Kane cut Dorian's men loose at the field's edge and told them to go home.
Nobody argued. Weapons hit the ground faster than orders could keep up with, fighters scattering in every direction the moment word spread that no one was chasing them.
"That's it," Joren said, watching the last of them disappear over the ridge. "Just... over."
"Not over," Kane said. "Just different."
They rode back into Dustbridge two days later to a town that had already started celebrating before they arrived. Word had beaten them home. Refugees who'd been sleeping in tents lined the road, and someone had strung torches along the main street like it was a festival instead of a war's aftermath.
"They're going to want you to lead," Senna said, meeting him at the gate, checking his shoulder wound before he'd eve
