Jesse. " Then darkness took him. When Jesse opened his eyes, he was lying on his back staring at stars. His chest ached like he'd been kicked by a mule, but the crushing pain was gone. He could breathe. His heart beat irregularly, but steadily.
He turned his head. Nala sat beside him, her hand on his chest, still and watchful. On her other side, Keona sat grinding herbs in a small stone bowl. The smell was sharp and medicinal. "What happened? " Jesse's voice was a rasp.
"Your heart stopped. " Nala said simply. "For maybe 30 seconds. I brought you back. " "How? " "Apache medicine and stubbornness. " She held up a small leather pouch. "Hawthorn berries. They strengthen the heart muscle.
My father taught me. " Jesse tried to sit up. Nala pushed him back down with one hand. "You rest. We have time. " "Crane is hunting us. " "Let him hunt. He will find nothing but empty desert for now.
I hid our trail. It will take him a day at least to pick it up again. " Jesse looked at her in the starlight. Her face was streaked with dust and dried blood. Her shoulder wound had reopened during the ride. She was exhausted, probably in pain, but her eyes remained clear and focused.
"Why, Bash? " Jesse asked. "Why bring me back? You could have left me, taken your sisters and gone. " Nala's expression didn't change. "Because you could have left Marcus to die. You could have ridden away and saved yourself, but you didn't.
That debt needed answering. " "I thought I owed you the debt. " "Perhaps we are even now. " Jesse almost smiled. "Not even close. " He forced himself to sit up despite Nala's protest. His side screamed where the buckshot had torn through, but the wounds were bandaged now. Keona's work, probably. The girl had her sister's skill with healing.
Around them, the small camp had settled into wary rest. Yazzie slept curled against a rock, Keona beside her. Swift Bird sat on watch, his young face serious, a rifle across his knees. The boy had barely spoken since they'd fled Devil's Rim, processing a lifetime of lies in the span of hours. "How long was I out? " Jesse asked.
"4 hours. It's past midnight now. " "4 hours. In that time, Crane could have closed the distance considerably. They needed to move. " "Where are we, Bash? " Jesse asked her in Apache. "20 miles from Devil's Rim, 15 miles from Red Mesa, but we cannot go to Red Mesa.
Too obvious. Crane will have men there. " "Then where? " Nala pulled a crude map from her pouch and spread it on the ground. By starlight, Jesse could make out the major landmarks. Devil's Rim to the northeast. Red Mesa to the south.
Fort Whipple to the west. And to the east, a narrow canyon system marked with Apache symbols. "Echo Valley," Nala said, "sacred ground to my people. Narrow approaches, high walls, defensible positions. If Crane follows us there, we make our stand. " Jesse studied the map.
Echo Valley was a tactical nightmare for attackers, but it was also a trap. Once inside, there was only one way out. "If we go in there and they bottle us up, we die. " "We are already dying," Nala said simply. "You from your heart, Keona from infection, all of us from exhaustion and wounds. At least in Echo Valley, we choose the ground.
We fight on our terms. " Jesse knew she was right. They couldn't keep running, not with Keona's condition worsening, not with his heart ready to quit at any moment. They needed to end this, one way or another. "All right," he said. "Echo Valley, but first we need help. " "What help?
There is no one. " "There's someone. Your aunt, Diving Hawk. Swift Bird says she's been searching for her son for 10 years. " Jesse looked at the young Apache warrior sitting watch. "If she's still looking, she's still in this territory. And if she's still looking, she knows how to survive.
We need that knowledge. " Nala considered this. Then she called softly to Swift Bird. The boy approached, moving silently despite his size. "Swift Bird," Nala said in Apache, "do you remember your mother? " The boy's face twisted with confusion and pain. "I remember.
Pieces. A song she sang. The smell of a feeling of being safe. " His voice broke. "Crane said she abandoned me, that she stopped looking, that I was nothing to her. " "He lied," Nala said gently. "Diving Hawk never stopped.
She has crossed this territory a hundred times searching for you. She is your blood, and blood does not forget. " Tears ran down Swift Bird's face. He was 18 years old, but looked younger in that moment. A boy who'd been stolen and broken, and was just now remembering what he'd lost. "Where would she be? " Jesse asked.
"There is a place," Swift Bird said slowly. "A camp where Apache families gather. Where mothers of stolen children come to share information, to pray, to hope. It is two days ride from here, near the Gila River. " Nala and Jesse exchanged glances. Two days was too long, but if Diving Hawk had knowledge, had resource, had allies, it might be worth the risk.
"We rest until dawn," Jesse decided. "Then we ride for the gathering place. If Crane catches us before we get there, we fight. If we make it, we ask for help. Either way, this ends at Echo Valley. " No one argued.
They were too tired for argument. One by one, they settled into restless sleep, taking turns on watch. Jesse took the last shift before dawn. He sat with his Winchester across his knees, listening to the desert night. Coyotes in the distance.
Wind moving through stone. The rasp of his own breathing. His chest ached, but the pain was manageable now. Nala's medicine had bought him time. How much time?
He couldn't say. Days, maybe. Weeks, if he was lucky. Long enough to see this through. That was all that mattered.