Chapter 41
“In four days, those men are coming back,” Vin said, standing in front of five tribal elders, desperately pleading his case for action the next morning. “We might all wanna pretend they ain’t, that they learned their lesson and are moving on to something else. But that’s not what’s happening here.”
There was a murmur of reluctant agreement throughout the room. Vin stood in the center of a small living room in what had once been Uncle’s house. The elders were seated on the furniture, and several younger members of the tribe, including Adriel and Jolon, stood around the room.
“And when they get here,” Vin continued, trying to hang on to the momentum he had built, “it isn’t gonna be Sean and ten guys again. It’s gonna be a few hundred of those bastards. It’s gonna be enough to wipe all of you out.”
Vin’s words settled around the room like a dense fog, and he could feel the waves of fear and apprehension that were wafting off of everyone within the sound of his voice.
“So, what do you suggest we do?” a female elder asked, pointing a shaking, gnarled finger at Vin. “We’re not warriors, and we cannot stand up to those numbers.”
“I know,” Vin said solemnly. “And I know that y’all would rather not fight. I get that, and I respect it. But what other choice is there?”
There was a sad murmur throughout the room. To fight against those odds would mean the certain destruction of the tribe.
“That would be a death sentence,” another of the elders said, and there was a murmur of agreement spreading throughout the room.
“Unless we fight smarter,” Jolon said, looking over at Vin with a knowing smile.
“Exactly,” Vin replied, returning the conspiratorial grin.
“What do you mean?” the female elder asked, an eyebrow raised in question.
“We know they’re coming here in force in four days,” Vin said. “And they’re gonna come in force. That means we need to not be here when they arrive.”
“What?” Adriel asked, speaking up for the first time. “I thought you said we needed to fight them.”
“We do,” Vin replied, pulling out a map he had drawn of the area and laying it out on the coffee table. He pointed to the reservation. “But when the bulk of their forces are here, we’ll be hitting the remainder of them here.” Vin pointed toward the other side of the map at the ranch.
“What?” a male elder asked in bewilderment. “Why would we do that?”
“It’s their home base,” Vin said by way of explanation.
“And it’s fortified to hold off an assault.
But I’ll sneak in before the attack and make sure the gates are open.
If they send the number of men here that I think they’re gonna, we should have a pretty even playing field and a strong chance at taking their home. ”
“While they take ours?” the female elder asked, seemingly aghast at the plan. “Won’t they just come back to the ranch and take it back from us?”
Vin smiled at her, knowing that questions were going to be coming up. “Definitely not,” he said. “Because when they get here, someone else is gonna be waiting for them.”
“Who?” Adriel asked, and Vin just smiled at them all.
He went on to explain the rest of his plan, leaving nothing to chance.
There was extreme hesitation as he started to divulge the intricacies of what he was thinking.
The Natives seemed taken aback at first, but as Vin continued to explain it clinically, in a way that showed them what the alternative was, everyone in the room seemed to come around to his way of thinking.
By the time the meeting ended, there was a general feeling of agreement and cooperation. Of course, there was still a lot of hesitation. They were going to have to place a lot of trust in Vin on his knowledge of warfare and their enemies.
When Vin left the house, stepping back out into the morning sun, he wasn’t surprised to hear Jolon chasing after him.
“Vin, wait!” the young protector called out, holding onto his injured arm in the sling to prevent jostling it too much as he ran after him.
“Jolon,” Vin said, giving him a nod. “Arm feeling any better today?”
“Not much, no,” Jolon said truthfully.
There was an awkward silence between them for a brief moment before Vin filled it by clearing his throat.
“Well, it’ll get there,” Vin said. “These things just take time.”
“Indeed,” Jolon said, looking sad suddenly. “But I still want to help with this plan of yours.”
Vin sighed, looking over Jolon’s arm and thinking about just how difficult a job that would be.
“I don’t think you’re in any condition to fight,” he said with a shake of his head.
“I know you’re a strong kid, and I know you got the heart to make it in and outta there.
But sometimes the body can’t back up the checks the heart cashes, you know what I mean? ”
“I mean…I just need to be there, Vin,” he said, with heartbreaking desperation in his tone. “I can’t let my people run off into battle and stay behind with the elderly and the children. Especially when there’s so much that could go wrong.”
