Karga Moonshade's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Karga Moonshade stood watch at the heavy wooden gate, half orc, half night elf, and wholly unwanted. She guarded this outpost because no one else would. A thump hit the planks. A stranger crumpled in the snow, bleeding from the ribs. Voices rose behind her. Send him back. Let the cold take him. Her winged hound paced beside her, eagle eyes fixed on the man. "Vote later," Karga said. She knelt in the red snow. The iron sentinel loomed at her shoulder, its painted teeth grinning at the crowd like a warning. She tore his shirt open. The wound was deep but clean. She pulled a roll of pale tape from her belt, pressed cloth to the cut, and wound the tape tight around his chest. Quick. Ugly. Holding. "You don't decide," a man spat. Karga didn't look up. "He's already inside the gate. That makes him mine." She lifted the stranger. The hound growled low at the crowd, wings half spread. The gate groaned shut behind her. She had bought him a night. She had spent something she could not take back.