"T ell 'em the rest, Sim," Elda said gently. "Be done with it."

Sim's eyes mirrored Bletsung's anguish. "I was coming up from the meadow when I heard Bletsung screaming. I ran into the cabin. When I saw what he was trying to do to her, I took hold of him and -" He shut his eyes at the memory.

453"Y e smashed his head into the hearth," Brogan said. "That's what ye did. Y e crushed his skull against the stones."

"Y es," Sim said quietly, looking at him. "Y es, I did."

"And then let Bletsung lie for ye, ye coward. Y e let her say her pa fell when he was drunk."

"I did," Sim said quietly.

"My father was drunk!" Bletsung said. "Drunk onwhiskey and the power he had over me. And God forgive me, I was glad when he was dead!"

"And no wonder," Miz Elda said, tears coming to her eyes.

"Y e wasna glad the way it happened," Sim said. "For all he done and for all he was, he was still your father.

He was still a human being." He turned his head away from her and faced those now looking at him. "I want ye all to know that. Bletsung had no part in what I did."

Bletsung reached out a hand to 'him. "Y e didna mean to kill him, Sim. Y e wassomad ye wasna thinking."

He made no attempt to take her hand. "Dunna matter. He was a man and I killed him. That's why I thought God put the finger on me to be the sin eater.

That's why I agreed to go up on Dead Man's Mountain.

454And now I 've come down from there to tell ye what I 've found out. The truth! I ain't never been able to give ye or yer loved ones what ye needed. The fact of it is I 've stood in yer way." T ears ran down his face. "God forgive me, I 've been the Judas goat leading our people to slaughter without even knowing that Satanwas using me to do it. And it's gotta stop!"

"Don't listen to him! He's just looking for a way out of his duty to us!" shouted Brogan.

"Fagan speaks the truth," Sim said. "Y ou don't need a sin eater. Y ou need Jesus Christ!"

"Don't listen to him, I tell ye! We've lived this way as far back as we can remember, and we ain't changing our laws now."

"I t stops now, hereand now!" Sim cried out in a voice of authority. "The work was done on the cross of Christ!"

"This is my valley!" Brogan's rage was out of control.

"No one stands against me and lives!"

"No, Pa!" Fagan cried out.

"Y e speak of God. Well, let God be the judge between us!" Brogan Kai raised Douglas's gun and aimed at Sim's heart. Fagan threw himself between his father and the sin eater, but Sim moved faster. He 455caught hold of Fagan's arm and dropped him to the ground out of the way as Brogan pulled the trigger.the ground out of the way as Brogan pulled the trigger.

The gun exploded. I heard a scream and realized with a shock that it was the Kai. He dropped the musket, his right hand half blown away, his face black with powder burns and red with blood. Falling to his knees, he shrieked in terrible pain. Douglas looked on in terror.

"Brogan!" Iona screamed, tearing down the steps.

"Brogan! Oh, Brogan. . ." She fell to her knees, drawing him close. Fagan came and knelt down, crying as his father wailed in agony while his mother rocked him.

"Y e fool!" Cleet said to Douglas. "Y e loaded too much powder again! Dinna Pa tell ye a hundred times?

" Douglas shoved past his brother and ran, disappearing into the woods.

Sim looked on in pity. He came forward, hunkering beside the fallen man and the woman who held him.

He grasped the Kai's wrist tightly to stop the bleeding.

The Kai's screaming stopped as he went limp in his wife's arms.

"He's dead! Oh, he's dead," Iona said, weeping."No he ain't, dear," Sim said. "He's just unconscious."

456"Let him die!" an angry voice shouted. "We'd be well rid of him!"

Sim raised his head and looked around solemnly.

"Would ye curse a man who's down? He ain't no worse than any of the rest of us."

Gervase Odara came forward. "We'll need some clean cloths."

Miz Elda pushed herself up from her chair. "Bring him on inside."

Sim Gillivray, the man who'd been tricked in the lottery and cheated out of twenty-two years of his life, lifted Brogan Kai from the dirt and carried him into the cabin. And it was the old woman that Brogan had so wronged who helped her forsaken daughter and the mountain healer tend him.

