Trenton snorted from where he leaned against the cliff.
Reece gave them a disgusted look and he stalked off without responding. Shea’s laugh burst from her before he’d even gone a few feet. It came from deep inside and nearly doubled her over.
Buck watched her with exasperation. “What was that face at the end? You looked like you were trying not to shit yourself. I’ve told you before that you have to fully commit or you’ll never be convincing.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Shea said, her laughter finally petering off. “Trying to make him hug you. What were you thinking?”
Buck shrugged and gave her a cat-like smile. “I was thinking his face irritated me and I wanted him to go away.”
Eamon lips tilted up as he watched the two of them with amusement. It was the equivalent of a laugh in the normally serious man.
“Pretty impressive stronghold if this is the only way into it,” Trenton said. “I assume few ever breech it.”
“Nothing human anyway,” Shea agreed. “Every once in a while, a beast gets through, but for the most part my people have ruled from the other side of that mist for over a thousand years. It’s not usually so thick, however.”
“I’m surprised they’re letting us just walk in,” Eamon said, his face sobering, any trace of humor disappearing.
Shea was too.
She thought she’d known what to expect from her people. All her life, things had been done one way. Now they were acting contrary to everything she knew about them. It left her uneasy.
Fallon’s fierce frown caught her attention. He shook his head and folded his arms across his chest, his legs spread wide as he fixed the pathfinder speaking to him with a hard stare.
Braden and the clan leaders who’d made the journey looked no happier about whatever was being discussed, their faces by turns disgusted or angry.
The pathfinders, her father among them, looked equally frustrated.
“What’s that about, you think?” Buck asked, tilting his head at the arguing cluster.
“Probably trying to figure out how we’re going to get everyone through,” Shea said.
Buck snorted. “That’s easy, right? You just do what you did last time. Tie a rope around everyone and lead us through.”
Shea shook her head. “That won’t work here. The trail is too winding and runs along several narrow paths. There are sharp drop-offs on both sides. You make a single misstep and you’ll drag everyone down with you.”
Both Eamon and Buck fixed her with intent looks before directing their attention back to the mist.
“Horse lords curse it,” Buck muttered. “I was counting on this being the easy part of the journey.”
“This is the Highlands,” Shea said in a light voice. “There’s nothing easy about this place.”
“Got that right,” Eamon said, looking up and around him with a frown. “We haven’t seen the sun in three days. It’s the middle of summer but even the air feels like it bites.”
Shea knew what he meant. It’d been gray and dreary since the encounter with the human-like beasts, the sun no more than a suggestion in the sky. It lent another layer to the air of hopelessness that permeated this place. For the Trateri, the lack of sun would be even worse given they’d grown up on the plains. They could count the days they didn’t see the sun in a year on one hand.
“It’s not going to get any better,” Shea said. “Summer here is a lot shorter than it is in the lower lands. Even then, there are more cloudy days than sunny.”
Her mother used to say that was why everyone up here was so grumpy all the time.
The clump of people broke up and Fallon strode toward them with a scowl fixed on his face.
“Looks like they settled on a plan,” Eamon murmured.
“They don’t look happy about whatever that plan is,” Shea said. She had a feeling she knew exactly what had put the look on Fallon’s face.
“Wonder what was said,” Buck responded. He looked at the other two and raised his eyebrows.
“Probably something along the lines that Fallon’s scowl alone was enough to scare away the mist,” Clark said from behind Shea.
