They left after sunset, dressed in the uniforms of Jiro Defender's soldiers.
Klaus rode at the front—unfortunately not on the black stallion he had taken a liking to—while Egor moved behind with the infantry.
Blending into a scouting unit had been Jiro's idea.
Klaus didn't trust his uncle.
But he respected him.
The man calculated everything.
Every detail.
Every risk.
Thanks to the staged collapse, Klaus had bought himself time.
A week.
Maybe two.
It depended on what kind of "illness" the estate's finest healer would announce.
The plan was simple.
Follow the unit.
Wait for the first split.
Six to eight men per group.
Then pairs.
That would be their moment.
Disappear.
Two missing soldiers would raise questions.
Klaus didn't care.
Let them assume desertion.
Or death.
Jiro would handle the rest.
Helmets hid their faces.
Another layer of protection.
Another precaution.
So far—
everything worked.
—
The unit split.
Klaus and Egor moved with one pair.
Silent.
Disciplined.
Hand signals instead of words.
Egor had just begun to relax—
The scream tore through the night.
It started human.
It didn't end that way.
The forest erupted.
They came all at once.
A flood.
Too many.
"They're being controlled!" one of the soldiers shouted. "Signal—"
He didn't finish.
Something tore his throat open.
Blood sprayed.
Hot.
Dark.
Egor froze.
Then instinctively stepped behind Klaus.
The prince had already drawn his katana.
"Don't be an idiot!" Klaus snapped. "Weapon. Now!"
Egor fumbled his sword free.
His hands were shaking.
He didn't know how to hold it.
Didn't know where to stand.
Didn't know what the hell he was doing.
The clearing collapsed into chaos.
Individually, the creatures were manageable.
Like this—
they were death.
Klaus moved.
Fast.
Efficient.
Precise.
Steel flashed.
Bodies split.
Limbs fell.
Egor swung blindly.
Eyes squeezed shut.
"Are you trying to kill me?!" Klaus barked. "Open your eyes!"
Egor forced them open.
Four soldiers left.
Out of eight.
Including them.
The rest—
gone.
The creatures closed in.
A tightening ring.
Black.
Shifting.
Breathing.
Egor finally saw them properly.
Spider-like things on long, stick-thin legs.
Bodies like swollen, hairy spheres.
One single eye in the center—
wet.
Unblinking.
Watching.
Smaller creatures circled above.
Shrieking.
Diving.
They landed on corpses—
and tore into them.
One burrowed straight into an open stomach.
Vanished inside.
Egor gagged.
Then the smell hit.
Rot.
Blood.
Opened flesh.
Hot.
Thick.
Suffocating.
"Why don't you just burn them?!" Egor shouted.
"Because lightning isn't common!" Klaus snapped. "No one here has it but me!"
"This isn't the time to hide it!"
"I'm not letting you get caught in it!"
"And them?!" Egor shouted.
"Not our concern."
A beat.
"On my signal—left."
"Wait—"
"Now!"
Klaus moved.
Straight into the swarm.
Egor followed.
Because there was nowhere else to go.
They were swallowed instantly.
Bodies pressed in.
Clawing.
Dragging.
Something sharp tore across Egor's arm.
He screamed.
Then—
light.
A sphere of lightning detonated outward.
Bodies burst apart.
Limbs ripped free.
Something wet slapped across Egor's face.
Warm.
He didn't look.
Klaus was already moving.
Forward.
Up.
Toward the hill.
Horses.
Two of them.
Panicking.
Foam dripping from their mouths.
Klaus grabbed one.
Forced it still.
Mounted in one motion.
His hand shot down.
Egor barely caught it.
He was yanked up—
slammed back against Klaus—
and the horse bolted.
—
They tore across the field.
"There were still soldiers!" Egor shouted.
"They're dead if they're weak," Klaus replied coldly.
Egor turned—
The swarm followed.
"Klaus—!"
"I see them."
"We won't outrun them!"
The spiders were faster.
Closing the distance.
Legs stabbing into the ground.
Too many.
Too close.
And above—
a black mass.
"They're coming down!" Egor shouted. "What the hell are those?!"
