"You'll live," Caden said. "What I'm more interested in knowing is why you're here when I know Fallon has made this place and the Kyren off limits."
Eva looked beyond Van and Reece to the last man. He stood slightly to their rear, his hands loose at his sides as he studied the rest of them.
Noticing Eva's gaze, the man cocked an eyebrow at her but remained silent, content to be overshadowed by Van.
He was different than the stories she'd heard. Rumor had it, Rain Clan's leader, Gawain, was a petty man. Rash to the point of stupidity. A man jealous of the successes of his foster brother Fallon.
Yet Eva couldn't see any evidence of those descriptions in the man standing before her.
This man was quiet. Watchful in the same way Caden was. As if content to let his opponent maneuver themselves into the noose for him.
Caden stared Reece down. "What happened to reporting to the Keep and then coming right back?"
Reece ran a hand through his hair, looking unhappy as he shot a glare at Van. "There were a few complications."
Van's expression was filled with innocence.
"I was on my way back with a small supply train when I came across this idiot and his warband wandering in the mist." Reece jerked a thumb in Van's direction. "Evidently, he thought a pathfinder was optional in the Highlands."
Van shrugged his broad shoulders. "Hey, I followed instructions. As soon as mist was sighted, we tied ourselves to each other so no one would get lost."
Reece's expression was slightly vicious as he twisted to face Van. "That only works if you have someone to navigate your way out of the mist."
A chill moved through Eva at the mention of the force that was the primary reason pathfinders were so important. You could deal with beasts. You might lose a few, but beasts weren't invincible. As long as numbers were on your side, you'd come out the winner.
It was the mist that was the true threat. The thing those who lived here feared almost more than anything else.
Get lost in its depths and you could wander forever, never to escape. If you were one of the lucky ones who eventually found your way out, you could find that years or even decades had passed.
To tempt its embrace was foolhardy, but Eva guessed that was to be expected of the man who led Lion Clan, a clan who didn't know the meaning of fear.
Ghost and Roscoe's expressions warmed slightly as they shot an admiring look in Van's direction.
Fiona raised her eyes to the sky as if questioning how anyone could be so stupid. Eva was inclined to agree with her. As far as she knew, pathfinders were assigned to every war band when they left the confines of Wayfarer's Keep.
"What were you doing out there?" Caden asked.
Van lifted a shoulder. "Chasing an army. Didn't expect to end up anywhere near here."
Van gaze turned distant as he studied the towering mountains surrounding them. Sentinels of rock and snow as brutal and beautiful as everything else in this place.
"I don't even know where here is," Van admitted with a frown.
Reece struggled for patience. "I told you—the mist doesn't always put you back where you started."
"Wait a minute, you said you ran into them when you were in the mist?" Roscoe interjected. "I didn't know that was possible."
"It's rare, but it does happen," Reece admitted. "Usually when you're already in close proximity. And he's right—our point of origin was nowhere close to where we exited."
There was a guarded expression on his face that told Eva there was more to the story. Something in the sequence of events that bothered him.
Understandable. Who could take being in one place and then in a matter of hours being on the opposite side of the region? Even a pathfinder who was used to the impossible would have trouble with something as unexpected as that.
"Where exactly did you come out?" Fiona asked.
Reece took a deep breath as he shot a quick glance at the other two men. "A day's ride from the valley."
"They would have known about your presence as soon as you appeared," Caden guessed.
Reece nodded. "That was my assumption too. I couldn't leave them out there. They would have been a target for the mist. Not to mention they wouldn't have been able to find their way back."
Van sneered at Reece. "Speak for yourself."
Gawain's eyes narrowed slightly on the pathfinder.
Eva ducked her head to hide her smile.
Really, Reece should have expected their reaction. The Trateri were nothing if not proud. Even if Reece's words were absolutely correct, they'd never admit it.
She'd be surprised if Van or Gawain didn't go out of their way to prove him wrong. It was exactly the type of stubbornness she'd come to appreciate in the Trateri. It might take them months to find their way back to Wayfarer’s Keep, but they’d succeed as long as they didn't run afoul of the mist.
"You could have left them out there." Roscoe sent a calculating look toward the clan leaders. "We all have to learn from our mistakes sometime."
Reece's stare was flat. "I know Shea taught you better than that. We have our oaths just like you do yours. Pathfinders don't abandon those we guide."
Ghost's lips tilted in a crooked smile. "Yet as you so often remind us—you're not Shea."
Reece scoffed. "I'm still a pathfinder. Just because I'm not willing to hold the hands of idiots to guide them out of their own stupidity doesn't make me any less of one. I obey the tenets of our calling."
Roscoe and Ghost remained unconvinced, their expressions showing their skepticism. Eva was on their side in this.
Reece's interpretation of what it meant to be a pathfinder was a tad special. Some might even say creative.
His cousin, Shea, led from the front. She charged into danger without another thought to ensure the safety of the rest, always taking on the greatest risks.
Reece was her opposite. He was more likely to send others as bait while he stuck to the shadows, waiting for the best moment to strike. That wasn't to say he'd sacrifice his bait, but the problem with bait was sometimes it got eaten.
Around him, that seemed to happen more often than not.
What's more, those he chose to act as his lures didn't always know what was happening until after the fact. When the dust had long settled and the adrenaline had finally abated.
It made him a dangerous man. One you could never be entirely sure was fully on your side.
Eva's pensive gaze landed on Caden. She knew loyalty. She'd seen what loyal men were capable of. When you were the focus of that level of determination and devoutness, it was like having a shiny, inexhaustible weapon at your side.
But when the weapon was aimed at you—there was nothing more terrifying.
The crux of the matter was that she liked Reece. He was irritable. Grumpy. Sometimes lazy. But always capable. Moreover, he'd saved them a time or two and had proved to be full of valuable information.
A shiver moved down her back at the thought of him turning against them.
"You were lucky he ran across you," Caden said, interrupting Eva's train of thought.
Fiona straightened. "What happened to this army you were chasing?"
"They were swallowed in the same mist we were. It was too bad," Van said, looking irritated. "I was itching for a little exercise."