The first horn had been distant.
The second rolled like thunder across the ridges.
By the time the third came, the silver grass was bending flat against the soil, pressed down by the weight of what approached. The hum of the valley rose with it, shaking stone, rattling shields, and pounding in Elinora’s chest like another heartbeat.
Her wolf’s voice was sharp. The vanguard. He sends them first, to soften you. To test where you bleed.
Elinora stood at the dais, the Spine heavy in her grip. The cracks beneath her feet glowed, bright and jagged, light spilling outward in veins toward the walls. The pillars pulsed as if alive, each beat echoing the thrum of her own pulse.
Behind her, Riven tightened his gauntlets, his blade at his side. Kaelen crouched on a broken arch, shadows rippling b
