Page 185 of Shadowvein

“Keep moving.” She’s already striding forward. “If they’ve been discovered, we need to get to the meeting point.”

“But—”

“We can’t help them now, Ellie. But they are not without resources. We continue on our path. That’s what Lord Torran will expect.”

“What if they can’t get out?”

“Between them, they know every escape route in Ashenvale.” Her voice is confident.Tooconfident.Forced.“If escape is possible, they will find a way.”

We reach the treeline, and Mira leads me into the forest. I can’t resist glancing back before we go too deep, but I can’t even see the walls surrounding Ashenvale from here. The trees crowd close, shadows clinging to the undergrowth, every rustle setting my nerveson edge. I follow Mira through the trees, as she confidently follows a path I can’t even see.

After what feels like hours, we reach a small clearing where a narrow river cuts the forest in two. The two fighters we left behind emerge from the trees when we approach.

“Any sign of them?” Mira asks.

“Not yet,” the taller of the two, Rasha, replies. “We heard the alarm horns. Does that mean?—”

“We have to assume their presence has been discovered. All we can do is wait.”

“What will happen now?” I accept a waterskin from Mira. My hands are shaking, the leather sloshing cool water against my fingers.

“They will start wherever the discovery was, and expand outward, checking all streets and exits. Be calm. The Vareth‘el and Varam have been chased by Authority scum before. They will be here.”

But time doesn’t move like it should. It stretches, elastic and wrong, every heartbeat too slow or too fast. I can’t stop scanning the treeline, flinching at every snap of a branch.

“They should have been here by now,” Mishak says as the sun begins to lower.

“They may have needed to take a longer route to avoid being caught.” Mira’s voice remains calm, but her tension is clear in how often she checks the sun’s position in the sky. The tightness in her mouth says what she won’t. That she agrees with Mishak. They should already be here.

Another hour passes without any sign of them. I can’t sit still any longer, anxiety twisting my stomach.

“I need to know what’s happening. Is there anywhere we can move to and see more of our surroundings?”

Mira hesitates, eyes shifting to look over my shoulder. “Not for Ashenvale itself. But there is a hill that will allow us to see above the forest, and down to the lake which feeds this river. We might see something from there.”

She signals to the fighters, assigning Rasha to stay at the river, while Mishak comes with us, then sets off, leading us through the forest, heading toward higher ground.

The climb feels endless. My legs ache from crouching, the rough ground rubbing against my palms as we half-crawl up the slope. My heart thuds against my ribs in a frantic rhythm. Too fast. Too loud.

The hill she talked about rises gradually from the surrounding forest, offering clear views across the trees to the main road leading back to Ashenvale. To the left, the hill dips into a lush valley, where the water from a nearby lake shines beneath the setting sun.

It looks peaceful,beautiful.It feels like a lie.

“Stay low. While we can see everything from up here, anyone looking up will also see us.” She pushes me lower to the ground, and we crawl up the hill until we’re at the top.

“There!” Mira points toward movement on the main road. “That’s an Authority pursuit force.”

Lifting my head, I see horse-mounted figures riding at speed along the road. At least thirty riders, their crimson uniforms bright against the darkening landscape. They’re moving fast, organized, a wave of blood rolling downhill.

My stomach knots tighter.

Then something else pulls my attention west, like an invisible thread tugging at my consciousness. The silver light inside me whispers, pulling at my senses. I turn, crawling through the grass for a better view.

“Look, there.” I point toward a distant section of the road where it curves around a small hill. “They’re coming from that direction.”

Mira gives me a sharp look. "How can you be sure?"

I don't answer because I don't fully understand it myself. The pulse of silver matches the beat of my heart, drawing my gaze unerringly to the west. To something, orsomeone, drawing nearer.

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