The Kingdom Journals Complete Series Box Set

by Tricia Copeland

  At daylight, we set out. Mambi, Gregor, Will, Jacob, and I approach the village, while the rest of our group waits behind a ridge. The three spirit men, along with ten witnesses who agree to stand against Black Crow, stand at the back. They’re all elders of the tribe and claim to be able to protect themselves. Even so, I direct my army to stand between them and any attack from Black Crow.

  At midday, the sun burns bright in the sky. Five warriors approach and escort us to Black Crow. In the distance, I see two-hundred-plus teepees, painted with red drawings of warriors and weapons, arranged in concentric circles. It’s quiet. There are no fires, no children running about, no women tending their chores. The bitter scent of venom causes the hairs on my arm to stand on end as we approach.

  Our escorts run ahead and join a line of twenty warriors positioned between us and the village. Behind them, twelve women, some pregnant, some holding small children, stare wide-eyed at us. A broad-shouldered man wearing a fur cloak stands at the middle of the front line. Long black feathers ring his head, and a necklace of bones rests on his bare chest. Spear in hand, he reaches a full head above the men beside him. He tilts his head back and opens his mouth, and I note his white fangs. My mind darts through different scenarios.

  At seventeen, he’s a youngling. Emotions are heightened the year before we reach maturity, anger turns to rage, sadness to despair. I ponder for half a second if I hadn’t been so young and hormonal when Alec died if I would even be here. Did I over react to losing him? Would I have reacted that way now? Is this halfling a slave to his emotion?

  Refocusing on the warriors, I wonder if their weapons have been laced with his venom. As we walk closer, my stomach turns with the acrid scent of the poison. I fan out my palm twenty feet from their line, indicating we’re close enough.

  I lift my chin. “Chief, thank you for welcoming us yourself.”

  “I believe the elders have been whispering in your ear. But, my father’s absence hasn’t been a hindrance to me.” His lips stretch up on one side forming a half-smile. He rams the end of his spear into the dirt. The ground rumbles beneath us, and hundreds of male villagers, some not taller than the spears they hold, exit the teepees. “I didn’t think you would expect such a large force to greet you.”

  “It seems you have quite a following.”

  “And they’ll grow as our native peoples learn of a warrior who can stand against the white invaders. Let us speak in friendship.” He strolls towards me.

  As I take a step, Will and Jacob copy. I whisper to them. “Wait here.”

  Crow extends his hand to me as I reach their group. Not daring to let him touch me, I lay a hand over my heart. “Sorry, I don’t know your customs. I am Anne of Scotts.”

  “Chief Black Crow.” He puts his palm on his chest. “I wish to partner with you. Together, we can defeat the white men. Make them go back to their homeland.”

  “Perhaps you don’t understand our mission. We seek to unite the vampire people.”

  “Look at me,” he huffs, opening his mouth so wide I can see the back of his throat. He leans in, and his hot sour breath hits my nose. “I’m a vampire, and these are my people. Don’t you believe it’s wrong for the settlers to take our lands?”

  “I do, but this is not our fight.”

  Crow turns and whistles three sharp tones. A boy runs from behind the line of his warriors and stops beside Crow. “This is my son. He has over four years. He’s bigger and stronger than other children but has no fangs. I fear he will not be a powerful as I am. At least lend me your males to mate with my women.” He gestures behind him. “In twelve years, I will have an army.”

  My breath catches in my throat as I process his request. Stomach churning, I grasp for phrasing that will not offend or anger him. “I lead this group, but I do not command them. If any of them believe in your cause, they may join you as they please.”

  “Let me speak to them.” He drives his spear end into the hard earth, and it shakes under my feet.

  Crow seems to be able to wield a fair amount of magical power, and I worry about how much venom he has. Will and Jacob appear beside me. They’ve overheard the chief, as have Mambi and Gregor. I guess that the elders use the wind to carry our voices to their ears. My army is over the next ridge, out of earshot, although I know they smell the venom. Our signals are simple, five short calls for retreat and a long whistle means advance. But, I don’t want the chief or his army anywhere near my people.

