Three ravens arrived before dawn.
Each carried the seal of a different border village.
Each message had been written by a different hand.
Yet they all ended with the same desperate plea.
They’re here.
By sunrise, the reports became impossible to ignore.
Blackwood had fallen.
Ashmoor was burning.
Stone Creek had gone silent.
The Crimson Fang Order had struck three villages at once.
It wasn’t a raid.
It was an invasion.
Kaelira stood over the war table, staring at the map as red markers were pushed deeper into the kingdom.
“They’re spreading us thin,” Lucien said quietly.
“They want us chasing fires while they prepare something bigger.”
Before anyone could answer, another messenger burst into the room, his armor stained with soot and blood.
“They’re killing anyone who refuses
