Chapter 9

Raleigh sat at the kitchen table and Mrs. Mitchell kneaded dough for the day’s baking when Dax appeared the next morning. Raleigh smiled up at him. “Good morning. You slept well.”

He rubbed his neck. “You should have woken me up. I’ve got chores to do.”

Just then, the clatter of coach wheels echoed down the driveway through the open kitchen door. The black coach rolled up to the door and braked to a stop. A strip of a lad jumped off the seat and stepped into the kitchen. He whipped his hat off his straw-blonde hair. “Your coach is ready, Miss.”

Dax stared at the boy. “What’s this?”

Raleigh wiped her mouth and stood up. “This is Hiram Mitchell. He’s Mrs. Mitchell’s grandson. He’s going to drive us from now on. We can’t go on walking everywhere, and you can’t drive.”

“Who says I can’t drive?”

Raleigh laughed at him. “You’re a slayer now, Dax. You’re not Bishop’s errand boy. Now come on. Where we’re going, we have to arrive in a coach.”

She jumped into the coach and Hiram climbed into the seat. He gathered the reins and kicked his foot against the lever to unlock the brake. Dax glanced around one more time. Mrs. Mitchell didn’t even look at him.

He puffed the air into his cheeks and started forward. He got into the coach next to Raleigh and slammed the door. Raleigh called up through the window. “Number 17, Compton Street, please, Hiram.”

The coach started forward and rumbled over the cobblestones at a brisk trot. Raleigh leaned back to find Dax glaring at her. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

“Done what?”

“Hired another boy to drive you. You should have told me you had to arrive in a coach this morning. I would have done the work.”

The smile evaporated off her face. “Listen, son. Where we’re going, you might not come back. You might stay in Hinterland, or you might…. well, anything could happen. We need another stable boy and coach driver, and Mrs. Mitchell said Hiram needed a good place. Now please stop arguing about it. You’re getting as bad as Bishop. If you really want to be useful, you can show him exactly how to do everything, but I need you concentrating on Hinterland. That’s your work now.”

The coach jostled to a stop, and Raleigh climbed down onto the wooden sidewalk in front of the big dark building. Dax got out, and when they knocked, a wrinkled old black man opened the door. “Good morning, Sultan. Would you show our young friend here where to keep the coach and horse while we visit Ms. Cross?”

Sultan bowed. “Of course, Miss.”

“Thank you.”

Sultan threw the door open wider. “Go right into the parlor, Miss. I’ll announce you as soon as possible.”

“Thank you, Sultan. This way, Dax.”

She led him into the green parlor off the entrance. Dax smoothed down his coat lapels and shrugged while he took in the luxurious surroundings. “I don’t feel right in a place like this.”

“Now you understand why we had to arrive in a coach. We couldn’t show up covered in dust.”

Sultan reappeared. “Ms. Cross will see you now.”

“Thank you, Sultan.”

Raleigh and Dax followed Sultan up the curved staircase. Dax looked down at the tiled entrance hall and whispered to Raleigh. “Who is this lady we’re going to see?”

“If you remember nothing else about her, remember she’s a Guildsman of the Martial Arts—a high one, too. Don’t let your guard down around her for a second.”

Sultan showed them into the sitting room upstairs. As usual, Angela Cross stood in front of the fireplace in the most expensive gown Raleigh ever laid eyes on. She smiled at Raleigh and Dax. She never gave their clothes a passing glance.

She extended her hand to Raleigh. “How wonderful to see you again, Miss Douglas. I’m honored you would bestow a visit on me.”

“It is I who am honored to visit you, Miss Cross,” Raleigh returned.

“Please,” Angela interrupted. “Call me Angela. Any friend of Bishop’s is a friend of mine.”

Raleigh pressed her hand. “Actually, it’s because of Bishop that we’re here.”

Angela cocked her head. “Really? What about Bishop?”

“I know you’re retired,” Raleigh began. “I don’t know how much you know about what goes on in Hinterland, but Bishop and Dax and I attacked the Guild of Martial Arts. When we were here last time, you told Bishop the Guild had their training auditorium curtained off with workmen coming in and out. They were keeping a very unique twen hidden there, and we captured it.”

“Yes, I know all about it,” Angela replied.

“Then you know my brother Ethan Douglas detonated a device that leveled the building. Do you happen to know where the Guild is assembled nowadays?”

“The Guild set up a temporary headquarters in Kaldkirk. That’s another city south of Pernrith, near the ocean, but that was only temporary. I know the senior Guildsmen held a convocation to decide where to set up their new permanent headquarters, but I haven’t been back to Hinterland to find out what they decided. Why do you ask?”

