Relic

by Renee Collins

  The sincerity in his voice silenced me. We walked along for a moment. Landon took off his hat and shuffled it in his hands, clearly frustrated. I pursed my lips. I knew I was being harsh; I could see that. And Papa always said everyone deserved a second chance.

  “So you’re a cowboy, huh?” I asked, shooting him a sidelong glance.

  He perked up a little. “Yes, ma’am. One of Señor Castilla’s finest. And a skilled fighter of rock devils, if I do say so myself.”

  I’d heard stories of cowboys but had never met one before. Ranchers hired them to move their cattle and horses and whatever other livestock they had to different grazing locations. But given that a pair of rock devils could wipe out half a herd of cattle in one night, and one organized pack of ghost coyotes could take out a whole one, the cowboys also had to be skilled warriors. I’d heard they carried infinitely growing behemoth rope, and that they had rare goblin bones, which could cause the user to blend into whatever landscape he was in, essentially giving him invisibility. Or giving invisibility to his herds. Very useful. And very expensive.

  But the trademark weapon of the cowboy was the dragon-claw rifle. For most people, fire relics brought an agitating effect, which made them less than ideal in an intense situation, so ranchers hired men with not only physical strength but cool heads. The cowboys displayed their dragon-claw rifles as a proud badge of this composure.

  It went without saying that for a man to be given the use of those relics, not to mention a rancher’s entire livestock, he’d proved he had to be more than trustworthy. If Landon really was a cowboy, then I could count myself lucky indeed to have such an escort.

  Though I wasn’t about to tell him that.

  When we reached The Desert Rose, Landon stood beside the closed doors, leaning against the wall. He studied me with a smile, and I couldn’t help noticing how blue his eyes were even in the dim moonlight. My face heated a little under his gaze. Trying to look confident, I smoothed my damp hair out of my eyes.

  “Well, thank you. I think I’m safe now.”

  For the second time that night, Tom broke up the moment. He pushed out the swinging double doors of the saloon.

  “You again?” he said, eyeing Landon, his tone ripe with disapproval. His gaze then fixed on my wet clothes, and his dark brow furrowed. “What happened here? Are you all right, Maggie?”

  As gruff as he could act sometimes, Tom had been like a protective big brother to me from the beginning. My first day at The Desert Rose, I caught him watching me real strange, like he knew something. I couldn’t figure out what to make of it, but he’d treated me kindly every day after. I figured he just needed to get used to me.

  “I’m fine,” I said. “This gentleman was just leaving.”

  Tom frowned. “Where’s Adelaide?”

  The image of Adelaide, locked in an embrace with the darker cowboy, shot into my mind, and I was certain my face fell to match. Dropping my gaze from Tom’s, I fingered the damp hem of my blouse. “She’s coming. When…when I fell into the river, she ran for help. This cowboy here came to our aid, and…Adelaide is still talking with his friend. Letting him know I’m all right.”

  Tom’s face betrayed nothing as to whether or not he believed my story. He gave Landon one final, piercing look, then turned back to his post.

  I blew out a little sigh of relief.

  “Nicely handled,” Landon said, grinning. He had been watching me the entire time. He tipped his hat, not taking his eyes off me. “Good night, ma’am. It’s been a pleasure.”

  I looked away, smoothing down my skirt again to show that I wasn’t as ruffled by his words as I felt. “Yes, well… Good-bye.”

  When I glanced back, he was laughing quietly to himself.

  I put my hands on my hips. “Did I say something that amused you?”

  In response, he took a step closer, smiling. I knew I should smack him for being fresh, but instead my stomach fluttered like a caged bird. I couldn’t look away from his gaze.

  A distant scream shattered the moment like a hammer to glass. It was the sound of pure terror.

  We both spun in the direction of the noise. A lone man sprinted toward us from up the otherwise dead-still street, screaming at the top of his lungs. Landon and I exchanged a look, and without saying a word, ran to meet him at the same time.

  The screams didn’t let up. Sudden patches of light illuminated windows all along the main street. A few people in nightclothes stepped out looking bleary-eyed but frightened. Tom and Mr. Connelly ran from the Desert Rose to see what the commotion was.

