Bab 380: [Bonus Chapter] The Ashen Whisper (II)

Part 2: Ashes to Ashes

"Ngh-gh!" Arabella thrashed and kept kicking the sand under her to no avail. Her wrists had been tied behind her back with cloth, dust and sand were stuck to her face and her hair was gripped in a man's hand.

Feathers fell off the still-twitching desert hawk as it was thrown into moving black sand. "NO! AGH! HARR!" Arabella screamed and thrashed further while held against normal sand.

The hawk sunk into the black sand and began moving with the current of it. Ash and haze she inhaled more and more as she panted for breath—tears of pain, anguish and hopelessness running down her cheeks.

Soon Arabella began coughing, louder and more violently; no Sun shined as a little girl's coughing cries filled the air around them. The three men stood and watched the hawk suffocate and disappear.