Todos los capítulos de The monster's fated prey: Capítulo 51 - Capítulo 60

The signal horn was still echoing when Lior reached the east gate. He did not wait for a full briefing. The western screen had called contact without full engagement. That was enough. Tova and Sera were already waiting with two scouts and five horses. The bags of travel items from the earlier packing still hung from the saddles. Tova held the reins of Lior’s horse. “We heard the horn. The same pattern as the last western alert. Short contact, and then silence.” Lior took the reins and mounted in one clean motion. “We have to go now. There's no need for large group. We read the line, take what we can, and return before the fortress starts inventing worse news.” Sera swung into her own saddle. “The two scouts know the western ground better than most. They will stay on the tracks. Tova and I take the flanks. You stay at the front.” One of the scouts, a lean woman named Jessa, gave a short nod. “The secondary western trail is soft after the night rain. Fresh prints will show c

Aziel and Lior remained in the small side room after Mara left. The bandage on Lior’s arm still pulled when he moved. The cold ease of the western fight still sat under his skin. Now the prisoner’s first useful word had given that feeling a sharper edge. The second group had never been the real advance. It had only been the piece meant to keep their eyes turned the wrong way. Aziel closed the door fully and leaned against it for a moment. “A decoy on the western line. A visible test on the eastern line before that. They have been spending men to map how we answer.” Lior stayed near the table, fingers resting lightly on the edge. “They wanted to know how fast we close a line when both of us ride. Then they wanted to know how we answer when only one of us rides. The decoy gave them the second measure without risking their main force.” Aziel pushed off the door and walked to the window. The courtyard below moved with the usual night traffic of guards and runners. Nothing looked d

Aziel and Lior left the ruined village with the two bound prisoners, the small force, and the weight of what the survivors had not said. The fires still burned behind them. The dead attackers lay where they had fallen. The living remnant of the village had stared at Lior without gratitude and without words. Only fear. Tova and Sera took the flanks again. The scouts kept the rear secure. The prisoners rode bound and silent in the middle of the group. Lior rode at the front beside Aziel and did not speak. The forest closed around them. The smell of smoke faded slowly, replaced by the cleaner scent of damp earth and pine. Hooves struck the trail in a steady rhythm. No one forced conversation. The fight had been short and brutal. The aftermath sat heavier than the blades had. Lior kept his eyes on the path ahead. The bandage on his arm had darkened again with fresh blood. The cold ease of the killing still moved under his skin. He could see the faces of the survivors clearly when

Aziel and Lior walked the short corridor to their private chambers without speaking. The captains had filed out with the split still visible between them. Ysolde had gone to begin the reassignments. The darker talk in the lower halls had been named in the open. Lior had stayed quiet through most of it, and the silence had cost him more than speaking would have. Inside the chambers Aziel bolted the door and went straight to the bathing room. He started the water without a word. Lior followed, pulling off the clothes that still carried the faint smell of smoke and the weight of the hall. They stepped into the large stone bath together. Heat and steam rose around them. For a long while neither spoke. The water worked on sore muscles and the dull sting of the cut on Lior’s arm. Aziel took a cloth and began washing Lior’s back in slow, steady strokes. “You barely said a word in that room.” “I did not need to,” Lior answered. “They were already saying enough. Ysolde named the talk. The

Dawn came with no softness. Lior entered the small private room alone, the air inside was cool and still. Garron, Bren, and Oren stood near the far wall under the last light of a single lamp. Two guards had been posted outside until Lior arrived. They left as soon as he nodded. The door closed. Aziel waited in the corridor just beyond it, close enough to hear if the line was crossed, far enough to give Lior the ground he had asked for the night before. The three men faced him without speaking at first. Garron’s expression was closed and careful. Bren kept his eyes on a point somewhere behind Lior’s shoulder. Oren looked directly at him, chin lifted, ready for the confrontation he had clearly been expecting. Lior did not waste time with soft openings. “You have been talking in the lower halls. You put my name on the village, on the decoys, and on every test at the borders. I am here for the truth. Say what you have been saying when you thought I would not hear it.” Oren answe