Page 7 of Creed (Rock Hard Mountain Men #3)

Creed

It wasn’t the first time I’d escorted someone across hostile terrain.

Many of my missions during my service had included getting a person of interest from point A to point B, preferably unharmed.

Often these people had no survival instincts of their own, and they had been so reckless with their lives that I wondered if they legitimately wanted to die.

The situation with Kayden wasn’t so severe. The rough mountain terrain wasn’t too hostile and shouldn’t be a threat so long as we were careful. However, after only an hour after starting our trek, I quickly realized that he was ruled by his curiosity much more than his common sense.

“Don’t go over there.” I pulled Kayden back from where he’d been about to step off into the underbrush.

There was no actual path, so we were following one of the natural trails formed by deer and other animals traveling through the area.

I’d studied the area extensively from the moment we decided to purchase our property, so although I’d never been on this specific part of the mountain before, I knew we were going the right way.

Kayden, however, seemed determined to lead us astray.

He pouted at me, though he didn’t stop me from physically pulling him back onto the trail.

“Why not? The way the sunlight filters through the trees over there would make for a great photo.”

I’d expected Kayden to take extensive notes about our little camping trip. That was the whole reason for the journey, to give him something to write about.

What I hadn’t expected was that he also insisted on photographing as much as possible.

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. I’d read a few of his articles, and each was accompanied by plenty of pictures to show readers what he was describing, but I hadn’t put the pieces together to realize what it would mean for our own trip.

Rather than try to explain to him why stepping off the trail was a bad idea, I decided to show him.

Picking up a long stick lying on the ground nearby, I stuck it into the underbrush he’d been about to step through.

The stick kept going, sinking down lower and lower so nearly the whole thing was below the leaves before it hit ground.

“Oh,” Kayden gasped, pushing back some of the underbrush so he could see the hidden ravine for himself. “I didn’t notice that at all. How’d you know that was there?”

“I’ve learned how to read the land,” I said simply. “Come on. We need to keep going. At this rate we won’t be reaching the camp site before nightfall.”

Hitching his bag higher onto his back, Kayden hurried to follow after me as I started walking in the right direction again.

“Campsite?” he asked once he was walking next to me. “I thought this area was completely untamed.”

I watched him out of the corner of my eye, noticing the way the large pack he was wearing weighed on him.

Most people underestimated how heavy a properly stocked camping pack could be.

I’d had a few escort missions fall apart simply because the person in question refused to carry their share of the load.

My gaze lingered on Kayden’s body.

For all his reckless curiosity, he at least pulled his weight. I could tell he was struggling under the weight of his pack but he hadn’t uttered a single word of complaint.

I’d been staring too long. Realizing what I was doing, I turned my gaze back to the path ahead of us. “It’s not an official campground, but I’ve planned out safe areas for us to make camp. In wild areas like this, you can’t just throw down a tent anywhere and assume it’ll be safe.”

“Uh huh,” Kayden nodded absently as he pulled out a small journal and started taking notes. “And what makes a place safe for a tent? You said you haven’t actually been out to this area before. How can you determine the best places to make camp ahead of time?”

Usually, I hated having my decisions questioned, especially by someone who clearly knew less than me.

Yet, there was something about Kayden’s tone that made his questions sound unobtrusive even as he grilled me for details.

The genuine interest in my answers and his willingness to listen as much as talk made it easy to tell him what he wanted to know.

As we continued our hike, I spent a surprisingly pleasant hour explaining about the various maps I’d consulted while planning out our trip, and how I’d used them to determine the best camping areas.

I’d answer these questions all day so long as he never asked me another question about the body that Magnus found or the rival cults of the area.

After Deputy Hillard’s visit, I’d been forced to explain the basic situation to Kayden.

Luckily, I’d been able to deflect most of his questions based on that fact that I hadn’t actually been there.

He’d been all geared up to interrogate Magnus and Brody about what happened to them, but I’d reminded him that we needed to leave soon.

In this way, I’d managed to keep him from getting too involved, but I knew it wouldn’t last forever.

