Hmm.
Cam spoke for the first time. “I think it hadsomething to do with the strangers.”
“How so?”
“They kept us apart after we nearly escaped.It’s why they beat me. They’d been keeping us in one of theirsheds. The wood at the back was rotted. I managed to break it andcrawl through. Before James could follow, they spotted me. Afterthat, they kept us in separate areas. I heard talk through mywindow, and they kept calling us spies.”
That made no sense.
“Spies? Why would they think you werespies?”
“I think the other two were discoveredoutside the village stealing horses. The villagers assumed we werethere to spot weaknesses our supposed companions could exploitlater.”
That could definitely have convinced Edgecombthat James and Cam were spies. That village took paranoid to awhole new level.
That didn’t give her much information ontheir new friends though. It left her with nearly the same amountof questions she had started with.
James peeked to make sure the strangersweren’t in hearing range. “Do you think they’re bandits?”
Shea thought about it. The description didn’tquite fit.
“I doubt it.”
“Why do you say that?” Cam had to labor toget the words out.
“They move like they’ve been trained tofight. I’m not talking about one of the village militiaseither.”
“You think they could be from one of the cityarmies down south?” James sounded skeptical. Shea couldn’t blamehim.
The armies in the south had firm allegiancesto their cities and almost never came as far north as the Lowlandand Highland border. They were needed to defend against thebarbarian hordes who lived in the Outlands.
That was the only plausible explanation Sheacould think of. Their new friends just didn’t move like normalpeople. They weren’t farmers or herders. With the speed they movedand Whiskey’s clear grasp of strategy, she couldn’t believe theywere simple villagers.
The other possibility, she threw out almostbefore it could fully form.
“You think they could be part of a Trateriraiding party?” Cam asked quietly.
“Impossible,” James scoffed. “They never comethis far north.”
The Trateri were the dominant barbarian tribein the Outlands. Their people led numerous raids against thesouthern Lowlands. Mostly they were a story northern Lowlanderstold their young people to discourage them from moving to thebigger southern cities, where beast attacks were fewer and lifeeasier.
Shea had never seen a Trateri or met any whohad. Not in any of her journeys in the Highlands or theLowlands.
“Either way, it’s clear our new friends aremore than they seem,” Shea finally said. “We’ll have to make surewe’re careful in how we deal with them.”
“Agreed.” James voice was firm.
Shea shot him a look from the corner of hereye. She hadn’t really been asking for his permission.
She shrugged. It didn’t hurt to let him thinkhe had a say.
“Over here,” Shea said, making her way to alarge rock pile.
She darted around its edge, climbing onto alarge outcropping before turning to pull Cam up while James pushedfrom below. Finding this nice little hiding place had taken a lotlonger than she would have liked.
Their pace had fallen nearly to a crawl asthe day progressed. Cam struggled to keep up, relying more and moreon James for support until James nearly had to carry him.
Knowing their pursuers would catch them ifthey continued at the rate they were going, Shea had handed herpack off to Witt before running ahead in search of a hideyhole.
