Blood Curse (Branded Trilogy Book 2) (21 page)

Pril sat with the boy on the edge of the bed.

“I’ve asked for dinner to be brought,” he said.

“Thank you.”

The boy peered up at him with big round eyes. Kade reached out and mussed his hair.

“Famished are you?”

The child nodded, and he glanced at Pril.

“I’ve been suspicious for a while now,” she said.

He knelt in front of the child and smiled.

“What is your name?” He’d asked him before but never got an answer.

The boy regarded him.

“Can you understand me?”

He placed his hand on Kade’s cheek but said nothing.

A knock at the door took him from the child. He was delighted to see a plump woman with grey hair holding a tray with three bowls of chowder and a loaf of bread.

“Much obliged, Ma’am,” he said and took the tray from her.

She smiled showing two deep dimples in her round cheeks.

“If you need anything, ring the bell,” she said and pointed to a copper bell hung from the ceiling.

He nodded and closed the door.

“Red wolf,” the boy whispered from behind him.

He placed the platter on the table and went to the lad.

“Red Wolf. It is nice to meet you.” He put out his hand, and the boy lifted his brow.

“How come you haven’t told us your name before now?” Pril asked.

He shrugged.

“We will not hurt you.”

“I know this.”

Pril smiled.

“Where do you come from?” Kade asked.

“I am Red Wolf son of Red Fox.”

“Where is your father? We can take you to him.”

The boy’s eyes pooled, and when he blinked his lashes released two tears.

“Red Fox is gone from this world.”

Pril placed her hand on his shoulder. “I am sorry, Red Wolf.”

“What of your mother or other family?” Kade asked.

“It is but me.”

The kid was alone much like himself, and Kade vowed to keep him safe at all cost. “How long have you been on your own?”

“I was slave to the white man for many seasons.”

“You will be a slave no more, I can assure you of that,” Kade said. He remembered the state the boy was in when he’d first seen him locked in the broom closet, and his gut clenched.

“You have no home then?” Pril asked.

“I am myself.”

“You are welcome to stay with me for as long as you like,” Pril said.

Red Wolf smiled. “Do you stay with Strong One?”

“You can call me, Kade.”

He shook his head. “You are Strong One.”

Kade shrugged.

Pril placed a bowl of chowder soup in front of the boy, and they dug into their evening meal. Red Wolf rambled on about his life before he was enslaved and his tribe of strong Cherokee people.

Pril let Athos follow Goliath at an even pace into the forest. They’d left Red Wolf with Mrs. Mortis at the Inn. The elderly woman had a sweet smile and promised to take care of the lad, but Pril wasn’t comforted. She’d not been happy with the arrangement, wanting to keep the child with her instead, but Kade refused to bring him and finalized things without her.

The trees shaded them from the afternoon sunlight as they went deeper into the woods, and she relaxed her squinted eyes. Tired from the night before, she’d not slept in anticipation of finally seeing her daughter today. She inhaled. How was her little one? Had Pias kept her drugged, sedated as not to cast a spell? Thoughts of all the wrong that could come to Tsura turned her stomach. If she was to have her wits today she needed to be prepared for anything, and that included death.

She recognized the branches drooping to the forest floor, the leaves similar to a veil, the crooked elm and the narrow creek to her left. She’d been here before. She shivered as memories invaded her mind. She closed her eyes, hearing the laughter of children and the scampering of feet about the leaf covered ground.

It had been here she’d grown. Where she watched as her mother took her last breath. It was the place Vadoma had reigned, frightening their clan and the people of Jamestown. It was from here she’d fled and taken her niece, promising to keep the child safe.

She didn’t think she’d ever be back. She hadn’t wanted to, and yet fate had led her here to the very place where it all began. Silas had done it on purpose, but why? What was the reasoning behind this destination for Pias to hand Tsura over? She tried to recall any recollection of the curse Vadoma had laid. Had her sister said anything of the place where Tsura had been born for it to be broken?

She searched her memory for the words—the blood curse, but neither showed it to be so.

“I have been here,” she whispered.

Kade held up his hand, and she pulled on Athos reins. He swiveled in the saddle and glanced at her, his brow furrowed.

“I was raised within these trees. I ran upon this ground.”

“You know where we are?”

“This was my home.”

He scanned the area before his eyes came back to hers.

“Do you know where we might be going?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Vadoma’s cabin.”

“Cabin?”

