Nobody slept. The camp pulled back a full half mile from the valley's edge at Rama's insistence, deep enough into the tree line that the mound itself vanished from direct sight, though nothing about the distance made the air feel any less watched. Soldiers sat in tight clusters around low fires, weapons close at hand, and more than one man kept glancing toward the valley as though expecting the ground itself to follow them.
"We ride for the capital at first light," Yudhistira said, crouched beside Rama near the largest fire, his wounded arm bound in a fresh sling Sekar had tied for him an hour before. "Surya's last order was clear. Get the men out. I don't intend to disobey a dying man's final command out of some hope we can undo it."
"He's not confirmed dead," Rama said. "Taken isn't the same as killed. Every soldier that walked out of Girah Post is missing too, not buried."
