by Hebby Roman
Together they broke down the campsite and in short order it was all loaded onto the pack animal. Once again, Braden helped Audrey mount Bowie, noticing that she smelled like his soap, as if she’d taken his scent as a sign that she was his. It further stoked an already growing attraction.
Braden swung atop his horse and they were soon on their way.
They took a southern pathway that was likely used by animals, including his cattle. Bears weren’t really a problem out here, but coyotes and the occasional mountain lion could be. They had lost a handful of smaller cattle over the years.
He glanced back at her. “You don’t seem real comfortable on Bowie.”
“Oh, he’s fine. A right good ol’ fella. Right, Bowie?” She leaned forward and patted the side of his neck.
Braden slowed his horse so that Bowie came abreast of them. “Did you have an incident with a horse?”
“Well, I may love the outdoors and all, but I’m really just a city girl. I don’t have a lot of experience with horses, I’m afraid. In college, a guy I was dating took me riding once and before I knew it, the thing threw me to the ground. Everyone insisted that wasn’t normal, so I got back on that beast and he just did it again. I still have an ache in my shoulder blade from it.” She paused to take a deep breath. “So, is Bowie a bucking bronco?”
Braden chuckled. “No. He won’t throw you. If those wranglers were worth their salt, they would’ve known not to put you on that horse.”
“Have you ever been thrown?”
“Quite a few times. But before you let that scare you, I spent several years breaking and training horses. It comes with the territory. I was also a bull rider, so I can commiserate with your shoulder pain.”
“My God. How many injuries have you had?”
“Broken ribs, a crushed pelvis, a torn rotator cuff. The doctors patch me up every time.”
Her forehead scrunched with concern. “Sounds painful.”
“I am a little stiff in the morning until the blood starts flowing.”
“Do you still bull ride?”
He shook his head. “I’m too old now. And hopefully a little smarter.”
They ceased talking as they rode through low undulating hills dotted with shrubs and aromatic sagebrush.
After a few hours, Braden halted his horse. “We should eat lunch and give the animals a rest.” He grabbed a soft cooler from Stevie that Lewis had packed and handed it over to Audrey. “You can dig in while I get them settled.”
Braden moved the horses and Stevie to a shady area where they could nibble a bit of grass.
When he returned, Audrey sat propped on a boulder eating a roast beef sandwich. She offered one to him, which he gratefully took.
“So where do you call home?” he asked.
“I’ve got a place in Phoenix.”
“Do you travel a lot?”
“Sometimes.” She retrieved a water bottle from her pack and took a drink. “What’s it like to live on a ranch? Do you ever miss civilization?”
“Sometimes. My mom and dad have an apartment in Flagstaff where they would sometimes go to get away, or to hang out in town for a bit and do city stuff like shop or go to the movies. But since my dad died, my mom hasn’t used it. I go there occasionally, and sometimes my sisters use it.”
“I’m sorry about your dad. That must be hard. How long has it been?”
“About two months, but he’d been sick for a while. It’s strange but sometimes when I’m working, it still feels like he’s around.” He cleared his throat. “And then I remember that he’s not. It kind of stinks.”
Audrey became quiet and Braden wondered what memory might weigh heavily on her mind, but he didn’t ask. He wasn’t the type to dwell on sad events or on situations that couldn’t be changed. Time to change the subject. “What about your parents? Do you have any siblings?”
Having finished her sandwich, she dusted crumbs off her lap. “I have an older sister. Colleen lives in San Francisco and works as a chef in a fancy restaurant. My parents live in Phoenix, not too far from me.”
“Then you can appreciate that I have a place near my parent’s house too, but lately I’ve been staying at the ranch with my mom.” Why did he want her to know that?
“That’s understandable. It’s nice having my mom and dad nearby. Thankfully they aren’t too nosy.” She smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes.
Braden sensed there was more to what she was saying, but she didn’t elaborate. He reached in the cooler, retrieving a red apple and handing it to her, his hand brushing against her fingers. A flush of heat suffused his skin, tingling up into his arm.
Audrey snatched her hand back once she had hold of the fruit. “Thanks,” she said, her voice breathless.
Loud squawks filled the air and they both looked upward as nearly twenty jet-black birds flew overhead.
Audrey’s forehead furrowed. “That’s a lot of ravens.”
“It sure is.” And they were headed in the direction of Whisper Rock. He stood. “Are you ready? We’ve still got a ways to go.”
He offered her a hand, curious if touching her again would have the same effect on him. Audrey paused.
“I won’t bite,” he said.
She glanced up at him, looking a bit bashful, then slipped her hand into his. This time there was no surge, only a steady pulse emanating from the palm-to-palm contact. It filled him with a deep connection—not only to her, but something far greater and boundless than the two of them. He honestly had no words for it.
The wind whistled past them, cooling the patches of sweat along his neck and lower back. As he pulled her to stand, he wondered how it would feel to have her naked against him.
For a brief moment, her eyes met his. She felt it too.
Braden was about to say something, but she removed her hand from his and stepped away. Another flock of ravens swept across the sky, a smear of black ink on a bright azure canvas.
It was as if they were all headed to the same place.
