Doctor and the Kid, The (A Weird West Tale) (Weird West Tales) by Mike Resnick Page A

answered Geronimo. “We have done it once before, you and I, a year ago, in the place you call Tombstone.”
    “Lawyers call your trade a quid pro quo,” said Holliday. “Why should I do you a favor, other than the fact that I'm captivated by your charming personality?”
    “I know why you are here, Holliday,” said Geronimo. “You are a drunken fool who lost all his money, and you are dying.”
    “I appreciate your sympathy,” interjected Holliday sardonically as a coyote howled in the distance.
    “You need money to die in peace, and you have decided to get it by killing the one you know only as Billy the Kid.”
    “I don't know him at all.”
    “Do not play word games with me,” continued Geronimo harshly. “You are here for the White Eyes' reward for killing the man McCarty who is called Billy the Kid.”
    “All right,” conceded Holliday, “I'm here to kill him.”
    “You cannot.”
    “Suppose you tell me why not?”
    “He is protected.”
    “So your messenger told me,” said Holliday. “Who is protecting him, and why?”
    “He is protected by Woo-Ka-Nay of the Southern Cheyenne,” answered Geronimo.
    “Hook Nose?” repeated Holliday, surprised. “I thought you two were partners, the two most powerful medicine men on the continent, the two men whose magic stopped the United States from expanding past the Mississippi.”
    “We are partners in that enterprise,” Geronimo assured him.
    “But McCarty called Billy the Kid operates under his protection.”
    “Why? What kind of deal has he made with the Kid?”
    “None. McCarty called Billy the Kid does not even know he is protected.”
    “Then I repeat: Why?” said Holliday, trying to understand.
    “Woo-Ka-Nay hates the White Eyes. McCarty called Billy the Kid kills White Eyes. He has never killed one of the People, and until he does, he is protected.”
    “And you'll lift his protection?”
    Geronimo shook his head. “I am not more powerful than Woo-Ka-Nay.”
    “Then why are you telling me all this?” demanded Holliday.
    “I probably cannot defeat Woo-Ka-Nay. And if I could, I would not, not to help any White Eyes.” Geronimo paused. “But I can negate him, so that you will kill McCarty called Billy the Kid if you can kill him.”
    “That's not wildly encouraging,” replied Holliday. “I'm a dying man, going up against a kid who is killing men at a faster rate than even John Wesley Hardin, and you not only can't guarantee a win, you can't even be sure you can hold Hook Nose off since he's as powerful as you. Maybe he's even a shade more powerful, and take my word as an experienced shootist, most of the time a shade is all it takes.”
    “All this is true,” agreed Geronimo. “But you will agree to a trade anyway, because while you might fail with my help, you will fail without it.”
    Holliday stared at him for a long moment, then spoke. “All right. That's what you're doing for me, such as it is. What do you think I'm going to do for you? Who am I supposed to kill?”
    “You will not kill anyone,” answered Geronimo.
    “I won't?” asked Holliday, surprised.
    “Unless it is necessary.”
    Holliday grimaced. “Let's have it.”
    “A day from here—” began Geronimo.
    “I don't know where here is,” interrupted Holliday.
    “You will,” Geronimo assured him. “A day from here is a valley very much like this one. There was a time when the two valleys were sisters, when it was clear that the same hand had created them both.”
    “But no longer?” suggested Holliday.
    “Today a track runs through the valley, and there is a building where people await the train or depart from it.”
    “OK, there's a valley with a train station. What about it?”
    “You will destroy it,” said Geronimo as a trio of bats flew overhead. Holliday wondered where they came from in this desolate landscape, or if they were actually bats at all.
    “Why?”
    “It desecrates an Apache burial ground.”
    “You're the medicine man,” said