The Northern Forest. Night.
The trees were wrong here.
Lira had been in forests her whole life—the borderlands, the hills, the deep woods where the Vargr hid. She had never seen trees like these. Their trunks were blackened, their bark peeling like burned skin, their branches twisted into shapes that hurt to look at. The leaves were gone, but the branches moved, swaying in a wind that didn't exist.
Mirena rode beside her, her staff in her hand, the stone pulsing in her pocket. She had been tracking the residue for hours, following the trail the portal left behind. It was stronger here. Thicker. The air was heavy, hard to breathe.
Gwen brought up the rear, her hand on her sword, her eyes on the trees. She had been quiet since they entered the forest, watching, learning. Her face was pale, but her hands were steady.
"How much farther?" Lira asked.
Mirena pointed ahead. "Close. The residue is fresh. Hours, not days."
Lira looked at the trees. The shadows between them were deep, dark, full of things she couldn't see.
"Let's finish this."
---
They found the clearing at midnight.
The moon was high, pale, casting silver light across the scorched earth. The trees had been pushed back, their trunks blackened, their branches broken. The ground was bare, cracked, the grass dead. The air was thick, heavy, wrong.
Mirena slid from her horse, walked to the center of the clearing. She knelt, touched the earth. The stone in her pocket pulsed faster, warmer.
"The portal was here," she said. "Recently. Hours ago."
Lira scanned the trees. "Where did it go?"
Mirena stood, pointed deeper into the forest. "That way."
---
Gwen saw it first.
A shape, at the edge of the clearing, half-hidden in the shadows. It was tall—taller than a man—its limbs too long, its body too thin. Its skin was pale, almost white, reflecting the moonlight. Its eyes were red, glowing faintly in the darkness.
It was watching them.
Gwen's hand went to her sword. "Lira."
Lira turned. Raised her bow.
The creature didn't move. Didn't flinch. Just stood there, watching, its red eyes fixed on them.
Mirena moved to stand beside Lira. "Don't shoot."
"Why not?"
"It's not attacking."
Lira's jaw tightened. "Yet."
The creature tilted its head. Its mouth opened—a thin line, no teeth, no tongue. And it spoke.
"Run."
The voice was wrong. Too many layers, like multiple people speaking at once, slightly out of sync. It echoed in the clearing, bounced off the blackened trees, faded into the darkness.
Lira didn't lower her bow. "What?"
The creature took a step back. "Run. Before it comes back."
Mirena's eyes widened. "Before what comes back?"
The creature didn't answer. It turned, melted into the shadows, disappeared.
---
The clearing was silent.
Lira lowered her bow. Her hands were shaking. "What was that?"
Mirena shook her head. "I don't know."
Gwen moved to stand beside them. "It warned us. It told us to run."
Lira looked at the trees where the creature had disappeared. "Why?"
Mirena was quiet for a moment. "Maybe it's not like the others."
"Or maybe it's smarter," Lira said. "Maybe it's learning."
---
Mirena found the footprint at the edge of the clearing.
She had been searching the ground, looking for traces of the portal, when her hand brushed against something in the mud. A print. Booted. Human.
She knelt beside it, traced its edges with her fingers. The tread was deep, the heel worn, the toe scuffed. It was fresh. Recent. Hours, not days.
"Lira."
Lira moved to her side. Looked at the footprint. Her jaw tightened.
"Someone else was here."
Mirena nodded. "Someone who got here first."
Gwen moved to stand beside them. "One of the volunteers?"
Lira shook her head. "The volunteers are with William. In the hills."
"Then who?"
Lira stood, looked at the trees, the shadows, the darkness beyond. "I don't know. But we need to find out."
---
They searched the clearing for another hour.
They found more footprints—three sets, maybe four, scattered around the edges of the scorched earth. Some were booted, ordinary. Others were barefoot, wrong, the toes too long, the arch too high, the heel too narrow.
The creature had been here. The person in the boots had been here. They had watched the portal open. They had watched it close.
Mirena knelt beside the barefoot prints. "These are the same as before. The ones we found in the other clearing."
Lira looked at the trees. "The creature that spoke to us?"
Mirena shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe. Maybe something else."
Gwen was quiet for a moment. "It told us to run. From what?"
Mirena stood. "I don't know. But I don't want to find out."
---
They rode back to the palace as the sun began to rise.
The forest was different in the daylight—lighter, warmer, less wrong. The blackened trees were just trees. The scorched earth was just earth. The shadows were just shadows.
But Lira didn't relax. She kept her bow in her hand, her eyes on the trees, her mind on the creature that had spoken to them.
It had warned them. It had told them to run.
She didn't know why.
She didn't trust it.