Those who truly have nothing are more willing to try their luck in other free states than venture to the rumored war-torn land of the Kingdom of Galloping Horses.
Winters rode Longwind, slowly passing in front of the crowd, his gaze sweeping over the gathering.
What did he see?
Anxious eyes, weary faces, husbands and wives bidding their last farewells, mothers biting their lips to hold back tears...
Hardship and the tradition of blood payment had taught the Montan people to silently endure everything with habitual resignation. Perhaps they had already accepted the possibility of burying their bones in foreign soil, but Winters wasn't leading them to die.
