Chapter 17

⁠​​​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​‌​​‌‌‌‌‌​‌‌‌​​​​​​​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​​​‌‌‌‌⁠A road as white and straight as a silver bar led directly between the black, jutting shoulders of the hills to the gates of Len Yang.

Peter, with his heart beating a wild symphony of anticipation and fear, drew rein.

The small mule panted from the long desperate climb, his plump sides filling and caving as he drank in the sharp evening air.

Close behind the city's faded green walls towered the mounta