by A. W. Exley
Day’s Patience
Silent Wings Book 2
A.W. Exley
Print edition ISBN: 978-0-473-44113-5
Published by Ribbonwood Press
Copyright © 2018 by A.W. Exley
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead) is entirely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
About A.W. Exley
Also by A.W. Exley
This book uses British English
1
Ravenswing Manor, Summer 1840.
The incessant pressure in her skull roused Lettie early. Pain thumped behind her eyes like a tiny hammer wielded by a miniature pixie who refused to be evicted. Each day she lost a little more of herself to the assault against her mind.
Every day, Lettie waged a battle to protect herself as Ava, the heart of their sanctuary, abused her connection to the Ravenswing Warders to try to destroy Lettie. If Ava ever found a way inside Lettie’s head, would she tear her apart in one massive eruption or spend decades drawing out the torture?
Lettie tried to tell her brother how his mate tormented her, but he refused to believe it. He was blinded by his obsession for the beautiful woman who would soon present him with a much-desired child. Even Jasper had abandoned Lettie. Tired of constantly feuding with his brother, the earl, Jasper had left their ancestral home and now lived at the textile mill on the other side of the quaint village.
There was no one to believe her and no one to help her. Lettie stood alone to challenge the woman who would consume her family.
Lettie rose and dressed in a light gown. The summer warmth had already chased away the night time chill. She crept out the parlour door to the cobbled patio as dawn spread across the sky. An unseen hand brushed palest orange and pink tints over the clouds to herald the arrival of the sun.
Lettie’s gaze swept over the herbaceous border with its riot of summer perennials. The fragrance drifting from the blooms was stronger in the morning, and she drew a deep breath of spiced colour, verdant growth, and summer heat. If she closed her eyes, she could pretend that her mother weeded amid the lush growth while her father watched from the bench in the shade.
Holding the scent and memories to her, Lettie set off for the peace of the lake, hidden behind tall trees. The water was the one place Ava could not reach her. The undine would shed her human form and slip into her element, and those stolen moments would give blessed relief from the noise in her head.
This morning, Lettie decided to take the path that bordered the maze. Perhaps she would be able to see through the high yew hedges and determine if Ava hid within, or if she slept in the Georgian hermitage tucked inside a hillock. The other woman rarely ventured into the manor house now that she had claimed the Ravensblood tree and become the heart of the estate. With the passage of each day, Ava became more feral. Her humanity fell away to reveal the rotten Meidh underneath.
Soon, surely, Julian would see it.
A raven perched in a nearby oak. The bird was one of many watchers who were the eyes and ears for the earth Elementals. Its gaze seemed focused on something at the maze entrance. A chill settled in Lettie’s stomach. The bird might have spotted Ava emerging to cause early morning mayhem. Lettie glanced at the gap in the yew as she hurried past, hoping to dash away before Ava called her back. Instead her feet froze to the spot while her tired mind tried to understand what it saw.
A large body lay face down in the damp grass.
Lettie rushed over to the prone form of her older brother, Julian, Earl of Seton.
“Julian!” She placed two fingers against his throat. Was he alive? A faint pulse beat against her finger.
His skin was chilled, and his linen shirt and trousers were damp. He must have been there all night. Lettie shook his shoulder and called his name again. She tried to roll the large man over, but he was solid muscle. Unconscious, he was a dead weight.
She managed to lever one shoulder off the ground as he groaned and rolled over onto his back. Julian’s chiselled face was pale and grey, as though he had half shifted to his Elemental form, but only his skin texture changed. He raised his hands and rubbed his face. He muttered from behind his hands, and Lettie strained to catch his words.
“Jasper. We must go to Jasper. I have been a fool.” His voice trailed to nothing as he rolled over again and tried to rise up onto his hands and knees. “Send a raven. He must be warned.”
Lettie glanced up at the watcher and beckoned for it to fly closer. The large bird squawked and fluttered to the ground. Its black eyes fixed on its Lord Warder as it waited for his command.
Julian pushed off his knuckles and sat back on his heels. He stared at the bird, one of many who called the Ravensblood tree their home. “Go to Jasper. Tell him we are coming. I was wrong. She must be stopped. I seek his help … and his forgiveness.”
The bird took to the sky with a caw. Lettie wrapped an arm around Julian and helped him to his feet. Gargoyles were powerfully built even in human form, as though they had only a thin veneer of skin over stone. Her brother towered above her in height, and Lettie staggered under his weight as Julian leaned over her shoulders.
“What has she done to you?” Lettie asked as they took one slow step and then another shaky one.
Julian shook his head. “Drained me. I would have shared my lifespan with her, but she stole it all in one gulp.”
“She will destroy us all,” Lettie whispered.
