The heat was the first thing he noticed. It burned against his skin like a punishment, the sun hanging high and merciless above. Izikel groaned softly, his body aching in ways he couldn't even count. The hard metal bars pressed into his back as he stirred, and it took him several moments to understand he was inside a moving cage.
His eyes fluttered open, the world blurry and spinning. His dry lips cracked as he tried to speak, but no sound came out. Off in the distance, the trees of the Maw Forest shrank into the horizon, fading with every jolt and rattle of the makeshift prison.
They were leaving it behind.
A sharp pain throbbed in his temple, pounding like a drum in his skull.
