Grant nodded and shot a look at Raven. Colton smiled at her innocently. She shrugged and ripped her gaze from them. The guilt Grant had planted lingered like a dark cloud. She couldn’t meet Colton’s eyes anymore. He really wasn’t a bad guy. Grant was right about it being easier to demonize a person she didn’t know.
Monroe allowed the woman to lean on him as he guided her to the porch. Rupert and Raven hung back while Grant and Colton took the lead. Tall, white columns held a covered porch as wide as the full front of the house. The group spread out across the portico, while Grant grasped the brass door knocker.
Hardly a moment after the knock, the large red door swung in. The same grandmother from the café stood behind the butler at the door, her smile frozen as she assessed the number of people on her porch. Her eyebrows furrowed. “What’s going on here?”
The woman they’d captured righted herself suddenly and pushed Grant to one side. “Good evening, Mrs. Gardner. You called for the Wood Witch?”
A general look of surprise widened Grant and Colton’s eyes. Their faces mirrored Raven’s own. Monroe met her eyes and nodded slightly, assuring her that things were fine. She closed her jaw and nodded back. Grant shook his head and said, “I’m sorry, madam. I wasn’t completely honest with you earlier. My comrades and I are on a mission for the Duke’s Guard. Colton here is a medical doctor, but we also need to keep an eye on this woman.”
The red-haired woman who claimed the status of Wood Witch narrowed her eyes at Grant. She gave him a look that threatened him to not give away any more information about her. Grant stood taller, but acquiesced.
Raven didn’t like that this witch held herself in the same manner as the witch she’d met in the woods. Just like the last witch, this one took control of the situation. “Now, take me to the girl. I am late enough as it is.”
When the group reached the bottom of the stairs, the grandmother turned around. “Is it really necessary for all of you to follow? The room is small. Can’t just the doctor and the witch come up?”
Grant took a half step back and started to nod. Raven grabbed him by the arm and whispered harshly. “Don’t leave Colton alone with the witch.”
“I’m not convinced this woman is a witch. Besides, the child does need medical attention,” he whispered back.”
“Fine,” Raven continued to whisper in the same tone. She gave him a look that said she wouldn’t take no for an answer. “But I’m going with him.”
He nodded, and spoke aloud to the grandmother as she continued up the stairs. “And Raven, our nurse, should accompany them.”
The two older women turned around and assessed Raven. She felt suddenly self conscious. Honestly, she’d never had much training in being a lady and spent almost all her teenage years with adult men. She didn’t know how to respond to them, but she was also certain that they knew she was no nurse. Heat flushed her cheeks.
“Very well,” the grandmother said as she clasped the banister and took careful steps. “I’m sure we can accommodate her.”
Raven started up after them.
The grandmother waved the rest of the group toward the kitchen. And the butler announced to the remaining downstairs party, “Follow me, if you please. We have tea prepared in the kitchen.”
Although his attire looked completely out of place in the white marble foyer, Monroe stood tall and carried himself in as genteel a manner as the butler himself. Raven almost laughed at the oxymoron. Rupert and Grant walked together, their heads inclined toward each other as they conversed in hushed tones. The door to the kitchen swung in, and the group disappeared. It was unusual for guests in a house such as this to take tea in the kitchen rather than the dining hall. But considering their barging in, how could the household be ready for so many?
The witch took over the conversation on the way to the nursery. She fired off questions faster than the grandmother could answer. “How long has the girl been like this? What sort of cough does she have? A dry one or productive? What herbal remedies have been used thus far?”
After waiting for a breath of silence from the witch, the grandmother answered. “Drusilla has been ill for over a week. She has only had garlic and chicken soup. Her cough seems to be dry, as far as I can tell. She’s only just come up to Grandview from Ipswich today. Her parents own a factory in Ipswich where they make—”
“That’ll be all, thank you,” the witch announced, cutting into the grandmother’s prattle when they reached the door to the nursery.
“But, can’t I come in? Originally the appointment was for my own herbs, but I felt that my granddaughter needed—”
“No need for you to join us, madam.” The witch dug through her carpet bag and produced a small vial which she handed to the grandmother. “Here you are. I suggest you take it with some tea right away. Your strength has been waning and I can tell your rheumatoid is flaring up.”
The old woman looked suddenly tired. She took the vial in a shaky hand. “You’re right. It’s been so long since your last visit. I’ve struggled over the past few days without my medicine.”
Without a curt nod, the witch entered the child’s room and motioned for Colton and Raven to pass her and come in. Then she tilted her head to the grandmother. “With tea and right away. There is no need for you to suffer any longer than you already have. You may return after the medicine has begun its effect. We should be nearly done by then.”
The grandmother began to speak again, but with a smile, the witch shut the door in the woman’s face.
The witch leaned her back against the door and scrutinized both Raven and Colton. Her smile widened as she said. “A young noble playing guardsman and a woman reaper.”
Raven swallowed and was tempted to draw her sword at the sheepish look on the woman’s face.
“Uncommon. Unusual. About as singular an occurrence as someone sneaking up on me and throwing a grappling net of spider wire over me.”
