The year smelled of rain and iron. News traveled like stray sparrows, settling on the tapestries of palaces and in the ears of sentinels. A neighboring chieftain, swollen with new alliances and foreign guns, pressed at the border with a force that glittered with mercenaries. They called themselves modern; they called themselves inevitable. To Hambir, the invaders were a test of patience—of whether a people rooted in the soil could still stand when the world tilted.
“You will lead the escort,” the ruler said quietly. “If words fail, you must show them our resolve.”
He walked to the outer post where a boy no older than his first campaign watched the horizon with eyes too wide for a soldier’s peace. “Will they take the pass?” the boy asked, voice brittle.
The year smelled of rain and iron. News traveled like stray sparrows, settling on the tapestries of palaces and in the ears of sentinels. A neighboring chieftain, swollen with new alliances and foreign guns, pressed at the border with a force that glittered with mercenaries. They called themselves modern; they called themselves inevitable. To Hambir, the invaders were a test of patience—of whether a people rooted in the soil could still stand when the world tilted.
“You will lead the escort,” the ruler said quietly. “If words fail, you must show them our resolve.”
He walked to the outer post where a boy no older than his first campaign watched the horizon with eyes too wide for a soldier’s peace. “Will they take the pass?” the boy asked, voice brittle.
