He paused at a blackberry bush, staying well out of reach of the brambles. Even though they couldn't bite into his leather clothing, the thorns would catch and jerk as he moved away, possibly alerting the others in the area.
The woodcraft of the small group to the south was lacking. Their feet clumped through the forest, loud to the trained ear. Baylee smelled them as well, breathed in the foul odor of the long-unwashed and the sulfurous taint of fear. They weren't sure of themselves, and that was good.
Whether they trailed him or the woman remained to be seen. There were those who had placed prize money on Baylee's head for past transgressions, and there was the possibility that he'd been recognized in Waymoot despite his precautions.
Baylee pressed on, moving slowly, parting the branches and brush ahead of him and making sure he didn't move too fast as he slipped through them. The incline ahead of him grew steeper, broken by trees stubbornly growing out from the gully sides. Darkness continued descending over the forest.
A soft rustle of leathery wings sounded behind Baylee.
Xuxa's telepathic voice tingled into his mind to reassure him. No one saw me.
Have you seen them?
No.
Baylee scanned the forest briefly, but the azmyth bat remained out of sight. He turned his attention forward, scanning up the gully wall before him. Shadows twisted and writhed ahead and to his left. Squinting, he made out the figure lounging there.
The woman crouched in the gathering gloom. Something edged gleamed in her hand.
She holds a hand crossbow, Xuxa said.
The announcement confirmed again Baylee's guess as to the woman's identity. He smiled in spite of the situation he found himself in. Jaeleen always added the spice of danger to any meeting between them.
Yes, Xuxa said, reading his thoughts. And that has never been a good thing.
I believe I asked you to stay out of my mind when you weren't invited, Baylee retorted.
Thoughts like that are hard to avoid. I am quite sensitive, after all.
And a busybody.
Were we not in such dire straits, Xuxa threatened, we would discuss that accusation at length.
The azmyth bat never discussed anything that wasn't at length. Baylee made a mental note to apologize some time before their eveningfeast to avoid the discussion. Hopefully they would be more occupied with their find.
He breathed shallowly, waiting as the woman turned her attention from the dig site to the approaching company of men. The smell of their pack animals lingered in the air, mute testimony to the fact they'd been ill-treated over whatever distance they'd covered. Easing a branch aside, the ranger peered at the woman.
He kept his eyes from directly resting on her. Most people had the ability to know when they were being stared at. Jaeleen was a warrior herself, trained in frontier woodcraft, though certainly not of ranger caliber.
She hunkered down next to a thick-boled oak tree. Early in spring, the oak seeds still fell to the earth in waves, twirling endlessly with each new breeze. Already the seeds clung to her homespun clothing, taking away some of the alienness of her that didn't fit in the forest.
Her face was as he remembered it, triangular, with a short nose and a generous mouth. Her yellow-gold hair blazed under the hooded brown cloak. The homespun clothing masked some of the generous curves of her body, but couldn't hide the fact that she was all female.
She held the hand crossbow in her gloved right hand and glanced back along the trail she must have made in her journey through the forest. Only a few bent grasses remained to mark her passage. She'd been careful. Most people would never have been able to trail her. Someone among the pursuing group must have known woodcraft.
I could go scout them and report back, Xuxa offered.
No, Baylee replied. You could be seen. That's a risk we don't need to take yet. Jaeleen may know who they are.
She may not be inclined to share that information.
Baylee grinned, feeling his spirits soar as he contemplated the coming confrontation. Fighting in the forest was something he was very familiar with. He dropped a hand to the ground and gingerly lifted small rocks from the gully side. He discarded them patiently, searching for ones that were about the size of a robin's egg, as round as he could manage, and worn smooth as churned butter to the touch. By the time he had a dozen of them located and pocketed, the first noises of the approaching party reached him.
The scrape of steel against leather sounded totally out of place in the forest. Horses blew their breath out in tired nickers.
Jaeleen shifted, laying her hand crossbow over a tree limb in front of her, a fletched bolt locked into place. Nestled into the side of the gully as she was, chances were small that she'd be spotted right away, and her position was defensible. Even with numbers on their side, the approaching group was certain to lose a couple members or more. Jaeleen was deadly with her little crossbow, and even more deadly when a man came within embrace of any of the small knives she kept secreted on her person.
Still, Baylee knew the woman would be overran. He reached for his belt and loosened the strip of heavily worked deerskin hiding inside it. Holding the ends between his fingers, he took a rock from his pocket and placed it in the end. The pocket formed around the stone instantly, turning the simple piece of leather into a sling.
He clasped the sling in his hand, then moved forward into the open, gliding between the leaves and the branches. Jaeleen had her back to him. He made no noise that she could hear.
Coming up behind her, he reached forward and clapped a hand over her mouth. She struggled immediately, becoming a hellion in his grasp. Baylee used his body weight to subdue her, managing it with difficulty because he didn't want to hurt her.
She waved the vicious little hand crossbow and tried to bring it to bear.
Baylee kept his hand over her mouth. She bit him, and her teeth penetrated the rough leather of his gloves with enough force to hurt but not break the skin. "Jaeleen!" he hissed into her ear. "Be quiet, or you'll have them down on us!"
She stopped struggling, but her body remained tense. He released his hold on her lower face. She turned her head to look at him.
"Baylee?"
He met her gaze. "Yes."
Without warning, she kicked him betwixt wind and water.
I warned you about her, Xuxa said. She knows no allegiance except what she gives willingly. You do not mean as much to her as you think.
Baylee rolled away to deflect part of the kick. But he crashed through the dead leaves and branches scattered across the ground, causing a great deal of noise. As he got to his feet, he heard orders bellowed in the distance. Then the sound of running feet echoed through the forest, approaching quickly.
Jaeleen leveled her hand crossbow at Baylee's chest Her finger whitened on the trigger.
2
"Baylee!" Recognition dawned in Jaeleen's eyes over the edged bolt of the hand crossbow.
"Yes." Baylee took a tentative breath, really surprised when it didn't hurt too badly.
"What are you doing here?" Jaeleen remained behind cover, her attention divided between the ranger and the approaching group bashing their way through the forest.
"Camping," Baylee replied. He turned his own attention to the crashing noises coming through the brush. The group no longer worried about remaining quiet. He pointed at the hand crossbow. "Would you mind aiming that somewhere else?"
Jaeleen shifted the crossbow, but not far. She reached up and knocked leaves from her hair. Oak seeds whirled around and descended to the ground. "You expect me to believe you were camping?"
"Not since you've been spying on me."
Dark anger coasted across the shadowed planes of the woman warrior's face. "Spying is kind of a harsh term, don't you think?"