World's Edge by Ryan Kirk Page A

devoid of life. It seemed like nothing could be further from the old woods she called home. As far as her eye could see there was nothing but rolling hills and grass. She had killed some small game to supplement her own food, but outside of the occasional rabbit, there was little for her to see or sense.
    After only a few days she was bored of the monotony. As the days blended together, Moriko began to wonder if she was falling into madness. There was nothing here. No towns, no villages, no people out on the land. If this was Azaria, where were the Azarians? She had been riding for days without a sign of habitation.
    Moriko wasn’t an expert on the development of land or the running of a kingdom. She had never studied those subjects. But this she didn’t understand. How did the Azarians live if they didn’t farm their land? They had fought against the Southern Kingdom for hundreds of cycles. She was following a path that went more or less straight south. It wasn’t a road, but it had been trampled over and over. She suspected it was the path Azarian armies took to the pass every season to attack the Southern Kingdom. Having no better options, she followed it, curious as to where it lead. But by now she should have seen something.
    After a quarter-moon, Moriko was truly doubting her sanity. Every day was the same barren landscape. It was beautiful, in its own way. She would still prefer the woods to the prairie, but she was beginning to see what others saw in it. There were times when she appreciated the sensation of being alone in the world, all the land around her quiet and empty. It was just that it never ended. She had never seen such a vast emptiness. Dozens of times a day she checked her bearings against the sun to ensure she was still heading south.
    She continued to follow the path, and it seemed straight, but she was beginning to doubt herself. She had never felt so lost. Days and nights blurred together.
    A half-moon into her journey, she received all the excitement she could ask for. She had been riding south, lost in thought. With little to hold her attention, there was little to occupy her mind. By the time she noticed the dust rising on the horizon, it must have been visible for quite some time. Moriko shook herself awake. Her mind was so used to the unceasing monotony, she hadn’t even realized her surroundings had changed.
    She squinted. She wasn’t sure, but it looked like three or four riders heading towards her. On the horse, she was visible from leagues away, and she cursed her lack of awareness. They were still some ways off, so she held her place, debating what to do. None of the other scouts had returned, except for the one, which meant the riders were probably hostile. But if she didn’t stop to talk, there was no way of knowing.
    Moriko’s instinct was to turn the horse around and run, but her mission was to scout, so scout she would. She calmed her horse as the riders came galloping towards her. As they got closer Moriko saw it was four riders, each seemingly a part of their horse. She wasn’t an expert, but they rode with a grace she could never hope to match.
    Her sense screamed at her and she backed her horse up a few paces as an arrow fell in front of her. She glanced up, surprised. The riders were still a long ways away. There wasn’t any way she should be in bow range by now. She sensed other arrows incoming and backed her horse up further as they rained down around her. So much for trying to speak with them.
    Her decision made for her, Moriko turned her horse around and kicked it to a gallop, heading north. The locals were not friendly. She tried to throw out her sense, but as the horse below her bounced her around, she could barely focus. She considered herself fortunate to sense a couple of paces away. Moriko turned around, dismayed to see the riders easily gaining on her. They were much better riders than she was.
    Her sense limited by her own distraction, she could only sense the