CHAPTER 49: SHADOW ON THE SUMMIT

A chill swept through the Citadel as dawn broke, the eastern tower’s stones still cold from the night. Thalen stood on the balcony, cape drawn tight against the breeze, watching smoke plumes drifting from the Ashen Canyons. Two formations his own and the Crown’s now disciplined in formation and volley. But farther out, mottled rise in the distance, faint embers lit the sky.

He turned as footsteps approached. Renal, his Crown counterpart, emerged into the early light.

"More smoke," Thalen said without greeting.

Renal nodded. "From the northern ridge. New breach. Less visible than the last."

Thalen frowned. "Less visible, but just as deliberate."

They stood side by side, soldiers stirring below them.

Renal offered a scroll. "Council wants confirmation." He handed it over.

Thalen opened it. It was a request to send joint forces north to secure and investigate. He slipped it into his cloak.

"We’ll do it," Thalen said.

"Today," Renal replied. "Before alarm spreads."

Thalen inhaled. "Yes."

Thalen descended to the council chamber. The Nine heroes filed in behind him, each adorned in their aura-lit armor. Varos took the seat to Thalen’s right. Lady Miraline settled on his left. On either side of the table, Reuven’s generals and Crown officers took their positions.

"Council, we have a new threat on the northern ridge," Thalen began. "We propose a joint expedition of one hundred from each side to secure the region, seal breaches, and begin investigation."

General Simeon leaned forward. "The drills were attacked with siege glyphs. Now this escalation."

A Crown envoy rose. "Council authorizes expedition, pending Ascendant’s leadership. Will begin at first light?"

Thalen met Renal’s gaze. "We go midday. Let no one say we’re rushed without planning."

Renal nodded. "We coordinate logistics. I will ride with you."

Varos cleared his throat. "I recommend a second vantage, magic support. Our mage advisor, Ilara, will guide containment".

Thalen nodded. "Approved."

Lady Miraline added: "Scout ahead discreetly distance scouts to verify safety before main force." He nodded.

The council approved. Immediately, supplies were readied.

By midday, the combined force assembled at the Citadel’s great gate. One hundred Reuven fighters spearmen, musketeers, and archers stood lined beside a hundred Crown soldiers: their disciplined ranks guarded by sergeants and pilot engineers. In the lead rode Thalen and Renal, mounted on black stallions thick in muscle. Behind them, General Simeon, Lady Miraline, and Major Kest from the Crown’s military.

Mage Ilara walked beside Thalen, clutching a stave of carved silver ash. Her robes bore the glyphs of warding. Across the formation, soldiers exchanged quiet words unfamiliar names, shared purpose, hesitant smiles.

Thalen raised his hand. "This day we step into unknown ground. Let us not let fear divide us." The group murmured assent. He turned to Renal. "Lead east ridge. I lead west. We converge at the breach."

Renal nodded. The two forces split.

The northern ridge was a bone-white spine of stone, scarred by craters and fissures stained violet-black. The air hissed with sulfur and mana. Smoke curled in silent spirals like ghosts. At the base of one chasm, ruins of a guard post lay half-crumbled, banners shredded. Armor plates marked with no sigil but bearing scorch marks.

Ilara paused. "Tyrant glyph residue again. Lingering, even in areas we thought sealed."

Thalen dismounted and crouched. He traced a glyph etched in scorched rock. "This is energy drawn down. Someone is directing it."

They continued up the ridge. Soldiers flanked them, pacing weapons at the ready.

Ahead, Renal’s group heard a tremor. Their scouts shouted warning two shapes fleeing ahead, cloaked and masked. Arrows snapped in the ridge wind.

Thalen and Renal rushed toward the scouts, weapons drawn. They paused as they encountered two figures at the ridge crest, a man with dark robes and a glyphed staff, and another draped in banded leather with a satchel at his hip.

They fled at sight.

"Stop!" Renal warned, blade flashing.

