Keeper of the Books (Keeper of the Books, Book 1) (37 page)

Each of them jumped when he heard a high pitched whine to their left. When they turned to look, a fat black cat sat on the nearest fencepost, licking one of its front paws. When it finished, its piercing blue eyes bore into them. Devlin was startled by the sight at first, for this was a bright animal, surely. Though he shouldn’t have felt surprised by this, he always got the feeling that all brights knew about what he had done to that deer long ago in the woods—as though all brights knew what happened to all other brights.
 

He shook the thought away as preposterous and cleared his throat. “Do you live here?”

The cat simply stared at them. It was entirely possible that this was not a bright animal. Some dull animals also had blue eyes. He tried again.
 

“Do you live here?”

Levi scowled at Devlin. “What are you doing?”

“Yes,” the cat said.
 

When Devlin looked at Levi, the man was white as a sheet. “You never seen a bright?”

Levi didn’t answer, but only stared at the cat in front of them.
 

Gibbons took over the conversation as he stepped forward and toward the cat. “Good morning,” he said confidently. “We’re looking for a group that may have visited here yesterday. Specifically a gray elf. She might have been traveling with a couple of men. Did they come by here?”

The cat returned to licking her front paw. Devlin liked bright animals as much as the next person, but bright cats were sometimes the worst as far as trying to hold a conversation. Gibbons surely knew this, yet the man waited patiently.
 

“I haven’t had fish in a long while,” the cat answered. “All I can get around here is mice. Tiny little things too. They are nothing like the rats from Tel Haven. Or, of course, the fish.”

Gibbons rubbed at his thick mustache like he was trying to figure out the best way to get information out of the cat. He looked to Devlin, and for a moment, he thought the Ranger leader was going to ask him if he had any fish, but Gibbons turned back to the cat and said, “Is your master home?”

The cat looked up at him, seemingly startled. “Excuse me! She is not my master! I am a bright animal. I am my own master.”

Devlin looked at Gibbons and wondered what the man wanted to do. Finally, Gibbons spun and walked onto the porch, but before he could knock, the door swung wide open. A woman stood in the doorway. Her hair stuck out in curly black tangles and she wore baggy clothes made of various materials and colors.

“The four of you got here sooner than I expected,” she said, turning from them, waving them in. “Come on. Come on. The fire will warm you.”

Gibbons slowly set his pistol into his holster and looked back at the others briefly before stepping into the shack. He was followed closely by Strand and Levi. Devlin was a bit slower, his eyes fixed on the cat.
 

“Do you have any friends in these woods?” he whispered.

The cat stared at him almost as if thinking about answering his question. Then it seemed she decided not to and started licking her paws again.
 

Devlin shook his head and swallowed, turning toward the shack to meet the others. The woman, who introduced herself as Cara, told them to have a seat, though none of them did.

“What do you mean that we got here sooner than you expected?” Gibbons questioned.
 

The woman bent over to set another log on the fire. She then grabbed a poker and positioned the logs in such a way that the flames got higher, and the room instantly brighter.

“You boys are after a group of four, aren’t you?” Cara said. She turned and then sat in a chair next to the hearth.
 

“Yes,” Gibbons said immediately.
 

Cara nodded. “The future is always such a hazy thing. You can think you see one thing, but then it turns out to be something else entirely.”

“What are you talking about?” Gibbons demanded.

“I’m here to warn each of you,” Cara said. “Don’t go after them.”

The men looked at each other quietly.
 

“I am a woman who can see the future, and I’ve seen what happens when you go after them. At least, I think I have.”

“Are you a friend of theirs?” Gibbons asked.
 

“I have known two of them for years.”

“The man, Alban,” Gibbons said.
 

“You have good insight,” she said. “He has a daughter.”

“And they were traveling with a gray elf and a man.”

Cara smiled. “What do you want with them?”

“They are fugitives,” Gibbons said. “We need to know where they are going.”

“You don’t need me to tell you where they are going,” she said. “You are on the right trail. You will meet them.” She stood abruptly and the men all flinched. “That is, unless you decide not to. It’s not too late.”

