They bound his hands so tight the rope cut into his skin. Ayanna broke free from the women. She stood before him, her chest heaving, her face wet with tears. I trusted you, she sobbed. I let you touch my hand.
I am sorry, Luke said. Tears blurred his own vision. Ayanna, I would give my life to change it. Your life is not enough, she shrieked. It is not enough.
The council that followed was a storm of fury. The women gathered in a tight circle, their voices overlapping in a cacophony of grief and rage. The revelation had shattered the fragile trust Luke had built. He was no longer the rancher who fixed fences. He was the architect of their destruction.
Kill him, Ayanna demanded, pacing the circle like a trapped cat. He is a murderer. He is the reason we are hiding in this hole. He deserves to die slowly. He has saved us, too, Sunny argued, though her voice was shaking.
He saved my boy. He fixed the well. He did it to save his own skin, Ayanna countered. He is a liar. He's been lying every day, every time he looked at us.
He knew what he had done. He did not know it was your village, Nalin said quietly. It does not matter, Ayanna screamed. The dead do not care what he knew. She turned to Nalin, pointing a trembling finger at Luke, who sagged against the post, his head hanging low.
If we let him live, we insult every ghost in the ground. We invite the bad spirits. He must die. Tonight. The women debated.
The moral tangle was raw and bitter. Some wanted revenge. Some, the more pragmatic ones, looked at the coming war and wondered if they could afford to kill their only military advisor. But the pain was too fresh. The name Arroyo Seco was a wound that would not close.
We will vote, Nalin decided. She picked up a black stone and a white stone. Luke watched them. He felt a strange sense of calm. He deserved this.
He had always known, deep down, that the past would catch him. He looked at Ayanna. She was staring at him with a hatred that broke his heart, but he did not blame her. If you are going to do it, Luke said, his voice carrying across the silence, do it quick. He looked at Ayanna.