Fallon looked at his general. “I’m looking forward to the story of how you two came to be wandering around out here without any protection.”
Shea grimaced. He was not going to be happy when he heard that story.
His expression softened when he looked back at her. “Until then, let’s get Fiona patched up and then get moving.”
She nodded her agreement.
Fallon gave her neck one last squeeze before he stepped back. Braden gave Shea a considering expression before moving to help Fallon with Fiona. Shea took one last look around, paying attention to the buildings’ roofs before turning her attention back to the matter at hand.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
SHEA WATCHED the last of Fallon’s men pass through the small set of doors that would give them entry to the Highlands. On each door, a set of runes was carved. Shea didn’t need to know the language to know that it was probably the reason why the denizens of the caverns remained where they were.
They were just in time. The sky had darkened to a deep midnight as the stars and the moon shuttered their faces in preparation of day. Soon, threads of color would begin eating away at the darkness as the sun rose.
Clark stared at the doors with a slightly lost expression on his face. He’d been silent on the way out. None of his normal chipper personality showed. The only time Shea saw a glimpse of the old Clark was when Buck and Eamon had tackled him when they’d appeared.
After the reunion, he’d withdrawn again.
Shea approached him, not knowing what to say. His friend had betrayed him in one of the worst ways imaginable. That tended to leave a mark on a person. No platitude she gave him would make that better.
She settled for standing beside him as the sun began to rise, letting him know without words that she was there for him. That he wasn’t alone. Sometimes, that’s all you could do for a person.
When his head bowed and his shoulders shook from silent tears, Shea took a step closer and wrapped her arm around him. She kept a grip on him even after Eamon came up on his other side. His eyes met hers in understanding. She’d told him what had happened with Charles on the journey out.
Long after the dark had ceded dominion to the light, Clark straightened and gave them each a small, hesitant smile.
“Oh, that reminds me,” Shea said. She withdrew a green jacket from her pack. “We found this while in the city. I believe it belongs to you.”
“My jacket.” Clark reached out to touch it. Shea handed it to him. “How did you find it?”
“It was just hanging from a post in the city. Actually, stopping to retrieve it probably saved Fallon’s and my lives. How’d you lose it?” she asked.
“I don’t know.” Clark’s face was perplexed. “I woke up to find it gone after the first time Fiona and I stopped to rest. I’d lain it on top of me to keep warm as I slept.”
His eyes were sad as he looked at it. He fell silent, his thoughts turning inward. Shea didn’t push.
“We’re here for you when you want to talk,” Eamon told him.
Clark gave him a nod before walking away.
“He’ll get over this,” Eamon said.
Shea hoped so, even as she doubted it would be for a very long time.
“Looks like your Warlord has need of you,” Eamon observed. He took his leave, saying, “I’m glad you’re alright and were able to find Clark.”
“I’ll catch up with you later.”
Fallon stepped close and wrapped his arms around Shea. She allowed herself a moment to be supported by his strength. Then she straightened and forced back her tears. “The men should take a brief break and then we need to move on. I want this place far in our shadow before we stop for the night,” she said.
Fallon watched her for a long moment, assessing her mental state. She avoided his eyes. Sometimes she thought he saw too much with that oddly penetrating gaze of his, and right now she didn’t know if she could bear having her inner self on display.
He gave her a nod and let her walk away, before he gestured for Caden and Braden to relay her orders.
*
“This isn’t the path to the Wayfarer’s Keep,” Shea said, staring up at the mountain ridge in front of her. They had stopped halfway up the mountain, just below the tree line. If her memory was correct, this would take them west of the keep by several week’s ride.
Reece took a swig of his water before capping it and putting it back in the saddle bags. Fallon had ordered a horse for him when it became clear his continued walking would only slow them down. Unlike when Shea was his captive, he had ordered a proper horse for the pathfinder, not some stunted growth mule that couldn’t match a horse’s longer strides.
“You’re getting rusty, Shea. I expected you to figure that out several days ago.”
Shea watched him with a calculating expression. It was true that she should have picked up on the divergent path earlier, but grief had made her slower than normal. “That’s the Dragon’s Tail. You would never take a group like this through that ridge to reach the keep, so where are you taking us?” she asked.
Fallon folded his reins over his hand and leaned forward, his hawk-like gaze drilling into Reece. His expression was fierce. “Yes, please, enlighten the group.”
Reece gave Shea a half-smile. “Come now, doesn’t any of this look familiar?”
Shea’s lips pursed as she considered Reece and then their surroundings. Yes, it did, but much of the Highlands was familiar. Like an old friend you had seen over and over again. Only this friend was crotchety and grumpy and would kill you should you take it for granted.
“Birdon Leaf.” It made sense given their relative geographic location, the direction they were traveling and known areas of interest this path would lead to.
Reece’s smile was wry, like a teacher bestowing a student with praise. “Very good.”
“Why would you take us there?” Shea asked.
“Why, to visit the place where this all started.” Reece prodded his horse forward, taking off before Shea could question him further.
Caden rode up on the other side of Fallon and stopped his horse as he stared after Reece. “I thought the whole point of this little trip was to go to this Wayfarer’s Keep and meet with the pathfinders.”
“I guess we’re taking a little side trip first,” Shea said, before kicking her horse into a slow-paced trot to follow Reece.
Fallon followed, though he looked no more thrilled at this turn of events than Shea.
Caden shook his head and spit to the side of his horse before he too started up the large back half of the mountain. “Oh goody.”
*
One week later, Shea crested the last hill before the land flattened, giving rise to the small spit of plateau where Birdon Leaf perched. It would have taken less time had they been on foot, but the jagged ravines and steep hills were not friendly terrain to a horse. As a result, they’d been forced to take the long way around.
Shea reined her horse to a stop on the ridge and looked down on the flattened top that contained the little village. The Trateri were spread out behind her as they made their way up the last small incline.
The land between them and the village was mostly long grass, as the altitude made trees rare. From this distance, the village looked picturesque, like an innocent painting of a simpler world. One untouched by strife and pain.