Dawn's first pale light seeped through the fractured battlements of Winter Keep, painting its ivy-cracked stones with a tentative hope. Beneath the fortress, in the vaulted catacombs where moss thrived in silent corners, Sylvie Lightwhisper and her allies gathered for their next move. The echo of last night's victories still pulsed in their veins, but Regent Asha's forces would not rest—and neither could they.
Thorne Blackveil stood at the head of a ragged map laid across a fallen sarcophagus. His wolf-grey eyes scanned its inked lines—secret passages, sally ports, guard rotations. Beside him, Rowan Blackveil traced a finger along an unmarked tunnel. “This route skirts the eastern barbican," he said. “It will put us behind Asha's guard shifts at the palace gates—just before the bridge tol
