Summary: Miriam remembers what she was. She was in charge. Unquestioned. Until they dragged her down. Exiled her.

Now, she's... Miriam doesn't know what she is.

She needs money. For herself and for the family she has bereaved, the church she ruined. And there's more and more work every day for someone willing to use a sword...

The summers are hot, the winters are dry, the Vadisians chafe under the yoke of empire.

And something stirs in the cracked earth.

Sickness.

And hatred.