The Uncharted Series Omnibus

by Keely Brooke Keith

  With few discernable tracks to follow, Levi ignored the rain pelting his brow and tied his horse to a tree. He stepped over a log and walked east into the unfamiliar forest. As he trudged around uprooted trees and mossy boulders, he feared the afternoon would slip into evening before he found any more tracks.

  He spotted a ravine and decided to continue his search to its edge before he turned back for the night. As he came upon the slope, the rain drove his eyes downward. He noticed grooves in the soil, and the pine needles and sticks were displaced as if someone had recently slid down the embankment. He maneuvered down the steep ridge of earth and leapt over a log at the bottom. He followed the scuffs in the moss of the forest floor until they ended near a substantial oak tree. Its low-lying branches were thick with foliage and hid its base. He squatted to peer beneath the limbs.

  * * *

  Mandy drew a breath and tried to move, but her muscles did not respond. The deep sleep that engulfed her body taunted her mind with dreams alternating between wistful and horrific. The bulky folds of the tree trunk she rested against seemed softer now, but she was not fully awake and assumed the feeling was part of a dream. The surface against her face did not feel like rough tree bark, but like warm cloth and—when she listened closely—below the sound of the rain, she heard a steady, repeating thump like the beat of a heart. Her dream of a strong and kind tree with a beating heart and soft bark was the sweetest image to play upon her mind in two and a half days.

  Then there was only darkness. The stench of the wagon seeped into her dream. Hard, flat planks of wood were beneath her body. She opened her eyes; it was not a dream. She was back in that horrid wagon. It was not moving. A hand touched her. She gasped and sat up, sending pain through her chest.

  “Shhh, Mandy, it’s me. It’s Levi.”

  She heard the voice, the rain, her breath. She was awake. She panted and held still as her heart pounded in her aching chest. Then she reached out to the figure in the dark.

  “You’re safe, Mandy. I’m here.” He took her hand and she felt the calluses on his skin caused by years of carpentry work. She traced her finger along the soft scar on his palm; the skin there felt like silk.

  “Levi?” Her voice hurt and it cracked when she said his name.

  “Yes, it’s me. You’re safe now. I found you and brought you here. You’re going to be all right.”

  She was not dreaming—he was with her. He had carried her through the forest in the rain. She had been found. As her eyes adjusted to the lack of light, she pulled herself close to Levi and laid her head against his chest. His arms came around her to comfort her, but when he touched her she winced.

  “Are you hurt?”

  “Yes.”

  “How badly?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “We will get you to Lydia as quickly as we can.”

  “We?”

  “Everett and Connor are here too. We separated to search for you. They’ll meet us here soon.”

  She glanced to the opening at the back of the parked wagon. Rainwater was streaming down from the wagon cover. It was dark outside, but she wanted to see Everett. She thought of the last time she saw him—walking on the road with the men riding into the village behind him. “What happened to Bethany?”

  “She’s fine. Everett saved her.”

  “And her attacker? What became of him?”

  “He fell under the horse—took a hoof to the skull.”

  Mandy remembered Harvey’s suspicion something had happened to his brother. “Is he dead?”

  “Quite.” Levi sounded pleased.

  “Harvey and his father have gone to meet him at a bridge to the west. When he doesn’t show up, they will return to Good Springs.” Mandy’s relief from being rescued struggled for a grip inside her mind. She curled her fingers into the wet sleeve of Levi’s shirt. “They will come back. When they realize he is dead, they will come back for me and for Bethany.”

  “Not now. Not tonight.” Levi’s voice was low and sure. “They will not touch you again, Mandy. I promise.”

  She thought of her parents and wanted to ask, but the threat of weeping closed her throat. She waited for the feeling to pass. When she could tell it would not relent until she knew, she swallowed and whispered, “Are my parents well?”

  “No, but they will be. We will get you home as quickly as possible.”

