She hoped.
She set her fingertips against the rug andstepped on the chain linking her wrists together. She startedpulling slowly but steadily on her left hand, feeling her heartleap in victory as it slipped half an inch out of the manacle.Biting her lip, she applied a little more pressure and then moreuntil it felt like her wrist would pop off her arm.
With little warning, the hand slid free. Itworked. Shea went immediately to work on the next hand. She stifleda grunt of relief when that hand slipped out easily. She wouldnever complain about her small hands again.
Standing up, she held her arms away from herbody. The sludge might have just saved her, but no way did she wantit getting on her clothes.
Now that she’d regained mobility, she neededto see about finding a disguise. Dressing as a boy might help. Theperimeter guards were expecting a woman. Not a teenage boy.
She wiped her hands against the rug, gettingsome of the black substance off, before walking over to pick up aworn knife from the table. She examined the dull metal. Whoeverowned this tent sure didn’t care about his knives. It would workfor her purpose but not much else.
Grabbing her braid in one hand, she lifted itoff her neck and slid the knife under. With a sharp jerk, she sawedthe length off and held the tail up in front of her. The rest ofher hair fell along her jaw in soft waves as it worked itself looseof the remaining braid. Placing the other half of the braid next toher, she grabbed another hunk of hair and sawed that off, repeatingthe action until her hair stood out from her head in unevenclumps.
Next, she dipped her hands in some of theblack sludge and ran them through what was left of her hair todarken it from her distinctive shade of honey brown. After going toall the trouble of cutting it, she didn’t want anybody recognizingthe color.
A quick search of the tent yielded noalternative clothing, and Shea resigned herself to making do withwhat she already wore. Her shirt and trousers were baggy and didn’timmediately scream woman, but if anyone looked close enough, they’dsee the outline of her breasts against the thin fabric. She neededsomething to put over it and maybe a few strips of cloths to bindher breasts flat against her chest.
As she turned to leave, she noticed a smallknapsack sitting beside the flap and smiled. Just what she waslooking for.
Moments later, she stepped outside clad in abaggy pair of black trousers and a cream-colored undershirt thatwas two sizes too big. She had to roll the sleeves up three timesbecause unrolled, the fabric fell almost to her knees. Its previousowner must have been some kind of giant. Over the shirt, she donneda dark green, nearly black, sleeveless tunic, further disguisingher figure.
The last piece of clothing she salvaged fromthe bag was a dark green leather jacket with yellow trim around thecollar and at the wrists. It was the nicest piece of clothing inthe bag, and Shea imagined the owner would be upset to part withit. The leather had been stretched and shaped to create patternsaround the waist and on the upper arms. Someone had sewn a patterninto the edges where the coat buttoned together. Shea could tell bythe slick feeling of the leather that it had been treated towithstand rain. Water would roll right off it. Best of all, it hada hood.
It was a little hot with the tunic and jacketbut not unbearable. Shea hoped nobody would think the jacket wassuspicious. She slung the man’s knapsack, with her former clothesstuffed inside, over her shoulder, hoping anybody who saw her wouldthink she’d been tasked with a mission.
She tossed a handful of hair into thecampfire. The manacles, she left in the tent.
It was tempting to disappear into the smallspaces between the tents, but she resisted. Now that the Trateriknew she had used them, it would be best to take a different route.The soldiers probably used the easily accessible main paths.Skulking about would just arouse suspicion.
She was confident in her disguise but notenough to brave scrutiny by either Damon or Darius.
She headed to the edge of camp closest to themouth of this valley. She wanted to be out of sight of the sentriesas soon as possible and she’d be in view a lot longer if she wentto the other side of camp.
She hurried along the dirt pathway, trying toproject the air of someone with important matters to attend to.Meanwhile, she kept an eye out for anyone whose eyes lingered onher for too long or any shadows that might have followed her.
Shea clung to the tent’s shadows, watching asthe perimeter guards conducted a systematic search of everyoneheading to the outer ring of the encampment. She’d made it all theway to the end of the tent city. Now, she just had to pass themassive horse corrals and the training fields rimming the camp.
Beyond them was the outer perimeter, whichwould have stationary sentries watching from the high ground androving sentries to keep an eye out for anything trying to slipthrough the cracks. That’s if whoever set this camp up knew whatthey were doing. From the looks of it, they did.
A guard tilted a young boy’s face up, turningit from side to side. Shea guessed from the thorough inspectionthat Darius and Damon suspected she had changed her appearance.
“Crap.”
This was the third checkpoint she’dencountered since nearing the edge of camp. Once again she wouldhave to try to find an alternative way out.
The knot in her stomach got tighter everytime she encountered one of these.
“You’re late.” A heavy hand landed on Shea’sshoulder and dragged her around to face the speaker.
She jumped and let out a loud squeak. Heatflashed up and down her back, leaving her sweating in herjacket.
A pair of annoyed brown eyes frowned down ather. She struggled against the hand holding her, but couldn’t budgeit. By the way the man kept speaking without missing a beat, shewasn’t sure he even noticed her attempt to flee.
“We’ve been waiting nearly an hour for you toget here.” His grip changed to her arm, and he dragged her behindhim as he headed toward the sentries. “I don’t know how they do itin Eagle Company, but in Dawn’s Raiders, when we say to besomewhere, you’re to be there on time.”
Shea stumbled after him, not really hearingeverything he said, her eyes glued on the fast approachingsentries. He barely checked his pace as he waved at one of the men.The man grinned and waved back.
“Eamon. Thought your party already left,” thesentry said. He barely spared her a glance.