  The man, a Chinese laborer covered with dirt, ran straight for us.

  “Huo,” he said in a frantic rasp. “Huo!” He gripped Landon by the shirt. “Ta wen lai dau!”

  “Easy there,” Landon said, prying him off. “Take it easy.”

  “What in the hell’s got your goat?” Tom asked. “Wakin’ up everybody in the town like that?”

  “Huo!” the laborer said, eyes wide.

  “How about you try telling us in English, boy,” Connelly said. “We don’t talk your damn Chinese gibber jabber.”

  The laborer trembled all over, pale as death. “Ah…pah…chey,” he said, struggling to enunciate the words through his terror. “Ah pah chey!”

  The small crowd that had gathered around exchanged confused looks. But his words struck me right in the chest.

  “Apache,” I whispered. Landon heard me, and our eyes met with a flash of fear.

  His voice was louder. “Apache.”

  The word seemed to suck the air from the street. The laborer nodded frantically. “Ta wen lai dau!” He pointed to the flickering lantern that hung by the door outside a nearby shop. “Huo!”

  I stared at his shaking, dirty hand, and all at once I could see it wasn’t dirt. Of course it wasn’t. I knew that color, that smell. Better than I wanted to. It was ash and smoke.

  Huo. He meant fire.

  Chapter Six

  The next few moments were a blur of sounds. Panic spread quickly. It was partly helped by the arrival of others rushing down Main Street, shouting for help. Within a few moments, everyone in Burning Mesa seemed to be awake and caught up in the fear.

  “It’s at the excavation camp!” someone shouted.

  Less than a half mile out of town. The flames would arrive in a matter of minutes.

  In my mind, all I saw was fire. Vast, angry orange flames, spreading with unnatural power. Devouring everything in their path. The fire that had destroyed my home. The fire that had killed my parents. Memories I had tried so hard to keep at bay now crashed down on me like a rockslide.

  The commotion of the street pulled me back to the moment. Everywhere voices echoed together in the night like thunder.

  “Run for your lives!”

  “We won’t go down like Haydenville! We’ll fight!”

  “Pray for God’s mercy on our souls!”

  Nausea rippled through me. I turned dizzily and would have tripped to the ground if a pair of strong arms hadn’t caught me.

  Landon.

  “You all right, Maggie?”

  “Ella.” In spite of the chaos in my head and around me, the only thing that mattered sprang to my lips.

  “Ella!” I said again.

  Landon looked confused. “Who?”

  “My little sister.” I clung to his shirt. “You have to take me to her. Right now!”

  “Take you where? I—”

  “I’ll run all the way there if I have to.” I turned and broke into a dizzy sprint, but Landon caught up with me. He hooked his arm around my waist to slow me down.

  “Maggie! Hang on.”

  “No!” I was gripped with horrible visions of the St. Ignacio mission engulfed with flame. “Let me go! I have to save her!”

  “I’ll take you,” Landon said, holding my hands, trying to calm me down. “Of course I will. But you gotta relax. You’re going to make yourself faint.”

  “I won’t relax. Not until she’s safe in my
arms.”

  Landon’s eyes met mine, his gaze so sincere that I was thrown off. “We’ll get there in time,” he said. “I give you my word. Just tell me where to go.”

  As we pushed through the confusion in the streets, I heard Adelaide shouting for me. I turned to see her and Bobby close behind.

  “Thank God you’re all right,” she said, out of breath from running. “We feared the worst.”

  “Where you heading?” Bobby asked Landon.

  “I’ve got to get my sister,” I said. “We have to hurry.”

  Bobby nodded. “We’ll come with you.”

  We rode into the night, two horses galloping as fast as they could go. Landon and me astride his horse Titan, with Adelaide and Bobby close behind. I hesitated to put my arms around Landon’s waist at first, but as we bounded over the sagebrush and red sand, I found myself holding tighter. I buried my head into his shirt and whispered again and again, “Please. Please let her be safe.”

