The Speaker's Son (Dragon Speaker Series Book 4) by Devin Hanson

Author:Devin Hanson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Devin Hanson
Published: 2017-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

The Trail of the Expedition

Arana rode by Deidre’s side, forming a rough triangle behind Osvald. The big cleric rode in front with his rifle propped up across his saddle horn. They were riding a wide circle around the camp, looking, as Osvald put it, “for whatever we might find.” That seemed pretty vague to Arana, but she didn’t have a better suggestion.

It was nerve-wracking. They rode slowly, letting the horses walk. There was an unspoken agreement among them that it would be the worst kind of folly to discover something and be unable to escape because they had let their horses tire.

The sound of their horses’ footfalls were muffled in the deep mulch. This far from the fallen tree, mushrooms grew sporadically, mostly where the trunks of the trees protected them from whatever light did make it through the gap in the canopy.

They rode through an emerald gloom. Moss grew heavily on the tree trunks and on stones that protruded from the ground. In the low areas, water pooled, making mucky, treacherous spots where an unwary horse could sink to its belly in an instant. Mosquitoes whined about their ears. They saw the tracks of a deep cat, each paw print the size of a wagon wheel.

There were other tracks as well, clear in the mud. Arana saw the myriad tracks of the splay-toed forest deer herds and passed sections of the forest where the mushrooms had been grazed down to the ground, only enough left for a few desultory flies to be interested.

“The forest seems… different,” Arana said quietly to Deidre.

The cleric nodded. “I feel it too. Not enough to put my finger on, but something is wrong.”

“None of the tracks we saw led toward the camp,” Osvald called back.

Deidre shrugged. “Perhaps it is only the influence of men we feel here.”

“Maybe,” Osvald said. “I don’t claim… Hold on.” He reined his horse to a stop and swung down from the saddle.

Arana and Deidre reached his side a moment later, and Arana saw at once what had caught the cleric’s eye. More tracks, leading away from the camp and deeper into the forest. Except these tracks were boots and horse hooves.

“The expedition,” Deidre said.

“It seems that way.” Osvald craned his head, trying to see into foggy murk of the forest. “We will follow the trail.”

“Shouldn’t we tell the others that we’ve picked up the trail?” Arana asked.

Deidre looked to Osvald and the big man rolled his shoulders. “To what end? They know we are searching for signs of the expedition. The only thing that would come of it is us wasting time riding back to this spot.”

“It is past noon now,” Deidre agreed. “If we returned to camp, we could not investigate further until tomorrow.”

Arana nodded. To her, it sounded like the clerics were trying to convince each other, but it wasn’t her place to gainsay them. She nodded and tried to ignore the twisting in her stomach.

“Still, it wouldn’t hurt to be careful,” Osvald said. He strode over to a tree and chopped a branch off with his sword.

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