The second day brought them within sight of a valley Helena's maps did mark, faintly, as an old trade corridor abandoned two generations ago when a better road had been cut through the southern pass.
It also brought them Alex Dawnsblade.
Sera felt him before anyone saw him — a presence at the edge of her extended reading, bright in a way that had nothing to do with Fedora's new vocabulary and everything to do with divine light held close enough to a body that it left a residue on the air around it.
'Someone's ahead,' she said, stopping the formation with a raised hand. 'Powerful. Alone. Coming this way.'
Garrett had a blade half-drawn before Raze's raised hand stopped him.
'Stand down.'
'You know who it is,' Fedora said. Not a question.
