The gray clouds hung oppressively low. A dark, crimson light bled through the gaps, staining the wasteland the color of a lifeless blood scab.
Ian walked at the head of the column, his boots making a crisp CRUNCH on the cracked earth.
He raised his hand slightly, and the column of over a hundred people behind him immediately halted, their breathing suppressed to a whisper.
"Brother?" Li Yao sidled up to him, his young face taut with tension.
Ian didn't answer, merely narrowing his eyes as he gazed ahead.
About three hundred meters away, on a relatively flat stretch of gravel, several dozen large Camel Beasts were grazing on the sparse, withered grass.
The beasts were sturdier than horses, with bulging cargo packs strapped to their backs. Their hides were a docile, grayish-brown.
Twenty or so people bustled about near the Camel Beasts.
