Nayeli's eyes narrowed.
Gideon looked at Caleb.
"You think the territory was built by honorable men making fair agreements? It was built by whoever understood what would be valuable ten years later."
"You started attacks."
"I encouraged existing hatred."
"You murdered people."
"I moved obstacles."
Caleb looked at the man who had helped him after his mother's death.
"Was I an obstacle?"
For the first time Gideon hesitated.
"No."
Caleb almost wished he had said yes.
Gideon continued.
"I protected you."
"From what?"
"From becoming your father."
Caleb stared at him.
Gideon slowly dismounted.
"Jonathan could have become wealthy with me. Instead, he decided every piece of land had a sacred story attached to it. Every family deserved consideration. Every promise mattered."
He shook his head.
"Men like that don't build empires."
"No."
Caleb looked toward Nayeli and Takoda.
"They build something else."
Gideon smiled coldly.
"And what exactly have you built?"
Caleb did not answer.
Because a horse whinnied from the ridge.
Every head turned.
One rider appeared above them.
An old man.
Gray beard.
Bent shoulders.
Weathered hat.
He rode slowly.
Caleb could not see his face clearly at first.
But Chief Takoda could.
The chief stopped breathing.
The old rider descended.
Gideon's expression changed from confidence to disbelief.
"No."
The rider came closer.
Caleb stared at him.
There was something familiar about his eyes.
Something impossible.
The old man stopped twenty feet away.
For several seconds nobody spoke.
Then he looked directly at Caleb.
"You're taller than your mother said you'd be."
Caleb's entire body went still.
The old man dismounted carefully.
His left leg barely supported him.
A scar crossed one side of his neck.
Caleb whispered,
"Jonathan?"
The old man's eyes filled with tears.
"Hello, son."
Caleb could not move.
For eighteen years he had imagined a dead father.
For ten minutes he had adjusted to the idea of a father who had survived but eventually died somewhere far away.
Now the man stood in front of him.
Alive.
Older.
Broken.
But alive.
Gideon slowly reached toward his revolver.
Nayeli saw it first.
"Caleb!"
Jonathan moved faster than anyone expected.