SaltGrave and a rescue plan.

They rested until the sun began to set over the horizon and prepared to leave the cave to travel to Saltgrave. The night air was cooler and Katherine let Seraphim sit on Freya as she walked. Each stride filling her with resolve now she knew some of the truth.

Katherine and Seraphim travel through the rocky highlands towards Saltgrave, guided by the stars. Freya's steady gait calms Katherine's nerves, while Seraphim shares fragmented tales of Crow Eye's atrocities - poisoned wells, villages burned with salt-soaked timbers. The landscape shifts to jagged cliffs where wind whistles like mourning songs. Katherine notices Seraphim's hands tremble whenever Crow Eye's name is mentioned.

Seraphim *Pointing northwest* The desert witch lives near the Singing Dunes... but Crow Eye's patrols hunt there daily. *Her voice drops to a rasp* They're searching for something beneath the sands - something that glows blue at midnight. Eduard and Colette... they knew.

Katherine *Gripping Freya's reins tighter* My parents never mentioned glowing sands. Just stories about her kindness... *Her breath hitches* Do you think they died because of this secret? *The wind carries the distant howl of jackals.*

The cliffs narrowed into serpentine canyons where moonlight couldn't penetrate. Freya's hooves echoed like war drums on the stone. Seraphim hunched lower, her trembling fingers brushing the dagger at her belt. Shadows pooled where rock formations twisted like frozen screams. Suddenly Sheba stopped and stared towards a rock wall growling.

*Tensing as Freya halted* What does she smell? *Her whisper cracked like dry twigs. She squinted into the darkness, noticing unnatural stillness—no crickets, no wind. Only dread pooling in her stomach.*

Seraphim "It is okay we have arrived at our destination and beyond that wall is those exiled by Crow Eye"

Katherine: "Exiles? But the legends say Crow Eye leaves no survivors..." *Her hand drifted to the worn hilt of her father's hunting knife, eyes darting across the featureless rock face. Freya's low growl vibrated through the stillness like a plucked bass string.*

Seraphim "They chose exile before Crow Eye could kill them and enslave them. The wall is an illusion to hide them from Crow Eye."

Katherine "An illusion?" *She stared hard at the rock wall, noticing how its edges shimmered faintly like heat haze—unnatural in the cool canyon air. She walked slowly, boots crunching on gravel as she approached the stone face. Freya's growl deepened, fur bristling along her spine as Katherine reached out a tentative hand.*

The moment Katherine's fingers brushed the rock surface, it dissolved like water, revealing a hidden valley bathed in moonlight. Below sprawled a makeshift camp of canvas tents clustered around a spring, where figures moved silently—children carried water buckets, women mended fishing nets by firelight. The air smelled of sage and desperation.

Seraphim *Dismounting stiffly* This is Refuge. Survivors from the Saltgrave massacre mostly. *She gestured toward a scarred man sharpening a spear* That's Eduard's brother. He'll tell you what your parents protected—and why Crow Eye skins desert travellers alive searching for it.

Katherine *Her throat tightened at the mention of skinning* Father never spoke of this... *She watched a girl no older than seven carefully bury glowing blue shards beneath a tent flap. The air hummed faintly, like bees trapped in stone.*

Seraphim led Katherine to a large tent in the middle of the camp just as the false wall reformed behind them. They entered the tent which had the elders sitting around a table.

Inside the tent, smoke coiled from a central firepit where desert sage smouldered, its earthy aroma mingling with the brine of drying fish. Five elders sat cross-legged around a low stone table—their faces mapped with scars that told histories more vivid than words. The eldest, her silver braids woven with crow feathers, extended trembling hands toward Katherine.

Seraphim * Seraphim introduce Katherine.* "Katherine is the daughter of King Davos and Queen Elmira. She bares the royal mark of the moon on her shoulder. She is the rightful heir to the throne and we seek your help."

Katherine felt her pulse quicken as all eyes snapped to her shoulder—where her father's signet ring had pressed a crescent-shaped bruise during their last embrace. The scarred man Eduard's brother leaned forward, his spear forgotten, eyes wide with recognition and something darker—fear.

*Voice rough as sandstone* Moon-marked... Crow Eye's hunters flay backs looking for that bruise. *He spat into the fire* Your parents died protecting the Shard-Spring—the blue glow beneath the Singing Dunes. It heals wounds, makes crops grow overnight... and melts iron like butter. "How did my brother and his wife die.?"

