Chronicles of Steele: Raven: The Complete Story Read online

  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.

  AFTER 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.

  “That mutt will be fine in there with the chickens and the goat.” She narrowed her eyes at Raven and straightened her apron. “But if it kills one of my animals, you’ll be paying double what it’s worth at the market, understood?”

  Raven drew herself up to her full height and looked down at the woman. She clenched her jaw to keep herself from snapping the woman’s neck. After a deep breath, she gave her a slight nod and forced a smile.

  The woman held out her hand. She wanted payment up front. Raven reached into her bag and pulled out four coppers. The woman took the money and looked her up and down, as if seeing Raven for the first time. “Awfully strange get-up you have on there. Did you ride in? I didn’t see a horse. What are you doing in Preston Woods? Hunting?” The woman continued babbling as she started back into the house, answering her own questions the moment she proposed them.

  Raven let the woman widen the gap between them as she waited for the boy to return. He bolted back from the shed. The snowflakes had grown larger and the sleet had slowed to a steadier, lighter icing, but a cold wind picked up with it. The boy’s cheeks glowed red in his pale face. If his cheeks felt like hers, they were numb from the cold. She shivered and herded him inside
the door.

  The warmth of the small cottage enveloped them and made her exposed skin burn in the sudden heat. Several pieces of overstuffed brown and green furniture cluttered the small room. A single gas lamp and the fireplace dimly lit the living area. Raven assessed the situation. What would be the best way to contain the two women and douse the light?

  Carrying a tea tray, the red-haired woman returned to the cozy room. She hummed a tune as she entered.

  “Some tea to warm you both, and a few biscuits?” She looked up at them both, her green eyes still full of judgment, but she stopped herself and continued. “Oh, what was I thinking? You are both dripping wet. Do you have a change of clothes?”

  Raven looked again at her carpet bag and wondered how waterproof the bag might be. She had shaken the snow from it on the porch and hoped the moisture stayed out of the bag. “We might. Do you have a place we might change?”

  “Absolutely.” The old woman set down the tea tray and grasped the single lamp. She led them up the rickety stairs.

  Each step released a squeal or cry, threatening to crack under the weight of their footfalls. At the top of the stairs, they found four doorways. The light of the gas lamp revealed the color of each as a teal-green. Raven had to duck her head a bit in order to keep her hair from catching in the exposed thatch. The woman led them to the room directly across from the stairs.

  With a squeal and a crack, the door opened into a cramped room with an even lower ceiling. To her relief, the room they’d been assigned was windowless. Two double beds sat across from each other with a small pan between them, catching a drip from the roof. “I believe this should be enough.” The woman crossed the room and used the gas lamp in her hand to light the small one on the single nightstand by the beds. “Please come down for tea once you get yourselves into some dry things.”

  Raven nodded and began digging through her bag before the woman had the door closed behind her. To her relief, the inside of the bag had been kept mostly dry. With a hard swallow of her pride, she traded her reaper gear for the travel dress once more. “Here, Darius. I’ve got some clothes for you, too. Change right here, in the light of the gas lamp, and I’ll change in the hallway.”

  The young baron took the dry clothes, but his expression held no mirth. Instead, he looked about the room in the confusion, wonder, and sadness of a child too far away from his home. It seemed that Nikki offered him the sort of comfort a teddy bear might offer a smaller child. Now he looked lost without her. Raven patted him on the shoulder and said, “Stay here in this room. Keep your headlamp handy and shut off the gas lamp. Understand?”

  His sad eyes blinked and he nodded. She attempted a smile and stepped into the hallway.

  She needed to move fast. Her moleskin breeches rarely absorbed much in the way of water, so she left them on. The water did not soak into her corset; she could keep it as well. After unbuttoning her shirt in the dark, she wound the headlamp a quick ten times. She didn’t want to put her dress on backwards. Her wet arms stuck to the insides of the pale dress’s sleeves. At the same time, the cold fled the moment material covered her bare, wet skin. She held the head lamp in her palm as she descended the stairs.

  Flames flickered in the fireplace and shadows danced on the cozy walls of the living room. The two women and the gas lamp had to be in the kitchen. Raven tiptoed to the door and listened to the women. The gruff voice of the older woman rang clear and she huffed a laugh. “I can feel the boy’s strength. The foolish duke and his court have no idea the power that boy holds.”

  “I really don’t need to hear your craziness, Mother.” The red-haired woman, Griselda, interrupted the elder woman and moved about pots and pans in the room. “They are paying me good money for keeping them. And no one believes in that magic you always speak of.”

  The argument continued, but Raven didn’t have a moment to lose. She snuffed the flames in the fireplace, using the bucket of sand and ashes next to the fire. It smoldered for a moment before finally dying. Raven clenched her eyes to get rid of the spots caused by the embers. Then she slipped the night vision goggles over her face so she didn’t trip over any of the furniture. She returned to the door, removed the goggles, and entered the kitchen.