People milled around, waiting for news and mumbling of what should be done. Sim came out after a long while. "He'll make it, folks. He won't have no useof his right hand, and he's blind in one eye, but he'll live."

I gave a start when my father, Angor Forbes, came forward. "We've been talking among ourselves, and we figure if any man's deserving to be cast out as a sin eater, it's Brogan Kai himself. He done ye wrong, Sim.

He ought to pay for it."

Sim frowned, looking from my pa to the 457others. "Y e all agree with him?"

"Aye! "

"Y e think I was the one wronged?"

"Y es!" they called out loudly.

"We'll abide by whatever ye want to do," my father said.

Sim stood on the porch looking down at him. "I t's what ye're hoping I want, ain't it, Angor? Revenge."

Color seeped into Pa's face. He looked ashamed but spoke out in his own defense. "He's held us all in fear all these years. Me as much as any man here.We'd live easier if we never had dealings with the man again." "Y e need not fear Brogan Kai anymore," Sim said simply. "He's never had power over ye but what ye've given him yerselves. And I 'll tell ye this. Y e say you'll abide by whatever I want to do? Then here it is. I forgive him. I ain't gonna judge the man. What right have I to judge anyone? What right have any of us?"

Fagan had been standing in the doorway, tense, listening to them discussing the fate of his father. I could not take my eyes from him, for at Sim's words his eyes caught holy fire. He came forward and stood at the railing, looking out over the men who'd wanted to make his father the sin eater. "Judge not, lest by your own measure will 458ye be judged, sayeth the Lord!" he said in a loud voice.

"Amen," Sim said quietly. He smiled. "I f I 've anything to say about it, I 'm the last sin eater this valley will ever know. Y e heard God's truth from this lad and this girl.

Jesus is the way, brothers and sisters. Jesus is the truth.Heis the life."

I felt the nudging and leaned on the railing, lookingout among our people. "Y e've all heard the truth now.

Life and death are before ye. Which will ye choose?"

459.

Only a few folks went down to the river to be baptized that day. Sim carried Miz Elda 'cause she was too old to walk herself and said she wanted to be a witness to what was going on. Bletsung walked beside Sim, touching his arm tenderly every now and then. And my brother, Iwan, went. Cluny Byrnes broke away from her father's hold and ran after us, him shouting after her that she was no longer welcome home and no daughter of his.

All in all, there were only seven of us that praised the Lord for what he'd done. Seven who asked him to reign in our lives. Only seven out of so many.

Even Pa turned away and went on home. I t near broke my heart in two when I saw him go. I ran after him, clinging to him and pleading with him to come with us to the river and be baptized.

"I got work to do and your ma to see to. She took to her bed four days ago. She ain't been up or et nothing since."I let him go then, weeping as he walked away. The sadness of it stayed with me at the 460river while I watched Iwan and Cluny be baptized.

Even the laughter and rejoicing could not dispel the feeling inside me that things was left undone, that God wanted me to do something more. As Sim carried Miz Elda up the path once more, I followed with the others.

Fagan took my hand. He knew how I was feeling.

When we reached the cabin, we found it empty, Brogan Kai having been carried home by Cleet and Cluny's father.

Miz Elda was fit to be tied, she was so happy. She looked shriveled and ancient, but her eyes were sparkling with life like never before. She kept smiling like all her cares had beenwashed away. And well they had.

I f we could all just let them go.

"What's troubling ye, Cadi?" she said to me.

"Pa didn't come."

"He will, given time. I 'm sure of it.""I t's Mama I 'm worried about," Iwan said. "She come home four days ago after a long walk and took to her bed. Pa and I both tried to find out what's wrong with her, but she just turned her face to the wall. She's just given up on living, and nothing we can say makes a difference. I t's like she don't care anymore."

461The wind in the valley had stirred Miz Elda's white hair so it stuck up in all directions like a porcupine. "Four days ago, ye say?" She raked some back from her forehead.

"Y es, ma'am," Iwan said.

