Chapter 7: The Stone Valley Road

The stone valleys were a wound in the earth, a maze of raw rock and shadow that swallowed sound and light. Silk led them along a path that was barely a path—a ribbon of cracked stone that threaded between sheer walls, where the sun only reached at noon and the wind howled through the narrows like a hungry beast. Yan rode at the front, his eyes scanning the heights, his qi a low hum beneath his ski...