There was a small watchtower at the entrance to the main ranch compound, but it was almost never used. Tonight, though, Teer spotted Coral up in the tower as they rode up to the gateway.
“Gunman in the tower,” Kard said a moment later. “Looks like they’ve got a hunter. Unless it’s sighted in better than most, we’re still safe at this range.”
A hunter was a breech-loading single-shot gun used for hunting. It wasn’t a gun for fighting wars, but it would be effective enough against most people that might try and rustle cattle from a ranch.
“Gunwoman,” Teer corrected as they rode forward. “That’s Coral. She knows me.”
He waved and Coral waved back.
“We’re good,” he told Kard.
“I was hoping not to get shot down in the road, I’ll admit,” the bounty hunter replied drily. “She’ll tell everyone we’re coming. That should make this easier.”
By the time they rode through the gate Anthor opened for them, most of the population of the ranch was gathered in the courtyard. Teer’s mother was in front, striding forward as he reached them and dismounted.
“I didn’t raise you to be a cursed fool, Teer,” she snapped.
“No, I’m pretty sure that’s all on me,” he agreed.
Alana swept him into a fierce embrace, looking up at the still-mounted Spehari.
“No harm, Lord,” she asked, her tone cold, “but I am not figuring why you are here.”
“To spare young Teer’s life, it was necessary for me to invoke the Right of Retribution,” Kard told her, the lilting formal tones back in his voice. “He is now my Bondservant, bound to me by law and magic, to stand at my side for the rest of his life.”
Teer had a lot of questions to ask about just what he’d signed on for, but it hadn’t been time yet. He stepped back from Alana and smiled down at his mother.
“It was the only mercy anyone could offer,” he told her. “I could do worse in my life than serve the Spehari directly.”
“Lord Karn,” Hardin interjected, bowing as he stepped up. “I am beyond grateful for your intervention. Thank you.”
“And I am grateful that you told me of the situation,” Kard replied. “Our conversation this morning set all of this into motion. My choices are my own and I have gained a servant, but you have not lost a son.”
Hardin had talked to Kard? That explained a lot for Teer.
“Your mercy is appreciated, Lord,” Alana said stiffly. “How may we serve you?”
Teer undid the gunbelt and held it out to Hardin.
“The gun, the belt…Star…all of it belongs to you, Hardin,” he admitted. “I won’t rob you.”
“I am prepared to purchase Teer’s equipment from you,” Kard told them. “And supplies as well, if you have them. I was not expecting to acquire a Bondservant, and I will need food for him.”
“Keep the horse and gun, Teer,” Hardin told him. “It’s the least I can give you for all that you have done. Come, join us for dinner, Lord Karn?”
Teer glanced up at his new boss, who nodded slowly and dismounted.
“Anthor will see to your horses,” Hardin said. “Is there any particular care your steed requires, Lord Karn?”
“No, he’s sturdy enough,” the Spehari replied. “And please, Hardin, do not call me Lord. I have left most of the strictures of my father’s people behind at this point. I do not desire those titles.”
“As you wish…Karn.”
Dinner was an awkward and stilted affair. Teer eventually escaped for fresh air, standing next to the house that had been his home for ten turnings and looking up at the stars.
He heard Hardin approach behind him and turned to look at the rancher.
“Thank you,” he told the older Merik. “This isn’t what any of us wanted, but that’s my doing. Not yours. Not his.”
Kard might not be requiring the title of Lord with Teer’s family, but he hadn’t given them his real name, either.
“Karn seems to be an odd Spehari,” Hardin told him. “I have hope, somehow, which I wouldn’t have dared this morning.”
“This morning, I knew I had forty-nine days left to live,” Teer whispered. “Now I know I have to leave all of this behind.”
He gestured around him at the small houses of the compound. The massive barns, empty right now with the cattle in the fields still. The quiet clucking from the chicken coops and the neighing as the horses talked to each other.
“You were likely always going to,” his not-father told him. “Alstair will miss you. So will the rest of us. But…I can’t help but wonder if this might work better than even my plan. I have watched you grow from a boy to a man, Teer, and there is something about you I have never seen before.
“Things that took me seasons to master you learned in tendays. You see things I cannot, not just…not just the keener eyes of youth, but something else. I think this Spehari will be good for you.”
“He said similar about seeing,” Teer admitted. The first moon was rising, sending pale light cutting through the evening shadow. “I don’t get it myself, but…I trust you. And somehow, I trust him.”
Teer knew exactly where Kard was right now. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to tell if the Spehari was lying to him yet, but he suspected that part of the bond would work both ways if he focused on it.
“Come with me,” Hardin ordered.
The rancher walked away without checking to see if Teer was following. He was heading to the stables where Anthor had taken the horses, and with a confused sigh, Teer followed.
The ranch stables were one of the most solidly built structures in the compound, with a base of stone and concrete the barns shared but the houses didn’t. Hardin knew exactly where he was going, stopping at Star’s usual stall.
The