Colton stepped in front of Raven, blocking her from the witch’s glare. Although she was annoyed with looking at his back, a relief settled on her to be shielded from the witch. The young doctor asked, “How do you claim to be the Wood Witch when we met the woman yesterday? You and she are not one and the same.”
Raven peered over Colton’s shoulder to watch the woman. Her jaw clenched and unclenched. She pursed her lips before speaking. “I am not the Wood Witch, and if you were paying attention, you’d have noticed I didn’t claim to be. The nobles in this town and others in the southern province call me that of their own accord. I simply chose not to correct them.”
“So who are you then? For you are not a common herbalist, either, are you?” Colton asked. His manner reflected the same command the witch had shown in the hallway with the grandmother.
Raven smiled at his ability to make the woman squirm.
“I am a witch and I live in the woods. Alchemy is a broad and varied subject, and Preston Woods has a multitude of residents. I have not lied.”
Colton nodded and scratched the blond stubble of his chin. “What is the difference between you and the Wood Witch whom we encountered?”
The woman’s face contorted and she spat to the side. “Perverter of alchemy. Consumer of children. That woman has become all the worst that the science has to offer. She is a fiend.”
Raven started. “What do you mean by consumer of children?”
A half smile played on the woman’s lips. “Have you not heard the stories? That woman takes a child born with certain talents and steals their abilities.”
Pushing Colton slightly to the side, Raven stood before the woman. “How so?”
The woman inclined her head toward the child lying in the bed across the room. The child slept fitfully, sweat beading her forehead. The ringlets of gold Raven admired earlier were fallen and ashen looking. The witch started toward the child’s bed. “I don’t like to speak of such perversions.” She looked Raven up and down and poked a pointed finger at her chest. "But I will because I believe you might be able
to stop the fiend.”
Raven resisted the urge to slap the woman’s hand away.
The witch leaned closer and whispered, “She eats the child’s heart.”
Jack sat on a stool and held his tea, forgetting to sip it. His foot tapped a beat on the floor. Why didn’t he go up with them? He leapt to his feet when the grandmother entered the room. She held a small vial in front of her, a distracted and cunning smile spread upon her lips.
“Madam, how is the child?” He asked, offering to pull the chair from the table for her when she approached.
Her silver eyebrows knit together in confusion. The knuckles on the hand holding the vial grew white as she gripped it to her chest. “Oh. I’m not sure. The doctor and the Wood Witch are attending her presently.”
The butler rushed over with a tea cup ready for her, and the young kitchen maid brought toast with butter. With a swat of her hand, she dismissed them. They backed up into the shadows of the kitchen once more, the flames playing on their oddly pale faces. Jack blinked hard and stuttered, “They’re automatons.”
Monroe and Rupert set down their cups and stared. The grandmother shook her head as though to shake a thought from them, not to disagree. “Oh yes—the best companions for me. They rarely make an error, and they learn quickly.”
Jack furrowed his brows. “How is it that the most life-like automatons I’ve ever seen are here in the southern province?”
The grandmother poured a drop of the clear liquid from the vial over her tea cup. “They are prototypes. My son and daughter-in-law designed and build them in their Ipswich factory. I’m sure that zeppelin-living New Haven will be the first to know when the mechanical creatures are complete and approved by the Bureau.”
Jack watched the automatons move smoothly and deftly. “Do they speak like humans? That is…can you have a conversation with them?”
The grandmother took a dainty sip of her tea. “The butler does, but the kitchen maid has no voice box. She is an older model. Besides, what need of talking has a kitchen maid?” She half laughed and took another sip of her tea.
Jack couldn’t get past how much the butler looked like a real person. He did not appear to have any stiffness in his gait or mannerisms. Except for the fact that he stared blankly ahead, he seemed for all intents and purposes, human. Even on closer inspection, he appeared to have pores in the skin of his face, and slight wrinkles in the corners of his eyes. Jack decided to test it. “What is your name?”
The butler turned his head toward Jack and made eye contact, his eyelids blinked in regular intervals. “My name is Gerald, sir. How may I serve you?”
“Do you know who I am?”
“No, sir. You are a stranger to this house and the lady has not said your name.”
“How long have you been at this house, in the lady’s service?”
“It will be a year next month, sir.”
Jack turned toward the woman who slumped in her chair, looking a bit too relaxed. “Madam, this is a prototype? And you’ve had him nearly a year?”
She sat up straighter, but her eyes looked distant as she answered. “Yes, I suppose it has been that long. I’ve had the kitchen maid for nearly two.”
It hardly made sense that a factory could remain in existence with only prototypes available. Wouldn’t they try to get them out in the public as soon as possible? Why the secrecy? Even though it would be out of their way, he’d need to check this. “Madam, where did you say the factory was again?”
Without tears, weakness cannot leave the body.
Don’t be afraid to let them go—the weakness and the tears.
RAVEN STOOD BEHIND Colton and the witch as they attended to the child. Nurse Raven? How ridiculous a proposition that would be? However, the witch asked her to get a few things for her out of the carpet bag.
“Doctor, this is a pure and simple case of walking pneumonia in my opinion, would you agree?” the woman asked.
