Eamon smiled at the expression. “He’s a goodkid. Comes on a little strong sometimes, but has a good heart,which is impressive given his background.”
Shea felt a bit of interest perk up at thosewords. “Oh.”
Buck chimed in from where he had pulled out amirror and started lathering his face. “He’s an orphan. His parentsdied when he was a toddler. The clan raised him after that. He hasa tendency to collect big brothers. He’s probably overjoyed youjoined up. Until now, he was the youngest in this division. Nodoubt he’s hoping to be the one imparting knowledge and wisdom thistime.”
He was still the youngest, but they didn’tknow that.
Now she felt doubly bad about being so shortwith him. It was like kicking a puppy. You could do it, but man didit make you feel about an inch high afterwards.
“Craaap,” Shea breathed, snapping the bookshut and rising.
Seeing the answering grins peeking out of thelather both men now had on their faces, Shea couldn’t resist a bitof payback. “I hope you three took a piss when you got out of thewater.”
“Huh?”
“You know there are little fishes that willswim up your pisser and lay eggs. Only way to get that out is totake a piss right after getting out. Forces them back out.”
Buck shot a wide eyed glance at Eamon, “He’skidding, right?”
Shea hid her grin as she headed afterClark.
“You’re kidding, right?” Buck shouted afterher.
“Am I? Guess you’re about to find out,” sheshouted back.
“Son of a–“
Shea chortled when both men stopped what theywere doing to find the nearest bush.
Sometimes revenge was oh so sweet. It neverpaid to mess with a pathfinder.
Later that night, Shea picked her way throughthe forest by the light of a moon that had already passed itszenith when she slipped away from camp. Lucky for her it was twothirds full or else it would have been difficult to navigatewithout the benefit of a torch, which was off limits since thewhole point of going at night was to avoid notice.
She headed for the pool she had scouted thatafternoon above the falls. Although it was late, that was noguarantee somebody else hadn’t decided on a midnight swim.
This was the best way she knew to minimizethe risk of exposure while still reaping the benefits of gettingclean.
Soon, she was standing before the softlyrushing water. The pool she found was really just an eddy of thelarger stream and was the result of a small rock outcroppingjutting into the water and causing a lazy back current. The watermoved slowly enough that she wasn’t in much danger of being sweptdownstream and over the waterfall as long as she didn’t step intothe middle of the stream.
It was shallower than she’d like. She’d haveto kneel and hunch over for the water to reach her shoulders.Beggars couldn’t be choosers though, and she was happy just for achance to get clean again.
Being constantly on the move and away fromthe benefits of civilization made water a luxury that took a fargreater willpower than hers to pass up.
She carefully checked the area beforedisrobing and laying her clothes on the rocks above her bathingarea. The night air swept goose bumps up and down the bare skin ofher stomach and legs. She shivered and walked into the water.
Cold. So cold.
Argh, if only she’d been able to sneak awayearlier when the sun had been up to lend its warmth. She nearlyvibrated in place in an effort to get warm. Not wanting to prolongthe experience she fumbled for her soap. She quickly sluiced waterall over before building up a nice lather and rinsing it away. Herhair, she left alone, not wanting the gunk keeping her hair dark towash away.
Not willing to linger longer than she had to,Shea was done washing within minutes of stepping into the water.Years of hurried baths with men steps away had given her an abilityto be quick about her business.
Voices came from below just as she steppedout and was reaching for the small towel she’d brought.
Her first instinct was to freeze in place.Pressing the towel to her, she surveyed the night. With the moonup, the scene was a monochromatic wash of greys and shadows, makingit easy to see general forms but not distinct details.
No shadowy figures waited there in the darkthat she could see. They could be just beyond the tree line, butshe doubted it. The voice sounded like it was coming frombelow.
Wrapping the towel around her, she crept overthe damp rock towards a slight drop off next to the falls andpeered down.
