A Flight of Ravens by John Conroe (thriller books to read TXT) 📗

“You’re out of your mind,” Fontina whispered, so clearly shocked that it might have been a real reaction.

“Quite possibly,” I said, unwrapping the bundle to reveal the iron jail key and its attached lanyard.  Ash gave me a hard look with his red eyes, but then leaned farther out and sniffed the bundle several times.  He sneezed and growled, pulling back into the darkness of the carriage.

I glanced at Jella, who was watching him, waiting until she looked my way and nodded before I motioned to the driver, Soshi, to start forward.

Slowly the carriage moved up the Street of the Families while Fontina and I kept pace beside it.  We were headed back up the hill toward the castle, the size and opulence of the houses we passed rising as did the social rank of the families who owned them.

There was no response from the shadows of the vehicle other than a soft huffing every so often and the quiet whispers of Welton as he told his father about the inconsequential things of family life that Shadows missed when on mission.

We passed the lesser families and then the middle-ranked families and finally came to the dwellings of those names that had been part of the kingdom for centuries.  Bonlee, Armstrong, Kardian, Sampson, Grantell, and DelaCrotia.

It wasn’t until we were right between the Grantells’ in-town mansion and my own family’s Haven base of operations that Ash suddenly stuck his nose out the window and breathed deep.

“Something?” I asked him.

He ignored me, instead closing his eyes and sniffing hard.

“Leave him be,” Jella said.  “Stop the wagon and let him process.  Trailing by scent is a skill, even if you have the nose for it.  It’s extraordinarily difficult to parse mixed scents.”

Ash smelled and sniffed for a solid three minutes before finally grunting in frustration.

“It’s here, right?” I asked, getting a growl of acknowledgement.

“Can you tell which house?” I asked.  The wind was coming from behind the two High Family homes, the hard breeze swirling in our faces.

He snarled and sank back into the dark.

“This wind is really tough,” Jella said.  “A scent tracker doesn’t follow body odor so much as they follow the skin dust that sloughs off all people and animals.  All this swirling and blowing makes that impossible.  It would seem you’ve narrowed your search down to two places.  The killer could be a family member or a servant of either of these two families—one of them being yours.”

“I can work with that,” I said.  “Let’s call it a night.”  I had grown up knowing the Grantells, and they would do anything for power—as would my own family.

Chapter 17

We dropped Fontina off at the castle gates to find her way to her home.  Several of my people were waiting to watch her and make sure she didn’t attempt to follow us.  A few other Shadows kept watch on our backtrail for other Ravens or potential observers.  Additionally, I sent Drew to the castle with a complete report on our findings for Brona.

Our two-carriage travel train pulled into a warehouse, the kind with doors on the front and back to make unloading and loading easier.  They slowed down to navigate the space but moved right on through and out the other end, leaving Ash, Welton, and myself behind.  We waited and watched for twenty minutes in the shadows of the building before we slipped out a side door and moved quietly through the streets—a man, a boy, and a cloaked giant. It took twice as long as it should have to reach the safe house, but the two old spies knew how important tradecraft was and the boy needed the education.

“Can I stay with Uncle Ash?” Welton asked when we were back on neighborhood streets, nearing the safe house.  Ash growled at him, but the boy kept his eyes on me.

“Your mother expects you home and if I’m not mistaken, she’s currently staying overnight with Sissa, who is already suspicious about what’s going on.  Until I can convince your stubborn uncle to reveal himself to her, it isn’t fair to let her worry about her youngest nephew.”

Ash snarled when I mentioned his reluctance regarding Sissa, showing he was still fearful of her response.  In my heart, I couldn’t blame him.  If our positions were reversed, I would be terrified to ever let Brona catch a glimpse of me.  Although, to be fair, I knew my beautiful princess had never been influenced by the attractiveness of others.  She saw past outer appearances and straight to the person beneath the skin.  Growing up in the court of the king had taught her that beauty was meaningless, except as a weapon to be wielded as well as defended against.

Still, to most people, outward appearances mattered.  I didn’t believe Sissa to be that petty, but her husband had been transformed into a fur-covered, red-eyed monster.  How she reacted was impossible to predict.  At least Welton hadn’t so much as flinched.  He was just ecstatic to have his uncle alive, in any form at all.  He held the massive, clawed paw like it was nothing out of the ordinary. Ash had always been close with Paddy’s boys and Welton had resigned himself to the loss of his father.  Ash was a gift.

“Tell you what: You can stay with him till we get him resettled, then I’ll walk you to your home.”

“I can get there myself,” he said, drawing upright.  His uncle snarled at him, the kind of thing I’d heard from woldlings about to fight. Welton just put his head down and sighed.  “Alright.  Deal.”

Ash turned to me and gave me a much harsher snarl.  “Of course.  With my life,” I said, as the message was clearly a warning to guard the boy.

We skulked through the streets, avoiding other pedestrians except to receive signals from our own watchers as we moved through Shadow territory.  When we came to the house under which Ash had been jailed, we doubled back to