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Chapter 364 A Stranger in the Snow

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Chapter 364 A Stranger in the Snow
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Photo by ian dooley on Unsplash

Previously...

Sagarius

White snow began to fall over the dark wooded land, and the wind blew hard between the trees. Sagarius saw her breath turn white, another sign that something was wrong. It had not been snowing when she fought the manticore. Nor had it been this cold.

Yet she did not dare call off the spell. It had taken two hours just to gather and set it properly, and even that had only been possible because the weather had been favorable.

From her hideout, protected by meticulous wind manipulation that kept her scent from carrying, she peeked over the roots of a giant tree. Squinting through the snow, she launched a charge of static toward the manticore.

It was invisible and moved faster than the wind. The moment it struck, it activated.

The manticore sprang back. It had sensed the magic, and somehow, it knew where she was hiding. The massive beast hurled itself toward her.

Sagarius drove her legs across the forest floor, running to keep her distance. She was nimble among roots, brush, and trees, but the manticore treated the woods as if they were tall grass. It plowed through trees and brush almost unimpeded.

Wood cracked. Its cursed roar tore through the forest. The ground shook beneath its weight.

Sagarius gritted her teeth. This had become too real. Her mind alone could not imitate this so well.

Something was definitely wrong.

Above her, the night sky rumbled. Thunder rolled through the clouds.

Lightning suddenly split the sky. For a heartbeat, the night turned white. A split second later, thunder broke over the woods with a force that shook the ground and sent Sagarius stumbling. Her hands and knees struck the ground. She squeezed her eyes shut, wincing as her hands flew to cover her long ears.

It was too close.

The beast’s muscles seized. Its great body crashed through the trees and hit the ground hard, writhing under the terrible heat. Smoke rose from its scaly hide in a hazy shroud. It had taken a massive lightning strike.

Still, even on the ground, the manticore tried to roar, but only a weak growl escaped. It tried to rise, but even its serpent-like tails had gone limp.

Sagarius took her chance to breathe. The spell had struck true. But she knew it would not finish the fell beast. Just like the one she had fought in truth, it would not die that easily. That creature had taken days and many sacrifices to kill. The corruption inside it would not allow death to claim it quickly.

At best, she had only a few minutes.

[Static Charge]

The air cracked. Blinding white light flashed as a thunderous jolt tore into the beast, making it writhe again. Yet it was nothing like the lightning that had descended before.

Still, Sagarius ran toward the manticore.

[Static Charge]

A blast of electricity struck again, tormenting the beast as it writhed. Yet even under the assault, the manticore began to regain control of its six powerful legs. It forced itself upright, its scaly body still smoking, blackened where the lightning had struck and melted through its scales.

Black blood gushed from its goat-like mouth. Its serpent-like tails stirred again, while its murderous eyes turned toward her.

[Static Charge]

Blinding white flashed again as another jolt rampaged through its body. Yet the manticore stood firm, staring at her as it gathered its strength. It knew its prey was desperate.

The beast bared its fangs and began to move, smashing through giant trees as it came.

Sagarius stopped, took a dwarven relic from her inner sleeve, and planted her feet. It was short and dense, its metal body cold against her palm. Her thumb pressed the small catch along its side, and the weapon woke with a low hum. White-orange bolts of molten light burst from its narrow mouth, scorching the air as they flew toward the fell beast.

Three bolts struck the manticore in succession before the weapon overheated. One shattered part of the crooked crown of horns around its skull. Another burned through the side of its mouth. The beast howled in pain, but it did not stop.

The ground shuddered beneath its coming.

Sagarius’ knees felt weak, but she stood her ground. The dwarven weapon had cooled just enough to risk another shot. She fired one more bolt, then called upon the mage’s last resort.

[Empyrean Fire]

She felt as if her chest had been ripped open. It was a raw form of magic, one an experienced mage kept sealed and ready without needing to draw from a source. Bluish light erupted between her and the manticore.

In an instant, the falling snow vanished into steam. Branches blackened. Shrubs curled and caught fire. The scales along the beast’s face and chest glowed red beneath the sudden heat. That bluish light was all the beast saw before its ember eyes burst and its face began to melt. 

It stopped mid-charge and thrashed in pain, clawing at the ground as if trying to tear the heat from its own body.

