Forerunner

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In the city of ancient Kuxortal there lay a mass of traders, large and small all fighting for their share of the spoils that can be gained in this Open Port.

Amongst the lowest of the low is the orphan child Simsa who survives on her wits and the power she has over the winged zorsals that she hires out as scavengers, protecting delicate cargoes against those creatures that would try and sample them.

One day, needing to move on from her home in the Burrows - a need brought on by the development of her body - Simsa dares to try and sell her goods down in the market that had grown up to service the star traders. Once there she makes a rapid deal with a starman but she equally rapidly finds trouble following in his wake as the Guild order him off-planet and he refuses to go.

Although reluctant at first she finds herself drawn to his quest for his lost brother and as they travel into the deep desert what they find reveals as much about her past as his brother and the double dealings of the Kuxortal Guilds.

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