Under the wary eyes of the thieves who still lingered in the distance, Luciel and Elara descended the hillside with their two beasts, shadows melting into the darkness as they slipped away from the half-moon valley.
They followed the Red Ghost Spider's silent path toward its hidden den.
"You really did move a lot of things," Elara said, staring wide-eyed at the twenty pale cocoons stacked neatly before her.
Luciel gave a small, rueful smile and shook his head. "Not enough. Time was too short."
The group they'd rescued—thousands of desperate people—had lived on jerky for a month. Even after all that effort, they had managed to carry off barely two thousand catties of the stuff.
Elara rolled her eyes, her expression hovering somewhere between disbelief and amusement. "You call that not enough?" she muttered under her breath.
Luciel pretended not to notice and instead looked toward her. "Would you help me move a few things?"
