Skull Moon

Longtree nodded and walked out into the cool air, listening to the sounds of sawing and hammering as the town was put to right. People wouldn't forget what happened, he knew, but they probably wouldn't talk much about it. In time, the entire experience would take on the connotations of legend. A twice-told tale. A myth. Something to frighten children with on stormy nights. Nothing more. A dark bit of collective memory that would seem all the more unreal as the coming days of normalcy blotted out its darker elements into the stuff of nightmares.

Longtree rode out of town, hoping he'd never have to return. He would ride to Fort Ellis and put in his report. Tom Rivers wasn't going to like the truth about this matter, but the truth was the truth. On the way, he would meet Laughing Moonwind. They were bonded now, he knew, from these horrors. Parts of them were linked. He couldn't imagine being without her.

A cigar in his mouth, the wind at his back, Joseph Longtree rode away from Wolf Creek.