Its whole face blackened. Its mane burned. Its skin bubbled. The spell lasted only a second, but that was enough to cripple it. Even for a fell beast, it would take days to regrow complex organs such as eyes.

Sagarius heaved a breath. Normally, just as with the dwarven weapon, she would never have used this spell so readily, since preparing another would take time. But since this was only a memory, a recreation of a past event, she believed she could use it without risk.

In the true battle, Sir Munius had charged in with his riders, using the opening to inflict the worst damage on the beast.

Here, she had no one. But that did not bother her.

Three dozen steps away, even blind, the manticore swung its tails left and right, sending broken wood and debris flying everywhere. Somehow, it still sensed where Sagarius stood.

There were only two charges left in her dwarven weapon. And those two would not be enough to kill the manticore.

But she did not need to kill it. She had won this duel.

She had faced her fear.

A low rumble rolled through the forest. Sagarius turned, distracted from the blinded beast thrashing before her. The sound deepened, growing into a roar that shook snow from the branches.

Somewhere far beyond the trees, a mountainside gave way.

An avalanche?

White thunder poured down in the distance, swallowing rocks and pines as it fell. That had not happened in real life.

She stared at the avalanche and breath caught in her throat. Beyond the curtain of falling snow, something watched her.

Sagarius focused her sight in the dark. The creature was massive, its sickly dark body resting on many powerful limbs. Its hide was not fur, but glossy black scales. Its face was wrong, too small for its body, narrow and goat-like, with horns crowding its skull like a crown. Its mouth looked almost harmless, but its eyes burned with an intelligence.

Her eyes widened at the impossible. Upon the broken ridge stood a second manticore, looking down at her.

Fear seized her, and she ran, trying to hide among the trees.

The second manticore dropped from the ridge amid the snowfall with terrifying ease. It did not rush. It simply began to stalk her.

Sagarius focused inward, desperate to pull herself free, but like a nightmare, she could not awaken.

This was not how it happened.

As she fled deeper into the forest, the howling wind sharpened into a freezing gale.

***

Five Peaks Area, Clavieras

The clash at the slave quarter began with Captain Farkas and his Black Bandits striking the clan mob from the rooftops with crossbow bolts.

After the initial confusion, the clanborn began scrambling for cover. Bloodied as they were, the longer the volleys continued, the more they realized the shots were few, scattered, and not focused. It was not a large force of crossbowmen, as they had feared.

“Where are they shooting from?” one clansman shouted, trying to gather his wits.

“I can’t see them,” another answered.

“Left and right,” a third reported, peeking out just long enough to see iron heads glinting as they came. “They’re shooting from both sides.”

One of the militia-trained men shouted, “Hide between the houses and spread out. Punish them for this insolence.”

“I’ll skin these slaves myself,” one burly clansman snarled, and with dozens of men, he pushed toward the left.

Those on the right were slower to move, but they gathered several dozen men and pushed down another lane, searching for the hidden crossbowmen. Each group numbered fifty to seventy, enough to overwhelm what appeared to be only a small band of crossbowmen.

But wherever they went, they found men waiting with spears and shields.

“Slaves!” a clanborn cried.

“Clan bastards,” one of the freedmen answered.

“Time to die,” the clanborn snarled, and advanced.

Fighting quickly erupted in the narrow streets. Steel rang against shields. Spears punched into flesh. Men slipped on blood-slick stones and were dragged down screaming. Torches fell, casting wild light over mud-brick walls and twisted faces.

Meanwhile, a senior clanborn took over the nearest compound to shelter the wounded and protect them from the bolts. A barber-surgeon, he was not part of the militia, but he had plenty of experience.

“Light the hearth and boil water,” he ordered. “Keep the shutters closed.”

His men scrambled to obey, while he shoved a table aside to make room. Soon, the wounded began to arrive, carried in and laid in rows, bleeding from bolt wounds. They groaned and writhed as men held them down. Blood spread across the floor. Some bit on leather. Others cursed or called for their mothers.

Outside, seemingly unaffected by the turmoil, the militiamen leading the mob spoke among themselves in low, easy tones.

“What is there to fear?” one man said with a laugh as he rested against the wall. “A coward’s ambush. Nothing we cannot break.”

His words were met with low chuckles and crooked grins.

“The Black Lord is dead,” the man continued. “He went against a lich and died screaming."

Snort and small laughter broke out among them.