As she helped her brother across the grass, Hector wandered into view on his way from his cottage to the stables. He stopped on seeing Lettie struggle with his lord and then rushed over.
“What has happened, my lord?” The young man stopped in front of them and reached to take the earl’s arm from around Lettie.
“Saddle the horses, Hector,” Julian said and waved him away.
“Run, Hector, and send one of the lads to help me with Julian.” Lettie held back the tears that pricked behind her eyes. She would get Julian to Jasper, and her other brother would know what to do. Her older brothers had always protected her, and seeing Julian so weakened cast her adrift.
Hector nodded and then took off at a sprint; his long legs ate the ground as he rushed toward the stables.
Lettie and Julian made it away from the maze and were approaching the herbaceous borders when two more lads ran across the lawn and relieved her of the heavy burden. By the time the sad group reached the stables, Hector had two horses saddled and waiting. It took all three young men to heave Julian into the saddle. They huffed and puff
ed as though he were a knight of old in full armour. Shame they didn’t have a rope and hoist to lift him up.
Once mounted, Lettie worried that Julian would fall from his horse before they reached Jasper at the mill. His eyes were half closed and he swayed in the saddle. A faint tremor shook both his hands and the reins.
“Why did she do this, Julian?” Lettie tried to understand how the woman her brother loved could turn on him. But he only shook his head, and she couldn’t determine if he didn’t know or couldn’t make the words emerge from his throat.
It was a slow ride, as Lettie didn’t dare canter. Even at a sedate trot, Julian looked like he was about to catapult off one side. Perhaps they should have found rope and tied him to the saddle. With every step the horses took, she prayed Jasper was winging his way to them. Down the drive they rode and out past the stationary watchers at the gate.
“Jasper will be here soon, Julian, I am sure.” Lettie cast a worried glance at her lurching brother. She nudged her mare closer in case she needed to lunge and grab Julian.
Trees lined the road and held back the rising sun. Boughs with abundant summer growth cast long shadows around them. Only the clop of hooves broke the silence that blanketed Alysblud as though even the birds held their tongues, waiting to see what would happen.
The quiet seclusion was shattered by an explosion as something slammed into the road directly in front of them. Her horse whinnied in fear and reared. Lettie grasped at the reins to hold the mare in check before she bolted. Smoke and sparks flew across the road and enveloped them in a fiery, choking cloud.
The terrified horse jumped into the air like a frightened cat with all four feet off the ground, and Lettie squeezed her thighs around the sidesaddle’s pommels to keep her place. A sharp bell rang inside her head and her ears vibrated with the quavering tone. Lettie winced against the noise as she coughed and called for Julian, trying to find him in the hazy confusion.
His riderless horse shot past her, jumping the clouds of wafting smoke as it leapt for freedom. When a gust of wind pushed away the acrid vapour, she caught sight of her brother. He was tumbled to the side of the road and face down, much like how she found him outside the maze.
“Julian!” Lettie wished she had also fallen, because it would have made dismounting quicker. She flung her right leg over the upright pommel and kicked her left foot free of her stirrup, but her legs tangled in her full skirt. She tried to unhook the fabric so she could jump from the horse, but someone grabbed her around the waist and yanked her off the horse’s right hand side.
Heat bloomed along her back, and then strong, scaly hands grabbed her wrists and wrenched her arms behind her.
Salamander.
Two more figures appeared in a drift of smoke by Julian. One tall and fine boned like a bird, elegantly attired in an outfit that would be at home in any mansion in London.
Sylph, Lettie hissed over the clang in her head.
The other figure appeared ordinary, unremarkable, and could have been a merchant or lower class peer.
Her brother half rose and struggled to change to his gargoyle form, but only succeeded in a half shift. His human self was clad in stone, but only his arms enlarged to their gargoyle size while the rest of him remained a granite human. Whatever Ava had done to Julian, it had sapped his Elemental strength.
She wished this was a game of pretend, like when they used to run around trees, brandishing sticks as they pretended to fight Soarers. Her brothers were stronger, but Lettie was smarter. Whatever happened, the three of them always faced adventure together. But now the game was made real. Jasper was at the mill and Julian weakened. No longer the protected princess, Lettie had to fight for her family.
The salamander wrapped rope around her wrists and pulled tight. The cord bit into her skin and tore off layers as she struggled and tried to wrench herself free. Lettie summoned her undine form and commanded water to encase her. She planned to slip from her assailant’s grip and free her hands from the rope, but the man behind her heated up and evaporated off water as fast as she summoned it out of the ground. They became locked in a battle of water versus fire.
Soon steam enclosed them and obscured her view of Julian. Lettie screamed and fought, twisting and turning her body. If the Soarers who attacked them thought a woman would go quietly, she would prove them wrong.
