Rivers End

Uneasy Truce

"I'll explain to Papa about you, so don't worry." Amy spoke quietly from in front of him.

They had been silent on the horse for a long while and Rin was letting his mind work over his chosen course.

"Why worry?" he told her. "He only wants to stretch my neck 'cause of you."

"What about Reynolds?" she queried.

"Leave him to me!"

There was such a force behind those words that Amy stiffened a little, realizing that she was about to get what she thought she wanted. Abruptly the reality occurred to her. Temple was going to kill Jude Reynolds! A man's life was about to be snuffed out like the flame of a candle, and she had wished for it! The thought left her cold and she shivered a little.

"You all right?" his hand dropped on her arm, a natural gesture, but unexpected.

"Yes, it's just, you're not really going to do it are you?"

Reining in the bay gelding Rin swung from the saddle and helped Amy Leigh off, letting the horse rest for a bit.

"Mister Temple? Are you really going to...?"

He looked over at her, his face hidden by the brim of his hat, everything above the hard line of his mouth cloaked in shadow.

"What...kill Reynolds?" the words came almost effortlessly off his tongue, but Amy couldn't see the tightly controlled emotion beneath his response.

Rin didn't care for death, or killing, just sometimes, it was there to do. Now he looked over at his companion and shrugged a shoulder.

"If it can't be avoided, yes ma'am, I reckon I will."

The far west was still untamed in places, the local law usually not extending past the edges of town. If a man wanted to defend himself, or resolve an injustice, mostly he was left to his own devices. Though it was coming to an end, this was still the era of the gun, and Rin Temple was no greenhorn with the death bearing messengers.

"Must you?" Amy Leigh asked him.

"Are you loco?" the words were out before he could stop them, and he inhaled sharply through his nose.

Rin turned on his heel before she could respond, leading the gelding to a small trickle of water, putting distance between himself and Amy Leigh Gates. Women! He shook his head in frustration. You never could figure what went on in the female mind, and those that tried surely must be more confused than he was presently. 'Kill him please Rin, he's a bad man! Oh no! You can't be so vile as to shoot a man!' He could hear her voice in his head, and he spat in disgust. The sooner he got shut of her, the better!

"Rin?" she had come to his side, his mind preoccupied.

"What?" he didn't look at her, letting his eyes wander the black horizon.

"I'm sorry." They were two simple words, but in the human language, they were two of the five most important.

"What are you sorry for now? Getting me into this scrape, or wishing even for a moment that a man would die by my hand?" he wasn't angry, but let his voice harden. He wanted her to get the point, killing a man was never to be taken lightly.

"I...I suppose," she faltered a little but didn't look away from him. "I'm sorry for everything, for involving you in my problems, by lying about you, and for trying to force you to help me. Will you forgive me?"

She put a soft white hand on his arm and Rin forced himself not to smile.

"I reckon I can't hold a grudge with an apology as pretty as that one," he responded.