The training grounds were still humming with Adrian's words when the war horns blared again. Deep, guttural—different from alarm bells. A call to arms.
Elder Laen appeared at Adrian's side, talisman scrolls swirling around him like restless birds. "Scouts report a Dust Order warband moving along the Ashen Road. Fifty strong. They burn as they march."
Murmurs rippled through the disciples. Fifty was no small force. For a sect still rebuilding, it could mean annihilation.
Adrian's hand closed around the Bound Star sigil at his chest. The pulse of it echoed in his veins—rage, clarity, power. "Then we don't wait for them to reach another village."
He turned to Bella. "Ready the Ironwing Riders. Form a vanguard."
Bella's grin was wolfish. "Finally."
On the Ashen Road – Dusk
The Dust Order moved like a plague: black-robed figures, each trailing smoke like a funeral pyre. Their leader, a gaunt man with ash-white hair, rode at the head, bearing a staff crowned with a hollow skull.
