You work, you live. You bring trouble, you leave. " "We are done with flags," Luke said. It was not paradise. It was a hard, scratchy existence. They had to build their own shelters from mud and straw.
They had to clear the rocks by hand. The winter was coming, and food was scarce. But there were no bugles at dawn. There were no patrols. There was only the work and the sleep that came without fear.
A month after they arrived, the first frost coated the yellow grass in silver. The women gathered in the largest of the new adobe huts. It was time. Luke was summoned. He stood before them.
He was thinner than he had been when he was captured, his face gaunt, his hair long and shaggy. But his eyes were clear. "Nalin gave us a law," Ayanna said. She stood in the center, looking more like a leader than ever before. "She said you would live only as long as you pleased the women of the tribe. " Luke nodded.
"I remember. " "She said you must work. You must obey. You must be useful. " Ayanna looked around the room. "Sani. " Sani stepped forward. "He saved my son from the horse.
He saved him from the river. He dug the well that gave us water when the spring failed. He pleases me. " "Dasan. " The widow nodded. "He carried the stones for my house. He buried my sister with respect.
He fought the soldiers on the ridge. He pleases me. " One by one, the women spoke. They did not speak of the man who had guided the soldiers to Arroyo Seco. That ghost was still there, but it had been buried under the weight of the deeds he had done since. They spoke of the man who had braided ropes, who had held up the roof in the storm, who had taken a bullet for the children.
"He has paid the debt. An older woman said, "He is free. " Ayanna turned to Luke. "You are released, Luke Carver. " She said formally. "The debt is gone. You are free to leave.
You can go north. You can go to the white settlements. You are no longer a prisoner. " The room was silent. They waited. Luke looked at the door.
It led to the open valley, to the road that could take him back to a world where he spoke the language, where he could be a rancher again, where he didn't have to be a pariah. He looked back at the women. He looked at Sunny's son playing in the corner. He looked at Ayanna. He saw the fear in her eyes, hidden deep behind the stoic mask.