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Chapter 74: The Sealed Report
King Evandor Caelric read the letter twice before setting it down on his desk, the private study around him quiet except for the low crackle of the evening fire, the same fire he'd sat beside for nearly two decades of quiet decisions that never once reached the full court.The seal on the outer wrapping had been Cedren's own, pressed into wax the way it always was, a small mercy in a palace where too many letters passed through too many hands before reaching the person they were addressed to. This one had come directly, as ordered, carried by a rider Cedren trusted enough to send alone across half the continent.Evandor read it a third time, slower now, letting every detail settle.Wolfsbane Crossing, attacked by a coordinated pack of chitterlings, the same breed responsible for the assault on Emberfall months prior. A containment brand identical to the one recovered from that earlier attack. A banner bearing a symbol Cedren's report identified as belonging to somet
Chapter 73: The Departure
The crowd gathering around them grew thicker by the minute, militia and townsfolk alike drawn by word of the fighting's sudden end and now, apparently, by the sight of a bleeding stranger surrounded by armed men claiming royal authority. Garrick felt every eye settle on him in turn, and forced himself to stay still, to stay quiet, Wren's hand still gripping his wrist tight enough to hurt."This is Corin Hale," Fenn said, stepping forward to address Cedren directly, his voice carrying the practiced authority of someone used to guild negotiations. "He's served this city and this guild for months. Whatever business you have with him, it can wait until his wounds are treated properly.""His wounds will be treated," Cedren said, not unkindly, though there was no give in his tone either. "But I'll be seeing to his custody personally from this point forward. That's not negotiable, whatever service he's provided this city."Reyn arrived at a dead run a moment later, shoving
Chapter 72: A Stranger's Blade
Garrick's fingers closed around the sword's hilt a fraction of a second before the chitterling reached him, and he swung upward on pure instinct, the blade catching the creature's foreleg rather than the killing blow he'd desperately aimed for, deflecting just enough of its momentum that its jaws snapped shut inches from his throat instead of through it.The impact still knocked him flat, the chitterling's weight bearing down hard, and Garrick's vision filled with nothing but teeth and the acrid stink of its breath as he strained to hold the blade between them, arms shaking with an effort he wasn't certain he could sustain.Then, without warning, the pressure vanished entirely.A blur of motion crossed his narrowed field of vision, and the chitterling's head separated cleanly from its body, rolling away across the scorched grass while the creature's weight collapsed sideways off him in a single, decisive motion.Garrick lay there for a moment, chest heaving, sta
Chapter 71: A Price Already Paid
Kaelor's consideration lasted only a moment before the calculating edge returned to his expression, settling back into place like a mask he'd never truly removed."Very well," he said, and raised one hand toward the distant breach, a sharp, economical gesture that Garrick recognized instantly as a signal.Somewhere beyond the smoke, a horn call answered, different from the militia's warning blasts, and the sound of the fighting near the breach began, gradually, to shift. The pressure against Wolfsbane Crossing's defenders eased, chitterlings breaking off their attacks and retreating toward the tree line in a controlled, disciplined withdrawal that looked nothing like the chaotic scattering Garrick remembered from Emberfall's aftermath."You have your city back," Kaelor said. "Now uphold your end."Garrick felt the reality of what he was about to do settle fully into place, heavier than he'd allowed himself to fully consider while the fighting still demanded his
Chapter 70: The Sword's Answer
"No," Wren said, following his gaze to the ridge, understanding settling into place a half second before he could explain himself. "No, Corin, whatever you're thinking right now, don't.""I have to end this," Garrick said, already turning toward the breach's edge, toward the open ground beyond it where the ridge stood visible through the drifting smoke.Fenn caught his arm, grip tight enough to actually stop him for a moment. "You walk out there, they kill you. That's not ending anything. That's just handing them what they want and calling it a victory.""Maybe," Garrick said, "but if I don't try, this doesn't stop. Not today, not next week, not after however many more towns burn because I keep running instead of facing it.""There has to be another way," Wren said, something desperate cutting through her earlier anger now. "We fight through this, we regroup, we find Ilvara, we come up with an actual plan instead of you just walking out there to die.""There
Chapter 69: The Truth
"Corin," Wren said again, sharper this time, driving her blade through a chitterling's flank without looking away from him. "Talk to me. What's going on?"Garrick opened his mouth, and found, for one brief moment, that the words refused to come, seventeen years of survival built on silence pressing back hard against everything he'd just decided in the space of a single breath.You do not have to do this, Asterion said, one final time, quieter now, almost gentle. Whatever you owe this city, it is not your life alone to spend."Yes I do," Garrick said, and this time the words came out clear enough that Fenn's head turned too, both of them staring at him now with matching confusion cutting through the exhaustion on their faces."My name isn't Corin," he said. "It's Garrick. Garrick Arundel."The chaos of the battle seemed, for just a moment, to recede around the three of them, though the fighting continued unbroken on every side, chitterlings pressing the gap,
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