  “I can carry your message to our group. These here are witnesses to your words. Is there anything else you wish to add?” I stand tall, shoulders back, in front of him.

  “I wish to speak to them.” He looks to Will and Jacob and back to me, his stare holding mine for a second.

  “I will call the others.” Will cups his hands around his mouth, ready to sound the whistle.

  I slap my hand against his arm, knocking it from position. “What are you doing?”

  Eyes wide, Will shakes his head as if fighting off a trance. On the other side of me, Jacob starts to make the call. I hit his hands away from his face. “Stop. He’s not going to address my people. What’s wrong with you?”

  Jacob blinks and looks between me and the chief.

  Crow’s smile spreads across his face as he looks to Jacob and then Will. “You see my power. I will prevail. You’re either with me or against me.” His gaze lands on me. “You’re a curious one. I have not met another being able to resist my compulsion. I wonder what amazing offspring would come from our mating.”

  Eyes panning from my head to my feet, he saunters towards me. My skin produces bumps as a chill rushes down my body. Even so, I stand frozen in place. “I see we have nothing further to discuss. We’ll continue on our journey.”

  For a second, an eerie silence falls over the field, as if time stands still. Overhead, a falcon lets out a shrill call. I watch in horror as Chief Black Crow cocks his spear and releases it. My eyes follow the shaft as it lands in Mambi’s bicep. She grabs her arm. Beside her, Gregor rips off his pant leg and ties it tight above the wound. Still, her body tenses, and she drops to the ground.

  “I made hollow spears with a pouch that shatters on impact.” Chief Black Crow looks down his nose at me. “It took some time to figure out the right amount to use. It looks to be effective, even on your kind.”

  I know Mambi’s body should expel the poison, and she’ll be okay, but I’m not sure how long it will take. The chief raises his hand over his head and waves his arm. The warriors from the village jog towards us. As their numbers and speed increases, their feet rumble over the land.

  Chief Black Crow has laid his path, and I know there’s only one way through. I fit my fingers between my lips and let out a long shrill call.

  “Gregor stay with Mambi,” I yell to him.

  Seeing a large dust cloud forming behind them, I hope this is the work of the elders and not Crow. Scanning the area, I realize he and the boy are gone.

  “Will. Jacob. We need to focus on finding Black Crow.” I focus on Gregor. “Warn the others about the spears. Spare as many lives as possible. The target is Black Crow. The rest are considered innocents.” I rip my spear from my back and pull a dagger from my boot.

  “Anne.” Will forces my attention back to our group. I look up to see Crow’s line of warriors running for us. “Stay behind me.” Will takes off, and I sense Jacob on my heels. Will looks back at me for a second. “Venom-laced weapons, we should have been more prepared.”

  “Focus,” I yell at him. “Remember you just got mind-controlled by a halfling.”

  My mind jumps between so many thoughts, and I can’t even keep up. What of my people behind me? Not fully trusting Will’s lead, I follow the scent of Crow’s trail. We’re faster than our enemies and make a wide arc around them and then circle back to the village.

  “He’s a mixture of both species, not a halfling. Witch plus vampire equals bad things,” Will comments as his eyes dart to each of the teepee structures.


  Crow’s stench permeates the entire area, and I wonder if we’ll be able to find him. Running the perimeter, we detect no evidence he’s left their encampment. We begin a search of the dwellings. Inside the first teepee, a woman huddles under a blanket with her small boy. In the next, the same. In another, two women sit next to a fire nursing their boys. In three more structures, we see the same.

  “All the children are male,” I comment as we exit.

  “Please,” one of the women approaches us, her voice just a whisper. “He has killed almost all the female children. He allows only his own line of girls to live. Most of the little ones are his sons. Please, stop him.”

  “We will.” I squeeze her shoulder.

  Will rushes to the next structure. “This is not our war. It’s not our responsibility.”

  I shake my head. “Who knows how large his army will grow unchecked. We are the only ones who can stop him.”

  Will turns to face Jacob and me. “We shouldn’t be meddling in human affairs.”

  “This isn’t a human situation,” I insist.

