similar valley in that direction.”
“What do you know about it?” asked Roghar. Tempest couldn’t blame him. Could Albanon’s random lie about their destination actually lead them to something? Albanon put up a hand, urging Roghar and the rest of them to silence, then raised an eyebrow at Turbull.
“Why are you interested in this valley?” he said.
“I didn’t say we were interested in it,” Turbull answered. “We know about it. The hunting is good there.”
Albanon lowered his hand slowly. “When I first told Cariss we were looking for a valley below a stone face, it completely changed her mood. I don’t think we’d be eating and talking if I hadn’t. Since then, every time we’ve brought up that valley, your warriors react. I think you are interested in the valley. Furthermore, I think there’s more to it than you want to say. You’ve said you’re looking for a better place in which to make your camp. If this valley is fine and rich with good hunting, why aren’t you there already?”
Across from them, Hurn’s broad face had sunk into a glower. His wasn’t the only one. Many of the warriors had dropped their food to grab for their weapons. Cariss had bared her teeth and leaned forward like a great cat ready to lunge. Albanon’s comments had struck close. Tempest shifted her own food to one hand and let the other fall down closer to her warlock’s rod.
Turbull remained calm, at least on the surface. His attention stayed on Albanon. “What do you know of the valley?” he asked.
“Only what we’ve told you: that something waits for us there that might help put an end to the Abyssal Plague.” He paused, then added, “In fact, I’ll be fully honest with you if you’ll be honest with me. Something has been guiding us north, but it wasn’t a vision. Until just now, I wasn’t even sure we were looking for a valley. I just made that up.”
Tempest was sure the reaction to Albanon’s announcement was not the one he wanted. Her heart jumped into her mouth. Belen cursed loudly. The warriors erupted into howls of outrage. Beyond Turbull’s inner circle, the Tigerclaws twisted around as one, startled by the sound. Hurn leaped to his feet. Roghar did the same. “They lied to us!” snarled Cariss. “They’ve broken the faith of guests!”
“ Be silent! ” roared Turbull. The warriors all froze where they were and an eerie quiet descended over the camp. Hurn and Roghar faced each other across a frighteningly small patch of ground. Tempest could see the nostrils of both shifter and dragonborn flaring with each breath they took. Turbull rose and looked around at all of them. “Faith has not been broken-the truth has been offered willingly and truth demands truth.” The barbarian chief looked at Albanon. “You are correct. We have held something back from you as well.”
“I’ll say!” Uldane’s voice rang out of the darkness. The halfling came striding in between the feasters. Ignoring all of them, he walked right up to Turbull. “You’re holding our friends captive.” He turned to Albanon. “Shara and Quarhaun are prisoners here in the camp!”
The first thought to pass through Albanon’s mind was Not now, Uldane! Then Uldane’s words actually sank in. His second thought, and the one that made it out of his mouth was, “What? Are you serious?”
“I’ve just been talking to them. The Tigerclaws are holding them captive in a tent over there!” Uldane pointed. “They’ve been here for days.”
Words failed the wizard. He twisted around and stared at Turbull. The shifter, though, seemed as surprised as him. “You know the drow and the human?” Turbull’s eyes narrowed before Albanon could respond. “No, don’t answer.” He raised his voice, speaking for the benefit of those round them. “These are matters to discuss beneath the hide of a tent. Come with me and we will speak. Cariss and Hurn, you will be my witnesses-”
“Oh, no,” said Uldane. “We can discuss this right here. I want answers and I want them now!” The halfling grabbed Turbull’s wrist as if he could hold him in place.
At the same time, Belen seized Albanon’s arm. “Do something to keep him quiet!” she said. “Turbull is trying to save face. If he loses control of the situation, we’re all dead.”
Albanon glanced around the camp. The Tigerclaws were starting to recover from their surprise. Confusion was giving way to ugly glares, and not just among the warriors. Those beyond the inner circle were also growing restless. Albanon threw a quick look to Tempest and received a sharp nod in return. The eladrin clenched his jaw and stood up, stepping forward to stand by Turbull and Uldane.
