They didn't speak much the next morning.
There was little left to say.
Sarissa's thigh was wrapped with a length of cloth Miles ripped from his coat, tight enough to stop the bleeding but already spotted with red. She limped as she walked, face pale beneath her dirt-streaked skin.
Miles had deep bruises forming across his ribs where the creature's swipes had landed too close, and his club, his only weapon, had a crack running up the shaft.
Dee was silent, its eyes darting to the trees often. It hadn't chirped since the monster left.
They didn't eat much. Miles chewed on a root he couldn't name, swallowing the bitterness just to feel something in his stomach. Sarissa tried to sip water from the leaf-basin they had built near the lean-to, but her hands shook too much, so Miles had to give her to drink.
Shi didn't like it.
Rest was the only thing they could afford. Rest, and silence.
