The noise of boots scrambling down the rocks was followed by the thud of someone landing before the cave. Gravel crunched beneath the heavy steps. They heard the noise of a man hocking and spitting.
“By Cheshu, look at them run,” Martin said gruffly. He sniffed.
They could see his boots and lower body. He stepped on Quivel’s chest and yanked the arrow out of the dead man. Then he ducked low, his frame filling the gap. “Come on out, my little ferrets. They’re on the run now. They’ll trouble you no more.”
Fallon smiled. He shuffled forward a few paces. “How many men did you bring, Martin?”
“Just Deven and a few others. A good hunter with a bow is worth twenty men with naught but swords. The hunter is patient. The prey is careless. I don’t think they realized they were the prey until the end.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
The Crooked Tree
Despite the reassuring tone in Martin’s voice, Trynne was distrustful.
Fallon looked ready to head out, but she caught his arm and gave him a warning look. “How did you know we’d be here?” Trynne asked the grizzled hunter. She couldn’t sense anyone who was Fountain-blessed or possessed magic. Still, she did not feel entirely safe.
“Bah,” Martin said with a snort. “Didn’t know that, lass. But I won’t mistake this for coincidence. I have seen enough in my years to convince me the Medium is real. I knew you two were heading to Dieyre’s army to seek your father. There were rumors about Dieyre’s new strategist. I pieced it together.
“I’ve had my Evnissyen up in these mountains for weeks trying to find a back way in, since the front is heavily guarded. Deven and I made haste here and arrived last night. We were on the lookout for you. We camped high up, so we saw Dieyre’s hunters chasing you. I told you I would aid you if I could.”
His gaze shifted to Owen. “I’m guessing you found the one you’ve been seeking?”
Martin was a canny hunter. She had assumed that he would try to follow their trail through the cursed woods if he decided to follow them. But now that she thought on it, he had already suspected their destination. It made sense that he had taken the safest way there.
“I’ll go out first,” Fallon said to her. “I think we’ll be all right.”
Although she was still hesitant, she gave him a nod and gripped her sword hilt, ready to fight if need be. Ducking low, Fallon crept toward the edge of the cave and soon emerged.
“Well met, Martin,” he said. “Hello, Deven.”
“Well met, indeed, by Cheshu,” said the hunter. “Deven, take the rest of the Evnissyen and hunt down those who escaped. Claim their uniforms and badges. They will come in handy later, I should think. I’ll take yours too, lad, if you’ll not be needing it.”
The sky was beginning to brighten, each moment bringing more light to the interior of the cave. She glanced back at her father. He was watching the entrance, his eyes squinting in the gloom.
Reaching out, she put her hand on his shoulder.
He gave her a sad smile and then nodded. “I think we are safe.”
They left the cave together and joined the others.
“So where are you bound?” Martin asked when he saw them.
“You can’t go back to the queen. When you disappeared like that, snuffed and vanished like a conjurer’s trick, she was all too keen to find you. The whole army is on the look for ye. I can get you a boat if you need one. The Evnissyen are loyal to me.”
“The question is,” Fallon asked, “why are you still loyal to her?”
Martin’s face scrunched up at the question. “You are young, lad.” He bared his teeth in a grimace. “You don’t understand the pull of family.”
Fallon’s face became intense and serious. “I think I do.”
“So long as there is a spark of hope—a single ember burning in the ashes, the faintest puff of smoke—that my granddaughter can be saved, I will cling to it. The Myriad Ones have her, lad. It’s plain enough to see. There was a time, years back, when she was an innocent. We cannot return to the past. No traveler can. But so long as I have memories of her then, it makes me determined to see that cursed hetaera Leering smashed into rubble.”
Fallon pursed his lips and nodded. “I see that you cannot be swayed from your path.”
“Aye, lad. That Leering was taken somewhere. And I mean to find it.”
Trynne admired his courage, his unwillingness to accept that his granddaughter was lost forever. Maybe it was a foolish hope. But it was the kind of hope that she herself had clung to after her father’s disappearance. Now her father stood by her side—evidence that some hopes were fulfilled.