Still full of spirit, the militiaman continued, “Mark my words, this is only the beginning. The Black Lord’s folly has finally come due, and he can do nothing from the grave.”

“It was the lich that ended him, not us,” another answered soberly.

“Fuck you,” the speaker replied, careless, as if drunk on a victory he had not yet won. “Dead is dead.”

Mutters passed among them, but after the lynchings in the streets and the burning of so many homes, most were too tired to argue.

A different militiaman gave voice to a darker thought. “What if he rises as undead?”

Everyone resting went still.

Some exchanged worried glances, for it was not an impossible fear.

The thought of the Black Lord, already feared in life, rising again as one of the dead sent a chill through them. The mood soured at once. One man threw away the cold bread he had taken from a house, his hunger gone.

As unease settled over the militiamen, a steady flow of wounded men began returning from the fight.

“What’s happening?” one of the clanborn nearest to them asked.

“It’s a hard fight. They’re too many,” one man answered while helping his wounded friend stay upright. “Is there anyone able to treat wounds?”

“Form a line at that house,” someone said. “We have a barber-surgeon inside.”

The crowd quickly helped the wounded toward the compound where the makeshift infirmary had been set up.

Seeing this, one of the militiamen hurried over and questioned them in person. “Well, have we broken them?”

“We got them retreating, but they won’t break,” the man answered as he waited for his wounded friend to be taken inside.

“That can’t be,” the militiaman said in disbelief.

Another man, peering down from a roof, called, “Boss. Not good. More are moving toward our side.”

The militiaman stared at him, eyes wide.

But the fight was not going in the clans’ favor. Soon, even the militiamen saw it with their own eyes. Hundreds of torches and lanterns were moving through the dark. From alleys, courtyards, and narrow lanes, more and more lights appeared, as if the whole slave quarter had come alive.

Only then did they understand. They had walked into a killing ground. They had thought they were hunting frightened crossbowmen hiding on the rooftops. Instead, they were staring into the jaws of a tiger.

“We need to retreat,” the man on the roof urged.

The militiaman froze, torn between pride and fear. A second militiaman had to seize the moment.

“Inform every group,” he ordered. “Tell them what’s happening.”

But the mob was not trained for this. Word moved slowly, and their command had little order. By then, a few hundred more freedmen had already been roused, and the advantage was theirs.

In many parts of the slave quarter, clanborn were still caught in the thick of the fighting.

“Get them!” the hotheads among the clansmen shouted, still too eager to offer battle.

“Wait! We just received word!” the better-informed militiamen with them shouted, trying to rein them in.

It was too late. A group of young men rushed ahead and broke against a larger force of freedmen, their attack ending in screams and blood.

A freedman at the front flicked his spear to shake the blood from its point, then brandished it at the clanborn column halted before him.

“Masters, how good of you to come and meet your former slaves,” he shouted as his brethren surged on his left and right. “Let us greet you with iron!”

“For Clavieras!” a clanborn shouted, trying to rally his men.

The two sides crashed. It was no battle, but a mass brawl. The freedmen had the advantage. They were better armed and more numerous than the clansmen had expected. Worse for the clans, the Shogunate’s Black Bandits were there to exploit every weakness.

Bolts flew from alleys, windows, and rooftops. Attacks came from places the clans did not expect.

For all their boastful talk of strength and cunning, the clansmen were losing the fight. The militiamen among them were no match for the Shogunate’s veterans, skirmishers who had fought through major campaigns since their beginning in Korelia. With cold precision, the Black Bandits directed more and more of their allies into the fight.

Sunrise was still hours away. The night still seemed to favor the clans, whose main army had yet to be struck. The Shogunate garrison remained trapped in their gatehouses and billets, unable to strike back.

Yet beginning in the slave quarters, the wind had begun to change.

...

Two Hours Before Dawn

Around the main streets of Clavieras, the clanborn mobs continued their terror, burning and plundering the homes of anyone they deemed traitors to the clans. They believed victory was theirs. They had heard only good news from the clan army storming the Shogunate positions. Even the Citadel now belonged to them.

Still, not everything went smoothly. Word began to reach them of growing resistance around the slave quarter.

“A bloodbath against slaves?” one man remarked, his brow knitting as he drank spiced wine taken from a house.

“I don’t believe it. Not one bit,” his friend said.

The clanborn were mostly untroubled. It was only expected for former slaves to fight. Like wild horses, they needed to be broken.

