The road from Ris City to Genn City wound like a serpent across the landscape, a trade artery through the heart of the Greve Kingdom. Merchants called it the Silver Spine, not just for the silver ore traded between its cities but for the metallic taste of danger that lingered in the air. Bandits, beasts, and worse things prowled its forests, drawn by greed and desperation.
Kaal sat at the rear of the second wagon, wrapped in a plain brown cloak, his hood pulled low over his eyes. His breathing was steady, but the Mind Eye within him flickered with subtle pulses. Every vibration, every broken twig in the underbrush, every flicker of abnormal Qi reached him like whispers in the dark.
Something stirred ahead.
His eyes opened slowly.
"Mia," he murmured.
She turned her head slightly, her wolf ears twitching beneath the hood she used to hide her beast heritage. "I feel it too," she whispered back. "East slope. Something hungry."
