“Damn you,” he whispered, “I—“

He faded out and lay there, dead as a man could ever get, and the thing that hit me so hard was how such a man could cause the death of so much a better man like Talon.

“Em,” I said, “there’s nothin’ more for us here. The boys will be worried. Let’s mount up and ride back to the Empty.”

“You look kinda peaked, son. Are you up to it?”

“If you can do it, I can do it, Em. Let’s make some dust.”

So we rode down the trail together, Em and me, and we met the boys a-comin’ up.