Bearers of the Black Staff - Terry Brooks [92]
He went out through the open flap without saying more, close on the heels of his cousin. Panterra and Prue felt their frail hopes of freedom go with him.
MORE THAN A MILE AWAY, safely removed from the sprawling Lizard encampment, Phryne Amarantyne crouched in the concealing shelter of a cluster of rocks atop a ridgeline that allowed her a perfect view of the camp below. The barren depression in which the Lizards had settled themselves was flat and wide and empty of any sort of cover. It told the brothers Orullian, who were familiar with this sort of thing, several important facts about the Lizards. First and foremost was that they considered themselves safe in an unprotected position, so they believed either that no enemy force large enough to challenge them was anywhere close, or that no such force even existed. Second, but of equal importance, this was an army on the move; even if something unexpected did threaten, the Lizards felt they were equipped to deal with it.
So any attempt at getting closer would be foolhardy, especially in daylight, which it now was and had been for the better part of six hours. A clear view of what was happening—of comings and goings that might involve their friends, in particular—was as much as they could hope for until it got dark.
Even then, Tasha allowed, it would be difficult to do much to help. Panterra and Prue were somewhere in the middle of thousands of armed soldiers, concealed in a sea of tents, and finding them under any circumstances was highly unlikely. The best they could hope for was that at some point the Lizards would attempt to move them again, and then a rescue of some sort might be mounted.
Or maybe flying sheep would swoop down and spirit the boy and the girl away and they would all go home happy, Tenerife added brightly.
But Phryne was not as pessimistic as her cousins, confident that an opportunity would present itself. They had gotten this far in spite of everything, tracking the caravan without difficulty through the night, reaching the encampment in time to see approximately where Pan and Prue were being taken. She was almost certain she knew the exact tent, although with time’s passage she had grown somewhat less sure about this. But whatever the case, she was determined to find a way to get their friends back. If not today, then tomorrow. Or the following day, or at some point soon, because she had meant it when she said she was not going back to Arborlon without them.
Restless and keyed up, she let the brothers sleep while she kept watch, eyes fixed on the encampment and its surroundings, waiting for the chance she was sure would come. Her experience at search-and-rescue missions was nonexistent, so her thinking was not hampered by practical considerations. Even so, she had enough of an understanding of how life worked to know that whatever they attempted would be extremely dangerous and could easily fail.
She continued to blame herself for what had happened to Panterra and Prue, unable to absolve herself of her guilt for pressing them to go when they clearly hadn’t wanted to. She hated herself for thinking that way because she wanted to believe what she had done was the right thing under the circumstances. That was why she needed to get them back, of course, because otherwise she would go on condemning herself over this business for the rest of her life.
She just wished something would happen. The hours dragged by, the day wore on, and they were no closer to rescuing the boy and the girl than before. Tasha had cautioned her that patience was necessary, that haste was what had landed them in the current mess. Her haste, he might just as well have said.
Which was true, so it was difficult to fault him for reminding her.
After a while, she found her eyes were growing heavy. She knew she should wake her cousins, but she hated asking them for anything and didn’t want to appear to need help of any sort. She dug her foot into the rocks and twisted until it hurt, bringing tears to her eyes but sharpening her senses