In a matter of days the steppe had transformed into a miniature city of canvas tents, seemingly blanketing all of the Meril-An plains beneath them. Ren’i had kept his promise of not disturbing the daily lives of the akheris and the army had retreated a league and a half’s distance from Hatam-Ile, but as the…

Ren’i was thankful for Onniar’s instructions the following morning. Every single inch of his body cried and complained like he was bruised all over when he got up. The short walk from Hatam-Ile to the camp was enough to exhaust him, and he shot down Hamr’s protests decisively once there.

The night was a far cry from pleasant. Ren’i hadn’t been given anything else to eat but a bowl of greasy broth and a couple of slices of thin, soft akheri-style bread that Mineha had called rieska, and as dusk fell he understood why. When the effects of the medicine abated Ren’i found himself kneeling…

The room was dimly lit when Ren’i opened his eyes and realised he was staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. The support beams differed from the ones in the palace, and the walls were decorated with carvings. The air was strangely hazy. It made the carven figures appear unreal, almost dream-like. Their features rippled back and…

The starry skies stretched out cloudless over the desert when Hawk got up and dressed. He hadn’t managed to do more than nap since the afternoon, but he did not feel tired. There was something in those clear, cold nights that kept his mind restless all the way until the first hours of the morning,…

The elders interrupted their negotations only to sleep, and after the first two days of pained waiting Ren’i gave up, seeing as Ared was still refusing to let him enter the elder’s house. Or to even tell him what the situation looked like.

Sweat was pouring down Ren’i’s face in rivulets. He could tell the tunic had glued itself to his back under the breastplate. Heat was radiating off the metal, making him feel thoroughly uncomfortable, but he took it straight-backed and forced the same serene expression on his face that he’d carried for the past few months,…

The fifth legion had been waiting for them outside of Hol Saro by their now cleared camp. They grouped behind Ren’i’s sentries as the consuls barked their orders, and the army began advancing down the Great Northern Highway as one enormous line, the rear taken by load-bearing kooris and the horses, significantly smaller than the…

Hawk gripped the koori’s thick mane with both hands. The animal’s loping trot practically devoured leagues at a pace that not even the most durable akheri could manage, but the rider paid for it with all sorts of discomfort. The koori’s thin legs and large cloven hooves made the beast wobble from side to side…

The sandstorm rising from the south whistled in the corners of the cottage and dyed the sky a dusty red. It left an odd taste in his mouth and Hawk felt as if no amount of water was enough to rinse the feeling of dryness off his tongue.