Something harder. "You're right. The world doesn't care who I am. But that doesn't mean I have to let it win without a fight."
The first bounty hunter came through the passage, a tall man with a scarred face and a shotgun. He saw them and grinned. "Well, well. The runaway and her pet cowboy."
He raised the shotgun. "Nothing personal, sweetheart. Just business." "It's always just business with you people," Ayah said.
Then she did something Rhett didn't expect. She started singing the same wordless melody she'd used to scare the scouts. But this time, it was different. Louder.
Stronger. The sound filled the chamber, bouncing off the walls, building on itself until it felt like the rock itself was singing. The bounty hunter hesitated. "What the hell is that?"
"A warning," Ayah said. The other two bounty hunters pushed into the chamber, weapons drawn. The singing grew louder, and Rhett felt it in his bones, vibrating through the ground beneath his feet. "Shoot them," the scarred man said.
But before anyone could pull a trigger, the ground shook. Not violently. Just enough to notice. Just enough to make the pool water ripple.
The bounty hunters looked at each other, suddenly uncertain. "It's a trick," one of them said. But his voice shook. Ayah's singing rose higher, and a sound answered it.
A deep groan from somewhere in the earth, like the canyon itself was waking up. "The hell with this," the third bounty hunter said, backing toward the passage. "I'm not dying in a cave for $100." He ran.
The other two stood frozen for another moment, then followed, nearly tripping over each other in their haste to get out. When they were gone, Ayah stopped singing. The chamber fell silent. Rhett stared at her.
"What was that?" She sank to her knees, trembling. "I don't know. I just... I remembered what my grandmother taught me about how sound travels through rock."
"How, if you hit the right frequency, the whole canyon resonates." "You made them think the place was coming down." "Maybe it was." She looked at the water, at the crack of light above.
"Or maybe the ancestors were listening after all." Rhett holstered his gun and knelt beside her. "You all right?" "I think so."
She leaned against him, exhausted. "Did I really just scare away three armed men with a song?" "You really did." "My grandmother would be proud."
"She'd be terrified." "I know I am." Ayah laughed. Tired, slightly hysterical, but real.
"We can't stay here, can we?" "No. They'll come back. Maybe not those three, but others. Coleman's not going to give up."