The boy moved surprisingly quickly.

Halfway up, he stopped.

He had found something beneath the cedar bushes.

A leather satchel.

Ayana knelt.

Her breath caught.

Inside was a silver pendant shaped like an eagle feather.

She recognized it immediately.

"This belonged to Samuel."

Elias crouched beside her.

"You're sure?"

"I carved this mark myself."

She turned the pendant over.

A small symbol had been scratched into the back.

Her symbol.

The one she had given her husband years ago.

Ayana's hands trembled.

Then she saw the shackles beneath the rocks.

Rusty iron.

Half buried.

Her face went pale.

Samuel hadn't abandoned her.

He had been captured.

Elias looked at the tracks below.

Five hunters were searching the valley.

Suddenly their escape was no longer just about Ayana.

Someone had followed her because she knew something.

Something connected to Samuel.

Something connected to the people who had been taken.

Elias looked at Ayana.

"What did your husband discover?"

She held the pendant tightly.

"I don't know everything."

"Tell me what you know."

She looked at the boy.

Then at Elias.

"My husband found a group of men selling Native women and children across the territory."

Elias's expression hardened.

"They called themselves traders."

Ayana nodded.

"But they weren't only selling people."

"What else?"

"They were helping wealthy landowners take land."

Elias stared at her.

"How?"

"Families were forced away. Their documents disappeared. New owners appeared. Men who protested vanished."

"And Samuel found proof?"

"Yes."

"Where is it?"

Ayana looked toward the valley.

"I don't know."

The sound of a distant whistle interrupted them.

The hunters had found their trail again.

Elias stood.

"Then we'd better find it before they do."

They reached the plateau before sunset.

Elias found a hidden spring beneath a cedar grove.

The place was sheltered enough to remain invisible from the valley.

They rested there.

The little boy drank first.

Then Ayana.

Then Elias.

Ayana noticed.

"You always let everyone else go first."

Elias shrugged.

"Most days I'm not the one hurting."

She looked at him.

"Who taught you that?"

He was silent for a moment.

"My wife."

It was the first time he had mentioned her.

Ayana waited.

Elias didn't speak for several seconds.

"Her name was Clara."

"What happened?"

"Fever."

Ayana lowered her eyes.

"I'm sorry."

"So am I."

He looked toward the mountains.

"She believed people could choose who they became."

"Do you?"

"I used to."

"And now?"

Elias looked at Ayana.

"Now I think people have to prove it."

She understood.

Trust wasn't given.

It was built.

That night, Ayana told him more.

Samuel had been working with a small group of men who transported horses between Arizona and New Mexico.

He began noticing unusual shipments.

Women traveling under false names.

Children listed as "servants."

Land deeds changing hands.

Payments made in secret.

Samuel discovered that the same men were connected to a wealthy businessman named Victor Harrow.

Harrow owned warehouses, cattle, freight routes, and several large tracts of land.

He had influence in three settlements.

More importantly, he had people willing to do his dirty work.

Samuel tried to expose him.

Then Samuel disappeared.

Ayana had found a note hidden inside their cabin.

It contained only one sentence.

If anything happens to me, find the ledger.

She had searched everywhere.

Then the hunters came.

Elias listened quietly.

"Do you know what the ledger contains?"

"Names."

"Whose names?"

"Everyone."

"Traders?"

"Yes."

"Buyers?"

"Yes."

"Landowners?"

Ayana nodded.

"And officials."

Elias looked toward the valley.

"Then that's why they're hunting you."

"I never found the ledger."

"Maybe Samuel hid it."

"Where?"

Ayana thought.

Then her expression changed.

"The old mission."

Elias looked at her.

"Which mission?"

"San Miguel."

"It was abandoned years ago."

"Samuel used to go there."

Elias stood.

"Then that's where we're going."

They left before dawn.

The boy traveled with them.

His name was Taza.

He had been separated from his family during the storm.

Ayana promised to return him home.

Elias promised to help.

The journey took two days.

They traveled through narrow valleys and dry riverbeds.

They avoided settlements.

Every rider in the distance made them stop.

Every campfire became a possible threat.

By the second night, Ayana had begun trusting Elias enough to ride beside him.

She no longer flinched when he moved.

She no longer watched his hands.

One evening, she asked him a question.

"Why didn't you leave me in the ravine?"

Elias looked at her.

"Because you were hurt."

"That's not enough."

"It is for me."

"You don't understand."

"Then explain."

Ayana stared into the fire.

"Most men don't see a woman in trouble."

"What do they see?"

"An opportunity."

Elias looked away.

"Then those men are fools."

"No."

Ayana's voice became quiet.

"They're worse than fools."

The next morning, they reached San Miguel.

The mission was little more than ruins.

A stone chapel.

Collapsed walls.

An old cemetery.

Elias searched the grounds.

Ayana searched the interior.

Taza wandered near the altar.

Then he called out.

"Ayana!"

She turned.

The boy had found a loose stone beneath the altar.

Inside was a small wooden box.

Ayana's hands trembled as she opened it.