The lead horseman nudged his mount forward, his posture rigid, and his face a mask of controlled fury. He jabbed a finger at Daine, eyes blazing with a sense of betrayal that nearly bordered on hatred. “How dare you bring strife to our walls!” he thundered, his voice carrying across the quiet hillside. “Mayor Talsoon called you friend! I thought you understood the honour he gave you!”

Eliud continued to spin the cannonballs in the air, a lazy elegance to his movements. “Technically,” he said, “you fired on us first. If there’s anyone causing strife here, I’m not so sure it’s Daine. At least, not on this occasion.”

The lead horseman turned to Eliud with a glare, but he didn’t rise to the bait. Instead, his attention snapped back to Daine, his eyes narrowing. “You,” he growled, “will turn around and leave. You will leave this City and this land now.”

Daine held her hands up, palms out. She recognised him now—Captain Grigor, a man of unflinching loyalty. They’d spoken at length during her last Tour and shared a drink or two under the stars. By the Goddess, she’d known the man’s father!

Yet here he was, looking at her as if she were an enemy at his gates.

“Captain Grigor,” she said, her tone both firm and familiar. “Tomaz. It’s good to see you well. When I left Velasir, we were on good terms. What has happened since then to change things so dramatically?”

Behind Grigor, the younger horsemen shifted nervously in their saddles, their hands clenching the reins, darting glances at one another. Their mounts sensed the unease, tossing their heads, hooves pawing the ground and muscles taut.

This wasn’t a scene these guards had ever prepared for—Daine Darkhelm, the Knight of the Road, here in a standoff with their Captain! She was more than a passing legend to them; she was a figure of solemn respect, a presence that had returned to Velasir every decade to dispense justice, to settle disputes no other authority would dare touch.

They all knew the stories of her deeds as well as any other in the history of the Kingdom—Daine’s judgments were swift and unflinching, her dedication to the Road unwavering. She had earned the respect of Velasir as a protector, a guide, and sometimes a harsh hand, but never a threat.

Now, seeing her standing before them, hand resting with casual strength on her blade, the younger guards couldn’t help but feel lost. Grigor, though, held steady, but even in his eyes, a flicker of uncertainty was there.

“Rebellion, Darkhelm!” Grigor shouted, his voice cracking with emotion. “*Secession! Murder! Sedition!” He leaned forward towering over her. .“The whole West has heard of what you and Taelsin Elm wrought in Swinford. Word spreads like wildfire. How dare you try to pull us in between you, the Trellecs and the Kingdom. Do you truly think we’ll allow Velasir to burn next? Do you think we’ll allow you and your—”

He was cut off by a sudden, deep bark. Josul, fur bristling, let out a warning that seemed to reverberate through the mountainside. The sound startled Grigor, and his horse pranced nervously beneath him for a moment, stamping as he tightened his grip on the reins.

Behind him, a few of the other guards flinched, one woman reaching instinctively for her sword. Grigor glared down at the hound, then back at Daine, his confidence shaken but his anger still alight.

“Do you think,” he hissed, recovering his composure, “we’ll allow Velasir to become your next conquest?”

“Grigor,” Daine replied, her voice like steel. “You know me. I am no enemy to Velasir.”

The captain’s face tightened, the brief flicker of familiarity vanishing beneath his mask of command. “The Darkhelm I knew was not,” he replied. “But that was before you cast your lot with the Trellecs and their reckless secession from the Kingdom. Before you stood with Taelsin against the King himself! We do not know what has become of you, Daine Darkhelm, but it’s clear to all—you have strayed from the Road.”

“I am the Road, Grigor. I have stood it when others faltered, held to it when those I served veered from their path.” Her words rang with a power that seemed to echo to the top of the Bloodspire itself. Without even realising it, she’d raised .

The triggering of that Skill made the horses rear, and it took a moment for their riders to settle them.

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“You know,” Eliud stage whispered, “if you’re trying to make him trust you, scaring the life out of him is an odd way to go about it. Maybe smile once in a while?”

Daine ignored him as Grigor met her gaze, defiant but uncertain, his hand tightening around his sword hilt. “You speak of loyalty, Daine,” he said. “But loyalty means nothing when it abandons the laws that hold this realm together.”

Eliud let out a chuckle at that. “Loyalty to the Kingdom? You mean the loyalty that fired upon us first?” He shook his head, spinning the cannonball with ease. “Forgive me if we question who’s strayed from what path.”