“Julian,” she whispered as tears formed in her eyes. It wasn’t a plea for his help but a promise that she would rescue him.
The salamander had the advantage of holding her from behind and had bound her hands, but Lettie kicked backwards, hoping to connect boot heel with shin. With a little distance between them, she could escape and aid Julian. She called the water from beneath their feet and turned hard earth into thick mud to slow him down.
Then a sharp blow from behind pushed her forward. Unable to put her hands out as she fell, she slammed into the roadside and knocked the air from her lungs. She tried to draw in a breath as the salamander jumped on her back and pressed her into the mud.
Lettie could breathe water in her Elemental form, but she couldn’t inhale mud. She drew shallow gasps due to the weight on her lungs and was only dimly aware of her assailant clawing at her skirts.
This isn’t a game. Get up and fight, she berated herself.
Her fingers scrabbled at the rope binding her hands, tugging on the knots. She bucked like an unbroken horse, trying to dislodge the salamander kneeling on her back. All the time she kept up a continuous flow of water around her body to extinguish his fire and to keep her face clear of cloying mud.
“No,” she spat out as she continued to battle. She wrenched sideways enough to raise her head. She scanned the smoke drifting across the road, praying to Gaia that Julian had managed to change form and protect himself.
On the other side of the compacted dirt, the well-dressed sylph summoned air and used it to pin Julian to the ground like a bug with a needle through its torso. The ordinary-looking man approached. He didn’t appear to be another salamander, and Lettie guessed he was a Meidh who had thrown in his lot with the Soarers. He reached out and laid a hand on Julian’s gargoyle arm.
Lettie couldn’t make out what they were doing to her brother as the earth around her bubbled with hot mud and a damp sulphurous smell clogged her nostrils. She blinked back tears as the steam parted for a moment to reveal the horrible tableau across the road.
The sylph fashioned a ball of air in his hands and threw it at Julian’s arm where the other man had touched her brother’s body. Flesh and stone exploded. Tiny pebbles rained across the road as Julian groaned in pain. The arm he had stretched toward her was nothing but a jagged wound a few inches below his shoulder.
A raw, primal scream erupted from her throat. Her heart froze in her chest as her mind tried to make sense of what had happened. Her brothers were indestructible. Or they always had seemed so to little Lettie. Her girlish belief was shattered along with Julian’s arm.
She renewed her frenzied attack on the salamander atop her. Lettie managed to fling the man off and roll to her side, then she rocked back onto her heels. She drew a deep gasp of air to fill her lungs and she twisted and spun her wrists. The rope gave a few more inches and she was almost free.
“Gimme a hand! The undine’s bloody slippery!” the salamander called to his comrades.
The sylph looked up, arched one pale eyebrow, and then crafted another ball of air that he flung across the road at Lettie. Before she could dodge, the invisible projectile slammed into the side of her head and made her vision flash black. Pain urged her to surrender to the dark with seductive whispers, but she had to fight. Julian needed her and Jasper wouldn’t be far away. She had to hold on a little longer.
She wobbled on her knees and screwed her eyes up tight. When she opened them again, the black receded to dancing spots around the edges of her vision.
Events across the road were spotlighted by the tight tunnel of pain in her head. The Meidh closed his eyes as he touched Julian’s leg
. A wave of cold air reached Lettie, and the water around her body froze. The cool relief of ice encased her, only to melt away under the salamander’s blast of heat.
She sobbed as she realised what they were doing to Julian. Piece by piece, they froze his stone limbs and then shattered him into a thousand shards. They were destroying him in one of the few ways that would kill a gargoyle.
Still her brother fought on. He rose on his knees to swipe at the sylph with his remaining arm, even as he sought to shake off the Meidh’s touch.
Another blast whooshed as the sylph aimed at Julian’s leg. This time his scream was hoarser and lower as they shattered flesh and bone. He toppled to one side and still fought them.
Lettie struggled as hard as she could while the Soarer tried to force his body between her legs. He shoved her down into the mud again, but anger fuelled her and drove back unconsciousness.
She needed to find more power within herself. If she could encase the Meidh in water as he touched Julian, it just might freeze him instead.
As the Meidh reached out and laid a hand on Julian’s head, she locked gazes with her brother. He whispered two words to his sister.
“I’m sorry.”
His features froze as ripples of ice raced around his face, and then the last blow fell.
2
Ravenswing Manor, 1880
Lettie sat in her tower window and watched the dawn light caress the tops of the trees. She had loved the high tower suite when she moved in as a girl. From here she could see her beloved lake, but over the decades the trees had reached for the sky and hidden the expanse of water. Now it was reduced to flashes of silver glimpsed through the greenery, like fish darting across a pond.
