Arden opened his eyes with a start.

He wondered how long he was unconscious.

He was not dead, that he was sure of.

His body hurt too much in a dozen places for him to be dead.

The blood had dried over the moderate cut on his left brow.

He sat up painfully, pushing the chunks of mortar and debris from the fallen watchtower off himself.

He suffered no major injury, for that he was thankful.

The first streaks of the new dawn burst over the eastern darkness and Arden's large blue eyes were saddened at the sight of destruction around him.