Cain watched from the back of his gray horse as the men around him set up camp in the small clearing with ease. There was a steady chatter among the men, and more laughter and smiles passed among them than there had been in years. Despite the cold, damp conditions and the fact that they had traveled dawn to dusk for the third day in a row the mood in camp was cheerful. The joy would wear off soon enough, for now they were still celebrating the fall of the witch a week ago.
An uneasy silence fell as Cain made his way through the camp, however, and nearly everyone stopped what they were doing to watch him questioningly. Ignoring them he rode straight to Jeb, who was standing near the middle of the camp.
"What we're searching for is just over the far hill." Cain jerked his head in the direction he had come from, to a high wooded hill. "They're not even attempting to hide their presence, making more noise than a herd of horses."
Jeb nodded and as Cain dismounted he called out, "No fires tonight, men." There were a few groans of complaint, but most had been expecting the order. They needed the element of surprise in the morning if they were to be victorious, because by all accounts their foes numbered far greater than they.
Cain slipped the tack off of his horse, haltered it, and tied it with the rest a slight distance away from the camp. When he returned he found the men sitting on their blankets eating their cold meal, far less cheerful now that the night's cold was sinking into their bones and settling there with nothing to chase it away.
He glanced at Jeb, who was leaned against a tree on the other side of the clearing, conversing with a dark-haired and dark-skinned man whose name Cain thought was Gregory. His son glanced up and their eyes met for a moment in an ice cold glare before both men looked away, Jeb turning back to his conversation and Cain moving to lay out his blankets on the hard packed dirt. Neither man had attempted to speak to the other of anything but military matters since the Eclipse, both thinking that there were too many hard feelings to be dealt with while there was still so much to do in the O.Z.
Once all of the remaining supporters of the old regime were eradicated they would have time to sort out their own problems, for now the O.Z.'s came first for both of them. It was, after all, partially do to them that it had been freed at all, and they had a duty to make sure that it was put back into order correctly.
As all but the first watch settled down to sleep Cain let out a sigh and didn't even attempt to join them, simply wrapping his blankets around his shoulders and gazing at the hill not far away, thinking of what battle might await them on the other side. He couldn't sleep with the enemy so close.
Unknown to him Jeb was thinking along nearly the same lines on the other side of the camp, also prepared for a long night with little sleep.
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