"We manage on foot from here," Elizabeth said. "The terrain between here and the canyon entrance is mapped."
"We cover it in a day and a half at field pace." She looked at the group. "We will camp lightly tonight and move at first light."
"But hopefully... there's still a village around here somewhere," Alexander said while looking through the map.
"Oh yeah, there's that alternative too."
Rex looked down the road in the direction of the eastern path and then at the forest on either side, the tree cover thick and afternoon-lit, the path ahead disappearing into the kind of dappled shade that said the canopy was about to close in.
He picked up his pack from the equipment that had been laid out on the road shoulder and settled it across his shoulders.
'I didn't know that this could happen, but still...' Rex looked at Nerith, who's trying to have her distance with him.
'She's going to be a problem because she was crying nonstop back then...'
