The thing in the grass did not get up.
Hessa watched it all that day, while Clovelle folded the ground under them again and again. They stopped at Greywatch at noon and at Emberfall's line by dark. Every time they stopped, Hessa sat down and put her hand over her eyes.
"They walked right past it," she said that night. "Two hundred steps away. It didn't move."
"Did they see it?" asked Rudra.
"No. It's under the grass. It looks like a low hill." She took her hand away. Her eyes were red from looking. "When the last row went past, it lifted its head."
Nobody said anything.
"It's following them now," Hessa said. "Slowly. It stays a mile back. It lies down when they stop."
"What does it end?" Almond asked.
"I don't know. Nothing's happened yet." She rubbed her eyes. "I'll keep looking."
They came into Brightwater at dusk the next day.
Clovelle folded the last stretch of road right up to the south gate. The ground came together under their feet, and there were the white stones.
