"You're stepping way out of line, stranger!" Vance roared, his voice shaking with sudden rage. "I run this town! That wild cat is county property until I say otherwise!"
Caleb stood up smoothly, turning around to face the lawman. He did not draw his weapon, but his posture shifted—his weight balanced perfectly on the balls of his feet, his right arm hanging loose and free near his hip. The cold, lifeless look in his gray eyes made Vance halt in his tracks, his thumb frozen on the hammer of his gun.
"Property, is she?" Caleb asked quietly. "Then put a price on her."
Vance blinked, caught off guard by the request. "What?"
"If she's property, sell her," Caleb repeated, his voice carrying to every ear on the street. "Name a fine for her trespassing. Name her bail. I'll pay it right now and take her off your hands."
Laughter erupted from the steps of the saloon, though it sounded strained and uncomfortable. Vance looked around at the townsfolk, feeling his authority slipping away under the stranger's cool gaze. He sneered, trying to regain control of the narrative.
"Fine," Vance spat, his eyes gleefully malicious. "You want to buy an Apache renegade? The fine for trespassing and suspected espionage is fifty dollars gold. Payable to the town treasury. But you take her out of this valley today, and if I ever see her face—or yours—in Oakhaven again, I’ll put a bullet through both of your hearts."
Fifty dollars in gold was a massive sum—more than three months' wages for an ordinary trail hand, enough to buy a dozen head of cattle or a decent horse. Vance expected the stranger to back down, to apologize and ride away like a beaten dog.
Instead, Caleb reached into his inner coat pocket and pulled out a heavy leather pouch. He untied the drawstring and tipped his hand. Three thick gold double-eagle coins clinked softly as they fell into his palm, glinting brightly in the harsh sunlight.
"Fifty dollars," Caleb said, stepping forward and dropping the gold into Vance’s open hand. "Now hand over the key to those irons."
The square fell into a dead, stunned silence. Marshal Vance stared down at the three gold coins resting heavy in his hand, his mouth open slightly in disbelief. The townsfolk on the boardwalk stared open-mouthed, unable to fathom why a lone white wanderer would part with a small fortune for a captive native woman.
Vance swallowed hard, his pride wounded and his greed satisfied all at once. He reached into his vest pocket, pulled out a brass skeleton key on a ring, and hurled it into the dirt at Caleb’s feet.
"Take her and get out," Vance growled, leaning in close so only Caleb could hear. "You're a fool, stranger. She'll slit your throat while you sleep and steal your horse before you reach the river."
Caleb picked up the key without offering a reply. He knelt once more before the woman, inserting the brass key into the lock of her ankle shackles. With a heavy click, the iron jaws sprang open, freeing her legs. Then he pulled out his hunting knife and sliced through the thick leather thongs binding her wrists.
Nalin rubbed her raw, blood-marked wrists, her dark eyes never leaving Caleb’s face. She stood up slowly, her limbs stiff and trembling from hours of forced kneeling. Though she was short in stature, her posture was regal, her chin lifted high as she ignored the angry glares of the surrounding crowd.
Caleb turned to his buckskin stallion, retrieved an old wool blanket from behind his saddle, and draped it over her shoulders to cover her torn dress.
"Can you ride?" he asked her softly in English.
She looked at him, her expression unreadable, then gave a brief, subtle nod.
Caleb helped her up onto the saddle of his stallion. He picked up the leather reins and began leading the horse on foot down the center of the main street, walking slowly toward the southern exit of Oakhaven.
The townsfolk parted reluctantly, standing on the edge of the boardwalks like statues of judgment. Snarls of resentment followed them down the road.
"Indian lover!" a voice shouted from the shade of the blacksmith shop.
"Hope she scalp you before sunrise!" another called out.