But the militia officers were not careless. With this information, they abandoned their attempt to storm a well-defended tower. Several groups joined forces and began marching toward the slave quarter. Along the way, they saw fighting in several places, but in the dimness of night, it was hard to tell which side was winning.

The clans, too confident in their numbers and strength, rushed on to meet this new challenge.

With more men drawn in, the fighting quickly turned violent and brutal.

Blood ran as two mobs, each hundreds of men strong, clashed in the open. Former masters against former slaves.

The fighting quickly spilled out from the narrow streets between the quarters and onto the main road.

As casualties mounted, one truth became impossible to ignore. They were not facing a handful of frightened former slaves. The freedmen were just as many, perhaps more, and far better armed than the clanborn were.

“Here they come,” one clanborn muttered to his brethren.

“Muster your courage!” another shouted.

Even the last column that had yet to taste the fighting was drawn into the melee.

“Gah!” one clanborn gasped as a spear took him in the chest.

In front of him, more freedmen surged forward, trying to break through. The hatred in their eyes was impossible to miss.

“Get back! Get back!” a militia officer shouted from the rear, realizing too late that they had been outnumbered.

Without numbers on their side, the clanborn began to lose heart. Screams filled the streets as smaller groups were surrounded and cut down without mercy.

Despite being taken by surprise, the Shogunate, under Captain Farkas’ direct command, had managed to rally the freedmen in the critical hour. More than a thousand answered, and with weapons drawn from the city’s stores, they struck back against the clanborn mobs.

Men hardened by years of labor and filled with spite for their former masters were unleashed to terrible effect.

Amid the roar of clanborn voices, the crash of bodies, the hoarse cries of encouragement, and the screams of men dying in the dark, the clan column broke. Beaten and bloodied, many retreated into nearby compounds and barred the gates. Others fled home and shut themselves inside, knowing the night had turned against them.

In one of the houses in western Clavieras, mostly untouched by fire, a family opened their door to their son. He came with young friends behind him, some bleeding, some battered, all pale with fear.

“What happened?” the father asked.

“We don’t know,” his son answered in a near whisper, his face tight, fear in his voice.

His mother tried to help, but soon fists hammered against the door.

“I know you’re in there!” someone shouted from outside.

“Come out, or we’ll burn the house.”

The family stayed silent. Before dawn broke, they died in the flames as the whole compound burned.

Across Clavieras, the same madness was repeated. An eye for an eye.

The first winds of dawn swept through the city, setting the banners fluttering hard. Yet even they could not clear the smoke, ash, and screams from Clavieras as it burned.

...

Clavieras, Dawn

At last, the sun rose over streets washed in darkened blood. Cold bodies lay mangled in the streets and gutters. Many buildings had collapsed. Smoke and soot drifted heavily across the city.

With the rising sun, the truth became clear. The clans had been right that the clanborn of Clavieras would rise in arms to aid their attack. But in their pride, they had forgotten that the freedmen had reason to rise as well.

Clavieras had nearly four thousand clanborn, but it also held six thousand freedmen.

It was a fatal miscalculation.

After nearly a whole night of fighting, the clan army had gained success only at three towers, one of which had burned, and parts of the Citadel. Everywhere else, the attack had bogged down. Their assault on the billets was taking far longer than expected, for the garrison led by the Crimson Knights proved as stubborn as stone.

With the clan advance slowing, the defenders were finally able to send patrols to reinforce weakened sectors. That only turned the fighting into a bloody grind.

Even for the ground they had taken, the clan army had already paid dearly. Of the thousand men who had entered through the tunnels, two hundred had been wounded in the night battles, and more than a hundred lay dead. The defenders had made them pay for every tower, door, and stair they took.

As morning came, clearer reports began to reach Captain Farkas on the defenders’ side. His Black Bandits had already been fighting for nearly five hours, but now they could finally direct their wrath against the clan army.

With sunlight, it became clear that the clan army had focused its strength around one of the two towers in its possession, as well as parts of the Citadel.

At the clan command post, a runner came stumbling toward the leaders, breathless and smeared with soot.

“A report! We saw a large force moving toward us!” he shouted as he entered the compound they were using as a command post.

The clan leadership broke into argument at once.

“We cannot keep pressing the billets if another force strikes us from behind,” one officer warned.

