Bearers of the Black Staff - Terry Brooks [73]
Pan did want to know, but he also didn’t want to take one too many risks. They still had no idea how dangerous it was in this new world, and he didn’t want to find out the hard way.
“We can go,” Phryne pressed. “You and I. The others can wait here for us.”
Prue stepped forward at once, her small frame stiff and her face set. “I will go with Pan,” she declared. “He is my partner, and we know best how to look after each other.” She took Panterra’s arm. “Come on, let’s get this over with. It’s clear that you’ve made up your mind.”
“Go on, then,” Tasha called after them. “But watch yourself, the both of you!”
“Nothing will happen!” Pan called back bravely.
Prue dug her fingers into his arm so hard he flinched. “Not now, it won’t,” she muttered as she dragged him along.
PANTERRA WAITED JUST LONG ENOUGH to be certain they were out of hearing before wheeling on her. “Why are you acting like this?” he asked, careful to keep his voice low.
Her green eyes fixed him with a frosty glare. “Acting like what, Pan?”
“Like you’re angry with me. Like it’s somehow my fault. Why are you even going with me, anyway? You know you don’t want to. You don’t want anything to do with this!”
“True enough. But if I don’t come with you, you’d go with Phryne and she might get you killed!”
He stared in shock. “Why do you say that? I’m not going to let anyone get me killed! I can take care of myself. Besides, who says I would go with Phryne?”
“You don’t know yourself very well, do you? Not as well as I do, anyway. Trust me. You would go.”
She turned away, as if dismissing him. He followed her in silence, seething. She was wrong, of course. He hadn’t had any intention of going with Phryne, no matter what she thought. At least, he didn’t think so. He would have told her no, and they would have turned back into the pass and started home. Even if she had insisted on going alone, he would have stopped her. Or Tasha would have. Even though he was interested in the source of the smoke and the possibility of contact with people living outside the valley, he wouldn’t have gone. Prue was just wrong.
Yet now here he was, going with her instead of with Phryne. And he hadn’t tried to stop her, either. What did that say about him?
He shrugged the matter off. It was too late to do anything about it now. Neither one of them would turn back at this point. They would have to sort it out later.
They stayed close to the rock walls of the cliffs as they made their cautious way toward the smoke, using clumps of scrub, piles of deadwood, and clusters of rock as cover, staying down in the gullies and ravines when they could. It was slow work made more difficult by the need to mask all sounds and keep their exposure to a minimum. They watched closely for unexpected dangers, aware that in this country there would be things they hadn’t seen before, traps and pitfalls and predators they might miss if they weren’t careful. They didn’t talk anymore, but concentrated on the task at hand.
It took them less than an hour to reach a point where they were near enough to their destination to get a good look at the source of the smoke. Hidden in a shallow ravine grown thick with scrub, they were able to peer over the ravine’s lip to where the smoke curled lazily out of a campfire smoldering in a ring of stones not fifty feet away. Packs of some sort were stacked to one side, and blankets lay neatly folded next to them. The camp’s occupants were nowhere to be seen. Panterra cast an anxious glance in all directions, not liking that no one was visible and they couldn’t be sure if anyone was close.
He looked over at Prue, and she shrugged. It was impossible for them to determine much of anything from the little they could see. He felt a keen sense of disappointment. This whole effort had been a waste of time. There was