As she filled his plate, Fallon beganspeaking.
“How was your trip north? Did they give youany trouble up there?”
Witt’s eyes rose briefly toward hers inacknowledgement as she set his plate down. He dug in, takingseveral bites before answering.
“Nothing we couldn’t handle. Two of thevillages decided not to honor their commitments. They were dealtwith quickly and decisively enough that I don’t think others willfollow in their footsteps anytime soon.”
Shea kept her wince inward. Outwardly herface was flat and disinterested. That probably meant a lot ofbloodshed and most of the able bodied men and women being taken ascattle, what the Trateri called their slaves.
Oddly enough, villages who fought from thebeginning before being defeated were treated as honored enemies aslong as they didn’t violate the terms of their surrender. Themoment they went back on their word, Trateri justice was swift andbrutal.
“Will they hinder our plans?” Fallon wasasking. Shea had lost the thread of the conversation as shepondered what roll Witt played for the Trateri. How did he haveenough access to the Warlord to be invited to breakfast? As anoutsider, he should never be in the position of an advisor.
“Doubtful.”
“Good. Gaining a foothold in the Highlandswill be difficult enough. We don’t need the Lowlanders instigatinga rebellion at the same time. We’ll need to keep the supply linesopen.”
Shea felt her heart drop at this news. She’dthought any action against the Highlands was months away if not ayear.
“Agreed. Resources can be scarce up there andthe problem with beasts will be double what we’ve faced here,” Wittreplied. “We’ll need to be careful of the pathfinders,” hecontinued. “They might sound harmless, but they’re the mostorganized guild in that land and can forge the Highlanders into oneforce. Their weapons beat anything we have, and they know the layof the land like they know their own face.”
Shea couldn’t count the covenants Witt wasbreaking. If any in the Highlands found out how much he’d justrevealed, he’d be marked as a traitor before being stoned. Andthen, just because Highlanders were slightly vindictive, they’dprobably burn him.
“We’ll need to disrupt their communication asmuch as possible, then. We’ll choke off their routes and keepanything or anybody from slipping through. If they can’t talk, theycan’t organize,” Fallon responded.
Impossible. A few hundred horsemen couldn’tkeep a Highland pathfinder from his or her destination. Not whenthat pathfinder was in the Highlands.
Both men looked up and nodded briefly asCaden entered. The conversation continued as Caden grabbed a plateand began piling it high with food. Once he’d gotten a niceselection, he sat across from Witt and listened as he slowlyconsumed his breakfast.
“Your biggest obstacle is going to be themist. Our patrol couldn’t find any way through it. It starts aboutfive hundred feet from the Highland cliffs. We went up and downthat entire area and no luck. It continues on for miles withoutend. I even took a small group into the Badlands, and it’s just asdifficult there. Almost lost a couple of men.”
“We could always try going through it,” Cadensuggested, taking a seat at the table.
Witt leaned back and pinned Shea with hiseyes. “The pathfinder would be the best one to explain why thatwould be a bad idea.”
Three sets of eyes trained on Shea. Falloneven turned in his seat. Shea glared back. She could, but shewasn’t going to. She had some loyalty still. If they wanted tobrave the mist, they were more than welcome to.
Reading those thoughts in her face, Wittsmiled wryly in acknowledgement before continuing. “When a truemist shrouds the Highlands, a normal man gets lost, disoriented. Ifthey’re lucky, they simply wander in circles until it dissipates.If they’re unlucky, they disappear. Strange things happen during atrue mistfall. You’ll be lucky if a quarter of your men make it tothe other side. What’s more likely is that you’ll become one of thelost ones.”
“Sounds like the sort of story we use toscare Daisies,” Caden remarked.
“Except this one is real.” Witt wasn’t lyingor exaggerating. His face had the sort of look one got when theywere relating an experience that had left a mark on the soul.
Shea’d had her suspicions about him, but hisexpression as he explained the mist confirmed it. He hadencountered a true mist and lived to tell about it. Such men wererare. As he’d said, when a true mist fell, few people found theirway back to the real world. He’d evidently been one of them.
It explained why he’d been less combativethan the rest of the adults in Birdon Leaf. He actually understoodthe true purpose behind the tithes the Highlanders paid the guild.Only a pathfinder stood a good chance of finding their way. It waswhy they held such a unique position in a land as fractured as theHighlands.
“If what you say is true,” Caden said, “howdoes anybody in the Highlands travel?”
“Most are unwilling to chance the routes. Inaddition to the mists, the beasts are thicker up there and moreaggressive. They’re a people ruled by fear. Luckily for them, thereis a small, a very small, segment of the population that is able tofind their way no matter how thick the mist gets. Isn’t that right,Shea?”
A muscle in Shea’s jaw twitched.
“It’s why the pathfinders are such a powerfulinfluence,” Witt continued, holding Shea’s gaze. “Not many willrisk upsetting the guild if it means they could be cut off from therest of the lands. Anger the guild and they’ll forget your villageexists. For a while. By the time they circle back around, theforgotten village is usually a fraction of what it was before, ifit still exists.”
“They sound like they could be a powerfulally,” Fallon stated.
Shea looked sharply at the back of hishead.
