The single word settled into Gad's chest and refused to fade, pressing against his ribs like something testing whether he'd flinch.
"Did anyone else hear that," Corwin whispered.
"I heard it," Mira said.
Doran's face had gone pale, his hand drifting to his chest where the vow-warning pulsed. "It's already starting."
"Stay close together," Gad said, forcing his voice steady despite the current rising beneath his skin. "Whatever this is, we face it as one group."
They moved forward into the pass, the walls narrowing further with every step, stone rising sheer on either side until the sky above became a thin gray ribbon far overhead.
The silence deepened, swallowing even the sound of their own breathing, until the only thing Gad could hear clearly was his own pulse hammering in his ear
