The cruel, solemn burning ended. In the end, White, who had regained consciousness, joined Bright and the others in gathering some of his ashes into a wooden box. The few knights dealt separately with the charred black bones.
Yenaier left without a sound. As she departed, Zeng Mu could sense no emotion in her, as though she had been born without any. Hers was a loneliness and desolate cold that radiated from within, needing no one to lean on.
After exchanging a few pleasantries with White and the others, Zeng Mu left for the barracks. He was hungry, and the evening had exhausted him. He needed a meal.
Dinner was fairly generous that day. It was no feast, but for the legion's knights, it was considerably better than their meals over the past few days. At least the rice was solid rather than watery.
Idiveer had kept his promise. He had no reason not to. Zeng Mu thought himself lucky that nothing had delayed him on the road; otherwise, O'Connor would have died that night.
After eating, he went to the Stable and led Abyss toward the barracks.
As he left, he encountered the groom he had met last time. Seeing him leading the Thousand-Mile Horse, the man asked, "Oh, my lord, is something happening tonight? All thousand-plus warhorses in the stables have been led away."
"Yes, we're making a move," he replied.
"You're going on the offensive?"
"Yes. These past two days have been hard on the people in your city. This will be a major battle, and almost everything depends on it-whether we survive or fall. But just wait. Wait for us to return in triumph. Victory belongs to us." With that, Zeng Mu led Abyss into the shifting firelight and disappeared. The flames moved with the torches