* * *
The day had warmed considerably and Audrey consumed most of her water as they continued to ride. She’d pulled a lavender bandanna from her pack and periodically used it to wipe perspiration from her face and neck, but she suspected her high temperature wasn’t all caused by the sunshine.
Braden Delaney had somehow jumpstarted her hormones, and while it was certainly thrilling, it was also a nuisance. It was one thing to flirt a bit as she trekked through the wilderness with a handsome cowboy, but quite another to feel a surge of—what had Brynn once called it? Bloodlust. That was it. A bone-deep hunger for another human being.
And she wasn’t certain it was only sex anymore.
When Braden had touched her hand, it had been as if an ancient connection had been restored.
She shook her head. She was becoming too whimsical.
It had to be the effect of Whisper Rock. She was certain something extraordinary had happened to her when she was in this area at nine years old. And now it was happening again.
The cawing of ravens resounded back to them as the horses dipped down into a valley. When they came to a rocky impasse, Braden dismounted.
“We go on foot from here,” he said.
Audrey swung down from Bowie, taking care with her sore knee. She stepped up to the horse’s head and patted his neck, then rubbed a hand down his snout.
“Thanks for being a nice guy,” she said quietly.
“You’re welcome,” Braden said, gifting her with a teasing smile.
She laughed and it dissolved some of the tension that had taken hold of her, for which she was grateful. Because if this kept up, she’d need to have her way with Braden in the bushes. There was just one small problem—she currently wasn’t on any birth control. She’d grown tired of the pill and its side effects, and with her love life having gone stale, the timing had been right to discontinue that method. Who knew that she’d meet a man like Braden and her dormant sexual appetite would come roaring to life?
Braden released all of Stevie’s load to the ground, and then secured the animals in a stretch of shade. Audrey donned her backpack and was surprised when he shed his cowboy hat and dug out a baseball hat bearing a Chicago White Sox emblem.
“You’re a baseball fan?” she asked.
“My dad was.” He draped two canteens of water across his torso.
They were soon headed uphill and Audrey struggled with her bum knee, but she kept the discomfort to herself. She didn’t want to give Braden any reason to stop.
She regularly worked out with five-mile jogs and weight machines at the gym, and this level of fitness helped her now. Her body hadn’t always been so capable, and she never took for granted her strength and stamina. It was a blessing and she knew it.
There was no trail. They plodded a haphazard course through pinyon pines, overgrown bushes, and rock-strewn terrain, and several times Audrey turned to look behind them to make certain she recognized the makeshift trail so they could get back to the horses and Stevie. But Braden didn’t seem concerned.
From the distance, a muffled cackling sound echoed back to them. Audrey scanned the sky, expecting to see the ravens that had passed by already, but the birds didn’t reappear. Instead, the honking and bird chatter increased as she and Braden continued forward.
When it had finally become a cacophony of squawking, Braden halted and looked back at her, his face set in a frown. From the deafening volume of the chattering birds, it had to be a huge gathering.
Braden waited until Audrey stopped beside him.
“Do you think something’s dead up ahead?” she asked. It might explain such a large gathering of birds who routinely dined on roadkill.
Braden squinted. “I don’t know why all these birds are here, but I should tell you that this place has always had a strange energy to it.”
I know. “Strange how?”
“You’ll probably think I’m crazy, but it feels tilted here.”
Interesting explanation.
She sensed that Braden was a down-to-the-earth kind of man, a cowboy who lived his life with decency and respect. She doubted he was prone to flights of fancy, and he seemed uncomfortable sharing his thoughts on this place.
“Are we talking woo-woo stuff?” she asked, arching an eyebrow.
He scoffed. “Look, I don’t know about flying saucers and Martians from outer space, but this place is strange, and you’re looking for areas that are off, right? That might harbor artifacts or some clue to other civilizations? I just wanted to warn you. Honestly, this could all be nothing.”
She grinned. “You’ve totally peaked my interest. We have to check it out now.” She started to move toward the bird sounds but then turned back. “And I don’t think you’re crazy, Delaney. In fact, you’re beginning to grow on me.”
She moved ahead before he could respond.
Instinctively, she moved quietly, keeping her breathing low, her footfalls silent. They came to a slightly elevated ledge; just beyond, the screeching and cawing of the ravens reached an ear-splitting level.
Audrey shrugged out of her pack with careful movements and removed her ballcap, then unzipped the main pouch and fished out her binoculars. She caught Braden’s gaze, and she flicked her head to the ledge. He understood and twisted his hat backwards, so the visor wouldn’t be visible as they edged closer.
He bent forward to remove the spurs from his boots, and Audrey indulged watching his taut muscles bulge against the dark t-shirt he wore.
The ledge was about four feet from the ground. She looped the binoculars around her neck then spun them so they lay against her back. As she attempted to haul herself up on the ledge with her arms, Braden clasped her waist and gave her a gentle lift. She scrambled upward, ignoring the twinge in her knee as she tried to mimic a stealthy cat, her skin burning where his hands had grasped her. The more time she spent with him, the more pronounced her physical reaction was becoming.
