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

of the small woman’s neck and shoulder, cutting off her scream as he bit through most of her neck.

I barely glanced her way as my horse thundered past the Raven’s bloody demise, my focus completely on Slinch, who was almost to the riverfront.  Out in front of him, I saw a small, swift-looking cargo canoe that was clearly launching into the Ott River, the crew using poles to push it away from the bank.  Slinch was sprinting all-out, head tucked down, arms pumping, and he was just steps away from the departing craft and I still had more than ten spans to cover, my horse slowing despite my all my encouragement as the dark, icy river got closer and closer.

The sounds of the mare’s hooves caused Slinch to twist and look back.  I saw a flicker of fear before he turned forward and leapt off the dock.  His arms and hands caught the gunwale and one of the crew grabbed the back of his collar.

The mare locked up her front legs, sliding on the ice-covered stone of the wharf, forcing me to hold on tight with my left hand.  Knowing I wouldn’t catch him, I did the only thing that came to mind: I threw the short sword I’d clutched in my fist the whole ride from the castle.

It spun end over end, flashing through the air before sticking point first into the wood of the boat, missing most of Slinch but cutting into his left arm.  He yelled and let go with his wounded arm, but the boatman gave a mighty heave, falling back into the boat with the lead Raven on top of him.

The other two crewmen poled like maniacs, their panicked eyes locked on me as they forced the boat out into the swift current.  With a startled yell, both dropped down into the craft as a white arrow shot through the air vacated by the lead sailor.

The river was flowing hard and the boat doubled its distance from the dock by the time Jella’s next arrow sank into the gunwale.  Then it was around the bend in the river and both out of range and out of view.

I turned to Jella, but she was looking back at the square.  Soshi was cradling one of the bodies and Cort stood behind her, his face collapsed in grief.  It was then I realized that I hadn’t seen Drew among my team members.

Chapter 37

He was gone when I got to him.  The bolter hole in his chest, right over his heart, told me he was likely gone before my horse had entered the River Square.  The other bodies were all Ravens, brought down by Jella and Soshi, with the exception of Fontina’s mangled corpse.  There was no sign of Ash, but I had no time to look for him and no time to even properly acknowledge my fallen Shadow.

“Cover him and take him to the inn,” I said to Cort. “Yourself.”

He couldn’t even speak. He simply nodded.  Hoofbeats filled the cold air just before a four-man squad of constables arrived.  They rode straight to us and dismounted, the sergeant’s eyes on me while her people looked around at the bodies.  I raised one eyebrow.  “How can we help, Captain?” she asked.  Any other day and I would have fallen over in a faint, but after being drugged, imprisoned, half frozen, and then losing Drew, I had little capacity for surprise.

“We need to secure these traitors’ bodies,” I said.  “We’ll be taking this one home,” I said, waiting, almost hoping, for any kind of pushback.

“Yes sir,” she said. “Tompkins—Barry, secure this area.  Knoles, make a run to the precinct house and get reinforcements.”

“Let my people check each body over first,” I said, turning to Soshi.  She nodded.  The Raven’s bolters needed to be secured and hidden before anyone else saw them.  I squatted down and took Drew’s from his cooling fingers.  He habitually kept quava pod reloads along with a variety of projectiles in a pouch under his coat.  I slipped off his belt, as I still didn’t have one.

“One got away, Sergeant,” I said.  “We”—I pointed to Jella, who stood nearby, holding my borrowed horse’s reins—“will be heading after them.  I’ll need you to take direction from my people.  Will that be a problem?”

“No sir.  The lord marshal has issued a directive for all city constables to assist you and your ah, team, in any way you deem necessary.”

“When?  When did he do that?”

“Ah, just today. Like an hour ago, really.”

All this time and Kiven finally sees I’m on the same side as him?  I just nodded at her, too raw for words.

“You have a horse?” I asked Jella.

“Yeah, this one.  You’re the one missing a mount,” she said, smirking at me as she held the mare’s reins.

“You’re also missing boots, Cap,” Cort said.

I looked down and realized my feet were bare.  I’d never even noticed; in the time since Brent and I had raced out of the dungeon, it had all happened too fast.

When I looked back up, Cort was already yanking his own boots off.  “Here. Our feet are about the same size,” he said, tossing the first to me.

“You can take my horse,” the constable sergeant said, immediately letting out the stirrup straps on her gelding’s saddle.

I didn’t argue, already pulling on Cort’s left boot, then, when he tossed it, the right one.  Soshi stepped up and used her body to hide the act of handing me one of her own bolters and after I had tucked it into my waistband, Jella handed me one of her personal axes.

I had two two-shot bolters, one from Drew and one from Soshi, plus the long belt knife from the castle, which was almost a third of a span of very good steel.  I also had Jella’s Forester’s axe, a weapon I had countless hours of practice with, and on my feet, I now had Cort’s boots.

“Ah, Cap, do you maybe want a different cloak?” Cort asked,