“My sister was a Chuvani. She received the finest of things from her people. It is the same home my mother lived in. Beyond the tree of fire.” She pointed past him to the red leafed tree within the forest.

“Magnificent.”

“It is where my mother sleeps.” She climbed down from Athos and walked him into the bushes.

“What are you doing?”

“We go on foot from here.” She tied the reins around the trunk of a pine.

“Why?”

“It is sacred ground. A Chuvani rests here. No animals shall pass.”

She waited while he dismounted and tied Goliath next to Athos. She shifted the quiver to rest it more comfortably on her back and gripped her bow tight.

He stood beside her, and together they walked toward the cabin ahead. She yearned to touch his hand and steal away the comfort that came with him. He’d been strong and unwavering throughout their journey. Without him, she’d have met death long before now, never seeing her Tsura again.

The cabin stood nestled in the comfort of tall maple, oak and pine trees. Overgrown bushes grew up the walls of the abode, and Pril couldn’t help the unease as it crept into her soul.

“Not very inviting,” Kade said from beside her.

“It has remained empty since my sister’s death.”

No one was here, and she couldn’t hide the disappointment at not seeing her daughter. She caught her foot on something and fell forward. Kade grabbed hold of her arm, saving her from the hard ground.

“Thank you,” she breathed.

The sound of a tree falling, and branches breaking, echoed around them. She turned just in time to see the log fall from the tree above, rope tied to either end of it.

“Run!” Kade yelled pushing her out of the way right before the log took out his feet and slammed his body face forward onto the ground.

She scrambled toward him, but was stopped when something cold touched the back of her head.

“Well, well if it isn’t my dearest niece,” Pias said. “I see you’ve brought your friend, hmmmm?”

On her hands and knees, she dug her fingers into the dirt. Kade didn’t move, and she wasn’t sure if he was injured or playing possum.

“Stand,” Pias commanded.

She got to her feet, swept the hair from her eyes and glared at her captor.

“It seems you’ve escaped death.” He tilted his head, and his eyes roamed her body. “Was it a spell? Is that what you did?”

“Where is my daughter?”

“You are without child, and yet you call your sister’s your own?”

“I must see her.”

“All in good time, my dear.” He yanked her close, the gun pressed into her side.

“Damn it, Pias, tell me where she is.”

“Tsk. Tsk. One in your circumstance shouldn’t be so demanding.”

She wrestled against his grip anxious for word on Tsura.

He gave her a shake before bringing her close. “Cease at once.”

She could feel his breath against her cheek. She tried to pull away from him but her effort proved futile when he yanked her back toward his chest.

“Let me see Tsura,” she shouted. Her insides cramped, her chest seized as she thought of a life without her daughter. Where had Pias placed her? Had he given her to the Monroes already? Was she too late? “You must tell me, does she live?”

His black eyes peered into hers, and she saw no trace of pity within them.

“Does she live?” she screamed.

The certainty she’d held onto all of this time and had kept her sane was now out of reach. She felt it falter and break. No longer able to control the anger, the fear, the dread, she lashed out, striking him with her free arm. “You bastard, I will kill you. I will kill you!”

Pias dropped his gun, grabbed hold of her hair and drove his fist into her mouth. Her skin split, and pain erupted from her lips to encompass the whole side of her face. The forest walls spun, she blinked to regain her composure and tried to focus on his face. Blood poured from the wound, and she tasted the metal upon her tongue.

He placed the end of the pistol to her head. “I will end you…”

She met his crazed eyes with a lethal stare of her own. If Tsura were dead what good would her life be now? She challenged him. Chin up, she pushed him to pull the trigger.

“Do your worst.”

Kade’s head pounded, and he blinked several times before his vision cleared. The fresh aroma of the soil mixed with the fragrant New England asters filled his senses and cleared his mind. He heard voices and lifted his head to see Pias holding Pril, his pistol to her head, blood on her chin and lips. Panic seized his chest, his ribs ached—his breathing was labored. Pril was hurt, and Pias was going to kill her.

“Pias,” he called.

The Renoldi turned from Pril, the pistol still at her head, but his attention on Kade.

“Welcome, Mr. Walker. It is good to see you,” he exclaimed. “Do stand, and if you try anything I will kill her.”

“Take the pistol from her head first.” He knew Pias spoke the truth, but needed to make sure Pril was okay first.

Pias sighed and removed the pistol from Pril’s head and pointed it at Kade.

He held his arms out, keeping his hands visible.

“Your dagger if you please.”

