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Nodding, she returns her gaze to the fire and watches it dance and pop as she thinks about what he just said. “What do you plan to do if you should make it back to Cardri?” she asks after a few minutes of silence.

“That all depends on James there,” he tells her. “I’ll be staying with him for awhile, strange things are afoot and he seems to be in the middle of it all. I don’t know what the gods may have in store for him, but it should prove interesting.” He takes the rabbit off the fire and inspects if briefly before returning it to the flames.

“You could come with us if you like,” he suggests to her. Before she has a chance to reply, he adds, “Since the way back to your home is currently unavailable, that is.”

“I may do that,” she replies after unconsciously glancing to where the stairs used to be.

They sit side by side, the proximity of each other lending them comfort. The clouds have completely disappeared by the time the rabbit is ready to eat. Saving out a large portion for James when he wakes up, Jiron divvies the rest of it between him and Aleya.

After they’ve finished eating, he suggests taking the first watch while she gets some sleep. “I’ll wake you sometime after midnight,” he tells her.

“Very well,” she says as she gets a blanket from one of the horses and lies down next to the fire.

Jiron moves out of the light to better preserve his night vision as he begins to slowly circle the camp. Every once in awhile he catches himself staring at her as she lies there sleeping, the light from the fire dancing across her face.

He moves through the trees further away from the camp and stares out over the valley to the west where the Fortress of Kern lies. Once James finally awakens, they’re going to have to make it there somehow. If what Aleya says is correct, they’ll have an army to get through somewhere between here and there.

Moving to the other side of the ridge where the stair used to be, he sees down amidst the rubble that once was the side of the ridge many lights. From their number he figures there still to be a sizeable force left. Too bad we didn’t get them all! It’s highly unlikely they’ll be any more of a threat for awhile. The cliff’s too high and vertical for the average soldier to scale and they have a long way to walk to get out of the mountains.

The morning dawns sunny, not a cloud in the sky. Jiron wakes to find Aleya already having killed their morning breakfast and can smell it from where it’s roasting on the fire.

“Good morning,” she says when she notices him sitting up.

“You too,” he replies. Nodding to James, he asks, “How’s he doing?”

“Still sleeping,” she tells him. “He hasn’t awoken yet. Is that normal?”

Shrugging, he says, “I really wouldn’t know. But there have been times when he didn’t wake for awhile. Once he took almost two days to come out of it.” Seeing her concern, he adds, “But we’ll not wait that long. If he’s not up by noon, I plan to wake him up. As you said last night, there could be more forces on the way.”

“I was thinking about that last night,” she says. “If they would’ve sent a rider to warn the forces by the fortress back when we first entered the mountains, then it’s possible they could’ve gotten to them in time to send the crossbowmen up here to block off our escape route.”

Nodding, he replies, “That would make sense. It did seem kind of odd that we weren’t pressed very hard in the mountains. They knew where we were going, or at least had a good idea, so they didn’t want us to move too quickly and reach here before their forces could get into position to greet us.”

“So that would mean,” she says, “whatever forces are near Kern, will be waiting for us.” After a moment, adds, “If they’re not already on their way.”

Nodding, Jiron gets up and says to her, “I’m going to check down the trail, just in case. Keep an eye on him, okay?”

“Sure,” she replies. She takes out what was left over from the rabbit last night and begins eating. She plans on saving what’s cooking over the fire for James when he wakes up. As she eats, she watches Jiron