The Druids' Legacy by Trenna McMullin

Author:Trenna McMullin [McMullin, Trenna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-06-06T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12: Searching for Answers

Jace had been following the soldiers for almost two days now. He'd been careful to stay far enough back that even if they did detect him, they hopefully wouldn't assume he was following them. After all, his cover story gave him a good reason to be heading to the capital, and he assumed that's where they were heading as well. He had to make a decision soon though...they would reach the capital before nightfall, and once the soldiers were back inside the city walls, it would be near impossible for him to follow them into wherever they were taking the prisoner without being noticed. If he stuck to his original cover story, he'd probably be assigned another unit and be redeployed and never have anything to do with these soldiers or the prisoner.

That's what he should do—it's what he was supposed to do, both by army standards and for the assignment the rebel leader had given him...but something about the prisoner drew him. He couldn't just abandon the man to whatever fate the soldiers had in store for him. Staging a rescue was out of the question as well—they'd never get away quickly enough, especially with reinforcements so close. The king could have hundreds of soldiers scouring this forest before they could even get a league away. So he would have to be content with gathering information until he had something useful to send back to the rebels. Which meant he had to somehow integrate himself into this group of soldiers before they got to the city.

It was risky, far more dangerous than his original plan. If the soldiers were overly cautious they might just shoot him on sight. Even if they heard him out, they might sense something fishy about his story and tie him up or execute him for deserting. There were a lot of ways this could end with his death or imprisonment. He ran his fingers through his hair nervously, almost deciding against it again...but then he took a deep breath and plunged into the clearing.

"There you lot are! I swear, I've spent days looking for you only to find that you're miles east of where they said to meet you, and closer to the capital than I was!" He strode right up to the sentry, gesticulating wildly and trying to sound as frustrated as he could.

"Halt! Put your hands where I can see them and stop babbling," the sentry said, raising a crossbow and leveling it at Jace's chest.

"My hands are right here, soldier. I'm clearly unarmed—wish I wasn’t, then I wouldn't have had to spend all night in a tree after getting chased by that wild boar. Could've just skewered the bastard and been done with it."

He really was babbling now, saying anything and everything that came to mind, formulating a story that would explain the shoddy state of his clothing and give him a reason to be looking for them. If he threw in a lot of details maybe it would distract them from questioning where he'd come from.

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