Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 160

Chapter 160: Rocky plan
The couple froze, waiting.

“I know you heard that. That blasted ram is somewhere up there, and I need to go get him.” The voice from below returned with a vengeance.

“Good luck, moron. I’m going to stay here and do my job instead of traipsing off.”

“Then I won’t share any of the meat with you.”

“Ha! If you can even manage to kill the thing and field dress it–which I doubt–you’d still have to carry it back, which I doubt even more. Ain’t no way.”

“Don’t be jealous when you have to eat bats again and I get mutton.” The echo seemed to change direction, and Anaisa perked up as a man came walking around one far corner of the gorge. She would have leapt with triumph had Trace not pressed her down with the arm that was over her back.

She looked at him, his face a breath away from hers, and was suddenly distracted by the rugged outline of his jaw, covered in a very attractive layer of stubble. She wondered how it would feel against her hand, or her face.

He glanced at her, and her eyes widened. His eyes were so clear against the pure blue sky of the early morning! His gaze briefly dropped to her lips, but he blinked and looked away.

He was right. They needed to hold still until the man below gave up and led them back to where he’d come from. Distraction, no matter how alluring, was the enemy just now.

The stranger stalked around down in the gorge, coming to a stop almost directly below their position. He looked up, causing the couple to flinch back from view, but the crunch of quiet footsteps told them he’d continued on.

“Will he come back the same way, or should we follow?” Anaisa whispered, peeking down over the edge.

“I’ll follow. You stay,” Trace ordered. “If he loops back around and I miss it, you’ll be able to see.”

Anaisa frowned, but nodded. Though her own plan had involved them separating, she didn’t like the prospect now that there was an enemy in view.

He rose into a crouch, and she reached for his hand.

“Be careful,” She whispered, a little desperately. He smiled and winked in a show of confidence as he kissed her hand before darting off quietly along the slope.

He chose his path of descent more carefully than Anaisa had, keeping his steps on firm, wide rocks instead of loose soil. As a result, his movement was near silent.

The man below stayed within Anaisa’s sight line for a while as the sun rose higher into the sky. With his partner gone, he had no reason to speak, and so she had to keep a sharp eye on him to avoid losing him in the rocky terrain. Had he chosen his clothing because it matched the earth, or was he simply so dirty that he had practically become part of the land?

From this distance, she couldn’t tell.

Eventually, he gave up and started back the direction he’d come. She spotted Trace, behind the man some distance on the ground, following cautiously.

Anaisa stood into a low crouch, imitating her husband’s gestures. In a moment of realization, she pulled the back of her skirt forward between her legs and tucked it into her waistband, creating modified pants.

With her feet now visible, skipping across the firm rocks now became much less of a chore.

Thankfully, her shadow fell behind her, and not forward or down into the chasm where it might catch the attention of anyone below. She watched as Trace trailed behind the man, carefully moving forward and pausing at intervals in case the man looked backward.

She marveled at her husband’s skill. This must have been something he learned in the military, and it was very impressive to her uneducated eyes.

Around the next angle of the gorge, the man suddenly disappeared. Anaisa panicked for a moment, but Trace came quickly along and disappeared as well. She noticed a small shady spot behind a rock that must be the cave’s opening.

At last!!

Her heart beat faster. Why had Trace gone in after him alone? Hadn’t they agreed to find the entrance and then work together on a plan to rescue the prisoners?

At least, that was how she pictured things going. Had she failed to communicate that expectation clearly, or was Trace just ignoring her wishes?

She grimaced, and looked about. To one side, there was a narrow sort of path down the cliff that would take her close to the entrance. She pondered her options slightly, glancing repeatedly back to the entrance’s loose location.

“Hmph.” She murmured before moving ahead. If Trace could abandon the plan, so could she! He might need help, or backup! Or a distraction!

Halfway down the slope, she noticed movement, and froze, ducking behind a large rock. Tentatively, she peeked out after several seconds and was shocked by the sight.

Trace was dragging the man, unconscious, away from the cave entrance!

Anaisa jumped up and hurried as quietly as she could, forward and down the slope. By the time she reached Trace, he had laid the unconscious man on the ground and was tying him up using the rope that had pulled Anaisa up from the ledge not half an hour earlier.

She noticed a bit of blood at the man’s temple, but he was breathing. She looked desperately at Trace for instruction.

Clearly he had a far better idea of what to do in this situation than she did!

He glanced at her as he picked up the man and slung the unconscious body across his shoulders. He groaned lightly under the weight, but held up.

“Quickly, obscure the trail of dragging so we won’t be followed,” He whispered.

“There’s a path, right there, leading to the top of the cliff,” Anaisa replied softly before hurrying to obey his instruction. She looked around, then snapped a thick branch off a low scrub bush, using it to erase the trail her husband had made.

At least, she tried her best. It wasn’t long before she caught up to him rising on the trail.

“What made you try such a reckless thing?” She whispered. “You could have been caught.”

“Emily,” Trace said back, huffing under the burden he carried. “She… told me who else is in the cave.”