Free Prince Incognito by Rachelle McCalla Page B

shook her head. “I shouldn’thave fallen asleep.”
    “Would you have been able to prevent the boat from approaching, then?” He shook his head to answer his own question. “You needed your rest. We’ll both have to conserve our energy as best we can until we find food.”
    Lily’s face brightened. “I saw a dust cloud earlier, moving far to the south of us. Do you think there might be a caravan traveling through the desert?”
    “Could be. The shifting sand makes regular road maintenance almost impossible, so traditional caravans still cross the desert by camel. But bandits roam these deserts, as well as militant rebel groups. By the time we could get close enough to see who they are, they’ll have spotted us. Approaching them would be a risky venture, especially since it seems your uncle is powerful in this area.Anyone we encounter could betray us to him.”
    Rather than be discouraged by his words, Lily’s face lit up, and she gripped his arm. “Wait—I just remembered something. The Rising Sun Horse Race is supposed to be traveling through the Sahara, from Tripoli toward Cairo.”
    “I don’t know anything about that,” he confessed.
    Lily’s enthusiasm wasn’t diminished. “I’ve followed it in thenews since I was a girl. It’s only held every three years. My parents promised me that if I came on this trip with them, we could go to Tripoli in time to watch the race start. But when the time came, they decided to stay in Sardis instead.”
    Disappointment welled up in her voice as she spoke, and he couldn’t help but wonder why her parents had broken their promise, especially when the racehappened so rarely, and seeing it clearly meant a great deal to her. “If we could reach the race route, we might be able to blend in. But that doesn’t solve our question of food and water.” His words dropped off, and Lily’s hand clenched around his arm, her eyes wide.
    The receding rumble of the boat motor had stopped.
    “What do you suppose—” she began in a whisper.
    “They’ve beachedit. They’re coming inland to search. From the sound of it, they’ve moved south of us. If they head this way, they’ll most likely come up over that ridge, there.” He pointed to the opposite wall of the canyon.
    “And they’ll have a wide-open view of us.” Lily looked around frantically. “We’ve got to find somewhere else to hide.”
    Having already scoped out the area, he didn’t know whatto tell her. There was nothing but the canyon and the scraggly bushes, which wouldn’t camouflage anything larger than a jerboa.
    “The other side of the gully. There’s enough of an overhang, if they look down from above they won’t be able to see us there.”
    “Assuming they don’t come up the wadi.” He peered up and down the ravine. There wasn’t anywhere else to hide. “Come on, then. We’llhave to erase our footprints as we go. If they spot those it will lead them straight to us.”
    He snapped off two branches from the nearest scrubby tree, handed one to her, and demonstrated how to walk backward, wiping away their footprints behind them as they went. Quickly, they shuffled over to the far side of the gully, checked for snakes and scorpions, and ducked under the lip of the rock.There wasn’t as much shade on that side, but the dry heat baked all the sweat from their skin.
    Muted voices carried through the still air, muffled by the sounds of the seashore beyond them. Lily had hold of his arm again, and he could feel her tension as she strained to hear, listening for any sign that they were about to be discovered.
    He brushed the hair back from her ear and pressedhis mouth close, whispering, “The safest place for us is right here. Don’t panic and try to run away. We’ll only run if we’re sure they’ve spotted us.”
    She nodded. “How many men do they have?”
    “I counted eight on the boat.”
    Lily let out a slow breath.
    They were outnumbered. They couldn’t risk letting it come to a