  Jacob leans in. “I’m with Anne. He started this attack, and we should finish it and him.”

  Will’s hands go to his hips. “Okay, but this isn’t working. We must think. Searching each of the homes is a mouse chase. It’s giving him more time to escape. Who knows what he’s capable of, if he has tunnels underground, whether he can shape-shift.”

  “Shape-shift?” My hair blows across my eyes, and I secure the strand on my head.

  “Like a werewolf, only to any animal he desires,” Jacob supplies.

  Will shakes his head. “He’s arrogant, proud, maybe over confident. He won’t run.”

  “The center. He’ll be there.” I insist. The dust cloud swirls around us and over our heads, blocking out the sun. The teepees stand interspersed, so there’s no direct line of view to the central gathering spot.

  Will’s hand wraps around my arm. “There will be a trap.”

  “There are three of us, only one of him.” I nod, convincing myself we’re capable of stopping Crow. “He doesn’t fully know how powerful we are. If there’s anyone who can best him, it will be us.”

  “He may have many warriors with him. I won’t risk your life.” Will’s grip on my arm tightens.

  “You saw, he can’t control me. You need me. This is what you trained me for. We’re wasting time. Who knows how many of our people die as we stand here arguing.”

  “She’s right.” Jacob wraps his hand around Will’s forearm, pulling it from mine.

  We weave through the structures and reach a field. A single large teepee occupies the center of the space. Black feathers attached to the top of a tall pole whip in the wind. The wind makes it difficult to discern scents or make out heartbeats. There’s no sign of Crow. Fifty feet of flat grass stands between us the teepee. Will traces a circle with his finger, indicating that we should fan out.

  Then Will signals for us to approach the structure. I crouch low, wondering whether to run or creep. Seeing Will and Jacob taking slow careful steps, I copy their strategy, watching for traps. A loud boom sounds, and the ground gives way under my feet. I reach for something to hang on to, but dirt caves in on all sides. Gravity sucks me down, and I fall twenty feet before the earth stops moving.

  Hearing Will’s dove call, I scramble over rock and earth to him. Jacob reaches us seconds later.

  “Well, this is fun.” Jacob swipes dirt from his eyes. “Does he think we can’t get out?”

  I clutch both of their arms. “As one?” I ask.

  Will and Jacob nod, and we push off and jump to the ground above. Spear in hand, Crow stands in front of the teepee opening. Beside him stand a line of five boys, the tallest I recognize from before. The smallest, at about two feet tall, clings to the child beside him. My skin crawls as a chill settles over me.

  Crow raises his arms. “Pheta,” he yells, dancing in a circle.

  A ring of fire fifty feet high surrounds the field just beyond the fissure.

  “He just trapped himself,” Will whispers.

  I look between him and Jacob. “How many men can fit in the dwelling? Twenty?”

  “Aye, that seems about right.” Jacob crouches beside me.

  “Humans, easy to kill.” Will smiles.

  I tug on his coat. “Innocent humans.”

  “Perhaps.” He shrugs. “What’s the plan?”

  I look up to see a line of warriors exiting the teepee. Spears in hand, and bows and arrows on their backs, they form a line between us and Crow. Crow leans down and whispers to the boy beside him. The boy guides the other three children into the teepee.

  “That’s unfortunate. Children taste good,” Will comments.

  I slap Will’s chest. “Quit making folly.”

  “What, no pre-dinner humor?” Jacob quips.

  My stomach turns as I contemplate taking a life. “Stop, both of you.”

  “IyayA,” Crow yells, puffing out his chest.

  The word is foreign to me, but the order becomes clear as his warriors cock their arrows and launch them at us. I dodge a couple and then catch two. One after the other, I aim them at the fighter’s legs and bring two down. Within seconds, half of Crow’s small army lie frozen on the ground.

  “Vampire venom, a potent paralytic,” Will whispers beside me.

  “What’s the plan?”

  “We wait for him to tire his resources and attack.”

  “IyayA,” I hear Crow yell again.

