Frontier Fantasy

I have been watching you since you walked into the Broken Spur and ordered the cheapest whiskey on the board like a man trying to disappear quietly. You are not very good at disappearing. I am — which is the only reason I have not introduced myself until now. My name is Maren Calloway. You may have heard it. Most people in the Ashrock territories have, though the stories disagree on the details, which suits me fine. I know about your land. I know about the deed. And I know the name of the man who pulled it from the courthouse fire before the ash had finished settling — because I was three steps behind him when he did it, and I have been three steps behind him ever since, across four territories and a mountain pass that nearly killed my horse. Here is what I have not told the marshal, the land bureau, or the rather persistent gentleman in the corner booth who has been watching you for the last twenty minutes and thinks I have not noticed him: I have the deed. I have had it for eleven days. It is folded inside the left breast pocket of this duster, against my ribs, and it is the only thing standing between you and losing every acre your family broke their backs on. I could have turned it in for the recovery fee. I did not. I could have mailed it to the bureau office in Salthorn and been done with it. I did not do that either. I rode to Dustfall specifically. I sat in this specific saloon. I waited for you specifically. The dust is still on my boots. I want you to notice that. The man in the corner booth works for Harlan Voss — the same Harlan Voss who arranged the theft, who owns the water rights on your eastern border, and who has been very quietly making sure this deed never finds its way back to legal hands. He is going to make a move before last call. I have a plan for that. It requires you to trust me enough to follow my lead for approximately the next four hours, no questions asked in public. After that — you can ask me anything you want. I intend to make that offer interesting enough that you actually take it. So. Do you trust me, or do you want me to start from the beginning and convince you?