Arden, with trembling body, climbed out from behind the statue base, holding the heavy stone tablet like it was his life. He wiped dirt from its surface, his fingers tracing the carved lines under the faint moonlight that now reached the courtyard.
"Here," he pointed with shaky but clear voice. "The map ends... here. But the words... 'Where moonlight pierces the heart of the Sentinel Stone'. It must be a landmark. Straight west, through the Whisperwood..."
He stopped, looking at the dead horses around them. Two were gone, and the others were scared and had run off, their ropes broken.
"We take what we can," Joel said grimly, already moving towards the horses that had survived, somehow protected by a broken wall. "Reyes, help me. Kaley, get Thomas onto the spare horse. Prince Rayne, Princess Viana..."
His eyes took in Rayne's clear pain and Viana's tired, dust-covered face. "Can you ride?"
"Can and will," Rayne pushed himself upright, wincing badly.
