Chapter Four
Hua
The days grew colder and with each setting of the sun, Hua felt as if she’d slipped further and further away from her sister. Nothing changed in Zhouchang in the months following the attack. News of the Piao troop movements reached the village, spawning rumors of battles in the mountain passes at the northern part of the kingdom.
The Kou were a fierce enemy, driving the army back into their own kingdom.
To Hua, it sounded as if Piao would never win.
She charged across the open field on light feet, tracking the bear her father spoke of at breakfast. He said it killed two cows in the northern fields in the night. His plan was to take a hunting party to find the predator around the noon hour, but Hua couldn’t wait that long. She could practically hear the things he’d say
