Mounts reassembled into tighter formation. Both sides withdrew several lengths. Breathing. Bleeding. Alive.
Izz did not wait for another charge before pulling back.
The breach had already done its work.
Where the enemy had stood evaded, the light remained. Not fading. Not retreating.
The sun had stepped forward and settled, eating the whole place even to the far end sides up. So markers were moved, stones uprooted. Lines redrawn. No one spoke of retreat. They called it adjustment. But everyone saw it.
Ground that had been theirs for two years now burned under foreign light.
The wounded were dragged behind the new line. Jasper Battalion reformed a thinner lattice. Emerald regrouped in tighter clusters. Sapphire redistributed arrows.
Linh sat for only a short while.
His knuckles were torn open. His breathing uneven. He had gone too deep into that haze. It clung to him still, like heat refusing to leave skin. Roah noticed.
Said nothing. There would be no time.
