Free Chasing Shadows (Saving Galerance, Book 1) by Natalie Reid Page A

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like flipped. A young woman had gracefully flipped out of the tree and landed
nimbly on her feet as though she had been exiting trees like this her whole
life.
    As she stood there, staring at the two of them, Norabel
could not help but be impressed by the commanding and graceful presence she
seemed to radiate. The young lady’s hair was a reddish-brown color that seemed
to shine more like fire in the light of the sun, reminding Norabel of how the ash
tree looked in the fall when its leaves turned a beautiful deep auburn. Her
expression was static and unyielding, her brown eyes seemed to carry a
captivating mystery, and everything about the way she held herself said that
this was a woman of confidence.
    “Don’t be scared,” the girl said, raising her hands in the
air to show they were empty. “I’m a friend.”
    There was a bow strapped around her back, and a few arrows
stored with it. Unlike most girls in the kingdom, she was wearing pants instead
of a skirt, and Norabel looked to the long brown boots laced up her legs, figuring
she probably had a weapon stored inside.
    The girl took careful, slow steps towards them, approaching
them as someone would an injured animal. Behind her, Norabel could hear the rustle
of grass as Mason rose to his feet. Norabel did the same, and when she was
standing upright, she felt Mason’s hand tug at her arm, pulling her back behind
him.
    “I’m Ashlin,” the girl announced, holding her hand out in
front of Mason. “You must be the Point-Man.”
    Mason looked down to the offered hand, and then back to the
young lady’s face, his eyes betraying no sign of fear.
    Seeing that he wasn’t going to shake her hand, Ashlin
shifted her gaze to Norabel, commenting, “And you’re the Shadow.” Noticing
Norabel’s wide eyes, she smiled, adding, “It’s alright. I’m not here to turn
you in.”
    “Why did you help us last night?” Norabel asked, not being
able to hold back her curiosity.
    “Norabel!” Mason scolded.
    “She already knows who we are,” she pointed out. Then,
looking back to Ashlin with the wide, silver-blue eyes of innocence that always
seemed to reside on her face, she asked again, “So, why did you?”
    “You were in danger of losing your load,” Ashlin replied.
“And I couldn’t let the Pax have it.”
    “Where are you from?” Mason asked suddenly. He raised a
hand, pointing to the arrows on her back, and said, “Those arrows weren’t made
inside of Breccan. The tails are different.”
    “I’m from Noor Summit,” she answered.
    “You got a transfer?” he questioned skeptically.
    Ashlin shifted her weight and glanced back to the road.
“Something like that.”
    “Doing what?”
    She gave a small sigh. “Something boring and Pax-enforced
like everybody else. Look…” She spread her arms out in front of her. “It
doesn’t really matter what I do. What matters is that you could do with a fifth
person on your team, and I can give that to you.”
    Mason looked down to her boots and then back up to her face,
asking, “What makes you think we need another person? Or that I’d trust you
enough to just let you on?”
    “I didn’t turn you in,” she stated calmly, shrugging a
single shoulder.
    “You have to do more than that to earn my trust.”
    Ashlin took a step forward. “Then how about your respect.
Gather your team together and meet me here tomorrow afternoon.” It was her time
to eye Mason before saying, “Then I can show you just what I can do.”
    Without waiting for a response, she turned and swiftly
headed for the nearest tree. With one extension of her arm, she caught a branch
and swung herself up like a bird taking flight. A second later she disappeared
completely from sight, and though Norabel couldn’t see the other trees moving,
she had the strong suspicion that, if she were to run over and check the tree
she had grabbed ahold of, she would no longer be there.
    Glancing back to Mason, she saw that he almost carried