  A stream of arrows enters the air. I swing my arms, batting the tips from piercing my skin. One grazes my arm. Crouching to the ground, I suck the blood from the wound and spit it in the dirt. The venom is bitter, and I extract two more mouthfuls of blood to make sure I got it all. The siege ends, and I pick up an arrow and launch it at a warrior, landing it in his thigh. Grabbing his leg, he falls to the ground a second later.

  I hear a cackling sound and look up to see Crow doubled over in laughter. At first, I guess him to be deranged. Then, I spin trying to locate Will and Jacob. My eyes dart between their forms. Will lies on the ground, propping himself up with one arm, trying to pry an arrow from his thigh. An arrow protrudes from Jacob’s rib cage, and I jump to his side.

  A growling sound grows beneath us. Looking to Crow, I see him kneeling on the ground, both fists on the earth. Knowing that the dirt may fall out from under us any second, I fit my fingers inside Jacob’s chest and ease the arrow out. The bladder within the arrow is punctured, and Jacob’s chest heaves in jerking motions.

  “Anne.” Jacob coughs and blood pours from his lips.

  “Shh.” I run my hand over his chest.

  The ground quakes beneath us. I rip his coat and then his tunic to find the wound. The earth under me shakes and buckles, and I clutch Jacob’s chest. With a loud roar, the dirt falls away. I hug Jacob to me with one arm and grab for roots with the other as we careen down. Dirt and rubble block my view, and as we descend, it grows dark. Keeping track of body lengths, I try to count how far we’re falling. One, two, three, five, ten, twenty lengths pass by.

  Our speed is dizzying, and I fear losing consciousness. “Jacob, you with me?”

  “Yes, Queen, you’re almost cutting off my circulation. I’m not going anywhere.”

  Just as I’m registering fifty-one body lengths, Jacob’s body hits bedrock, and I slam into his chest. Dirt and rocks crash onto my back. The rumbling subsides, and the weight on my body stabilizes.

  I try and clear the dirt from my eyes. “We have to get out of here. Can you move?”

  “A bit. The injured side is painful, but the rest of me still works.”

  Kicking at the dirt atop us, we dig our way to the top of the pile six feet up.

  “Will!” I yell, squinting into the darkness.

  “Here, Your Highness.”

  The space brightens as the dust settles around us. I follow the sound of his voice, tugging Jacob behind me. “How’s your leg?” I ask as I reach Will.

 
“It’s been better. I’ve been forcing blood out of the wound, and the burning is easing.”

  “Good, okay. Jacob, let me see your side.” I focus on my other champion.

  He winces as I lift his tunic. Dirt cakes the wound, and I wipe it away. Kneading the area with my fingers produces no blood. “It’s already healing, but we have to get the venom out.”

  “A one-lunged body guard won’t do you much good, eh, Queen?” Jacob reclines on the rubble.

  “Stop quipping. We’ve got to stop Crow before we have no army left.”

  “Talk about hell.” Jacob’s eyes pan to the space above us.

  I press my lips to his wound and suck. A small amount of bitter fluid enters my mouth. Spitting it out, I repeat the process.

  “Now you can’t deny that you love me, suckling my breast like that.” Jacob coughs up a fistful of blood and dirt.

  “It’s your rib cage and quit talking. Why are males like this? Making light of dire situations?” Leaning over, I fit my mouth over the wound and draw out more liquid.

  Will chuckles. “Have to make it look like we’re strong. You know, preservation of the species and all. The toughest male gets the female. Just like the lions we ran across in Africa.”

  “For Mother Earth’s sake, just stop talking so I can concentrate. Figure out how to get us out of here.”

  “No way out but up. I say it’s fifty feet at least. Too far to jump.” Will rubs his hand down the injured leg and stands.

  He paces while I work on Jacob’s side. After a few more hard pulls, the wound reopens. I suck mouthfuls of tainted blood and fluid from between his ribs. After ten rounds, the blood is clear, and I fit the skin together and hold it in place.

  “Give me a little bit, and I’ll be as good as new.” Jacob draws in a long breath. His face is pale, and I cup my hand to his cheek.

  “You’re cold.” I cover his torso with my vest, and he shudders. I look to Will.