Chapter 357 - Pleasure in the midst of war

The camp settled like a living thing drawing its first full breath after battle. Tents rose in ordered rows along the southern slope of the ridge, cookfires crackling low beneath iron cauldrons, the scent of roasted meat and boiled roots threading through the night air. Men cleaned weapons, checked bandages, spoke in low voices of the dead and the living. Cassel's scouts had melted into the tree line hours ago; Elivira circled once more above the northern gate before settling on the inner courtyard wall, golden eyes half-lidded but never truly closed. The Arakenys column had withdrawn after her fire—testing, probing, not yet committing. They would return with the dawn.