Three nights ago, the White Khan had taken his only son hostage. Two nights ago, forty warriors rode to rescue the boy — none returned. Last night, the khan’s messengers came again, bearing a blade wrapped in a bloodstained cloth. “Send the man called 53, or your wells will run red.”

And like a shadow falling across the moon, he rode toward the smoke — not for vengeance, not for glory, but because the steppe remembers those who turn away.

The wind shifted. Somewhere beyond the three ridges, the enemy’s drums had begun.