The Apache rode until sunset. Then they rode until sunrise. They felt the wind through their hair and the horses pounding the earth, but all they heard was *the song*. In the beginning, they had thought Goyaate had sung the song and they had only kept pace with it. Then they opened their throats and came to believe that they too sang the song. But after many hours, when exhaustion had stripped away all illusion, they realized that the song was singing all of them, and they were carried by the magic of it, out of themselves, across the land, without hunger, thirst, or fatigue.
Where did the town go? Are the townsfolk dead? "A Pictish queen who fought the Romans and almost won” is this foreshadowing?
I’m glad I started this story when I did, so I don’t have to wait too long to read more.
Goyaate's chant... chilling. Great atmospheric writing.
"But that which Archie had joined, it seems no bump would put asunder."
Ah ha, I know where this came from. I suppose many people who have attended weddings have heard a pastor say the verse that inspired that clever line.
I appreciated getting an update on each group of characters in this chapter.
"In the end, perhaps the end of violence was death and he wasn't ready for that yet."
Ominous and beautiful.
"...that he realized the town was gone."
Oh snap! The big genre twisting reveal!!!
I eagerly await March 11th!