The air changed the moment they left the grove.
Gone was the gentle energy of the sacred clearing, the warm light and whispering vines. In its place was tension—a tight, electric stillness that clung to every tree and branch. The moss no longer glowed to guide them. The forest was silent.
Too silent.
Ren noticed it first.
"We're being watched," he muttered, one hand slipping to his blade. "Again."
Mike didn't disagree. The tickling on the back of his neck had returned, stronger than before, and Aero hadn't left his side since they left Lirien's grove. Her feathers were puffed, her silver-streaked wings tucked tightly against her sides.
They moved slowly, checking every shadow, every rustling leaf.
And then came the whistle.
Sharp. Deliberate.
It echoed once through the trees—and the world erupted.
Figures dropped from the branches above, clad in ragged armor and animal-hide cloaks. Their faces were painted with ash and marked with red lines—symbols like those carved into the scavenger beasts. Eyes gleamed through slits in masks made of bone.
There were too many to count.
Ren drew his blade and ducked just as a net soared overhead. "Split!" he shouted. "Meet at the hollow log!"
Mike dashed left, slipping through the roots of a thick-barked tree. Arrows thudded into the trunk behind him. He sprinted downhill, twisting and ducking, the map and gemstone thumping in his satchel.
A figure leapt in front of him, swinging a curved staff.
Mike dropped low and rolled under the blow, came up fast, and drew his bow. One arrow—fast and clean.
The shot struck the attacker in the shoulder, sending him crashing into a tree with a burst of blue light.
But they kept coming.
Mike reached a narrow ravine and vaulted over it, sliding down the opposite side into the cover of ferns. Breathless, he turned—and froze.
A massive figure stepped through the trees behind him. Broader than the others, clad in black-and-gold armor, face hidden behind a mask of dark metal carved into the shape of a beast.
General Moar.
Mike didn't need an introduction. Everything about the figure radiated command.
The general raised one arm, and his soldiers halted instantly.
"You carry what does not belong to you," Moar said, his voice low and terrible. "Return it, and you may live."
Mike drew an arrow.
"No," he said.
Moar stepped forward.
Mike fired.
The arrow never reached him. Moar raised his hand and caught it midair—then crushed it with a single twist of his fingers.
Before Mike could react, something struck him hard across the ribs. Pain exploded through his side. He dropped to one knee, gasping, and looked up to see one of the soldiers closing in with a chain.
But Aero screamed.
She dove from the sky, talons slashing. The soldier reeled backward, blinded. Aero wheeled in the air again, distracting the others, screeching and flaring her wings.
"Go!" Ren shouted from the treeline. "Now!"
Mike stumbled toward him, pain shooting through his ribs, the world blurring at the edges.
Ren caught him under one arm and dragged him into the trees. Arrows hissed past them. Aero soared above, diving, shrieking, guarding them from above.
They ran.
Branches tore at their clothes, roots grabbed at their feet, but they didn't stop until the sounds of pursuit faded into the night.
They collapsed beneath an outcrop of stone near a dry creek bed. Mike clutched his ribs—one side already swelling with bruised flesh.
Ren tore a strip of cloth and pressed it against Mike's side. "You're lucky. It didn't break anything. Just… everything hurts."
Mike winced. "That… guy. Moar."
Ren nodded grimly. "One of Vlad's top commanders. He's hunted people like you before."
Mike leaned back against the stone, wincing with every breath. "He wants the map. The bow. Maybe the stone."
"He'll want you, more than any of that," Ren said quietly.
Aero landed beside them, feathers ruffled, chest heaving. She tucked herself under Mike's arm, keeping watch.
They didn't sleep that night.
Only listened—for movement, for breath, for the return of footsteps that never came.
But the message was clear.
They weren't safe anymore.
And General Moar had seen Mike's face.