“We had reports earlier,” another elder saidgruffly. “Mist is rolling down from the eastern border. It’ll coverthis place in less than two days. They’ll be cut off.”
Mist. Damn. That complicated things.
She’d had a feeling it was coming. It was oneof the reasons she pushed the men so hard going up Garylow’s pass.They were overdue.
Pointing out just how foolish these peoplewere would be a waste of breath and cover the same ground asprevious arguments. Shea decided not to address the issue. But shewanted to. Boy, did she ever.
“I’ll need four men if we hope to recoverthem.”
“Can’t you do it by yourself?” a man sittingnext to Zrakovi asked.
“No.”
“You’re a pathfinder. Isn’t that yourjob?”
The rest of the men spoke over each other tovoice their agreement about how this was impossible.
Shea didn’t bother listening, instead tuningthem out while she went over her packing list. She’d need at leastfive days rations for five people, best-case scenario. Her fieldpack was still packed, but she’d have to replenish some of theitems used on her last journey. Hopefully, she had clean underwearand socks in her cottage. Hmm. When did she last do laundry? A weekago? Two? She could live in the same clothes if she had clean socksand undergarments.
“Are you even paying attention, girl?” ElderZrakovi asked.
Shea brought her attention back to the matterat hand. “My contract stipulates that I may request help from thelocal population if I think it’s necessary.” She looked each man inthe eye as she continued, “If your men are still alive, I will haveto rescue them, and I can’t do that alone. You will give me fourable-bodied men accustomed to trail work and able to keep up on thedistances we will be required to travel.”
“We may not be able to spare that many men,”Zrakovi said. “The tali will be flowering in a few days and if themist holds off long enough, we’ll need all the people we can get tobring in the yield.”
The tali was a flowering vine that grew allthrough the rocks and mountains near the village and was a primarystaple of the village’s diet. Its stalk could be used in weavingand cloth production, while the fruit could be dried out or eatenraw. It was used in nearly every dish they made. It only floweredtwice a year and during that time every man, woman, and childhelped with the harvest.
“I’m not asking, elder. If you don’t give methe men I require, I won’t be going out after your son.”
Shea knew harvesting the tali fruit wasimportant. Without it the villagers faced the possibility ofstarvation, but she wasn’t about to venture into the Lowlands byherself. It would be suicide. The elders had been warned of thedangers. If they couldn’t supply the men, they could accept theconsequences of ignoring sound advice.
The five conferred among themselves whileShea waited. Finally, they sat back.
“I can’t give you four,” Zrakovi said.
Shea nodded and turned to go.
“I can’t give you four,” he reiterated,raising his voice. “But I can give you two. It’s all I can spareduring the harvest.”
Shea waited a beat. To be safe she neededfour, but she’d known from the start the elders wouldn’t spare themanpower. The contract’s wording said she could refuse since theyhadn’t provided the necessary resources.
Doing so would mean death for the two men. Ifthey weren’t already dead.
Despite what the villagers thought of her,she didn’t make her requests to make their lives difficult. James,the elder’s son, was one of the few who didn’t try to make her feellike a hindrance. He was a decent sort who had a smile foreverybody. When she needed assistance on some of her more dangerousjaunts, he would sometimes volunteer.
She needed four, but she could make do withtwo.
“Tell them to be at the front gate atmidday.”
Relief filled the chamber. A few looks weretraded back and forth, and several men nodded.
“Good.” Zrakovi turned his back on Shea andtook another drink. As she turned to go, he said, “I’ll be sendinga missive requesting a new pathfinder be assigned to replace you inBirdon Leaf.”
“If that’s what you feel is best.” Sheainclined her head and strode away without a backward glance.
It would be the third such request since shearrived. The first two had elicited a carefully worded refusal thatpolitely told all parties to suck it up and figure out a way tomake it work.
As soon as she was outside, she put allthoughts of the elders and their barely concealed disapproval outof her head. There was a lot to get done in two short hours.Edgecomb was a two-day journey if they traveled fast and took fewbreaks. Depending on who they gave her, she might be able to cutthat time down even more.
