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Stories

“Think You Can Handle All Three of Us?” the Three Sisters Asked the Cowboy in His Barn — What Happened Before Dawn Changed the Whole County

Chapter 10

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"Diablo Canyon is the only way through the ridge without taking the main wagon trail," Ethan explained without looking back. "It’s narrow, it’s rough, and it’s miserable. Which means Rourke won't expect us to bring horses through here.""Unless he assumes we're smart enough to avoid the main road," Ruth pointed out.Ethan glanced back at her, a tiny smile playing on his lips. "You always look for the darkest cloud in the sky?""In my experience," Ruth said flatly, "the dark cloud is usually the one that drops lightning on your head."Mae looked up from her mule, resting her hands on the leather satchel. "She’s been like this since she was eight years old. Father used to say Ruth was born looking for a fight.""Father was right," Ruth retorted, though her expression softened slightly as she looked down at her younger sister. "How are your ribs feeling, Mae?""They hurt," Mae admitted quietly, her face still pale beneath her freckles. "But I can ride."Clara dropped her horse back to ride alongside them. Her face was weary, but the wild, desperate panic that had filled her eyes during the midnight storm had vanished, replaced by a quiet, steady resolve."Ethan," Clara said softly over the clatter of hooves against stone. "Why are you doing this? You could have given Rourke the satchel. You could have stayed on your ranch and let Copper Ridge pass you by."Ethan looked up at the towering red sandstone walls above them, watching a hawk circle silently against the deep blue sky."My father bought our land thirty years ago," Ethan said, his voice low and steady. "He built our house out of native pine, cleared seventy acres of rock with his own hands, and fought off three different outfits that tried to squeeze him out. Before he died, he told me something I've never forgotten."He looked back at Clara."He said that a man's land isn't just dirt and grass. It's a promise. A promise that if you work hard, treat your neighbors right, and stand your ground, nobody can come along and make you bow down."Ethan’s eyes turned cold as mountain ice."Silas Harrow thinks he owns this territory because he has money and hired guns. If I let him take your family's land and destroy those ledgers, then everything my father built—everything every honest homesteader in this valley worked for—doesn't mean a damn thing."Clara looked at him for a long moment, her eyes shining with quiet admiration. She reached out and lightly touched his forearm. "Your father would be proud of you, Ethan Cole."Before Ethan could answer, his bay horse suddenly stopped dead in its tracks.The animal pinned its ears back sharply, its nostrils flaring as it let out a low, uneasy snort.Ethan’s hand dropped instantly to the stock of his rifle.Up ahead, where Diablo Canyon narrowed into a tight, hundred-yard bottleneck of fallen boulders and scrub cedar, the quiet desert air was suddenly shattered by the metallic clack of a rifle bolt being pulled back!From high up on the red rock ledge above the bottleneck, a loud, booming voice echoed down through the stone gorge:
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“Think You Can Handle All Three of Us?” the Three Sisters Asked the Cowboy in His Barn — What Happened Before Dawn Changed the Whole County

15 Part