Finding Valor (12 page)

“We ran back to camp, but Keeper stopped us about a half-mile outside the perimeter.”

“He was running away?” Hunter knew that Peacekeeper hated violence because of his power-name, but he couldn’t believe his oldest brother would abandon the family while they were under attack.

“No.” Shep shook his head. “He had the kids with him. He shoved them at Stew and told him to run then yanked the shotgun out of my hands. He told me to lead the trackers away from Stew and the kids, then took off back to camp. I followed him and saw him drop one of the trackers with the shotgun. I cursed one, but his shield held. Keeper backhanded me and told me not to waste my energy.”

“Why’d he do that?”

“To knock some sense into me, I guess. The longer I ran, the better chance Stew and the kids had to escape.” He reached for the half-empty bottle and nearly dropped it when Hunter handed it off. Shep took two long pulls. Tears filled his eyes. “When I got back to camp, it was over. They were all dead. Gunned down like animals.”

Hunter wrapped his arms around his knees and rocked back and forth. He closed his eyes and tried to force the image of his parents’ and brothers’ dead bodies out of his mind but nothing worked. He tried to block out the sound of Shepherd’s voice as he continued to describe the gruesome scene. He didn’t want to hear it, but Shep had faced that horrible ordeal alone. He’d dug half a dozen graves and buried six members of their family by himself with no one to comfort him or share that awful burden. The least Hunter could do was listen.
 

“I dragged the bodies of eight trackers into a gully and left ‘em there for the buzzards. You can be proud of Keeper. Three of those sick bastards died from gunshot wounds.”
 

Shep swirled what remained of the amber liquid in the bottom of the bottle as he spoke. “I planted redbud trees at the head of each grave. You know how much Ma loved her redbud trees.”

“Yeah.” Tears flowed down Hunter’s cheeks and dripped off his jaw. He watched them splash onto the front of his shirt then closed his eyes and pictured Ma arranging a spray of redbud branches in a cobalt blue, cut glass vase; one of the few things she’d brought with her when she’d fled the Cumberland Mountains.
 

Hunter wiped the tears off his face. “The redbud trees will be in bloom soon.”

~***~

Shep guzzled the last of the Jack Daniels then tipped the bottle upside down and peered into it, as if he couldn’t believe it was really gone. “Let’s go back inside and buy another fifth. I ain’t near drunk enough.”

Hunter had a buzz, but he wasn’t drunk. “I need to go check on Channie.”

Shep sighed. “There ain’t nothing you can do for her. She swore a death pledge to obey her momma. I already offered to kidnap her, but if she don’t believe it’s real, she’ll die.”

“I know about the death pledge. But I still need to go see her. I can at least tell her that we ain’t forgot about her. That we’ll figure out a way to get her out of this mess.”

Shep rolled his eyes then groaned. “Damn. I think I’m drunker than I thought. The forest is spinning.”

He was obviously in no shape to hike all the way to the Kerns’ cabin. “Where’re you holed up?”

“In that old shack up by the quarry. Somebody fixed it up right nice. There was all sorts of protection spells around the place. All I have to do is keep ‘em charged.”

“That’s where Channie and Josh stayed.” Hunter smiled, but it didn’t last. “How come you ain’t staying with Wisdom’s bunch?”

Shep snorted and rolled his eyes again. “Whoa. I gotta quit doing that. Every time I roll my eyes it makes the world spin faster.”

Hunter snapped his fingers in front of Shep’s face. “Hey. Answer the question. Why haven’t you joined Wisdom’s rebels?”

“I cain’t.”

“Why the hell not?”

“On account of the Veyjivik blood flowing through my veins.” Shep rolled up his sleeve and exposed a nasty scar. “One of the master mages that joined Wisdom’s army caught me off guard and used my blood to cast a keep-away spell around the only entrance.”

Blood was extremely powerful. Most spells only required a drop. “How much blood did he take?”

“Let’s just say that neither you nor I are going to be able to get anywhere near Freedom Ridge during our lifetimes.”

“I can’t believe Ms. Wisdom let him get away with that.”

“She’s having a hard enough time keeping that ragtag bunch of misfits from killing each other. Most of them still believe you’re a spy for the other side and I’m guilty by association. Ms. Wisdom risked her life, and her position of authority, to come tell me there wasn’t nothing she could do about it. I’m an outcast, same as you.”

