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Behind him, the other centaurs broke into laughter. Shannon’s anger boiled over into rage.
“In that case, you already have all the damn horses you need,” she shouted. “What makes you think it’s okay to just come along and demand we give you ours?”
The laughter instantly stopped, and Shannon’s blood went cold. The centaur leader snapped his head in her direction, and his eyes seemed to stab into her like daggers. In her peripheral vision, she could sense Tanner giving her a sharp look of his own.
Logan cleared his throat.
“Please forgive the woman’s thoughtless words. She’s been through a lot. And she has a good point, even if it was ill-phrased. We need our horses to survive. What need have you for them?”
“Our herd dwindles,” the leader said, turning his attention back to the dark-haired alpha. “We have mares, but our stallions are all dead. Without stallions, our herd will die.”
“Well, why didn’t you say so?” Logan exclaimed.
He swung down off his saddle and walked over to where Tanner was sitting atop his golden palomino. The alpha cowboy was still holding the reins of the dark bay that had belonged to the late Gilbert Blaylocke, and which was now riderless. Shannon saw one of those silent, communicative looks pass between the two alphas, as if Logan had winked at his brother without actually winking.
Tanner handed over the reins, and Logan led the horse over to the centaur leader, where he presented it with all the skill of an auctioneer on a stage.
“This here horse belonged to that woman’s late husband. A beautiful animal. Strong too. I’ll admit, he’s a bit wild, but I reckon that’s because he’s so anxious to breed, and at three years old, he’s at the perfect age to start. We were planning to use him to haul any ore we might find, but it sounds like you would have more use for him.”
The centaur leader eyed the horse appraisingly, but said nothing.
Logan opened the saddle bags and took out Blaylocke’s gunbelt and revolvers. He raised them up so the centaurs could see.
“We’ll give you his weapons too. These are quality handguns, forged back east in New York. Plenty of ammunition in those bags too.”
The centaur leader thought for a moment.
“One horse? And two guns? This is what you give us for passage?”
“And one more thing,” Logan said. “Information.”
“I am listening.”
“There’s a band of riders on our trail. Two dozen of ’em. Part of the same gang of bandits who attacked this woman and her husband, and now they want revenge on us for running off their friends. They have guns… and many horses.”
“It sounds as though you want us to solve a problem for you,” the centaur leader said, and a smile flickered across his mouth. “You have a clever tongue, alpha, but you also have a brave heart. We will accept this horse, and those guns, and your information…”
The leader gestured for one of the other warriors to take the reins from Logan.
“…And I will giveyousome information in return,” he went on. “You say you are going to those mountains to look for ore? My people never go to those mountains, for that place is haunted. We know this, because sometimes at night we have seen strange lights from the spirits who reside there. However, when I was younger, I would sometimes meet a man riding through this desert. A redhair. He was not afraid of the spirits. He was not afraid of anything. He would ride into those mountains, and when he came back down, his bags would be loaded with firestone ore. He always gave some to me and my people to use in our furnaces, and so we let him pass through our land unharmed, for he was generous and fearless—and perhaps a little crazy. I believe that may be the reason why the spirits also let him pass.” He smiled again, and this time it was directed at Shannon. “You are like him, generous and fearless and a little crazy. Who knows, maybe the spirits will let you pass too.”
And with that, the leader reared up on his hind legs and let out a loud cry. The other warriors answered with cries of their own, and together they galloped off into the desert with Blaylocke’s bay running along beside them. Their hoofbeats gradually died away into a faint murmur, until finally all that was left of them was a silent cloud of dust on the horizon.
CHAPTER 28
Rufus yawned and stretched out in front of the small campfire the alphas had built. It had only been dark for about an hour, but the desert air was already turning cold, and although Rufus had a nice thick coat of fur to keep his body warm, the extra warmth from the fire felt good.
After the centaurs, the day had been uneventful, but it had also been long and hard. They had crossed many miles of barren desert before finally reaching the foot of the mountains sometime in the late afternoon. They’d found a place where a thin, clear stream trickled down from the rocks, forming a little oasis at the edge of the desert. There was grass for the horses, and even a few cottonwood trees whose limbs and leaves would disperse the smoke from the campfire. The whole area was ringed with red boulders, so nobody would see the flames from afar. It was the perfect place to stop and rest for the night.
And Rufus was ready for some rest.
It had been a long, long day.
While the others were setting up camp, he had scouted the surrounding area for signs of predators but found nothing. Just to be safe, he’d gone around and marked the perimeter with his scent to ward off any dangerous animals that might pass that way during the night. As dusk was settling over the land, he’d hunted down some jackrabbits. The first, he’d eaten whole. The second, larger one he’d brought back to camp so the others could have some fresh meat to go with their other food. Tanner had skinned it and seasoned it, and now he was turning it on a stick over the fire, filling the air with the aroma of roasting meat. Although Rufus preferred his food bloody and raw, he had to admit, the alpha’s cooking smelled pretty good.
Not half as good as Shannon smelled, though.
While Tanner was cooking, the woman had gone over to the stream to wash away some of the dust and sweat from the day’s journey. Just as the alpha was taking the rabbit off the fire, she came walking back into camp, wringing the water from her long, dark hair. She looked around for a place to sit, then settled down right in front of Rufus so that her back was pressed against his furry body.
