UNSHEATHED

Chapter Fifteen

The cliffs behind the fortress were littered with caves. Some were shallow, but many were deep and twisted with branching tunnels and multiple caverns within. After looking around a few of them, Elena decided she needed to get more organized, so she drafted a plan for searching the area.

The Prince, true to his word, ordered every able-bodied man and woman in his service to assist. Perhaps he finally came to value her knowledge and skill. Now that he understood she possessed nearly sixty years of experience rather than merely twenty, he no longer challenged her.

The searchers stood out in the courtyard waiting for their assignments as the morning sun arched upward in the sky. Elena stood by a desk where a clerk sat. The Prince had assigned him to assist her. The man would take down everyone's name and note which group she assigned them to. Elena had insisted that a guard accompany every group and everyone who had arms was instructed to carry them. There was no telling who could be hiding in these dark, damp places.

"Get some torches," Elena ordered a nearby guardsman, "one for each member of the search crew."

She called out the names of each group member and as they came forward she instructed them which route they would be searching.

"After completing your assignments, return here to report what you have found."

Each person's results would be recorded by the clerk when they returned.

The day seemed warm for spring, but they were farther south than Elena's native land of Estallium.

Time wore on slowly. Elena waited impatiently, pacing the courtyard while the searchers covered their routes. Finally groups returned and gave their reports. She gave them new routes to search and paced some more. It was her duty to coordinate, or she would have joined them in their search. Still, it was hard to wait.

As the sun angled toward horizon, she called a halt for the night, dismissing each group as they returned. All of the caves in the nearest section of beach, from the fortress entrance to the jutting point of rock at the far end of the beach had been searched.

Elena posted guards along the beach to ensure that the caves remained unoccupied after they left. She had more work to do: reports to review, maps to scour, and next day's search pattern to work out. The pattern would radiate out from the limit of the first day. They would enter the forest beyond the cliffs.

The second day was much the same as the first. In the afternoon, though, the trackers found traces of the passage of the outlaws path through the forest that led away from the cliff edge, deeper into the woods, in the direction of the Kalad border.

Elena organized a party to investigate this area, and decided she would accompany them this time. This time the group consisted solely of fortress guards; twenty in all, for the chance of discovering the outlaws, she hoped, was much greater.

They followed alongside the tracks which kept in fairly straight line with little indication the group had stopped to rest or sleep. Elena was troubled. This seemed too easy.

She selected a group of five guards, quietly using hand signal, to make a wide circle around the tracks and the rest of the search party. Elena kept to the back of the main group, keeping an eye and an ear at attention.

The light was dimming fast, but to stop now would leave the trail much colder on the morrow. She would keep going for a little while longer.

In the depths of the forest, mostly made up of tall, straight pines, the ground was almost bare of undergrowth. The occasional moss-covered boulder poked out of the ground. A rusty carpet of fallen needles felt spongy underfoot. The sound too, was affected by the ground. Noise seemed to travel only a short distance.