Garrick stumbled backward, his earlier composure utterly shattered now, his mind racing through options that all seemed to collapse before his own eyes.
"Kill him," he commanded, his voice carrying desperate, cracking authority toward his still-kneeling soldiers. "Now, before he fully consolidates this power."
Not a single soldier moved. Their bodies remained frozen in involuntary submission, weapons abandoned on the stone floor around them, their expressions carrying genuine confusion and fear as they struggled uselessly against whatever compulsion held them captive.
"I said kill him!" Garrick shouted again, his voice carrying genuine panic now.
One soldier, younger than the rest and apparently possessing slightly more resistance, forced himself unsteadily upward, his hand trembling a
