Cole finally asked if someone was following them. Tomas looked toward the distant mountains. Not someone, he said quietly. Several men. Before Cole could ask another question, a gunshot echoed through the valley.
The three strangers immediately became tense. Cole turned toward the hills, but he could not see anyone. That night, after reaching the cabin, Cole gave them blankets and food. He believed the danger might have passed. But before everyone settled down, Saurin quietly told him that the water he had given them may have saved more than three lives.
Cole stared at him. What does that mean? Saurin said nothing. Then a horse moved outside in the darkness. Cole slowly reached for his rifle.
Someone was watching the cabin. Cole remained beside the window. Rifle pressed against his shoulder, watching the darkness outside. The horse had stopped moving, but that somehow made the silence more frightening. The three strangers stayed completely still.
Tomas looked toward the door while quietly moved closer to Saurin. Cole whispered for everyone to remain inside. A few minutes passed. Then he heard the sound again. A boot scraping against dry ground.
Someone was walking around the cabin. Cole slowly opened the door and stepped onto the porch. He scanned the darkness, but the land appeared empty. The moonlight revealed only rocks, trees, and the long shadows of the surrounding hills. Then he noticed something near the fence.
Fresh footprints. Cole crouched and examined them. There were several sets, and they were too deep to belong to someone traveling alone. Whoever had been outside was wearing heavy boots and carrying weight. He returned to the cabin and locked the door.
Tomas finally admitted that the men following them were not ordinary travelers. They had been hunting the three strangers for several days. The group had escaped from a distant settlement after discovering something that powerful men desperately wanted to find. Cole asked what they had discovered. Tomas hesitated.
Ara looked at Saurin. Finally, Tomas said they had found an old record connected to their ancestors. Cole asked where the record was. No one answered. His eyes moved toward the small leather pouch Saurin had been protecting since the moment they arrived.
Saurin slowly removed it. Inside was a small metal medallion covered in scratches and engraved with an unfamiliar symbol. Cole stared at it. He had seen that symbol before. It was carved into the wooden stock of his father's old rifle.
Cole immediately brought the rifle from the corner of the room and placed it beside the medallion. The markings were almost identical. Tomas looked genuinely shocked. He asked where Cole had gotten the rifle. Cole explained that it had belonged to his father, who had died many years earlier.
The rifle was one of the few things his father had left behind. Tomas carefully studied the symbol. He explained that it belonged to an old group of Apache families who had protected a secret for generations. Long before Cole was born, those families had made an agreement with several settlers in the region. The agreement concerned land.