"Mm." "Elena... hmm." ""Sunday next." ""Recall what we have shared." "Elena."" "Hmm." "Elena." "Exactly eight years ago this month," "I challenged a man to a duel over Elena." "You remember pretty good." "Hey Boy... no man ever forgets Elena." "Will you see that my things are sent on to the Rancho San Tarquie?" "Yes." "Entre, senor." "Por favor digala senorita que Paladin esta aqui." "La senora." "?" "La senora?" "Si." "Siéntase, por favor." "Senor Paladin, bienvenida." "Senor Ybarra." "Well, there's obviously been some mistake." "Pero no, senor." "I've been looking forward to your visit." "Well, I hardly consider myself one of your favorites, our last meeting being what it was." "I've always regretted not attending you on the field of honor." "Unfortunately, I was gored the Sunday before." "But that was long ago." "How is Elena?" "We will talk of her later." "Su habitación esta preparado, senor." "Now freshen yourself." "Your room is ready." "Then we will dine, eh?" "Well, Ybarra... in eight years, you've come a long way." "When I retired from the bullring, year before last," "I was proclaimed Numero Uno." ""Greatest bullfighter in the world."" "I read about it at the time." "And I have followed your career." "What do you think of my trophies?" "They would impress some people." "But you don't approve of the corridas." "I didn't say that." "I do ask you about Elena." "She is your wife." "Never my wife." "Only married to me." "Ybarra," "I received a letter from Elena." "Now I would like to see her." "I'm sure you would." "You, Paladin, would make a very poor killer of bulls." "I don't believe I'll take it up." "Of course." "The bullet a man puts into you is the size of the fingertip." "The horn a bull puts into you is as big as the arm!" "Ybarra... if you're trying to justify the fact that you were physically unable to accept a challenge" "I issued many years ago," "I withdraw the challenge." "I am a matador!" "Listen." "Do you hear it?" "The trumpet blaring." "The sound of the pasodoble?" "The torii gate bursting open and El Toro exploding into the hot sunlight, seeking his kill?" "Oh, how I hate the bulls." "Do you hate the men you kill that much?" "I hate only the killing." "Ah..." "And what is it like to kill a man, Paladin?" "Is it like killing 100 rabbits?" "Four wolves?" "Two deer?" "One grizzly bear?" "A pound-for-pound passion, equaling perhaps one-tenth of one bull?" "You face your man 20 feet apart." "What's the taste upon your tongue, Paladin?" "The rusty nail taste of death and fear." "The same taste that's on your tongue when the bull charges." "I fear no bull!" "I have found no book on bravery, no formula for courage." "I think perhaps a man is valiant only when his fear of cowardice exceeds his fear of death." "You're saying... the greater the fear, the greater the need for proof it doesn't exist." "And do you fear me?" "No." "Every bull I've faced has made that same mistake." "I must tell you of that afternoon when the horn of a brave bull prevented me from meeting you on another field of honor." "That afternoon, I cut three ears and a tail." "The Presidente himself said my technique was magnificent." "I'm sure he did." "The first two bulls were good but the third one... he was truly brave." "And he put a horn in you." "I carry many cornadas, but whenever I took the horn it was because the bull was bad, or my foot slipped, or the wind blew the cape backwards." "Not this time." "And what happened this time?" "I've asked that of myself." "Could I have invited El Toro?" "Could I have let him gore me because I was afraid of... you?" "More than the bull?" "That would be an interesting admission." "It's not an admission... only conjecture." "If I were more afraid of you... my reputation, my career, my life itself would have no meaning." "La comida esta preparado." "The senora is still indisposed?" "Si." "Ybarra..." "Where is Elena?" "Ah, Elena..." "Too much a woman... perhaps too little a wife." "It is sad." "Now, I'm going to ask you one more time:" "Where is Elena?" "The bull shows his temper." "Bueno." "The bull?" "!" "Of course." "Am I not a matador?" "And you the black bull?" "Ybarra... did that horn hit you in the brain?" "Take him!" "The black bull." "Magnificent." "You have become a very special guest, Paladin." "Why this, Ybarra?" "Why not just have that duel you insist on and get it over with?" "Because we are both specialists, but not in the same craft." "I have therefore devised rules which will be fair to both of us." "Rules for what?" "For the very special corrida." "Between the matador and the bull." "Oh?" "And what weapons will you give the bull?" "A bull has only one weapon, Paladin... his head." "He also has the use of all four limbs." "In due time." "After your arms and legs have become cramped and stiff from your confinement... less quick, less sure." "As the picador lances the neck muscle of the bull to make the hook less violent and the head lowers to receive the sword?" "Exactly." "And now, for many hours alone in the darkness to think and brood and build your anger." "Excellent!" "A dangerous bull, hooking left and right!" "Ybarra, you are a madman!" "I believe the bull is angry already... good!" "And now I leave you to the darkness." "How like a great bull you're becoming, Paladin." "A chained leviathan." "And here is the craven torero who cuts the horns from his bull, blinds him, starves the strength from his sinews..." "Your mind wanders from too much darkness, Paladin." "The only darkness I have is here in this dungeon." "Your darkness and your chains are in your mind." "And that will make a difference, Matador." "Paladin." "Elena." "You are still beautiful." "Have you come to taunt the bull you helped capture?" "Paladin, I wrote the letter months ago, but I never sent it." "He found it in my diary, not two weeks ago." "Since then," "I've been a prisoner, too." "You're not a prisoner now." "Josefina told me what happened." "You see..." "She lets me out when he's away from the house." "When it's safe." "Is it safe now?" "No." "Does Josefina have a key to these manacles?" "My husband keeps it on a chain around his neck." "He's afraid of you." "Well, he's doing his level best to make his fears groundless." "I'm so sorry, Paladin." "He was so different before he was hurt." "It's true." "I find that very small consolation." "I cannot give you back your freedom." "But perhaps I can give you your eyes." "When you hear them coming... put this out." "At least... when they take you outside... you'll be able to see." "Elena..." "Thank you." "We came to prepare you for the corrida." "Behold, senora, the brave bull." "But such a clumsy bull is worthy of my hate." "Do you now have the taste of fear, Toro?" "Hey, Toro." ""Set me a seal upon thy heart," ""for love is as strong as death." ""But hate is as cruel as the grave."" ""Have gun will travel," reads the card of a man" "A knight without armor in a savage land" "His fast gun for hire heeds the calling wind" "Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam?"