*****Audio File***** "Chapter 29 - Shadows in the Sand - Audio File" [The White Raven, Chapter 29, Shadows in the Sand] [Struthio Desert, Planet Darai] The weeks crawled along, each day bringing the torturous sun blazing down mercilessly on the Raven cattle drivers, and then blurring into freezing nights. A relentless cloud of dust hung perpetually over the cattle, making every breath a gagging gasp. They had long since moved out of range of their Dart ships and the Com-devices in their ears had stopped working. The Com-devices now lay in the dirt several hundred miles behind them, discarded. Even before the devices had stopped working, they had stopped using them, words were unneeded. Willet raised his hand in the air and waited for Sander to acknowledge the signal before circling his arm and pointing slightly west. Sander past the signal back to Aliaen, and she past the signal to Caedon, and then to Tear - the herd slowly shifted and turned to follow Rip around a deep waddi that was in the way. Kit was now somewhere several miles ahead of the cattle drive in the chuck wagon - Rip was following the tracks of the wagon. Avocet rode up next to Willet and matched pace. Willet looked at the large dead snake draped across her saddle and nodded approval. The meat would be a welcome addition to the plain potato stew tonight. The first snakes they had encountered weeks earlier had caused such a commotion the group inadvertently caused a stampede that took the rest of the day to roundup. Though, the truth was that the snakes weren't bothering anyone, they were just trying to sun themselves on the sand, it was the green cowbirds that had reacted badly and panicked the cattle. Those early days were behind them now, they weren’t so green anymore. There was still much to learn, but chasing one of the large lethal snakes out of the way was routine now. Even the occasional snake that curled up next to one of the cowbirds at night for warmth wasn’t any more drama then waking up and tossing the snake back out into the desert to find another place to sleep. There were other lessons learned as well. Caedon didn’t heed the warning from the Trail Boss and pulled his boot on without checking first. The scorpion that decided to take up residence inside his boot wasn’t pleased. Caedon wailed like a stuck pig until the Trail Boss assured him he wasn’t dying. Caedon’s foot was swollen for two days but he survived, and now had a single-minded purpose to track down and kill every scorpion he could find. Willet shrugged, it gave Caedon something to occupy his time. “We’re being followed,” says Avocet. “I thought I saw a dust trail back a few miles,” says Willet. “Tear says Pokey, Chipped Hoof, Cracked Horn, Bucky, and Sleepy are missing,” says Avocet. “I sent Teal up to let the Trail Boss know,” says Willet. “We’ll wait until dark and go get our cattle.” “They’re probably watching us,” says Avocet. “I’ll go tell the others to be ready, give me your water flask, the rustlers will just think I’m doing a water run.” Willet slid down from his horse and let it walk on it’s own while he moved into the herd to find Rip. He walked into the herd several times a day to speak with Rip about the direction they would go. The rustlers would be alerted if he changed his routine now. Rip was stroking the horns of one of the cows as he walked and looked up as Willet approached. “Don’t look back, we’re being watched,” says Willet. “Rustlers been nicking head at the back of the herd, they got Pokey and a few others.” “If they hurt my babies,” growls Rip. “You do know half your babies are milk cows, and the other half are meat cattle,” says Willet. Rip growls. “Calm down, we’re going after them when the sun goes down,” says Willet. “You’ll be guarding the herd alone, so make sure you find a good spot to stop for the night.” “You haven’t told Chocolate how pretty she looks today,” says Rip, continuing to stroke the horns of the cow walking next to him. Willet rolls his eyes and walks away to the sound of Rip cooing to the cow and saying something about ‘it’s okay, the rude birdie is leaving now.’ Willet jumps up on his horse and naps lightly while the herd continues on through the heat of the day. Rip finds an open area he will be able to see in every direction while the others are hunting down the missing cattle. Kit has the night camp set up and the group gathers for an evening meal. Avocet’s snake is quickly cooked and added to the stew. The fires burn down and the camp is cloaked in shadows under the dim moonlight. The Trail Boss wants to lead the search but Willet presses his mouth against the man’s ear and tells him no. “You would hold us back, this is a time for shadows,” whispers Willet. “Kit will go with us, Rip will guard the herd, you stay with the wagon." The Trail Boss watches Willet return to his bedroll. The Ravens will leave at midnight when the rustlers tire and the shadows of the night begin to confuse their eyes. Midnight comes and passes, and the Trail Boss watches from the wagon. Have they fallen asleep? He waits another hour but the Ravens still make no move to leave the camp. “Damn green cowbirds,” mumbles the Trail Boss. “They have fallen asleep. The Trail Boss jumps down from the wagon and casually walks over to Willets bedroll and gives it a kick, there is nobody there. He checks the other bedrolls, they are all empty, he never saw the Ravens leave. The cattle boss would never understand the years of brutal and lethal shadow training deep in the tunnels under the Raven Temple that create Master Ravens - creatures so patient that they melted out of the camp with the slow moving shadows cast by the moon. The Master Ravens' move from shadow to shadow and circle the camp, looking for the rustlers that must be waiting and watching. Sander, Avocet, and Caedon find three rustlers sitting on a small hill watching the herd. The rustlers had the sense to remain in the shadows, but one rustler made a mistake and a foot was partially outside the shadow that hid them. Though, even if they hadn’t made that mistake, it was likely the Ravens would have found them anyway, the Rustlers had no training to control their breathing and their warm breath betrayed them in the cold air. The Ravens slip up behind the rustlers silently and lock them in vice-like grips. Sander twists the rustlers head he is holding to the side so the rustler could watch his two friends. Avocet and Caedon slipped their Talon daggers between the two other rustlers third and fourth vertebrae and sever their spinal cords. Sander presses his mouth to the rustler's ear he is holding. “They are not dead,” whispers Sander. “Though they will wish we had given them that mercy. You’re friends no longer have the ability to move or scream, they will lie there until their bodies surrender to the cold, or the heat of the day, or until something devours them alive, that is their fate.” The man can see the whites of his friends eyes, wide with terror at the horror they will endure before mercy comes for them. “Who are you?” demands the rustler. “Ravens,” whispers Sander. The man begins to shake violently, they hadn’t known they were stealing from Ravens. Had they known, they would have ridden away as far and fast as they could - nobody steals from a Raven. “Choose your fate,” whispers Sander. “Twenty miles back, at the dry river bed, then north a mile there’s a hidden canyon,” says the rustler quickly. “Guards?” asks Sander. “Two at the entrance to the canyon,” replies the rustler. Sander pulls the man to his feet and pushes him away. “Run now,” says Sander. “But don’t go to the canyon, your friends will be dead before morning. Tell all you see that Ravens live in the shadows of the Eagle Cliffs, steal from us and you will know the terror of those shadows.” The man’s eyes flick down to his friends on the ground, and then turns and runs into the desert - mumbling to whatever Goddess he worships for his good fortune to escape these evil creatures. “What of these two?” asks Avocet. “Leave them, an example needs set,” says Sander. “Raen wouldn’t approve,” replies Avocet. “Raen never bothered asking us if we wanted to be Eagles,” says Sander. “He can’t just wave his hand and magically make us into something we’re not.” “I’m glad someone finally said it,” says Caedon. “I’m proud to be a Master Raven, I worked hard for it.” “What do you want to do?” asks Avocet. “Raen’s cause is worthwhile, and I’ll keep following him, but I’m going to start taking contracts again,” says Caedon. “Remember that Gunslinger,” says Avocet. “Cass hired her to find rustlers. I’ll bet their are plenty of contracts right here on Struthio chasing down outlaws.” “What? Are we going to be Gunslingers now?,” asks Caedon. “I’d like to see those greenhorn, soft-skinned, lazy Gunslingers push cattle across the desert,” says Avocet. “They would run home crying to their Marshal about how the bad birdies scared them.” “Eagles by day, Ravens by night,” says Sander, grinning evilly. “Let’s go get the horses and find our cows.” Kit waited in the shadows until the other three headed back to the camp for the horses. He and Mergan had discussed the possibility this situation would