•Thunoa Southwest Forest•
[Kai's POV]
The rhythmic, monotonous creak of the wagon wheels and the steady, dull clop of the horses' hooves were the only sounds breaking the deep, watchful silence of the forest. The trees pressed close on either side, their branches intertwining overhead like clasped hands—beautiful, but also confining. The kind of terrain that made ambushes easy and escapes difficult.
In the prisoners' wagon, which we led behind ours, the bandits and witches lay in an unconscious heap, their unnatural slumber so deep that not even the wagon's jostling could stir them. Meanwhile, in our wagon, my men and I sat in a comfortable, sated silence, the shared meal from Mrs. Melinda a warm, pleasant weight in our stomachs, its rich aromas still clinging to the air like a benediction.
