Snow continued to flutter down like feathers as the three of them climbed toward the ridge, breathing deep in shallow gulps, their bodies sore and drained. The forest was quiet now, compared to the earlier alarm, but still, every distant sound made Luenor's heart beat fast.
They had not stopped running since the meeting with the white tiger. Until now.
Arwin slowed them as they approached the ridge. The land sloped downward into a narrow valley, and in the center of that valley, half-buried in ice and overgrowth, was the crumbled shape of Fort Gelran.
They had made it.
Luenor managed to muster the courage to say something. His voice cracking from a dry throat. "That… that thing… back there… was that really Valdrak?"
Arwin nodded soberly, wiping the rounded skin of his blade clean on a scrap of cloth. "It was."
Luenor swallowed hard. "What is it?"
Arwin paused, glancing back over his shoulder at the distant arms of the trees. "A legend. A living artifact. The forest tribes of Thalanor worship it as their Aru'tak – their Sacred Warden. Some say it is the last of its kind. Others say it is the woods, in the flesh."
Arwin paused, glancing over his shoulder toward the distant treetops. "A legend. A living relic. The forest tribes of Thalanor worship it as their Aru'tak—their Sacred Warden. Some say it's the last of its kind. Others say it's the forest itself, given form."
Luenor shivered—not from the cold this time, but from something deeper. "It didn't attack us…"
"No," Arwin agreed quietly. "Because it didn't see us as prey. We were beneath its notice. That is both a blessing… and a warning."
They continued down the ridge, moving carefully toward the crumbling walls of the old fort. Whatever lay ahead, it had to be safer than open ground.
At least, Luenor hoped so.
__
Outside the forest, the kingdom of Ruthenia stirred.
Rumors are rumors, and they tend to travel very fast. The fall of the House of Sureva—formerly one of the most influential duchies of the kingdom—had already disrupted the balance of power all over Ruthenia.
Those who once feared the Surevas whispered of deeds untold in candlelit parlors. Merchants traded rumors in city markets. Knights spoke to their commanders. Peasant uprisings arose in distant provinces, all emboldened by news of a noble house's fall.
It was the Convergence.
The Aurum Convergence—a meeting of the highest powers in the kingdom—had been called for the first time in over sixty years. Only the most serious events had prompted such a gathering: border collapses, succession wars, continent-wide catastrophes.
And now, the death of one duke had brought it back.
Messengers rode through the day and night, spreading messages sealed in gold wax. From every corner of the kingdom, the great powers began to prepare.
In the high western highlands, the Stoneforge Brotherhood, the merchant lords of the Karthak Mountains, each dwarven, sharpened their axes and whispered plots to create new alliances.
In the drowned south, the Marquis of Duskwatch, a lord of Navy, whose fleet could blockade entire cities, poured over maps as he sensed his opportunity.
Within the Mage Towers, high atop the cliffs of Ruthenia, the Archmage Consulate stirred from their long isolation, debating which faction deserved their loyalty in this sudden shift of power.
Even among the lesser nobles, fear and greed intertwined.
The fall of one house often meant the rise of another.
__
As the nobles and dignitaries of Aurum Convergence began to arrive atop the floating city of Veyrith, built onto the cliffs of Ruthenia, massive airships pulled into the sky ports. Carriages rolled into the halls of the Grand Assembly. Cloaked mages, armored knights, and velvet-robed lords filled the golden chamber that hadn't echoed with the sound of politics in decades.
Duke Liles Siegfried stood to the edge of the assembly, hands folded behind his back. His gaze wandered toward the crystal communication orb hovering beside him—it was still dark and currently did not contain any light.
Nag hadn't checked in.
Not a word has been spoken, from the night of the explosion.
Liles gritted his teeth but forced himself to hold a pleasant smile as the Duke of Duskwatch approached-Liles noticed he was accompanied by naval commanders.
"Well met, Siegfried," the marquis hissed.
"Duskwatch," Liles replied smoothly. "I trust the sea did not claim you on your way here."
"The sea takes only the weak," the marquis replied.
Liles chuckled politely, but his mind was elsewhere.
The fall of Sureva had begun rippling across the land—but the boy and girl were still alive. Of that, Liles was now certain. And the Aurum Convergence would bring wolves from every corner of the kingdom to circle the corpse.
And yet…
'Where are you, Nag?' he wondered, staring at the dead crystal orb.
The game had begun.
And Liles wasn't about to let go of the board.