come up. Separated long enough from Raen’s high ideals and the Ravens would revert back to their true selves. The Raven’s only continued to follow Raen because of their deep love for him, and he was the best leader available. Profit was the most holy Tennant of a Raven, and Raen had already led them to an opportunity for unlimited wealth several times, if Moeth’s ego would only let go and let Raen chaotic nature guide them. They had enjoyed a brief period of incredible wealth once, but Moeth had destroyed that putting revenge above profit. Kit knelt next to the two paralyzed rustlers lying on the ground, their eyes silently begging for mercy. Unlike the other Raven’s of the Moeth Alliance, Kit and Mergan were trained to give mercy. It was unlikely anyone would ever find the bodies this far out in the desert, and making them suffer was a pointless exercise in Raven cruelty. Kit quickly ended the men’s living nightmare with two precise thrusts of his Talon dagger. Kit dragged their bodies to the third man Sander had allowed to run, and began stacking rocks on top of the three. The third man had run right into Kit and never felt a thing. Letting the man go was a foolish point of pride and was only a twisted need Sander had to brag that Ravens were here. And their new plan to take contracts amused Kit. He and Mergan had been doing that for weeks, silently dispatching the scores of bandits and outlaws that came near the Eagle camp thinking to prey on the innocent hatchlings. Kit always killed quickly and quietly, but Mergan always made him shiver with a deep love for her artwork. Mergan could remove most of their internal organs before they stopped breathing - she was a poet. Raen really was foolish to think he could bring the most vicious and lethal Raven Alliance ever created here and expect them to change the color of their feathers just because he had never truly embraced being a Raven. Kit stood and brushed his hands off. “Well, enough warm-up exercise,” Kit whispers to himself. “Time for the main event, and bring our cows home.” Kit jogged back to the camp to get his horse. The Ravens rode out to the dry river-bed and picketed their horses, they would walk the last mile to the hidden canyon. The battle was short and brutal, and over by the time the sun started to rise over the desert. All the Ravens felt good to have finally stretched unused muscles, both physical and mental. “I enjoyed that,” says Teal. “Driving cattle is a poor profession for Master Ravens,” replies Willet. “I don’t know,” says Caedon. “I feel stronger, there’s something to be said for driving cattle.” “Yea, by the way… where are the cows?” asks Sander. “We got company,” says Aliaen, pointing at the top of the canyon. A Gunslinger was standing at the top of the cliff looking down at the Ravens dragging the bodies into a pile. “What does she want?” asks Teal. “She’s worried,” replies Willet. “She knows we’re getting ready to burn the bodies, and she needs to cut the wrist implants out for proof to collect the bounty on these scum.” “Oh, that’s right, humans still use those ancient wrist implants for identification,” says Sander. “You’d think they would have invented retina implants by now.” “Humans aren’t evolved enough yet to handle retina implants,” says Willet. “I haven’t used mine since I was six years old," says Teal. “They make you lazy,” says Sander. “Better to develop your brain than rely on a neural computer to think for you.” “Aliaen and I don’t even have one,” says Caedon. “We were orphans and too old by the time the Temple took us in.” “In another generation or two no Daraian will have them,” says Sander. “We’ve evolved past the need for them.” Willet looks up at the Gunslinger. “What do you want, Lenya?” shouts Willet. “A trade, your cattle for my bounty,” shouts the Gunslinger. “Come up here and I’ll give them to you.” “We can’t trust her,” says Teal. “She’s a Lone Gunslinger, she’s by herself.” “She got us before by herself.” “Kit…” “I’m on it,” says Kit, starting to cut the wrist implants from the bodies. Kit dumps the implants in a canvas sack and the group heads for trail leading up to the top of the canyon. “I don’t like this, she has the high ground,” says Sander. “No choice, we’re out of shadows,” replies Willet. “Wish we had our wings.” Lenya, the Lone Gunslinger and bounty hunter, blocks the trail at the top of the canyon. Willet has to look up at the Gunslinger, unable to get past her. “Toss the implants up,” orders Lenya. “Where’s the cattle?” asks Willet. “Implants first,” says Lenya. “Just give them to her so we can get rid of her,” says