Raven's Shadow (Raven #1)(30)

With Olbeck following her, Lehr had a chance. Storne was the only one of the boys who had enough muscle to give Lehr a real fight. Her brother was tough as an old wolf; he'd use the rough terrain to his advantage.

The trail's upward slope robbed her legs of speed and her chest of breath, but she didn't dare slow down. Her eyes were focused firmly on the ground in front of her. When someone reached out and snagged her off her feet she thought it was Olbeck.

She kicked him once, before she realized it was Jes and stilled, gasping for breath. He set her down gently, the expression on his face different than she'd ever seen it. She didn't have time to understand what the difference was before he stepped in front of her and turned his attention to Olbeck.

"Thought I told you stay out of my woods," said Jes, only it didn't sound like Jes at all. Menace clung to his voice and promise. The familiar singsong softness was gone as if it had never been.

"These aren't your woods," said Olbeck, who'd stopped a few lengths down the trail, though he didn't sound intimidated. "My father is steward for the Sept. If these are anyone's woods, they are mine."

Safe behind Jes, she couldn't see the expression on his face, but Olbeck blanched.

"Run, boy," purred Jes. "See if you can outrun your nightmares."

Rinnie tried to step around Jes's shoulder, but he stepped sideways, keeping her behind him. Showing the whites of his eyes like a spooked horse, Olbeck turned and ran.

"There're still two fighting Lehr," Rinnie rasped and then threw up.

It was messy and nasty, as she had to gasp for air between convulsions. Jes gathered her hair out of the way and waited for her to finish.

"Ran too fast," he said. "Lehr's down that way?"

She spat to clear the taste out of her mouth. "Yes. Toward the fishing hole you showed him in the creek," she said. "It's Storne and Lukeeth."

Jes looked at her, and the oddness was still there - a sharpness she wasn't used to seeing. "All right, now?"

"Yes," she said.

He nodded and took off at a jog. It took her a moment to recover her breath. As soon as she knew she wasn't going to be sick again, she scrambled to her feet and headed down after Jes. Somehow with Jes there she wasn't afraid of the village-boys anymore. She wouldn't have thought that Jes, of all people, could make her feel safe.

Going down the trail was less demanding than her run up it had been. She made it to the place where Lehr had originally left the trail just as Jes was finishing a controlled slide to the bottom.

Rinnie looked down, half-afraid of what she'd see. But Lehr was safe. He held Storne in some sort of mysterious wrestling hold, and Lukeeth was lying unconscious nearby with blood running from his nose.

"Is Rinnie all right, Jes?" said Lehr.

"Fine," answered Rinnie for herself. "Jes scared Olbeck. From the expression I saw on Olbeck's face I bet he won't leave his house for a week."

"Good," grunted Lehr as he held on while Storne struggled with renewed energy. He waited until the other boy was still. "You drink too much," Lehr said calmly, "and you think too little. Just because Olbeck's father is the steward doesn't make him invulnerable or someone you should listen to - you're smarter than that. And to try and" - he paused and looked at Rinnie for an instant before changing what he was going to say. "You heard Olbeck. He likes to 'have conversations' with children now? My sister is ten years old, Storne. You are better than that."

It was strange hearing Lehr lecture someone else besides her or Jes. She could see that Storne felt that quiet voice cut through his skin, too.

Lehr stepped back and let Storne up. The miller's son brushed off his clothes and, with a wary look at Jes, turned to leave.

"Aren't you forgetting Lukeeth? If you leave him here he might never find his way out of the forest," Lehr said.

Storne hefted the other boy across his shoulders without a word, and started up the hill.

"You take care of your friends, I remember that," said Lehr softly. "But the question is, would they have taken care of you? Olbeck left you to us."

Storne spun around, almost overbalancing. "At least they can keep their tongues from wagging too freely. Unlike some I know."

"You idiots were going to get yourselves killed," said Lehr explosively, as if it was something he'd kept bottled for too long. "Swimming at night is a fool's game - and there are things in the river - "

"Things." Storne spat on the ground. "So you went whining to your father who ran to tell mine. Let me tell you something, Traveler's brat. You don't know half what you think you do. You'd better just stay out of my way."

Jes put his hand on Lehr's shoulder, but no one said anything until Storne was at the top of the ridge.

"Is that why you aren't friends anymore?" asked Rinnie. "You told Papa they were going to go swimming in the river at night?"

Lehr shrugged. "That was the excuse. But Storne's friends didn't like that he ran around with a Traveler's brat. He would have dropped me sooner or later."

"Storne traded you for Olbeck?" she said, knowing how much it hurt him. She knew exactly how much it hurt; there were girls in town who wouldn't talk to her because Mother was a Traveler. "He is stupider than I thought."