Raven's Shadow
Raven duology, book 1
Patricia Briggs
This book is dedicated with gratitude to:
Robin and Gene Walker
Dan, Pam, Jason, John, and Alex Wright
Buck, Scott, and the rest of the crew at Buckner’s V.W. Parts Exchange
Paula, Michael, and Liam Bachelor
Dave, Katharine, and Caroline Carson
Anne Sowards—who made this one better
And, as always, to those stalwart people who read it in its roughest stages (in alphabetical order):
Collin Briggs, Michael Briggs, Michael Enzweiler, Jeanne Matteucci, Virginia Mohl, Ann Peters, Kaye Roberson, and John Wilson
PART ONE
CHAPTER 1
“It’s not far now, my lad,” said Tier. “That’s smoke ahead, not just mist—we’ll find a nice village inn where we can warm up.”
His horse snorted at him in reply, or more likely at a bothersome drop of rain, and continued its steady progress down the trail.
The horse, like the sword Tier carried, was of far better quality than his clothing. He’d scavenged both the horse and sword from men he’d killed: the sword in his first year of war, the horse earlier this year when his own mount had been killed beneath him. A warhorse bred and trained to carry a nobleman, Skew had carried Tier, a baker’s son, through two battles, six skirmishes, and, by rough reckoning, almost a thousand miles of trail.