“This looks like it’s going to be a bust.” Mike pushed downward, sliding on his belly, staying below the crest of the small berm they hid behind. There were a lot of shadows, but it was still light enough to get caught if they weren’t careful.

Julia followed him down. “Why’s that?”

Mike crouched and moved back in the direction they’d come from, keeping low, whispering while he walked. “We can’t get any closer than where we are. Any half awake guard will see us coming. The distance between the berm and the tunnel mouth is too far.”

Julia didn’t say anything. She accepted the information and followed him.

They silently moved into a small ravine between two hills until they were behind one, out of sight of the guard post. Mike motioned up a hill and climbed. The one he chose to go up would give the best view of the tunnel entrance.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

At the top, he took a peek at the guards below. “We’ll stay here for a while.” The waning rays of the sun set behind the mountains. “We probably got about another twenty minutes of light.”

“Then what?” Julia sat next to him, her voice low.

“As I said, this is a recon. We’ll watch the guard post and the tunnel. I thought the guards on the north side would shut down and head inside when the sun went down. By the looks of things, they’re staying put.” A pine tree close to the top of the hill served as a good brace for his feet so as not to slide down the hill. “They’ll be movement tonight. We’ll watch for that. The guards will be relieved at some point. Maybe someone will bring dinner out to them.”

“You think we’ll be here most of the night then?”

“Probably. Unless something interesting happens.”

“Define interesting.”

“All hell breaks, or a boulder falls off the mountain and lands on the guard post, and we can sneak in undetected.”

Julia settled on her back. “So we’re here for the night.”

“Probably.”