By September, the grasslands of the Empire's northwest had already sunk into desolation.
The wind came howling from the distant Ice Sea, sweeping grains of snow across the withered meadows.
The blades of grass on the meadows were pressed flat to the earth by the cold wind, laying a wrinkled golden carpet over the land.
Cattle and sheep were treading on this carpet, chewing slowly; they would occasionally lift their heads in wary alertness, but their gaze always went to that wall of mountains like the ramparts of a giant.
The Furnace Plateau range lurked within a veil of gray mist, the snow on its peaks giving off a cold light.
At the foot of the mountains lay Tielu Castle, once called the Capor Pass, the very place where Grandmother Vivian had feasted on human flesh in days past.
Seth the Black Khan of the Centaurs had besieged this place, and in the end had been forced to withdraw.
