With Lumingu and the main army gone, the capital fell into uneasy quiet. The grand avenues were nearly empty now, patrolled only by scattered guards and frightened civilians who moved like ghosts through the dim streets.
In that silence, the Shadows moved.
Their attention had shifted entirely to the foreign commander—the one who had been working in the background, supplying Lumingu's coup with weapons and information. They did not yet know his name, but they knew his caution.
He was different from Lumingu.
Where Lumingu barked orders and sought glory, this man hid behind layers of defense. His guards were disciplined, his routines erratic, and his compound—just outside the capital—was a fortress.
It would take time to reach him.
But first, there was someone else who needed saving.
Faizah.
The name carried weight among the Shadows. She had been their link, their eyes in the enemy's stronghold. When she was captured, every one of them had felt the loss like a missing limb.