“It has taken too long. We should have sent in the reserve and finished them,” another officer argued bitterly to their leader. “Too many were thinking about taking hostages. That robbed us of critical time. One final assault. We can still force the billets to surrender.”

“It’s useless,” said a third officer, his head wrapped in a bloodied bandage. “We’ve killed more than a hundred of them, and still the Crimson Knights refuse to yield. Worse, they have half-beasts fighting with them.”

“Enough,” the senior leader snapped, cutting him off. “Don't spread fear through the ranks. It is probably only two or three half-beasts.”

The wounded officer stared at him. “I beseech you, summon the rear guard, or we're all going to die here.”

“Don’t utter such cowardice,” another officer snapped, turning on the wounded man. “We have thousands of clanborn in the city. They will fight for us.”

The leader raised his hand, having heard enough. “This is hard fighting, nothing more. We can overcome it.”

Thus, the clans gathered their strength to give battle.

Captain Farkas sent no men forward to negotiate terms, fearing the clans would twist any delay to their advantage. Instead, his main attack descended upon the clans' position at once. From the side, the Black Bandits opened the fight with a hard volley of bolts into the clan lines. At the center, the men-at-arms advanced, with freedmen surging on either side.

There was no time for taunts or insults. The two sides crashed together in a brutal melee.

Soon, the clan army realized how critical their situation had become. They were not facing disorganized mobs or stray patrols, but tens of heavily armored men-at-arms from the west gatehouse, scores of Black Bandits with crossbows, and five hundred handpicked freedmen in armor.

And the freedmen fought with reckless fury, throwing themselves into danger where trained men might have held back. Only then did the clans see the anger in their eyes. They were not fighting for the Shogunate. This was revenge.

Seeing their formation fray, Farkas shouted, “Hold formation!”

“For our sons and daughters!” one freedman shouted amid the fighting, rousing the others as they charged on despite the order to hold.

“Keep the line. You’re going to get yourselves killed!” another Shogunate officer yelled.

Many among the freedmen had lost children to the slave trade. A slave’s offspring did not belong to the father or the mother, but to the master, and could be sold at will. The practice was shunned by some and condemned by others, but it remained too lucrative to die.

In Five Peaks, slaves had been bred. Strong men were paired with healthy women. Handsome men with beautiful women. They were seen no better than horses or pack animals, bred for their traits. Their sons and daughters had been the product.

Now those same fathers fell upon the clan army with all the hatred they had carried for years.

The clan army, already tired from the night fighting in the Citadel and Gatehouses, and unprepared for such heavy resistance, began to break before the first hour had passed. Trained as they were, the clans abandoned the field, scattering through the streets and leaving smaller groups stranded in the towers and the Citadel.

Their assault on the eastern gate collapsed soon after.

In the end, five hundred clansmen turned and ran for their lives. Their officers released the green miasma to cover the retreat, but even that bought only moments. Their retreat became a rout.

The surviving clansmen rushed for the tunnels, but daylight had betrayed them. From the towers and battlements, their movements were easy to see.

Farkas’ lieutenant spotted the retreat and launched a devastating counterattack. Horns and cornu sounded across the city. Soon, the knights and their garrison, no longer surrounded, broke free and gave chase.

The Crimson Knights, badly mauled in the night attack, welcomed the chance for vengeance.

“No ransom for these dogs."

"No ransom."

The Lowlandian knights and men-at-arms muttered the words to one another as they closed in on enemies trying to escape through a building connected to a narrow underground shaft.

Blades and poleaxes were drawn. Battered as they were, the Crimson Knights still carried the hardiness and stubbornness Lowlandians were known for.

The clansmen panicked, pushing and shoving one another as they fought to enter the tunnels. Their rearguard tried to hold, but screams soon echoed without pause as the heavily armored knights, veterans of many Lowlandia campaigns, butchered the clans to the last man.

When it was done, Captain Farkas ordered the captured green miasma thrown into the shaft. But that was not enough. He ordered the Black Bandits to build a great pyre at the mouth and set it alight, choking anyone still alive in the tunnels.

The fighting slowly shrank into scattered pockets of resistance.

Just before midday, the last clansmen surrendered.

The Clans’ plot to retake the city ended with a quarter of Clavieras burned, their best men dead or captured, and the banner of blue and bronze still flying above its walls.

Against the odds, Captain Farkas, his men, and the freedmen had defended Clavieras. The cost was terrible, but the result was final.

