Luca Orvane's Arc

Chapter 4 of 8

The far side of the crossing dropped into a shallow basin, and a town sat in it. Sagging storefronts leaned against each other. A faded sign still read the town's name over a broken porch. Luca reined in behind a low ridge and counted. Seven horses stood tied in the shade of a stable. One was black with a torn saddle blanket he knew by heart. His own horse. The gang had stopped here, and his stolen mount stood twenty yards off. It was time to scout before he moved. Luca left the steed hidden and crept down on foot. He kept to the shadows of the buildings. No voices. No smoke. The horses flicked their tails and nothing else moved. A ghost town, except the gang had been here. He slid along a cracked wall toward the stable and his old horse. A low growl stopped him. A wolf stepped from an alley, thick brown fur and yellow eyes. It stood between Luca and the horses, teeth bared. Luca froze with his hand on his gun. "Wouldn't," a voice said behind him. "She likes you already." Luca turned. A man leaned in a doorway, shirt open, freckles across sun-browned skin, a smirk on his face. He raised two empty hands. The wolf dropped her growl and sat. "Who are you?" Luca kept his gun half-drawn. "Rafe Mercer." He pushed off the frame and stepped closer, too close. "Those are my men. Were my men." He nodded at the horses. "Six of them. They left me here two nights back. Took everything but the wolf." "Your gang," Luca said. "The one that burned my ranch." "That one." Rafe's smirk didn't move. "They don't follow me now. They follow whoever's coming to meet them." He looked Luca over slowly. "Well, hello. A real cowboy. I've been waiting for someone to help me take them down." Luca lowered the gun an inch. "Where'd they go?" "East. The smelter town. They dug in and sent for guns." Rafe crouched by the stable and untied the black horse. He held the lead out. "This one's yours. I watched them steal it. Figured you'd want it back." Luca took the rope. His horse pushed its nose into his chest. The ache in him eased for the first time in days. "Why help me?" Luca asked. "Because I know how they think. You don't." Rafe stood and brushed dust from his hands. "And walking in alone gets you killed. Six men, fresh guns coming. You need me." Luca looked at the wolf, then the man, then his horse. He had come for one thing and found three. An ally who knew the gang from the inside. A beast that answered to him. And a warning. The reinforcements were already on the road. "Saddle up, then," Luca said. "We ride before they get there."