Alena lifted the door just enough to poke her head through. The door opened into a tightly wooded grove of trees, and as far as she could tell, no one was near. She crawled out quickly, settling into a crouch outside the tunnel. The small wooden door had been covered with leaves. Alena debated, then left the door open. Hopefully it would help Azaleth and the others find her.
She studied the ground and the trees around. For a moment, she worried she had lost them. But then she spotted a broken branch and a footprint in soft ground. She followed, making sure to leave an obvious trail for Azaleth to track.
Alena followed the footsteps for some time. The task didn’t come easy to her, but she refused to lose the trail.
She froze when she spotted movement ahead of her. She’d been crouching down, trying to determine where the tracks led. A shadow moved well ahead of her, drifting between the trees. When she focused on the movement, she saw the pale skin of a Lolani.
She had found them.
57
Brandt imagined jumping off the wall simply to have something to do. Guard duty was a chore at the best of times, but the agony of boredom intensified when he knew there was work that needed to be done. Ana appeared to bear the strain of inactivity better, but Brandt knew disaster was coming. Somewhere nearby the Lolani lay in wait, ready to unleash whatever horror they had prepared.
And he stood on the edge of a wall, not knowing what else he could do.
When he heard his name being called he almost jumped.
He rushed to the other side of the wall, where Azaleth stood shouting his name. The youth’s behavior drew the stares of other guards, but Brandt ignored them. Becoming light, he leaped from the wall, landing softly on the street below. “What?”
The young man’s haste made his imperial harder to understand, but Brandt caught the gist of it. Alena had followed Kye out to a house near the edge of town, where she suspected a tunnel under the wall existed. She had followed.
Brandt couldn’t decide if Alena was brave or foolish, but he hoped for the former. He turned and waved to Ana, who landed beside him. He repeated the story, and Azaleth told them he planned on tracking Alena.
A glance at Ana told Brandt that she knew his mind and agreed. They motioned for Azaleth to follow, and the boy was only a step behind them. They sprinted through the gates, earning more confused looks from the guards but no further response.
Azaleth took the lead heartbeats after they were beyond the gate. He ran the length of the wall. Though his lightness didn’t come close to Brandt’s or Ana’s, his enthusiasm more than made up for the difference. He turned the corner, heading north.
Brandt and Ana followed as he ran the whole east length of the town, turning again and running west along the north wall.
They were nearly as far away from the main gate as they could be. Brandt supposed it made sense. If Kye had tunnels built underneath the town, having an escape far away from the road seemed sensible.
Finally, Azaleth slowed. “I believe the house is somewhere near the other side of that wall.”
“How accurate are you?” Brandt didn’t accuse, he just wanted some idea of how close the secret tunnel might be.
Azaleth’s hands flashed in a sign Brandt didn’t understand. “Maybe two hundred paces?”
That was better than Brandt expected. He strung them out in a line and they began searching for the tunnel exit.
Ana found it, far more quickly than Brandt expected. Azaleth’s sense of place had put them within fifty paces, and whoever had used the tunnel last hadn’t covered it up. Brandt suspected Alena, a guess confirmed moments later by Azaleth, whose gaze ran over the dirt with a practiced eye. He pointed to a footprint. “That’s her.”
Brandt had little choice but to trust the Etari warrior. He saw the footprints, but couldn’t have guessed whose was whose. Azaleth set off, almost at a run.
The young warrior tracked the trail with unnatural ease. Signs that Brandt barely noticed seemed obvious to Azaleth. Their pursuit rarely paused more than a heartbeat or two before they were off again.
Any lingering doubts Brandt held vanished when they came upon Alena’s crouching form. Brandt hid a small smile. Azaleth’s demeanor changed the moment he saw Alena. His shoulders relaxed and his pace slowed. Brandt wondered if Alena knew how strongly Azaleth felt about her.
Alena turned as they approached, relief evident on her face. They crouched next to her, and she pointed ahead.
Brandt’s blood ran cold. The Lolani had gathered together around Kye, who was busy talking and pointing up to the mountains. Brandt couldn’t make out the words from this distance, but Kye appeared very animated. Behind him, Jace looked nervous, his hand constantly wandering near his sword.
Kye argued with three women who appeared much calmer than him. Whenever he would pause, the women replied in short phrases that angered the governor.
Brandt had seen enough. The only reason he remained still was the group of Lolani warriors. He counted eleven men surrounding the discussion. Too many for him.
He reminded himself that Kye was also a threat. He had no memories of the bandit — only stories told to him by those he trusted. It colored his judgment. He accepted that Kye was strong, but the tales he heard strained his imagination. Time distorted memory.
Brandt didn’t want to underestimate his enemy, but overestimation could lead to mistakes, too.
Regardless, there were too many enemies for him to attack.
“What do you want to do?” Alena whispered. “Should we return with city guards?”
Brandt studied the Lolani. Even at a distance, the pale warriors radiated menace. The extra numbers
