She unhooked her pack from the horse. Thepack she’d picked up on a whim in that tent had turned out to be agodsend. Not only had it given her clothes to disguise her gender,but it was packed full of supplies that had come in handy over thepast few days.
Granted, it wasn’t as well packed as Sheacould have done. There were a few items missing, and a few thingsthat were just dead weight, but it had all of the essentials.
Things like a fire making kit, a canteen forwater, basic food stores and a change of underclothes. It even hada knife to supplement the one Shea had, and to her delight, Eamonhad outfitted her with a short sword before leaving camp.
The only thing missing was rope, which Sheaplanned to remedy by picking through the other men’s belongings. Ifshe remembered correctly, Buck had used rope to cobble the horsestogether a few nights ago when they had to seek shelter from astorm.
Opening his saddlebags, she dug around untilshe felt the rough hemp against her fingers. She pulled it out witha feeling of satisfaction. She’d been eyeing if for a while now andknew it could come in handy on her journey. Rope always did. Shetook a few strips of jerky from his bag as well, telling herself hedidn’t need it as much as she would.
She headed to the cliff opposite of thescratches and peered up.
She could barely see the top, high above herhead. The rock was dimpled and pockmarked. Ponderosa clung tonooks. But for the most part, it was bare and grey. That was good.Hard rock was easier to climb than dirt. Safer too.
Shea reached down and grabbed a handful ofsoil, rubbing it between her hands. It would make them lessslippery while climbing.
Though scaling another cliff wasn’t exactlyhow she wanted to escape, she felt it was better than trying tobacktrack with the horse. For one thing, the path they’d comethrough was narrow, and there weren’t a lot of offshoots. Thescouts would just need to ride until they caught up with her, andshe’d be hemmed in.
Also a horse couldn’t go all the places aperson could. Lastly, few would think she had escaped up a cliffand so wouldn’t look in that direction when it came time to hunther.
And she had no doubt they’d hunt her. Theywould consider her a deserter. They’d come after her even if it wasjust so they could make an example of her to other would-bedeserters.
She placed her hands against the wall andwedged one foot into a small dip in the wall, so small that it wasvirtually nonexistent. Hand over hand, foot over foot she made herway up the vertical rock face, using tiny handholds and even tinierfoot holds. More often than not she was hanging onto the cliff’sside with just the tips of her fingers.
It wasn’t her favorite place to be,especially when a gust of wind came tearing through the canyon,pulling at her body and causing her stomach to drop right into herstomach.
Finally though, she gained the top where shecould rest with her legs dangling over the edge. She sighed andleaned back to watch the heavy gray clouds above her.
Her rest was short. The clouds weren’t thesort to hold her attention long. There were no shapes to bediscerned or stories to be imagined. They were just one large grayblob. Not interesting at all.
Shea sighed and stood, brushing the dirt offher hands. She turned to go and hesitated, looking down at thecanyon the men had ventured into. Everything inside her said theywere heading into danger.
Perhaps she should follow just to make surethey were okay.
She tapped her leg with one finger.
Why should she? They’d been warned. Whateverhappened next was on them. It wasn’t like they’d done anything todeserve her consideration. She grimaced and touched her cheekgingerly. The opposite in fact.
She started to walk away when a scream rentthe air, echoing eerily in the enclosed space.
She took a step in that direction andstopped.
No.
It was on them. It had nothing to do with heranymore. She was out. Free. She could head back to Birdon Leaf witha clear conscience and knowledge about a previously unknowndanger.
The sounds of battle and an animal screampulled at her.
On the other hand, perhaps she could gain alittle insight into how these strangers dealt with beasts.
Before she could change her mind again, shefound herself running along the edge of the canyon in the directionEamon and Lorn had disappeared down, telling herself this was justan information gathering exercise. She wasn’t going to interfere.Just see what was what.
Shea lowered herself to her stomach andpeered into the narrow canyon below. She pressed her lips togetherat the visible carnage.
From the looks of things, they had beenambushed on their way back. Two men were already in pieces on theground.
The first man’s torso had been separated fromhis lower body and the two pieces lay a few yards from each other.The second man’s body was missing an arm and half of its chest. Thedirt beneath him had turned the color of rust from all the bloodthat watered it.
An enormous shadow beetle reared back ontoits hind legs. Its razor sharp pinchers glistened with liquid.Blood, no doubt. It was easily twice the size of a horse. Itsmottled grey shell was beginning to darken to obsidian as itentered a feeding frenzy.
