“Fine. You’ve turned into such a spoilsport, you know that?”
Shea fixed him with a gaze that said she was not amused. She had always been the spoilsport among the two of them—the voice of reason in whatever insane plan that struck him.
Reece turned to walk towards the cliffs. Caden stiffened and let out a sharp whistle. The Anateri guards Fallon had posted reacted immediately. They kicked their horses into a gallop and circled Reece, weapons drawn as they herded him back towards Fallon.
“What the hell are you doing?” Reece asked, his face flushed as he glared at the guards as they used their horses to force Reece closer to where the three of them waited. It was move or be crushed, the horses snorting and bobbing their heads any time Reece looked like he planned to stand his ground.
“Shea, will you ask that musclebound idiot at your side to call off his lackeys? I don’t know how you expect me to find a way into the caverns, if his men keep acting like a bunch of newbies jumping at the least provocation.”
“You can tell us the location of the entrance. We will do the rest,” Fallon said. He eyed Reece like he was a bug he wanted to squash.
“That won’t work,” Reece said, finally addressing Fallon directly.
Shea could have told him earlier that pushing Fallon was the best way to not get what you want, but she figured she’d let him dig his own grave. He was her least favorite cousin, after all.
“As your lovely friend over there could tell you, if she planned on being the least bit helpful, these entrances can be a bit tricky. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you could walk right past it, best-case scenario. Worst-case, you trigger something that leaves a lot of people dead, including yourself.”
Caden scoffed. “You want us to believe your people have some sorcery to enable you, and you alone, to access this place. Next, you’ll want us to believe that the sky might fall unless you’re there to hold it up.”
Reece looked at Shea. “How did you allow yourself to be caught by these dunderfucks? And why have you stayed this long?”
The guard behind Reece kicked him in the back of the head. Reece fell to his knees. He glared over his shoulder at the guard.
Shea regarded the Anateri with a wry look before addressing Reece, “That’s how.”
Amusement crossed Caden’s face, tugging at his lips, and was gone before Shea could do more than blink at him.
“The Trateri can be very persuasive as you’ve just experienced,” Shea said before turning to Fallon. “He does have a point though. The caverns aren’t entirely natural and have been rigged with traps should they be breached by the enemy.”
“I’m beginning to believe your people are the real force behind the Highlands,” Fallon told her.
Reece snorted. “You’re just figuring that out? Guess she does have some loyalty after all.”
“Enough, Reece. Stop picking and prodding to see how he reacts,” Shea said, fed up with him. “Or I’ll let Fallon do to you what he’s been wanting to since you snuck into our home.”
“I don’t know how you can call that piece of cloth held upright by a few sticks a home.”
The faces of the two Anateri behind Reece darkened, neither man liking the insult. The horse of one stepped forward and shoved Reece in the back with its nose, the force almost toppling Reece back to the ground.
Shea regarded her cousin, unimpressed. “Stop saying shit you don’t mean to get a rise out of them. You and I both know we’ve called much worse accommodations home in the past.”
She knew he remembered the time they’d lived out of a cave for three months when they were teens and apprenticed to a master pathfinder. Their master thought it would be good for them to experience what it was like to be lost and alone in the Highlands, so he’d left them stranded hundreds of miles from the nearest village. They’d been lucky for that cave too, or they would have had to sleep exposed to the elements and any beast wandering by.
Reece dipped his chin as he stared up at her with a frustrated expression. She raised an eyebrow.
“If you two are done fighting, I’d like to get back to the matter at hand,” Fallon said in a mild voice. The only hint of impatience was in the way his horse shifted under him and pawed the ground, picking up on its master’s emotions.
“I told you a pathfinder has to find the entrance, or you risk getting a lot of people killed.”
Fallon bared his teeth in a semblance of a smile. “Good thing you’re not the only pathfinder here, then.”
All eyes turned to Shea. Reece looked at her with a considering expression.
He shrugged. “That could work.”
Shea sighed. “Tell me what I need to know so we can get this over with.”
Reece crouched and picked up a rock lying next to him on the ground. “Fine, get down here so I can show you what you’re looking for.”
Shea dismounted and handed her reins to Fallon before walking over to where Reece was drawing a symbol on the ground.
“You’re looking for this symbol.”
Shea recognized the swooping circle with the squiggly line bisecting it. “This is Lodi’s cavern.”
“Yup.” He gave her a cheeky grin.
“Why would you bring us to Lodi’s pass?” she asked in a scandalized voice. “You know this place is dangerous.” Not to mention unlocking it was a giant pain in the ass.
“What’s Lodi’s pass?” Fallon asked, coming to stand beside her so he could look over her shoulder.
Shea exhaled a gust of air. “It’s the least used of the caverns. No one takes it unless they’re desperate. There are things in there that don’t take kindly to strangers. It’s a real bitch to find, too.”
“And there’s your answer right there.” Reece stood and tossed the rock up, catching it as it came back down. “It’s nearly impossible to locate even if you’ve been through it before and the denizens don’t even allow pathfinders access all the time. Your Warlord and his army will have an impossible time trying to get back through it after this.”
“We’ll have a devil of a time getting through it this time too,” Shea snapped. “That’s if I can even find it.”
“Aww, does the great and wonderful Shea have a little self-doubt?” Reece sneered. “Too bad your Warlord refused to be reasonable, or I’d help you out.”
They both looked at Fallon. He stared back at them with a ruthless expression. Shea knew without asking that he didn’t plan on bending. He didn’t trust Reece as far as he could throw him, and Shea couldn’t say she blamed him. Reece wasn’t trustworthy under the best of circumstances. His role within the pathfinders almost demanded a bit of shiftiness, and since he’d first appeared, he’d seemed to be doing everything in his power to antagonize everyone around him.
“Can you do it?” Fallon asked, his gaze direct.
Shea pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “I don’t know. I’ve never come through here before. I doubt Reece even has, for all that he wants to make you think otherwise. All I have are the old stories to go by.”
Fallon nodded. “That’ll have to be enough.”
She sure hoped so.