The climb toward the Regent’s quarter was steeper than the streets below, paved with wide stone steps slick from the morning drizzle. The mist that had clung to the hollow followed Kael’s army, curling low around the chains that scraped against the cobbles as if eager to devour the city whole.
Above, the towers of the Regent’s keep loomed closer with every step—grim spires of dark stone rising beyond the last stretch of walls. Crimson banners, heavy with rain, hung lifelessly from the battlements, their sigils barely visible through the gray light of dawn.
Kael walked at the front as always, his coat snapping in the cold wind. His eyes never left the gates above, two massive doors of iron-banded oak reinforced by a portcullis of blackened steel.
Behind him, the soldier adjusted her grip
