Page 32 of The Stone Secret
Dayn’s eyes narrow. “You think that’ll stop me?”
“I don’t care.”
Dayn’s jaw flexes. “Of course you don’t. Your reputation is already in the mud now that you’re fucking a halfblood.”
“Shut up, Lowther,” Willowman drawls from his position by the gate.
Dayn snaps his mouth closed, but I can tell he wants to make a retort. Maybe put Willowman in his place. Lowther might not be one of the big five, but it’s still a prestigious bloodline, and to Dayn, Willowman is just the help, but he’s also a witch with the kind of power that Dayn can only ever dream about.
So the goyle does the wise thing and shuts the hell up.
The crunch of gravel signals Farnell’s return. He counts heads, eyes crinkling at the corners when he realizes we’re missing two. “How much longer?” he asks Willowman.
Is that a flash of concern on the witch’s face? “Not too much longer.”
Come on, Cam. Where the fuck are you?
CHAPTER14
CAM
The forest opened onto boggy land. There was a body of water to our right, bordered with reeds and buzzing with dragonflies, but my attention flew to the rockface ahead. The ground sucked at our boots as we made our way across to the last leg of our trek, but my heart sank as we got closer because the rock face was smooth—no notches or footholds for us to climb.
“There’s an iron hook!” Bax pointed.
The rusty-looking hook winked at us in the sun, high up and perfect to loop a rope onto. But we’d used our rope to build a raft, cutting it into smaller sections in the process to tie together the trunks. If we’d saved it, then I could have tied the penknife to it and slung it up there. The piece we had left wasn’t long enough to use for this.
Bax cursed softly too, realizing our predicament. But all wasn’t lost.
“We can still do this. If you lift me up, I might be able to grab the lip and pull myself over.”
“So you can run off and leave me?”
“If I wanted to leave you behind, I’d have done it at the river.”
He looked sheepish. “Point.”
“I’ll use what rope we have left to haul you up once I’m there. It should be long enough for you to get a grip on the end.” I pointed to an outcrop of rock above. “I can brace myself on that.”
He nodded. “Okay.”
The ledge was so high up that I had to stand on Bax’s shoulders to get a grip on it, but thanks to my upper body workouts, I was able to pull myself up and over.
I pulled the rope from the pack and wrapped one end around my arm. Hopefully there was enough to reach Bax. I threw the other end down to him, then used the outcrop of stone to brace myself. “I’m ready.”
The tug on the rope was tentative. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
His full weight had me straining, rope cutting into my arm, but to give him credit, he made it over fast, swinging his huge body over the ledge to join me.
I unwound the rope, rubbing my arm to get the circulation going again.
“There’s another ledge,” Bax said.
I hadn’t bothered to check, but yep, there was. This one had no hook, but it wasn’t as high as the first one either. Still, it was too high for me to climb. Bax, on the other hand, would just about be able to make it.
I passed him the rope. “Your turn.”