  The constriction in her throat did not cease. “My father’s heart—”

  “He will be very happy to see you.” Levi’s chin touched the top of her head. “Please, rest now.”

  He remained still and held her gently. Lying against him, she felt the steady rise and fall of his chest with each breath. The rain sounded lighter on the wagon’s cover and the drops became less frequent. Finally, Mandy heard nothing at all.

  * * *

  The rain stopped before dawn and faint light filtered through the openings in the wagon’s cover. Levi had remained awake through the night with his back against the inside wall and Mandy draped across his chest. He had twice tried to move her sleeping body for her comfort during the night, and both times she snapped awake then laid her head back at his chest. There was once a time he would have considered a night holding Mandy to be a dream come true, but he never wanted it to be like this.

  In the dim light Levi saw the bruises along her bare arms and understood why she had winced when he touched her. With his finger he lightly moved a curl of hair off her face. His heart broke for her. He regretted every selfish desire he had entertained about her and wanted to kill the men who did this to her. She was broken and he wanted her healed. He could give her the medicine he brought with him, fix the wagon, and take her to Lydia. That was all he could do. It did not seem like enough.

  Everett approached the wagon. “Levi?”

  “In here,” Levi answered.

  Mandy stirred and sat up as Everett looked in the back of the wagon.

  “You found her!” Everett climbed into the confined space with them.

  Levi slid out of the way and put up his hand. “Be careful, Everett. She’s injured.”

  Mandy touched her fingers to Everett’s face. “You came for me.”

  Levi moved to get out of the wagon and let Everett comfort his sister. The sooner he repaired the wagon, the sooner they could get Mandy home. Connor stood outside the wagon. As Levi put his feet on the ground and began to speak to Connor, he heard Mandy’s raw voice behind him.

  “Levi—”

  He turned and looked at her. Her skin was pale, her eyes were bloodshot, and her dress was stained and rumpled, yet even in her broken state, he found her no less beautiful. “Yes?”

  “Thank you.”

  He nodded in acceptance, and then wondered if her strained voice was the result of screaming. He was not prepared for the fear that engulfed him and had to look away before his expression betrayed his worried thoughts.

  Connor held the reins of both his horse and Everett’s. He motioned with his head for Levi to come with him as he led the horses through the mud. Connor wrapped the reins around a tree branch. “Where did you find her?”

  “Under a tree about a mile from here. Where were you and Everett last night?”

  “In a cave. We followed some tracks until dark. Everett noticed a cave in the rock, so we went to check it out and ended up waiting out the storm in there—horses and all.” Connor gave the horse a pat then turned to Levi. “Is she hurt?”

  Levi thought of the bruises across Mandy’s skin and the painful sound of her breathing as she slept during the night. “Yes.” He stepped to his horse and opened the leather bag strapped to the saddle. Beneath a change of clothes, he felt the jar of gray leaf medicine Lydia had sent with him. “I saw a lot of bruises, but I know there is more to it than that. She can barely speak.”

  Connor propped his hands on his hips and looked off into the distance. “Listen, Levi—where I come from, people go through things like this all the time. The physical wounds are only half of it. Sh
e’s going to cry herself to sleep for a long time. She will need her family and Lydia… and you.”

  Levi held the jar of medicine in his hand and looked at Connor. “I would do anything for her. I mean that—anything. I can fix the wagon and get her home but other than that… what can I do for her?”

  “Just stay close. Ask her what she needs… and maybe put the past aside. Consider another perspective on what happened between you and her years ago if you need to. But try to let it go.”

  “I already have. From the moment I heard she was taken I’ve regretted being bitter toward her. I no longer hold anything against her. I just want her healed.” He started to walk back to the wagon and held up the gray leaf oil. “This should help.”

  Connor walked beside him and pointed at the wagon. “Let’s fix this thing so we can get her to Lydia. We can clean out the back and spread our bedrolls in there for her. Everett can stay back there with her. If we return by the route on Samuel’s map, we could shave a few hours off the trip.”