Sander. Kit passes the sack up to Willet and he tosses it up to Lenya. She grabs the sack and takes off at a run across the crest of the canyon. “She’s in a hurry,” says Teal. Willet climbs the last few feet to the top of the canyon and looks out across the valley on the other side of the canyon. “Holy cow eating ancestors,” whispers Willet. “What is it?” asks Sander, climbing up next to Willet and looking out across the valley. “Well I’ll be damned, that witch trick us, we would have found this whether we gave her the implants or not.” The rest of the Ravens climb up and stare out over a valley full of cattle. “Must be a couple hundred-thousand head,” says Caedon. “This must be where the rustlers been hiding all the cattle they’ve been stealing,” says Kit. “Anyone know what the law says about this, do we get to keep them?” “No idea, but the Trail Boss will know,” says Willet. “We need to go get the horses, it’ll take a day or two to get this group up with our herd.” “More like three or four days,” says Sander. “We don’t have Rip to guide the herd.” It ended up taking two days to get the new herd moving, and then another day to backtrack nearly ten miles around the canyon. On the fourth day Rip and Tear showed up, concerned what was taking so long to return. The new herd wasn’t used to the two Demonians and that caused some commotion with the cattle, but they weren’t as green as they had been and finally got the herd moving. The Trail Boss met them two miles out from the original herd on the fifth day. He rode through the herd and inspected the new cattle before riding up to Willet. “You got a legal tangle-knot here,” says the Trail Boss. “Usually a lost cow within a three day ride has to be returned to the owner, and I see at least twenty brands belonging to different independent ranches.” “We’re already past the half-way mark,” says Willet. “We can’t turn around.” “Found cattle further than a three day ride requires compensation paid to the original owner,” explains the Trail Boss. “But you could barely afford the original five-hundred, this many cattle will bankrupt your House.” “We’ll just have to ask Cass to work something out,” says Willet. “If we live long enough, an operation big enough to have nicked this many cattle is going to be coming after us when they find out you took their herd.” “We can send a rider ahead to the Eagle Cliffs for our fighter Darts. “It’s at least a twenty-one day hard ride, and in this heat you’d kill the horse in four days,” says the Trail Boss, shaking his head. Willet waves Rip over. “You look like you found a snake in your boot,” says Rip, dodging around cattle and jogging up to the horses. “I wish that’s all it was. Boss thinks the rustlers are going to be coming at us in force, more than we can handle, likely they’ll bring gunships,” says Willet. “The Eagle Cliffs are a little over seven-hundred miles away, how far can you run?” “That’s a fair distance even for a Demonian, maybe fourteen days,” says Rip. “Give me your water flasks, and take care of my babies while I’m gone.” Willet grins at the odd attachment Rip has made with the cattle, and is surprised Rip is asking for water. Rip hasn’t drank more than a few mouthfuls of water since they started, but apparently even Demonians have a limit. The exertion of a seven hundred mile run through the blazing heat of the desert is going to take it’s toll on Rip. “Alright then, two weeks,” says Willet, handing Rip the two water flasks he carries slung over the horn of his saddle. “If things go sour here we’ll make our way to those hills in the distance and hold there.” Rip looks out across the desert at the hills to the east, it’ll be a weeks hard push to get the cattle to the hills. They had planned on going south around the hills, but it would be better to have some high ground to defend from than getting caught in the open. Rip removes his long leather coat with the flex-armor woven into it, along with his shirt and all of his weapons. Willet has seen Rip with his shirt off before but it never ceases to amaze him just how large the Demonian is. Rip rolls everything up in the leather coat and tosses it over the back of Willet’s horse, and without further words takes off at a sprint into the desert. “Can he make it?” asks the Trail Boss. “Don’t know,” replies Willet. “We’ve never tested his strength to this limit before, but if anyone can, he will.” Willet raises his arms to signal the cowbirds to move the herd out - two weeks, they had to hold for two weeks. This would be a running battle between outnumbered Master Ravens and the rustlers.