Rain lashed down from an angry night sky. Thunder and lightning tore across the heavens as Chang-li, Min, and Joshi huddled together under the slight protection of an overhanging bank. There was no hope of a fire, not with rain driving in sideways, soaking them all to the skin.

Chang-li hugged his sodden cloak tighter around himself. Min and Joshi looked a little better than he felt. They were both cycling the scraps of lux still remaining to them, and that would keep them warm. Chang-li was not quite out of lux, but he was afraid to use what he had. His core was a burning lump in the pit of his stomach. It rotated slowly and wrong, a discordant note rattling his teeth and bones whenever he thought about it too much.

Somehow, he had absorbed an ancient artifact held in the vaults of the original Morning Mist Sect. He hadn't meant to do it, but while facing the guardian dragon of the vault, he'd been desperate for any chance at victory. He had defeated the dragon, and in doing so, absorbed the artifact.

After that, everything was a bit of a blur. He remembered leaving the vault only to find Morning Mist under attack by a group of Soaring Heavens cultivators. Even now, the memory enraged him. He had gone against them without thought or hesitation, and defeated them, including their leader, the brother of Young Master Feng. It had been easy, like picking on crippled children.

After that, he had passed out, and come to apparently a day and a half later on the Flying Cloud, accompanied by Joshi and Min. They told him that Noren had sealed the artifact inside of Chang-li, and that if he didn't figure out what it was for and master it before the seal came undone, he would die.

All three of them were on their way west, toward the wastelands where Joshi's people roamed. Of course, there was an Imperial Army in between them and the Darwur, but they'd figure that out when they made it that far.

Chang-li fretted about the artifact in his core, and what it might be doing to him, and he worried about the sect they'd left behind. Noren had promised to protect them from the Imperial Inquisitor, but had he been able to keep that promise? Nobody seemed to be chasing them, which was a good thing, Chang-li supposed. Right now, Chang-li was worried about freezing to death in this damn storm.

They had come hundreds of miles in the past two weeks, skirting past cities and villages as much as possible, crossing the wide, fertile plains of the heart of the Empire. Now they made their way across the less and less populated western provinces. The land had changed, rice paddies giving way to fields of wheat and barley. Pigsties had been traded out for clusters of cattle grazing freely on fallow fields. The land here was dry and rugged, and the towns' architecture had changed, with fewer whitewashed walls and tiled roofs, more rough-hewn log cabins covered with sod. They'd passed a couple of farmers today on their way into town, and the men's dialect had been nearly incomprehensible to Chang-li, though Joshi managed it easily.

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The Flying Cloud had given out two days ago, requiring more lux than Joshi or Min retained, and now they were on foot. Chang-li shivered. Min looked at him nervously. Outside their pathetic shelter, the wind howled even louder. He was desperate for something to distract him from this misery.

"How far are we from the Wastes?" he shouted to Joshi over the noise of the wind.

"Still at least 150 miles," Joshi said. "I've never been in these lands before, but I recognized the name of the town those farmers said they were going to. It's a garrison post, and some of my brothers occasionally rode this far to trade horses for their goods."

One hundred and fifty miles on foot. That would take weeks more. Even if no one was looking for them, Chang-li didn't know how long he had. He hadn't told Min or Joshi, but his core was starting to sound more and more discordant in his lux senses. He worried that whatever seal Noren had placed on him was coming undone.

"We have money," Min said practically. "We might be able to go into town and buy access to a lux repository, if they have one. Do you know where the nearest cultivation tower is?"

"No," Joshi shouted over the storm. "I don't think there are any towers in this part of the Empire. My father would occasionally raid the caravans bringing Lux crystals out to the border towns. If he raided once every five years, he said the governor of the province would remember to pay him and his people to stay away."

"We could forge documents to get you two access to a repository, but I'd need to know the provincial governor's name, and get a look at the magistrate's seal, and anyway I don't have any four-weight paper left," Chang-li called.

Joshi shouted again. "The Monastery of Harupa is perhaps 50 miles north from here. It's out of our way, but—"

"But we don't want to arrive at the Wastes with no lux at all," Min finished practically. "So, walk to Harupa, then see if they'll let us in?"

"I have a better plan," Joshi said. "We have coin, do we not?"

They did, at that. Chang-li gingerly opened his soulspace and pulled some of the treasure they'd collected in the vault out, handing it to Joshi. Joshi counted out the coins in his hands before storing them in his own soul space. "We make for the town," Joshi announced. "We'll buy horses there and ride."

"Horses?" Min protested, her wet and pale face looking wan in a flash of lightning. "I can't ride."

Nor, for that matter, could Chang-li, but he held his tongue.

"I'll teach you," Joshi said. "I'll look for old horses, gentle ones."

"I think I'd rather walk," Chang-li muttered.

No one was listening to him. Joshi looked pleased with the plan. "Yes. We shall ride to Harupa and restore our Lux reserves there. From there to the Steppes. Perhaps I can get word of where my people are likely to be at this time of year."

"Will they aid us?" Min asked anxiously. "Your father is dead—will your brothers help us?"

"If we have enough to offer them," Joshi said.

"And do we?"

"It'll have to be," Joshi said, "because we're going to exchange our knowledge of cultivation for their aid in reaching the Heart of Ice."

The wind picked up again. Chang-li shivered, and the conversation died out.

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