65

Ophidians," Therko says, grabbing his weapon and following Control.

What brought the twenty-three nomads to this upland waste you cannot say, but they paid the price for trespassing in the ophidians' domain. Feathered javelins stick out of the corpses. Control picks callously through the dead for anything of value, but they've already been stripped. Therko looks around for the attackers, while Vecla seems too horrified to react, her eyes on the clawed footprints that cover the dusty ground.