He pulled his knife from its sheath and tossed it onto the ground in front of them.

Pril struggled against Pias’s hold. He skillfully wrapped his arm around her neck and jerked her against him.

“If you continue to fight me, you will expire, and so will your child.”

The murderous look on his face frightened Kade. Without his dagger he was helpless against the wild man. Pril’s life hung by a wire, and one wrong move by either of them could be fatal.

“Gypsy, do as he asks,” he said, his eyes pleading with her to listen.

He stood still too afraid to move as he watched the play of emotions flicker across her red-brown gaze. She was scared. He wanted for some way to let her know he’d never leave her. He’d be by her side until Tsura was safe.

She relaxed, letting her shoulders fall.

He blew out a long sigh.

“Walk toward the cabin,” Pias commanded.

“Where is Silas,” she asked.

“I would imagine on his plantation.”

“Is he not meeting with you for Tsura?”

Kade listened to the exchange, not missing the desperation in Pril’s voice. He wished he could do something to help her, to set her mind at ease. He searched the area around the cabin for signs of Tsura. A blackened pit was dug into the ground, smoke cascaded into the sky from the small flame inside. A pot sat on a smooth rock beside the fire. Other cookware lay in front of the pit, but there were no signs of the girl…or the Monroes.

“Who are you meeting then?” Pril asked.

Pias glanced at Kade and smirked before taking the handle of his gun and smashing it over Pril’s head. She crumbled to the ground.

Kade stepped forward, fists clenched, jaw flexed.

Pias swung the pistol toward him. His thin eyes became slits, and his high cheekbones lifted even more when he smiled.

“Do as I ask or I will kill her.”

He growled and gnashed his back teeth together. He wanted to smash the Renoldi’s face until there was nothing left.

“You will die this night.”

Pias tipped his head back and laughed.

“You are amusing, my friend.”

“I am not your friend.”

“So sad. I had thought we’d become more than acquaintances.”

The man was absurd. “I generally do not surround myself with lowlifes such as yourself.”

“You hold yourself in high regard, do you? A merchant vagabond no less?”

“Higher than you.”

The other man shrugged before he pointed the gun toward him. He walked Kade to the trunk of an oak. Pias pulled Kade’s arms back to wrap them around the base of the tree and fasten them together. More rope was strewn around his middle, binding him to the trunk of the tree.

He glanced at Pril still unconscious on the ground, and he glared at Pias. Here he was again, helpless in the clutches of this bastard gypsy. He watched as the Renoldi tied Pril’s ankles and wrists, leaving her on the ground. He took her quiver and bow and placed them against the log wall of the cabin.

“How did you escape my clan?” he asked, stopping at the pot to pull some meat from inside and place the fare into his mouth.

“Galius.”

“Interesting.”

“How so?”

Pias stared off, and when his gaze came back to Kade’s he smiled.

“How long have you known the Peddlers?”

“Where is the child?”

“Safe.”

“Where?”

“Within the cabin walls.”

“Have you drugged her?”

“Why of course. You think me foolish enough to risk my life with a young Chuvani?”

“She is a little girl, what harm can she do?” Pril had told him of her powers, but he doubted her.

“You still do not believe?”

He shook his head.

“Such a shame. Such a shame indeed.”

“I do not see how. I’ve not seen these powers or magick you speak of.”

“Soon, soon, and you will want her too.”

“If it is true, she is still a life. One that does not deserve to be hunted for her abilities and a damn curse.”

Pias leaned against the tree beside him.

“You do not have powers?” He knew the Renoldi didn’t. Pril had told him the magick was only bestowed upon women.

“My daughters can count the spells, but nothing like the Chuvani.”

Pias’s daughters were dead, but he wasn’t going to tell him that. The crazed man would kill them for it.

“When do they arrive?” he asked. The Monroes hadn’t shown yet. He was sure the trap Pias set had been for them. The Renoldi figured him and Pril for dead and was shocked to see them. He’d planned on killing the Monroes all along. “Will you kill them after they’ve handed you the pendant?”

Pias whipped his head around, his angled face framed by long black hair.

“I will.”

“They are of three, and you are but one.”

“I only seek one.”

So it was Silas he was going to meet. The other brothers would remain home. It didn’t make sense. Jude especially never left his eldest brother’s side.

“Are you sure?”

“I am.”

“The Monroes cannot be trusted.”

“And neither can you, Mr. Walker. Tell me, does she know of your plan to steal the child?”