We pushed harder, stumbling through the thick snow as the forest began to thin. The ground sloped upward toward the open clearing before the capital walls. The gates were there. Huge. Black iron set into the frozen stone.
Closed.
My heart sank. A horn had not yet sounded. They wouldn’t open until sunrise.
Behind us— “THERE THEY ARE!” A shout tore through the trees. I didn’t dare look back. Branches whipped across my face as we burst out of the forest and into the wide, snowy clearing before the gates. Dozens of figures staggered across the snow—other recruits who had survived the night. Some crawled. Some limped. Some simply collapsed where they stood, too exhausted to move any further. None of them looked back. None of them noticed the three men sprinting out of the trees behind us.
K
