His breath caught, half in awe, half in fury that it had eluded him until now.
Then, as abruptly as it had begun, the sensation snapped shut. The cavern returned solid. The shadows recoiled, slipping back into their corners.
Lindarion staggered.
Nysha caught his arm, steadying him. "You felt it."
"Yes," Lindarion rasped. His eyes burned with new fire. "And next time… I won't let go."
—
The human camp was never meant to be permanent.
Its palisades of sharpened timber creaked in the wind, its stone watchtowers hastily built with scavenged blocks. Inside sprawled tents, smithies, and barracks cobbled together by necessity, not pride. The ground was scarred where siege engines had once stood, now patched with dirt and gravel.