"She come by here four days ago asking after Cadi. I told her she'd gone to Bletsung's place." She looked around. "Where's my brush? Land sakes, I can't see for this straw. Stop laughing, Fagan. I t ain't respectful to laugh at your poor ol' granny."

"Here it is, ma'am," Bletsung said, stifling a grin. "I 'll brush your hair for you."

"Well, someone better."

"Mama come by and seen me," I said, rememberinghow she'd stood at the edge of the meadow by the mountain laurel near the creek. "She didn't come up to the house or call out or nothing. She just stood looking at me. Then she turned her back and walked away."

Miz Elda grew thoughtful. "Then maybe it's you she's mourning, child."

"I t's Elen she loved. Not me. She'd be happy if she never had to look at me again." "That ain't true, Cadi,"

Iwan said, leaving Cluny to come hunker before me where I was sitting. "She loves you. I 'm sure she does."

462I shook my head, the ache inside hurting worse than it ever had before. Why now? Oh, God, why now?

This should be a time of joy, not sorrow.

"Y e ought to go and talk to her, child. Find out what's ailing her."

Everyone was looking at me, and I felt stripped naked and vulnerable. "I can't!" My throat closed up like someone was choking me. I fought the tears, but they came anyway, burning hot, searing right down into my heart.

"Y es, ye can, darlin'," Sim said. "Y e had courageenough to come looking for the sin eater, didn't ye, when all around ye lived in fear of me? And because ye sought a Savior, ye found the one who takes sins away, Jesus Christ our Lord. He showed ye the way to salvation. Now show your mother."

"I reckon it was your prayers brought that man of God to bring us the truth up here into the mountains, Cadi,"

Fagan said.

I wondered. I had a strong feeling there had been someone else crying out to God long before I was born. Sim Gillivray.

"The Lord answers prayers," said a familiar voice and I glanced up. Lilybet stood in the doorway. "Let love lead ye home, Katrina Anice. All ye need will be given. Y e've only to ask."

463I got up and went out the door, thinking to follow her, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Cadi?" Bletsung said, leaving Miz Elda. She came to me and put her hand on my shoulder. "What is it, honey?"

I was shivering violently. "I 'm going home now. Onlywould ye all do summat for me?"

"What, darlin'?"

"Pray for me. And pray for Mama. Pray real hard."

I ran all the way home because I knew if I walked, I 'd have time to think and change my mind. I had to do it while whatever it was within me was impelling me to go home. My side ached and my lungs burned, but I didn't stop. I came up the steps and stood in the doorway.

Papa was sitting on the edge of the bed, his hand on Mama's shoulder. When he glanced up, I saw he was crying. "Cadi's here, Fia," he said softly. I saw her body tense. Papa got up slowly and left her. "She won't listen to me. She's just plain given up." He looked at me beseechingly and then went outside to sit on the front porch, leaving me alone with my mother.

Panting, I stood in the doorway until my breath eased. "Mama?" I said softly and 464came forward. She kept her back to me as I came close. "Mama, I 'm sorry for what happened to Elen. I was jealous of her.""I know."

"That day I said such terrible things to her. And you."

"I remember."

I didn't want to say it was because I missed my mother's love and attention. I didn't want to make excuses for myself. "I saw her coming across the tree bridge, and I was still so mad I wished she'd fall. And when she did, I tried to see her. I wanted to undo it. I knew when she fell I didn't hate her or you, Mama. Not deep down. But it was already too late. I didn't push her, Mama. I swear on my life, I didn't."

"I know you didn't," she said hoarsely. "I never thought you did, even for a minute."

"Y e didn't? I thought . . ." I didn't want to hope.

She turned over slowly. Her face was so thin and ashen and drawn with grief. "I neverblamed you for whathappened to Elen,never,not once." She touched my dress, pinching a little of the worn cotton between her fingers and rubbing it. "Is that what ye thought? I t's ever been the same in my mind since it happened.""What, Mama?"

465"I t should've been me," she whispered brokenly.

A feeling swept through me, like a warm spring breeze, clearing all my misunderstanding. "Oh, Mama, why?" I said gently, though with sudden insight, I knew.

"Because I sent Elen to find ye." Her face convulsed.