Live Free or Die Complete Series Boxed Set: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series Hayley Lawson (ebook reader play store .TXT) 📖

She was in her element, her senses tuned to any movement or sound as she moved from tree to tree like a shadow.

A huge stag came into sight between the trees ahead of her. She heard a crunch behind her and quickly turned around. It was Koda. His spear was raised, but then he spotted Ryder and lowered it.

Koda nodded at Ryder, and the two of them watched the stag silently from the shadow of the tree.

Ryder slowly slid her bow off her shoulder and nocked an arrow, and Koda readied his spear.

“Ready?” she whispered.

Koda’s spear sailed through the air. The sudden movement alerted the stag to their position, the spear missed the stag and Koda didn’t have another spear.

Koda sighed and pulled his knives from his belt. “We should not have missed.”

“I didn’t miss anything.” Ryder raised her bow as the stag wheeled around and began to shake its antlers at them. It stamped aggressively, throwing up clods of earth with its front hooves. “What the… Is it rutting season?”

The stag charged toward Ryder with a furious bellow. Ryder stood her ground with her heart in her mouth. It pounded to the rhythm of the stag’s hooves. She ignored the many-pointed antlers aimed at her and drew her breath and her bowstring simultaneously, anticipating the stag’s path.

Her arrow flew true on the exhale, and the stag fell to the ground with the arrow still quivering in its eye socket.

One shot—she never missed.

Koda went to kneel by the stag. He laid a hand on its neck and said some words in a strange language.

Ryder tilted her head, trying to understand. “What are you doing?” she asked.

Koda finished what he was doing and stood up again. “I was thanking the stag for the gift of his life so that we might eat.”

Ryder liked that. She bent to rest a hand briefly on the stag’s head. “Thank you.”

Koda’s hard face softened somewhat. “I am impressed by your skill with the bow,” he told her. “Over the years I’ve known many archers, and you are one of the best I’ve ever seen.”

Ryder blushed. She wasn’t used to compliments. Between him, Massimo and Leandro Ryder had to be careful or she would get a big head. She laughed at the thought. Carter would keep her humble. “Come on, let’s get this stag dressed and get back to your house.”

Koda waved her off. “We had a wager. You killed it, I will dress it.” He deftly gutted the stag and tied the hooves together with long strips of rawhide that he unwound from around his wrists. He hoisted the stag over his shoulder, and the two of them headed out of the trees.

“Why do you want my help?” asked Koda.

Ryder grinned. “Because Leandro told me you’re a badass.”

“A badass? I’ve been called many things, but never a badass.” He grinned back. “Why are you going back to the bunker? You’re free. Why go back?”

Ryder stopped walking. “I’ll never be truly free until everyone else can live that way too. Will you help me?”

“I will help you once we’ve eaten.” Koda smiled.

“Thank you,” Ryder told him earnestly.

They continued walking. They soon reached the bottom of Koda’s hill. Ryder spotted Massimo at the top of the hill, looking out at the lake. A few minutes later they reached the house, but there was no sign of Leandro or Carter.

“We need to signal the others to tell them we found some lunch.” Ryder took out an arrow.

“Wait a minute.” Koda put the stag down on the floor beside him and dug around in a little pouch on his belt. He pulled out a flint and steel, and a little pot. He held out the pot to Ryder. “Pine resin. Set it on fire so they can see.”

“Good idea,” she agreed. She smeared the resin all over the arrowhead. Koda used his flint and steel to shower the arrowhead until the resin caught fire.

Ryder aimed upward and fired the flaming arrow into the sky, hoping that the others would be able to see it. The arrow arced above her head and flew back down to strike the ground a few feet in front of her.

She knelt to pick through the charred splinters. “I can’t waste my arrowheads. Good flint is hard to come across, and finding someone who can work iron or steel is damn near impossible.”

A few moments later they heard the crunch of branches. The boys were back, and they were empty-handed.

Leandro looked at the stag. “Nice catch, Koda.” He was just relieved that Carter hadn’t been the one to get the kill.

Koda shook his head. “It was Ryder who killed it. She’s one fine shot.”

Ryder grinned. “Yeah, and since I killed it, I get to avoid the messy part. The four of you should be done in no time. You boys’d best get to work, I’m starving.”

Carter snapped a salute. “Yes, ma’am.”

Chapter Fourteen

Leandro waited for Ryder while the others made their way into Koda’s house carrying their neatly butchered venison. “I nearly caught a rabbit for Massimo,” he told her.

Ryder snickered. “That would have been funny. Although, he is looking a little tired.”

“He does, but getting him to drink from one rabbit a day is a nightmare,” Leandro told her. He rolled his eyes. “I wish he’d listen to me.

They went inside the house, to the kitchen where the others were helping Koda to get the meal ready.

“Would you like me to cook?” Leandro asked Koda. “After all, you’ve done the hard work of carrying the stag all the way.”

Koda smiled. “Be my guest. It would be nice to have someone to cook for me for a change.”

Massimo leaned back from the cupboard he was investigating. “Leandro is a fine cook. He’s very domesticated, you know.”

Leandro shook his head. “Pops, do you have to tell everyone?”

“What? You are. It’s something to be proud of. It’s a fine quality for some lucky lady.” He winked at Ryder