Mercenary by Jodi Kendrick

Author:Jodi Kendrick [Jodi Kendrick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: SoulGate Publishing
Published: 2023-12-08T00:00:00+00:00

Siobhann crept through the forest, circling the encampment. There were a lot more guards and prisoners now than there were that morning on the road.

Fuck.

The second escort group had arrived. She kept her distance, straining to see Nate.

There? She couldn’t be sure.

With so many more added to the camp, he was harder to spot. They were all dirty and haggard. Long days of forest travel did that, especially when you had to be on full alert for opportunities to escape, prisoner and guard alike.

She spotted the guard with the burnt hands glaring in her direction. She ducked further back into the brush, heart pounding.

Surely he hadn’t seen her. She altered her course, senses wide open.

Instinctively, she ducked again as an inky shadow swooped overhead, drawing her attention for a split second.

Omi.

Drawing comfort from the friendly observer, she continued. Eyes darting from light to shadow, from man to man to picketed horses. Ears trained for snapping branches or shouts of alert. The odour of unwashed bodies seeped through the foliage. The stench of the open latrine assaulted her approach, forcing her stomach to flip.

Painstakingly, she made it around to the far side of the encampment before she finally spotted her target, set away from the main prisoner column, still chained to one another.

He huddled next to another, smaller man curled up on his side, outside of the light of the campfire, where the air was chilled. Nate whispered to him, gaze darting toward the guards. Blood seeped from Nate’s nose, while one eye was swollen shut.

Moving closer, she gave the horses a wide berth, eyes flicking from guard to guard.

The one with the burnt hands from that morning reappeared within the camp, checking the prisoner’s chains. Her fingers brushed the metal shivs concealed amongst her gear.

Had he recognized her on the road?

He wandered toward a cluster of chatting guards, exchanged a few words, laughed and continued on, away from where Nate was.

Where was the lead from that morning? None of them looked familiar, except that one.

Something’s not right.

Once he passes through the prison gates, he’s lost forever. It’s now or never, Siobhann.

On nimble feet she made her way to the brush behind his position. Pressing closer, she made sounds mimicking scurrying animals to draw his attention, then moved just close enough to allow him to see her.

“Gods in the heavens, you and my wife have balls enough to lead the emperor’s armies yourselves, Siobhann.”

“Yeah, now get your soft ass over here so you can tell her so yourself.”

“I’m not going, Siobhann. I can’t leave. Not yet, I need to—,”

“What the fuck do you mean, you’re not leaving?” It was all she could do to control her voice and maintain the whispered exchange.

“Holtmann’s nephew. He won’t survive the journey into the Shield. Get him home alive while I figure out what’s going on in the north.”

The Shield—Holtmann’s nephew?

She squinted through the foliage at Nate’s companion, curled up on his side in the dirt, shivering.

“This isn’t the prison escort. We were transferred to slavers a few hours after you delivered your message.

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