His blood turned to ice. He dropped the half-filled buckets and scrambled up the canyon wall, grabbing at roots and rocks, his lungs burning. One shot, run, she ran. He prayed she had run. He burst onto the flat, his rifle ready.
He saw the horses. He saw Hackett on the ground, a pool of blood beside him. He saw Pike, his face a mask of rage. Reed, Pike shouted, pointing a pistol. You will pay for this.
She has mutilated my man. "Where is she?" Daniel roared, his voice inhuman. "Gone," Pike yelled. "Into the rocks."
Jeb, find her. A shout came from the trees. "We got her, Preacher. She's trapped." Daniel did not wait.
He ran past Pike, past the bleeding Hackett, and followed the sounds. He moved with a speed and silence the others did not possess. He was a ghost in the trees, his buckskin shirt blending with the timber. He knew this land. He knew where she would go.
There was a series of ledges, a place they had watched hawks from with a sheer drop to the canyon floor below. It was a dead end. He heard them crashing through the brush ahead of him. He cut left, moving silently over the rockfall. Coming in above them, he found them.
Tyen was on the ledge 10 ft above them, her back to a sheer drop of 200 ft. The carving knife was still in her hand, her knuckles white. She was breathing hard, her eyes darting like a trapped animal, but she was not crying. Jeb Smith and the Drifter were below her, trying to find a way up. "Come down, girl," Jeb was saying, his voice a mocking Weedle.
We ain't going to hurt you. Preacher just wants to talk. "I'll go up," the drifter said, holstering his pistol and grabbing the rock. You cover me. Daniel raised his rifle.
He did not call out. He did not warn them. This was not a fight. This was an execution. He set his sights on the drifter, who was halfway up the rock face.
He squeezed the trigger. The.44 caliber slug hit the man in the center of the back. He grunted, his body slamming against the stone and then he fell, tumbling silently to the base of the cliff. Jeb Smith spun around, his pistol clearing his holster. "What the—?"
Daniel's second shot was ready. It took Jeb in the chest, spinning him around. He staggered, looked down at the blood blooming on his shirt and then pitched forward. Silence. The echo of the shots rolled down the canyon.
Tyen stared, her hand over her mouth. "Daniel," she whispered. He stepped out from the trees, his rifle still shouldered below them on the trail. Pike appeared, his face white. He looked at the two bodies, then up at Daniel.