Chapter 34: Herald - 3
Snow fell in sheets, thick enough to muffle the sound of marching boots. The eastern front had gone quiet, not peaceful, just quiet, the kind of silence that settled before the next calamity. For weeks, the allied forces had been pushing deeper into contested territory, inching closer to the Tumedian strongholds. Every village they took came with its own scars, and every gain bled them further.
Herald hadn’t spoken much since Myrin’s death. He still wore the red ribbon tied around his wrist, though now it was stained dark and frayed beyond recognition. He kept it hidden under his sleeve, like a wound that hadn’t stopped bleeding.
Lio had changed too. He laughed less, cursed more, and took to patrolling at night even when off duty. Sometimes Herald would find him sitting at the edge of camp, staring at the sky like he expected the stars to fall.
They were stationed near Thamros, an old fortress town now reduced to rubble after months of skirmishes. Winter had turned the land into ice and ash. Supplies were thin. Morale was thinner. The men lit fires with furniture stripped from abandoned homes. There were no civilians left, just corpses and memories.
One night, Sylas gathered the remnants of their company.
"New orders," he said. "We push through the pass tomorrow. Enemy’s holding a ridge that blocks supply lines. High Command wants it cleared before the freeze deepens."
A low murmur moved through the ranks. Everyone knew the pass. It was Narrow, deeply exposed and will definitely be a killing ground.
"Reinforcements?" someone asked.
"We are the reinforcements."
Herald didn’t flinch. He simply tightened the straps on his gauntlets.
Later that night, as he sat writing in his journal beneath a collapsed stable roof, Lio dropped beside him with a groan.
"You know, this is the part where we’re supposed to desert and start a new life in the mountains," Lio said.