“Well, at least the refugees are protected against Veyjivik trackers.”

“There is that.” Shep’s head lolled to the right as his body leaned to the left.

Hunter grabbed him before he fell off the log then tugged him to his feet. “I’ll help you get back to the shack then I’m gonna check on Channie.”

“Okay.” Shep’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as he slumped forward.
 

Hunter caught him around the waist and hoisted him over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.

The sun sank below the western ridge hours before they made it to the quarry. Shep wasn’t a big guy to start with and he’d lost a lot of weight since Hunter had last seen him, but that didn’t mean he was easy to carry.
 

The quarter moon played hide and seek with the clouds, so Hunter cast a bright-eyes spell on himself, even though it drained more of his energy. If he stumbled and fell, he’d never get back up.

Every muscle in Hunter’s body screamed in pain when he finally lowered Shep to the ground in front of the shack. The misdirection spells could use a re-charge, but Hunter was too tired. His hands trembled as he dug around for the key in the hollow stump. It wasn’t there.
 

He found it inside Shep’s front right pocket.
 

“Come on. Let’s get you to bed.” Hunter dragged Shep inside, stripped him down to his boxers then hauled him onto the bed. He rolled him onto his stomach and angled his head so his mouth hung over the edge of the mattress. He placed a water pail next to the bed and shook Shep’s shoulder.

Shep groaned and tried to bat Hunter’s hand off his body.

Hunter shook him again. “If you need to puke, use the bucket.”

Shep nodded and groaned again.

Hunter grabbed a quilt off the stack folded on top of an apple crate and draped it over Shep then climbed in bed beside him. He’d take a short nap and then head on over to Channie’s.

He woke up to the sounds of retching, a foul stench and sunlight. He’d overslept. “You okay, Shep?”

Shep’s only reply was a weak groan followed by a whimper.

“I’ll take that as ‘no.’”

Hunter found a teakettle full of water next to a hotplate. Ms. Wisdom had bought a gasoline generator for Channie and Josh after they almost froze to death, but it was out of fuel. “Is this water in the pot okay to drink?”

“Yeah.”
 

Hunter poured some into a tin cup and handed it to Shep. “Drink it slow.”

Shep lifted his head and took a tiny sip. “I feel just as bad after drinking that expensive whiskey as I did after drinking old man Kerns’ moonshine.”

“It don’t matter how much the booze costs. If you drink too much, you’re gonna pay for it the next morning.” Hunter took the cup of water from Shep and finished it off. “I need to go check on Channie. Are you going to be okay for a few hours?”

“Bring me another cup of water before you go. Only get it out of the rain barrel.”

Hunter set the cup on an apple crate next to the bed so Shep could reach it easily. “I got some bad news, too.”

Shep pried his eyes open and squinted at Hunter. “What?”

“Money and Abby are dead.”

“Channie told me. She said her momma killed ‘em.” Shep licked his chapped lips. “It’s hard to believe.”

“She got messed up in dark magic and went batshit crazy. She ain’t the same woman that used to look the other way when we’d steal food outta her garden.”

“Channie said she wants to kill her, too. Perform some sacrificial ritual to lift a curse.”

“We’ve got until winter solstice to figure out a way to save her.”

“Channie said she was gonna do it on summer solstice.”

“That can’t be right.” Hunter’s heart leapt into his throat. “Everything’s supposed to happen on winter solstice. Are you sure that’s what Channie said?”

“Positive. But you can ask her when you see her.”

Hunter slid his feet into his boots and dug his wallet out of his back pocket. He slipped a hundred dollar bill into his right boot then tossed his wallet with the rest of the money on the bed. “If I don’t come back by sunrise tomorrow…use that to get your ass outta here.”

Shep pressed the heels of his palms into the sides of his head. “Give me a few minutes to wake up and I’ll go with you.”

“You don’t need to wake up. You need to recover.” Hunter smirked at him. “And after drinking two thirds of a bottle of Jack, even a healer as skilled as Ms. Wisdom couldn’t cure that hangover.”

“It’s dangerous out there, Hunter. There’re trackers everywhere.”

