9
The following morning, Gavin awoke stiff and sore. Tarkyn may have become used to sleeping on a pile of bracken or just on hard ground, but he had not. He suppressed a groan as he stretched the worst of the cramps out of his muscles and pushed back the screen of shrubbery to crawl outside and stand up, stretching his arms above his head, before dropping them and looking around.
No one was in sight, but he had been told that woodfolk lookouts would be up in the surrounding trees, keeping guard. He glanced around and could see none of them, but apparently that was to be expected. He heard the sound of voices and followed it along a short path to its source, to find a fire lit, with several woodfolk and most of the troopers sitting around it, waiting for a large kettle to come to the boil
