Chapter 13

THUD!The sound of breaking bone echoed through the ruined cabin! Vance’s bowie knife dropped from his numb fingers, clattering onto the hearthstones.Ethan grabbed Vance by the lapels of his heavy wool coat, lifted the heavier man off his feet, and hurled him headlong out the open doorway into the deep snowdrift outside the porch!Vance hit the snow with a heavy thud, gasping for air, his nose bleeding profusely, completely broken and defeated.Silence descended back over the ruined ranch house.Ethan stood in the center of the room, his chest heaving, his fists clenched, his gray eyes blazing with a fierce, victorious light.Aiyana walked over to the hearth. She knelt on the floorboards, carefully picked up the undamaged 1872 deed, and stood up.She brushed a speck of soot from the red wax seal, turned around, and held the document out toward Ethan."Our covenant is safe, husband," Aiyana said softly, a radiant, triumphant smile touching her lips.Ethan looked at her standing there in his father's house, holding the paper that saved her people, and felt a wave of profound, overwhelming affection wash over his heart.He walked across the room, took the document from her hand, and then gently closed his fingers around hers."Our covenant," Ethan repeated gently.

Three days later, a grand column of horsemen rode into the high valley of the Northern Ridge under a clear, brilliant winter sun.At the head of the column rode Federal Marshal Thomas Vance—no relation to Silas Vance—accompanied by two territorial land attorneys and Federal Judge Samuel Miller, who had traveled directly from Santa Fe upon receiving Ethan's emergency telegraph from the railhead station.The entire band gathered in the snow-covered yard outside Elder Tahna’s lodge as the federal officials dismounted.Silas Vance and his two hired hands sat bound on their horses, guarded by two federal deputies, awaiting transport to the territorial prison in Santa Fe to face charges of arson, land fraud, and attempted murder.Judge Miller—an elderly, white-bearded man with sharp blue eyes framed by gold spectacles—sat at the wooden table inside the lodge, carefully examining the 1872 deed, the survey map, and the 1870 Territorial Treaty document.He placed his official brass seal onto a fresh sheet of parchment, signing his name in bold black ink.

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