Chapter 33: Herald - 2
The dawn was too quiet.
Fog rolled thick over the forest floor like a blanket trying to suffocate the world. Trees stood as shadows in the haze, their branches reaching the sky. Herald could barely see two feet ahead of him. His boots sank into the wet earth, and every step felt like it echoed through the silence. He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, the ribbon Myrin had given him fluttering in the chill air.
Their unit had been called in the middle of the night—orders from command. A border village near the Tumedian-controlled line had been raided. No survivors. The attackers were still believed to be nearby. They were to investigate. Reinforcements would come later, they were told.
But Herald knew what that really meant. They were bait. A test. If they survived, reinforcement would come. If not, they’d be forgotten and the village ceded to Tumedia.
Sylas marched at the front, eyes scanning the woods like a hawk. Myrin moved silently behind him, bow ready, fingers coiled. Lio brought up the rear, grumbling under his breath.
"Bad feeling about this," Lio muttered. "Like walking into a trap, everything just seems to easy, enemies haven’t been spotted."
"You always say that," Herald said, trying to steady his voice.
"Yeah, and I hope I’m never right."
They found the village around midday. Or what was left of it.
The houses had been burned down to their foundations. Ash covered everything like gray dust. The air stank of smoke and something worse—flesh. Bodies were piled in the square, stripped of weapons, faces frozen in terror. Some were children.
Myrin turned away, her jaw tight with a tension she couldn’t quite suppress. She couldn’t bear to look any longer. The eerie stench of blood clung to the air, thick and suffocating. Her hands trembled at her sides, fists clenched—not out of readiness, but helplessness. Beside her, Herald stood frozen, eyes wide and unblinking. There was no honor in this. No clash of warriors or test of wills. This wasn’t a battlefield.
It was butchery. Cold. Methodical. And utterly devoid of mercy.