Mist's Edge (The Broken Lands #2) - T.A. White Page 0,63
been on guard duty depended on what they had to say.
“Who is this from?” Darius asked. He turned the note over examining the other side before flipping it over to look at the handwriting on the front. Witt read over his shoulder, his eyebrows drawing to a deep V.
“It was left for Shea. Who do you think it’s from?” Fallon didn’t have the patience for stupid questions.
Darius nodded. “Whoever left it didn’t use our paper. I don’t recognize this blend.”
“It’s from the pathfinders,” Witt said. “Their stationary always has a faint bluish tinge to it. This won’t be the last note, I’d wager.”
Fallon stilled as a thought occurred to him. “Shut down the camp; no one leaves. Whoever left this isn’t one of us. They may still be here. Search every tent, every nook and cranny of this place until you find them.”
Darius turned and strode off, snapping orders as he made Fallon’s command a reality.
“You, stay. I want to know what else you know about the pathfinders,” Fallon ordered before Witt could follow Darius.
The man nodded, his eyes solemn. “I’m not sure how much more I can share. I’ve told your people everything I could remember.”
“Tell me again.”
“If it’ll help.”
Fallon felt a little of his anger ease. Darius would do everything in his power to find this person or persons. Fallon wanted to be out there too, searching for this invader. It would give him no greater pleasure than to hunt him down and teach him the error of his ways.
For now, he had a few other things to take care of before he could join the hunt. He strode over to Trenton and Wilhelm, both of whom watched him come with an alert cautiousness that wasn’t normally present.
“I want one of you with Shea at all times, even when she’s here. She’s not to leave your sight until this person is found.”
The two men shared an uneasy look, both aware of how much trouble that would bring them with Fallon’s Telroi.
Fallon acknowledged their hesitation, knowing it wasn’t a reaction to his order. They were beginning to feel some loyalty to Shea. That was good. It was what he was hoping for, that they would feel the same need to protect her that they did him. He couldn’t entrust this task to her friends from the scouts, knowing they didn’t have the skills or desire needed to become an Anateri.
He made it easy on them. “Say the order came from me. She can take up her dissatisfaction with me later.”
Trenton gave him a wry look. “I do not envy you that task. I’ve been caught on her bad side on more than one occasion and still have the bruises on my ego after she got through with me.”
Fallon grunted. That was one of the things he liked about the woman. She always pushed back, never letting him have an inch if she could help it. She challenged him. It was something that had been missing from his life for a long time before her.
He turned to Witt. “With me.”
Witt followed as they headed for a tent adjacent to Fallon’s. It was where he conducted less friendly talks—the ones that might involve a more forceful display of his prowess. The tent was stripped of civilized trappings. It wasn’t a place one lingered voluntarily.
There were no rugs on the ground to soften one’s step. There was only one place to sit and that was on the ground. There was a table, but it contained devices only welcome in a nightmare—devices meant to compel someone to spill their inner-most secrets.
Witt waited patiently by the entrance while Fallon prowled the small space. Patience wasn’t always Fallon’s strong suit, unless it was the patience needed for a hunt.
Fallon gave the other man credit, not once did Witt eye the space with fear. Instead he was a calm next to Fallon’s storm.
“Start from the beginning,” Fallon ordered. He folded his large arms and gave Witt a long stare, the kind of stare that drilled through a person’s mask down to the soul beneath. It was meant to intimidate, to cause a man to squirm.
Witt stepped forward, his expression open as he held his hands wide as if to say he had nothing to hide. “As I’ve said before, Shea would be the best person for this. She was a pathfinder and knows more than me.”
That wasn’t an option. Not right now. Not in this situation. She was too close to this.