CHAPTER 38:
Three days of steady work transformed the valley. The wreckage of battle was cleared, the graves tended, the barriers rebuilt higher and stronger than before. New tents rose in orderly rows, gardens were planted in the fertile soil near the river, and a constant stream of riders came and went along the mountain trails, carrying news and invitations to every pack within three days’ ride. But beneath the growing calm ran a quiet, restless tension. We had won a battle. We had not won the war. And everyone knew it.
We gathered at dawn at the edge of the camp, where three riders waited with fresh horses and supplies strapped to their saddles. Torin would travel east, Mara north, and a young man named Kaelen—swift, quiet, and unshakably steady—would go west. Each carried a sealed s