  When the dim, moonlit outline of St. Ignacio’s rose unscathed over the horizon, my heart nearly burst from my chest. We weren’t safe yet, but at least I hadn’t come too late. I jumped from the saddle before Landon had slowed Titan to a full stop, not even bothering to look back. I didn’t greet any of the friars, who clustered in a panicked mass in the main courtyard. I didn’t stop until I reached Ella. She was sitting on one of the benches in her nightclothes, afraid and alone—but safe.

  She spotted me and let out a cry, jumping to her feet. We met halfway in a colliding embrace. With my arms tight around her, I dropped to my knees.

  “I’m here,” I whispered. “I’m here.”

  “I thought you’d been burned,” she said, her tiny body shaking.

  “No. Never. I’d never leave you.”

  I stroked her head, kissed her face. It felt like it had been weeks since she did so much as look at me. This newfound tenderness made my heart burst. “We’ll be okay,” I whispered. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  She wiped her nose on her sleeve. “The fathers said Burning Mesa is going to be burned like Haydenville.”

  I didn’t know what to say to this, so I pulled her back into my arms. “Whatever happens, we’ll be okay.”

  Behind us, the chaos of the friars reminded me that St. Ignacio’s was far from safe. We had to get out of there, head for the mountains or something. The fleeting thought came that I should try and find Yahnuiyo, the Apache brave who’d saved us the last time we’d faced these mysterious fires.

  But then the idea seemed crazy. The Chinese man had said the Apaches were the attackers, like he’d seen them with his own eyes. Suddenly, I didn’t know what to believe.

  I looked up at Landon, who stood back with Bobby and Adelaide. They watched the doors, antsy to leave. Reluctantly, I broke out of my embrace with Ella.

  “I have to talk with these folks here. But you stay right beside me.”

  Landon approached me as I stood. “One of the friars is saying the attack is already contained.”

  I frowned. “How can that be possible?”

  Landon shook his head.

  “I still say we get out of here,” Adelaide argued. “You boys ought to know some places we can hide. Somewhere along your trail.”

  “It’s too risky,” Landon said. “Those Apaches know the mountains better than we do.”

  “Well, it beats staying here and being burned to death.” Adelaide crossed her arms.

  Beside me, Ella whimpered, and I pulled her closer. “No one is going to be burned,” I said firmly. “We’ll go on foot if we have to.”

  “We need to wait and see what’s happening,” Landon insisted. “The friars said they’ve sent a man into town to find out what’s going on.”

  Bobby rubbed his forehead grimly. “I don’t know…”

  But at that moment, the decision was made for us. One of the younger friars burst into the courtyard, red-faced and dripping with sweat.

  “It’s over,” he cried, panting. “It’s all over.”

  “It’s over?” I asked, filled with images of Burning Mesa as nothing but a smoldering pile.

  Father Cortez stepped forward. “Tell us what you know, my son.”

  “Those Apaches attacked the Chinese excavator’s camp. But Sheriff Leander got there before it spread to Burning Mesa. There’s word they even caught a few of them.”

  “So we’re safe, then?” Bobby asked, frowning. “How can we be sure?”

  “I saw the camp with my own two eyes,” the younger friar said. “It’s nearly burned to the ground, to be sure, but the flames have been put out, and there’s no sign of any more Apaches.”

  Father Cortez kissed his rosary. “Praise to God we have been spared.”

  I squeezed Ella’s hand. “You see? We’re safe.”

  Given it was such a late hour, and we were too jittery to leave anyhow, Father Cortez agreed to let us all stay the night in the nuns’ wing.

  As I tucked the blankets over Ella, I couldn’t help but notice that she looked thinner. I knew the sisters were giving all they could, but it still wasn’t enough. If only I could do more.

  “Don’t leave me,” she whispered, gripping my hand.

  “I won’t, I promise.” I kissed her soft, warm forehead.

  “And I wanna keep the candle burnin’,” she said.

  I smiled. “Sure, baby girl.”

  It was the nickname Jeb always called her. Ella’s eyes flicked to mine, but she didn’t say anything. I knew I could never replace Jeb, but I had a mind to do everything in my power to at least be as good to her as he had been.

