HECTOR

“Halt!” I boomed, raising a clenched fist as the noise of chariots deadened to silence behind me, the only sound breaking the quiet being the whistle of the soft draft that swirled dried-up leaves across the path, and the metallic clang of the footmen's armor.

A stretch of silence ensued as I peered into the fog, a lock of my waist-length gray hair flying into my face before I whipped it back, unsettled.

Silence.

“What's wrong?” Kalden’s frantic whisper came as his brown horse marched up beside mine, and I risked a glance at the woman he had cradled behind him, suppressing the bitter tang that barbed my chest....