It took an hour before Duncan got his bearings. That required carefully retracing a few of his steps and dredging up the last memories of his panic-ridden flight out of the clearing. It ended in being uneventful aside from pinpointing just where he was in relation to Nakano Abe’s campsite.

“East, even a bit Northeast.”

Duncan rubbed his eyes.

“Saint’s damn it! I ran the wrong way. Sofia’s on the other side of the camp.”

Blowing out a long sigh, he hefted the canvas backpack into a more comfortable position on his shoulders. Duncan flexed his grip around the wooden scabbards of Sofia’s swords, trying to will away the heavy fatigue that dripped off his ears and pulled down at his shoulders.

Finally, he shook his head to cl...

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