Chapter 61 - Through Shadow and Frost

The night stretched endless across the high plains, an ocean of darkness punctuated only by the cold light of distant stars. They wheeled in their silent courses above, indifferent observers to the struggles below, their pale fires spilling across broken hills and thickets of pale grass that whispered secrets with every gust of wind. Every stalk shivered under the breath of the night, bending as if bowing to some unseen master.