Novels by Leemah

The hood came off slowly.Ryker had braced for a stranger. He had made himself ready for a rider with a scar, or a face from Blackwood. He had pictured a hundred faces.Dovan's was not one of them.The man stood straight. That was the first thing. The stoop was gone, and he was taller than Ryker by a hand's width. His white hair was cut short. The wound on his scalp, which had bled so much in Rivermist, was a thin scab no longer than a finger."Dovan," Orla said. It was hardly a sound.Nobody else spoke. The torches popped. In the ring of the pack a woman began to weep without any noise.Dovan looked at Orla first. Then he looked at Kiera, who was still beside Tobin, and last at Ryker. He did not look away from any of them."I wanted it to be a stranger," Ryker said. His voice came out even. "I kept telling myself it would be.""I know.""At the quarry you killed a rider who was about to put a sword in my back.""He would have killed you. Damien wants you alive." Dovan said it plainly

The stair went down for a long time.Kiera counted the steps because it kept her from counting her feet. Each one sent a hot line of pain up from her heels. The riders on either arm held her up when she slipped. She hated that they did.Ryker walked ahead of her with a sword at his back. He did not turn around. She watched his shoulders and the back of his neck, and she was glad they stayed straight.Damien went first, with one hand on the wall.Lower down she felt it before she heard it. A low note came up through the cloth on her feet, steady and deep. It was the note the doors made when she stood near them, and it was louder here than it had ever been. She did not like how easily she could hear it.Damien spoke without turning. "It is quicker if you do not talk," he said, to nobody. "Save your breath. There will be a great deal to say below."They passed the lower cells. The hunters inside stood at the bars as the line went by. One of them said, "Luna," and a rider struck the iron,

Ryker counted the guards at dusk.There were four at the top of the stairs and two at the end of the hall. They changed at the same hour as the day before. Hale had watched them through the bars all afternoon, and he said the same thing three times. They did not like it when Damien came down."Then why do they stay?""Because they were told to, and the man who told them has a ring." Hale rubbed the swollen side of his face. "I did the same for twenty years."At the far end of the row, Corvin had not spoken since the riders put him in. Ryker had seen him once, when a guard brought water. He was an old man sitting against the wall with his hands in his lap and one eye swollen shut. Now Corvin cleared his throat in the dark."Ryker.""I'm here.""Come to the bars. I will not shout."Ryker lay down on the stone and put his face to the iron. Corvin's voice came softly along the row."A guard stood near my door when Damien spoke to you. I heard him say the door needs a willing hand.""He sa

They did not tie him.Ryker rode a day and a half with a rider on each side, and nobody touched the reins. They stopped to water the horses and let him drink. At night a rider sat across the fire from him and watched, and when Ryker lay down, the man put a blanket over him. It was the worst part. They had been told he was to be kept, and they treated him like something valuable.They reached the mountain at noon.The old hall was quiet. Half its windows were boarded, and the courtyard was swept. Riders stood at every door. The pack was gone, and the mountain was nearly empty.They took him down. He counted the stairs as he went, past the cellars and past the first door, which stood open and dark. The air got colder. At the bottom there was a long stone room with iron bars across one end, and the riders left him there with a lamp and a jug of water.He was not alone. Hale sat on the floor of the next cell with his back to the wall. His face was swollen on one side, and he looked up whe

They did not tie him.Ryker rode a day and a half with a rider on each side, and nobody touched the reins. They stopped to water the horses and let him drink. At night a rider sat across the fire from him and watched, and when Ryker lay down, the man put a blanket over him. It was the worst part. They had been told he was to be kept, and they treated him like something valuable.They reached the mountain at noon.The old hall was quiet. Half its windows were boarded, and the courtyard was swept. Riders stood at every door. The pack was gone, and the mountain was nearly empty.They took him down. He counted the stairs as he went, past the cellars and past the first door, which stood open and dark. The air got colder. At the bottom there was a long stone room with iron bars across one end, and the riders left him there with a lamp and a jug of water.He was not alone. Hale sat on the floor of the next cell with his back to the wall. His face was swollen on one side, and he looked up whe

Kiera did not move until the last rider was out of sight. Then the hold on her legs let go, and she fell forward into the river. The water came up over her face. She pushed herself up on both hands and coughed it out, and somebody had her under the arms and was dragging her to the bank. "I've got you," Tamsin said. Her coat was soaked to the shoulders. "Stand up, girl. Stand up. They're gone." "Ryker." "I know." "They took him." "I know." Tamsin held her tighter. "Walk." She walked. She could not feel her feet. On the bank the torches had been kicked into the mud, and the ground was torn up by hooves. A dead rider lay at the edge of the road, and not far from him lay a hunter, face up, with his eyes open. Orla was kneeling beside him. She was closing his eyes. Kiera had known his name that morning. She could not think of it now. They carried her to the ferry house, and she sat on the floor of the kitchen with a blanket over her shoulders and a cup in her hands. Her t