Hinterland Series Book 1: The Wolf's Bounty
Page 2
Old Benjamin closed his eyes and held up his hand. “You don’t have to convince me. I know how much this farm means to you. That’s why I put off telling you this for so long.”
Raleigh glanced up. “Telling me what?”
He sank into his chimney corner. “I got word last week about a position opening up in town. I think you should consider taking it.”
Raleigh’s eyes flew open. “A position! Do you mean a job?”
“Actually, it’s an apprenticeship.”
“Do you mean like in a milliner's shop or something? You know I’m no good at that kind of work, Papa.”
Benjamin chuckled. “I don’t mean in a milliner's shop. It’s a very different kind of apprenticeship, one uniquely suited to your skills. The apprenticeship is with Knox Bishop. He’s the best bounty hunter and monster slayer in the country—maybe even the world.”
Raleigh blinked. “Do you seriously think I could get a position like that? Do you really think I’m good enough?”
He shrugged and went back to his ambulations around the kitchen. He chopped fresh herbs and crushed dried ones in his hands. He sprinkled this and that into the mixture. “You are very good. You’ve fought just about every kind of monster in this country, and you’ve developed the skill and speed to slay them. You could apply for the apprenticeship. If you didn’t get it, you would be no worse off than you are now.”
She mulled the proposition over her porridge. “What do you know about this Knox Bishop?”
“Virtually nothing,” he replied. “Only that he’s very, very good. People come from all over the world to contract him to do their jobs. He knows more about the profession than anyone. He’s fought everything under the sun. He comes from a long line of slayers just like himself. He carries the knowledge and combined experience of generations. That’s what makes him so good.”
“I don’t know,” Raleigh mused. “I don’t want to move to town. I’d rather stay here on the farm. I’d rather stay with you. You’re the only family I’ve got, and we’ve always faced the dangers together. If I leave, who will protect you and the stock from danger?”
Benjamin clucked his tongue. “Now, my girl. I was slaying monsters and battling demons before you were born. Have you forgotten where you learned all you know about combat?”
She mumbled under her breath. “No, Papa.”
“I won’t tell you to apply for this position,” he went on. “If you decide to stay on the farm, I’ll be glad to have you. I don’t want to see you go, but you would be a fool not to take this position if you got the chance. Knox Bishop is a rich man, and any apprentice of his stands to take over his business in time. You would become far more successful working under him than you could ever become working on this farm.”
Raleigh didn’t look up. She gazed into the fire. A thousand images danced before her eyes on those leaping crimson tongues. Leave the farm? Apprentice to a slayer in town? She never once considered a life off the farm. Even now, her heart jumped at the chance, but her mind wouldn’t let her rest.
Something stalked this part of the country. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but her every instinct told her something wasn’t right. Peddlers and tinkers, traveling storytellers and musicians brought the news often enough to let the villagers know what went on in other parts of the colonies. No other village suffered this plague of marauding beasts. No other village got its population, its herds, its whole future slaughtered the way Tunstead did.
For the very first time in her life, she questioned her father. No matter what he said, these creatures didn’t spring out of the forest. Something unnatural compelled them to attack the farms of Tunstead. It drove them raving insane to slaughter every living thing they could find—animal, vegetable, or human. They never quit until someone killed them.
What was she thinking? No one killed them except her and her family. No one but Benjamin, and Ethan and Raleigh after him, dared stand up to these creatures. No one stuck around long enough to learn how to fight them.
Now Raleigh knew how to fight them. She spent the better part of every day fighting them until she could do it in her sleep. Now her father wanted her to leave. Why? Why would he want her to leave the farm unguarded? Despite what he said, he was too old now to fight kataracts and laenteglos and pomovaara and ula’ree. He hadn’t faced them in years. He studied his books by the fire and left the real fighting to Raleigh.
That’s what he really meant by complimenting her skill. She could fight them, but he couldn’t, so why did he want her to leave? The monsters would take back the farm in a matter of days without her around.
She refused to talk to her father about Ethan, but she could never forget what her brother told her. A sunny morning twenty years ago stood out in her memory like it was only yesterday. Ethan showed her how to throw her first blade. He set up an apple on the barn yard fence and stood back and laughed while she tried to hit it.
When he picked up the blade and said that was enough for one morning, he flashed her his infectious grin. “Let’s just hope you never encounter a kataract.”
“A kataract?” Raleigh asked. “What’s that?”
He raised both arms above his head. He hooked his fingers into claws. He stuck out his lower jaw, narrowed his eyes to slits, and lowered his voice to a menacing rumble. “It’s a fearsome beast twice the size of a house. Its horns stick out in front of its face like this, and no one can kill it—not with a thousand gunshots.” Raleigh screeched. He dropped his arms and laughed at her. “You better practice then.”
She quaked in her shoes. “Do those things live in this forest?”
“No, silly,” he shot back. “No one has seen one of them around in years. I saw one once when I was about your age, but I’ve never seen one since. It’s a good thing, too, because no one could fight one of those. The best you could do is run for it.”
