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Eavus groaned, torn. He needed to get her somewhere safe. He couldn’t keep having her wandering off for him to come rescue her. He’d done his duty towards her. If she wanted to get captured again, who was he to protest?

“If you make the lean-to,” she offered, without turning around, “I’ll chop the firewood.”

Eavus’ hand flew to his side. He’d given her the ax, dammit. He jogged up behind her.

“We’re going to be half a day out of our way. Maybe more.”

“Less people on this route.”

Eavus was annoyed that she was right. Not like Triconum was that popular anyway. But still… Avoiding notice was certainly in their best interest. His story about her being Dinaeii was thin at best. If anyone really decided to look into it, he’d be in for trouble.

Clouds rolled in, softening the sky to gray wool. The quick wind cooled the sweat at his temples and down his back, softening his annoyance. East or west, in the end, mattered less than being able to turn north. To get her out of here and get his task finished so he could put this whole episode behind him.

The trees maintained a thick curtain to their right, even as the incline rose, but as they reached the sharp turn at the top, the sudden opening of the landscape sent a whomp into Eavus’ chest like he’d walked into a wall.

“It’s beautiful,” Revni breathed.

That was an understatement. Stretched in front of them was a massive rend in the earth, chewing on fog. The gorge’s steep sides were peppered with juts of stone the iron shade of thunderclouds, offset by splotches of green that clung on like spilled paint. It was stark and powerful, and made Eavus feel small in a way he didn’t have words to explain. Revni stepped to the edge to get a better view. Eavus hesitated.

“We should keep going.”

“Sa.” But she didn’t move. “This island, it’s bigger than the ocean.” Her voice was filled with awe.

Eavus had never been on the ocean, only the thin channel of water between the continent. This island did feel that huge from here, swaths of green farther than he could see, mountains tipping their peaks in the distance. Yet he’d seen the maps. Arnea was tiny in comparison to the dark shading that stretched to the curling corners of the paper and fell off the sides. “It’s nothing compared to the continent. The land Aleteria is on? My cohort traveled for months, and never reached the ocean. Not really.”

Revni swung her disbelieving eyes to Eavus, and that feeling smacked him in the chest again, like he’d taken a hit with a shield. Her eyes were the color of the sea.

“We should keep going,” he repeated. He turned and continued down the path, trying to ignore the sudden blotchy heat in his neck. What in the nine temples was he even doing, going west? She was taking him out of his way. He would never have been put in this position in the first place—being tasked with going to Norbucum—if it hadn’t been for her.

If it hadn’t been for him, chasing her down after that battle, looking for the extra bit of glory so he could brag to all the others. He’d started them both on this mess.

She hurried to catch up, and then turned to walk backwards.

“You can almost see your fort.” She pointed. He didn’t want to look. He didn’t want to see how far from his mission she was taking him. But she elbowed him and pointed again, and he went ahead and turned. The canyon curved and thinned in the direction they’d come, a long snake all the way to the walls of Triconum perched on its edge, where it disappeared in darkness but didn’t seem to end.

They kept on, the thicket of trees returning as the path curved again. The land to their left was more sprawling—mostly forest, but not as dense, occasionally broken by fields. Revni frequently turned to walk backwards, seeming to grow more nervous as the rain began in earnest, but Eavus ignored it. If you stopped marching every time it rained in this country⁠—

“We should find shelter.”

Eavus scoffed, not even bothering to reply. The trees on the gorge side seemed to have grown denser, and he pushed his way in a few feet to check.

“I think we may have reached the end. We should be able to turn north now.”

“There.” Revni pointed. A low, wooden shed in the near distance was half-blocked by surrounding weeds. “We can wait the rain out there.” One side was collapsed, its whole structure tilting like it was drunk. Even from here, Eavus could see the hole in the roof.

“How is that better than the rain?”

“It’s better than wandering in circles.” Her hair was plastered to her head. Her hand fluttered up as if to pull it back, then pointed instead. “This path curved, and so did the gorge. We could be turned south.” She pointed towards the trees he’d just probed. “That could be west.”

Godsdammit, she was right. Eavus turned his head to the sodden sky, taking a couple of fat droplets in the eye. Sure, on a map you simply went west and then turned right, but Eavus wasn’t a navigator. If they’d gone east, like he’d wanted, like the prefect had instructed, he’d know what direction they were facing.

Inwardly, Eavus seethed. Wait out the rain like Revni wanted, or turn back now and retrace their steps? Either way, almost an entire day wasted.

“Do wagons come from that fort?” she pressed.

“Yes.”

“So we wait. We ask a wagon who knows this road, to be safe. Or we wait for the sun.”