“Too late for what?” Sheriff Strand called out.

“Chasing after them will not give you what you desire,” she said. “The outcome is very different than what you expect.”

Devlin watched her, her eyes scanning every face, her mind making determinations. It was like she was barely in the room at all, part of her mind here, the other part within a different world entirely.

“You’re right, Devlin,” Cara said, looking at him. “My mind is a wondrous thing.”

Devlin’s eyebrows furrowed when the others looked at him. He shook his head quickly, but said nothing. His gaze was fixed on the woman before him, her dark stare sending chills up and down his spine.

She took a step toward him, but stopped. “Your fears of failure are misplaced. You think you are the least of the Rangers, yet the greatest you may become. Choose wisely what you do with the power given to you.”
 

Devlin felt speechless. The greatest of Rangers? Was this woman mad?
 

“I am a reader of minds and futures,” Cara said. “I can sense everything you’re feeling and thinking. I know your intentions.” She looked at Gibbons. “I know that you are simply trying to do your duty to your country and to your president, despite your doubts that he is the man who should truly be in office. Your loyalty will reap few rewards.”

Gibbons shifted in his stance. “Now, wait just a minute,” he started, but Cara held a hand in the air, silencing the lead Ranger.

She looked at Sheriff Strand next. “And you’re so afraid of repercussions you’d do anything to keep your job. Your biggest fear is that you will become a prisoner among those you have put away.”

Strand swallowed.
 

“This is
not
what you should be fearing,” Cara said.
 

“If you please, ma’am, what should I be fearing?”

Cara shook her head and said again, “The future is hazy. Images surface, but it’s like a puzzle. I can see parts of it, but how it all fits together remains to be seen.”

She then turned to Levi who stood off from the group a few steps. He didn’t seem to want to look at Cara, but her stare was unavoidable.

“You are the man from another world,” she said. “You’ve traversed time and space to go after the man who killed your family.”

The others looked at Levi, but the man kept his eyes on Cara.
 

“I warn you to turn back,” she said. “Find your way back home and forget Nathaniel Cole ever existed.”

“I can’t do that,” Levi said, his voice thick. Devlin wasn’t sure, but it looked like the man’s eyes were wet with tears.
 

“I know you can’t,” Cara said. “You would rather die than give up your path to vengeance.”

“I would.”

“I can see your thoughts, but I can see nothing of your world,” she said. “Your thoughts tell me that you know deep within you that Nathaniel never intended to kill your wife and children.”

“But he killed them all the same,” Levi said.
 

“And your brother is to blame as much as Nathaniel.”

“But my brother…”

“Is dead,” Cara interjected. “I know. But if you go after Nathaniel Cole, you will not find the peace you seek. Even if you kill him.”

“Will I kill him?” Levi asked.
 

Cara shook her head. “The future is hazy. Always has been. Always will be. I think sometimes it’s because the future is never certain.”

“Enough with your craziness,” Gibbons scolded. “Where were the four headed?”

“I’m telling you, don’t chase after them. It is better that you go back and declare the mission a failure.”

“That’s not an option,” Gibbons said through his teeth.
 

“Then I can tell you only what I know, and it is what you already know,” she said. “They are headed for the border of Tel Haven Forest.”

Gibbons sighed deeply through his nose. He stared at Cara almost like he was thinking about shooting her but had decided against it. He turned his head to the rest of them and said it was time to ride, ignoring Cara’s words of warning.
 

Each of them walked out the door and onto the yard in a reserved, solemn silence. If the others felt anything like Devlin felt, then Cara’s words weighed heavily on their minds as they tried to decipher the meaning. Perhaps the others, like Devlin, were trying to determine whether the woman was insane or if her observations were simply the result of expert insight gathered from clues she had picked up. The uniforms they wore, the information from the other group about who was after them, the questions they asked: all of this could have played into Cara’s observations like an expert poker player trying to determine who had the upper hand. But deep within, Devlin knew the truth. He knew Cara was as she claimed. There was no denying how accurate her senses had been about the thoughts lingering in their minds. How much had she gathered for herself that she didn’t display for all else to see?
 

