Airing her grievances became impossible asEamon tore down the trail, Shea following close behind. Theycouldn’t travel too fast for fear of dislodging Shea’s unconsciouspassenger, but the pace was faster than before.
For the most part, she kept her eyes focusedon the rump of Eamon’s horse as he led the way. As she was usuallypoint, this wasn’t a role she was unaccustomed to. He probablydidn’t trust her, which was totally unfair. So she’d been a littleargumentative after exposure to the webs. That didn’t mean shecouldn’t navigate. Hell, there had never been a time when shecouldn’t find her way from point A to point B. She could be on herdeathbed and still be able to lead an expedition into thewilderness. His suspicion was totally unwarranted.
“Eamon,” Shea shouted, finally noticing hispassenger swaying dangerously. “Secure your man.”
Eamon reached behind him, saying sharply,“Stay awake.”
The man jolted upright and looked around.
“Stay awake. The last thing we need is foryou to fall off. We didn’t save you from the spinners only to haveyou break your neck on the way back to camp,” Eamon warned.
The man nodded wordlessly and straightened inan attempt to stay more alert.
“Shane-“
“I know,” Shea interrupted. “Keep an eye onhim. I will.”
After the close call with his passenger,Eamon slowed the pace a little, which was for the best as theterrain became rougher.
She felt slightly more herself as two largeforms approached, traveling fast enough to overtake Shea and Eamon.One of their horses neighed a greeting, and Shea’s horse answeredby snorting loudly.
Buck rode past to take up position on Eamon’sflank while Phillip did the same with Shea. There wasn’t muchconversation as they continued in grim silence, pushing theirhorses harder once the other two had caught up.
Hours later the camp’s many fires and torcheslit up the sky, creating a halo effect against the mountains. Eamonpushed the group even faster and, with a grimace, Shea leanedforward to urge her horse to keep pace.
Reaching their destination’s edge, theypaused only long enough to answer the sentry’s challenge questionbefore riding directly for the heart of camp, not stopping foranything.
Even though it was well past midnight, thecamp was filled with a frenetic energy as men moved quickly throughthe open spaces between tents. With the amount of people movingaround, Shea doubted anybody was left in bed.
Heads turned to stare as they made their waythrough. Only a few at first and then more as others caught sightof the person draped over Shea’s horse. She fought to keep herexpression bland as a man did a double take and then shot ahorrified glare at her.
Eamon rode directly for Fallon’s personaltent. Because Shea was following him, she rode that way too,feeling a sense of déjà vu.
No matter how many times the camp moved, itwas always configured in the same way. When Shea had first beenbrought to the encampment from Goodwin of Ria so many months ago,she’d been chained to a post in this same grouping of tents. Whatshe hadn’t known then was that Fallon’s tent was the big one rightnext to Darius’s.
Now, despite everything she had done to hideherself right under Fallon’s nose, here she was, back where she hadstarted.
Men converged on their group, spilling out ofthe surrounding tents as word reached them that Fallon was aliveand needed help. Rough hands reached up to jerk him down, and Sheapulled hard on the reins causing her horse to shy away.
The two men trying to take him swore at herand reached for him again. Shea knocked them back, baring her teethand glaring. She knew it was useless unless she drew a weapon, evenas the men geared up to grab for Fallon again.
Eamon’s horse was suddenly between them andher, and his roar caused the chaos to grind to a halt. “Enough!Hawkvale is seriously injured and doesn’t need you lot jerking himaround.”
Buck quickly flanked them, his hand droppingto his weapon as he eyed the soldiers nervously. He looked worriedbut nevertheless took Eamon’s back.
“Then give him to us so we can get him to ahealer,” a sharp faced man with a flat nose shouted back.
“We won’t release him to any but Darius or ahealer,” Eamon said tersely.
“Are you insane, man? We’re his personalguard.”
Shea started eyeing the possible escaperoutes, mentally analyzing the quickest path out of camp just incase a fight erupted. She had done it once before and that time shedidn’t have a horse or knowledge of the area.
Fallon’s guards outranked Eamon and undernormal circumstances an order from them within the boundaries ofcamp would be undisputed. Because of the suspected betrayal thathad led to Fallon falling prey to the spinners, they didn’t havethe luxury of trusting blindly. Someone, or several someone’s, hadbetrayed Fallon.
Whether Shea liked him or not, his deathwould have devastating consequences for not only the Trateri butthe rest of the Lowlands as well.
When Eamon refused, Caden, having arrivedjust moments ago, said in a low voice, “Scout, do you know who weare? Think carefully because the wrong answer will see youdead.”
