I have sent for you.”
“I appreciate that,” replied Roosevelt. “I have two questions.” Suddenly he grinned. “Well, two right now. A lot more later.”
“You may ask.”
“Why me?”
“You are a man of honor.”
“Thank you,” said Roosevelt. “But there are many men of honor.”
“Not as many as you think,” said Geronimo. “And though you are a very young man, you are the best of them.”
“I'm flattered that you should think so,” replied Roosevelt, “but there are many better men.”
Geronimo stared at him for a long moment. “Do you truly believe that?” he said at last.
Roosevelt stared back for just as long. “No,” he finally admitted. “No, I don't.”
“Good. Because if you answered otherwise, I would not know that I can trust you.” He paused. “You had a second question?”
Roosevelt nodded. “Why now?”
“It is time.”
“It is past time, but why have you decided to lift the spell now?”
“Many reasons,” said Geronimo. “The man Edison will soon know how to negate much of our magic.”
“We both know you could kill him before that happens,” offered Holliday from where he stood.
“He has done me a service. I will not kill him while I am obligated to him.”
“You paid it off,” said Holliday. “He found a way to remove the spell and the railroad from your burial ground, and you removed Billy the Kid's supernatural protection.”
Geronimo shook his head. “I paid you, Holliday. You were the one who faced McCarty called the Kid. I did not pay Edison, and until I find a way, he is safe from me.” Another pause. “But he is not safe from the other tribes.”
“You said many reasons,” said Roosevelt. “What are some others?”
“There are too many White Eyes,” answered Geronimo. “Already many thousands of you have crossed the river. You have even built towns. We no longer have the power to stop you, only to hinder you. Eventually your nation will reach from one ocean to the other, and if we fight you every step of the way is it not beyond your people to wage a war of extermination, which we cannot win.”
“I would fight against that,” said Roosevelt.
“I know. That is another reason I have chosen you.”
“After you, Hook Nose was the strongest of the medicine men,” said Holliday, “and you killed him almost two years ago. This should be a stroll in the park.”
Geronimo frowned. “I do not understand.”
“With no Hook Nose, there should be no meaningful opposition,” said Holliday.
Geronimo shook his head. “How little you know.”
“Enlighten us,” said Roosevelt.
“The medicine men of the other Indian nations have always resented my power, and now they have a reason to openly oppose me. They have no intention of lifting the spell.”
“If you're the strongest…” began Holliday.
“I am stronger than any one of them,” explained Geronimo. “I am not stronger than most of them acting in concert.”
“How many others are there?”
“More than fifty.”
“And how many oppose you?” continued Holliday.
“Perhaps thirty-five, perhaps forty.”
“And you think with Theodore on your side, you can beat them?”
“Theodore?” asked Geronimo, frowning.
“Roosevelt,” said Holliday.
“It will take more than him,” said Geronimo.
“What or who else will it take?” asked Roosevelt.
“Edison and Buntline,” answered the Apache.
“What will you want them to do?”
Geronimo shrugged. “It depends on what the other nations do.”
Roosevelt shook his head. “We need a better strategy than to just sit here waiting for them to strike first.” He turned to Holliday. “Doc, you've got to have a lot of friends who are good with guns.”
Holliday smiled a bittersweet smile. “I have never had a lot of friends.”
“Then we'll recruit them.”
“To face the warriors of fifty-five Indian nations?” asked Holliday in amused tones.
“There have to be alternatives.” He turned to Geronimo. “You didn't send for me just so I'd be an easier target for your enemies. What do you have in mind?”
“I chose right,” said Geronimo, nodding his head in satisfaction. “I sent for you to make sure you had not changed since you first came to me in a vision three years ago, that you were still the man best fit to lead your nation across the river, and to make peace with my nation.”
Roosevelt looked at him expectantly, and finally the old man continued.
“I will show you what you must eventually face, Roosevelt.”
“Eventually?”
“They are still learning how to control it,” said Geronimo. “Little do they know that it cannot be controlled, only aimed like a rifle or an arrow.”
Roosevelt frowned. “I'm not sure I understand.”
“I will show you.”
Geronimo closed his eyes and uttered a chant. Roosevelt tried to follow it, but though he