Luneshale Pass pantano

for once in her life, qiao ignored her good sense and followed the captain’s scent out into the sprawling plains of shale. what duties brought him to the midland? these idle thoughts dissipated as she drank in the scene before her. 

bedlam. absolute fucking bedlam. 

she was just in time to see a greasy man throw one of akashingo’s children hard against a slab of marble. for a moment, the child does not stir. 

dead? stunned? the smallest inkling of movement informs her he might still grasp life. 

it is not altruism or loyalty to the crown that bids qiao into a thief’s gallop. it is a sense of purpose. her purpose. 

while the wolves fought viciously, qiao ran for nocht. she dropped her head to wrap teeth around his sunken shoulders as he began to run. if she was true in her aim, she’d carry him far away from this scene of male stupidity and bloodlust.