  Jack led his grey gelding through the snow with Jasper lying over the saddle. The rest of his guard rode just a short bit ahead of him as he trudged through the knee-deep drifts. Snowflakes clung to his eyelashes, and he blinked frequently to keep his vision clear. They needed to find shelter or a clearing to set up camp. At least the sleet had stopped.

  Rupert turned back to him and cursed. “Travel in this is impossible. I suggest we consider making camp right here on the road, sir.”

  It seemed the best recourse, and Jack nodded. They stopped and pulled the horses in a huddle. “Bradley and Harry, clear this area of as much snow as possible. One of you brought a shovel?”

  Bradley nodded and dismounted from his horse.

  “Good, let’s begin. Rupert and Smith, set up camp. Start a fire.”

  “Yes, sir.” Smith untied the straps from the tent attached to the back of his saddle. The movements of his men showed some fervor for the task at hand.

  “Colton, search the area for about a mile and a half ahead. If you find tracks, farms, or any sign of life, report.”

  Colton nodded and turned his horse back up the road.

  The snow lightened to barely more than a flurry, but the wind still whipped through Jack’s wet hair. He pulled his brown coat tighter around his body. The grey gelding nudged him impatiently. He patted the horse on the head and whispered assurance. “In a moment, Cutlass, we’ll get you some oats.”

  By the time Bradley and Harry had cleared the roadway, the other two had already gotten the fire started. Jack called the two young ones. “Come over and give me a hand with this.”

  They laid a tarp onto the road and pulled Jasper down from the horse. Gently they set him down on his stomach to determine how to remove the shards of brass from his back. The three-beat sound of pounding hooves caught Jack’s attention. Colton rounded the corner, returning to them at a canter.

  “Captain!” He called out as he approached, and pulled his bay mare up. The horse’s hind end slipped, and it fought for footing. “There is a house about a quarter mile up ahead. I almost missed it, for the light went out a moment after I found it.”

  “Excellent work, Colton. Help Rupert and Smith pack up the camp once more. Bradley and Harry, let’s get the reaper back on my horse.”

  After a moment’s struggle, Jack’s guard team had undone everything they’d accomplished in setting camp. They started up the road, with Colton leading them to the place where he’d found the cottage. Set back in the woods and covered in snow, it would have been an easy place to miss with the lights out as they were. Out of habit, the guardsmen surrounded the house while Jack approached the door. He stomped his boots on the porch to free them of the snow. Now that he was closer, he saw the door was painted teal. He stepped up and knocked three times.

  Raven stood at the darkened window and marveled when the guard turned directly for the house. It had been over an hour since she’d cut the lights. Her jaw tensed as the men split up and surrounded the cottage. Boots stomped up the porch steps. If she attempted to pretend no one was home, how would they respond? She shook her head in the dark. They’d break in the door and take over the house in the name of the duke, nonetheless.

  Three knocks rapped soundly on the wood. Raven stood next to the door, considering the option of allowing them to break it down and then using it as a funneling point to take down each guard member as they entered. She drew the red corded sword and prepared herself.

  “Coming!” A cheerful voice called through the house, and the elder woman approached, her cottony hair tinged green by the night vision goggles.

  Raven blinked hard, incredulous. The woman had been unconscious, on the floor and tied up when she had left her. She swallowed hard and stepped back as the woman smiled up at her a
nd made a shooing motion with her hands.

  The little old woman opened the small window in the door like she’d done earlier when they’d first arrived. “Yes, what is it?”

  Captain Jack Grant’s voice rang deep and clear. “Sorry to bother you, madam, but we’ve been caught in the storm as you can see. One of us is horribly injured, and we all could use to get out of the cold if you’d allow.”

  “How many are you, sir? This is a small cottage, and there are already four of us inside.”

  Raven’s jaw dropped. The woman’s voice held no malice for Raven having knocked her unconscious?

  “There are seven of us, I’m afraid.” Boots moved to the other side of the porch away from Raven. “Your barn is small as well, so if our horses stayed out in the weather, we’d be able to fit two or three of us in the barn. I just worry about our injured man and would rather have him near a fire.”

  “That sounds fair, young man. If three of you can stay in the barn, four of you may enter.” She closed the window and stepped back from the door, studying Raven with her hands on her hips.

  Raven swallowed, but gripped her sword tighter.

  “If you don’t want to be found out by these men,” the woman whispered. “I suggest you head upstairs and remain. I’ll be sure to tell them that the upstairs is fully occupied.”

  Raven nodded and snapped the sword once more to her back.

  “And take the tea tray with you. The tea might still be lukewarm anyway.” The woman waved her hand in the air, and bent down at the mantle to start the fire once more.

  Unsure of what else to do, Raven did as she was told. She took the tray and balanced it as she made her way up the rickety stairs. As she reached the top, she heard another knock at the door. The floorboards continued to creak beneath her feet as she made it to the teal door that housed Darius. She opened it and entered. The gruff sound of men’s voices and stomping boots entered the living area downstairs. A cheery voice rose above them—the woman said louder than necessary, “Please remove your wet boots at the door. I’ll be in the kitchen getting some tea ready. Try your best to keep things quiet, we have a guest upstairs with a baby that was just put down for a rest.”