Trail of Lightning

Chapter 38

Four days have passed.

Sunset on the fifth day draws down in brilliant shades of red and orange and vermillion as I sit on a cliff edge overlooking my trailer. The air’s cool up here in the aspen grove, and I’m hidden well from anyone looking up in this direction. After I left Black Mesa, I wandered for a while. Up in the mountains, living off the little bit of food and water I’d carried in with me. Thirst finally drove me down to the Crystal Valley, but I’ve been up on this ledge for hours and I still haven’t gone down the hill and back to my trailer.

One look and I could tell someone had been there since I left it last. Earlier, I thought I caught the glint of sunshine off a pearl button, a gnarled brown hand pulling back the curtains. But if I’m wrong and it’s not Tah there in my trailer, I think my grief will drown me whole. And if I’m right, well, how do I tell him about Kai? So I stay put, up on the ridge. Out of sight.

My dogs are well. The littlest one, the sole survivor from her litter, sits curled against my legs now. The others are scattered. Out hunting or patrolling or doing what rez dogs do. But this one sticks close to me.

I adjust the lightning blade across my back. I miss my shotgun, but I can’t wear both at the same time, and I’m partial to a weapon that can call down fire from the sky. I have a feeling I might need supernatural help soon. My list of dead is long, but my list of enemies is longer. I have no doubt Neizghání will escape his prison on Black Mesa and come for me someday. This time I know that reunion must end in one of us dead. I expect the Law Dogs may discover the truth about Longarm’s end sooner than later, that death finally catching up with me. Or maybe it’ll be Rissa, good to her word.

The wind picks up again, battering the branches around me. Clouds rolling in too, heavy with rain and seeming to get heavier every hour. They’re a deep gray, almost black, and streaked through with bolts of silver, like a certain medicine man’s eyes. No doubt they promise a deluge once they break.

Something catches my eye down below. I watch my front door open. An old man steps out, a mug in his hand. I can see the white steam rising from the cup, almost smell the rich earthy aroma from here. My stomach rumbles unreasonably.

Tah looks directly at me.

I mutter a curse. Not a very strong one. Of course the old man can see me.

I make my way down the hill, my mutt trailing behind me. Night is settling in and I can hear the forest coming alive. The slow droning of insects, the shuffle of badgers in the thickets, the call of night birds. For the first time in days, I feel some of the heartache of Black Mesa lift from my shoulders.

Tah hands me the cup and I take it. Sip the dark bitter coffee, let it scald my mouth. Smile.

“Come on home, shí daughter,” he says to me, holding my front door open. “We’ll wait for him together.”

I don’t ask how he knows or if he hates me for what I did. I just take the kindness he offers. And wait for that storm, the likes that Dinétah has never seen, to break my way.