The aim was to find a landmark — the last place the caravan had made camp — but we'd found nothing for hours.
From morning until afternoon, Kassie had been running. No sign of passage. No tracks, no disturbed earth, nothing.
She eventually paused when we hit a cave. I actually instructed her to stop.
Something was wrong.
If there was one thing I'd noticed about the terrain from Mishard to Brackenfall, it was the lack of rocks. The land was mostly flat, earthy, sparse. There really shouldn't be any rocks here, let alone a cave — unless we were closer to Faeren. I didn't know what that region looked like, so it wasn't far-fetched to guess we'd drifted off course.
Kassie had been running all the while, straining under my weight. An obvious strain. Sweat glistened on her neck, and her legs — I could feel them trembling slightly beneath me.
The cave was a good option. Shelter. Rest.
