XX
The wind of dark wings wakened Kai Ling. The daughters of Death circled close. One bold vulture had landed a few feet from his outstretched hand.
He moved.
The vulture took wing.
He rose slowly. Pain gnawed his nerve ends. He surveyed the stead, the smoking ruins, and understood. He had survived his mistake. He was a lucky man.
Slowly, slowly, he turned, feeling the twilight.
There. To the west. The centurion had called on the Power yet again.