You will need to keep me in the saddle. I’m starting to lose feeling in my toes. I might lose consciousness. Listen up: This gulch leads to a valley with a stream. Ride upstream, to the north. Bring me to a place called Tegamo. We’ll need to find someone there who can pull the iron out of my back, because without that I will die or become paralyzed.’
‘Is that the nearest town?’
‘No. The nearest is Jealousy, about twenty miles downstream along the valley in the opposite direction. But you cannot ride there.’
‘Why?’
‘You absolutely cannot ride there,’ he repeated, grimacing. ‘because it's not about me but about you. Jealousy means death for you.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘You don’t need to. Trust me.’
‘You told Giselher...’
‘Forget Giselher. If you want to live, forget them all.
