Chapter 110

At the foot of the mountains, Khelt finally called a halt to their journey. The drizzling rain had abated, and in the shelter of the boulders littering the low slopes they made camp for the first time in many days. It was only to be a brief respite, but it was a welcome one.

The hunters needed time to scout out a safe passage through the peaks and valleys that lay before them, and it would do no good to lead the vulnerable pack across such treacherous terrain unprepared. Fires were built, tents were set back up, and those who were able went out to forage and hunt.

Netya counted herself among them, though her body told her otherwise. She had not been sleeping well, even when Khelt was there to embrace her. Any time she was alone with her thoughts she could not help but think to the future, and all the trials that awaited her. In the past, such thoughts had been few and far between. Any events more than a few days distant had seemed a lifetime away for the girl she had onc