Tanin gripped the hilt of his sword. "Issari, I urge you to seek another path. Just looking at Goshar chilled me. Cages hung from its walls, dozens of them, men starving inside. Many of the prisoners were already dead, crows feasting upon them. I flew high above the walls, too high for the Gosharian archers to hit me. And what I saw . . ." He shuddered. "Many slaves, Issari. Slaves in great pits, whipped, dying, straining naked in the sun to build towers and great statues larger than ten dragons." He shook his head. "The whole city stank of blood; I could smell it even flying high above. Goshar would be our death."

She gestured around her at the desert. "This desert would be our death. Goshar guards the path through the mountains to the fertile lands beyond. Would you have us die of thirst here, only days away from the desert's end?"

For the first time since she had known him, Tanin glared at her, eyes full of anger. "Would you have us enslaved, broken, chained?" He grumbled. "That awaits us in Goshar, judging by the cages upon its walls. We did not flee Eteer to suffer under another tyrant's heel. We—"

She placed a hand on his cheek. "Tanin." Her voice was soft, and she leaned forward and kissed him. "I would have us survive. I would do anything I could to stop more of my people from dying. Goshar is dangerous, and my father fought wars against its cruel king. But what choice have we? Return to Eteer? Its nephilim would slay us. Wander farther in the wilderness? We would not last long enough to seek fertile lands; the mountains stretch for hundreds of marks. Sail across the sea? We have no ships. We must choose between starvation in the sun or the hope of a vipers' nest. I choose the vipers."

She hugged herself as she walked through the dust. Twelve city-states spread across Terra, the lands south of the sea. Eteer was the northernmost, the realm of seafarers and traders, once wealthy and bright, its arm stretching far across the sea. South of Eteer lay its old enemies. Their lands were dry, their sun blazing, their people cruel, and none among them inspired more terror than Goshar. While Eteer derived its might from the sea, Goshar had become wealthy by guarding the single pass through the mountains, a gateway from the desert to fertile lands. Closest to Eteer among the thirteen, Goshar was also Eteer's greatest enemy; her father had fought the city in several battles, and many of Eteer's sons lay fallen around its walls. Yet without supplies, wandering alone in the desert, it would be death or mercy from old enemies.