Their horses hooves were the only sound in the vast, sleeping desert. They rode by moonlight, the silver disc in the sky illuminating the ground just well enough to follow the tracks of Eyeman's horse.

  Rejah pulled Coren to a sudden halt. "Look, back there!"

  He followed her gaze back the way they had come. At first, he saw nothing. Then it was there. A faint, pulsing orange glow against the dark of the night sky, a smear of light where only blackness should have been. A fire. It seemed a small thing, distant and insignificant.

  They stared in silence for a while as the glow began to intensify, swelling from a spark to a bloom.

  "Is that the Church outpost?" Rejah asked.

  "It must be," he replied.

  Alina and Urdo may be in mortal danger and he could almost imagine the flames overtaking them and silencing them forever. Was the fire the work of Eyeman, or the tribesman who had escaped them?

  "We need to get back and see what's happening!" Rejah was insistent.

  They turned their mounts around rode back as fast as they could in moonlight.

  After a long canter they reined in at the top of a ridge that was a safe distance from the fire, but close enough to see what was going on. The white stone building of the Undying Sun Outpost ablaze. The flames painted the desert in a ghastly, shifting light, casting long, dancing shadows.

  Yet they saw no attackers. No other movement apart from the fire.

  They rode on and up to the summit of the mesa.

  "Alina!" he shouted. But there was no immediate response.

  He dismounted, his legs unsteady beneath him.

  He stared at the burning building, his mind refusing to process the scene. Alina's last words echoed in his minf, a prophecy he had simply dismissed. "The Alliance may take extreme measures.This bounty could be the first step in a larger plan."

  Could it be true?

  Then, very much to his surprise and relief, Alina and Urdo emerged from the darkness and into the light from the flames. "Alina! Are you alright?"

  He ran to them and the cleric was breathing heavily. Her face, streaked with soot and tears, was a mask of exhaustion. "We're alright," she managed, her voice raspy from smoke inhalation. "Thank the Eternal Sun."

  Temon's locked at Urdo. The colonist wasn't injured. He wasn't even shaken. He looked confused instead. His hands were black with soot, and he stared at them as if they belonged to someone else. "I tried to help," Urdo said. "I saw the lamps. The oil. Alina was praying. I thought I could light one for her."

  Alina flinched, her gaze falling to the ground. "It was an accident," she said, though the words lacked conviction. "He was confused. The oil! It spilled. It spread so fast. The curtain just went up and then the books."

  The relief inside Temon shattered, replaced by a surging volcanic fury. The fire wasn't Eyeman's vengeance. It wasn't a grand, colonial conspiracy. It was a stupid, clumsy, pointless accident. He had ridden back here, his heart in his throat, ready to face a lethal enemy, only to find this.

  This farce!

  He had torn himself apart with anxiety for what? "An accident?" Temon said. He took a step toward Urdo. "We've had to kill three men to protect you. We left you here, thinking you'd be safe!" He jabbed a finger toward the blazing ruin. "And this is how you repay us? By burning down the only sanctuary?" Urdo flinched, finally showing a flicker of emotion—a fear that was quickly smothered by the same blank emptiness. "I was trying to help," he repeated.

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  "Help?" Temon laughed. "Help!"

  Rejah moved between them, placing a firm hand on Temon's chest. "So," she said. She looked from Temon's furious face to Urdo's blank one. "This isn't helping. Yelling at him won't put this right."

  Rejah’s hand on his chest was the only thing holding Temon back. He wanted to lash out, to shake some sense, some remorse, into the man. Yet Rejah was right. The rage was a fire, and right now, the world was burning enough. He stepped back, the anger draining out of him. He looked at the ruins of the burning outpost. The roof groaned, a long, tortured sound before crashing down in a shower of sparks and a fresh billow of thick, black smoke.

  Alina sagged against Rejah, the strength finally leaving her legs. "The books," she whispered, her gaze lost in the inferno. "My translations! Everything is gone." Rejah helped her to the ground, away from the intense heat. "Rest here. Things will not look so bad tomorrow."

  He looked at Alina's quiet devastation and Urdo's mindless confusion.

  Rejah gave Alina a sip of water from her waterskin.

  "Rejah. We can't stay here, now we know these two are alright!"

  His companion was being moved by compassion for the other two.

  "Rejah! They're alive! They're safe! A little soot, a little scare, and they're on their feet. Alina has her faith, and as for Urdo, well, he can still ride a horse. The horse he rode in on is here."

  Rejah stared at him, her expression one of utter disbelief. "Safe? Do you really think so?"

  "Yes. The well has water and I'll give them Zahoon meat," he replied impatiently. "But Eyeman? The only chance we have to catch him is getting back on that trail now. The longer we stay here, the trail gets colder."

  He saw real indecision in her eyes. She was being torn by the situation.

  "Rejah, they can make their way to Yavan. Alina knows this land better than we do. She has her faith to guide her. As for Urdo..." He glanced back at the blank-faced man with a dismissive shrug. "He's her problem now. She took him in. He's not our responsibility anymore.

  He addressed the other two near the ruins of the burning building. Alina had her arms wrapped around Urdo, whispering what sounded like prayers or words of comfort.

  "You two can go to Yavan."

  Rejah seemed to be thinking about siding with them. "How will they do that?" she countered, her voice rising with a new urgency." Eyeman is still out here and what about the tribesman we let escape? He knows Urdo is out here."

  He scoffed. "Anyway we need to move on, now we know they are unharmed and the fire was an accident." He turned to go back to his horse.

  "Wait! " Rejah grabbed his arm, forcing him to look at her. "They're in a bad way." She gestured with her chin toward Alina. "Her home, her life's work... it's gone. And him," she nodded at Urdo, "he's an empty husk. We can't send them off to Yavan. It's probably a death sentence. You know it is."

  He tried to pull his arm away, but she held on. "So what's your solution, Rejah? We turn into bodyguards?

  "We can bring them with us," she said, the words simple and direct.

  He stared at her as if she'd just suggested they ride their horses off a cliff. "You've lost your mind. Madness! "

  "No," she persisted, her grip tightening on his arm. "Think. Alina knows this land. She speaks the Ashok language. She knows about the Sacred Valley of the Rock Towers. She may be able to help us understand the Ashok Map! She's the best asset we could ask for. As for Urdo, he's a piece of the puzzle, Temon. He might remember something about Eyeman that can help us."

  He hesitated. She was possibly going soft for the other two, yet she had a point about Alina's skill.

  "What happens if we have to fight? Are we supposed to protect them? "

  His mind was racing. He knew that leaving the other two could be a colder act than any he could commit with his blade. He pulled his arm free from Rejah's grasp. "Fine," he said, the words forced. "They can come with us."

  He strode over to Alina and Urdo. The cleric looked up, her face streaked with grime, her expression wary. Urdo simply stared into the embers, lost in his own world. "Get up," Temon said. "Both of you."

  Alina helped a compliant Urdo to his feet. "What is going to happen now?" she asked.

  "We are going south," Temon said. "We are continuing our mission. And you two are now part of it." He nodded at Alina. "You speak the language. You know this territory. You can be our translator."

  He looked at Urdo. "You. You do what I say from now on. If you become a burden, I'll cut you loose. Heed my words."

  "Temon!" Rejah shouted.

  "No. I've got to warn him." He went back to the horses to checked their supplies. "We have to go. Get your horse Urdo. Alina can ride it and you can sit behind her."

  They mounted up and the party rode away from the ruins of the outpost.

  In the east the horizon lightened, and as the dawn sun rose, it cast shadows across the Ashok lands.