Rowan bolted upright, all exhaustion from the day's training forgotten. "How many?"
"Too many for a normal patrol," Lira said, already moving toward the shrine entrance. "Get Maren. Get Dane."
Rowan rushed back inside, finding Dane checking his bandaged arm by torchlight and Maren still seated near the hearth, her sightless eyes already turned toward the door despite the distance to whatever approached.
"You feel it too," Rowan said.
"I feel far more than footsteps," Maren said, standing slowly. "Something else moves with them. Something carrying weight I haven't sensed in years."
Dane was on his feet immediately, wincing as the motion pulled at his injured arm. "How far out?"
"Twenty minutes, maybe less, depending on how fast they're moving," Lira called from the entrance, peering d
