The hurricane that swept the Carpathians was a hurricane of silence, not of wind and rain. It was a pressure mounting not in the air, but in the stone of the mountain, a heavy, crushing stillness that beat the sound out of the world. The birds ceased to sing. The perpetual sultry murmur of the wind in the pines fell silent.
It was in this unnatural silence that the sentry's pulse-packet arrived at the command center. No voice, but a single hard, sharp biometric spike of adrenaline and fear, and then a flood of visual data.
In two seconds, Kael was there, Selene, Orrin, and Lyra racing behind him. The main screen displayed the video from the high-altitude eastern sensor post. The image was crystal clear, the air unnaturally actuated after the storm.
And there, on the ridge at the top ove
