The Wind and the Void by Ryan Kirk Page A

defending the pass, she would've died there with him. She had made the right decision.
    Nevertheless, her own safety was at stake. She had told Ryuu in her letter she would stay at the hut until spring came. At the time she had believed it would be safe to stay in the Southern Kingdom until then, but if the hunters were active in the Southern Kingdom, there wouldn't be any safety to be found.
    Moriko was torn between her desire to leave the problems of the Three Kingdoms behind her and her desire to wait for Ryuu, to see what he would decide. Unable to choose, she chose a middle path, deciding to scout more regularly to the south of the hut. The rumors had placed the hunters, if Moriko was right, further to the south. If she was going to find them, that was the direction to search.
    As the moon grew brighter in the sky, Moriko's daily pattern changed. Instead of spending her time in the old woods surrounding the hut, she wandered further south. There were two villages in that general direction, both about four days’ walk from her hut. She traveled to both of them, scouting to make sure they were safe. She did not enter the villages, electing instead to remain hidden from sight. Both villages were quiet, sealed in like the one she had visited earlier, but were otherwise unharmed. Moriko was grateful. If the rumors were true, this meant the hunters were not yet nearby.
    Moriko no longer traveled the roads. Instead, she followed game trails that kept the road in view or in range of her sense. In this way she was able to keep track not just of the villages, but of the travelers who roamed from village to village in these dangerous times.
    It was on one of these journeys that Moriko encountered a pair of hunters. She sensed them long before she was in sight of them. She pushed down the fear that threatened to take hold of her. If there was anyone in the world who was still a danger to her, it would be a hunter. But she had faced them before, and they had joined the Great Cycle while she was still here, pursuing those who thought themselves invincible. They were dangerous, but so was she.
    The afternoon sun was burning low when she sensed them, and she crept quietly towards them, making sure her own presence was completely suppressed. There was no way they would know she was watching them. She hid deep in the brush, keeping as much distance as possible between her and them. More than once she had been discovered by smell, and she had no intention of repeating that mistake.
    Moriko squinted when she saw the hunters. The two of them were unmistakable in their Azarian garb. Their tall stature and easy grace made them easy to pick out. But they were meeting with someone who looked to be from the Three Kingdoms.
    Moriko pushed her fear down. The hunters were in front of her, and it was she who was hunting them. They no longer had any power over her. She crept closer, trying to learn more. The person they were talking to didn't seem to fear them, and in fact seemed to be on equal terms with them. She felt like she was on the verge of solving a puzzle, the answer nibbling away at the edges of her mind, but she couldn't figure out why.
    The man they were talking to was unremarkable as far as Moriko could see. He was of nondescript height, and his clothes didn't mark him as rich. His features were covered by a hood, and Moriko didn't dare get close enough to see if she recognized him.
    She sat there as the hunters and the man conversed, debating what to do. Her instinct was to kill all three of them and be done with it, but it was full daylight, and she was most dangerous in the night when the shadows were her friends.
    When it hit Moriko, she couldn't believe she hadn't noticed it before. The hunters were so strong that all her attention had been focused on them, but there was another person using the sense in the area, and when Moriko first noticed it, she realized it was coming from the third man.
    The realization rocked her back on her