Chapter 4:
Her blood still raging after the fight, Adriana felt her pulse pounding in her temples. The boy under her complained and cussed like a fishwife. One knee in the boy’s back, her handheld crossbow still aimed at the stranger, she took her free hand and pulled the boys head up by his hair. “Shut up, before I kill you and leave your body here in the desert for the carrion eaters.”
The boy’s bitching turned into a whimper under his breath. He still cursed her, but at least he was quiet about it.
Her attention turned to the strange man who hadn’t moved from the crag of a rock he perched on. “You, who are you, and what are you doing way out here?”
He sat there, inspecting his fingernails. Adriana found the action condescending. “I am Ta’Hast the great. Singer of songs, teller of ta
