Silence.
J.B. was still holding the Uzi at his hip, finger on the trigger. Ryan noticed that the blaster was set on full-auto, ready for a lethal burst of fire. “You letting us in, or do we keep on walking?”
“Keep your dick in your pocket, mister. No need for too much rushing.”
“You said about you’d been at Mom’s Place, stranger?” another voice said.
Ryan nodded. “Sure have.”
“Was things snug when you left?”
“Snug? Don’t—”
“We seen signs of fire. Big column of smoke. Seemed to come from roundabouts where Mom has her place. You didn’t see nothing at all?”
“Don’t look back that much. Just forward.” He turned and looked behind them, scanning the horizon. “I don’t make out any fire. The place stood all right when we left. Had us an early breakfast and left around dawn.”
“We got a patrol heading out that way later on this morning. Check it out.”
Ryan waited. There was a tension and a suspicion in the air. It was unmistakable, lying on the tongue, bitter and cold. And that wasn’t so unusual in frontier pesthole villes. But he didn’t feel any serious imminent threat. The short hairs of his nape stayed flat.
The first voice came back. “There any more in your party, mister?”
“No. What you see is what there is.”
“You aiming to visit or stay?”
“Who knows? My old father used to say that you had to walk that lonely valley by yourself.”
There was a sound of a muttered conversation from among the trees. J.B. shuffled a few paces to his left, coming closer to Ryan.
“Think they’re going to let us in, bro? Sounds like they run a tight ville.”
“Not a bad thing. They sound like bottom-line sec men, guys who think with their blasters.”
The first voice came again. “Yeah. We found out the brothers you saw yesterday. They filed a report with us, last night, on a half-dozen outlanders at Mom’s Place. Said you might be along here this morning.”
“Good.”
“Sure. Also said to watch you. Wondered if you was mercies on the hunt. Or bounties?”
“Not these days. Just traders who’ve had some hard times. Lost our rig. Been traveling across Deathlands, here and there, picking up what we can. We’d appreciate being able to stay a few days with you.”
“What you got to offer? Trade them blasters for some food and beds?”
Ryan shook his head. “Not the blasters. But we can trade some of our time. We heard you had troubles with some local Apaches. Long way off their hunting lands.”
“Mescalero. Been trouble for a while to the Children. Brother Joshua’s named them as wolf’s-heads. Means we can chill them when and where we see them. It’s a real bitter mort-feud. You run in with them?”
Ryan considered telling the unseen guards about their bloody confrontation with the Apaches, deciding on balance that one of the Trader’s maxims about telling what you had to and not a word more was appropriate.
“No. Heard of them. We’d lend a hand in exchange for bed and board.”
“Have to put it to Brother Joshua. He’s the voice of the grail up here.”
“Grail?”
Doc hissed an answer to Ryan’s question. “Grail, Holy. Reference to the drinking cup of Christ. As used at the alleged Last Supper. Then utilized by legendary figure of Joseph of Arimathea to catch drops of Savior’s blood after crucifixion. Taken, allegedly, to England and has strong links with King Arthur, mythical ruler of part of Britain during dark ages. A very potent symbol of religious power.”
The long explanation brought on another of the old man’s coughing fits, doubling him over, hands on knees, his whole body racked by the effort.
“Thanks, Doc,” Ryan said.
“What was he saying, there?” demanded the second of the hidden voices.
“Nothing to signify,” Ryan replied. “Getting sort of cold standing here. If you don’t want us, then that’s fine. We’ll be moving on.”
“Sure are fucking hasty, friends,” said the first speaker. “Come ahead, but just don’t make any sudden movements to get us nervous.”
THEY FILED along the trail. There was still no sign of the watchers, but Ryan was aware of being checked out from both sides of the track. One thing that he noticed was the size of the trees. They had been among huge conifers and sequoias for some time, but there seemed to have been a quantum leap in the past half mile or so. From very big to gigantic.