Davion woke with a start. It was pitch black.
"Sarah?" he whispered. "Elu?"
He heard a grunt in the darkness. He focused his will; a tiny sphere of blue light appeared and illuminated the cave. Sarah blinked and sat up. Elu began to snore.
"I can’t even tell what time of day it is, down here," said Davion.
"It’s mid-morning," said Sarah.
"How do you know?" asked Davion.
Sarah just smiled.
Davion recalled the harrowing crawl down to this cave. "Do we have to crawl our way back up?"
"No," said Sarah. "There are other ways out. We just have to wait til the coast is clear."
"How will we know?" asked Davion.
As if on cue, a small point of light appeared, then grew to a sphere that fit in a palm. The angel had brown skin, black hair, eagle’s wings, and a flaming sword.
"Gabriel," said Sarah. "Thank you, again, for the warning."
Gabriel bowed, his hands clasped before him.
"All is well," said Gabriel.
"The dragons returned to camp. The soldiers are leaving."
"Leaving?" asked Davion. "They’re packing up?"
"Seems so," said Gabriel.
Sarah stood, stretched, and winced. "Then we’ve won," she said. "For now. They’ll be back next summer. The dragons may be back earlier than that. We have to keep our guard up."
"We’ll be ready," said Gabriel.
The angel led them downward and out of the cave with his light. They emerged into a clear forest morning that smelled faintly of rain.