Wren stared down at the kneeling man, utterly bewildered, the dozen armed strangers behind him following his lead a heartbeat later, each of them dropping to one knee in the cave's cold morning shadow with a solemnity that made her chest tighten with confused, overwhelmed emotion.
"I don't understand," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, glancing helplessly at Kane, who remained propped against the cave wall, watching the scene unfold with the same bewildered caution she felt. "What is this? Who are you? Please, someone, explain."
The man rose slowly, his weathered face still carrying the raw imprint of whatever emotion had cracked through it moments before, and when he spoke, his voice carried a rough, careful reverence that made Wren's skin prickle with the growing understandin
