Mk's Arc

Chapter 5 of 6

Mk swung the pick at first light. Finn Jarro sat in the shade and marked the slate. Fourteen days on the count. Twelve days on Running Wolf's watch. Two men already on the dune, and Mk chained to this rock. He set the pick down and walked to Finn. He asked to buy the day out. Finn drank and shook his head. The debt was hours, not coin. Mk went back to the rock. The gecko clung to his collar and did not move. Mid-morning a rider stopped at the claim. Red scarf, slow horse. Mk knew the scarf from the sundown trail two days back. The man swung down and gave his name as Silas Blackwood. He wanted water. Finn pointed at the jug. Silas drank and watched Mk work. He said he had passed two men on the dune, digging with a short-handled spade. One tall, one thick in the chest. They had asked him where Finn Jarro's claim sat. Silas said he had told them nothing. He said it plain, no smile. Mk asked what he wanted for the news. Silas said he wanted a favor owed, no more, and rode on. Mk stood with the pick in his hand and counted what he had. Two men on his dune with a spade. Running Wolf still climbing. Fourteen days between him and the sightline rocks. He could not leave the claim without burning the sand-scanner deal and every hour he had already paid. He needed a body on the dune today, not tomorrow. He walked back to Finn and asked for the runner boy again. Finn said the boy was gone to town on his own errand. Mk asked who else moved for hire. Finn thought and named one man drinking at the trading post. Wyatt Redstone. Slow, honest, cheap by the hour. One day added to the count for the send. Mk wrote a second strip of hide. He drew the three-rock bearing at the top. He wrote Running Wolf's name and told Wyatt Redstone to ride the ridge trail, find the guard, and put him on the two diggers by dusk. He wrote Slate Pruett and Rook Galvan under the bearing so Running Wolf would know the faces to move on. He gave the strip to Finn and told him to hold it for Wyatt when Wyatt passed through at noon. Finn scratched a fifteenth mark on the slate. Mk picked up the pick. He had bought a hand on the dune without leaving the claim. He had not bought speed. The two men had a spade and half a day's head start, and every swing of Mk's pick was one swing they took at his sand.