Therainfinallystoppedonthefourthm。Misthunglowoverthesouthernroad,cthefieldsinapaleveil。Thevillagershadbegunrepairingthedamagefromtheflood,whilesoldiersworkedalongtheriverbanktobuildatemporarycrossing。
Suyuanstoodbehawoodeer,watgtheroad。Threecaravanshaddisappeared。Thefirsthadbeenfoundabandonedwhilethesedhadturnedbackbeforereagtheborderandthethirdhadneverarrived。
XieZhenghadsentscoutsindifferentdires,butnonehadfoundsignsofalargegrouppassingthrough。“Itdoesntmakesense,”Suyuansaid。Ayaohandedheracupofwarmtea。“Whatdoesnt?”
“Ifbanditswahemertsgoods,theywouldhavetakenthecarts。”
“Theydidtakethehorses。”
“Exactly。”
Ayaothoughtaboutit。
Suyuantinued,“Thecartswereleftbehind。Thegrainwasleftbehind。Evensomevaluablegoodsremained。”
“Maybetheyonlywahehorses。”
“Thenwhydisappearwiththemerts?”
AyaofellsilentandSuyuanlookeddownattheroadagain。Thereweretoomanyunansweredquestionsandshedidnotlikeunansweredquestions。Asoldierapproached。“PrincessSuyuan,GeneralSurequestsyourpresence。”
Shenoddedandfollowedhimtowardthea。
Inside,XieZhengstoodoveralargemapspreadacrossthetable。Severalsoldiersweregatheredaroundhim。HelookedupwhenSuyuaered。
“Thescoutsfoundsomething。”
Hepoioalocationsouthoftheabandonedcaravan。
“Aburnedcamp。”
Suyuansteppedcloser。
“Hoeople?”
“Hardtotell。Therairoyedmostofthetracks。”
“Anybodies?”
“No。”
Shestudiedthemap。Theabandonedcaravanwashere,theburnedcampwashereandthesouthernroadectedthem。
Suyuanseyesnarrowed。
“Theywerentattackedhere。”
Xielookedather。