She sprawled flat on her stomach and inched slowly forward as Braden did the same beside her. From between jutting rocks, she surveyed an alcove surrounded by tall cliff walls on three sides. And at the bottom was a black mass of dozens upon dozens of ravens.
Braden reached out and clasped the binoculars resting between her shoulder blades and then placed them in her left hand. She gazed down at the strange gathering.
The shiny, obsidian birds strutted or hopped, squawking at one another in a display that reminded Audrey of siblings arguing over a favorite toy.
It was so odd. Ravens weren’t normally overly social birds unless they were congregating at a food source. She panned the binoculars back and forth but couldn’t locate any type of carcass, although with so many birds in one place it was difficult to tell if there wasn’t perhaps a dead animal—or many dead animals such as rabbits or squirrels—beneath the blanket of black covering the reddish rocks like a giant oil spill.
A flutter of wings caused a gap to appear as many of the birds scattered to the perimeter. It was almost as if….
“Give me the binoculars,” Braden said.
She lay as flat as she could while pulling the strap over her head so he wouldn’t string her up in a noose as he took them.
She refocused on the scene below, trying to determine if her theory was correct.
“They have bones down there,” Braden said, his voice loud enough to be heard over the noisy congregation.
“I know. If my guess is right, it looks like the remains of a large bird, and I’ve got a hunch it’s an owl. Maybe more than one.”
“They’re prancing around. It’s almost like they’re boasting.” Braden’s voice echoed Audrey’s confusion.
“Have you ever seen this before?” she asked.
“No.”
“Is this Whisper Rock?”
“Yes, part of it.”
He handed the binoculars back to her, and she quickly honed in on the altar of bones because there was no doubt that was what it was.
“I think they’re having a powwow,” she said.
“A murder of crows?”
“The term is actually a terror of ravens. Or sometimes an unkindness of ravens. Those references never made sense to me, at least not until now. Those bones look old. Whatever they’re celebrating, it happened a while ago.”
The birds gestured back and forth to one another. A few of the larger ones took bones into their mouths and then sashayed or leaped with wings flapping before the highly-agitated audience, inciting them even further.
“It reminds me of old time accounts of Native American warriors after a battle,” she said. “It’s like the ravens are recounting an attack by their enemy, reveling in the obvious outcome of their success.”
“Maybe they’re about to go to war again.”
Audrey glanced over at Braden. “This is extraordinary. It means that they remember. They all remember. Biologists would love to see this.”
She handed the binoculars back to Braden, fumbled with a snap pocket on the side of her pants, and extracted her cellphone. She quickly opened the photo option, set it to video, and started taping. It wasn’t a great angle, and the limited zoom ability didn’t offer much in the way of improving the picture, but it was better than nothing.
The ebony birds exchanged a constant barrage of croaking sounds, emitting long and stretched out cr-r-r-rucks. Did they keen for their dead brethren? Or was this a display of braggadocio? Maybe they were simply feeling their oats, filled with satisfaction over a past success in battle.
The bigger birds made a great show of squawking and prancing back and forth with the bones in their mouths. Audrey had always thought of ravens as scavengers and smart ones at that. It hadn’t occurred to her that they might possess a vengeful side. Perhaps a murder of crows was a more appropriate description of all corvids.
Audrey turned off the video. “‘To see one raven is lucky, ’tis true, but it’s certain misfortune to light upon two, and meeting with t
hree is the devil!’” she quoted from memory.
Braden glanced at her. “If you’re trying to scare me, it’s working.”
She gave a quick smile. “Just a poem I remember.”
“I wonder how often they do something like this.” He resumed watching the spectacle.
“This is sacred space to them.” She was certain of it. She was also convinced this was the same area she’d been in as a child, when she’d had a paranormal experience that had changed her life.
It stood to reason that other creatures would be drawn to such a special place as well.
Time stretched as she and Braden lay on the ledge and watched the birds. Finally, Audrey became uncomfortable from the heat trapped in the rock that for the last few hours had been transferring into her. Sweat dripped down her face and pooled on her back, soaking into her t-shirt.
“I need to move,” she said, surprised when an upward glance revealed it was nearing dusk.
They both scooted back and dropped down from the ledge.
“I think we need to find a spot to camp for the night.” Braden turned his ballcap forward again.
Audrey silently agreed, sensing they had only just begun to discover the secrets of Whisper Rock.
Chapter Six
Braden led his horse and Stevie on foot along a makeshift path, the sun gone from the sky. Shadows had descended but an ashen haze still illuminated the way as he searched for a suitable site to hunker down for the night. Audrey trailed behind, walking Bowie.
After the bizarre encounter with what was probably the entire raven population in northern Arizona, Braden had needed to walk, to move his muscles, to feel grounded to Mother Earth. He also looked forward to building a blazing fire. The warmth would be welcome and would perhaps create a buffer against whatever made this place feel so off-kilter.
Memories of his dad came full-force, bombarding him like a bull with a nasty disposition.
Braden had become a rancher just like his father, and his father before him, clear back to the man who had established the ranch, Marcus Delaney. It was a story Braden had only half-listened to. He’d generally been busy doing and had never much liked sitting around and thinking about stuff.
