October 24 dawned cool and cloudy. On either side of their encampment trees blazed as if on fire, their colors luminous in the soft even light of early morning. The smoke of small fire rose straight into the heavens where it slowly dispersed on a soft breeze wafting high above the valley, … More XXVI. The City of Magical Waters

     In the deep valley the sun was early to set and late to rise and the night brittle with sounds radiating from the wagons and tents surrounding them. Dawn came crisp and frosty, the sky above a ribbon of blue while below campfires smoldered, smoke pooling in the low-lying areas like so much … More XXVII. Reconnoiter

     The lack of forward momentum, the idle talk in the wagon yard, the idle hands with little to do, the scramble for credible information about land and work, the increasingly apparent lack of opportunities in a city on the fading end of its boom cycle, and, equally important but disagreeably difficult to resolve, … More XXVIII. Dissolution

     The rain was Old Testament in its ferocity. It lashed the house and hammered the windows and surged like a river through the street. It sluiced down the hillside in foaming torrents carrying with it anything not bolted to the ground. It seeped under the doors and through the windows and dripped incessantly … More XXIX. Hunting Sadie Vail