Outside the Black Forest, mist hung over the rocky ridge.
Barik stood at the front of the convoy, his broad axe held low but ready. Beside him, Jag lowered her shoulders. A low growl rumbled in the alpha's throat.
Eris rubbed his temples. A dull ache pulsed behind his eyes—the lingering cost of pushing his Serpent's Eyes too far.
"People," he said.
His voice carried just enough for Barik and Dara to hear.
Eris kept his eyes squinted. "They're not moving like a patrol. They're stumbling."
Dara drew her dagger anyway. "How many?"
Eris narrowed his eyes. The midday sun failed to penetrate the haze, leaving the far ridge pale, blurred, and ghostly.
Eris forced his Serpent's Eyes to pierce the gloom. "Two," he said. "Both armed."
Barik kept his axe low. "Crescents?"
Eris shook his head once. "Can't tell yet."
Any lingering relief from surviving the Black Forest evaporated instantly, replaced by a cold weight in the air.
Jag lowered her head and made a quiet clicking sound. The wolves spread across the wet rock, bellies low. The hounds followed, silent and alert, their eyes fixed on the ridge.
"Have they seen us?" Dara's fingers settled around the loop of her dagger.
"Not yet." Eris pointed through the mist. "They keep looking back. Both of them. Toward the rocks they came from."
Near the top of the ridge, the stranger behind stepped onto loose shale and nearly fell. He dragged his left leg, boot scraping across the gravel.
His companion stopped at a narrow break in the rocks and clutched his side. Even through the haze, Eris could see blood darkening his leather tunic.
Both wore torn, mud-caked clothing.
Eris frowned. "They're hurt."
He watched them for another moment. "And terrified."
"That doesn't make them safe," Barik said. He did not lower his axe. "Scared men do stupid things."
The two strangers still had not noticed the convoy. They kept staring behind them.
"Children behind the wagon," Dara said quietly.
The children moved without a word. Barney followed and dropped to his knees beside them. It was an odd sight, but the children were too frightened to notice.
Kaylah leaned against the rear wheel of the wagon. Her eyes were half-closed as she fought to stay awake.
Eris remained where he was. He looked beyond the wounded men and searched the fog behind them. He followed the direction of their glances—the ridge, the loose scree, and the dark line where the mountain wall disappeared into shadow.
Then something caught the light.
A faint metallic glint.
Eris focused harder. Pain stabbed behind his eyes, but he pushed through it.
A steel gate came into view.
It was half-open and nearly hidden by thick brush.
"Gate," he said.
Barik and Dara snapped their heads toward him, their faces tightening with the grim memory of the black archway.
Nearby, the wolf pack growled in chorus, a low vibration that rolled across the misty ridge.
Through the thinning fog, Eris watched two figures bolt backward in fright.
Disoriented by the fog, they backed toward the cliff. The moment they saw the wolves, they moved away from the steel gate as quickly as their injuries allowed.
"There's someone on the ridge!" one of them shrieked, his voice cracking. He raised a machete with a shaking hand, nearly dropping it on the stones.
"Enemies?" the limping one asked, his entire frame trembling.
Beside Eris, Dara narrowed her eyes, studying the strangers. Deep gashes crossed one man's chest, while the other held a wounded leg stiff with dried blood. To Eris, the tears looked nothing like a blade's work.
"Where did they come from?" she asked.
"That gate," Eris said.
Barik pulled out his spyglass. "Where? I don't see anything."
"Behind them." Eris wiped at his eyes. "In the bushes."
Eris scanned the strangers alongside Dara. They wore no heavy armor and carried no large weapons—only bows, a machete, and long knives. It was light gear, built for speed and stealth.
"Scouts," Dara muttered. "If they found a way through here, there could be more nearby."
Barik's gaze turned to Eris. "Do you see anyone following them?"
"No one on the trail." He stared at the dark opening. "But there may be something inside that passage."
A cold realization settled in Eris's chest. If those Crescents made it back to Ful with news of this path, the entire Iron Order would know the Black Brier could be bypassed.
"We can't let them leave," Barik said.
Dara stepped forward. "Hold your ground!" Her voice carried across the ridge.
"You're cornered. Don't make us push you toward the ravine."
Jag moved before Barik could give an order. With a short bark, the alpha leaped onto a high boulder to the left.
Two wolves raced around the right side, cutting off the only clear escape route. The pack snapped its jaws, forcing the scouts back against the jagged rocks. Beyond was a deep gorge.
The two men positioned themselves back to back. They raised their weapons, watching the wolves close in.
"Drop your weapons," Barik ordered.
Neither moved.
"We can't," the first scout said.
Jag growled.
The man froze. His machete lowered slightly.
"We don't want to fight," he said. "But we're not dropping our weapons. Not with what's in there."
Barik's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"
The first scout answered, "I'm Josh, an Iron Order scout." He glanced at his limping companion. "And he's Tomvalt, also a scout like me."
"What are you doing here?" Barik pressed.
"We're just looking for food," Josh answered.
"You're lying," Barik cut in. "You came out of the tunnel. What did you find there?"
