By The Light Of The Moon

Chapter 19

I gazed up at the small wispy clouds drifting over us. As boring as the afternoon was, I was trying to prove I wouldn't wander out of the camp unless danger came calling.

As if summoned, several distant horn calls blared in a rather excited fashion that likely didn't bode well for us. I rolled to my knees and quickly climbed up a large boulder, hoping it would be high enough to see past the surrounding trees.

My location halfway up the valley gave me some advantage, but the scraggly trees still blocked most of my view and hid whoever had blown the horns. Fainter horn calls answered the first; if the call sequence hadn't been different, I would have assumed it was an echo.

The closer ones replied, but despite my best efforts to peer through the treetops, I couldn't see them. I was able to determine the direction this time, but if I was correct, they were in the pass we'd crossed over.

Why couldn't we get a break? And how did they find that particular path?

I glared at the treetops, finally seeing a flicker of something metallic reflecting the sunlight. That was right around where we had crossed over, so they must have found our previous camps or possibly some of Milly's droppings. I'd have to start using branches to sweep them off the trail, but when I was on foot and guiding her, I didn't always notice if she left road apples behind.

We had gotten a head start, but if these people were as persistent as before, I had a feeling that wouldn't last long. Hopefully they'd mistake the bandits' trails for ours and go the wrong way.

The horns exchanged a few more messages before falling silent. I didn't see anything else, so I slid off the rock, mulling over the return of our pursuers and how they'd trumpeted that fact across the entire valley.

Why had they used the horns? There was no way anyone in the valley could have missed it unless they were sound asleep. Would it not have been better to send someone back to the camp and have all horn calls echo from there like they had the last few days? Why give away their position like that?

Was it a ploy to make us panic and drive us into a trap? Or had a careless soldier been overeager to relay the good news? Or did they just not care if we knew and were relying on the rapid arrival of their friends to negate any advantage it gave us?

I fretted over the latest turn of events, but there wasn't anything I could do about it.

~

   I paced back and forth as the sun disappeared behind the mountains. Everything had been packed and ready to go for quite some time, and my pacing was even making Milly start to fidget.

No more horns had disturbed the mountain silence, but I knew there were unfriendly people roaming this valley, and it wasn't just the bandits this time. With a heavy sigh, I stopped and gazed up at the sky. Pacing wasn't going to accomplish anything besides wear me out, and I had a long night ahead of me.

"What's got you so wound up?"

I jumped as Shane's voice came from above, and I spun around, finally locating the man sitting on top of a boulder, where he was looking down at me quizzically.

I sighed and tried to slow my heart rate. "If you're trying to give me a heart attack, you're doing a good job. I'm not sure if you can see it from up there, but there are soldiers in this valley."

His head immediately turned to scan the valley below. "See what?"

"I caught a glimpse of them when they came over the same pass we did, and the only reason I was looking was because of all the horn calls."

After staring for a while, he slid off the boulder and walked over to claim the wrap waiting on a rock. As he picked it up, he said, "That's not exactly welcome news, but we expected them to show up in this valley sooner or later."

"I was hoping they'd lose our trail and not be sure where we went." I took a bite out of my wrap, which I had been saving for when Shane showed up. It just seemed polite to wait until he arrived before eating.

"If wishes were horses, beggars would ride."

"They already have horses, so I wish they would ride the other way. Are we at least halfway across the mountains?"

"No, only about a third of the way. If we'd been able to travel on the road instead of meandering along deer trails, we'd be halfway there."

Shaking my head, I swung onto Milly's back. "I'm hoping they give up soon or find something better to do, like fend off another warlord."

With a nudge of my heels, she ambled down the path while Shane walked beside me, still eating his breakfast.

"If they keep chasing us," he said, "we'll just have to avoid them until we reach the kingdoms of the southern kings. I can't see them risking a war with the kings."

He didn't seem worried about the war parties, and I wished I had his confidence. But I was a trader and he was a werewolf shifter. His abilities and knowledge were vastly different from mine.

He finished his wrap before I did and pulled his necklace off, shifting into his werewolf shape. Pausing, he stretched and twisted as he limbered up, making powerful muscles roll under his thick fur. He shook out his fur with a sigh similar to the one I made after getting up and stretching this morning.

"Keep going. I'll check farther ahead," he said as he dropped to all fours and bounded into the greenery.

"Sure." I tapped my heels against Milly's side, hoping the old gal would be willing to trot while some light still lingered in the sky.

She went into a light trot, but thirty paces later, slowed down to a fast walk, quickly edging down to her usual plodding pace.

"Come on, Milly. I know you're old, but you can't use that excuse after your last run. There's got to be some get-up-and-go left in there." I tapped my heels against her sides again, knowing it wouldn't be long before the lack of light forced us into her favorite speed.

With a resigned sigh, she resumed her light trot. I wasn't sure how long it would last, but at this point, any extra distance we made was a good thing.