Colton nodded his head, his face grave. “Yes. With rest and herbs she should be rid of the cough and congestion in another week or two.”
“I have the antibiotic herbs and some fever reducing spices for them to put into broth.” The witch wiped her hands on her apron and held out her hand for the carpet bag. Raven handed it to her directly.
“You are an excellent herbalist, madam. And with your skills at diagnostics, it’s a wonder that you didn’t go to the university and get a medical degree.”
The old woman blushed and pushed on his shoulder like a school girl. She batted her eyelashes at him. “Go on, young man. You certainly know how to flatter a woman.”
Between the two of them, they finished administering the medications and started a boiler in the room with some menthol herbs. Afterward, they all stepped out into the hallway. Raven could remain silent no longer. “Madam, do you happen to know the whereabouts of the official Wood Witch? She has kidnapped a child that was in my care, and I am desperate for his return.”
The woman’s face fell into a frown. She scratched a mole on her chin while her cold blue eyes assessed Raven again. “If the Wood Witch has your child, it is a grave matter, indeed. As I said, the witch uses the darkest of alchemy and will be performing the process of taking the child’s power. Was he a special child?”
Raven’s imagination drew outlandish conclusions, and she couldn’t speak for a moment with her heart in her throat.
Colton answered for her. “Yes, he has been diagnosed by a priest as having a demon. The demon causes the child to have seizures and electrical items around him go quite haywire.”
The witch cackled. “Oh my. A demon?” She laughed harder.
Raven frowned at the woman who laughed so hard she literally slapped her knee. Shaking her head and wiping a tear from her eye, the witch finally got hold of herself. “That child has no demon. He has a rare gift. Electromagnetic manipulation. The child just has no control over it.”
Raven blinked hard.
Colton stammered. “Electromagnetic manipulation? You believe he has control over machines with his mind?”
The old woman tapped Colton on the nose with the tip of her finger and batted her eyelashes again. “Exactly. You’re a smart one, too.”
Raven shook her head at the flirting old woman. “So if we don’t find Darius soon, you are saying the witch will eat his heart to gain the power of electro…whatever you call it?”
The woman rolled her eyes and nodded. “Exactly.”
Adrenaline coursed through Raven’s muscles and her head began to throb with the need to hurt someone. “Have you heard of where I might find this witch?”
“That’s not very tricky. I know exactly where the woman will be.”
Suddenly, Raven’s vision became clear, and her hopes hinged on the woman’s next words.
The woman trailed her fingers along the buttons of Colton’s waistcoat while she spoke. “She must wait for the new moon before she can do it, and there is only one location the Wood Witch can go and perform the ceremony necessary to transfer the boy’s heart to hers. The top of Cirrus Mountain.”
Raven pushed past them in a flurry and dashed down the stairs. The questions flitted about her head like a caged, wild bird. What day was it? Which phase of the moon were they in? How much time did she have?
At the bottom of the stairs, she nearly ran into the grandmother as the woman turned up the curving staircase. On the tips of her toes, Raven changed course around her, focused on the goal of the door. She barreled out and crunched through the snow, her eyes searching the sky, but finding no moon. The wind chilled her, and howled through the tops of the trees. The house was at the top of the hill so she could see over the expanse of neighbor’s homes. A zeppelin tethered in the back yard blotted out half the sky behind it.
Grant and Monroe dashed up behind her, simultaneously asking the same question. “What is the matter?”
“What phase is the moon in? Do either of you know?”
They shook their heads in unison. Of course they d
idn’t know–only farmers and fishermen paid attention to that sort of thing. The drifts around the side of the house made the snow half way to her knee as she jogged through it to the backyard. Finally she saw it. The sliver in the sky showed a waning moon of less than a quarter. They only had a few days to find him.
“What does it mean?” Jack asked over Raven’s shoulder as she shuddered in the cold. He removed his jacket and put it around her. She sank into it and let him put his arms around her.
“We have only three days to find Darius before the witch eats his heart.”
Confusion and horror slipped down Jack’s spine. “What are you talking about?”
Colton and Rupert slid up behind Monroe. The old reaper shook his head, eyes wide. His voice sounded suddenly hoarse. “What do you mean the witch is going to eat his heart?”
Raven shook her arms free of Jack’s coat and pulled away. The look on her face was stern and sad. Her watery eyes met his for a moment, and then she darted off again toward the woods. He took two steps to follow, but Colton grabbed him by the arm. “Captain. Marietta has told us about the Wood Witch’s plans. She has also diagnosed the condition that afflicts the younger baron with a greater degree of accuracy than I believe anyone else ever has.”
Jack continued to stare at the spot in the trees where Raven had disappeared. “Who’s Marietta?”
Colton cleared his throat. “She’s the herbalist and healer the grandmother mistook for the Wood Witch.”
Jack tore his eyes away from the shadows and met Colton’s. For some reason, Colton’s cheeks had reddened. Monroe looked ready to start for the woods himself. Jack nodded to him, and without a word, the elder reaper darted for the woods.
Chronicles of Steele: Raven 3: Episode 3 Page 4