The rock walls of Sunset Canyon were a dark purple, scorched again and again by the blazing sun, and dry thorn bushes clung tightly to cracks in the stone. These thorns, known to the local herders as "Dead Man's Claw," carried trace amounts of paralytic toxin in their spikes. Now they covered the armor of the Alliance soldiers.
Diana crouched on a high slope on the eastern side of the canyon, completely concealed within a thick patch of purple alfalfa. She had changed into enchanted light armor coated with a sticky mixture of plant sap and dusty soil. Crude as it was, this camouflage did an excellent job of masking her body heat and the metal's gleam.
"Drink this."
A low voice came from beside her.
Veylin handed her a potion glowing faintly green.
Without turning, Diana reached out to take it. Her fingertips brushed Veylin's cool skin, and her heart gave an involuntary flutter. She tipped her head back and swallowed it. The refreshing medicinal effects swept away the burning in her lungs from the long forced march, and even her fingers, stiff from gripping her sword for so long, regained their flexibility.
"Which batch is this?" Diana asked softly, wiping the residue from the corner of her mouth.
"The third, and the last." Veylin braced one hand against a jutting rock, his gaze level as he watched the dust rising in the distance. "Can the Grey Sea Knights' Order's horses still hold out?"
"They can run farther than we can." Diana looked down the slope. Two hundred Grey Sea knights stood with their warhorses, hidden in the shadows of the gullies. Fed fodder mixed with golden clover, the horses were as quiet as stone statues, save for the occasional snort trailing mist.
To double back and strike from