Chronicles of Steele: Raven 2: Episode 2 (8 page)

Monroe leveled his sword at the grizzly. “Don’t talk to her so familiar.”

Jasper spat, blood mixed with his saliva. “As though you have any right to act as her protector. You are no more innocent or guilty than I. Don’t act holier than me.”

“No one is holy.”

“Whatever. Don’t try to win me over with whatever religion you’re trying to push. I am a reaper; I have no need to trust anyone but myself.”

“You call yourself a reaper, but you don’t even live by the code.”

“The code never got me anywhere. The training is what really counts.”

Monroe gave a hard laugh that sounded like a cough. “Earlier today you talked of true believers. What did you mean if you weren’t referring to the code?”

“The rigors of training as a reaper are too hard for most men. They want everything to come easy and when it doesn’t, they quit. Not one true believer among them.”

“Ah.” Monroe nodded. “At least some wisdom has made it through that steel-hard capitulum.”

Jasper lost his temper and jabbed his blade at Monroe a few more times. The parries lasted for about a half-dozen hits when the standstill recommenced. They were both out of breath once more.

“Raven Steele...” Jasper resumed his yelling after panting again. “Don’t trust this man. He is the one responsible for your father’s death.”

The ice cold water of betrayal poured down her spine. She waited for Monroe’s denial, but none came. The ragged reaper remained silent. Raven squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. It made no difference what the reapers said–she knew Monroe didn’t kill her father. She had been there. His death had been her fault.

When Jack and his guard found the start of the woods, the tracks split. The trail the dog’s tracks led would have been better traversed on foot. So they chose to stay on the main road, which the mechanical horse hoof prints continued along. Fatigue was an unwelcome companion and kept them at little more than an amble for the entire trip. As the moon rose higher in the sky, Jack considered finding a field to make camp and continue the search in the morning. Bradley and Harry continued to nod off, leaning on their horses.

Jack adjusted in the saddle and spoke quietly to his second-in-command. “Rupert, what do you think? Should we make camp and continue the search tomorrow?”

Rupert shrugged, but he looked worn out. His eyes had lost some of the shine and focus they’d had when he first found the trail.

Jack sat up in the saddle and let his hips move with the horse’s motion. Honestly, part of him just didn’t really want to catch up with Jasper Hollow tonight. If the reaper had found Raven and the baron, he didn’t want to witness the grisly scene. And if the reaper hadn’t found them, he didn’t want to spend the night with the snoring bear again.

His drive to move forward dissolved. Then the thunder rolled and Jack shot a look to the northwest. The clouds made a distinct line in the sky. Overhead, they could still see a clear sky full of stars, but not far to the west, lightning struck again. It lit up the obvious line of storms. Bradley and Harry became alert in their saddles. Jack nodded and called back to them. “Men, let’s trot ahead and see if we can find shelter.”

The horses barely needed urging as the wind whipped up, rustling the trees to each side. Lifting their ears and flaring their nostrils, the horses stepped up on high alert. They felt the storm coming and wanted to outrun it just as much as the men. A sudden drop in temperature accompanied the wind.

The horses pulled into a forward trot. Over the howl of the wind, Jack thought he heard the clashing of swords. They rounded the next bend, and in the near pitch blackness, the smoldering remains of a mechanical horse sizzled in the road. And next to it, the two reapers stood still in a ready stance for battle. Jack tensed his jaw, but couldn’t see Raven or the boy nearby.

Pulling up his horse, he held his arm out for the guard to follow suit. He dismounted and handed the reins to Rupert. “Stay here. I’ll check things, but withdraw your pistol—just in case.”

Rupert nodded, the reins of two horses in one hand, his pistol already in the other.

Jack stepped forward, calling ahead to the two reapers. “What’s going on here, Jasper? Met your match?” He nearly slapped the man on the back when he noticed the protruding shards of metal. He swore. “Are you all right, Hollow? How can you be moving with an injury like this?”

The icy wind whipped at Jasper’s sweat and blood-soaked clothing. The reaper’s breathing came out in a wheezing pant. He didn’t sound well. “It’s nothing for a reaper to ignore pain.”

More reaper superiority talk. Just what Jack needed. He shook his head. But it pricked him in the heart that there had to be some truth to it since even the woman reaper had ignored her injured leg in their battle. The thunder rolled again, sounding angrier. Lightning flashed and he saw her. Raven stood in the woods, Darius and the Great Dane at her side. Jack’s heart skipped a beat.

Even after the light provided by the flash dissipated, he could make out the cream-colored skin of her neck and face. Jasper coughed, and splatters of blood clung to his bottom lip. Jack stepped toward him. The clouds opened up and snow fell mixed with sheets of ice. It beat upon his shoulders like small, sharp stones. Lightning sparked again, and he darted his eyes to the woods. She had disappeared.

He blinked hard and rushed past the two older men to where she’d been standing. The ice and snow melted as it stuck to his skin, dribbled down his face, and fell into his eyes. He turned his head both directions, whipping moisture from his hair, but he could see no sign of her, the boy, or the dog. Visibility reduced to almost zero in the sheets of snow and ice.

