The commotion at Aethelgard's main gate began not with a crash, but with a sharp, uncertain shout from a sentry perched atop the eastern battlements. "Movement on the eastern road!"
"Two figures approaching!" The call rippled through the guard posts like wind through wheat.
Within minutes, the massive iron-reinforced gates had become the focal point of a growing crowd of curious onlookers, merchants closing up stalls, and battle-hardened soldiers who sensed something unusual in the way these two strangers approached.
As the travelers drew closer, the murmur of the crowd shifted from idle curiosity to a startled, collective gasp. When the faces became clear enough to recognize beneath the grime and exhaustion, a wave of surprised recognition swept through the assembled guards.
Elliot Von Starlight and Evelyn Astralight looked like ghosts returned from the dead. They bore the unmistakable mark of those who had spent months surviving on the ragged edge of civilization.