The cloaked man turned and thrust his staff downward. A sphere of mana exploded, launching a shockwave that knocked soldiers off their feet. Thalen braced and raised his aura shield, violet-silver flaring. The blast cracked stones underfoot, splitting the path behind them.

"Ilara contain!" Thalen yelled. She lifted her stave and drew a glyph in the air. A translucent barrier sprung up, halting the shockwave. The mage’s face pinned pale under strain.

The cloaked man escorted his companion forward both braced against Thalen and Renal’s advance.

Thalen pushed forward, aura sharpened. "You will stand and tell us who sent you!"

The mage hissed, "You can’t know! It’s already begun"

The robed man stepped back. "Faction of the Tyrants ’Shadehand.’ They strike to fracture your trust."

Thalen’s eyes narrowed. Shadehand whispers of their name reached him during the Crusader purges. Loyalist cultists. Magic-wielders twisted by obsession with Tyrant purity.

Renal said through clenched teeth: "They strike both sides and expect us to break again."

"Not today," Thalen said. "Ilara, bind them."

Ilara drew closer. "I can seal the mage but their fate goes beyond these stones."

Thalen nodded. "Bind them. Then question."

Soldiers circled the fleeing pair. The mage and companion struggled, then fell to iron grapples. Renal cuffed the robed mage with metal chains etched with silence sigils.

Silence fell. The smoke curled. The ridge breathed.

They returned to the Citadel with prisoners in tow. The council chamber filled again, with guards posted behind seats. Thalen sat at the head, Renal to his right. Shadehand captives stood before them, hooded and chained.

The mage spoke in a clipped voice: "We had to burn the fissures. The Ascendant was a threat he unites you weaklings. The Council must fracture under fire." He spat the words.

Thalen felt anger flare, but kept his voice steady. "You tried to fracture us and failed. Because we do not falter."

Renal glared at the captives. "You attacked our formation. Our trust."

Thalen turned to his allies. "These murders must face justice." He gazed back at the cultist. "What do your leaders want? Who commands?"

The priestess, battered and bloodied, remained silent. The bound mage glared. "You will never know."

Thalen leaned forward. "We will."

Varos stepped up. "Then prepare the arcane gaol. Ilara, restrain them."

The mage shook his head. "This cell won’t hold us." She laughed. "The Spirit answers us still. You can’t lock away revelation."

Thalen’s jaw tightened. "Not revelation. Pain and closure."

He pounded the table. "No faction will walk into the Citadel and conquer us with fear."

The halls trembled slightly, as if in agreement.

Simeon rose. "We must decide what happens to them. Show restraint but ensure safety."

Renal nodded. "Crown law: capital for high treason. But with mitigations trial, chance to repent."

Thalen considered. He glanced at Varos who met his eyes and nodded.

He stood. "Reuven will aid in evaluating call witnesses, collect evidence. They will have trial. Once convicted punishment, yes. But also truth. So their cult cannot grow unseen."

The council agreed. Judges appointed. Ilara lifted a glowing seal over the captives binding their aura, making them unable to speak false wards.

Thalen exhaled.

Rain began to patter against the summit windows.

He met Renal’s gaze. "Trust must be built by digging out the shadow."

Renal’s expression softened. "Then let us begin."

That night, Thalen stood again amidst the torches of the border fort. The rain had washed the air clear.

"That ridge will hold," Varos said, standing beside him.

"Enforcers are being stationed," Thalen replied.

The Blade That Breaks gleamed faintly in torchlight.

Varos added, "Orchard speak of your leadership. Mordecai, Emlyn and villagers say the Citadel stands not as a threat, but as refuge."

Thalen closed his eyes. A long breath. "If they believe it... then our bond holds."

He opened his eyes to the torchlight flicker. "But tomorrow, we must speak of the Border Watch, forge its rules."

Varos placed a hand on his shoulder. "One step at time."

Thalen nodded. "One flame at a time."

Rain-touched stones whispered beneath them.

Beyond the border, embers still glowed.

In every ember, lay either future or ruin.