Had he not been mageborn and able to see in the dark, he doubted he could have found it at all, for not even stars pierced the black sheet of clouds that covered the sky from horizon to horizon.

Chapter 3 The first stars pierced the evening sky as Ayla carefully picked her way down the steep rocky side of the ravine.

A few stars now had pierced the blue, and in the east there shone brightly a prolate moon.

Neither moon nor stars pierced the gloom.

There is no moon in that land, no star pierces the golden roof.

When the night came again it was black night, for the stars could not pierce the dust to get down, and the window lights could not even spread beyond their own yards.

Outside a few stars pierced the mists of the city, and there was the occasional whistle of burglars and footpads as they went about their strictly lawful occasions.

Above her, stars pierced the darkness that wasn't black, but navy.