"D'you think the governor's ever gonna give us our amnesties?"

Hannibal Heyes looked up, startled, and put down the periodical he'd been reading. Over the years, he and the Kid often found their minds were running along the same lines, but sometimes it still surprised him.

He moved closer to the fire and poured himself some more coffee while he considered his answer. "Yeah, I think so."

"You do, huh? Even though it's been well over a year?"

"Yeah. Makes sense he'd want to wait a while, not rush into anything."

"And in the meantime, we're freezin' our asses off 'cause we can't afford a hotel and eatin' whatever we can find. I swear, if we do get those amnesties, I'm never eatin' rabbit again."

"Hey, cheer up, Kid - it's not so bad. Look at that sky! Makes you glad to be alive, doesn't it?"

"I can be glad to be alive when I'm sleepin' in a proper bed and eatin' regular meals!"

"You saying you want to go back to it all? Being chased by posses for the rest of our lives, always on the run, never able to settle down anywhere?"

Curry scowled. "No, Heyes. It's fine. Let's just keep doin' what we're doin' until we collapse in our saddles or freeze to death. That makes more sense."

Heyes flashed one of his sudden grins. "See, I knew you'd understand. Just leave me to do the planning, Kid. Besides, you never know - the horse may talk!"

Curry frowned. "What?"

"The horse may talk. It's a story I was just reading."

"'Bout a talkin' horse?"

"No! There was this king, way back when, and he had a horse. Best horse in the country, fast and real smart. He loved that animal."

"What king?"

"Huh?"

"What king?"

"I dunno. He was just a king, okay?"

"Okay." Curry put his hands behind his head and lay down to listen to the story.

"Anyway, one day, a prisoner was brought before him and the king sentenced him to death…"

"The king did? Wouldn't he have someone else to do that stuff for him?"

"I guess it was different back then. So, this prisoner was sentenced to death…"

Curry rolled onto his side to look at his cousin. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why was he sentenced to death?"

Heyes glared at him for a moment. "I don't know! It's not important."

"Seems like it should be."

"Well, it ain't!"

Curry shrugged. "If you say so."

"Anyway," Heyes decided to ignore him, " the prisoner pleads with the king to let him live. He tells the king that if the king spares his life, he'll teach the horse to talk."

Curry sat up. "What?"

"He said he'd teach the horse to talk."

"Heyes, no king is dumb enough to believe in a talkin' horse!"

"You should read more history, Kid, you'd be surprised. Stop interrupting. So the king agrees, but tells the prisoner that he has one year. If he hasn't taught the horse to talk after a year, the king will torture him to death in the most painful way he can think of."

"Seems like the prisoner just bought himself a whole heap of trouble. They had some pretty nasty ways of killin' people back then."

"Yeah, that's what his friends said. They all told him he was worse off now than before, when at least he could've had a quick death. But you know what he told them?"

"What?"

"He said, 'A year's a long time. In the next twelve months, I may die… or the king may die… or the horse may talk."

Curry considered for a long time. "The horse may talk, huh?"

"Yeah, Kid. The horse may talk."

Heyes settled back on his bedroll as Curry thought about that.

After a few minutes, he broke the silence. "Heyes?"

"Yeah?"

"What happened to the prisoner in the end?"

"Huh?"

"What happened to the prisoner? Did the king kill him?"

Heyes pushed himself up on his elbows. "You're missing the point, Kid. It's an allegory."

Curry creased his brow. "It's a what?"

Heyes stressed the syllables, pronouncing it slowly. "Al-e-gory. Means it ain't necessarily true, but it's got a moral to it." Heyes was pleased. He'd learned the word a few months ago and he'd been waiting for the chance to use it.

"Like a parable, from the bible?"

"Well, kinda like that. Yeah."

"So, what's the moral?"

"That anything can happen, Kid. Anything can happen!"

Curry looked into the firelight and thought about the story he'd just heard, and Heyes' cheerful interpretation of it.

The horse may talk.

Heyes had conveniently forgotten about the statements that came before that.

I may die or the king may die.

What would happen to them if the king - in their case, the governor - died or moved on? Would his successor honor his predecessor's arrangement with them? Would they have to start all over again? Or would he refuse to even consider pardoning them?

And as much as he hated to think about it, it wasn't that much of a stretch to think that one or both of them could die. It was a hard life, and they were still being hunted by bounty hunters and lawmen - the reward was still 'dead or alive'. And they could get sick or have an accident - living the way they did was risky. They had more than their fair share of near misses. While Heyes was pinning his hopes on the talking horse, it seemed to the Kid that the first two options were the most likely - and neither of them appealed to him much.

The story hadn't made him feel more positive, the way it had for Heyes.

He turned back to look at his cousin. "What if the horse doesn't talk, Heyes? What if the governor dies? What if we die?"

Heyes smiled. "Don't you remember what Grandpa Curry always said? Only the good die young! Pretty sure that rules us out. Completely sure it rules out the governor. The horse will talk, Kid. Trust me!"

Suddenly, the Kid grinned back, feeling lighter. He did trust Heyes, he would always trust him. Heyes, with his plans and his silver tongue, had got them this far already, and that was impressive enough.

The horse may or may not talk, but Heyes certainly would; and while he did, well - there was hope.