Without another word, she turned toward the forest. The other three Amazari warriors moved in a loose escort rather than a guard formation.
Michael followed in silence, but the further he went, the more he could feel it.
The stares.
They were strange.
The Amazari women they passed paused in their work to look in their direction.
It was the kind of attention that made Michael feel like he was walking without clothes.
He kept his expression neutral, but the urge to adjust his collar or pull his cloak tighter rose anyway.
He resisted it.
The escorting four did not help.
They kept glancing at him too, their eyes shifting to his face, his shoulders, the way he moved, then returning forward as if nothing had happened.
Then, after a few more moments of silence, one of the escorting women spoke again.
Her tone this time was polite, almost curious.
"Do you have elven lineage?"
The question caught Michael off guard.
