They were on a small plateau and several yards away the mouth of the coal conveyor could be seen. The broken remains of the tracks that the coal carts had moved along still remained, though weeds grew up between the ties. A lone coal cart was lying on its side, forgotten and rusty, with a clump of daisies blooming nearby looking rather like a simple funeral bouquet. A passing whim almost had him getting up and plucking them to give to Brandi, but moving seemed too complicated to even consider at the moment. Instead, he revelled in the feel of the sunshine on his bare skin. After the cool dampness of the mines, the warmth of the sun and the untainted scents of nature were like an elixir pouring life back into his tired body. And he was tired. While the physical exertion of traversing the tunnels had been hard, it was the battle he’d waged internally that had drained him. The feeling of being enclosed underground, and the knowledge that only the dim glow of a flashlight kept the darkness at bay, had driven him and his wolf to the edge.
