"There," I finished braiding Drew's damp hair after we climbed out of the river. Drake's had already been done. I kissed Drew on the back of his neck, too. He grinned at me.
"Let's go find dinner," he said.
* * *
"Lissa, I'd pay if you'd make biscuits," Crane didn't like the flat bread he'd gotten with dinner. He, Devin and Dragon had beaten us to the cooking tents.
"Do they have anything to use as leavening?" I asked.
"They have baking powder," Crane said. "I just don't think they know how to use it."
"You think they'd mind if I used their portable kitchen?" I asked. "I made Gardevik biscuits in a skillet over a campfire."
"Come on," he stood and led the way. I found everything I needed in the camp kitchen and about forty-five minutes later, Crane had a skillet full of biscuits. I gave the cooks a few, since they'd let me use their supplies. Crane was more than happy and hauled the skillet out to our table, the handle wrapped in a thick pad.
"What are those?" Tava asked. She and the other two women were sitting at the end of our long table.
"Biscuits," Crane grinned and offered them one. They used the bread to dip up their stew.
"These are wonderful," Hart smiled happily. There was enough for everybody to get one and Crane to get two. The skillet was huge.
"If you have honey to go with them, they're even better," I said.
The following morning I was hauled away early—the cooks had come calling, asking me to show them how to make biscuits. We made biscuits and Crane got as many as he wanted, with a little honey. I also learned that we'd be getting close to the mountain range by nightfall and things were going to be tighter, security-wise, after that. Until now, we hadn't done any night guard duty, but each company would be asked, so our time was coming. Dragon talked to us about it over breakfast.
"Guard shifts are four hours long," he said, "two shifts per night. Six companies guard the perimeter every night and walk a portion of it. You're responsible for getting to the perimeter on time to relieve the previous watch. Do not fall asleep—it will be strokes if you do."
"And you made me come here," I grumped at Drake. Dragon cleared his throat. Time to shut up.
"If you see or hear anything suspicious, alert the others," Dragon went on, ignoring me. "Your superior on the night watch will decide whether it bears further investigation."
"Don't worry, Gavin is exactly the same," I told Devin later. She'd explained that Dragon didn’t mean the chastisement personally. He'd chewed me out after the meeting because I wasn't treating everything more seriously. Considering I hadn't volunteered for this assignment to start with, I thought I was displaying amazing restraint.
* * *
"If that were one of my boys, I'd force them into a sparring match and drive them into the ground," Dragon grumbled, pacing. Crane and Devin watched as he vented his frustration. "If I pull her onto the sparring square, she'll just block all my blows and yawn while she does it."
"Dragon, she isn't military and hasn't ever been military," Devin said. "This is all new to her. If you wanted a specific behavior from her, you should have been talking to her from the beginning instead of jumping her now, when she interrupted you."
"I've given Drake and Drew a dressing-down; they should have been giving her instruction," Dragon muttered.
* * *
"You get the second guard shift." Crane had been sent to hand out my assignment—Dragon was still seething, I figured. I just nodded at the former General. Drake and Drew were pissed at me, too, since Dragon had yelled at them after he yelled at me. Well, the end of this little vacation couldn't come soon enough. I set my internal clock for half an hour before I had to relieve the first guard, who happened to be Drake. He, Drew, Rik and Pheran had all gotten the first shift. Pheran Tiger was point man on that shift for us. I was going out on the second shift with Tava, Crane Trevor and Dragon Taylor. Dragon Taylor was chief cook and bottle washer on the second shift for us.
"Lissa, if you see or hear anything, let me know," Dragon Taylor was driving his point into my head, almost. I wanted to tell him I got it the first time, but my mouth had gotten me into trouble to begin with. I just nodded and went to walk the perimeter.
Each of us had a hundred yards to guard and we walked that hundred yards. The second shift is the hardest—the time when most people are sound asleep. Or, if they're awake, wanting to be asleep more than anything. Except for vampires.
I felt more comfortable in the dark—I didn't have the hot sun glaring down on me and making me wish for the darkest of sunglasses. The night was cooler, too, and I could listen better—the noise of thousands of horses clopping along wasn't confusing everything. The scents carried better on the breeze as well—everything was quiet except for a few guards walking the perimeter. The wind was blowing past me that night, which meant I got the scents from the camp instead of what was in front of me. More than anything, I wanted to turn to mist and check things out that way, but figured I was in enough trouble as it was.
Roughly two hours before dawn, when I'd been walking my little section of the perimeter I caught a sound, although the wind was doing its best to carry it away from me. I stopped still, trying to catch it again. While I stood there, wondering if my ears had played tricks on me, my skin began to itch. Then I heard it. I'd heard that sound before—René had died shortly after.
Arrows! I sent the mental shout to anybody with the talent to hear me. I didn't wait, either; I knew where that sound originated and I misted in that direction as quickly as I could. The camp was boiling behind me as the first volley was released. Falchani fought without shields. Arrows could be swift and deadly if something wasn't done about them.
I found the archers in a ravine roughly two hundred yards north of the Falchani camp. The enemy sent a second volley while I'd misted like a bullet in their direction. There were twenty of them and they all died, trying to fight an enemy they couldn't see. They'd hit me in the upper arm, though, when I materialized enough to take heads.
The camp was still boiling over when I walked back inside the perimeter, wondering what the best way was to remove an arrow from my arm. The metal point had gone clean through and was sticking out on the other side, making it difficult to move my right arm, in addition to hurting like hell.
Dragon was suddenly in front of me, the usual scowl on his face. "They're all dead," I muttered, stalking past him.