“We will listen,” he said loudly and with deliberate formality. “If there is a misunderstanding we can resolve it in private.”
Gratitude flickered in Turbull’s eyes, but Uldane looked shocked. “Albanon, did you hear what I said? They’ve got Shara and Quarhaun-”
“We’ll deal with it, Uldane,” Albanon said under his breath. “Let Turbull go.”
“But-”
“Let him go!”
With a grumble and a curse, Uldane released his hold on Turbull, but glared up at the chief. “If we’re going to talk,” he said just as loudly as Albanon as had, “we’re going to do it in front of your prisoners.”
Turbull’s lips peeled back from his teeth. “If you demand it.” He looked out at the Tigerclaws. “The feast continues. We will return.”
He strode off so abruptly that Albanon was left uncertain if he should follow or not. The looks on the faces of Cariss and Hurn as they stepped out from among the other warriors made up his mind. Albanon grabbed Uldane-not very gently-and hustled him after Turbull as Tempest, Belen, and Roghar followed behind.
“What did you think you were doing wandering away like that?” he said. “We had to cover for you when Cariss and Hurn came for us. We could have been in trouble.”
“More trouble than Shara and Quarhaun are in?” Uldane snapped back at him. He shook off Albanon’s hand. “If I hadn’t gone exploring, I wouldn’t have noticed that there was a tent under guard and I wouldn’t have found them. We wouldn’t even have known they were here. What about that?”
Albanon started to answer, then stopped. Uldane was right. If Uldane hadn’t snuck off, they might have left the camp without knowing how close they’d come to their lost friends. “You talked to them?” he asked instead. Uldane nodded. “How are they? How did they end up here?”
“They ended up here,” said Cariss abruptly from Albanon’s other side, “because we caught them in our camp at night, skulking like thieves. It was a hard fight to capture them alive. If you’d been in the camp when we’d caught you, you’d be with them right now.”
Albanon met her eyes. “I thought Tigerclaws killed trespassers.”
“You expected them to be dead?” Cariss stretched out fingers tipped with sharp claws-claws that actually seemed to grow as Albanon stared at them. “It can be arranged.”
“Cariss!” said Turbull harshly and the warrior lowered her hand. Turbull glared at Albanon over his shoulder. “You are in a precarious position, eladrin.”
The threat raised Albanon’s anger just a bit. “Your position doesn’t seem so safe, either,” he said. “You got us away from the feast pretty quick. What don’t you want your clan to hear?”
Turbull swung around fast and bared his teeth in Albanon’s face. Cariss jerked away from her chief’s anger. Albanon braced himself for a blow or at the very least a roar of fury. Turbull, however, did neither. He closed his mouth, glared at Albanon for a moment, then turned away again.
“I do what I must for my clan,” he said. “Even when I must go against our customs.”
Hurn and Cariss remained silent, their faces troubled. Whatever Turbull was up to, Albanon realized, they were in on it. The wizard looked back at Belen but she only raised her eyebrows in surprise and shook her head. Albanon left Uldane and jogged ahead to catch up with Turbull. “This has something to do with the valley, doesn’t it?”
“I will not talk of these things beneath the sky,” the shifter said.
They were approaching a small tent. A Tigerclaw squatting outside its door looked up sleepily, then jumped to his feet, fully alert at the sight of his chief. Turbull dismissed him with a curt gesture. When the guard had gone, he looked at Albanon. “You enter first. If the halfling has untied your friends, I will not be the victim of an ambush.”
Albanon nodded. The door flap had been tied down with leather thongs. He started to undo them, but Turbull growled and swiped a hand across them. The thongs fell away, sliced clean by his claws. He stepped back again. Albanon pulled back the edge of the flap just a bit.
“Shara? Quarhaun?” he called. “It’s Albanon. I’m coming in.”
