The forest was quiet.
Not peaceful. Just quiet in the way a place gets after too many people have passed through it too fast. The birds were gone. The wind didn't move. Smoke hung between the trees like a bad memory.
Lindarion leaned against the trunk of a wide-barked oak, arms crossed, trying not to look like he was about to collapse.
Jaren stood a few feet away, speaking low with the captain of the escort. The man's voice was gravel-worn, and his armor was half-buckled like he'd been pulled out of bed and shoved onto the front lines with a sword in one hand and a prayer in the other.
"Thirty-seven accounted for," the captain said. "A few wounded. No dead from our side. Civilians—we don't have numbers yet."
"We'll get them," Jaren said.
The captain nodded, then moved on.
Ashwing shifted on Lindarion's shoulder, small claws digging in just enough to be annoying. "You're gonna pass out."
'I'll pass out when we stop running.'