The strangest of her observations had been of Levi. A man from another world? That would explain why Devlin had never heard of this Texas place that he was from.

As they mounted their horses to continue the trail, Devlin noticed the absence of the cat that had been on the fence before. He didn’t like how the feline had looked at him. He tended to avoid bright animals these days.
 

The trackers didn’t say a word as they continued on their trail after Marum and her companions. There was no question that they would travel onward despite Cara’s warning to them to turn back. But if the others had visited her before moving on, then she could have been lying to the Rangers and company. Her warning might have been orchestrated to give the others more time.

This seemed to be Gibbons’ thoughts as well because he charged forward at a great speed. He seemed to know where he was going without looking down at the tracks every couple of minutes. It was as though the man were trying to escape Cara’s property as quickly as possible, that fleeing from her would ease the tension she’d caused.

Meeting with Cara had not been for the best. All of them were traveling with troubled and confused minds. But they knew they had to toss their thoughts aside if they were to catch up with Marum and the others. There was a determination among them that hadn’t been there before. He saw it in the face of Strand and Gibbons. He saw it even more in the face of Levi, the man who had been given the most dire warning. But it seemed the warning only fed his need to get to Nathaniel Cole. The driving passion within him threatened to be his undoing. It seemed that he didn’t care about the outcome. Levi would find no rest until Nathaniel Cole was dead or until Nathaniel Cole killed him.

The men kicked and shouted, and their horses sprinted forward. They would overtake the fugitives before nightfall.
 

Autumn, 903 A.O.M.

It didn’t matter how late they traveled into the night or how early they left in the morning, to Nate it never felt like they were moving fast enough. The wagon proved to be perfect for carrying the things they needed and making them comfortable as they went, but speed was of the essence and they were going at a snail’s pace. Nate wasn’t the only one to notice this. Marum would often travel ahead of them to get a better lay of the land, though she always came back with the same report: more road ahead. Even Alban, the one who held the reins, knew they were going too slowly. He tried to keep his horse moving at a quicker pace, but the old mare had lived a life of pulling a cart at one speed and one speed only. It might give a jerk forward in an attempt to speed up, but it could never maintain a faster pace.
 

Nate felt a nervousness creep into him that he rarely experienced. Perhaps it was that they were so close to the southern border of Tel Haven Forest and so close to being free of their pursuers, yet the looming threat of them hung over the party heavily. Whenever these moments of anxiety pronounced themselves throughout Nate’s mind and body, his natural tendency would be to reach for the flask in the breast pocket of his coat. But his hand did not reach for it as they rode along. If they were to meet conflict on the road, he would need every ounce of wit and focus he could produce.

With his own rifle holstered and strapped to his back, his right hand rested on the butt of his pistol as if the enemy could pop out at any second. He looked down at his feet and then at the rifle he’d stolen from the Ranger, Devlin. Since Nate hadn’t gotten the chance to test the rifle’s accuracy or kick, he left it on the floor of the wagon as a backup in case he needed a quick reload, or if someone else needed a weapon.

It wasn’t the idea of conflict so much that bothered Nate. It was the simple fact that he wasn’t sure what he would do if he came face-to-face with Levi again. There had been several instances in the last ten years where the two had squared off, yet both of them were still alive. The only reason Nate was still alive was by sheer luck and a whole lot of caution, though once or twice he could have killed Levi. Sometimes he thought he should have. Other times he was glad he hadn’t.
 

Nate looked behind him every couple of minutes even though Rachel had eyes set behind them, watching the road crawl away from her. This time their eyes met and she smiled at him warmly. It was a strange thing to have told someone the truth about what he’d done. He’d never really discussed it with anybody but his father and brother at points in the last ten years. Even those moments were few. But the conversation had changed Rachel’s view of Nate. She no longer looked at him with an expression of disdain. It was quite odd, really. If he didn’t know any better, he might have mistaken her looks toward him as admiration. Maybe she was just surprised that he wasn’t worse than he was given the circumstances. Of course, he didn’t go on to tell her that his life of crime that followed the death of Abigail had turned dark. Nate was a thief and a killer. Hard part about it was, he didn’t hate it.