Azura's POV
The fog had thinned enough to see again.
The sounds of fighting were long gone behind us. Miles back, swallowed by the Wraithfen as if they had never happened at all. Now there was only the forest and the quiet and the two of us moving through it with no idea where the others were or if they were still alive.
Rhydor walked ahead. He always walked ahead. Silent, scanning the trees, watching for anything that moved wrong. I followed because my body had nothing left except the habit of putting one foot in front of the other.
The sky above the branches was turning grey. That pale, flat grey that meant morning was coming whether anyone wanted it or not. A brand new day in the Wraithfen. Wonderful.
We walked for what felt like hours. Time moved strangely in this place, like the forest was holding onto it, stretching it out just to watch us suffer.
Then my legs stopped.
