The last black marker stood between two trees with copper-colored leaves. Nova stopped beside it and looked back. Eastwatch had disappeared behind the folds of the ridge, and the gorge was little more than a pale opening in the western cliffs. He could no longer hear the warning cups.
"Well," he said, "that's one way to know we've left."
Lunaris sniffed the marker, then rubbed his cheek against it as though claiming the whole eastern country. The Auri stood a few steps away, watching the trees. Its grey-stained wing remained folded, although the climb had left it tired enough to rest against a trunk.
Nova checked the bandage on his palm. The cut had begun to close, but climbing still pulled at it. He had food from Cal, two sealed skins of boiled water, and a sound replacement rope. None of that told him how far the next inhabited place might be.
