Chapter 51 Book 2 Ambushed Caravan
The sun hung low on the horizon, casting long shadows across the rugged road that snaked through the wilderness. After a week of hard travel, the small entourage of Li An and her companion Misha and their guards paused at a sharp bend where the trail opened into a clearing. What they found stopped them cold: the remnants of a burned and shattered caravan lay strewn across the dirt. Broken wagons, shattered crates, and tattered fabric fluttered in the breeze, the faint scent of smoke still clinging to the air.
Li An swung down from her steed with practiced ease. Her ebony hair, tied neatly, shimmered in the fading light, her sharp eyes scanning the wreckage. Beside her, Misha alighted as well from the carriage. The thirty guards traveling with them fanned out, their hands instinctively hovering near their weapons.
"It's recent," Captain Wei muttered, crouching near a pool of congealed blood. "Within the last day or two."
