Each time Cupcake's front paw landed on the brittle sandstone, it broke loose compacted clumps of sand that had likely remained undisturbed for who knew how long. The countless tiny holes riddling the sandstone suggested that some small, worm-like creatures had once burrowed through the soil. It was the only detail that kept Emily interested right now.

  She lifted her gaze from the ground to survey the rest of their convoy. The Wandering Fangs had made good progress over the last two days of travel. So far, they hadn’t encountered anything of note, though most would consider this a blessing.

  Emily once again assessed their group's fighting strength, deeming it at least adequate. Only the tough—or the desperate—would willingly venture into this forsaken land, and their team reflected that.

  For two days, the scenery had barely changed under the pale, unyielding light of the twin moons. Their silvery glow cast a faint shimmer over the endless expanse, causing the glittering silica embedded in the sandstone to gleam like scattered starlight.

  The small brown vegetation that poked through the ground everywhere was just disappointing at this stage. Their dry barren stalks stretched up towards the sky desperately, as though begging it for the mercy of rain.

  They had only just started their journey for the night so it would be a while before they settled down for the day.

  Kael had been right about traveling only at night. It was far too for them to walk out under the sweltering heat, not to mention the toll it took on their myriad of beasts.

  Night wasn’t much better but at least it was managable. When the sun came up everyone escaped to the sanctuary of their tents.

  Emily was handling it a little better than most on account of her source heritage, but not by much.

  Those having the best time were those with blue bridges, while people with red seemed to be suffering the most.

  Emily was watching everyone solemnly when she saw Alex trotting on his galendmare towards her.

  She hadn’t seen the guy all that often in the last few days as he seemed occupied with Kael most of the time. Now that she thought about it, he only showed up briefly during dinner and disappeared with two portions.

  “Well, if it isn’t the prodigal son,” Emily said with a mocking smile. She wasn’t worried about Alex, she’d taken some time to renew the blood in the soles of his boots along with adding another layer in the inside buckles of his pack. While he was preoccupied, of course, she couldn’t have him discover she was tracking him–knowing him he’d probably get all worked up.

  Sweat dripped down his neck and he shook his head, drained.

  “I’m... not your son…” he said in a dead tone.

  Emily raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Uh-huh. Okay then, are you okay? You look ready to keel over. Have you been pulling too much source?” she joked.

  Alex stared at her with heavy lids and nodded calmly.

  “Wait! What?” Emily exclaimed. “Why, we haven’t fought shit. What had you been working on for Kael?!”

  Alex shook his head and held up his arms.

  “No, relax. It's not what you think. The grey sands are just a naturally high source zone, kinda like down in the leylines, but way less.” he said brushing the sweat off his brow.

  Emily paused.

  “Ookay, why didn’t you let me know then?” she asked.

  Alex shrugged and looked around.

  “Well because it's not that big of a deal. The abundance of source in the area is red and with Yishmal everyone suffering should be able to handle it.”

  This left Emily frowning as she looked down at Alex, a benefit of being on a Rimewolf twice the size of his mount.

  “Next time lead with that. Also, I’ll decide what's a big deal to me. Here take the siphon.” Emily said pulling it out of her pack and holding it out to him.

  Alex’s eyes flickered down to her hand and then back up to her face.

  Emily got impatient as he sat there like a dodo and flicked the object in his direction. Seeing it flying through the air, he dove for it and caught it before it bounced off his saddle and into the sand.

  Alex shot her a question look.

  “What? It’s what you came here for, right?” Emily asked at a loss. Did he need something else?

  Alex shook himself from his stupor and shrugged.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  “I mean yes, I just expected to have to trade something for it.”

  Emily scowled.

  “You want to trade something-” she started but Alex held up a hand again.

  “No, this is fine… Thank you.”

  Emily let out a breath from her nose but Alex was not leaving so after some thought she broke the silence again.

  “Since you’re here, I could use an explanation. Why is this area such a hotspot for red source,” she asked.

  Alex looked at her out of the side of his eye and flipped the broach over in his hands to reveal the gem glittering in the moonlight.

  “I don’t know the exact mechanics of it, Ashe is probably the one to ask. But source is created in places of extremes. Heat naturally generates red source, but I heard if you go deep enough in the earth you will find green source.”

  Emily frowned at this idea.

  “Then what about the Keep. It was cold and wet there why wasn’t there a blue source there?”

  Alex smiled.

  “There was a bit but we would have had to go up north more to hit the tundras to experience cold,” he said with a smirk.

  Emily shot him a glare but he continued.

  “Relax, all I’m saying is there are subtle interactions between the sources. For example, blue source loves to gather near red, but only in small quantities. While red is unable to penetrate green. If we were to dig deep enough we might be lucky enough to find water. Each source has a partner and an enemy. Though you can ask Ashe all those it's not important right now, just the extreme cases.

