The Wild Dead (The Bannerless Saga 2)

The next two figures followed, one more briskly, and this one paused every few strides to look back at his charge. Maybe shout at him to hurry up. But Kellan kept the same plodding gait.

The impatient one, Teeg of course, still in uniform, held his staff balanced over his shoulder. He looked up, saw the gathering on the steps, and stopped.

Enid said to Jess, Erik, and the several others gathered around, drinking and making small talk, “Would you mind giving Teeg and me a few minutes? I promise, you’ll learn all you need to soon enough.”

They did so, reluctantly. And she made sure they didn’t just to retreat to the house to eavesdrop.

Tom trotted up, sweaty and glowing. Enid thanked him, and he beamed. Then she sent him away too, so when Teeg and Kellan arrived, they stood before Enid alone.

Kellan was drenched with sweat, his brown face flushed, his eyes red and puffy. The man looked wilted, his arms hanging limp at his sides.

Still guarding him, Teeg looked tough, his expression set. But when he finally looked at Enid, he seemed confused.

She said, “Kellan, go inside where it’s cool, and rest. Tell Jess I said to give you water.”

“But . . .” His sigh was a half-sob.

“It’s all right. I know you didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t kill Ella.”

Kellan tried a smile. Nodded solemnly and wiped a sleeve across his nose. She’d expected weeping, but he was already cried out. He climbed the steps and went inside.

“What are you doing?” Teeg demanded. Enid was aware of the staff across his shoulders, perfectly balanced to grab by the end and swing straight at her. Didn’t expect him to really try something like that, but she hadn’t expected a lot of things with this case.

“Hola, Teeg,” she said. Thought about standing, which would be more polite. But she didn’t want to risk falling over if another dizzy spell hit her. She wasn’t completely well. “So, what do you think?”

He exclaimed, “You’re all right!”

“Told you I would be.” She stared hard at him. “So you went to make your report to regional. Brought Kellan along to prove you solved the case, with or without me. Yeah?”

“He confessed, you were right there, you heard him—”

“That wasn’t a confession. He panicked because you threatened him. How many times did I tell you?” Teeg clamped his mouth shut. She continued. “What were you going to tell them about what happened here? About me?”

He shifted his weight, set his staff on the ground. Picked at it. “Exactly what happened. That you couldn’t let an impossible case go, and you wandered off into the wilderness. Took your life in your hands, nothing anyone could do about it.”

“So if something went wrong, it was my own fault. You weren’t curious? Had no interest in figuring out what happened? In maybe following me, when you saw that I’d gone?”

“I tried to argue with you. You wouldn’t listen.”

And clearly he felt that was the extent of his responsibility. There were plenty who’d agree with him.

“It’s good I didn’t.”

His eyes widened. “You found something. You actually found something. What—what was it?” He leaned in, eager. Like she was telling some campfire story.

“I’ll tell you when I tell everyone else.”

“Enid, I’m your partner.”

Her lips curled, and she ducked to hide that wry smile. “Right.”

“Enid.”

“This’ll be over soon. Then we can get out of here.” She couldn’t tell what he was thinking. The kid who couldn’t shut up was just staring at her. “Well, let’s get this finished.” She stood, then paused a moment, feeling flushed again, waiting for the moment to pass. She was still wobbly, and didn’t like it.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Little bit of heat stroke,” she said. “Too much walking in the sun. I’m fine.”