The alarm bells rang before dawn, echoing through the cold air like a scream from the mountain itself. Wolves rushed from their huts half-dressed, confusion and panic twisting through the camp. Evelyn was already awake. She had felt it before she heard it — the tremor in the earth, the scent of smoke too thick to be morning fog.
By the time she reached the courtyard, the sky was already bleeding orange. Flames danced far beyond the western hills, swallowing the horizon. Fji's army had finally come.
"Report!" her voice rang out, firm and sharp.
A scout dropped to one knee before her, his fur still half-shifted from running. "They've breached the ridge, Luna. Hundreds of them. Rogues mixed with something else. Their eyes… they glow red like embers."
Her stomach tightened. "Blood-marked," she murmured. "Fji's corruption runs deep."
