“We do.” Charles’s answer was matter of fact.
“Who decides if we’re correct?”
Shea lifted an eyebrow. Who did they think decided that?
Charles’s answer was a little more tactful. “We do.” He waited a beat to see if there were any more stupid questions. “As I said, you’ll be placed into one of the three squares depending on your answers. There will be two ‘beasts’ that you’ll chase once we release you from your square. One is a decoy and the other is your quarry.” Charles gestured at Clark and Shea. They each lifted a hand to show they would be playing the beast. “Your objective is to follow the path they lay out and catch the beast. The first one to catch the correct beast wins.”
“How do we know which is the real one?”
“They will be laying tracks down to indicate what beast they are. The other will lay down different beast signs. It will be your job to determine which is which.”
There was a commotion from behind that distracted Charles from his explanation. Shea shifted so she could see better. Fallon, still clad as he was during his tournament event, stepped to the front of the group and folded his arms across his chest. He must have come directly from winning his last match.
Clark and Charles looked at Shea with amazed and questioning expressions. She shook her head.
She bit her lip and narrowed her eyes on him. What was he doing here?
He cocked an eyebrow at her and turned his attention to Charles. His patient expression said he was waiting for Charles to continue with his explanation of events.
Charles looked at Shea one last time, his face guarded and just a bit frustrated. He hesitated before going on to explain the rest of the rules. Shea and Clark would stick to the outer perimeter of the encampment so they didn’t lose people in the forest beyond. They’d debated for a long time about the boundaries, and it was decided it was too dangerous and unpredictable to take the group past the final sentry line. They also didn’t want a bunch of competitive Trateri running through the inner camp among crowds trying to capture Shea and Clark. There was still plenty of space to hide and track on the outer perimeter.
She snuck a look back at Fallon. His eyes were fastened on her. When he caught her peeking, he gave her a wicked smile. She sighed. Somehow, she didn’t think Fallon cared who was the decoy and who was the beast. There was only one person he planned to hunt.
The question portion of the exercise went quickly. Only those who were frequent attendees of Charles’s beast class landed in the first square. They would hold a distinct advantage over the rest as they would be the first to be released to track Shea and Clark. A handful were placed in the second square with the majority ending up in the last square. There were some grumbles as they ordered themselves into the proper square.
Charles gave Shea and Clark a nod. Trenton straightened and followed them into the forest beyond.
The three made their way to the stash of tools they’d placed in the knot of a tree earlier in the morning. The tools should help them mirror the tracks of a red back, a revenant and a hularna.
Clark would be the red back for this exercise and Shea would be the decoy.
“Good luck,” Shea told Clark.
“You too. Somehow I think you’re going to need it more than me.”
Her grimace said she agreed.
They each pressed the stamp in the ground and then set off in opposite directions. The sign they left would be the trackers’ first test.
“Why did you make Clark the red back?” Trenton asked as Shea left some scratches waist high on a tree.
“Who do you think they’ll assume is the real target?” Shea asked.
“You.”
“Exactly. Clark is perfect. If they try to read our foot prints, those who aren’t sure will pursue me. Those who do know how to read signs will pursue Clark.” The object of this game was to test the competitors’ knowledge and tracking skills, in addition to their endurance. Most Trateri knew how to track, it was something they were taught as children since much of their diet consisted of what they hunted. There was no way Shea and Clark would be able to completely erase their presence. This was their way of evening the odds.
Shea set off at a run, heading to the next place where she’d leave another sign. Trenton kept up with her easily. Together the two of them moved through the forest, stopping only when they needed to set the next sign. Shea alternated between the revenant’s tracks and the hularna’s. She broke off stems and bent branches, sometimes laying a false trail before backtracking.
An hour had passed before she heard the first sounds of pursuit. There was a loud curse as one of the contestants stepped into a briar patch she’d led them through. She grinned. That would teach them to pay attention to their surroundings.
She moved off at an angle from them, not wanting to be caught just yet. The game was still early and Clark hadn’t blown the horn to say he’d been caught.
“You are diabolical,” Trenton remarked after Shea left a false trail pointing into a nest of stinging thistles. The flower’s petals would leave welts and rashes on any unsuspecting victim that chose to brush against them.
Shea shared a smile with him as she backed away from the nest, careful not to brush up against any of the yellowish, green petals.
“I learned from the best.”
“This may end up backfiring on you,” Trenton said with a skeptical glance at the stinging flowers. “He will not be happy when he catches up to you if he has welts and a rash all over. He might even find a nest to throw you into.”
She shot Trenton a grin. “If he’s arrogant enough to get caught in this, he deserves what he gets.”
She’d decided she liked this game. Liked outwitting Fallon and making him chase false trails. The only way it would be better is if she could ditch Trenton and do this alone. He made their trail a little too easy to spot.
She stared at him in thought.
“Oh no, don’t even think it. You’re not ditching me.”
She sighed. Such a stickler for the rules.
She wiped her hands on her pants and gestured for him to continue. He started to turn and Shea bent to grab her print-making tool. A whistle sounded in the air. Shea threw herself to the side. An arrow sailed over her head and thunked into the trunk of a tree barely a handbreath from Shea.
Trenton spun, drawing his sword at the same time. Another arrow whistled through the air. Trenton deflected it with a swift movement. “Get up. We need to run.”
Shea leapt to her feet, darting past Trenton and behind the cover provided by upraised roots that were as tall as she was. They raced through the trees, giving little thought to where they were going. Shea ran, knowing any moment an arrow could land in her back.
She weaved through the trees, zigzagging to and fro. Trenton crashed through the underbrush beside her.