“Outfoxed by a wolf,” Doc commented dryly.
“Something of a first, I imagine, even in Ti-Ra’-Wa.”
“And a last,” Krysty snapped. “I’m heading out to the Wolf Soldiers under a flag of truce. I’ll find Ryan or his body.”
“Or your death,” Joe told her. “Too much blood has now been spilled to call a truce between our factions.”
“We’re not members of any factions,” Krysty said angrily. “We’re bowing out of this intertribal conflict right now.”
Joe sighed, shook his head, then said in a harsh, grim tone, “You came here for gold and you can get it. Tomorrow we’ll start our drive to the Wolf Soldiers’ camp and the cavern. After we’re victorious, you can do whatever you like.”
“Are you deaf?” Mildred demanded. “We’re through with it, through with you.”
“And you’re through, too,” J.B. said, glaring at the Lakota men. “You can never take the camp or the cavern without us. The wolf packs will pull your asses down and tear them to bite-sized pieces.”
Joe straightened his shoulders. “You’re right. But we can do it without you.”
“What do you mean?” Doc asked. “You brought us here to do what you could not.”
“I don’t need you,” Joe answered. “All I need are your weapons.”
With that, Joe reached behind him and brought out J.B.’s Uzi. Little Mountain stepped forward, the Smith amp; Wesson M-4000 scattergun held at waist level.
Krysty and Jak reached for their holstered blasters. Mildred, still ministering to J.B., was caught flat-footed, having left her revolver on the bunk. Doc’s Le Mat was snug inside the sheath strapped to his leg, but the blaster wasn’t designed for quick-draw artists, anyway.
Little Mountain thumbed back the hammer of the scattergun. At the mechanical click, everyone froze, hands on gun butts.
“No,” Joe said. “Go ahead and draw them. Put them on the table and step back. Your cane, too, Dr. Tanner.”
Slowly, faces grim and sick, everyone obeyed and moved against the far wall.
“You five are in a fix,” Joe said curtly. “You have no choice but to live up to your end of our bargain.”
“We’re not helping you,” Krysty replied. “The bargain was we would aid you for gold. We no longer want it.”
Joe chuckled. “You’re forgetting something. I’m your only way of leaving this valley alive. Like Mr. Dix said, the wolf packs guarding the pass will tear you to pieces.”
“What do you propose to do about it?” Doc asked.
“Simple. The prevailing wind blows north toward the cavern, and in this dry season, the woods and prairie grass are like tinder. All we need are a few torches.”
“Fire?” Mildred asked incredulously. “If it gets out of control, the damage to the valley’s ecology will be”
“Shut up!” Joe snapped. “It won’t get out of control, and even if it did, it wouldn’t harm the cavern. Naturally there will be suffering, but that’s the price of any victory.”
Eyes narrowing, he added, “Besides, once I have mastery of the forces within the cavern, I’ll easily restore Ti-Ra’-Wa.”
“Sounds like this thought out,” Jak said. “May work.”
Joe glanced toward him. “I’m glad you approve,” he said sarcastically.
“Didn’t say that.”
Jak gave his right wrist a little shake, and his hand whipped up, a thin, flat, razor-edged knife gripped between thumb and forefinger.
“New contest, Joe,” he said tonelessly. “See how fast you drop blaster before I put this in eye.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ryan was dreaming dreams somebody else wanted him to dream. He thought he was asleep until a clump of thick liquid appeared in his mouth, and he felt, in his sleep, half the lump drip down his chin and the other half slide down his throat.
Whatever the liquid lump was, it had no taste and glided easily into his stomach. Then he dreamed a song that sang itself repeatedly to him, the words in a language he didn’t know but understood.
You toward where the sun goes down, behold me! You where the White Giant lives in power, behold me! You in the depths of the heavens, an eagle of power, behold! And you, Grandmother Earth, the only Mother, you who have shown mercy to your children who have ripped and burned and poisoned you, I shall heal you!