Chapter 15
- Xander Jade
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
They arrived with an air of inescapable pursuit, reminiscent of debt collectors, as six mounted figures cloaked in darkness advanced, a seventh in their midst drawing the eye with a cloak of blinding white that seemed to burn against the sun’s glare. The hooves hit the hardpan in a disciplined, even clatter—nothing like the meandering cattle runs that sometimes wandered past the farm. Freydis heard them before she saw them. She stood at the edge of her field, boots buried to the ankle in gray mud, and watched the riders pour through the gap in her stone fence. For a second, she considered going for the axe, but she’d left it in the barn, and the distance to the barn was now measured in horses and rich men’s egos.
