Chapter 5: The Gorge of Silent Stones

The road to the gorge was not a road at all, but a scar in the earth worn smooth by countless feet. Kai Cheng walked it alone, his shadow stretching long and thin in the pale morning light. The land here was dry and scrubby, dotted with thorn bushes and the bleached bones of small animals. He kept his eyes moving—scanning the horizon, checking for movement among the rocks, listening for the crunch...