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I nodded. “Fair enough. I have to get to town.”
Preparations to leave on our afternoon hike took much longer than I expected. Bryant cut me a sturdier walking stick, then tightened and reinforced the cloth strips bracing my ankle. It was inhuman torture to force my swollen foot into my tight hiking boot, but there would be no possible way I could trudge the rough terrain in stocking feet.
Ready at long last, we finally headed out, Bryant’s arm bracing my waist as I hobbled along, leaning more on him than my walking stick.
We both kept a sharp ear and eye out for predators, both animal and human. Bryant reassured me that yesterday’s Arcan Hunters had probably scurried back to their filthy rat’s nest, but he gripped the hilt of his Bowie knife sheathed at his belt anyhow.
A mile into our hike with nothing untoward happening thus far, we both relaxed and talked of other things to pass the time, always quiet and wary of our surroundings and what might be lurking around each tree and boulder.
“This cave you were exploring,” he remarked as we trudged along the stony bank of the creek. “What were you doing alone there in the first place?”
I tensed and froze at the sudden rustle of bushes, then eased seeing a squirrel twitching its bushy tail scurry up a pine tree.
“I was contracted to do so,” I said. “And I wasn’t alone. I was spelunking with my associate, Maggie Thunders.”
“Spa...lunk..?”
“Cave hiking,” I explained. “Anyhow, we were working on an archeological project together inside the cave. Maggie found...Well, I’m not at liberty to divulge the find just yet, but it’s very important. Anyhow, we were exploring the cave, and I got, well, lost, to be honest about it.”
“Inside this cave?”
I nodded. “There was an earthquake, and some rocks fell on my head and knocked me out. Then I somehow exited the cave at a different point. That’s when you...”
I shot a wide look to Bryant. “Maggie! Those Arcan Hunters might’ve found her too. Bryant, we have to get to town fast!”
“We’ll be to town shortly and find your friends,” he assured me. “Tell me more about this cave of secrets that you found.”
I paused, not sure what I should share. After all, ours was a confidential project, and I didn’t know this man from Adam. Was Mike Bryant suddenly appearing from nowhere to “rescue” me yesterday a ruse, the man himself a plant from those who wanted to sabotage our efforts?
Not very logical, though, I admitted. Conspiracy theory aside, Bryant’s near-death wound last night had been all too real.
Still, it was wiser not to divulge everything just yet.
“Not much to tell at this point,” I said about the cave. “I’ll let Maggie explain her own findings. It’s her story to tell.”
“It this Maggie who asked you to venture out west from Virginia then?”
“No. Actually, she didn’t even want me on this project at first. It was my friend, Hilly DeVine, who asked me to come out here.”
“Hmm. Brave of a woman to journey all that way by yourself,” Bryant commented. “Couple that with your impressive actions yesterday with those hunters, it begs the question why you were so skittish at the thought of being left alone today tucked up safe inside my cabin. Helpless and vulnerable, as you pointed out.”
I whipped a wide stare up at his hooded expression.
Caught in my own lie then. Bryant hadn’t been fooled or manipulated by my damsel-in-distress act.
“Okay, you got me,” I admitted. “I didn’t want to stay behind because of the Arcan Hunters.”
“Why then?” he prodded. “Because it was still apparent that you didn’t wish to be left alone.”
He had guessed that, too, then, my false bravado as well as my false fear.
“I hate being left behind,” I explained.
“At the cabin?”
“Anywhere,” I said. “At any time. It makes me...anxious.”
“Why is that, I wonder?”
