Free Finding Valor by Charlotte Abel Page B

“Are you going to tell Kassie good-bye before you go?”
    “I ain’t very good at good-byes. Tell her it was good seeing her again, and…good luck with the baby.”
    Josh’s heart ached as he shook Hunter’s hand.
    Hunter pulled Josh into a hug and thumped his back. “We’ll see each other again. I just hope it’s sooner rather than later.”

Chapter Three
BAD NEWS

    An overwhelming sense of despair pressed down on Channie when she stepped inside the cabin. Cobwebs hung like lace from every corner. Dust covered every surface. The musty scent of abandonment hung in the air. They’d had their share of hard times in that simple log cabin, but they’d also known joy. They’d been a family.
    Channie closed her eyes. She could almost believe that Abby and the trips were upstairs, sleeping. And Daddy was out back, checking on his latest batch of moonshine. Momma was in the kitchen…
    “Channie! Snap out of it.” Momma smacked the back of her head with an open palm. “Unload the car and get this place cleaned up. I’ll be in my room.”
    On the morning of the third day, Momma announced she was leaving. “Don’t go off our property. In fact, don’t even go outside unless it’s to use the privy or feed the chickens.”
    “Where’re you going?”
    “To go find Wisdom.”
    “She’s holed up somewhere with her rebel army. If the Veyjivik trackers can’t find her, I doubt you can.”
    “She’s my flesh and blood. I’ll find her.”
    Channie didn’t want to piss off Momma, so she didn’t argue. “Take me with you.”
    “No.”
    That was it. No explanation, no apology. Just ‘no.’  
    “What if a tracker comes while you’re gone?” Channie didn’t like the idea of staying behind with nothing but a shotgun for protection. Momma hadn’t spent much time making the new plants grow. Channie watered them, but she didn’t have the ability to recharge Momma’s protection spells. The magic wouldn’t last more than a couple of days.
    “Why do you think I spent good money on that shotgun?” Momma pointed at the twelve-gauge in the corner. “If you see a tracker, shoot him.”
    “What if there’s more than one? What if they disable me before I can get a shot off?” Channie knew it was risky to piss off Momma, but it would be even riskier to leave things unsettled. “If they knock me out or get the drop on me and force me to leave after you’ve told me not to, my death pledge will kill me.”
    “I doubt that they’d bother with kidnapping you.”
    “When Harvey captured me, he said there was a huge reward on my head. You can’t sacrifice me if I’m gone…or dead.”
    “If it’s completely out of your control, then I release you from my order to stay in the cabin.” Momma narrowed her eyes. “But you can’t go willingly. You have to put up a fight, unless you believe that doing so will result in your death. You must constantly strive to find your way back to me if you’re taken.”
    Channie nodded and whispered, “Thank you.”
    Momma had been gone less than twenty-four hours when Channie felt a distinctively male energy approach the cabin.
    She grabbed the shotgun and considered her options. Her death pledge wouldn’t kill her if she were taken against her will. But would she be any better off with a tracker? The memory of what Harvey tried to do to her twisted her gut. She didn’t have magic to protect herself anymore. She’d rather die than have some filthy tracker’s hands on her body.  
    The air pressure inside the cabin increased as the tracker prodded Momma’s protection spells. Channie hadn’t expected them to hold, but she still jumped when he broke through.
    She barely heard the sound of the tracker’s boots scraping across the porch over the rush of blood behind her ears.  
    The door knob turned. Channie cocked the shotgun and fired.  
    The tracker yelled then rattled off a string of cuss words so nasty it burned her ears. She re-cocked the shotgun then opened what