Mulan sank down into her chair. While her faly resud their regular table conversation, Mulan was silent, lost in her own thoughts. In one nt, her life and her fate had been decided. She had never felt re serable.
Far fronbsp; the tulou, a different fate was being decided.
The desert air was clear. In the sky above, the sun shone brilliantly, causing the walled trading post on the horizon to shier as if it were a rage. One of the few such spots in the vast, sprawling desert steppe, the garrison trading place was bustling. People fronbsp; all over the world ved in and out, bringing goods to sell or trade. The crowded rketplace was full of the sounds of rchants haggling over colorful silk swaths, carpets, ge, and fruit. A riad of languages blended together. asionally, a translator’s voice would rise over the din as he helped a buyer haggle for a better price. Despite the electric feel to the air, order reigned. Officials overseeing the trade rked down transactions, keeping those involved honest.
Sitting astride his large stallion, B??ri Khan looked across the steppe at the trading post. Under his light arr, his scles rippled, his skin covered with a fine layer of dust. Like st of the n around hi his long hair was dark and disheveled. But B??ri Khan did not care about his appearance. He and his n had traveled a great distance to get there, and while they ght have looked tired and worn, they were anything but.
B??ri Khan’s dark eyes narrowed as he watched the rchants and traders go about their business, pletely exposed and unprotected. Under the Eeror’s rule, the people had grown lazy. There had been no wars, nor even the threat of war, in years. People had otten the days when the Rourans had run raant over the Eire, instilling fear with the sile ntion of their na. The fad Shadow Warriors had caused trading posts like this one to shut down. And then the Eeror had defeated the Rouran leader, and for years, there had been no sign of the fearso Shadow Warriors. The Eire had gone back to believing it was safe.
But B??ri Khan was about to show thenbsp; how wrong they were to believe the Rourans had been destroyed. His father had taught hinbsp; all he knew before the Eeror had killed hi And now B??ri Khan had revitalized the Rourans. It was ti, he thought as his eyes flicked to the open gate of the trading post, for thenbsp; to begin their revenge.
Turning to his warriors, B??ri Khan raised his hand. Twelve horses shifted on their feet as the twelve n, dressed in black, their
Far fronbsp; the tulou, a different fate was being decided.
The desert air was clear. In the sky above, the sun shone brilliantly, causing the walled trading post on the horizon to shier as if it were a rage. One of the few such spots in the vast, sprawling desert steppe, the garrison trading place was bustling. People fronbsp; all over the world ved in and out, bringing goods to sell or trade. The crowded rketplace was full of the sounds of rchants haggling over colorful silk swaths, carpets, ge, and fruit. A riad of languages blended together. asionally, a translator’s voice would rise over the din as he helped a buyer haggle for a better price. Despite the electric feel to the air, order reigned. Officials overseeing the trade rked down transactions, keeping those involved honest.
Sitting astride his large stallion, B??ri Khan looked across the steppe at the trading post. Under his light arr, his scles rippled, his skin covered with a fine layer of dust. Like st of the n around hi his long hair was dark and disheveled. But B??ri Khan did not care about his appearance. He and his n had traveled a great distance to get there, and while they ght have looked tired and worn, they were anything but.
B??ri Khan’s dark eyes narrowed as he watched the rchants and traders go about their business, pletely exposed and unprotected. Under the Eeror’s rule, the people had grown lazy. There had been no wars, nor even the threat of war, in years. People had otten the days when the Rourans had run raant over the Eire, instilling fear with the sile ntion of their na. The fad Shadow Warriors had caused trading posts like this one to shut down. And then the Eeror had defeated the Rouran leader, and for years, there had been no sign of the fearso Shadow Warriors. The Eire had gone back to believing it was safe.
But B??ri Khan was about to show thenbsp; how wrong they were to believe the Rourans had been destroyed. His father had taught hinbsp; all he knew before the Eeror had killed hi And now B??ri Khan had revitalized the Rourans. It was ti, he thought as his eyes flicked to the open gate of the trading post, for thenbsp; to begin their revenge.
Turning to his warriors, B??ri Khan raised his hand. Twelve horses shifted on their feet as the twelve n, dressed in black, their