CHAPTER 53 - KAEL

Kael glanced at Gared’s sharp face, shone by the light ball at the low table between them. The mage had offered bread and butter, and Kael already had two slices for his hungry stomach. Chewing his third, he listened with Luna to Gared’s report.

“You said you didn’t come here alone,” Luna said, “so where are the rest of you?”

Gared flipped through the pages of his journal and replied, “Five knights and three mages, including me … Magus Jade had to have me protected to be certain I’d survive, so I can return and report to him. On the second day of our journey, we decided to split up to have a wider range of coverage in the forest. I went with two knights and a mage, while the other group had three knights and one mage. Then …” His eyes fell to the journal and sighed. “That night where we agreed to gather, not a single member from the other group came.”

Kael and Luna looked at each other with worried eyes. “What happened to them?”

Gared turned the page and read it for a second before rep