Ethan was seventeen when he said those words—ten years older than Raleigh and ten years wiser in the ways of monster slaying. He hadn’t seen a kataract in ten years. That’s how rare they were back then. Now they came around every day or so. They came around so often Raleigh thought nothing of killing them. She killed more kataracts than any other creature around here.
Something was wrong. Something was bringing the kataracts flocking to this village from far and near. Something drew them to devour the livestock and gardens, along with anybody who stood in their way.
She couldn’t accept this apprenticeship. She wouldn’t. That’s all there was to it.
Chapter 3
Raleigh cringed for the twentieth time today when the horse-drawn cab set her down on the street corner. She stepped onto the sidewalk and craned her neck back to glare at the driver. “This isn’t High Gate.”
The driver didn’t answer. He touched his hat and slapped his whip on the horse’s back. The cab darted away into the traffic. Raleigh watched it out of sight. Then she kicked the carpet back at her feet. She wore her usual leather breeches, leather vest, and dark orange shirt underneath. She wore her pistols slung across her hips. She looked nothing like the women passing on all sides.
Most people didn’t give her a passing glance. The ones that did couldn’t hide their eyes widening at what they saw. They probably never saw a woman dressed like this in their lives. Never mind. Knox Bishop would understand. If he was half the man her father painted him out to be, he wouldn’t blink twice at her showing up in her combat uniform.
She hoisted her carpetbag and set off down the street. She had to find High Gate, and this certainly wasn’t it. If she hadn’t heard the driver talking to his guard about it, she might have let herself believe he dropped her off her as a joke.
She paused at the street corner to check the directions in her pocket. Yes, the situation really was as bad as she expected. She was nowhere near High Gate, and she had an appointment with Mr. Bishop at ten o’clock.
How in God’s name did she let her father talk her into this? He didn’t exactly talk her into it. He d
idn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. He mentioned it to her once, and he never said another word about it. That’s all he ever needed to say. He let her know what he wanted her to do. Now it was her job to find a way to do it.
She wrote a letter of introduction to Mr. Bishop. She explained her experience fighting monsters and dangerous creatures around the farm. She detailed her weapons training and waxed poetic about some of her more advanced killing methods and tracking skills, but she never really expected to hear anything back.
She didn’t want to believe when she got a very official letter not only inviting her to the nearby town of Perdue, but offering her the apprenticeship into the bargain. Then she really had to face her father’s pride and delight. She couldn’t let him down, even if she wanted to stay where she was.
Now here she was, studying the street signs and dodging sloppy mud spattered over her boots by passing carriages. The town itself did nothing to recommend itself. Grey sky hung heavy over everything. The mist and gloom pervaded every alley and dismal tavern. The inns leaned their black bulk over the streets, and the cathedral raked its charcoal-stained spire against the clouds.
Skeletal dogs slunk between the buildings, but no clamor of lively activity marred that town. The washerwomen shouting, children laughing, hawkers haggling—all those sounds existed somewhere a million miles away from this place. They existed in Raleigh’s consciousness out of some prehistoric dream she once had and then forgot.
She paused at another street corner to frown first at her directions and then at the signs. Nothing made sense in this town. She could have been walking for hours. She waited for another black-curtained handsome cab to pass before she picked her way through the puddles to the other sidewalk. The hollow boards thumped under her heels.
She got halfway down the block before she set down her carpetbag. She couldn’t go any further without finding out where exactly she should be headed. She spotted a tavern with a painted sign over the door: The Gingerbread House. Funny name for a tavern.
She started for the door when three well-dressed gentlemen came out. They almost collided with her, but when the tallest caught sight of her, he pushed back his topper and scanned her up and down. “Now where in the world did you come from?”
She smiled at him in relief. “Could you tell me how to get to BalMacEwen Road?”
His eyes flew open. “What do you want to go to BalMacEwen Road for?”
She held out the directions. “I’m looking for the offices of a certain Knox Bishop. I’m to become his apprentice.”
The man elbowed his companions and shot them a wicked grin. “Do you hear that? She’s to become apprenticed to Knox Bishop.” He turned back to Raleigh. “You’re not from around here, are you, honey?”
Raleigh narrowed her eyes at him. “What’s that got to do with anything?”
He laid his hand on her arm. “You seem like a nice girl, even if you need a few lessons in style. Take my advice and get a seat on the first coach going back wherever you came from.”
“Why should I do that?” she snapped. “I paid good money to come all the way here. I’m not going to turn my back on a decent apprenticeship without some good reason.”
He shook his head. “I was born and raised in this town, and you won’t find a living soul here who doesn’t know the name and reputation of Knox Bishop. Do yourself a favor and go home. You’ll be very happy you did.”
Raleigh smacked her lips. “Are you gonna tell me where BalMacEwen Road is or not?”
He pointed over his shoulder. “It’s right over there. Keep going on around this corner and up the hill. You can’t miss it, but I wouldn’t go up there if I was you. Get yourself a nice gingham dress and an apron, and I’m sure Patrick here will give you a decent job at the Pig on a Spit. What do you say?”
She squared her shoulders. “Thank you for the directions. I’ll take my chances. Good morning.”
