he shouted.
“Saving your life!”
“I wasn't in danger!”
“You were about to ride directly into a crossfire!”
Ethan looked ahead.
She was right.
“Fine.”
“You're welcome.”
They reached the ridge.
Two of Crowe's men were approaching.
Rosa fired first.
One fell.
Ethan fired at the second.
The riders turned.
By sunset, Crowe's men had withdrawn.
But the victory was temporary.
Everyone knew it.
Crowe would return.
And next time, he would bring more men.
That night, Keona gathered the community.
“We cannot win a long war.”
Elena shook her head.
“This does not need to become a war.”
She opened the documents.
“If we reach Fort Mercer, we can prove the land claim is fraudulent.”