Chapter Five
Jian
They were going to lose. Jian knew it the moment he led his men into the mountain valley, snow packed underneath their feet.
But Altan was supposed to be there.
“Watch for the target,” he yelled to his men.
Where was the Kou camp? Jian’s intel said they should be upon it by now, but all he saw was fresh snow stretching out before him. No footprints. No tracks.
He kicked his horse around to survey his cold and tired men, wondering if they should head back to camp. Most of these men had been with him for a long time now. They trusted him, believed in him.
What would they say if they knew how lost their commander felt? That he didn’t know how to defeat their greatest enemy?
Silence choked the air for a few heavy beats before an arrow protruded from the chest of the n
