Daniel stood so quickly his wounded shoulder nearly dropped him.
"Tala!"
No answer.
Her blanket lay folded.
Her horse was gone.
So was one rifle.
Daniel searched the ground.
Tracks led east.
"Dammit."
He saddled Amos.
For fifteen minutes he followed.
Then he found her horse.
Alone.
Daniel's stomach turned.
He dismounted.
"Tala!"
A faint voice answered.
"Here."
He pushed through brush.
Tala knelt beside a wounded young man.
Apache.
Daniel recognized him after a moment.
Keme.
The cousin who wanted to accompany him.
Keme's face was pale.
Blood stained his side.
"What happened?"
Tala looked up.
"He followed us."
Keme whispered something.
Tala answered in Apache.
Daniel crouched.
"Raiders?"
She nodded.
"He was looking for us. They found him."
Daniel examined the wound.
Bullet through the side.
Bad.
But survivable.
Maybe.
"We need to move him."
Keme grabbed Daniel's sleeve.
His voice was weak.
"More men."
"How many?"
"Eight."
Daniel stared.
Tala translated further.
The outlaw who escaped had returned to a larger gang.
They were coming.
Daniel looked toward the horizon.
"How far?"
Keme held up one finger.
"Hour?"
Tala nodded.
Daniel cursed.
"We can't outrun them carrying him."
"We will not leave him."
Daniel looked at her.
"I didn't say we would."
Tala's expression softened slightly.
Daniel studied the land.
A rocky pass west.
Steep.
Narrow.
"Can horses climb that?"
Tala followed his gaze.
"Ours can."
"Good."
They lifted Keme onto Amos.
Daniel walked.
Tala led.
The pass was brutal.
Loose stone.
Heat.
Keme drifted in and out of consciousness.
Halfway up, hooves sounded below.
Daniel looked back.
Riders.
"Move!"
They climbed.
Gunshots echoed.
Stone shattered.
Daniel returned fire.
One rider slowed.
Tala pulled Keme's horse.
At the top the trail narrowed between two giant rocks.
Daniel saw opportunity.
"Go!"
Tala stopped.
"What about you?"
"I'll make them think we went south."
"No."
"Tala."
"No."
He stepped closer.
"If they follow us, Keme dies."
"And if you stay?"
Daniel didn't answer.
Tala's jaw tightened.
"I will not be rescued by a man determined to die."
Daniel almost smiled.
"I'm not determined."
"You behave like it."
Another shot struck rock.
Daniel grabbed her reins.
"Get your cousin home."
Tala stared at him.
Then suddenly took the beaded bracelet from Daniel's pocket.
He blinked.
"When did you—"
She wrapped it around his wrist.
"Bring this back to me."
Daniel looked at it.
"Tala—"
"That is not a request."
Then she rode.
Daniel watched until she disappeared.
He turned.
Three riders entered the pass.
Daniel fired toward them.
Then ran south.
For the next two hours he became a ghost.
He fired from one ridge.
Moved.
Fired from another.
Made tracks in soft ground.
Doubled back across rock.
The outlaws followed.
By dusk Daniel had pulled them miles from Tala.
Then his luck ended.
A bullet struck Amos.
The horse screamed.
Daniel fell.
He rolled across sand.
"AMOS!"
The gelding struggled.
Daniel crawled to him.
The wound was in the upper leg.
Not fatal.
But Amos couldn't run.
Riders approached.
Daniel took position behind a rock.
Three men.
He had four rifle rounds.
Three revolver rounds.
"Could be worse," he muttered.
Amos snorted.
"You're right. Could be better."
The first rider appeared.
Daniel fired.
The man fell behind his horse.
Second rider shot.
Daniel ducked.
Third moved around.
Daniel fired twice.
One rider retreated.
The other kept coming.
Then another shot sounded.
Not Daniel's.
The man spun.
Daniel looked north.
Tala.
She rode hard toward him.
Keme was gone.
Safe, apparently.
Daniel shouted, "I told you to go!"
She fired again.
"You talk too much!"
The remaining raider fled.
Tala reached Daniel.
She dismounted.
"You came back?"
"I promised you would bring the bracelet."
"Could've waited."
"I became impatient."
Daniel laughed.
Then he saw tears in her eyes.
Only for a second.
She hid them.
"Keme?"
"Found two of our hunters. They took him."
"Good."
She looked at Amos.
"We walk."
"Long way."
"Then we walk long."
Daniel touched the bracelet.
"You really came back because of this?"
Tala met his eyes.
"No."
The answer hung between them.
Daniel did not ask.
They walked beside Amos through the night.
At dawn the horse could put weight on the leg.
Slowly.
They continued.
No raiders followed.
By afternoon they reached familiar country.
Tala grew quieter.
Daniel noticed.
"Nervous?"
"No."
"Liar."
She glanced at him.
"You are becoming annoying."
"Been told that."
Tala smiled faintly.
Then stopped.
"When we return, people will expect my decision."
"You can say no."
"I know."
"I mean it."
She looked at him.
"You saved me twice."
"Three times if we're counting yesterday."
"You are terrible at modesty."
Daniel laughed.
Then became serious.
"I don't want gratitude mistaken for anything else."
Tala studied him for a long time.
"Neither do I."
"Good."
"Would you leave immediately?"
The question surprised him.
He looked toward the distant ridge.
"I figured that's what I do."
"Because you want to?"
Daniel said nothing.
Tala nodded.
"That is what I thought."
They continued walking.
Near sunset smoke appeared.
The camp.
Tala stopped.
Daniel's chest tightened.
She took a breath.
Then rode ahead.
A child saw them first.
A shout spread.
People ran.
The chief appeared.
Then Tala's mother.
She screamed her daughter's name.
Tala dismounted.
Her mother reached her.
They embraced.
The chief joined them.
Daniel stayed near Amos.
He suddenly felt like an intruder again.
He should leave.
Now.
Before anyone spoke of promises.
Before hope became dangerous.
He turned toward his saddle.
"Daniel."
Tala's voice.
He looked back.
The entire camp had gone quiet.
She stood beside her father.
Ceremonial beads now rested across her shoulders.
Daniel swallowed.
The chief approached.
"You brought my daughter home."
Daniel nodded.
"She brought me back too."
The chief looked toward Tala.
Then at the bracelet on Daniel's wrist.
Understanding entered his eyes.
The camp fires were lit.
People gathered.
Daniel felt trapped.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
A worse kind of danger.
Tala stepped forward.
"You saved my life when you owed me nothing."
Daniel's heart beat harder.
"Now I must decide whether the old promise ends tonight..."
She paused.
"...or begins tonight."
Nobody moved.
Daniel stared at her.
And suddenly the lonely cowboy who had faced bullets without flinching wanted nothing more than to run.
Because bullets could kill him once.
Belonging could give him something to lose again.
---