The morning came, pale and clammy. Cassandra woke up and found a tree-root under her back, leaving a dent mark there, and that her neck felt as stiff as the tree-root itself.
She woke Ruslan and they both ate some cheese and bread for a quick breakfast. Owlyn was nodding off after a whole night of watch. Then again, the daytime was not for our nocturnal friend. Cassandra decided to let the owl rest while she looked around for Vasilisa.
The princess had been up for a while before dawn break and had walked off to the edge of a cliff, surveying the wood.
Away eastward, the sun was climbing up the red sky over the misty mountain that seemed to tower over the world. Under the rising sun, the autumn trees with their gold and red leaves stood like sailing rootless in a shadowy sea. A little be
