Read Online The Daredevil Snared (The Adventurers Quartet Book 3) by Stephanie Laurens - Free Book Online Page A

glanced back and could see nothing but jungle foliage. Finding a guide had been a stroke of luck. Without Diccon to lead them, they would have been stumbling around—very possibly into the mercenaries’ clutches.
    But Fate had smiled and sent the boy to them.
    When they came upon the next path, Diccon walked confidently on to it. “That place I told you about—the nice clearing—is just along here.” He led them down what was clearly a very much less well-traveled track. There were small saplings springing up, and vines laced across the path. Phillipe muttered, then told the men to work on keeping their passing as undetectable as possible. So they avoided the saplings and ducked under the vines, all of which Diccon whisked light-footed around.
    Then he turned off the path onto a narrow animal track. Fifteen yards on, it descended into a clearing that—as Diccon had promised—was perfect for their needs. Big enough to comfortably house all of them and with a tiny stream trickling past on one side.
    “Here you go.” Grinning, the boy spun, holding his arms wide.
    Caleb grinned back. “Thank you—this is just what we need.”
    Phillipe smiled at Diccon and patted his shoulder as he passed. “You’re an excellent scout, my friend.”
    The other men made approving noises as they filed into the space.
    Diccon positively glowed.
    It took only a moment for Caleb and Phillipe to organize the establishment of their camp, then, summoning their quartermasters—Caleb’s Quilley and Phillipe’s Ducasse—they presented themselves before Diccon.
    The boy looked at them expectantly.
    “First question,” Caleb said. “Have you got enough fruit in your basket to satisfy the cook?”
    Diccon lifted the floppy basket, opened it, and examined the pile of fruit inside. “Almost.” He looked up and around, then pointed to a small tree with dangling yellow fruit. “If I got some more of those, I’d have enough.”
    Two captains and two quartermasters dutifully gathered several handfuls of the ripe fruit.
    Diccon smiled as they filled his basket, then he clamped the handles together and looked at Caleb. “More than enough.”
    “Excellent. What we need next,” Caleb said, “is for you to lead us to a place where we can see into the camp, all without alerting any guards. Do you know of such a spot?”
    Diccon snapped off a salute. “I know just the place, Capt’n.” He’d heard Caleb’s men using his rank.
    “In that case”—Caleb gestured toward where he assumed the mine must be—“lead on.”
    Diccon did. He lived up to their expectations, leading them first along the disused path again, then cutting left into the untrammeled jungle. He looked back at Caleb and whispered, “This will be safest. We’re moving away from the other paths and into the space between that northward path and the one leading to the lake. The mercenaries take some of the men to the lake to fetch water every day, but they do that in the morning. There shouldn’t be anyone at the lake now.”
    Caleb nodded, and they forged on, increasingly slowly as Diccon took the order to be careful to heart.
    Eventually, he halted behind a clump of palms. Using hand signals, he intimated that they should crouch down and be extra careful while following him on to the next concealing clump.
    Then he slipped like an eel through the shadows.
    Caleb followed and instantly saw why Diccon had urged extra caution. The compound’s palisade lay ten yards away, separated from the jungle by a beaten, well-maintained perimeter clearing—a cleared space to ensure no one could approach the palisade under cover. The compound’s double gates were five yards to their right. And the gates stood wide open with two armed guards slouched against the posts on either side. Both guards’ attention was fixed on the activity inside the camp, but any untoward noise would alert them.
    Given the gates were propped open, Caleb surmised that the real purpose of the guards—and,