RAGNA POV...
Although the Black Steel Knights stood watch around the carriages like iron statues that did not know fatigue, the reality of our situation did not soften in the slightest, because even under their protection we were still children with frail bodies and unavoidable needs, and sometimes those needs forced us to step outside into a land that did not forgive hesitation.
The Great Desert of Death was not a place where one could afford even a breath too long beyond safety; a single misstep, a single delay, and the sand itself seemed eager to claim another corpse.
Three six-year-old demon children had learned that in the cruelest way possible.
