Chapter 28

Diana and her group went further away from the high mountain of Winterberg territory. After another hour they finally appeared from the pine forest. The route ran down a grassroots hill to a broad plateau of farmland. About a hundred fields ahead was an extended chain-link barrier that sprawled at least a mile to the north and west. On the other barrier of the border were meadows and fields of corn stalks, approximately ready for harvest, and broad grasslands flecked with scraping goats and sheep.

Way off in the expanse Tommy sighted an enormous brown old shed, a dark silo, and half a dozen simple dwellings of dark native people created in a circle. Behind the farm was massive wilderness. It looked like a tiny agriculture commonhold, the dark people clan with room for twenty or twenty-five people at the most.

This wasn’t what they’d expected. They'd assumed the Dark native clan would be more densely inhabited. Strange, Diana glanced at the two spear-wielded patrols, who swiveled their