The scouts arrived breathless, dust clinging to their cloaks, their horses slick with sweat. They bowed quickly before Arslan.
"Prince, we found signs of the riders," one said. "And… we found a name."
Ayisulu already knew it before they spoke. The dream had whispered it. The shaman's smoke had hinted at it. The air itself seemed to carry the name like a warning.
"The Falcon of the Red Sands," the scout repeated.
The aul murmured, uneasy.
Kanykei crossed her arms. "Who is he? A bandit? A warlord? Someone with a dramatic ego?"
The scout hesitated. "He is… something older."
Ayisulu felt her stomach tighten.
Older?
"How older?" Arslan asked sharply.
The scout cleared his throat. "Our elders say he was once a tracker. A man who could follow a trail across stone with no prints, who could smell danger on the wind. They say his eyes were sharp as a hawk's. That he knew secrets… secrets he was not meant to know."
Ayisulu felt cold.
A tracker with unnatural senses.
Someone who knew too much.
Someone who wanted her.
Temir whispered, "This is very bad. Very, very bad."
Bair whispered back, "But exciting."
Kereg elbowed him silent.
Arslan watched Ayisulu instead of the scouts.
"What does he want with her?" Kanykei demanded.
The scout shook his head. "Some say he seeks a seer… a dream-walker."
Ayisulu's lungs froze.
Kanykei whispered, "A seer…"
Arslan stepped between Ayisulu and the circle again — he always did that, instinctively, protectively.
"No one touches her," he said quietly. "Not while I'm here."
His voice wasn't a threat.
It was a promise.
And it made Ayisulu's pulse stumble.
---
As the aul returned to work, Arslan turned to her.
"We need to track where they fled," he said. "We follow the trail before they circle back."
Ayisulu nodded. "I can help."
"I know," Arslan answered. "That's why I'm asking you."
She hadn't expected that.
Not a command — a request.
From a prince.
He motioned her to mount her horse beside him. The steppe wind picked up, cold and crisp. Ayisulu tugged her cloak tighter, but the wind cut through anyway.
Arslan noticed. Without comment, he shifted his horse closer so their knees brushed lightly, and his cloak fell partly over her leg.
Her breath hitched.
Was he even aware he did that?
Probably not.
Which made it worse.
---
The trail led north, into rockier land. The grass thinned, replaced by stones cracked by heat and wind. The sky stretched in a long, cold ribbon.
Ayisulu rode ahead sometimes, letting the world talk to her the way it always did — through shifts in the air, through the pressure of silence.
"There," she said once, pointing to a barely-disturbed patch of dust. "Three riders passed. Two heavy, one light."
Kanykei blinked. "How do you know there were three?"
Ayisulu shrugged. "The dust falls differently."
Temir nodded proudly. "She's magic."
Kereg murmured, "No. Skilled."
Arslan rode beside her. "Both."
Ayisulu pretended she didn't hear that.
But she did.
She heard it too clearly.
---
The trail narrowed into a canyon — red stone walls rising high on both sides. The wind here behaved differently. It whispered strangely, like voices slipping between cracks.
Ayisulu felt her skin prickle.
"Something happened here," she murmured.
Arslan leaned toward her slightly. "What do you sense?"
She closed her eyes.
Footsteps.
Fear.
A rush of movement.
Someone falling—
Her breath caught.
"A fight," she whispered. "Recent. Someone ran. Someone was chased."
Arslan stiffened. "Was it the Falcon?"
Ayisulu opened her eyes. "I… don't know."
The wind pushed against her cheek.
The canyon seemed to pulse.
Ayisulu stepped off her horse to get a closer look. Just as she reached the edge of the cliff, the dirt crumbled beneath her foot.
She gasped—
And someone grabbed her waist from behind, strong and fast.
Arslan.
He pulled her back so sharply she collided with his chest, breath stolen.
She would have fallen.
He had stopped it.
Again.
"Ayisulu," he said, voice low, shaken despite trying to hide it, "don't do that."
"I wasn't—" she started.
"You almost fell," he cut in.
His hands were still on her waist.
Burning through layers of cloth.
Holding her as if the steppe itself was trying to steal her.
"I'm fine," she whispered.
"You're not fine until you're not standing on the edge of a cliff."
She felt his breath warm against her temple.
Kanykei coughed loudly behind them.
"I swear, if you two fall on top of each other again, I'm going home."
Ayisulu tried to step away — but Arslan didn't release her immediately.
His fingers tightened slightly, just for a heartbeat.
Then he let go.
But the echo of that hold stayed on her skin.
---
They moved deeper into the canyon.
Ayisulu stepped over scattered stones, broken arrows, and a piece of cloth — red-dyed wool, torn.
"The Falcon's men," Arslan said quietly.
Ayisulu touched the cloth and felt energy shock through her like lightning.
A vision hit her.
Sharp, fast, breath-stealing.
A rider.
Eyes like burning gold.
A falcon circling above him.
A voice speaking her name.
Ayisulu stumbled.
Arslan caught her.
"Ayisulu!"
She clung to his sleeve without thinking.
"I saw him," she whispered. "I saw… his eyes. He knows about me."
Arslan's jaw locked.
"Then he'll die before he touches you."
Her heart hammered painfully at the intensity in his voice.
She pulled her hand back, embarrassed — but Arslan gently caught it again before it slipped away completely.
"Don't," he murmured.
"Don't pretend you're alone in this."
Ayisulu looked up at him, eyes stinging with something she didn't want to name.
For a moment, the canyon went silent.
Just the two of them breathing in the same small space.
Temir's distant voice shattered the moment:
"PRINCE! I FOUND A BONE! PLEASE TELL ME IT'S FROM AN ANIMAL."
Arslan closed his eyes.
Ayisulu laughed despite herself.
Kanykei yelled, "For the love of the spirits, STOP TOUCHING BONES YOU FIND!"
Arslan sighed. "We should…help them before he poisons himself again."
Ayisulu nodded, still catching her breath.
But before they walked back, Arslan leaned close once more, his voice a quiet vow.
"Ayisulu… if the Falcon sees you as a threat, then he fears what you're becoming."
She swallowed. "And what am I becoming?"
Arslan held her gaze without flinching.
"Someone powerful."
Her heart stuttered.
"Someone brave."
Her breath trembled.
"Someone I will not let him take."
She couldn't speak.
Not a word.
Arslan finally stepped back — reluctantly — as if pulling himself away from her cost effort.
But Ayisulu felt that nearness long after he let go.