  Emily hummed and took a while to digest the information. It was interesting to learn that source was acting in a similar way to the forces going on in her old world. Unfortunately, she couldn’t do much with this information because she didn’t have the scientific details, but she at least had a basic understanding.

  “Okay, I follow you. Then my next question would be. Are you going to be fine with just that siphon? Shouldn't you go to Yishmal if it's that serious?”

  Alex clenched the gem.

  “Nah, this should be enough and honestly he's going to be complaining like a Millo bird with all the work he has. I’d like to avoid that if possible.”

  Emily grimaced as she thought of the old man but nodded in the end.

  “Fine, whatever.”

  Alex said his thanks and headed off. It was only when he left that Emily realized she had forgotten to ask what kind of place grey sources were normally found. She was just heading towards the middle when a loud, explosive sound came from up ahead.

  All Emily needed to do was to click her tongue and Cupcake advanced. Her speed was such that she arrived Third on the scene.

  Ashe and Selia were already there on the same mount and Emily pulled blood from her arms, ready to throw them out. However, Selia exploded with uncontrollable laughter, unable to draw in breath.

  Ashe looked pale with a distant look on her face.

  Emily was still searching for the problem when her gaze fell on the ground next to their mount where a large rock had just landed next to discarded waterskin. Beside them was one of the most disgusting creatures Emily had ever seen. It looked like a leech that had been covered in hedgehog quills, but there were only a couple of rings around it making it look half bald. To make matters worse the thing was about the size of a small dog and had to have burrowed out of the ground. Emily could see its rubbery skin glistening in the night light, as it hissed at the riding duo, drool leaking from its razor-filed mouth.

  Emily’s face was disgusted as she sent a bolt forward and popped the creature like an overripe grape.

  All the while Selic continued to laugh

  “What the hell, what are you laughing at? There could be more of those things.” Emily hissed.

  By now Selia had gotten herself under control.

  “I'm sure there will be but they are harmless. Ashe over here just overreacted.” She said fondly as she looked at her sister.

  “Are you telling me that nightmare fuel-looking shit is harmless?” Emily groaned.

  Selia looked up at Emily and smirked.

  “You too? They are kind of nasty-looking, aren't they? That one came because it smelled Ashe's waterskin. Their bite packs a punch but they are far too slow to be a threat” Selia said.

  Emily only then realized someone else was there. Turning to look she saw Kael and Atticus were there and had probably been there for a while.

  Kael looked amused as he approached.

  Those things are called Burrow Mites. They dig into the earth when they are young and surface once they’re big enough. They’re not a danger to anyone until they reach their adult stage, even then, it would take a large number of them to pose a threat to our convoy.

  Emily’s twisted face never left as she scowled a green and red stain on the rock.

  “Come, we must keep moving. Keep an eye on the ground and skies in case a swarm is nearby. The larvae don’t pose a threat, but they can bite your mounts, so be careful,” he shouted.

  Once she was done everyone broke up but Emily still had chills going down her spine. If she saw even a hint of those things again, she was shooting first, and asking questions never.

  Cupcake could feel her trepidation through their connection so she trotted carefully through the trails of others.

  It was while Emily was watching the ground that she almost missed the flicker of light in the corner of her eye.

  Turning in her saddle she squinted into the distance. The dark made it hard to see anything on the horizon but she swore she saw a flash of something out there. But the longer she looked the more she was convinced she was wrong.

  Selia was walking next to her and she raised her brows at Emily.

  “Seeing the little hairless monsters everywhere I see.” she smiled.

  Emily frowned.

  “No... I thought I saw the flash of a torch somewhere out there.” Emily said.

  Selia’s amused face fell and she turned to look in the same direction Emily was.

  “How certain are you?” she asked firmly

  “I don’t know fifty-fifty?” Emily shrugged. Selia’s face never regained its levity and even Ashe was starting to notice.

  “What’s going on sis?” she asked nervously, but Selia was still looking out into the night.

  Then all at once she yanked on the reins, pulled them out of the convoy, and sped her beast toward the front.

  Emily wondered what the hell was going on, so she watched and approached the tip of the convoy. Less than a minute later, a group of men and women took to the air on the ravens, with Atticus at the front.

  That could only mean they were going to scout.

  In the meantime the rest of them advanced like nothing had happened, Emily pressed her lips together as she saw Alex and the front and decided to close the distance pulling up beside him.

  “What in the world is going on? Selia looked spooked all of a sudden.”

  Alex nodded.

  “As she should. You said there was light out there, right?”

  “I mean, maybe?”

  Atticus and his men had disappeared into the skies but he landed only a few minutes later and rejoined the main group with as little fanfare as possible.

  He stopped next to Kael and nodded.

  “Less than a day out, double our current numbers.” Atticus intoned quietly.

  Kael's face twisted into a snarl but he said nothing yet.

  Emily glanced at Alex.

  “Alex” she hissed.

  Alex grimaced.

  “We’re being followed.”

  Blood points: 346