  Levi nodded. “And once she is safely home, I want to discuss how we will take care of Felix and Harvey. They must pay for this.”

  * * *

  Mandy used the gray leaf tree oil that Levi gave her. She remembered how Lydia applied the formula on Levi’s injured hand two weeks prior and she hoped it would bring her quick healing as well. Everett found bruises across her back and carefully rubbed the medicine over her wounds. When he was finished, he told her the oil had made his fingers numb. The medicine’s powerful relief quickly seeped through Mandy’s skin. The pain deep within her chest decreased but did not dissipate. She had always heard how the gray leaf medicine removed pain, and though she felt better, she did not feel any of the euphoric bliss she expected.

  Levi and Connor fixed the wagon and readied the horses to leave the mossy forest. Mandy lay on the bedrolls in the back of the cleaned-out wagon, and Everett sat beside her. She slept off and on as they traveled toward Good Springs. After a full day of travel in the repaired wagon, she felt desperate to put her feet on the ground. She sat up and leaned against her brother’s shoulder. Levi and Connor were sitting on the front bench driving the wagon. Through the space between them she saw the landscape ahead. It was no longer the dark forest of pine and fern. The recognizable terrain of the gray leaf trees and grass brought Mandy satisfying relief. She noticed a creek ahead and glanced at Everett.

  “Do you think they will drive until dusk?”

  “Probably. We need to get you to Lydia as soon as possible.”

  He was right and she knew the men were doing everything they could to help her, but she felt confined in the wagon and was anxious for the jarring motion to stop. The creek came into full view. Then the wagon turned and they were near the water. “I need to stop here.”

  Everett studied her for a moment, then he nodded and moved to the front opening in the wagon cover. He spoke to Levi and Connor before he scooted back beside her. The wagon rattled to a halt. Everett jumped out the back and took her hand to help her down.

  The running creek murmured softly just beyond the trees. It called to her. She yearned to feel the clean, soothing water against her skin. She grabbed Everett’s sleeve. “I need to go to the water.”

  He nodded. “Go ahead. I will be right here.”

  “No.” The thought of being alone frightened Mandy, and her nerves threatened her with a faint quivering sensation. She shook her head. “I cannot go alone. You have to come with me.”

  He held up a finger and stepped over to the front of the wagon as Levi came down from the bench. Mandy turned her back to them and faced the water. The men whispered for a moment. Then Everett came beside her and they walked together between tall shrubs, gray leaf trees, and the thick undergrowth to get to the water.

  Mandy cast her gaze over the flowing creek and looked back to make sure Levi and Connor could not see her from where they stood near the wagon. She did not want their attention nor to elicit their desire. Before the attack she would have secretly hoped men watched her in a moment like this—or at least hoped they would want to watch her even if they were strong enough to control their eyes—but now she loathed the thought and herself for ever being that way. It was that inclination that got her attacked in the first place.

  She glanced at her brother. His hair fell over his forehead and he did not bother to flip it off. His expression held a mix of compassion and concern. “Mandy, what can I do to help you?”

  “Stay nearby but don’t look at me,” she said.

  “All right.” He moved to the other side of a gray leaf tree and leaned his back against its thick trunk.

  She toed off her shoes and looked down at the front of her dress. Only two of the buttons remained. “Say something, so I know you’re there.”

  “What would you have me say?”

  “Anything.”

  There was a long pause and she turned to see if Everett was still there. She saw his back against the tree. Then he spoke. “Did that man violate you?”

  “No.”

  “Do not lie to me, Mandy.”

  “He did not. Why would you ask that?”

  “Because I want to know how slowly I should kill him.” His words came with the deep tone of an angry man. He did not sound like the sanguine younger brother she grew up with on a sheep farm in Good Springs. She realized she was not the only person traumatized by the abduction, but she could not talk about it.

  “Speak of something else.”

