Sastra had always thought that the deserts were golden, but they were more changeable than she’d ever imagined. Shadows of night black stretched below sand dunes, their opposite side shining in the sunlight itself, twinkling and shimmering as though each grain was a jewel. But overall, it was a muted grey-brown that caught her attention as the horses moved ever East towards the rising sun. Where she’d expected the desert of Staven to be lifeless, featureless, she found it punctuated with splashes of colour, bright bold flowers that needed to stand out to attract the insects that buzzed over the sands. There were small copses of a strange, prickly tree that Ari had told her would provide water if she was desperate. Sastra couldn’t imagine being that desperate.
She struggled to pick out l