She marched the rest of the way down the block. At the corner, the street branched into three separate thoroughfares. One veered right, the other went straight ahead, while the third turned up a steep hill. Sure enough, a clear sign in fresh paint marked the one running uphill: BalMacEwen Road. Perfect.
She started to make the turn when a curious sensation made her glance back over her shoulder. What did that man mean when he said everyone in town knew the name and reputation of Knox Bishop? What did these townspeople know about her new employer that she did not? Putting aside his glancing comments about her clothes, he seemed quite certain her position boded her no good.
On a hunch, she set down her carpetbag and marched back the way she came. When she got to the corner, she took one step toward the Gingerbread House when she darted back out of sight behind the nearest building.
There in front of her, the same three men stood on the sidewalk. The man who warned her against her project handed a wad of bills to one of his companions. “A hundred, and not a penny less.”
His friend wadded up the bills and stuffed them into his watch pocket. “You’re crazy. Six days, and not an hour over.”
The third man spoke up. “I give her ten days without her head. Did you see those arms? Raargh!!” He balled up both fists next to his head to flex his biceps and roared like a lion.
Every hair stood up along Raleigh’s spine. What were they saying? They must be talking about her. They were laying wagers on her, but about what? What could they be talking about, if not her apprenticeship? They were wagering how long she would last.
Confusion spun her head around. She hustled back to her carpetbag, but when she picked it up, she could only press forward. She couldn’t go home to her father, not after he made it so clear he wanted her to take this position. She never turned her back on a challenge yet, and she wouldn’t start now.
She climbed the hill along BalMacEwen Road. It wound into dense trees, but she didn’t see any houses. She must be entering some sort of park. She understood forests enough to cast suspicious glances right and left. Her free hand migrated to her pistol holster.
Just when she started to get worried, the road opened out into another section of town. Tall buildings of black stone lined the road, all decorated with arches and towering windows and ornate parapets. Side streets cut off each way. The dense sky formed a solid roof over the black hulks.
The same hush oppressed everything, even though the architecture showed this was a more affluent part of town. BalMacEwen Road ended at another intersection of muddy streets. Raleigh checked the address one more time. She had to find number 51, but she didn’t see it before the road ended.
A black coach stood at the corner. Black curtains covered its windows. A young man stood next to his horse’s head while the creature munched oats from its nosebag. Raleigh approached him. “Excuse me. Would you please tell me where I can find number 51, BalMacEwen Road?”
He pointed behind her. “That’s number 51 right there. I’m going there myself as soon as Dobbin finishes his lunch, so if you want to wait, I’ll take you there.”
Raleigh’s eyes flew open. “Would you? Thank you. That’s very kind.”
He smiled at her. That was the first genuine smile she’d seen since she got off the mail coach this morning. Come to think of it, it was the first genuine smile she’d seen in years. She took a closer look at him. He stood about an inch taller than she, but he couldn’t have been more than sixteen. His shoulders stuck out gangly and scrawny under his too-big shirt. He hadn’t come into his weight yet, but he had nice dusky brown hair and twinkling blue eyes. The most adorable dimples pocked his cheeks when he smiled.
“Who are you?” she asked.
He beamed even brighter. “Dax McDermott is my name, and you must be Bishop’s new apprentice. He told me to keep an eye open for you.”
Raleigh’s mouth fell open. “You know Knox Bishop?”
“Everybody knows Bishop. He’s a legend, but I know him better than most.” He puffed up his chest with pride. “I work with him sometimes.”
“Oh, I don’t get to do any real slaying.” Dax blushed. “I mean, I don’t get to do any slaying at all. Bishop would never let me handle a weapon, but he lets me do odd jobs for him. I get to drive him around whenever he wants to go anywhere. If he wants something procured in town, or even from as far away as Charleston, I get to do it.”
Raleigh frowned. “Oh. I see.”
His eyes widened when he gazed into her eyes. “You’re really lucky to be able to work with him. I wish I could get good enough to go on a job with him, but he won’t let me. You must be really good at what you do to get this job.”
Raleigh shrugged, but she couldn’t stop her cheeks burning. “I guess so. He never even asked to see me fight. I just told him in a letter what I’d done, and the next thing I knew, I was accepted.”
A church bell tolled in the distance. Dax jumped out of his skin. “Ten o’clock! We better hurry. We don’t want to keep him waiting. Quick! Get in and I’ll drive you up the driveway.”
Raleigh climbed into the coach before she remembered to look behind her to see where they were going. While Dax mounted the driver’s seat, she peered out the window. Two brick columns stood on either side of a driveway winding off BalMacEwen Road. They wound between stately alder trees to a towering edifice beyond the trees. Dark windows stared out at her from its sheer face. Not a single light illuminated the building.
Chapter 4
Dax pulled the coach up the driveway, but he didn’t stop at the front entrance. He turned around behind the building and parked at the kitchen door. Raleigh poked her head out. “What are you doing here?”
He wound the reins around the brake handle and hopped down to open the door for her. “Everybody enters this way. Last I checked, Bishop still keeps the front door nailed shut. No one uses it. Now get in there. He hates lateness more than anything. I’ll bring your bag up later. You won’t need it in your first interview anyway.”