That night, the group buried Hale on the ridge in a shallow grave that Cael and Tobin had dug with their swords because no one had thought to bring a spade.
Senna and Braka lowered the sergeant into it themselves, and Marcus said a few plain words over him in a voice that did not carry beyond the circle of firelight.
Afterward, the humans and the wolf-kin sat together around the same fire, though neither group had planned it that way. Tobin passed a waterskin to Braka, and Braka took it without comment and drank.
Valen stood a little way off, looking south. The ridge gave a long view of the road and the dark folds of forest beyond it.
"They weren't running from us," Cael said quietly, coming up beside him.
"No."
"Then what were they running from?"
He didn't have the answer. However, he had felt something stir in the old ruins. Though he couldn't explain this feeling, he knew there was something ominous residing in those ruins.
