Mallory sent Ryan a reassuring smile, wishing she felt as confident as the smile she’d given him. If Danae hadn’t mentioned poisonous spiders, she would have removed her boots to cut down on the noise she was making. Entering the small cave, she stayed close to the wall on her right. There was a barrel taking up most of the corner, it was far enough away from the cave wall that she could slip behind it and peer around the corner.
Pressed against the rough rock of the wall, her wand in her left hand at her side, she leaned to the left, peering through the extremely short tunnel that led into a large cave. It was roughly six metres square with a cooking fire a little north east of the middle. Three smugglers were sitting around the fire with their backs to her, talking. In the far north ea
