Only 06 - Winter Fire

already know,” she explained. “I’ll try to do better.”
    He smiled with a gentleness that made her eyes burn.
    â€œThat’s all right,” he said. “Sometimes I need reminding, even though I shouldn’t.”
    She smiled, went to her brother, and gave him a quick hug. Though he lacked the muscle he would carry when fully grown, her head fit easily beneath his chin.
    â€œI keep forgetting how big you are,” she said.
    â€œSo does he,” Lola said. “Keeps tripping over things with them outsized hooves of his.”
    â€œSee if I hold any more yarn for you to wind,” Conner threatened.
    â€œI’ll just find you where you fall and use your big feet,” she retorted.
    Laughing, Conner left the cabin to help scrounge firewood.
    â€œWhat’s for dinner?” he called from just beyond the door.
    â€œBeans,” Lola and Sarah yelled at the same time.
    â€œLord, what a treat!” he called. “I haven’t had beans for, oh, two, three hours.”
    â€œThere are sage hens, too,” Sarah added.
    The front door opened suddenly.
    â€œSage hens?” Conner asked.
    â€œCase shot them,” she said.
    â€œWell, at least we won’t have to look for lead,” her brother said in a resigned voice. “We’ll just pick it out of our teeth.”
    â€œHe didn’t use a shotgun.”
    Conner’s eyes widened. “How did he get them?”
    â€œSix-gun,” she said succinctly.
    â€œWaste of lead,” Lola muttered.
    â€œOne shot each,” Sarah said. “Three birds. Three bullets. Fastest thing I ever saw.”
    Lola’s eyebrows rose.
    Conner whistled.
    â€œThat’s mighty fine shootin’. Mighty fine,” Lola said. “No wonder he survived a showdown with them Culpeppers.”
    â€œHe nearly didn’t,” Sarah said tightly.
    â€œGal, I ain’t never heard of no one walkin’ away from a Culpepper shootin’ at all, and you can go to church with that.”
    â€œHuh,” Conner said. “And here I was thinking that he mustn’t be much good with that six-gun of his.”
    â€œWhy?” Sarah asked, startled. “Just because he was shot?”
    â€œNo. Because he doesn’t file off the sight, he hasn’t shortened the barrel, and he hasn’t honed the firing pin or changed the trigger to make it shoot faster.”
    â€œParlor tricks,” Lola said.
    â€œMaybe, but those tricks make the Culpeppers lightning on the draw,” he retorted.
    â€œIs that what Ute is teaching you when you’re supposed to be doing chores?” Sarah demanded.
    â€œ Adios ,” her brother said, closing the door firmly behind him. “We’ll be back before dark with more wood.”
    â€œConner Lawson!” she called. “Answer me!”
    Silence answered, which told her as much as words. She turned on Lola.
    â€œI don’t want Ute teaching Conner gunfighter tricks,” Sarah said flatly.
    â€œDon’t jaw at me. Jaw at your brother. He’s the one doing the pestering about six-guns and such.”
    Sarah bit her lip and turned away. With great care she put the tiny joined mugs in a natural niche in the logs.
    I’ve got to find that treasure , she thought again. I’ve got to find it .
    But no real progress had been made today.
    Case had dug several more holes. He found only broken pottery and the remains of old campfires for his trouble. Other than pottery, a burned can that had been used towarm beans over a campfire, and a broken, dried-up leather hobble, the area around the ruins hadn’t yielded any sign of man.
    â€œYou listening to me?” Lola asked impatiently.
    Startled out of her unhappy thoughts, Sarah turned.
    â€œWere you saying something?” she asked.
    â€œDamned straight I was.”
    â€œSorry. I was…thinking.”
    â€œThen set your mind to this,” Lola said. “You best be glad your little brother has a keen eye, fast hands, and the grit to use ’em in a fight. Them Culpepper boys ain’t the church-going, prayer-shouting sort. They’re poison mean clear to the bone. Every last damned one of them.”
    Sarah looked up. The certainty in the older woman’s voice was reinforced by the harsh lines of her face.
    â€œYou once knew the Culpeppers, didn’t you?” Sarah asked. “Not just Ab, but the whole clan.”
    â€œI was raised