Pathfinder's Way(51)

She sighed. It looked like Owen wasn't working. That wasn't good news  for her as one of the cartographers on duty tended to take it personally  when she made her own notations on the maps. She faced questions and  recriminations, and she was so tired. All she wanted was to drop it off  so she could head back to her tent for a couple hours of shuteye before  dinner.

"Every moment you stand there is a moment wasted." Vincent looked up and gave her a sharp-toothed smile.

Shea fought the urge to drag her feet as she approached the desk and  handed him her rolled up map, complete with changes and corrections. She  knew from experience that he'd just snatch the map from any of his  underlings. Might as well give it directly to him if it was going to end  up with him anyway.

"What have you changed this time?" he taunted, unrolling it before  setting it in front of him. "I see you crossed off an entire set of  ridges. And a river. Silly us to have put those in there."

"I'm just doing as I was told. Updating the map according to what we encounter in the field."

"I see. I see." He nodded and looked back at the map. "It just amazes me  that no other scout seems to make the amount of corrections you do."         

     



 

He knew as well as she that most of the other scouts didn't know how to  make those changes. When she didn't answer, he rolled up the parchment  and tossed it to another man who caught it before rolling his eyes at  Vincent's back. Seemed Shea wasn't the only one who thought the man was a  pompous sack of wind.

"Here." Vincent held out a rolled up piece of parchment tied with a red ribbon.

Shea unrolled it, her eyebrows lowering in question. It was a map. "What's this?"

He gave her an ‘are you stupid' look. "It's a map."

"I know that. Why? We just got back."

"Well, I guess you're being sent back out." He made little shooing motions. "Run along, now. We've got work to do."

Shea lingered, her gaze drawn to the partition behind Vincent. From what  she'd been able to piece together from overheard conversations and what  she'd witnessed in all her visits to the cartographers, she guessed  that the back room held the majority of the Trateri's maps. It might  even hold the maps she'd left behind all those months ago.  Unfortunately, the room was constantly occupied and she hadn't been able  to think of a reason to go back there and snoop around.

Vincent cleared his throat, drawing her attention and then gesturing outside.

She rolled the map back up and turned on her heel, pushing out of the tent. Sometimes she just wanted to strangle the man.

Outside, she blinked and shaded her eyes as they adjusted back to the  bright light. It looked like Eamon was still talking to the task  commander about whatever this next mission was.

Wanting to speak to him before she procured supplies, Shea stepped to  the side and unrolled the map, figuring she'd familiarize herself with  their route in case they really did have to head right out.

She'd seen this map before or one very like it. The information in it was wrong though. A lot was missing or mismarked.

Damn, she'd have to talk to Vincent again to get it fixed. Just what she needed, another encounter with the finicky map maker.

As she rolled it up, Vincent strode past her, moving at a fast clip. Not wanting to have to come back, Shea darted after him.

Some instinct warned her against calling out so instead she trailed  behind, wrestling with the need to address the error filled map but also  knowing something was off.

Why would he leave his post in the middle of a shift? During the busiest  part of the shift? Everything she knew about the Trateri indicated this  was against character. There was a rule about it or something. One of  those she was supposed to know but could never seem to remember. Eamon  waxed on about them all the time.

When he abruptly turned a corner to disappear between two tents, Shea  darted after him, stopping at the last minute. Hearing voices, she  flattened her back against the tent.

"Is it done?" a woman asked.

"Yes. I've distributed the maps you gave me to the troops."

"The correct ones?" another man asked. His voice was familiar, though muffled, as if she had heard it before. And recently.

"Misplaced, as you ordered."

"Are you sure that he got the fake ones? We need the trap to work. He's escaped too many time in the past," the woman said.

Who was this he? Whoever it was seemed to be important enough to sabotage?

The voices moved away. Shea stayed where she was, knowing if she  followed her chances of being discovered spying increased. It didn't  seem like the sort of conversation she wanted to be caught listening to.

Shea walked away, taking the first path to the right, taking another and  another until she was well and truly away from the trio.

What had she just heard? It was momentous, whatever it was.

There was a plot against someone in the Trateri ranks. Someone extremely important from the sound of it.

The question now was, what should she do about it? She wasn't Trateri.  Their politics didn't affect her since she still had plans to escape.  For all she knew, these plotters had a legitimate reason for their  actions.

Shea frowned. No, that was unlikely since Vincent was involved. That guy had greedy, bottom feeder written all over him.

If she did tell someone, would they even believe her?

One thing was clear; the map Vincent had given her was absolutely worthless.

"Shane! Shane!" a voice called.

Shea turned to find Clark darting toward her waving, a hank of brown hair flopping over his eyes as he stopped in front of her.

"Thought that was you, but I wasn't sure since you didn't respond when I called."

"Sorry, I was lost in thought." That and occasionally she sometimes forgot people knew her as Shane as opposed to Shea.

"No problem." He waved her apology away. "You just get back?"         

     



 

"Yeah," Shea's voice was distracted as they stepped to the side of the  dirt road to give others right of way. "Oh, last time we were out, we  encountered something Lowlanders call frostlings. They look like shadows  and seem to fear fire. Not sure how to kill them, though."

His eyes lit up and he nodded as he made note of her information. "That reminds me. You need to see this."

He grabbed her arm and pulled her in his wake, winding through the tents  as they left the more commonly used paths and went down one of the  smaller routes. She ducked under a line securing the tent to a stake as  she followed him.

"Is this going to take long? Because I still need to gather some  supplies and to talk to some people. Our team just got another mission."

"You're on that too?"

She nodded. "Wait a minute. You're going?"

He looked back and grinned. "All the scouts are. Someone important  didn't show up as scheduled and now every scout in camp has orders to  look for him. Don't worry though, they're still discussing how the  manhunt will be conducted. It'll probably be a couple hours before  everything is settled."

"Looks like we got back just in time," Shea said. This had to be part of  the plot she overheard. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell Clark,  but she held back. She didn't want to get him involved in something that  could be dangerous.

"Looks like."

They zig zagged down another set of alleys and across a wider road.

"Here we are."

"Where is here?" Shea asked, stepping over a saddle and apologizing as  she bumped into one of the servant caste carrying an armful of laundry.  She got a glare for her pains as the servant hurried off.

She looked around curiously, following Clark over to an awning. Several  lines anchored the canvas in place, causing the edges to dip down with  the tension. The only fabric present was the roof and back wall.

Under it, someone had set up a large wooden board and tacked small sheets of paper to it. They fluttered in a stray breeze.

Shea stepped closer to examine the paper. A rough sketch was drawn on  each one and names were written under the sketch. She reached out and  flattened one sheet to read it better.

Revenant: Compensates for poor eyesight with highly developed sense of  smell and hearing. Pickleberry juice can be used to slip past its senses  but fades fast and needs to be replenished or they will pick up your  scent. Tactics that have worked in the past …

Shea removed her hand and bent to examine another flyer, and when she  was done with that another one. Clark fidgeted anxiously next to her  while she read one after another.

"I thought the book of beasts was a great idea, but then it occurred to  me that other scouts could benefit from the information or even have  information of their own to contribute."

Shea's face was unemotional and her thoughts shuttered as she glanced over at him.

Not seeing the reaction he expected, Clark continued with his  explanation. "I asked a couple other scouts I knew if they had anything  they wanted to add to any of the entries. Next thing I knew, they wanted  books like mine. So we started this." He nodded at the board. "Any  scout can come and update an entry or add a new one. If they see  information they need, they can copy it into their own book."