Night fell over Duskmoor like a slow-spilled ink, pooling in alleys, drowning the ruined streets in black. The mist that had drifted over the city all day thickened as the sun sank behind the distant ridges, turning into a thin silver fog that coiled around every broken statue and shattered arch. From the gutted windows of the temple, the city’s few surviving watch-fires were no more than blurred orange sparks, fragile against the heavy dark.
Kael stood at the threshold of the temple, the ragged cloak at his shoulders lifting and snapping in the night wind. His red-tinged gaze was fixed on the empty street that led down toward the lower quarters, as if he could already see the tunnels yawning beneath the stones. Behind him, his followers gathered in silence.
The soldier came first, her s