Josh was no longer looking at Barik. His gaze moved past the wolves, locking directly onto Eris before drifting past his shoulder toward the supply wagon.
His features slackened in disbelief. "How—"
He raised a trembling hand, pointing a dirt-covered finger directly at them. 'You came out of the Brier." He turned toward the gate, the last traces of color draining from his face. "You know what's inside."
"What are you talking about?" Barik demanded.
"You came through the cursed woods," Josh repeated. "And you left beasts in that tunnel."
Barik exchanged an uneasy look with Dara.
Josh raised one bloodied hand. "We surrender." His voice shook. "Just let us keep our blades. Please."
"Give me one good reason why we should," Barik said coldly.
"There are monsters in that tunnel." Josh pointed toward the half-open gate. His voice broke with desperation.
Eris tracked the frantic movement of their eyes; the raw terror written on their faces was impossible to fake.
"What monsters?" he asked.
The two did not reply.
"How did you find this place?" Barik pushed another question.
Josh swallowed. "We found the gate while mapping the edge of the Brier."
He glanced toward the dark opening.
"Four of us stayed outside. Six went in."
"Where are they now?" Dara asked.
"I don't know." His eyes returned to the gate.
"We heard screaming. We went inside to help, and then..."
He stopped. "Swarms."
His grip tightened around the machete. "Rats. Bats. Everywhere."
He took a shaky breath. "We lit torches to drive them away, but then..."
He shook his head hard, like he could shake it off. "Something took Carlos."
"What do you mean, took him?" Eris asked.
"It came down from above." The scout shivered, his eyes wide. "Pulled him into the dark."
He pressed a hand against his face, wiping away cold sweat. "After that, something else attacked us."
"Monsters you said before. Did you see them?" Eris asked.
"No." The answer came too quickly.
The scout looked down at the gravel. "Not clearly."
His hands shook. "But the air..."
He swallowed. "It smelled like wet fur."
"What about the others?" Dara asked.
"I don't know. We heard fighting. More screaming than the sound of steel clashing."
His voice dropped. "We ran... back here."
"You left them?" Dara's voice turned cold.
Josh looked at her. "What were we supposed to do?"
He pressed a hand against his side, his fingers digging into the torn fabric. "We could barely get out."
His eyes shifted toward the tunnel. "On our way out, Dustin—my wife's brother—he fought something in a side passage... with a torch."
He paused. "Already lost his right arm."
The scout's voice broke. "Shouted at us to run."He bent forward, choking back a ragged cough.
"I don't know if the others are hiding..."
He looked toward the gate. "Or dead."
From the shadow of the gate, a faint rustle stirred the mountain brambles. Eris went rigid, his breath catching in his throat. Beside him, Barik and Dara stopped breathing. Eris stared at the dark gap, a prickle of sweat breaking on his neck as if eyes were locking onto him from the gloom.
Barik gave a low, humorless grunt. "You expect us to believe you found a secure passage by accident?"
"We didn't know where it led!" Tomvalt pressed a shaking hand against his ribs.
"We were looking for a way around the Brier." He looked at the gate.
"We found the gate. That's all."
"Then your friends will come looking," Barik said, his voice cold. "And they'll find that tunnel."
Josh's face paled.
Eris kept his voice low, urgent. "We can't let them report back."
Dara nodded. "Then we make sure they don't."
Tomvalt's hand twitched toward his belt. "You can't just—"
"We can," Barik cut in, shifting his broad axe. "And we will."
Jag lunged forward with a savage snarl, knocking the machete from the lead scout's grip with her massive paws. The pack closed in behind her, their growls rising into a deep warning. Tomvalt froze, his feigned bravery drained away.
Barik stepped between the prisoners and the snarling wolves. "You have a choice. Tell us the strength of the army marching on Haven." He glanced back at the pack, gesturing to the snapping jaws.
"We're no traitors," Josh spat, though his voice cracked.
Barik let out a short, humorless laugh. "I served the Order before you could walk, boy. There are no heroes in their ledgers—only names crossed out. Loyalty is just a word they use to buy your life. The only thing the commanders care about is the coin you bring them, and they won't waste a tear on dead scouts of your rank."
Josh struggled against Jag's weight, throwing a desperate look at his companion. Beside him, Tomvalt broke, dirt-streaked tears cutting through the grime on his cheeks. "My parents are waiting for me," he sobbed. "And you... you promised your wife... your kid."
Josh's shoulders slumped. The defiance left him all at once, and the words spilled out in a broken rush.
Barik leaned down, unbuckling a leather case from the leader's belt to retrieve a brass-bound spyglass. The optics were crisp, far superior to the cloudy glass in his own pack. Beside him, Dara pulled out her own gear: a compact pair of sleek binoculars that left the Order scouts staring in bewilderment. Barik shot her device an envious glance before turning back to the captives.
"You're coming with us," Barik commanded Josh. "Let's see if you're telling the truth."
He pointed at the limping scout on the ground. "You stay here. Let the wolves keep you company."
