The first light of dawn struck the steel city walls, sending a bright yellow glare into the corner of Tang Qi's eye. It stung.
It was only June, the start of summer, and Nasar's body had stayed steadily warm, shielding him from the cold and howling wind all the way here.
Yet the morning breeze felt strangely bleak.
"We're here!"
Nasar's voice reached Tang Qi's ear. He shivered and signaled Dawn to raise his collar so he could get a better look inside the city.
He had expected the outpost to be as quiet as ever.
At this hour, perhaps the caravans that had stayed overnight would be loading their goods, eager to leave this silent, uncanny city as early as possible. Apart from them, the streets would likely hold only a few patrolling guards.
According to Shalti, nearly ten thousand lives were at stake. Regardless of how many people might willingly let themselves be drained to death, taking their blood one by one could not possibly be done in four hours.
There was still time.
He would have thought so, if he had not seen the ground at the center of the outpost and along the inner sides of its four walls, scorched dark brown by fire.
"What happened here—"
Dawn murmured, "The streets were deserted the last time we came, but I could still sense souls huddled inside every house. Now I can sense them in only a few places."
"We're too late."
Tang Qi realized he seemed to feel guilty only because he felt he should feel guilty.
He sighed over his late arrival, but what weighed on him more was an inexpressible helplessness.
His first thought was whether he could have prevented all this if that final slash had taken Kandelian's head clean off.
If they