“Captain!” Rupert yelled.

Jack spun at the sound of his second’s distress, and in the next bright flash of light, he saw the rag-covered reaper running down the southwest road. A moment of indecision slapped him. Should he go after the man? With the low visibility and the distance the reaper had already achieved, shooting him was hardly an option, except maybe for this sharp shooter, Jasper. The bloodied man stood before him, teetering on his own feet and catching himself. Then Jasper took two hacking, blood filled coughs and fell to the ground, face first.

Raven ran deeper into the woods, holding the dog’s leash. The young baron ran just ahead of her, his head lamp back on. Sleet and snow fell in torrents, making the path slick with mud and ice. When the path intersected with the road again, Darius stopped, as if unsure of where to continue.

“This way,” Raven answered his unspoken question and unhooked the leash from the dog.

They were far enough away that the dog shouldn’t cause trouble for them. The road would make the fastest, easiest travel. It made no difference if they stayed in the woods now. They’d been found. And the hard snowfall would cover their tracks.

“Keep running, understood?” Raven started at a jog again, willing the nine-year-old boy to keep up.

The dog loped just ahead of them, happy to be off the leash. Raven whipped the lamp from her forehead and wound it as she ran. When the key hit the stopper at thirty, she placed it back on her head without a misstep. The light bounced in front of her on the road, reflecting off the sheet of white falling from the sky.

They hadn’t been running long when the light of a house came into view. She hesitated, debating the stop. The cottage stood back a bit from the road, set half in the woods and half out. The lightning had subsided, but the sleet and snow still covered everything in a blanket. It seemed the kind of storm that would last all night. If they could get the owner to kill the lamps, the house might be dark enough for the guard to pass it unnoticed. It would be her best hope. She turned and ran for the cabin.

Pay attention to what the opponent does and says.
Flaws will be exposed. Use them to one's advantage.

A
FTER TRYING THE door handle, Raven knocked on the pinewood. She wiped the melted snow from her face, happy to have had an overhang to huddle under. The wind picked up and caused a shiver. Darius’s teeth chattered. They waited for a few moments before an old woman opened the small window to peer onto the porch. “Who’s out there?”

“Sorry to bother you, madam, but we were traveling through Preston Woods and were caught in the storm. Any chance you’d allow us to take shelter until it passes?” Raven smiled and pleaded with her eyes, but couldn’t help but assess the possibility of forcing her way in and subduing the old woman.

The woman stepped back and called into the house. “Griselda! We’ve got company.”

Two of them. The old woman may not have been a challenge to subdue, but Raven abhorred the thought of having to restrain more than one innocent.

The old woman pulled her cottony hair into a bun. Raven watched her through the small window. A shock of auburn hair and bright green eyes appeared and blocked the view. The younger face studied the threesome on the porch and scowled. Her southern accent held more twang than the others they’d heard on the trip. “I’ll not have that beast in my house. I don’t care if it’s a full-on blizzard. My house is too small for the likes of that mongrel.”

“She’s not a mongrel,” Darius protested, his hands on his hips. His words shook with iron through chattering teeth. “I’ll have you know she’s a pedigreed Great Dane.”

Raven clenched her jaw and put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. She hoped he’d look at her so she could tell him with her eyes to be quiet, but he was too busy glaring at the woman.

“Oh. Ho. Ho. Don’t you just sound so high and mighty for a wet rat standing in the cold?” The woman smiled, and one of her front teeth shone gold while on the other side, her smile exposed a gap farther back. Her heavy makeup cracked into the wrinkles on her face. To Raven, these things exposed the woman’s vanity. Vanity walked hand in hand with greed.

Darius started to speak, but Raven pulled him behind her. “If it’s about payment, we have no problem making up for any inconvenience we cause. The dog is almost the size of a horse,” she said, and laughed in agreement with the woman. “She can stay in the shed barn, if you don’t mind.”

Behind her, Darius pulled his arm from her grip. She peeked back and saw he held his arms across his chest, his glare aimed upon her now. She winked at him and rolled her eyes hoping he’d understand her situation and get some control of his emotions.

“Well then, why didn’t you say so?” The little window snapped shut, and locks on the door clicked open.

Raven and Darius stepped back and made room for the door. The woman’s lips were frozen in a smile while her eyes assessed and judged the threesome on the porch. When her eyes landed on Nikki again, she asked, “You do have a leash for that thing, don’t you?”

Without a word, Raven snapped the leash on the dog and handed the end of it to Darius. “Put Nikki in the shed barn. She’ll be warm and safe in there.” She kneeled to his eye level and tried to reassure him with her tone and a smile. “Don’t worry. I’ll wait for you right here.”

His large, sorrowful eyes had lost their edge. Tears mixed in with the snow melt on his face. His shoulders slumped in defeat, and he trudged off the porch and into the sleet, heading for the small shed next to the cottage.