  “I can’t think of anything else.”

  “You must. I need to hear your voice. Tell me a story—from when we were children. Any story. Just speak. Please.”

  “Fine… one time when you were in the village, Grandfather and I hiked to the springs…”

  As Everett spoke, Mandy turned back around and faced the creek. She unbuttoned her dress and let it drop to the ground around her feet. The sun was warm and the thin cotton of her clothes would dry quickly, so she took the dress to the edge of the water and scrubbed it as vigorously as her weak arms allowed. Then she hung the dress from a leafless branch and repeated the process with her underclothes.

  The clear water flowed steady and gentle; the creek was full from the previous night’s rain. The blue of the empty sky reflected on the creek’s rippled surface. The water beckoned her with the promise of cleansing. She stood at the creek’s pebbled edge and dipped her toes in the cool and soothing water. The appearance of her feet distorted as a series of small waves passed over them. Each ripple of water climbed higher over her foot and gently stroked her skin. As she stepped farther into the creek, the water rose to her knees then to her waist. Minnows scattered from beneath her feet. The gentle movement of the water conformed to her body as she bent her knees and leaned back; the current was strong enough to keep her upright, but gentle enough to leave her feet on the pebbles below. She treaded the water with her arms, allowing the smooth force of the liquid to cleanse her. Her head rested against the water’s surface, relieving her neck from the pull of her waterlogged hair, and in that moment she felt weightless.

  She opened her eyes and stared at the sky, longing to float through it, away to some thing—some place of liberty and beauty. Though the water soothed, her healing would come from above. A falcon circled in her view overhead. It used the air’s current to soar. She waited for it to flap its wings, but it simply glided around and around in the sky. As she watched the bird, time escaped her and her nerves began to calm.

  She could still hear Everett’s voice, but the water rippling over her ears disguised his words. She did not know how long he would speak or even how long she had already been in the water. She only knew she wanted to stay in the middle of the perfect water, untouched and unseen. Though she would have to leave the water, she would do everything she could to remain unnoticed when she returned home. Her past seemed so dissolute, having lived for the entertainment of meaningless attention. She resolved to leave that past in the water with the filth that washed from her flesh, a
nd she stepped back to the shore clean and refreshed.

  She walked to her sun-dried clothes grateful for the clear water and warm sunshine. Her dress was ruined but clean. She shook it out and slipped it on, then she bent to pick up her shoes. Something protruding from the pebbles nearby caught her eye. She picked it up then slipped on her shoes and walked back to Everett. She held out the little novelty to her brother. He was mid-sentence, recanting some story involving their grandfather and a jackrabbit. He stopped talking and took the trinket from her palm. “What is it?”

  “I don’t know. I found it near the creek.”

  The small device was constructed of hard black material with tiny letters and numbers etched in its surface. Thin colored strands of strange material dangled from one end, each strand encasing metal strings. Mandy did not have the cognitive energy to be concerned. “Show it to Connor.”

  Everett nodded and studied the strange device carefully as he walked her back to the wagon.

  * * *

  Levi lay flat on his back and stared up at the stars. The night was cool enough to warrant a blanket, yet he remained uncovered on top of his bedroll, which was spread over the grass between the back of the wagon and Everett. Everyone else was asleep and silent; occasionally, the horses—tethered to a nearby gray leaf tree—snorted and lifted a hoof.

  When they had camped for the night, Connor made a fire and Levi boiled water to make tea from gray tree leaves for Mandy. She had said it helped—though Levi could tell she was injured worse than she would admit—and she crawled into the back of the wagon where she fell asleep.

  Now the embers of the fire had died and the moon had trekked halfway across the sky; its oval shape seemed normal to Levi. Connor always insisted the moon was round and appeared round in the sky from every other viewpoint on earth except here in the Land. But this was the only viewpoint Levi knew and—no matter how often Connor told him to consider other perspectives—the moon, as he saw it, was oval.