The quiet comfort of being in town vanished faster than I had expected.
One moment there were market stalls, city guards, and enough people around to pretend we weren't walking toward possibly an ancient dragon problem. The next, the northeastern road thinned under our boots, the trees pressed in closer on both sides, and all my cowardly excuses to turn around began sounding a lot harder to defend.
Celeste kept a steady pace at the front. At some point she had decided stopping would only give me time to say something stupid. Reika walked near me with her ears turning toward every sound in the trees, her usual curiosity sharpened into something akin to being on edge. Her tail jumping every now and then at a new sound.
Valka followed on my other side, looking more comfortable away from the crowds, though she still went a little still whenever the Tyrant Dragon Empress came up.
