Shadows Under the Twin Moons
The Moonstone's eastern edge shook with a tension that no wind could disturb and no leaf betray. Fears of war, at first faint and whispered, had intensified into a firestorm, leaping from village to town, burning the air around them with its heat. Even here, in this border city far removed from the central lands, the pressure of coming war weighed upon every stone and beam. Shadows accumulated in corners as if ink had been spilled there, longer and deeper than normal, and the ringing of footsteps along the narrow streets held a wariness that had never existed before. Even the constant beat of the wheels of carts over cobblestones stuttered as if the city itself were holding its breath and waiting for the first spark that would ignite it all.
