George and The Pack rejoined the women as they were sitting down to a noon meal of roasted wild pig the locals called a javelina, stuffed with a dressing of old bread, desert sage, wild onions, and the tart red fruit from the prickly pear cactus. Pete had gotten the recipe from an old woman called Consuela, who lived in a small village near the river and had been supplying them with information about the terrible village that had sprung up nearby, where banditos spent their time gambling, drinking, and consorting with dirty whores.
Pete had further endeared herself to the old woman when she’d used her magic to rid her ailing dog of a tumor on its hind leg. The dog could chase rabbits out of Consuela’s garden once more and she could spoil it with bites of food from her table. Pete knew the
