Luca Orvane's Arc

Chapter 6 of 8

Five men knelt in the smoke, tied and coughing. The sixth was gone. Luca stood at the shattered door and stared into the dark where the leader had slipped away. No footsteps. No shape against the stars. Just empty desert. Until that man was caught, the ranch stayed out of reach. He would bring reinforcements and burn everything again. Rusty cinched the last knot and brushed dust off his hands. "That's them. Hard part's done, right?" "Not done," Luca said. "The boss ran east. I lose him, he comes back with more men." Rusty tilted his head. The gap in his teeth showed when he grinned. "East, huh. Could help with that. I rode these flats a week. Know where a man goes when he's scared and got no horse." He shrugged. "Maybe. I forget things." Rafe spat. "He forgets whatever's useful. Don't trust him." Luca ignored both. He pulled a scorched photograph from his jacket. His mother, his father, two small boys outside the ranch. The fire had eaten the edges brown. He looked at it for one breath, then pushed it back inside. The man who ran had helped burn that house. Luca could not let him vanish. "Where," Luca said to Rusty. Not a question. Rusty's grin faded a little. He studied Luca's face, then pointed past the broken wall. "Dry creek bed. Cuts north behind them hills. Only water for miles that way. He'll follow it or he'll die." He paused. "That's the truth. For now." Luca whistled sharp. The black steed came out of the wash, coat shining in the low light. He swung up. "Watch the prisoners," he told Rafe. "You're going alone? On his word?" Rafe grabbed the bridle. "He's got nothing to gain by lying tonight," Luca said. "The winning side's right here." Rusty laughed. "Smart man." Luca rode hard along the creek bed. The moon climbed. Half a mile on, he found tracks pressed in the damp sand. Boot prints, deep and uneven, a man moving fast. The trail was real. He ran the steed until a dark shape stumbled ahead. The leader turned, pistol raised. Luca was already low in the saddle. The shot cracked over his head. He drove the horse into the man and knocked him flat. Then he was down, shotgun at the man's chest before he could rise. "Drop it." The leader dropped the pistol. His breath came ragged. "You won't hold the whole gang," he said. "More are coming. Three days out." Luca pressed the barrel harder. "Then I've got three days." He marched the man back at gunpoint. Rafe stared as they came. Rusty clapped once, delighted. Six captured. The smelter was his, every man of the old crew in rope. But the leader's words sat heavy. Reinforcements rode east, and they did not know yet that their boss was already in chains.