He wasn’t wrong about that. There was a lot that could go wrong with this operation. Vin was banking a lot on faith here and the hope that he understood Sean and Chainz. If even one piece of this carefully laid out puzzle didn’t line up, then they were all doomed to failure.
However, there was no other option. And if this plan worked, he would not only help the Natives hold onto their land, but he would also reclaim his home and his family.
Then, together, he and the tribe could manage the land, taking care of all who dwelled upon it.
They could create a society of kindness, of compassion, where the people were free and understood the value of one another.
When threats arose, they would have the strength of both will and numbers to beat them back. It would be a new world, a chance to do it all over and get it right this time. That was a chance worth taking.
“You’re right,” Vin said. “A lot can go wrong here. One of the things I’m most worried about is the elders and kids coming under fire. And we’re gonna need a few people there to keep them safe.”
Jolon’s face fell. It was clear that he believed he was getting a brush-off here. “That’s not true, Vin,” Jolon said, shaking his head. “The real fight is out there at the ranch, getting back at the people who did this to me. The people who are responsible for what happened to Uncle.”
“Jolon, I get that you’re mad,” Vin said, laying a strong, supportive hand on his friend’s uninjured shoulder and giving it a comforting squeeze.
“You feel like you failed and like what happened was your fault. Well, you didn’t, and it isn’t, but I know that a buncha words from me aren’t gonna change how you feel.
But going out there and getting yourself killed isn’t how you’re gonna redeem yourself. ”
“But someone has to do it,” Jolon said, his eyes pleading with unshed tears.
“And someone will,” Vin reassured him. “But we wanna make sure that most of the folks who leave on this mission are coming back. I can almost assure you that if you go into this fight with an injury like that, you ain’t coming back.
No one needs you to kill yourself to balance the scales from Uncle’s death.
No one wants that, and I don’t think you want it, either. ”
“But,” Jolon said, trying to search for something, anything he could say to make his point and have Vin see reason.
Of course, Vin wasn’t in charge of the Native fighters.
He couldn’t stop him from going. But the elders could and likely would.
Jolon probably felt as though, because Vin was the one who came up with the plan, he could talk the elders into allowing him to come along. But that wasn’t going to happen.
“You know I’m right, kid,” Vin said, with another kind fatherly squeeze of the shoulder.
“Besides, there’s a lot of bad people out there who are looking to do a lot of harm.
Do you really want the elders and the kids to come face to face with them without someone there to help get them out of it?
This isn’t a brush-off. It’s an important job that protects both the past and the future of your people. ”
Jolon seemed to consider that for a moment and nodded, though he was still clearly not happy with this turn of events. But Vin watched as his face slowly came around, and soon his nod of acknowledgment turned into a nod of agreement.
Vin patted Jolon on the arm and gave him a meaningful look.
“Sometimes it’s not about being on the front line of the fight,” he said.
“It’s about doing what’s needed and being there for future fights.
Now, there should be a few other people guarding those folks, but they’re gonna need a leader.
Someone who has seen some action and knows what to do.
I’m sure your people trust you with that. I know I would.”
Jolon nodded again and looked Vin in the eyes, his gaze a piercing laser beam of determination.
“I’m not gonna let them down,” Jolon said, gritting his teeth as the memory of Uncle’s death no doubt started to flash through his mind. “Not now. Not ever again.”
“Atta boy,” Vin said, giving Jolon a smile and a wink.
Vin turned around and headed toward the stables. He was surprised to find a group of young Native men and women waiting for him. Adriel was one of them, and he stepped out to meet with Vin.
“Vin,” he called out with a wave, which Vin returned with a nod. “I’ve been filling these folks in on the plan and what the next step is. We’ve got a group of twenty-six people here ready to assist.”
“That’s great,” Vin said, nodding past Adriel to the rest of the group.
They looked shaken by the events of the last twenty-four hours, but Vin could see that fear and apprehension starting to give way to the same determination he had just witnessed in Jolon’s face.
“Saddle up. We move out in five.”