*The weeping valley — just before dawn*

The sky was coloured, caught between night and the low light of dawn.

Crystal crouched near the broken glyph-stones, her fingers trembling slightly as she traced the cracks left behind.

The heat in her mark had dulled but it still lingered.

Behind her, the Starblood warriors moved in silence. Their gazes moved toward the valley and away again, like even looking at the glyphs too long might invite something watching back. No ...