"The carrion eaters," Klaus said evenly. "Those are worse."
"The same ones from the forest?! Why aren't they attacking everything?!"
"I told you. Controlled."
A pause.
"Whoever's doing this has power."
"You think they're after you?"
"I know they are."
"And your plan?!"
"Open ground," Klaus said. "Burn them all at once."
A beat.
"The flyers are a problem."
"How?"
"I can't strike everywhere at once."
—
The horse was failing.
Foam thick on its neck.
Breathing ragged.
Klaus turned sharply.
The battlefield.
Burned earth.
Torn roots.
Rotting corpses.
Bloated.
Split open.
He stopped at the center.
Dismounted.
Egor tried to follow—
Klaus shoved the reins into his hands.
"Ride."
"But—"
The horse was struck hard.
It bolted.
It didn't carry Egor far.
It threw him.
He hit—
A corpse.
Soft.
Something cracked under him.
The body shifted.
An arrow still buried deep in its eye.
The other socket empty.
Egor rolled off—
gasping—
hands slick with blood and something thicker.
He didn't want to know.
He staggered up.
Turned.
Klaus was gone.
Swallowed by the swarm.
—
Ten seconds.
Twenty.
A minute.
Too long.
More creatures piled in.
Layer over layer.
A living mass.
Above—
the black cloud descended.
Carrion eaters.
They dropped lower.
Webbing spilled from them—
thick.
Sticky.
Covering everything.
Alive.
Dead.
It didn't matter.
Then—
light.
Blinding.
The ground shook.
An explosion tore through the swarm.
Fire.
Lightning.
Bodies burned mid-air.
Ash fell like gray snow.
At the center—
Klaus.
On one knee.
Katana driven into the ground to keep himself upright.
Smoke rose from his body.
"Klaus!"
Egor ran.
Stumbling over corpses.
Limbs.
Fragments.
Things that had once been whole.
Klaus turned his head.
Smiling.
Wrong.
Too wide.
Too sharp.
His eyes—
bright.
Burning.
He stood slowly.
Pulled the blade free.
Wiped it clean on what used to be someone's sleeve.
"You're not hurt?" he asked.
Calm.
Like nothing had happened.
"I thought you were dead!" Egor snapped.
"I needed them closer," Klaus said. "All of them."
A faint smile.
"It worked."
Relief hit—
and vanished instantly.
—
The ground exploded.
Something burst upward.
A tentacle.
Then another.
Thick.
Pale.
Covered in slick gray slime.
The earth split apart.
Klaus grabbed Egor and yanked him back.
Something massive forced its way out.
A sphere.
Gray.
Blind.
No eyes.
Only a mouth.
It split open.
Rows of teeth.
Hundreds.
Grinding.
Like a saw.
Slime poured from it.
Stretching.
Stringing.
The creature screamed.
Egor clutched his ears.
They ran.
Behind them—
tentacles lashed.
The thing dragged itself free.
Growing larger.
One struck.
Klaus shoved Egor aside—
cut it clean off.
The severed piece hit the ground—
twitched—
then moved.
Dragged itself back.
Reforming.
"Behind you!" Egor shouted.
Slime shot toward Klaus's legs.
He blasted it apart—
It reformed mid-air.
The main body lunged.
Two tentacles slammed down.
"Run!" Klaus shouted.
They snapped shut.
Klaus disappeared.
—
Egor stopped.
Everything inside him—
went empty.
Gone.
Nothing left.
—
Steam rose from the creature.
Frost spread.
Fast.
Across its surface.
The entire mass froze.
Solid.
A statue.
"Klaus!"
Egor dropped to his knees.
Then—
an explosion.
The ice shattered.
Fragments flew.
A crater remained.
Egor crawled to the edge.
Klaus looked up at him.
Alive.
"You're alive…" Egor whispered.
"I didn't plan that part," Klaus admitted.
He pulled himself out.
Collapsed onto his back.
And laughed.
Egor dropped beside him.
Breathing hard.
Laughing too.
Not because it was funny.
Because they were still alive.
Neither of them understood what had just happened.
But someone had interfered.
Someone powerful.
And unseen.