“Why not save everyone the time and effort and tell them you were defending yourself and Miss McQuaid?”

Jericho had considered the possibility. But as he swallowed more of his rage, his head began to clear, and he knew he had to do some work on his own heart once he had Otis locked away.

“I need your help in carrying Ivy down the mountain.”

“And what if I don’t help you?”

“You will. Ivy’s a good woman, and you know she doesn’t deserve to die out here.”

“She shot me.”

“Because you would have shot her first.”

Otis dragged in a shuddering breath, as if gathering the strength to resist.

“Then do it because you know this will be your last chance to make up for your wrongs.”

Otis was silent for several heartbeats. Jericho would carry Ivy out on his own if he had to, but she’d suffer less if they worked together to transport her. Finally Otis nodded. “Alright.”

Jericho nodded his thanks in return.

As he crawled toward Ivy, his gut cinched again at the sight of the knife handle and the blood covering her bodice. He examined the entry point and the wound. Although he wanted to pull out the knife, he knew he needed to wait and let a doctor take care of it, especially since the knife appeared to be plugging the wound and preventing too much blood loss. Instead, he did his best to form a makeshift sling to keep her arm immobile during the long trek.

Next he tied together the coats and shirts he divested from the others, and he created a litter. Then using two long charred but sturdy branches, he knotted the litter to the poles.

After securing the remaining prisoners, he carried Ivy out of the caves as carefully as he could. As he placed her gently on the makeshift litter, she moaned but didn’t awaken. Finally he prodded Otis out of the caverns into the smoke-laden air. With watering eyes and a hacking cough, Otis cooperated with bracing one end of the litter on his shoulders, even though he grunted from the pain of his arm wound.

The climb down through the scorched forest was steep and difficult. But without the tangle of brush to slow them, the hike went faster than Jericho expected. Thankfully, Ivy mostly remained unconscious, awakening only on and off.

When they entered a swath of forest that hadn’t yet been burned to the ground, he prayed he’d soon locate their mounts. But as the shadows of evening stretched longer and darkness crept in around them, he began to despair that he’d find a faster way to transport Ivy so she could get the doctoring she needed.