Location:The Gate — the yard before the cut
Date/Time:29 Frostforge 9943 AZI, Grindday — just after dawn
Realm:Lower Realm
The yard's clay had frozen in the night into the shape of every cart that had ever crossed it, and the ruts were hard as fired brick under Jayde's boots. Her left foot was in one and her right on the ridge beside it, and she felt the valley through both.
It came up to her a long time before anything could be seen. Horses on scree, a lot of them, coming fast and then slower as the track steepened, shod hooves skidding on loose stone, something heavy knocking against a saddle at every stride.
