A human noticed them and the bison, then said something to a couple of men on horseback before walking over to them.
“I’m Stewart Dixon.” He tipped his head to indicate the bison. “You boys need a hand getting them loaded?”
Tobias glanced at Joe, and Joe understood it was his decision. He also understood that Tobias didn’t feel wary of this man the way the Intuit did around that Daniel Black.
“Thank you,” Joe said.
A wave of a hand had the men on horseback approaching slowly, nodding to the men from Prairie Gold.
Tobias eyed the cattle that had been loaded into the two stock cars. “Pardon me for saying, but your cattle look a bit young and underweight to be sent to market.”
The Stewart smiled. “Shows you’ve got a good eye, and you’d be right if they were going to market. But I wanted to reduce my stock, and there were two settlements east of here that were looking to buy some cattle to start their own herds. From what they said, they already have a small herd of dairy cows—enough animals to provide their communities with milk and such—and would like to be able to eat something besides elk when roads and weather make it impossible to drive to a bigger town for supplies.”
“Don’t humans like eating elk?” Joe asked.
“Sure. One of the freezers at my ranch is filled with elk meat every hunting season, but it’s a delicacy for most folks, same as milk and cheese might be for you.”
Joe, Jackson, Tobias, and the Stewart moved out of the way as the men on horseback herded the bison into the empty livestock car.
“If you don’t mind me saying, those bison look a little young if you’re sending them to market,” the Stewart said.
“They aren’t food yet,” Joe replied. “They’re going east to a city on the shores of Lake Etu. Sending smaller bison was sensible.” Besides, Simon wanted everyone in the Lakeside Courtyard to have time to get used to bison living there before they were old enough to breed.
“I’ll help Nyx and Tolya load the box going to Lakeside,” Jackson said. Then he added, <See you on the platform before I go?>
<Yes.> Joe looked at Tobias. “Give him a hand?”
“Sure.”
That left him alone with the Stewart Dixon. “Thank you for your help.”
“Happy to lend a hand.”
“You aren’t connected to the Prairie Gold settlement.”
The Stewart shook his head. “My ranch is several hours north of here, but Bennett is the closest rail line, as well as the largest town when we need supplies or want a night out. It’s a day’s drive in any direction to find another town with a music hall and a movie theater. A different group of terra indigene watch over the land north of Bennett. At least, I’m assuming it’s a different group, because I haven’t seen you around before.”
“It’s a different group,” Joe agreed. Had the Wolves north of the hills felt the presence of the Elders?
The Stewart hesitated. “Look, I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes, or cause trouble between you and the Wolves I usually deal with, but . . .” He took a small pad of paper out of his pocket and a short pencil, wrote on the paper, and handed it to Joe. “That’s the phone number of the ranch house. Like I said, we’re north of Bennett, so I’m not sure what we could do, but if you need help, you call and ask for me.”
Joe studied the number. “Why would you do this?”
“Anyone but a fool can see trouble is on the horizon. My family has never had any problems with your kind, and I don’t want problems now. Your people have been good neighbors. I try to be the same.” The Stewart looked over when someone shouted his name. “I’m needed.”
He held out a hand. After a moment’s consideration, Joe shook hands.
“See you around.” The Stewart walked away.
Joe headed to the platform to say good-bye to Jackson and Nyx.
“Safe travels,” Tobias said as Jackson and Nyx boarded the train.
“They’ll be fine,” Tolya said, joining them. “The train will be watched all the way to Lakeside.”
Joe found that comforting. Jackson was away from his pack, but he wasn’t alone. He glanced at Tobias and wondered if a human felt the same kind of comfort, knowing the residents of the wild country were keeping a closer watch on everything and everyone who traveled through their land.
When the train pulled out of the station, Tolya turned to Tobias. “Mr. Walker, do you and the others want to remain in town for the night? You worked hard bringing the bison here.”
“I was told this town has a music hall and a movie theater,” Joe added. “Having entertainment seemed important to the Stewart Dixon.”
“I had overlooked those two businesses when we drove around the town square the other day,” Tolya said, then added privately to Joe, <I will amend my list.>
Tobias looked at both of them. “I talked it over with the men. None of us have a good feeling about staying here. If it’s all the same to you, I’ll check the baggage room at the station to see if there are any packages for us to bring back. Then we’d like to put some distance between us and this town.”
“All right,” Joe said. “Won’t the humans returning on horseback need food and water? Should we purchase some here?” They’d carried food and water in the pickup, but most of it was gone now. He wanted to get away from this place as soon as possible, and he knew the other Wolves felt the same way, but humans were part of his pack for this trip and they weren’t as hardy as the terra indigene, who could do without food and water until they reached Prairie Gold.
“I’ll call Jesse, tell her we’re on our way back. She can send up another truck with supplies to meet us,” Tobias said. “We can make camp in the same place we did last night—on terra indigene land.”
<He wants to be away from here,> Tolya said.
<Let’s help him check for deliveries and get out,> Joe replied.
They carried out two boxes of books from Howling Good Reads, and eight boxes of goods from different parts of Thaisia, all addressed to Walker’s General Store. And all around them, humans who should have left the station by now stood around and stared, their hatred pulsing in the air.
Why so much anger, so much hate? Joe wondered. He looked at Tobias, whose hands were tight on the steering wheel as the pickup followed the Wolves and ranch hands on horseback out of town. “Has it always been like this between you and the other humans?”
“Not like this,” Tobias replied.
“Is it because of us? Because some of the terra indigene came into town with you?” Trains couldn’t go from one place to another without the tracks that ran through the wild country, and that right-of-way was predicated on the terra indigene’s being able to travel by train. So the Others had to come to town once in a while to pick up guests or packages. But they didn’t need to go beyond the train station. Even when Tolya asked to see the town during the last visit, Tolya and Jackson—and Tobias, for that matter—never got out of the pickup.
“There have been stories lately that the creek beds in those hills are filled with gold nuggets,” Tobias said. “That you can scoop them up by the handful.”
Wasn’t that easy, but he’d been told by the Wolves who had been living in the terra indigene settlement for a while that there were some places where the yellow pebbles were fairly easy to collect—a gift from the Elders that allowed the Others to trade with the Intuits.
But if humans invaded those hills . . .
Joe shuddered.
“You okay?” Tobias asked.
“Yes. I will be glad to get back to our own territory.”
“You and me both.”
Tolya said nothing, but when they stopped to rest the horses, he shifted to smoke and headed down the road as a scout. Joe stripped and shifted to Wolf, letting another Wolf ride in the cab for a while, along with one of the ranch hands.
Aware, aware, aware. They moved on, alert for anything and everything.