Daine took a steadying breath, her irritation simmering. She had not meant to come to Velasir’s gates, had not intended to drag her company through the uneasy politics of this place. But they were here now, and Velasir had chosen to fire first, asking questions only in the smouldering aftermath. She cast a hard look at Grigor, her words clipped and firm.

“I ask nothing of you, Grigor, and even less of your Mayor,” Daine said. “As soon as you depart, we’ll be on our way, and Velasir will see no trouble from us. But know this—you’ve made your choice, and I am deeply disappointed in what I see here today. Your father would be ashamed. The Captain I knew would have met us with honour, not with unprovoked fire and unfounded accusations.”

She took a step forward and each of the horsemen pulled their mounts further back, as if preparing to run. “You speak to me as if I’ve betrayed my oath. As if I stand with traitors. I have kept my word, Grigor—always. I did nothing more than protect Swinford when the Crown’s own forces descended upon it, and I have done nothing but uphold my duty, even as this world has broken its own promises time and again.”

“The Darkhelm speaks true,” Donal said.

All eyes twisted to the tall, grim man with the dual axes. When he had nothing more to say, Grigor shifted, the defiance in his eyes faltering. “I may have spoken hastily. Temperatures are high within our walls. There has been much discussion of where our loyalty lies.”

“You speak of loyalty, Grigor, but your loyalty today seems little more than suspicion dressed in armour. The Captain your father raised would have sought the truth first before drawing his blade.” Daine’s gaze bore into him. Unrelenting. “Do you think the strength of Velasir lies in walls, in closed gates, in firing on old allies before a word is spoken? True strength, Grigor, is a duty—even when it’s inconvenient, even when you’d rather look away. Today, Velasir has shown me only the weakness of fear.”

She held his gaze, her final words low and resonant. “Remember this moment when you look back and wonder where your people’s honour went. It was here when it fled, Grigor. It was here, with these choices. Please take my regards to your Mayor. I shall not be back.”

She turned, ready to end the conversation, the tension still thick in the air.

“Daine –” Eliud said, glancing toward the slopes.

“We will take our leave, Captain. Mark my words—our paths will not cross again.”

“Daine, I’m afraid timing is a bitch . . .” Donal said, more insistently.

Daine looked around at him, exasperated, but her irritation softened when she saw Genoes’s face, pale with worry, his finger pointing up the slope.

Following his gesture, Daine felt her heart seize.

Above them, spilling down the mountainside, came the tattered remains of a refugee train Daine knew far too well. What had been a steady line of people, reasonably carefully organised with soldiers flanking their numbers, was now a chaotic stream, scattered and broken.

Families clutched at each other, children pressed against their parents, wide-eyed and frightened, while the elders struggled with the loose rocks beneath their feet. A few soldiers still moved along the edges, but their numbers were pitifully small, the strength of their guard vastly reduced.

Their belongings—small bundles, hastily packed sacks—were dropped and abandoned along the path, scattered among the rocks and brambles like remnants of a long-lost battle. Some carts had overturned, their contents spilling onto the mountain trail, food and supplies lying crushed underfoot.

The refugees’ faces were marked by exhaustion and terror, cheeks hollow, eyes glassy, with a haunted look that spoke of recent horrors.

The soldiers that remained, sparse and strained, were working desperately to bring some semblance of order, but it was clear they were too few to manage the sheer numbers. Two guards at the head were attempting to corral a group of children who’d been separated, their small cries rising into the air.

Further back, a woman limped along, her foot bound in a makeshift bandage, clinging to the arm of an elderly man as they struggled forward. The rest were barely held together, a ragged stream of humanity spilling toward the safety Velasir claimed to offer but seemed now reluctant to give.

“Taelsin…” Donal breathed, horror lacing his voice as he looked up the mountain trail, his face paling as he took in the sight of the battered refugee line spilling down the slopes. Donal’s shock turned to fury, his fists clenching as he watched the ragged state of his people. The axes in his hands vanished and he ran up to meet them.

Eliud, silent but bristling, took one look at the scene below, then let the cannonballs he’d been toying with tumble from his hands, sending them crashing down the slope and into the sea below with resounding splashes. Without a word, he too strode up the hill. Kirstin and Genoes, glancing at each other, quickly fell in step behind him, Savage and Josul following.

Daine, her heart sinking at the sight of what had befallen the people she had vowed to protect remained with Grigor. After a beat, she looked back at him, her gaze unflinching, her words carrying a quiet, ominous finality.

“And now, Captain,” she said. “I think we will truly see a test of Velasir’s honour.”