NIGHT CAME SWIFTLY and with it a warm current that left Archai silent and on edge as everyone bedded down for the night. He ignored any who spoke to him, and his attention shifted moment by moment between the new Voices and the surrounding woods.
The cottage was indeed peaceful as all lay in their beds. But the battle at Nov’Eit raged on in Caia’s mind. Mangled limbs and severed bodies were her companions with every blink, and she eventually gave up trying to sleep. In perfect silence she rose so as not to wake Naoni, and wandered down the hall. Moonlight shone through the windows in slivers of silver, casting its brightness against the mud walls. Dy’Mün had something of a partiality for metal things, which, at any other time, would be something of interest to Caia but with her nerves on
