I readied both my Peacemakers. Now that I was close, the rain was no longer a hindrance, and I could see Dyani—the dead female member of the Frozen Trio—was laid out, naked in front of the Mind-drifter, Ahusaka.

A bloody hawk looked to be carved across Dyani’s chest and stomach, and the young native's hands were covered in her blood.

I don't know what kind of ritual I'd just disrupted, but Ahusaka squeezed a fist of it over the Piasa totem while chanting in his language. Where my own words were stifled when I shouted, his carried in the storm as if he was all around me.

"End of the line!" I called out to the deformed man beside them. I could have shot him in the back, but that wasn't my style. The Yeti once known as Otaktay turned slowly, hunched over and barely able to keep his spine straight from his injuries. Or maybe it was a result of his demon being so fully integrated now.

"I knew you'd come," he said. His voice had changed. It sounded like gravel on a grindstone. His every breath was ragged. Blood so black I hesitated to give it such a title covered his leathery skin and tangled the stark white hairs all over his gargantuan body.

"It isn't too late to turn away from all this," I said.

"It is." Otaktay limped toward me, showing almost no aggression. It was as if the silver pumping through his system was defusing his uncontrollable rage. "This place. This is sacred ground. It is where chiefs are made. Behold, the perch of the Piasa, overlooking its breeding lands… our lands."

I stepped closer too. "I know what Dufaux did. How he stole all this from you and lied. He's already paid dearly for it, and he'll pay plenty more, I promise you."

"He will answer to our god."

"Mine too,” I promised.

"Dyani… she did not die for nothing." He glanced back at the dead woman's body. Only then did I realize that she was decorated head to toe with white and red paint. It wasn't blood on her chest that her charge had on his hands. No, the blood came solely from the hole Dale put through her.

"I'm sorry. I truly am." Even though I meant that with all my heart, I raised my guns and lined them up on Otaktay’s head.

"Then you will join them all in death!" he roared.

I pulled the triggers as fast as I could. One bullet snuck through and blasted him in the collarbone before a spiky wall of ice erupted from the ground to shield them. I kept firing, breaking off chunks as I charged. Try as I might, I couldn't get a clear shot.

Otaktay screamed something unintelligible to my ears, and all the pieces of hail falling from the sky turned course to rush at me in a straight line. They bounced off my chest and face with enough force to keep me grounded in place. I shielded my eyes purely out of reflex.

Then I heard a groan. The wall of ice crumbled into steamy dust in front of Otaktay, him too damaged and exhausted to maintain it for long. I opened up and shot twice with the one silver bullet I still had in each cylinder. They corkscrewed through his chest, blowing him back.

He nearly stumbled onto the totem but somehow managed avoid it before sliding to a stop.

Grabbing my rifle, I brought it into my shoulder and fired. Otaktay roared upon impact. A small, glacial shield appeared between his palms, only large enough for his own personal protection.

"It's over!" I yelled. "Cast out the demon in you! Be free of it!"

"It won't end!" Maintaining the shield with one hand, Otaktay punched the rock, and ice splintered toward me. It never made it, piddling out into harmless frost just at my feet.

I fired again, and the bullet ricocheted off the ice.

Otaktay was going hold out as long as he could, make me work for it and expend all my ammo so I'd have to reload or take things up close and personal. Or was he wasting my time on purpose? Buying time.

I realized then that I'd been focusing on the wrong foe.

Ahusaka’s chanting echoed louder. His eyes had rolled into the back of his head. And all at once, more lightning began to crackle and arc overhead as the clouds sped up. Golden markings on the totem that I hadn’t previously noticed started glowing the same bright blue color as the markings on the young native's back.

This wasn't just the burial ritual of a woman he cared for.

Hopping to the side, I shifted my aim toward Ahusaka.

"No!" Otaktay bellowed.

Footsteps boomed as Otaktay sprang up and charged toward me. I recovered quickly, plugging him with two more silver rounds before he struck me with the force of Hell's wrath. The rifle flew from my hand, and we tumbled toward a ledge.

His claws dug into the red stone and spared us the fall. I freed myself and lunged for my rifle, but a thin stream of ice froze my hand to the trigger housing. However, weak as Otaktay was, the element lost its supernatural power. I made a fist and it crunched. Spinning back to him, I fired.

The shot missed Ahusaka, but put a hole through the totem’s wing. Lightning struck it at the same time, sending out a shockwave that blew everything around us back, myself included. Rock fractured, wind screamed, and more lightning followed, all striking right at the totem.

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Coincidence or not, I cannot say.

It might've been night, but the peak burned bright as noon. In fact, it was as if the gates of Heaven burst open. The white light shone so brilliantly, I was rendered sightless. I tried to get to my feet, but some unseen force held me back. My gut roiled.

The ground shook and a screech like a hawk resounded so loud it must've been heard for miles all around. The pillar of lightning faded away, and in its place rose a massive beast like I'd never seen before. Except I had seen it before, tattooed in glowing lines on Ahusaka's back. It was the Piasa that was immortalized in that totem, just a train car's length in front of me.

Ten times the size of even the Yeti, with a wingspan that might’ve stretched the length of some small towns, it soared straight up toward the eye of the storm. Its body was like solid rock instead of feathers. Lightning crackled under its reptilian wings and around deep-set, yellow jewel-like eyes.

Ahusaka lay flat on his back, eyes white. He was mind-drifting, apparently in control of the thing.

Another screech rang out as it twirled in the sky, transitioning to a dive and coming right down at me. I found my feet and whistled, loud as I could before darted toward the ledge. Two spikes at the ends of its wings cut the air like knives and released a buffering hum that made focusing difficult.

