Chapter 77: Fireside Chats

Caelyn and Markos returned to the mouth of the cave where they'd left Iliana and Vladimars. The storm howled in increasing intensity and snow covered the manes and hoods of their companions. Iliana stood comfortably beside Caelyn's warder, soothing the creature by humming softly to it. Vladimars hunched over in a pile of blankets on top of his horse, like he was trying to absorb some of her body heat. 

Iliana looked at them, her expression shifting to a warm smile. "There you are. Vladimars was worried you'd found trouble in the cave," she replied brightly, gently patting the neck of the horse she was standing beside. "I saw the illusion form after the stone cracked." 

Vladimars shivered violently from inside his blankets. "Yes, yes. Can we get out of the ruddy snow now?"