Page 31 (2/2)

"Do you wantand clutching my arms I couldn’t tell him the truth I couldn’t tell hiotten to naled to someone I couldn’t see "Stay close to"Let’s see what there is out here"

brooklynn

The hairs on the back of Brook’s neck prickled and she glanced once more over her shoulder

Beneath her, the horse continued to thrash, tossing his head up and down, fighting the metal bit stretched between his lips But Brook didn’t think it was the bit that was bothering him

She felt exactly the way her way horse did Spooked

She tugged the reins, cautioning the ani anxiously and setting her teeth on edge

"Quit it," she hissed as she reached down to swat at his neck She didn’t need his alar to her uneasiness

Finally he settled, but she couldn’t say the same about herself as her heart quickened She suddenly wished that she’d followed her own orders and stayed closer to town, that she hadn’t wandered so far from the train stationand from the safety of her men She’d only meant to be a few minutes, half an hour at the e point from which to see how far the Scablands stretched

She pulled one rein sharply, de her a 360-degree view of the terrain There wasn’tthe train depot, and at her back, the threshold of a dense, shadowy forest that stretched as far as she could see On all sides were rocks and stones and black dirt

The weather up here was even harsher than it had been down at the station, but despite the cutting wind that slashed at her face, a thin layer of sweat prickled Brooklynn’s skin She winced, shielding her eyes froht she’d get a better view on the other side of the rocky hillside, but the anio any closer

Finally, she dis closer to the bluff

She eased forward, balancing carefully as she reached the drop-off It wasn’t too sheer, but the gravel beneath her feet was loose, unstable She crouched low, surveying everything around her frouess her instincts, and at thethat so to take a few tentative steps down the eravel, she felt the pebbles beneath them shift and slide Her sto to stop herself by clawing at the scraggy clued to do was to rip the skin fro As she slid, she leaned as far back as she could, trying to keep fro she needed was to break her neck on a routine scouting mission

It wasn’t until she slammed, feetfirst, into a thick stand of thorned bushes, that she realized that the sounds she’d heard--the grunts and the curses--had been colanced down and saw the tear in her pant leg She collapsed backward on the solid ground with relief She dug out a ledge for her heels toa twig fro her She lifted them so she could examine the dirt-caked scrapes that ran across both palms