“So it was just the brakes. And there never was any rogue.”
“There was a rogue, Guil, there was for sure a rogue—”
“Before that truck went off? Or later, Hawley? Was there a rogue when you got to that turn? Was there a rogue there then?”
“I don’t know, Guil. It was there, was all.”
“I shot Moon, Hawley. Moon was the rogue.”
“Moon’s dead. I saw her down there on the rocks, I saw <her with Aby.> I saw it, I saw it plain as plain—Ice saw it, Jonas and Luke saw it—we all saw it—Guil, for God’s sake, we didn’t lie to you!”
It hurt, that image. He thought about pulling the trigger and blowing Hawley off the mountain. He thought about not dealing with it at all, anymore. But Hawley—was so damned earnest, Hawley believed what he was saying.
“Hawley, go back and tell Jonas I want to talk to him. Tell Jonas get his ass up here. And get yours out of my sight. Right now.”
“Guil, I’ll give you the money—I swear, I’ll give you the money—I was going to give it to you—”
His finger twitched. Twice. Stayed still, then, the gun unfired. Sight came and went. “Only thing that recommends you, Hawley. You got a single focus. Always know where you are. Always know what matters, don’t you? Truckers put money in your hand and you don’t know how to turn it loose. You get the hell down that road, Hawley, tell Jonas I said get up here. Now. Hear me? You tell Jonas get up here or I’ll blow him to hell. Hear?”
“Yeah,” Hawley said, anxious, confused as Hawley often was. “Yeah.” He swung up on Ice, and rode fast down the hill.
Tara said, faintly, “I think it was the truth, Guil. But it doesn’t make sense.”
He was glad to know that. He didn’t trust his own perceptions. He left the rifle over his knee. He watched as Hawley came down to Jonas; and Jonas looked uphill toward him, and then started up toward him.
“Give the son of a bitch credit,” Guil muttered.
Tara said, his voice of sanity, “You asked him, Guil. Hear him out. You asked to hear him.”
So he waited. He sat with the wound beginning to throb, and knowing if he shot now he was going to have to shoot from the hip.
Jonas rode up all the way, on Shadow. And sat there, to talk to him.
“So?” Guil asked. “Aby didn’t trust you. Truckers bribed Hawley not to tell about the brakes. And the brakes failed. Not a lot of people trusted you, Jonas. What happened up there? You tell me. I want to hear this.”
“We knew there was something on board. Aby didn’t like us knowing. Truckers suspected. And they spooked. Didn’t want to stop, didn’t want to camp out on the road on that height and they didn’t want to leave that damn truck on the High Loop. Guil, I swear to you—Aby didn’t trust anybody. She didn’t want to stop. She was spooked—she knew we knew something, we tried to talk to her, and she wouldn’t have it. It spooked the drivers—”
“Her fault, is it?”
Jonas shook his head. “Brakes failed. Hawley told you—”
“Hawley told me about the brakes.”
“They were taking it too damn fast. Riding the brakes too much. Aby wasn’t with us, she wouldn’t ride near us. The truck went runaway—she was down there. I swear to you, Guil, we did everything we could. It just happened—so fast—”
“She and Moon went over, did they?”
“Both of them.” <Dead, on the rocks.>
“That’s a lie, Jonas.”
Shadow spooked. Made a move forward that Burn opposed with a snarl and a threatened lunge.
And Jonas didn’t answer him. Jonas didn’t know the truth.
“I saw her,” Jonas said. And it was that image again, <Aby and Moon. Together. Dead.> “Guil, I didn’t know about the brakes. Didn’t know until Hawley told me, last night.”
He stayed still, his finger on the trigger. But the pieces fell together, finally.
<Lying on the rocks. Dead horse.> That was where Moon had imaged being. With Aby.
He said quietly, “She fooled you, Jonas. Moon fooled you. You understand. Moon wanted to be down there. In her mind—she was down there. And wasn’t. She was up on that hillside looking down the same as you were, and you saw what she imaged. I tell you, Jonas, I believe you. I believe you about Aby. I believe you about the gold. Which I think is what you came up here to find. Is that true, Jonas?”
“Yeah,” Jonas said after a moment. “Yeah. —But I didn’t know Hawley’d robbed you, Guil. I’d no idea.”
“Just going to turn that box in yourself, weren’t you? Nobody the wiser. You, with big credit with Cassivey.”
“I’d have dealt you in.”
“Yeah, me, who never took the Anveney jobs. I tell you, Jonas, you go on down to the junction. You take that downhill road. And I want you to take Hawley somewhere we won’t meet for maybe, two, three years. Then maybe we’ll talk. You understand me?”
“Guil, we’d take you down country.”
“I’ll handle it. You get to hell off this mountain.”
Jonas stayed still a moment, turned Shadow half-away, then looked back. “There’s some kids, Guil. Rider named Danny Fisher, couple of village kids, on this road. Looking for you. They didn’t have anything to do with this. You want to sweep them up, see they get somewhere safe? Road down’s hell when the snow builds up.”
“Fisher.”
“You know him? He knows you. Horse named Cloud.”
He couldn’t place the name.
But he knew, in one of Jonas’ rare slips, that Jonas had gotten three kids out of Tarmin. Got them on the road. Wanted them safe. Personally—and earnestly—wanted them safe.
A lot like the man he’d known a long time back. He almost relented.
Almost.
Said, “See you another year, Jonas.”
So Shadow went, and Jonas with him. And the ambient was only themselves, and the horses, and the wind.
Chapter XXII
YOU TAKE CARE!” TARA CHANG SAID, WHEN THEY WERE GATHERED in the yard of the rider-shelter, and take care was what Danny meant to do, personally. He’d said his good-byes to Guil Stuart inside: Guil wasn’t on his feet, but would be, they had confidence of that. Meanwhile Burn was taking advantage of an open door and a sunny day. So was Flicker, and Burn was sending Cloud a serious warn-off, <Burn and female, strong male horse, > that had everyone’s nerves on edge.
That was one reason for leaving. The kid bundled in the travois was another: Brionne Goss and her brothers weren’t comfortable companions for nighthorses in a winter shelter, and the first crystal-clear day, with the sun burning bright in the high-altitude sky was a chance Danny knew they couldn’t turn down.
Guil didn’t mind much, Danny figured that for himself. Guil got a winter-over with a damn pretty woman, all to himself, and had a village down the way with a store full of supplies. They’d shared <ham> with Burn and Flicker and, nighthorses being what they were, Burn and Flicker didn’t mind saying they’d take the ham, thanks, but Cloud could take his rider, the <rogue-girl> and the three <males-not-welcome > and hit the road.