CHAPTER 35:
The first light of dawn had barely touched the mountain peaks when the low, rolling thunder reached us. It came from the valley mouth, growing louder by the second, shaking the very ground beneath our feet, drowning out the birds and the wind and every other sound. I stood on the highest barricade, Kael at my left hand, Cole at my right, and watched as the dust rose above the treeline, thick and grey, swallowing the horizon whole. Beside me, Knox raised his sword, and the whole camp fell silent, hundreds of warriors drawing blades and nocking arrows in one unified motion.
They emerged from the pass in a wave of iron and black banners—more than a thousand strong, marching in perfect formation, their armor gleaming dully in the early sun, their faces set in hard, unyielding lin