The tent's air thickened with the scent of charred sage and unspoken dread. Every elder leaned closer, their collective breath hitching as the scarred man's fingers traced a knife scar across his throat—a mirrored crescent to Katherine's birthmark. Outside, the camp's muffled sounds vanished, swallowed by the weight of revelations about to unfold.

Katherine *Her knuckles whitened around her father's knife* "They died protecting my secret identity *She pictured her mother's laugh lines, now forever stilled, and felt cold rage crystallize in her chest.* "Tell me how Crow Eye found them. Tell me everything."

*The elder's weathered fingers tapped the crescent scar* "Eduard discovered Crow Eye's pit below Havenforge—where they bleed slaves to feed the glowing sands. *He leaned in, voice dropping to a whisper.* "Your parents smuggled out a vial of that blue light. Crow Eye's hounds smelled its power on Colette's skin."

The tent's canvas walls seemed to press closer as Galt's words hung in the smoky air. Outside, the camp's nocturnal rhythms continued—a child's muffled cough, the rhythmic scrape of a whetstone—but inside, time thickened like cooling blood. Katherine's gaze dropped to her own hands, imagining her mother's fingers clutching that stolen vial. Seraphim shifted beside her, the dagger at her belt now unsheathed and resting across her knees like a promise. Moonlight seeped through a tent flap, illuminating dust motes dancing above the elder's crow-feather braids. The scent of brine and dread clung to every breath.

Galt "What is it you want from us your majesty"

Katherine "Crow Eye must fall" *Her voice sliced through the smoke, low and jagged as broken obsidian. She rose slowly, the royal bruise on her shoulder pulsing like a second heartbeat beneath her tunic.* "Tell me how to poison his wells and blind his hounds. Tell me how the Shard-Spring bleeds." *Outside, a child's sob echoed—thin and frayed as old rope.*

Galt *Exchanging grim nods with the feather-braided elder* The spring bleeds only when Crow Eye sacrifices kinblood at Havenforge's heartstone. *He drew a charcoal map in the ashes—a twisted spiral with Xs marking watchtowers.* "But the dunes sing warnings before each ritual. That's when his guards go deaf to all but the sacrifice's screams."

*Her fingers traced the ash-map's spiral* "How long until the next ritual?" *The question tasted like cold iron. Outside, Freya's answering whinny sliced through the night—a sound edged with the same restless dread coiling in her gut.* "And whose kinblood feeds the sands this time?"

*His charcoal snapped between calloused fingers* "Three nights hence. Crow Eye takes his own niece tonight from his western garrison." *He spat into the fire* "The girl's mother was Eduard's cousin—a healer who treated your parents' burns from the blue light. They call it 'star-venom' now. Melts flesh if touched raw."

Katherine "Then we must rescue her before the ritual"

Seraphim "That's madness! Crow Eye's garrison crawls with his best killers—men who skin messengers alive just for sport." *Her dagger trembled against her knee, catching firelight in jagged reflections.* "The dunes sing tomorrow at sundown. We'd reach the garrison by dawn... with no army, no plan."

Katherine "We have stealth, desperation, and a knife that melts iron." *She pulled the vial from her tunic—glowing faintly like captured moonlight—and poured a single drop onto her father's blade. The steel hissed, edges dissolving into liquid shadows that dripped onto the stone table.* "And Galt said Crow Eye's hounds go deaf when the dunes sing."

Seraphim *Eyes widening as the molten blade ate into the stone* "You carry star-venom?! Are you mad? *She recoiled, dagger clattering to the floor.* "One stumble and you'd dissolve before screaming."

Katherine *Wiping the blade clean with sage leaves* "Madness is letting Crow Eye sacrifice children." *She studied the charred spiral map—three watchtowers like fangs around a central courtyard.* "The dunes sing at sundown tomorrow? Then we ride tonight. Freya knows these canyons like breath. Now we will rest until tonight. Galt i will need three fighters to accompany me."

The elders' murmurs swelled into urgent whispers, their scarred faces etched with disbelief. Galt rose slowly, his shadow flickering monstrously against the tent canvas as he gestured to three lean figures near the entrance—two women with salt-bleached braids and a boy barely sixteen, all bearing crescent-shaped scars above their brows. Outside, the camp's children gathered glowing shards in woven baskets, their small hands moving with ritualistic precision as moonlight caught the blue fragments. Seraphim retrieved her dagger, knuckles pale around the hilt, while Katherine watched. They ate a meal of meat and potatoes and then rested the whole day waiting for the sun to set again.