Read Online Pathfinder's Way by T.A. White - Free Book Online

up at her from the
back of his friend’s horse. The original rider slowly sauntered
towards them, seemingly amused at the spectacle. Fallon must have
dumped the man off his horse to pursue her.
    She threw her head back and gave a shout of
relief. She’d escaped. She’d won. And boy did it feel good to have
outsmarted them.
    Still laughing slightly, she glanced down and
teased, “Guess you won’t be keeping me after all.”
    At her words, Fallon’s scowl disappeared, and
his lips tilted slightly upward into a small smile as he relaxed
into the saddle. “Guess not.” The horse paced in a circle as Shea
climbed a few more feet, going carefully now that she couldn’t be
plucked off the cliff. A fall from this height could maim or kill
her. “The world’s not that big. Next time you might not be so
lucky.”
    She didn’t know what made her do it. Perhaps
it was the high from escaping or the rush of being in such a
dangerous situation, but Shea was in a bit of a playful mood.
    She shot a teasing smile back down at him.
“You’ll have to catch me first, and I can pretty much guarantee I
know these hills better than any of you.”
    “A challenge,” Fallon’s friend said, coming
up to stand beside him. “Careful, lady. You’ve thrown the gauntlet
down, and Fallon has never backed down from a challenge.”
    Shea smiled to herself. In this case, he was
just going to have to accustom himself to losing. There were few
people in this world able to find Shea when she didn’t want to be
found, and all of them were pathfinders like her.
    No, this would be the last Fallon would see
of her.
    There was a sharp twang. An arrow embedded
itself in the rock less than an inch from the hand reaching for her
next handhold. Her body jerked back, upsetting her balance. Only
the fact that she’d wedged her other hand into a crack and then
formed a fist to lock herself in place, prevented her from falling.
She dangled high above the ground, her weight supported only by one
hand.
    “Hold your fire,” Fallon shouted. “Do not
fire again.”
    “Who shot that?” Fallon’s friend yelled. He
strode to his men and pulled the offending party off his horse.
“What were you thinking? You could have caused her to fall.”
    He didn’t wait for the man to defend himself,
instead jerking the bow out of his hands and shoving him.
    Shea placed her feet against the rock face
and hugged the wall, taking deep breaths. A fine tremble invaded
her limbs.
    That had been close.
    She shifted slightly, and her heart shot into
her throat. She really did not want to move. Not to go up. And
definitely not to go down.
    Perhaps she could just stay here. It seemed
like a nice cliff. The view wasn’t great, just ugly brown rocks and
dirt, but nice scenery was overrated when compared to life and
limb.
    She was frozen. Stuck. And being over twenty
feet off the ground with half the cliff left to scale was not a
good place to be.
    She shut her eyes and took a few calming
breaths. “You can do this. Quit thinking and just climb. Put one
hand over the other and keep going.”
    Staying put was the worst thing to do right
now. It took strength to cling to the side of a cliff, and every
second she wasted a little bit more of her strength drained away.
She chanced a glance back down. Fallon watched her carefully from
the horse, his mouth pressed into a tight line. She looked back up
at the distance she had left, took a deep breath and started
climbing.
    She focused on the task before her, ignoring
all other distractions as she edged ever closer to the top.
Finally, she rolled onto her back to stare up at the sky. Her arms
ached. Her legs ached. Every muscle ached. After the long journey
of the past two days, the headlong rush of escape and now the
strength needed to make that climb, Shea was tired. She needed a
nap.
    She poked her head over the side of the cliff
and glanced straight at Fallon. He gave her a respectful nod.
    Carefully, she backed away from the edge