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Chapter 75: Until dawn
publish date:
2026-10-17 21:39:35
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The monster's fated prey Chapter 78: Example in the mud
The rain had eased by late afternoon, but the courtyard still held the water in wide brown pools. Ysolde found Aziel and Lior near the eastern stair as the light began to thin. She did not waste time on soft news. “The remaining silent faction is quieter since Bren left,” she said. “Not gone. Just quieter. The loud ones walked out with him. The ones still here have learned to keep their mouths tighter. That does not mean the feeling left with the eleven.” Aziel’s face stayed hard. “How tight?” “Tight enough that I had to work for the details,” Ysolde said. “Then this morning a younger fighter in the lower stores got careless. He was repeating Oren’s old words almost word for word. Shared rule as a break in the chain. Following you but not the man beside you. Two others were listening. They shut up when they saw me, but the damage was already in the air.” Lior felt the report settle in his chest. The formal place at Aziel’s side did not stop the old words from finding new m
The monster's fated prey Chapter 77: Mud and circuit
The rain turned the eastern approach into a brown, sucking mess before midday. Ladders would be harder to set. Boots would slide. Any full advance would pay for every step in mud and time. The Ashenveil camp stayed where it was, hunched under whatever cover they had, and the fortress took the forced quiet as a rare gift. Aziel found Lior near the eastern center post and nodded toward the walk. “Full circuit. While the weather holds them off. We talk properly.” Lior fell in beside him. Equal in place on the stone. The pack’s eyes still followed Aziel first when they passed a post, but the two of them walked the wall together and no one questioned it out loud. They went slowly. The rain kept a steady hiss against the stone and the outer face of the walls. Water ran in thin lines down the scars left by the last assault. Below them the eastern ground was a churned brown field that looked almost peaceful if you ignored the dark shapes still lying in it. Aziel spoke first after
The monster's fated prey Chapter 76: The gate
Dawn came grey and hard. Bren stood by the main gate with eleven men behind him. Their packs were light. Their own blades. They didn't carry any rank badges. They had shown up early, just like they said they would, and a good part of the fortress had come out to watch them go. Aziel faced them in the open ground inside the gate. Lior stood at his right, close enough that everyone could see the shared rule in the way they stood. Equal on paper. Equal in the structure. Still, most of the fighters looked at Aziel first. Old habit. Deep habit. Lior’s place did not erase years of who they had followed before. Tova and Sera watched from the side. Ysolde stayed further back. The rest of the pack filled in however they could, tired faces, tight mouths. The bitterness was already there before anyone moved the bars. Bren spoke first. “We’re going, All eleven of us. we want clean exit with no trouble on the way out. And we would not be coming back on the old terms.” Aziel looked over
The monster's fated prey Chapter 75: Until dawn
Bren came alone after the night probe had fully settled. The southern wall was quiet again. The wounded from the short fight were being handled. Most of the fortress had taken what rest it could. Aziel was in the small side room off the main hall reviewing the updated post lists when the knock came. He called the man in without looking up from the scraps of hide on the table. Bren closed the door behind him and stood with his hands at his sides. He had cleaned the worst of the dirt from his face, but the exhaustion of the last days still sat in his shoulders. He did not waste time on soft openings. “I want to leave,” Bren said. “With a small group of like minded warriors. Men who cannot stand under the shared rule the way it sits now.” Aziel set the list down and gave Bren his full attention. The room was quiet enough that the words landed cleanly. “Say the rest of it.” Bren’s jaw worked once. “I will not fight under shared rule. I have tried. The structure does not sit ri
The monster's fated prey Chapter 74: Night probe
A short, sharp probe hit the southern wall hard and fast. Not a full assault. A test of numbers and response time under cover of dark. Ashenveil fighters came in a tight group with covered shields and fresh ladders, aiming for the section Tova had been holding with too few blades since the main battle. The call went along the wall in low, urgent voices. Aziel was already moving when the first runner reached the center post. Lior started to follow by instinct and then stopped himself. The agreement from the side room still held. He stayed off the front line. Aziel caught the pause and gave a single hard nod. “Center post. You hold here. I take the south with what we can spare.” Lior’s hands closed once at his sides and opened again. “Go. I will not move unless the center itself is hit.” Aziel left at a run with a small group of ready fighters. The solid weight of his presence stretched with the distance but did not disappear. Lior felt it the way he felt the cold stone under
The monster's fated prey Chapter 73: Nothing physical
Mara found Lior in the side room off the main hall before midday. She closed the door behind her, set her case on the table, and pointed at the low bench without asking. “Please sit. We have to do full examination, please no arguments.” Lior remained standing for a moment. “The wounded people in the lower rooms need you more than I do.” “The wounded in the lower rooms have people already working on them,” Mara said. “You are the one who still carries something I cannot see and do not like. please sit.” He sat. The sharper pain stayed quiet at the back of his mind, a low cold weight that had not pressed forward since the first light after the battle. Exhaustion sat deeper than the pain. Old strain lived in the muscles and the places behind the eyes. Mara worked without hurry. She checked the cut on his arm, the older scrapes, the places where the shared battle had left bruises under the skin. She tested the strength in his hands and the steadiness of his gaze. She asked him
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