The man nodded rapidly, dragging himself closer to the pack. Strangely, he felt safer at the feet of the growling wolves than anywhere near the dark tunnel.
Eris slumped to the ground, keeping watch over the children and the gate. Ache throbbed in his head, forcing him to blink back tears.
Following a faint, rocky incline, Barik and Dara forced the leader ahead of them toward the hill's crest. Where the ridge dropped off into a sheer ravine, Barik raised the brass optic to his eye while Dara brought her binoculars up to focus.
The world below rushed into terrifying clarity.
The valley was no longer an open plain—it was a fortress. Ful's vanguard had arrived in force. Hundreds of foot soldiers in dark steel were driving spiked barricades into the mud. Behind them, massive supply wagons rolled into the basin under the watch of mounted captains. Thousands of eyes were trained directly on the mountain passes.
Barik lowered the spyglass, exhaling a slow, heavy breath past his teeth. "The scouts' path is dead. Ful's locked down the entire basin. If we step onto those open slopes, a thousand arrows will pin us to the stone before we hit the tree line."
Dara lowered her binoculars, her voice hard. "We can't stay on this ridge, either. When this party fails to check in, they'll send a full sweep. We're trapped against the cliff face."
They wasted no time sliding back down the loose scree to rejoin the group.
"Crescent banners," Barik reported to Eris as they reached the wagon. "They've choked the primary pass into a bottleneck. Looks like an advance camp for three companies, probably more. Supply lines, archer nests, heavy horse... thousands of them."
A heavy silence fell over the clearing. Then, one by one, their eyes turned back toward the rusted gate. Behind the iron bars, the cold draft rising from the Service Conduit smelled thick with wet fur and stale blood.
A violent hiss erupted from the mountain wall behind them.
Everyone went rigid. Weapons whipped up in unison. Forgetting the wolves entirely, the terrified scouts scrambled closer to Barik, seeking the shadow of his shield.
A rusted pipe protruding beside the gate released a burst of white steam; the noise echoed across the valley and showered the ridge with a hot, misty spray.
As the vapor cleared, another sound tore through the silence—an agonized scream, cut off at mid-breath, followed by a thud.
The limping scout stumbled backward, tripping over his own boots as his face turned deathly pale. "No," he whimpered, his voice rising into raw panic. "No, no, no..."
"That was Tareq," the lead scout whispered, his numbness giving way to sheer terror. Beside him, the limping man dropped his head into his hands, weeping openly
Jag's ears pricked forward toward the gate, then flattened tight against her skull.
Eris narrowed his eyes, forcing his burning vision through the narrow gap beneath the steel frame. The pain behind his brow tightened into a blinding throb, but he refused to look away.
Then came the flapping of wings.
Hundreds of dark, shrieking shapes came out from the half-open gate at once. Their wings created a deafening roar, blotting out the sky as they scattered wildly over the ridge.
---
Earlier, inside the Service Conduit, Ruvio held his wooden staff high, its glowing tip casting a pale halo that cut through the gloom.
They moved quickly down the corridor in a tight formation, their boots clicking sharply against the damp concrete. Ahead, leathery wings beat frantically in the dark as the bat swarm scattered away from the approaching light.
The stench of wet fur clung to the cold draft, but the terrifying screeching of claws against stone had stopped. High above, something shifted within the iron cable trays near the ceiling. A massive shape crouched between the rusted framework. Its dark eyes reflected the silver light, pupils contracting into thin slits against the radiant glow. It withdrew its long tail into an unlit ventilation shaft, slithered into the shadows as its heavy, engorged belly dragged against the metal.
Ruvio lowered his staff slightly, directing the beam farther down the corridor. "Keep moving," he commanded softly. "Stay with me in the center."
Overhead, a ruptured pipe released a sharp, violent hiss.
Everyone flinched.
Then came another sound from deep in the dark. At first, it resembled the escaping steam—but it was slow, heavy, and undeniably alive.
A scream tore through the tunnel, cutting off mid-breath into a sickening thud.
Ruvio stopped dead. He spun around, swinging his staff backward. Its silver tip flared brightly, showering the darkness with a spray of fine, crackling sparks.
For several long, agonizing breaths, nothing moved.
The main passage curved. They couldn't see more than twenty paces ahead. The side openings were narrow, blocked—but they could feel something moving inside.
"Stay close to me," Ruvio warned, turning back toward the exit. "Don't leave the light."
Faren gathered his remaining strength, forcing his aching muscles to comply as he pulled Leo tight against Myrah, tucking both children deeper into his arms.
"Close your eyes," he ordered, his voice brooking no argument.
Just off the path, a severed arm lay slick against the concrete floor—the rest of the body nowhere to be seen.
Scraping movements rustled from the side passages and behind them.
They didn't stop to investigate. Their rapid march broke into an all-out sprint.
Ahead, a fracture of sunlight broke through the gloom.
"There!" Faren called out, pointing toward the gate.
They ran for the daylight. But as the iron bars of the exit came into view, the wet breathing behind them accelerated into a sprint.
And then, from the shadows behind them, came a sound that turned their spines to ice.
***