Shadow of a Shade

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Addiane was grateful that whoever split up the teams had separated the twins. Whether they realized it or not, the two had a connection. Ulf had barely questioned it when she asked where his brother's team was, and he gave her a fairly concrete answer.

"He's never been able to do that before." Hal commented as he walked alongside Addiane. "We always get the impression that he can sort of tell how Wulf feels, but never to that extent before."

"The Spine does things to people. They may have a permanent mental link." She shrugged, keeping her eyes on the ground and trying to find any signs of people passing through.

Jesper tripped on something and Addiane gritted her teeth. Wasn't he the thief? He should be lighter on his feet than this.

"Okay hear me out-" The thief was already talking when she turned to face him. "That tree branch wasn't there before-"

"That's because it's not a tree branch." Addiane shook her head, watching the huge log-like creature slid between them slowly. "Stay quiet, it will leave us alone."

"What is it?" Ulf asked, eyes wide.

"A snake. Like I said, the Spine does strange things. Its inhabitants often grow strange mutations."

The snake disappeared off into the undergrowth and Addiane shook her head, glaring at Jesper. 

"What?"

"What do you mean, what? It's a great bloody snake, you blundering-"

"Addiane." Hal said quietly, grabbing her arm. "Take it easy."

Addiane took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment.

"Listen, we know you're stressed. This is a bad situation to have anyone in, and you're doubly connected to it. Take a few deep breaths and lets keep looking." Hal kept talking, waving his two men off. Ulf grabbed Jesper's arm to make sure he actually backed off.

"I'm fine. Let's keep moving." Addiane said flatly. Every time they stopped she was itching to move again, and she knew they couldn't keep the pace up forever but she wanted to push for as long as possible.

Hal watched her for a moment, but Addiane just rolled her shoulders and began to look around. "We should try to keep going in the same direction, that way we aren't losing time because we're crossing paths with the other search parties."

"Hey, what's this?" Jesper suddenly asked.

Addiane whipped around and crossed the space between them quickly. Jesper was looking at something on the side of the tree that he had been leaning against.

There was a single, distinct mark in the bark, at about hip level. Addiane ran her fingertips across it.

"This is fresh... check the other trees nearby and see if you can find more. It could just be an animal...."

It was too clean to be anything but man-made, but Addiane wanted to cover her bases, just in case.

The four of them spread out around the tree that Jesper had called attention to. For a few minutes no one found anything, then Ulf suddenly let out a cry, waving a hand.

"Here! I found another one!"

Addiane ran over to him and inspected the cut. It was almost identical to the first mark they had found.

"They seem to be going farther into the forest." Hal said quietly.

"Good. Let's keep moving and see where they lead us.

And so the game began. The four searchers would spread out from a tree with a cut, trying to move in the same general direction the marks were pointing. For minutes there would be silence as they all checked the trees nearby, then someone would find something and the process would start over again from that tree.