Clouding: Day 12

Word Count: 72,019

Excerpt of the Day:

The chief of the Apaches made Asher upset by trying to tell Asher he was too violent and needed to try being peaceable, prompting Asher to tell him that if he wanted peace he ought to shut his mouth. Theresa was upset at Mama for comments Mama had made about the future that had made Theresa uncomfortable, but Mama apologised and said they didn't ever have to talk about it again, which made Theresa grateful. Asher and the Apaches — whose chief remained silent, which Asher appreciated — were come upon by the posse from Tucson and immediately split up to make themselves more difficult to track down; while fleeing, Asher worried about being tracked down, no matter where he went . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

In the end, Peck would probably be forced to track him down, and by that time the trail would probably be washed away by a winter rain; too bad there wasn't an autumn rain lurking somewhere that would help him right about now by washing away his tracks — especially the ones that led to the  Apache camp.

Asher glanced under his arm again. The posse seemed to have scattered in several directions, likely seeking the Apaches who'd fled off to the sides.

In fact, Asher saw one of the riders heading for town hot on the tail of one of the Apaches. He hoped the Apache would make it out alive.

A gunshot rang out that sounded closer in many respects than the gunshots before had sounded, and he saw that the leader — probably Peck — was riding his horse at top speed with both hands on a rifle.

Peck was intent to kill him.

Asher's heart started pounding faster than the rhythm of Nizhoni's rapid gallop, a gallop that was starting to flag a little bit as she came to be weary of maintaining the high speed. 

Several more shots rang out. Asher then glanced under his arm and saw that Peck was attempting to reload his firearm with his horse flat out in a gallop.

He was tempted to whip Nizhoni around on a dime and charge the diminished posse, except for the fact that he was towing Ashley and his horse. If he were riding alone he would've done it without question, snatching the rifle out of Peck's hands and maybe even killing him with it, or one of his own pistols.

Having Ashley in tow, however, he couldn't do such a thing, so the question was: what could he do then?

He could turn left and head for Tucson; after all, practically every man in town looked to have been a part of the posse on his tail, surely the women wouldn't arm themselves and seek to take him out, and it wasn't like Apache men weren't headed in that direction, which could prove to be something of a distraction.

It certainly seemed the best option, seeing as all he could see everywhere else was wide open desert spotted with the occasional cactus.

Releasing the pressure of his left spur and bringing the rein against the right side of Nizhoni's neck, Asher hauled on the left rein on Ashley's horse and turned them in a tight left for Tucson while Peck continued to fumble with his rifle, which Asher saw him nearly drop.

Asher fixed his gaze ahead and realised that Tucson seemed nearer than he'd thought, but then as he looked at the buildings a little closer he realised that he was on track to run straight through someone's farmyard. He hoped the farmer wasn't home.