Doran grumbled as he pushed forward.

  “I swear this cursed pass is trying to kill us. Every damned stone.”

  The terrain grew more treacherous with each step. Gravel slipped away under their boots, falling into the silent void below. Clouds climbed out of the abyss and wrapped around them in a dense, icy mist that smelled of frost… and danger.

  Doran led on, eyes fixed on every treacherous crack in the path.

  “It’s the quickest route to Aeryndor,” he muttered, “and the least forgiving. The ground can drop out beneath you without warning.”

  The she-wolf padded a few paces behind, uneasy, nose tilted to the wind. Kael brought up the rear, hand brushing the hilt of his sword whenever the silence grew too deep. Only the crunch of snow and the long whistle of the wind broke the stillness.

  The trail narrowed to a slick, winding ledge suspended over fog-filled chasms. One misstep meant a fall into nothing. An eagle circled high above, wings cutting through the grey. The mountains seemed to close in around them, watching the slow ascent of the four travelers and the wolf at their heels.

  A weight hung in the air—a warning of what waited ahead.

  Doran stopped suddenly, pressing a hand against the cold rock.

  “We’re close to the narrowest stretch,” he said, voice low and swallowed by the wind. “If something finds us here, we won’t have room to fight or flee.”

  Kaelor nodded, checking the edge of his blade. His gaze drifted toward the mist-filled drop for one heavy heartbeat.

  “Let’s go,” he ordered calmly. “The sooner we’re through, the better.”

  They continued on. Shadows stretched along the ridge; frozen dust stung their faces as the wind spun it into small whirling ghosts.

  Then the wolf froze. Her hackles rose. Her eyes locked not on the path ahead… but on the one behind them.

  A deep growl rumbled in her throat.

  Kaelor’s brow tightened.

  “What is it?”

  Before he could take a step, the wind shifted. The fog behind them twisted unnaturally—as if pushed aside.

  A gleam of metal sliced through the white.

  “Weapons!” Doran roared, spinning with his axe raised.

  Shapes surged out of the mist: soldiers in darkened mail, moving with grim purpose. At their head, cloak whipping in the cold wind—

  Riven.

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  Steel flashed as the soldiers stormed the narrow ledge. The cold quiet shattered.

  Battle erupted.

  Kael collided with the first attacker, driving him back with sheer force. A second tried to slip past; Kaelor’s blade found his throat with a clean stroke.

  Doran hurled his daggers—both struck true in the chests of the front line—before he charged with a roar that shook the cliffs.

  The path barely allowed movement. Every swing risked tumbling into the abyss.

  Alden dodged a wild cut, twisted, and drove his sword into a soldier’s gut. The dying man pitched forward, knocking Alden toward the edge.

  “Alden!”

  Kaelor lunged, catching him by the wrist just as his boots slid over empty space. Below lay only white, endless nothing.

  “Hold on to your sword,” Kaelor growled between his teeth.

  “I’m not dropping it,” Alden whispered, breathless.

  They turned back toward the fight. Steel clashed, echoes rattling between the peaks.

  Doran fought a much larger man. The soldier raised his blade high and brought it down in a killing arc. Doran ducked; steel kissed his neck, drawing blood. With a snarl he swung his axe and split the man’s ribs.

  “Too slow.”

  Kaelor, still regaining balance, never saw the blade coming for his back.

  But the wolf did.

  She sprang like a shadow, slamming the attacker to the ground. Her fangs sank deep into his arm; his scream vanished into the wind.

  “Good girl,” Kaelor murmured, finding his stance again.

  Kael carved through two more enemies—one cut to the gut, one blow to the face—both collapsed.

  Then he saw him.

  Riven.

  He did not charge.

  He walked.

  Calm. Steady. Certain.

  Kael stepped into his path, sword raised.

  Riven studied him for a heartbeat.

  “You fight well,” he said, his voice deep and level. “But you are still young.”

  Kael answered with steel.

  Their clash burst in sparks. Kael attacked furiously; Riven parried with perfect precision, every counterstroke exact, effortless.

  Steel scraped Kael’s thigh. He staggered. Riven struck with the pommel—Kael fell to his knees, blood staining the snow.

  “Kael!”

  Alden’s cry tore the air. He had finished his opponent—and now he saw his brother kneeling, Riven’s sword poised to end him.

  Something ignited inside Alden.

  The Mark on his chest throbbed like a foreign heart. Heat surged up his arm, pooling in his palm. His pupils brightened, glowing with liquid light.

  The air vibrated.

  Tightened.

  Drawn taut like a bowstring ready to snap.

  Riven sensed it a fraction too late. Instinct alone made him move.

  A blast of invisible force skimmed him—hot as a furnace. The cliff face behind him exploded in a thunderous crack that shook the mountain to its bones.

  Riven was hurled backward.

  The ground trembled.

  Snow shifted.

  A rumble rolled across the heights.

  “Avalanche!” Kaelor shouted. “Fall back!”

  Too late.

  The mountainside collapsed—an ocean of white roaring down over everything: screams, steel, wind, earth.

  Alden dropped to his knees, drained. The light faded from his eyes. His breath thinned, swallowed by the thunder.

  ***

  In Aeryndor, dawn poured golden light through the temple’s high windows, making the marble glow like fire.

  Lyanna knelt at the chamber’s center, still as stone, encircled by perfect rings of ritual sand.

  A whisper stirred inside her.

  The air trembled.

  Heat surged through her body.

  A soft, foreign glow filled her eyes.

  Flashes—

  a scream,

  a mountain cracking open,

  a white abyss,

  a heartbeat that was not her own.

  “Lyanna? Are you all right?” an apprentice asked from the entrance.

  She blinked. The light faded.

  “Yes…” she breathed.

  But her heart beat with an echo from far beyond these walls.

  Something—

  or someone—

  had awakened.

  And it had reached for her.

  She lifted her gaze toward the unseen mountains hidden in mist, knowing this was no dream.

  Thank you for reading this chapter.As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts and impressions.

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