“I can take care of myself. But as soon as you can stand up without puking, you need to recharge the misdirection spells around this place.”

Shep propped himself up on his elbows and grimaced. “I wasn’t planning on coming back here anytime soon.”
 

“I have a motorcycle hidden in Sheriff Black’s garage. I paid him three hundred dollars to keep an eye on it for a month. Don’t let him cheat you outta more.”

“Three hundred dollars?” Shep widened his eyes, then immediately slammed them shut and groaned. He shielded his face with his palms as he squinted his eyes open again. “Where’d you get that kind of money?”

Hunter slid his arms into his jacket and inhaled the comforting scent of new leather. “It’s a long story. I’ll fill you in when I get back.”

“Hunter?”
 

“Yeah?”

“Be careful. You’re a pain in the ass, but you’re all the family I have left.”

~***~

Hunter strengthened the misdirection spells around Channie’s cabin, draining himself in the process. He crept closer, darting from tree to tree. The cabin looked deserted. No kerosene lanterns in the windows. No smoke drifting out of the cookstove chimney or fireplace. No expensive vehicle parked in the front yard. But that didn’t mean Channie’s crazy momma wasn’t in there. She could have parked that car anywhere.
 

He didn’t want to sneak up on Channie and scare her, or risk getting shot again. But he didn’t want to announce his presence until he was certain Channie was alone.
 

The front yard was barren, except for a few new saplings and shrubs, but the old pine tree in the back yard, just outside Channie’s bedroom window, was still there and still magic free. It was so large that any spell cast onto it would be absorbed in a matter of minutes. Prudence was powerful, but she wasn’t
that
powerful. No one was. Not even Josh. Casting a long-term spell was a lot harder than blowing something up with a single blast of raw energy.

Hunter smiled as he climbed into the tree, remembering how he’d done this last spring. He’d intended to ask Channie if he could escort her to the gathering, but had chickened out at the last minute. He couldn’t help but wonder if things might have turned out differently for them if he had. “Dang it. No point thinking about that now.”

Hunter tossed a pinecone at the window. The quiet
plink
raised the hair on the back of his neck. He held his breath until he felt dizzy then tried again. This time he tossed two.
Plink, plink.

The window creaked open about two inches. Hunter held his breath again, hoping Channie’s face would appear and not her momma’s.

It was neither. There was no mistaking the double-barrels of a shotgun poking through the gap. Hunter’s heart raced. It was hard to hear anything over the rush of blood behind his ears. He waited, hoping whoever was behind the trigger would call out so he could identify them.

They must have been thinking the same thing. Minutes ticked by with neither of them moving. Hunter couldn’t detect any magical energy, other than the small amount protecting the cabin. So he decided to take a calculated risk.
 

He moved to a lower branch on the opposite side of the tree. He couldn’t see the cabin anymore, but at least he had a couple feet of pine between him that shotgun. He took a deep breath then exhaled slowly. He called out in a clear, but friendly voice. “Channie? Is that you?”

The window creaked. “Shep?”

“No. It’s me, Hunter.” He poked his head around the tree and grinned at Channie. “Are you gonna let me in?”

“Shep’s looking for you.” She grinned at him and stepped back, inviting him to climb through her window.

“I found him already. He’s staying—”

“No!” Channie pressed her fingers against his mouth. “Don’t tell me anything you don’t want Momma to know.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“But if there’s anything you
can
tell me…that she can’t use against us…I’d like to hear it.”

Hunter bit his lip as he gazed into her emerald eyes. He knew without asking that she wanted to know about Josh. How much should he tell her? He wanted to give her hope, but he couldn’t risk it. “I’m so sorry about your daddy and Abby.”

Tears leaked out of the corners of Channie’s eyes. “Did Shep tell you about your family?”

Hunter swallowed, once, twice, three times, as if the act of closing his throat could hold back the raw emotions trying to claw their way out of his chest. He clenched his jaw so hard his teeth ached.
Do not cry in front of her.
 

Channie wrapped her arms around him, guiding his head to her shoulder.
 

Hunter clung to her and buried his face against her neck.
I will not cry. I will not!

His whole body trembled with the effort, but a broken sob burst through his resolve…and then another. His chest heaved as tears streamed down his cheeks and drenched her shoulder.