  I stayed on the edge of the hard little bed as Ella drifted into sleep. Bobby and Adelaide sat up on the cot against the other wall, their hands entwined. Landon took a chair, though he barely sat on the edge, too tense to stay still. All of us were too shaken.

  I glanced at Landon. I’d been too hard on him, that much was clear.

  “Thank you,” I said softly. “For taking me here. It was a real decent thing to do for a stranger.”

  He smiled. “We escaped death together. I wouldn’t call us strangers anymore.”

  I couldn’t help but smile back. “I guess you’re right.”

  After a pause, Landon motioned to the one other cot in the sparse white room. “You should probably try and get some sleep. It’s awful late.”

  “What about you?”

  “I’ll be fine.” He fingered the rim of his hat. “Can’t sleep, anyway.”

  “Neither can I.”

  Adelaide shivered, pulling the worn blanket closer. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to sleep again. How can we, when we know those Apaches are out there, waiting to burn us in our beds?”

  I winced at her words, though I wasn’t sure if it was out of fear or some strange feeling of loyalty to Yahn.

  Bobby put his arms around her. “I won’t let that happen.”

  “How can you stop it?”

  He traced a finger down the line of her jaw, stroked a loose, pale lock of her hair. “Maybe we should get out of this town once and for all. Get far away from here. You and me.”

  “Oh, Bobby.” Adelaide gripped his neck. “I wish we could.”

  They began to kiss, and I looked into my lap, embarrassed.

  Landon snorted. “And I wish I could get far away from you two and your lovemakin’.”

  They ignored him, if anything becoming more entangled in their passionate embrace. Landon and I exchanged an uncomfortable smile, shaking our heads. He scooted his chair in front of me. “At least I can block the lady from having to see such things.”

  Landon’s knees brushed against mine, and I suddenly found it hard to meet his gaze. For a moment, we were quiet. Then Landon spoke.

  “She’s real sweet.” He was looking at Ella, who was sleeping soundly now. I smiled and slid my hand down her cheek.

  “I can tell you love her a lot,” he said. “She’s lucky to have you.”

  If only he knew that I’d nearly
gotten her killed the night of the razing. That I’d let my brother stay behind in the flames and face a terrible death.

  “No,” I whispered.

  “She is,” he insisted. “You’re giving her everything you can. You’re not…shutting her out in your grief.”

  His words drifted off, and I didn’t pursue it, remembering about his pa, who didn’t speak to him.

  “I just wish I could give her so much more.” I picked at a stray thread on her blanket. “If I were smarter or clever with a craft, I could earn us enough money to live together somewhere nice. Be a proper family.”

  “You seem pretty sharp to me.”

  “I’m not. Trust me. My reading and letters are weak. I could never teach. And I can’t sew a button for anything. All I know about are relics, and a lot of good that will do a girl like me, without two pennies to rub together.”

  Landon was quiet for a moment, shuffling his hat in his hands. “What happened to your parents?”

  The words came slowly. “They died with everyone else in the Haydenville razing.”

  Landon exhaled and scraped a hand through his hair. “Aw, Maggie, I’m sorry.”

  I shook my head. The tenderness in his voice only sharpened my pain. His warm hand covered mine as he sat back, analyzing me in the dim candlelight. “You’re a brave girl, Maggie. I’m awful glad I stepped out to see the stars tonight.”

  My stomach fluttered a little. “I should get some sleep,” I said, too shy to meet his gaze.

  “Sounds good.”

  I lay down on the stiff cot, turning my back to Landon. But somehow, as I drifted off to sleep, I knew he was watching me.

  Chapter Seven

  The tension from the night before still simmered in the streets of Burning Mesa the next day, thick as the smell of smoke that hung on the air. But Mr. Connelly insisted that was all the more reason for the show to go on. Adelaide’s weekend revue would continue as planned. I thought it seemed a rotten thing to demand of her after the scare we’d all had, but as usual, the crowds flocked to see Miss Adelaide Price. Apparently a little diversion was just what they were after.