Pathfinder's Way(59)

"It'd be easier to eat if my hands were free," she tried.

"No. Eat."

The smell of meat was making her hungrier. She could refuse, but the  only one she'd be hurting would be herself. Eating would refuel her  strength. Strength she might need shortly.

In the end, there was really no choice.

Feeling like an idiot she moved her face forward and took a tiny bite  out of the pastry. She chewed and swallowed and then took another one.  When neither man acted threateningly, she allowed herself to relax, just  a tiny bit, and applied herself to eating as fast as possible.

Finished sooner than she would have liked since her stomach still  twisted itself into knots from hunger, she couldn't help darting her  eyes to the water bag in his hand. Seeing where her attention had gone,  he held it to her lips until she was finished.

Fed and hydrated, Shea sat back and scrutinized the two of them as the  second man took up a position next to his companion. Neither attempted  to question her, letting the time pass in silence as they stayed locked  in a three way staring contest.

This was a fine mess she found herself in. She hoped the others were  safe and well. Were they being treated the same or were they right now  faced with less friendly service?

It was tempting to let worry consume her over her friends fates, but she  couldn't let that happen. She had to keep her wits about her and see  what she could do about getting out of this situation. Only then would  she think about what could be done for the others.

Several hours later, exhaustion was tugging at Shea as the adrenaline  faded and nothing, good or bad, happened. Her eyes kept wanting to slide  shut, and her head jerked up as she felt herself nodding off. She  squirmed in her seat and tried to tap her foot to keep herself awake.

This worked for a bit before the effects of the past few days and the  sleepless night began taking a toll. She fell asleep, her head sagging  forward and her body slumping in the chair.

After what felt like seconds a forceful hand shook her awake.

Startled from the abrupt departure from slumber, she tried to stand but  was brought up short by the bindings on her wrists and ankles.

She squinted up and felt her heart almost stop at the sight of Darius  staring down at her with a slight quirk to his lips. Caden flanked him  with the cool expression from before.

Shea cleared her throat and looked around in confusion before focusing  back on the two men in front of her. She'd have liked to stand or maybe  disappear into her chair, but that was impossible. All she could hope  for now was to bluff her way through this and hope Darius didn't  recognize her.

"Glad to see we're not keeping you from your sleep," Darius said as the corners of his eyes crinkled slightly.

Shea shifted in her seat and looked at Caden. How was she supposed to  respond to that? Unable to think of something that would be appropriate  for the situation, she kept quiet.

"You look familiar," Darius told her.

Her heart gave a painful thump before hammering away in her chest at a breakneck pace.

"Uh," was the only thing she could think to say.

"I've met you before." He looked at Caden and then snapped his fingers.  "You're that scout, the one who came up with the beast board."

Shea's mouth was frozen open in astonishment for a moment before it  snapped shut, and she nodded eagerly. "Oh, yes. That's how we met."

"What's this?" Caden asked.

Darius partially turned and filled him in on their previous encounter.  "Henry was curious why Dawn's Riders had significantly fewer field  casualties from beasts. During our most recent tour of their operations,  we came across this strange looking board covered with paper. Someone  had come up with the idea to compile the scouts' experiences in a  central location where they could compare notes before heading into the  wilderness." He looked back at Shea. "It was an ingenious idea. Don't  know why we didn't think of it before now."         

     



 

Shea kept very still, hoping that would be the only encounter he  remembered. Her brown eyes were wary and her body stiff under his  penetrating regard.

"That was your idea, wasn't it?" Darius asked casually.

Shea licked her lips and shook her head. "That was all Clark's doing."

"But it sprung from something you created."

"I guess."

"That's pretty impressive," Darius told her. "There's talk that that  board is to going to be implemented by some of the other clans as well."

Why was he telling her this?

"It's something that could save lives," Caden said softly, his eyes steady on her face.

Shea's gaze shot to him while her wrists twisted against her bindings uneasily.

"Talked to your scout master and fellow scouts," Darius inserted out of  the blue, bringing Shea's eyes back to him. "They said it was your idea  to check the other trails."

Again Shea shrugged.

"That was pretty smart. You probably saved the Hawkvale and his guard's life."

He was leading up to something, Shea realized. That's why he'd brought  up where he knew her from and then praised her initiative. He'd probably  known exactly who she was before he ever walked in here. Chances were  he'd talked with anybody she'd ever interacted with. That's why she was  in here for so long. Long enough for the adrenaline to fade and for her  to fall asleep.

But to what purpose? Maybe to catch her in a lie or get her to boasting about all her achievements.

Impressive. He was good. He probably expected to shake some information  loose before she even realized what she had revealed. It was clearly a  tactic he'd used before. Caden too, if the way they played off one  another was anything to judge by.

"How'd you know which routes to look for him on?" Darius asked.

"Didn't know. I got lucky."

Darius arched an eyebrow and pulled a face as if to say he was  impressed. "That's some luck, you happening on the exact right place."

Yeah, some luck. She was handcuffed to a chair facing an interrogation.  If this was good luck, she kind of preferred having no luck.

"No answer?" Darius asked, arching an eyebrow.

Caden was a dark shadow at his back, his hands hanging loose by his  sides as he cataloged every fleeting expression that crossed Shea's  face.

"You didn't ask a question."

Darius straightened and gave her a sidelong glance. "I don't know quite  what to make of you. From what I've gathered from your fellow scouts,  they don't know either."

Shea met his gaze with an impassive look of her own.

He clasped his hands behind his back and said, "Shane, last name  unknown. A Lowlander. Village also unknown. You've got skills that are  highly unusual for a Lowlander and most Trateri. Not only can you read a  map, but you're skilled in creating them as well." Seeing little  reaction, he continued, "I've talked with our scout trainers." That got  some reaction, though a minor one. "They've never heard of any Lowlander  named Shane. In fact, they said no Lowlander had ever completed an  apprenticeship. They were quite insulted when we suggested one had.  Seems they don't think much of your people."

Well, crap.

Darius wasn't done. "Now normally, at this point, it would be assumed  you're either a liar or a spy. You're not entirely a liar because your  companions tell me you're the best scout they've ever worked with. You  are also in possession of an exceptional amount of knowledge about  beasts. If you're a spy, you're perhaps the worst one in history. Not  only have you been turning in accurate maps for months now, but you led a  scouting party to the Trateri leader and then put yourself in great  danger to save him."

Shea resisted the impulse to shift or look away. She may not have been a  spy, but she was definitely a liar. They had no idea how deep her lies  ran.

"Yes, you're a total mystery," Darius said, running his eyes over her.

That had not been her intention. Her hope had been to appear boring and ordinary so nobody would think to look closer.

"How did you know to look there?" Darius asked, a trace of steel threading through his voice.

Shea bit the inside of her lip as thoughts turned over in her head. As  far as she could see, it hurt nothing to share about the conversation  she'd overheard and the rest that had led to finding Fallon.

Hiding the truth or downplaying what she knew might even be seen as more suspicious.

"The maps they gave us were wrong." Shea watched them carefully for a  reaction, but whatever they felt was kept locked down. Caden's face  stayed serious and stony, but Darius was just as good at keeping his  emotions locked down behind his blandly amused expression. "Routes were  missing and others were mismarked as dangerous when they weren't. I  tried to talk to the master cartographer on duty about it, but he left  his post before I could. When I followed him, I overheard him and two  others, a man and a woman, discussing the fact he'd distributed false  maps. From there, it was just a bunch of little things that added up  considering the situation."