After this battle, the Clans were unlikely to have the strength to threaten the city again. In fact, their supremacy over the Five Peaks had undeniably waned.

Now, only the final nail remained.

***

Sagarius

Her eyelids were heavy. She felt tired, worn out, as if she had run for miles. Yet there was warmth around her, and a gentle rocking motion kept her calm.

Slowly, her nose caught the scent of salt.

“Beach...?” she mumbled as she slowly woke to the warmth of a soft morning sun.

“Ah, you’re finally awake,” came an unfamiliar man’s voice.

Sagarius jolted. She found herself on horseback, wrapped in a coarse canvas. A man sat behind her in the saddle, holding the reins as the horse carried them forward.

“Calm down,” he said, his voice almost fatherly.

She forced herself to turn, craning her neck to look at him. She saw a man with coarse facial hair, scars across his face, and unkempt black hair.

“Who...” she tried to mutter, but pain struck through her head.

“Calm down,” he repeated. “I didn’t save you from a fell beast just so you could fall off a horse.”

The image of the manticore rushed back into her mind. “You... saved me?”

“Barely escaped with you is more like it.” He snorted. “Thank the Ancients, I found this horse.”

“A horse?” Sagarius frowned, her head pounding. “Y-you’re not supposed to be here.”

“Probably,” he replied patiently. Then, his gaze suddenly sharpened. “Elf,” he called her.

Only then did Sagarius remember that she had none of her disguises. Her hair was silvery white. Her ears were long.

“Can you imagine a cave?” he asked.

“A cave?” she echoed.

"I know some law of this place,” he explained. “It answers to memories and possibilities.”

Sagarius tried to think through the pain. “What place is this?”

For the first time, he looked surprised. “I was hoping you could tell me. An elf like you should know more about magic.”

“I don’t know.” She looked around at the snow-covered landscape. Everything was confusing.

The man was quiet for a moment before saying, “Many winters ago, someone told me this place was called the corridor of mind.”

She gasped. “It cannot be. You're not even blood-related.” She paused, studying the aura she could see around his arms. “You’re not even human.”

“We can talk later,” he said as the cold wind battered them, sending snow into their faces. “The cave. Please. Otherwise, this is going to be really bad.”

“What should I do?” she asked.

“Just imagine it. I’ll find the way.”

She frowned. “Why can’t you do it?”

“Because this place isn’t mine,” he answered.

Sagarius took him at his word and imagined a cave. A warm, sheltered cave where they could light a fire safely, with low, sturdy entrances too narrow for the manticore to force its way through.

As they rode on, the cold became unbearable. Even the horse began to struggle, snorting and neighing as it pushed through the storm. Sagarius raised her hand and began to cast her magic.

An ethereal shield began to form. He caught her wrist. “Don’t.”

Surprised, she looked up at his face.

“The fell beast will smell it,” he said amid the howling wind, taking one hand from the reins to pull his thick woolen hood over his head. “Just focus on your healing. We'll endure the weather.”

“But can we make it?” she asked, sitting sideways now, pressed tighter against his sturdy chest for warmth as snow battered them.

“In this place, we don’t die easily.” He raised his other arm to show her. It hung awkwardly at his side, swollen from wrist to elbow, the flesh darkening purple beneath the skin. The fell beast’s tail had crushed it badly enough that the bones no longer sat right.

Sagarius winced at the sight. Clearly, he had paid dearly to retrieve her.

“But why?” she asked, drawing his gaze back to her. “Why go through so much trouble to save a stranger?”

“Lady, you’re the first one I’ve met in several winters who didn’t try to kill me.”

“Kill you?”

He nodded. “I've found undead, liches, and wraiths. Never an elf. And never a fell beast.”

Around them, hail and snow tore across the land. The morning sun vanished behind the storm.

Yet the two had no choice but to ride on.

***

Next Chapter

PS: The Clavieras arc has ended!🎉

And yes, it’s finally them meeting. I hope everyone is happy.

There will be questions, and I shall answer more next chapter, since this one is already too long at 5,100 words for proofreading and editing.😅

Also, I don’t think this is going to be a long arc. The Corridor of Mind arc is already nearing its end too.

As always, gratitude for supporting Horizon of War! 💎💖🦆

Hanne PATREON 49 favs
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POSTEDJul 10, 2026
ARCHIVEDJul 10, 2026