Mist's Edge (The Broken Lands #2) - T.A. White Page 0,98

morning. The tools should help them mirror the tracks of a red back, a revenant and a hularna.

Clark would be the red back for this exercise and Shea would be the decoy.

“Good luck,” Shea told Clark.

“You too. Somehow I think you’re going to need it more than me.”

Her grimace said she agreed.

They each pressed the stamp in the ground and then set off in opposite directions. The sign they left would be the trackers’ first test.

“Why did you make Clark the red back?” Trenton asked as Shea left some scratches waist high on a tree.

“Who do you think they’ll assume is the real target?” Shea asked.

“You.”

“Exactly. Clark is perfect. If they try to read our foot prints, those who aren’t sure will pursue me. Those who do know how to read signs will pursue Clark.” The object of this game was to test the competitors’ knowledge and tracking skills, in addition to their endurance. Most Trateri knew how to track, it was something they were taught as children since much of their diet consisted of what they hunted. There was no way Shea and Clark would be able to completely erase their presence. This was their way of evening the odds.

Shea set off at a run, heading to the next place where she’d leave another sign. Trenton kept up with her easily. Together the two of them moved through the forest, stopping only when they needed to set the next sign. Shea alternated between the revenant’s tracks and the hularna’s. She broke off stems and bent branches, sometimes laying a false trail before backtracking.

An hour had passed before she heard the first sounds of pursuit. There was a loud curse as one of the contestants stepped into a briar patch she’d led them through. She grinned. That would teach them to pay attention to their surroundings.

She moved off at an angle from them, not wanting to be caught just yet. The game was still early and Clark hadn’t blown the horn to say he’d been caught.

“You are diabolical,” Trenton remarked after Shea left a false trail pointing into a nest of stinging thistles. The flower’s petals would leave welts and rashes on any unsuspecting victim that chose to brush against them.

Shea shared a smile with him as she backed away from the nest, careful not to brush up against any of the yellowish, green petals.

“I learned from the best.”

“This may end up backfiring on you,” Trenton said with a skeptical glance at the stinging flowers. “He will not be happy when he catches up to you if he has welts and a rash all over. He might even find a nest to throw you into.”

She shot Trenton a grin. “If he’s arrogant enough to get caught in this, he deserves what he gets.”

She’d decided she liked this game. Liked outwitting Fallon and making him chase false trails. The only way it would be better is if she could ditch Trenton and do this alone. He made their trail a little too easy to spot.

She stared at him in thought.

“Oh no, don’t even think it. You’re not ditching me.”

She sighed. Such a stickler for the rules.

She wiped her hands on her pants and gestured for him to continue. He started to turn and Shea bent to grab her print-making tool. A whistle sounded in the air. Shea threw herself to the side. An arrow sailed over her head and thunked into the trunk of a tree barely a handbreath from Shea.

Trenton spun, drawing his sword at the same time. Another arrow whistled through the air. Trenton deflected it with a swift movement. “Get up. We need to run.”

Shea leapt to her feet, darting past Trenton and behind the cover provided by upraised roots that were as tall as she was. They raced through the trees, giving little thought to where they were going. Shea ran, knowing any moment an arrow could land in her back.

She weaved through the trees, zigzagging to and fro. Trenton crashed through the underbrush beside her.

The sound of pursuit followed them. Shea tripped, falling down a bank and rolling into a stream bed. She pushed herself half upright in the water.

Where was Trenton? He’d been right beside her. She was alone now. They must have gotten separated.

She took her time getting up, keeping her movements soft and silent. There was a rustle in the bushes behind her. Shea slid through the water, keeping low, until she could press herself against the bank. She waited with bated breath