Morgan stood up and let his gaze scan the quiet forest. “I’m going to find Greylen and the others,” he told Faol. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a fistful of gold nuggets he’d taken from the pool. “I won’t go after Mercedes’ sniper. Grey and Callum and Ian can do that. I’ll set out bait and wait for them to push our prey into my trap.”
He gave Faol one final pat and a warning. “Be alert,” he told the wolf. “And keep our woman away from the river.”
And then Morgan walked into the night, towards the dark force that roamed his valley.
Though Sadie didn’t know it,her husband’s prediction was off by a good two hours.
Sadie paced to the edge of the pool and stared down at the shimmering water which continued to glow with magical intensity. It appeared to be daylight within the confines of the granite cliffs, but when she looked skyward, the mist rose into blackness. It was the deep of night outside her own little heaven, and Sadie couldn’t stop thinking about her shooter and the danger Morgan was walking into.
Sadie wished she had bought a handgun. But even if she had, it most likely would be back at the old logging camp, with the rest of her stuff.
And that was another thing that was bothering her. The logging camp and her backpack.
Jean Lavoie’s diary was there as well, with the section pertaining to this cliff, and its approximate location, circled in red ink. If whoever shot her stumbled onto it, he would know where to look for the gold.
And he would find this mystical gorge.
Sadie skirted the edge of the pool, walking beneath the waterfall and scooping up a handful of gold. She turned and looked out over her small piece of heaven.
If this place were discovered, it surely would be destroyed.
In order to keep this magic a secret, she would have to build the wilderness park farther down in the valley and find another way to access it instead of through MacKeage land.
But she would have to worry about solving that problem later. Instead, Sadie set her mind to the bigger problem at hand now. She had to go to the logging camp and retrieve that diary before it was found.
Sadie tucked the handful of gold into her pocket and walked over to the slumbering old priest. She eyed the cane in his hand. She needed some sort of weapon that could protect her if she ran into trouble. It was only two miles to the logging camp and back. With luck, she’d be gone less than an hour. She’d have Father Daar’s cane safely tucked back beside him before he woke up, and she’d be sitting here like a dutiful wife long before Morgan returned.
Being as careful as she could, Sadie slowly slipped the cane from the sleeping priest’s hand. She quickly straightened, clasped the warm wood to her chest, and turned and set off at a jog through the magically giant trees.
She nearly ran over Faol when she stepped into the darkness of the forest. The wolf jumped to his feet, whined, and started wagging his tail.
“Shh. You’re going to wake Father Daar,” she said, giving him a pat on the head. “Feel like a hike, big boy?” she asked, blinking her eyes at the darkness.
It took her a few minutes to locate the North Star and get her bearings and another few minutes for her eyes to adjust completely to the night forest. And then Sadie started south along the edge of Fraser Mountain, toward logging camp number three. Faol trotted ahead of her, his bushy tail wagging like a flag leading the way.
In less than half an hour they reached the camp, and Sadie ran toward the tent her mother and Callum had left standing in wait for her and Morgan’s return.
She heard Faol’s warning growl at the exact moment a gunshot cracked through the air, the muzzle blast flashing from a tree beside the tent.
Faol’s yelp of pain was drowned out by her own scream of surprise. There were several shots in rapid succession, and all Sadie could see was the scurry of moving shadows where Faol had been standing. Another yelp, then the growl of an enraged beast, followed by another crack of gunfire.
Sadie screamed and threw herself toward the tent. She unzipped it and dove inside to find her pack and the knife she usually carried. She pushed around her sleeping bag and dry packs but couldn’t find her backpack.
“Looking for this?”
Sadie whirled at the sound of the familiar voice. The beam of a flashlight sliced over her face. She held up her hand to see beyond the glare and gasped.
“Eric!”
He dropped her pack and grabbed her by the hair, pulling her out of the tent. With a yelp of her own, Sadie scrambled on her knees until she could stand up. She watched as Eric quickly scanned the forest with his flashlight, looking for Faol.
“Where’s the MacKeage guy that dog belongs to?” Eric asked, turning the flashlight back on her.
“H-he’s dead.”
“He’s not. I saw him carrying you from the water. You were the one I shot.” He sent the beam of light over her body.
Sadie gasped, trying to step back, but was pulled up short by his grip on her hair. “You were the one shooting? But why?” she cried, struggling to get free.
He held her tightly. “I was aiming for MacKeage. I wanted him out of the way.”
“Out of the way for what?” she whispered, holding herself perfectly still.
“He was distracting you from your hunt for the gold. I’m sure I shot you by mistake,” he said, giving her hair a vicious tug.
“You just grazed me. Th-that’s why I have this cane,” she said, pointing at the cane on the ground by the tent. “But the bullet went into Morgan, and he used up the last of his strength getting me to safety.”
“You wouldn’t be here if MacKeage were dead. You’d be in town.” He tugged her hair again. “Where is he?”
“O-okay, he’s not dead. But he’s wounded. I have him tucked down by the stream. I’m here to get my phone so I can call for help.”
“The phone’s not in your pack, Quill. I checked.”
“It’s got to be.” She pulled from his grasp and bent down to her pack, pretending to look for the phone. “I know it’s in here.”
“No, it’s not. And neither is your knife,” he said, jerking her upright again. “I have it now. And I also have the diary, including the page you circled.”
He released her and pulled his gun out of his belt. “You found the gold, didn’t you?
That’s where MacKeage is now.”
“No. No, we didn’t find anything. He really is hurt.”
Eric shoved her in the direction she’d come from. “The diary says the gold is north of here. So let’s just go see.”
Sadie bent, picked up Daar’s cane, and pretended to use it as a crutch. With a final look over her shoulder at where Faol had disappeared and a prayer that the wolf wasn’t too badly hurt, Sadie started limping back toward the stream.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked as she set a course slightly northwest of where Father Daar was. “I want this park as much as you do. I would have told you the moment I found Jedediah’s gold.”
Eric laughed. “The park’s not important to me, Quill. Granted, I’ll make a good chunk of money off my land once the park’s in operation, but I’d much rather find the gold. Why in hell do you think I talked the consortium into hiring you?”
Sadie stopped and whirled on him. “You shot Morgan over some gold that might not even exist? Are you nuts?”
He aimed the beam of his flashlight down the trail behind them, then poked her with it to get her moving again. “My great-granddaddy wasn’t nuts,” he said, walking behind her, keeping his beam scanning the woods. “Old Levi Hellman financed the store I now run with what gold Plum was carrying on him when he died.”