I leaped as its talons—shiny black like obsidian—raked across the entire mesa, from where I was to where I'd left Ace. I may not feel, but I couldn't help but panic when bolts of lightning lashed out in every direction and through me. My bones rattled. My flesh began to sear like a thick steak. I screamed out of pure instinct and spun, firing at the beast.

I can't say my attack did much in the way of damaging the Piasa, but the lightning stopped at least. I tried to shoot again but my rifle clicked empty.

Timperina appeared from below, finding her path right below me. I turned to land safely on her saddle. My faithful girl. Always in the right place at the right time.

"Keep your head down, Girl!" I yelled as she galloped around the rise, racing out of the way of falling boulders. We skirted the whole mesa, and as we came around the other side, Otaktay stood above, huffing and wheezing. He hopped down, landing before us, crushing stone with a knee as he landed off-balance.

Since we were at such close range, I whipped my broken lasso around one of his wrists, and had two things confirmed for me. One, its holy properties were ruined. Two, Yetis, even injured as he was, are really strong.

Otaktay flailed, and I held on, letting the momentum fling me back up onto the flats above. Timp ran off. I landed in the devastation of the Piasa's talons, a deep gash through solid rock. Grains of dirt hung all around, the static shock causing them to float.

With all my ammo depleted, I drew my knife and sprinted up toward Ahusaka, the Mind-drifter. Nothing but char remained where the totem had been, and Dyani’s body looked drained of color. Knowing what I did about black magic, rituals, and sacrifice—I could only surmise her essence had helped summon the Piasa from an object that was anything but common.

"Stay away from him!" Otaktay shouted.

I looked back to see him straining to pull himself over the ledge. He made it and began to crawl, scampering with what little energy he had left to try and catch me.

I kept going, scanning the horizon for any sign of the giant bird. And then I saw it, sweeping down through the clouds. The Piasa soared out south over the badlands, heading straight for Revelation Springs. Straight to where Rosa and so many other innocents were.

Grinding to a stop at the foot of the Mind-drifter, I flipped the knife, ready to plunge it through his poor, deluded heart. Then I stopped. When I killed his hawk, Ahusaka had felt it. What would happen if I killed his body first? Would he become the powerful Piasa for good, still in control? Still able to kill all those innocent people.

Before I could make the decision to end Ahusaka’s misguided life, my hesitation allowed Otaktay to catch up.

I slashed at him, but he grabbed my wrist first and squeezed until the knife fell free. Then he wrenched my arm outwards and held me up like I was the crucified Christ. His bulky arms and legs were quaking. Injuries would allow me to overpower him soon.

“We have to stop him,” I said.

Otaktay growled and stretched my limbs, close to tearing them off.

"Stop him from becoming a monster, like you."

"Too little. Too late."

We stood feet from Ahusaka, but I could do nothing to stop the misguided young man. If only I’d kept the cursed harmonica with me, I could've robbed everyone here of their choice. Instead, it was up to me and my words.

For once, I understood Shar. And even Ace for that matter. There are no heroes in the West. Only choices that get people killed, good or bad.

No… Something had to give.

"Don't let him do it," I said, looking the Yeti straight into his cold, now gray eyes. "He's got his whole life. Those people, none of them did anything except for one."

"They made him rich," Otaktay snarled. "Fat. Allowed my people to vanish."

"They survived! Just as you did. I can't ever know your pain or what got you here, but there is a man underneath your ugly mug. Save that kid."

He squeezed my neck. I didn't need to breathe, but it was becoming more difficult to talk as my throat constricted and Hellish ice spread over my neck and face.

"Otaktay." I used his real name. "You protected him all his life. Do it now. Reject the demon in you."

Hearing his name did something in Otaktay. I watched his features soften like they had back in the quarry. Then, all at once, his neck stretched back as he howled in pain, dropping me and collapsing beside Ahusaka.

I looked up. Ace rose behind him, having stabbed my silver-dusted knife right into his back.

"Man, you got ugly. That's for betraying me!" he spat. He ripped the knife free and went to stab again, but Otaktay swung wildly and slapped Ace so hard he flew halfway across the mesa.

I could've gone for the knife, but instead, I crawled and brought myself back face to face with Otaktay. I pressed my palms to his leathery cheeks on both sides and turned his head to me. Black blood leaked out of his back like crude oil. It seeped through his razor-sharp teeth, glistening in the moonlight.

"Otaktay, you can stop Ahusaka from going down this road," I whispered. In the corner of my eye, I saw the Piasa thundering ever closer to Revelation. "Everything Dufaux did to you and your people… Don't justify him. Don't give him the credit."

Otaktay swallowed audibly, then coughed on the blood. It bubbled and gurgled. His gaze drifted. He didn't have long.

"Look at me." I squeezed his jaw. "Show Dufaux that you're better men. That you and Dyani raised Ahusaka to be better. Not a son by blood, but a son by choice. Save him. Save your family."

He blinked. Then, as he focused on me, I saw human eyes beneath his. He pushed me out of the way, extended a palm over Ahusaka's head. Ice flowed from his fingertips. The skin around the boy's temples froze, and the echoing screeches of the Piasa grew strained. It didn't click for me what Otaktay was doing until it was done.

Thoughts of what put me in that coffin sprang to memory.

With Ahusaka's mind temporarily frozen, the link between man and beast was severed. The Piasa faded away in a cloud of crackling lightning from front to back until it was no more than a shockwave. Then, gone entirely.

Otaktay rolled flat onto his back, eyelids stuck open. Dead.