The Whispering Pines were no longer whispering; they were screaming with the sound of clashing steel.
Outside the carriage, the night was a chaotic tapestry of silver moonlight and orange torchlight. The Orestian guards King Boron had sent as an escort fought with the brutal, grounded efficiency of mountain warriors, while the Wynfall royal guards moved with a fluid, precise grace. Together, they formed a perimeter of iron around the carriage, but the assassins were like water—slipping through the gaps, silent and relentless.
Inside the cabin, the air was thick with tension. Astra gripped her mother's hand, her eyes darting to the shadowed windows. Arliene remained calm, though the slight tremble in her fingers betrayed her maternal fear.
"Stay here," Aster commanded, his voice as cold with a lot of anger. He reached for the door handle.
"Aster, no!" Astra hissed. "It's too dangerous out there. They have a lot of people on their side."
"If I stay in here, I'm a bird in a cage," Aster replied, his silver eyes flashing with a sharp, calculating light. "And I don't intend to get killed or captured today"
Aster stepped out into the fray. The guard commander, a grizzled veteran from Wynfall named Sir Kael, immediately moved to block him. "Prince Aster! Get back inside! We can handle these dogs, but we cannot protect you if you're in the open!"
"You're fighting a war of attrition, Kael," Aster said, his gaze sweeping the treeline, noting the way the assassins moved in a synchronized, rhythmic pattern. "I'm going to end this in five seconds. Tell the men to be ready for the signal."
Kael hesitated, but he had seen Aster's brilliance before. He knew that when the Prince looked this focused, he knew that he was going to do something unbelievable.
Aster raised his hand high, his fingers forming a specific, sharp gesture—the 'Crest of the Void.' It was a signal he had drilled into the guards during the long journey to Orestes, a contingency for an ambush they all hoped would never come.
"Get ready!" Aster's voice cut through the din of battle.
Every soldier from Orestes and Wynfall dropped their weapons to their sides and slammed their hands over their ears, pressing down with all their might. The assassins paused, momentarily confused by the sudden, synchronized movement of their opponents. The leader of the black-clad group narrowed his eyes, sensing a trap.
Aster took a deep breath. He didn't just use his lungs; he tapped into the golden resonance in his blood, pulling the mana from the air and compressing it into his throat.
"SCREEEEEEEEE—!"
It wasn't a human sound. It was a high-frequency sonic blast, a literal wall of sound that vibrated the very molecules of the air. That sound was really overwhelming. The glass lanterns shattered.
The assassins, caught completely off-guard with their ears exposed, stood no chance. The sonic wave hit them like a physical hammer. Most of them collapsed instantly, blood leaking from their ears and noses as their eardrums burst under the sheer pressure. The few who remained standing were doubled over, vomiting from the intense vertigo.
Only one man remained relatively unscathed—the leader, who had been far enough back to dive behind a thick, mana-resistant boulder. Seeing his entire unit neutralized in a single heartbeat, he didn't hesitate. He turned and vanished into the pitch-black woods like a shadow retreating from the sun.
"Pursue him!" Kael shouted, uncovering his ears as the ringing faded.
"No!" Aster called out, his voice slightly raspy. "It's midnight and we are inside a forest. We don't know the terrain, and he's a professional. Let him run. We have enough 'guests' to question."
After a close inspection on the enemes, Aster confirmed that they were defenitely assasins.
The soldiers moved quickly, binding the unconscious assassins with mana-suppressing shackles. They were stripped of their weapons and lined up against the carriage wheels.
"Inquire them," Aster ordered, his face pale from the exertion of the scream. "I want to know who hired them for whatver reasons they may have. Is it someone from orested Or someone from some other country?"
Sir Kael approached the first assassin who had begun to stir. But as soon as the man realized he was bound and captured, his eyes went wide with a terrifying, fanatical devotion. Before Kael could even utter a question, the man's jaw clamped shut with a sickening crack.
One by one, the captured men began to convulse.
"Stop them!" Aster yelled, lunging forward, but it was too late.
The assassins had hidden poison capsules beneath their tongues. By the time the guards forced their mouths open, the men were already gone, their bodies limp. They had chosen a brutal death over the risk of betrayal.
Aster stood over the bodies, his brow furrowed. "They weren't just bandits. And they weren't just mercenaries. These are zealots. Someone with immense power and deep pockets must have hired them."
"This changes things, Aster," Astra said, having stepped out of the carriage once the danger passed. Her face was pale in the moonlight. "What are supposed to do now, What are the chances they will ambush us gain?"
The rest of the night was spent in a hollow, watchful silence. No one slept. At the first break of dawn, they broke camp and pushed the horses hard. Two days of grueling travel followed, the tension in the air so thick it felt like a physical weight.
By the second afternoon, the air changed. The smell of dry mountain ore was replaced by the lush, humid scent of blooming flora and mist. They had reached the final mountain pass before the Wynfall border.
Ahead of them, a massive waterfall cascaded down a jagged cliffside, the water glowing with a soft, iridescent blue—a sign of the high mana concentration in the region.
"Aster, look!" Astra cried, pointing at the falls. The sight was breathtaking, a curtain of water beautifully flowing from top to bottom. "Can we... can we please stop for just an hour? We've been moving nonstop for days now. We need to relax ourselves to calm our nerves."
Arliene looked at Aster, her eyes pleading as well. "Astra is right. We are nearly home, and the border guards are only a few miles ahead. We are safe here."
Aster looked at the waterfall, then at his sister's exhausted face. He thought of the assassins, the dragons, and the looming shadows of the future. But then he looked at the water—so pure and indifferent to the world's problems.
"One hour," Aster conceded, a small smile finally breaking through his stoic mask. "But we stay within sight of the guards."
Astra cheered, running toward the water's edge. For a brief moment, the Prince and Princess of Wynfall weren't legends or political pawns; they were just two siblings, finding a moment of peace in a world that was rapidly waking up to a new, dangerous melody.
***
Astra went to the water. Aster did not relax. He stood on a rock with his hand on his sword. The soldiers stood in a circle around them. They watched the trees and the rocks. They did not put their weapons away.
Astra looked back at Aster and the serious guards. She felt bad. She walked over to him.
"Am I being selfish?" she asked. "Asking to stop when everyone is worried about the attack?"
"No," Aster said. "It is okay. Do not worry about it."
He pointed to the white stone towers in the distance. "We are very near the kingdom borders. I do not think another group will try to attack us here. There is a fortress nearby with many soldiers. They would be caught between us and the fort."
Aster put a hand on her shoulder. "Let's stay here for a little bit. You did a good job at the Moon-Feast."
And after some time.
Astra called Aster and said. "I am finished. I want to go to my own bed now."
Entering Wynfall
They got back into the carriage. The horses were rested. The guards got on their horses. They drove toward the border.
The trip was quiet. No one attacked them. When they reached the border gate, the guards stood straight and saluted.
"Welcome home, Prince Aster, Princess Astra!" the captain said loudly. "We all have been waiting for you."
The carriage drove through the large white arch. Aster sat back and breathed out. They had survived the dragons and the attackers.
He looked out the window at the green fields of Wynfall. He thought about the leader who ran away in the woods.
"We are home," Astra said. She put her head on his shoulder.
"Yes," Aster said.
Aster thought to himself, we are still at the beginning of the story, In this new world before my death, I will defenitely write a story that the history will remember forever.
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"This is just the beginning. You have so much more to do and discover. Even if it feels like you should be further along by now, be patient with yourself; good things take time and there is no need to rush this beautiful journey you are on."