"Sani! " Ayanna screamed. Luke did not hesitate. He lunged, releasing the hand of the woman next to him. He dove into the brown water. He thrashed, fighting the weight of his boots and the pain in his shoulder.
He saw Sani's head bob up, gasping. She was holding the boy up, even as she drowned. Luke reached them. He grabbed Sani's tunic with his good hand. He kicked hard, driving them toward a submerged log.
"Grab it! " Luke roared. Sani hooked her arm over the wood. Luke shoved them toward the far bank, using his body as a rudder against the current. Ayanna and two other women waded out from the shallows, forming a human net. They grabbed Sani, the boy, and finally Luke, dragging them onto the mud.
They lay there, coughing up water, shivering violently. They were alive. Luke looked back at the river. On the far bank, he saw figures on horseback emerge from the brush. The vigilantes.
They stopped at the water's edge. The river was too high, the current too dangerous for horses that were not desperate. The riders watched them for a moment, then turned their mounts around. They had made it. The water that had nearly killed them had saved them.
Three weeks later, they walked out of the desolation and into a valley that looked like a dream. It was hidden between two spines of the Sierra Madre, south of the borderline. The grass here was yellow and tall. There was a creek that ran clear over white stones, and scattered along the creek were small adobe houses, their chimneys trailing smoke. A group of riders came out to meet them.
They were not soldiers. They were men in sombreros, armed with carbines, but their faces were brown and weathered. Some were Mexican. Some looked Apache. Some were white men with long beards.
Luke rode forward, his hands raised. He spoke in Spanish. "We are looking for sanctuary," he croaked. "We have women and children. We are done fighting. " The leader of the riders, a man with a scar across his cheek, looked at the ragged group.
He saw the starving horses. He saw the bandages. He saw the defiance in Ayanna's eyes. He nodded slowly. "There is land near the South Bend," the man said.
"It is rocky, but the soil is deep. If you work it, it will grow corn. " He looked at Luke. "We have one rule here, gringo. No flags. No nations.