**Nymera’s POV**
---
The drums started at sunrise.
Low and steady.
The Spiralborn weren’t hiding anymore. They marched openly now—banners raised, armor gleaming in morning mist. No flanks. No formations.
Just one long, rippling wall of fanatics moving straight toward Hollowfang.
Graeven estimated we had less than twenty-four hours.
I stood atop the wall with Kaelith and Dain, watching them spread like shadows across the valley floor.
They didn’t chant.
They didn’t shout.
They just *marched.*
“They’re not coming for blood,” Kaelith said. “They’re coming to *kneel.*”
“No,” Dain said. “They’re coming to *claim.*”
Neither of them were wrong.
And I didn’t know which one terrified me more.
---
Inside Hollowfang, preparations were chaos.
Barricades were reinforced. Medical tents