The man was too damn curious. Eventually, he’d be back on that train of questions, and I needed to figure out an answer to give him.

Around midday, when the sun was at its highest, we stopped for a break near a lake that we came across.

I’d seen it on the map while I was planning out our route and thought it would make a good rest spot.

I was right, but the squiggly blue shape on the map didn’t convey anything about how beautiful it was.

The water was crystal clear, reflecting the sky above us as if it were made of polished glass.

Tall reeds waved in the breeze around the edge of the pond, creating a home for the horny frogs that sang to draw in a mate and the turtles that contentedly sunned themselves on whatever flat surface they could find.

This is what nature was supposed to look like. Untouched and left to thrive on its own without any interference from humans.

Unfortunately, land like this was becoming harder and harder to find.

Kayden stepped up next to me, holding a hand over his eyes to block the sun as he surveyed the scene.

Then he whistled low under his breath. “Damn. It’s like something straight off a postcard. I’ve been to a lot of places around the world, but natural spots like this are always the best. A person could spend eternity here.”

So could I, but we didn’t have that kind of time.

“Half an hour,” I told Kayden as I let my pack drop to the ground. “Then we need to keep going, or we won’t get to the camping area in time.”

He followed my example and took a seat on one of the large rocks near the edge of the lake.

Our timeframe actually wasn’t’ as bad as I made it sound. We were a little behind the pace I wanted to keep, but not as badly as I first feared. We’d get to our planned camping area later than I intended, but there would still be enough light for us to safely get everything set up.

I wasn’t going to tell him that, though. Kayden would take it as an excuse to let his curiosity distract him even more.

The groan that Kayden let out when he sat down was loud enough to disturb some birds roosting in a tree nearby.

“Ugh. I don’t know how you make this look so easy. I think my shoulders are about to fall off. It feels like I’ve been carrying another person on my shoulders all day.”

“It’s only been a few hours,” I reminded him as I pulled out some trail rations from my pack. “And it’s not the weight of a person. Your pack is only about forty pounds.”

Kayden laughed, and his voice echoed out over the still surface of the lake.

“Oh. Only forty pounds. You say that like it’s a small thing.” When he realized I wasn’t laughing, he gave me a dry look. “You know most people consider forty pounds to be a lot, right?”

No, I didn’t. If anything, I’d consider it to be on the lighter side. Maybe forty had seemed like a lot of weight to me once, but interacting with him was quickly reminding me that I had no idea what “normal” was anymore.

I didn’t answer him, and Kayden quickly lost interest. Instead, he occupied himself by taking photos of the lake. His camera clicked away, taking dozens of different shots, and soon, he forgot that he ever asked me a question.

While he was busy, I pulled out my phone and opened up the camera roll. Before leaving, I’d downloaded the pictures of the missing journal that Deputy Hillard brought us.

Based on what Brody and Magnus told me, the journal had probably belonged to Lisianthus Milford based on the etching of the flower on the book’s metal clasp.

I didn’t know enough about flowers to identify the species from such a simple piece of artwork, so I’d have to take Magnus’s word for it.

The outside art of the journal didn’t interest me anyway, only the words contained within.

The handwriting was rougher than expected.

There were some attempts at adding flourish to the words here and there, but they were uneven and smeared in some spots.

Whatever the owner of the journal had used to write with had obviously not been of good quality.

Their pen left behind splotches of ink, and even poked right through the paper in some places.

It was also completely illegible, just as Deputy Hillard had said.

My first hope had been that the journal was simply written in a language that the Deputy didn’t recognize, but the combinations of letters matched no language that I knew.

It was written in the Latin alphabet, so the letters themselves were familiar, but other than that, the writing was complete gibberish.

It must be some sort of code.

Why else would someone go to so much effort to record a book full of nonsense?

If I had the whole journal, I’d probably be able to crack it eventually, but with only a few pages, I wasn’t nearly as confident.

“What’s that?” Kayden asked as he slid over next to me. “Talking to your friends back home.”