The beacon’s silver thread bent lower with every mile they stole south. By now it was no longer high in the sky but slanting down, hunting like a spear angled toward prey. The air itself felt thinner beneath its gaze.
They moved fast, but fear kept pace. Even the elders who leaned on Tor’s shoulders walked without complaint. No one wanted to hear silence catch up.
---
Shadows on the Road
Kael scouted ahead, his shadow stretched thin between pines. He was pale, breath shallow, but his smile stayed wicked. “Good news,” he said when he reappeared. “The path splits. Bad news: one side smells like marsh, the other like soldiers who bathed recently.”
“Marsh,” Ysra said at once. “I’ll take mud over men.”
Dominic adjusted the elder on his back. “Mud doesn’t sharpen steel.”
“Nor does it obey
