Kalann slumped down on the ground. Now that the fight was over, exhaustion was sucking the marrow from his bones. And the knowledge of Selia and Tenno's capture only made it worse. They were outmatched and beaten down, and the battles ahead were only going to get harder. *How can we possibly hope to succeed?*
He shook the thought off and turned to Evartan. "Did you see them get captured?"
Evartan nodded grimly. "Once they had their prize, they retreated. Back through the pass, into the eastern plains. We would've followed them, but they kept half their force behind to stall us. They're long gone by now."
Kalann clenched his jaw. "They're trying to distract us. Capture our friends so we waste time trying to save them."
"That elf knew too much about us," Evartan said. "He probably was watching us even before we first met him."
"I suspect he was," Makuran said darkly. "I would have ordered him to do so."