Raleigh shrugged. “Just an idea we had. The people looking for the twen were all highly-placed Guildsmen from all Ten Guilds. We thought we might check out the new Martial Arts headquarters to try to track them down. That’s all.”

“I could send a message to Pernrith to find out,” Angela offered. “I could let you know.”

Raleigh stiffened. “Actually, there’s something else I came here to talk to you about. It’s Bishop.”

Angela’s eyes popped open. “What about him?”

“We just went and visited Rianne, the new Alpha of the wolf people in the forest. I’m sure you know her.”

“I know Rianne very well.”

“Then you know she used to have something going on with Bishop. I’m sure it was nothing as serious as your engagement to him, but she has kept track of his career all these years through word of mouth in Hinterland. I’m sure you were doing the same thing after you broke off your wedding arrangements at the last second.”

Angela’s cheeks colored, and she turned away. “You are as adept as he is at uncovering people’s private secrets.”

Raleigh marshaled her resolve. She couldn’t stop now. “One of the hammaslahti that attacked the Guild building caught Bishop in its jaws. It was still holding him when the building blew up. He died in front of me—in front of us.”

Angela’s head snapped around, and she gasped out loud. “Bishop—dead!”

Raleigh nodded. “Rianne seems to think he’s still alive. She says she would have heard if he was dead. I’m sure you would have heard the same thing, especially since you’re a member of the Guild he died trying to defeat. I can hardly believe he’s alive after what I saw, but I figured you would know better than anyone if he was dead.”

Angela jerked inside her pristine dress. “Why, no! He isn’t!”

Raleigh froze. “He isn’t?”

“Of course not, my dear! What on Earth made you think that?”

Raleigh shot a glance at Dax. “But we saw….we thought…”

Angela’s laughter rang through the room. “My dear sweet girl! You’ve been tearing yourself apart all these months thinking he was dead? He’s very much alive. I can promise you that.”

Raleigh wanted to explode out of her skin. “Well, where is he? Is he hurt? Why didn’t he come back? Why didn’t he contact us to let us know he was all right?”

Angela waved her hand. “Oh, I don’t know why he does anything, but he’s very much alive. I visited the temporary headquarters in Kaldkirk once, and he was there.”

Raleigh took a rapid step across the room. She stopped short of attacking Angela and wrestling her with both arms. “What was he doing there? Was he all right? How did he get there?”

Angela turned suddenly serious. “I don’t actually know what he was doing there. I didn’t actually see him myself, so I can’t answer any of those questions. It was right after the explosion, and the whole Guild was in chaos. I only heard he was down in the conference room with the Chairman. I had to leave without seeing him.”

Raleigh paced around the room. This couldn’t be happening. Bishop couldn’t be alive. “How did he get there?”

“I told you. I don’t know.”

Raleigh stopped in front of Dax. “We have to find him. We have to get him back.”

“They could have moved him anywhere,” Dax replied. “They could have handed him over to the cabal and be moving him around from one Guild to the next.”

Raleigh shook her head. “It’s the twen they want. They stole his father’s notebook, and then they captured him, but they can’t do anything without the twen.”

“What do you want to do?” Dax asked. “Do you want to take the twen with us when we go….?”

Angela’s delicate laughter interrupted them. “Here’s another one, just like the other one. I swear I don’t know where Bishop comes up with all these people as crazy as himself.”

Raleigh turned to her. “Angela, you cared about Bishop once.”

“I will always care about Bishop,” Angela replied. “I loved him, and I never stopped loving him. I love him now as much as I ever loved him when I agreed to marry him.”

“Then help us,” Raleigh exclaimed. “You know more about Hinterland that we could ever learn. Help us find him and bring him back.”

Angela started to shake her head, but Raleigh rushed up to her and murmured in her face. “I know you loved him once, and I know you’re retired now. Bishop was injured in the building before it exploded. What if the Guild hurt him? Don’t you think he’s worth you coming out of retirement to help him? Don’t you think he’s done enough good in his life to deserve you putting your feelings aside?”

“I couldn’t put my feelings aside,” Angela told her. “It’s because of my feelings that I would help you.”

“Please, Angela,” Raleigh breathed. “I know almost nothing about Hinterland, and Dax knows even less. Please help us.”

Angela turned away. She shot Raleigh a sidelong glance and looked away again. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”

“No, I don’t.”

Angela raised her eyes to Raleigh’s face. “You love him, too, don’t you? I can tell by the way you talk about him.”

“Of course I love him. I thought I would die when we lost him.”

Angela sighed. “Then I will help you. What would you like to do first?”