SNAP!
A sickening crack of splintering timber cut through the shrieking gale like a crossbow bolt through seasoned ash.
Fifteen paces ahead of Lu Chen, the lead supply wagon groaned under the violent, shifting collapse of the sandbank. Its left hardwood axle snapped clean in two, the iron-banded hub collapsing into a deep salt-crust fissure that yawned open beneath the red dune.
The four-wheeled freight carriage tilted wildly at a thirty-five-degree list.
Iron crates of provisions, forging coal, and clay water jars slammed against the canvas side-rail with ear-splitting, metal impacts.
The two mountain draft mules screamed in terror, their hooves thrashing wildly against the crumbling embankment as sub-zero blue mist drifted out of the split salt fissure, threatening to drag beasts and wagon down into the underground deep pit.
“Hold the traces!” An Ni shouted from the second carriage, stomping the heavy iron brake lever down with her boot heel.
The cold-iron teeth locked into the wheel spokes with a jarring clack. She tied off the leather reins to the brass hitching ring, grabbed a heavy iron anchor peg and a forged steel cable. Then she vaulted into the shifting grit.
