They stood, with assorted curses and groans, and got back to walking. By the time the sun started to slide down toward the horizon, the land had flattened out some, the valley widening and the forest thinning out, which made for considerably easier going. Glacial boulders dotted the broadening plain, and Varo laid out their camp in the lee of one of them, constructing a fire pit from flat river stones. Maya stopped him as he started to gather twigs for kindling. She dragged a couple of larger dry branches over, laid a finger on her haken, and twisted out a fine thread of deiat until they ignited with a dull roar.

“That’s handy,” he said, sitting down beside his pack. “I can think of a few times we could have used you. Once—”

“If this story ends with someone freezing to death, I don’t need to hear it,” Beq said, dropping heavily to the packed earth.

“Nobody freezes,” Varo said. Then, after a moment’s contemplation he added, “The polar bear got him first.”

Beq caught Maya’s eye and heaved a sigh. Maya grinned at her.

“We should keep a watch,” she said. “We’re not that far from the border, and I doubt the Legion sweeps here very often. There could be plaguespawn.”

“No need.” Tanax dug a small unmetal-and-glass sphere out of his pack, about the size of a marble. Maya felt him thread a bit of deiat into it, and it started glowing.

“A watch charm?” Beq said, suddenly interested. “Where did you get one of those?”

“Not from the quartermaster, that’s for sure,” Varo said.

“It was a gift from my mentor. He said I would have more use for it now than he would.” He sounded a little defensive and hardened his tone immediately. “Now, get some rest. We’ll move out early tomorrow morning and reach Litnin by midday.”

Lying on her bedroll beside the softly glowing watch charm, Maya found herself too keyed up for sleep. She wasn’t worried, exactly—the charm would sound if anything came near, and even if there were plaguespawn they weren’t likely to be anything two agathia couldn’t handle. She just felt too aware, cognizant of every rustling branch and snapping twig in the forest. Stars winked at her through the gently shifting canopy.