Bearers of the Black Staff

Even then, Tasha allowed, it would be difficult to do much to help. Panterra and Prue were somewhere in the middle of thousands of armed soldiers, concealed in a sea of tents, and finding them under any circumstances was highly unlikely. The best they could hope for was that at some point the Lizards would attempt to move them again, and then a rescue of some sort might be mounted.

Or maybe flying sheep would swoop down and spirit the boy and the girl away and they would all go home happy, Tenerife added brightly.

But Phryne was not as pessimistic as her cousins, confident that an opportunity would present itself. They had gotten this far in spite of everything, tracking the caravan without difficulty through the night, reaching the encampment in time to see approximately where Pan and Prue were being taken. She was almost certain she knew the exact tent, although with time’s passage she had grown somewhat less sure about this. But whatever the case, she was determined to find a way to get their friends back. If not today, then tomorrow. Or the following day, or at some point soon, because she had meant it when she said she was not going back to Arborlon without them.

Restless and keyed up, she let the brothers sleep while she kept watch, eyes fixed on the encampment and its surroundings, waiting for the chance she was sure would come. Her experience at search-and-rescue missions was nonexistent, so her thinking was not hampered by practical considerations. Even so, she had enough of an understanding of how life worked to know that whatever they attempted would be extremely dangerous and could easily fail.

She continued to blame herself for what had happened to Panterra and Prue, unable to absolve herself of her guilt for pressing them to go when they clearly hadn’t wanted to. She hated herself for thinking that way because she wanted to believe what she had done was the right thing under the circumstances. That was why she needed to get them back, of course, because otherwise she would go on condemning herself over this business for the rest of her life.

She just wished something would happen. The hours dragged by, the day wore on, and they were no closer to rescuing the boy and the girl than before. Tasha had cautioned her that patience was necessary, that haste was what had landed them in the current mess. Her haste, he might just as well have said.

Which was true, so it was difficult to fault him for reminding her.

After a while, she found her eyes were growing heavy. She knew she should wake her cousins, but she hated asking them for anything and didn’t want to appear to need help of any sort. She dug her foot into the rocks and twisted until it hurt, bringing tears to her eyes but sharpening her senses anew. She thought about Pan, about how she was drawn to him, about how much she liked him even without knowing him any better than she did. It was extremely rare for Elven royalty to bond with a commoner—forbidden when the commoner was a human—but she liked the idea of doing something shocking. It was attractive to her; it sent a small tingle up her spine just thinking about it.

Anyway, she didn’t like doing what other people told her she had to do. Oh, it was one thing if it was her father, of course. He was the King. But not other people, and not when what they were telling her was tied to some outdated code of conduct that should have been cast out years ago. Not marry a commoner! What nonsense! She wasn’t even thinking about marriage. She was only thinking about spending time with him, about getting to know him better. He was interesting in his withdrawn, taciturn sort of way. She liked how he seemed so flustered when she talked boldly to him. She liked how it made her feel.

She looked off into the distance at the Lizard camp. Nothing. She dug at the rocky earth with her boot for something to do, but grew quickly bored. Her eyes were still heavy. She could close them just for a minute, couldn’t she? Why not? It wasn’t as if anything was happening or even likely to happen in the next few minutes. That was all she needed—just a few minutes.

The sun was hazy and the land barren as she peered first skyward and then out across the horizon. Everything was so bleak. It looked as if nothing lived there, even given the presence of the Lizards. It was an ugly, barren stretch, and she was sorry she had ever thought about going outside the valley. When this was over, they should all go back and stay there. This was no fit land for humans or Elves or anyone else.

She shifted to a more comfortable position and let her eyes close.

When she felt the hand on her shoulder, she realized she had been sleeping.

But it was too late to do anything about it by then.