Chapter 9: Her Rule

"Kill the lantern," I said.

Carys blew it out.

In the dark I watched the trucks again.

Three, in a line, with their lights on high and their engines loud.

I could see eight men getting out, and some of them held bats.

One of them had a gas can.

"They're going to burn the barn," Carys whispered.

"Where's your husband's rifle?"

"Kitchen closet. Top shelf."

"Stay here."

I ran through the rain to the house with my head low and my boots in the mud.

The rifle was an old bolt-action with a worn stock and a good scope.

It was loaded.

I climbed the ladder to the barn roof and lay flat on the wet tin.

From there I could see the gate, the road and every man on it.

Brody was not with them.

He was too smart for that.

Dell was not there either.

A man in the lead stepped up to the gate and shouted at the dark house.

"Dunning! Send out the soldier, and nobody burns!"

I breathed out and let the sight settle.

The first shot took out the front tire of the lead truck.

The sound rolled over the plain.

The men dropped flat.

The second shot took the headlight of the truck behind it.

The third went through the gas can in the big man's hand, a clean hole through the plastic, and the gas poured out onto the gravel at his feet.

He screamed and threw it away.

"You've got one second to leave my land," I shouted.

My voice carried across the field.

"The next one doesn't go through a tire."

Nobody argued.

They ran for their trucks and they reversed in a spray of mud, one of them dragging a bumper.

The lead truck stayed in the road on its flat tire until two of them came back and hauled it out.

I watched their taillights until they were gone.

Nobody had been hit.

I climbed down with the rifle on my shoulder, and my arms were shaking, and not from the cold.

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