A cart creaked along the uneven road of the settlement, its worn wooden frame groaning with each small stone that met its wheels. The single horse pulling it plodded forward at an unhurried pace, indifferent to the burden it carried. But there were no sacks of grain or crates of goods bound for the temple's square—only the cold weight of a lifeless body, laid bare in the open air.
Robert felt his stomach tighten the moment his eyes settled on the corpse. The breath he hadn't realized he was holding left him in a slow, uneasy exhale. He knew that face
Just under two weeks ago, that man had walked out of the temple's doors, alive and whole, clothed in the garb of the devoted, ready to preach the good faith to the new peoples that entered the princedom.
And now, here he was, sprawled like a discarded thing.
