"Do you understand?"
"I think so."
Kuruk looked at Takala. "What is your choice?"
She was silent for a long moment. When she spoke, her voice was steady but quiet. "I choose to stay. Not because I have forgiven him."
"But because I have nowhere else to go, and because... because he lost his family too. We understand each other's pain."
It wasn't love. It wasn't even friendship. But it was something.
A beginning, maybe. Kuruk nodded slowly. "Then the debt is paid as much as it can be. Takala is yours."
"And you are responsible for her safety and happiness. If you fail in this, you will answer to me. Is this clear?"
"Very clear."
The old warrior with the scar moved his horse closer. He spoke to Kuruk in Apache, his tone urgent. Kuruk listened, then turned back to me. "Mosca says he knows you from many years ago."
I looked at the old warrior more closely. Something about him was familiar, but I couldn't place it. Mosca spoke in halting English. "Fort Craig, 1870."
"After battle. You stop soldier from shoot me. You say... you say enough blood. You let me go."
The memory hit me like a physical blow. I did remember. A wounded Apache warrior lying in the dirt after a skirmish. A young private named Collins standing over him with a pistol ready to finish him off.
And me, newly promoted to sergeant, stepping between them and saying exactly what Mosca had quoted. I'd forgotten about it. One small act of mercy in years of violence. But Mosca had remembered.
"I remember," I said.
"You saved my life then. You saved Chaska now. Two lives you give my people."
"This is why Kuruk trust you. This is why I tell him send Takala to see if you are same man."
So that was it. The real reason behind Kuruk's test. Not just gratitude for saving Chaska, but a deeper evaluation based on my past actions, both good and bad. Kuruk mounted his horse.
"The army is coming. Captain Hollis has convinced his superiors that my people are planning attacks. It is not true, but truth does not matter to men who want war."
"When they come, you may be caught between us. I am telling you this because you have earned that much."
"When?" I asked.