The rain began before dawn.
It fell in cold sheets across the broken courtyard, turning the churned earth to black mud. The last of the supplicants huddled beneath torn awnings, their torches sputtering in the wind.
Jin stood at the edge of the dais, motionless. The Saber rested across his palms, its dark steel untouched by the rain.
Kasane approached from the north steps, her hair plastered to her brow. She did not attempt to speak until she was certain he saw her.
"Scouts returned."
Jin lifted his gaze.
Kasane swallowed.
"House Seryth is mustering four legions in the Riven Pass. At least five thousand men."
"And their allies?"
"Two banners confirmed—House Liora and the Pale Assembly. Possibly more."
She paused.
"They are coming to end this before you can gather strength."
Jin did not look surprised.
"They believe speed will protect them."
Kasane shifted her weight.
"And will it?"
"No."
He stepped past her and descended into the mud. Where his boots touched, steam rose in thin spirals.
"Send word to Shiori," he said quietly.
"She will know which of her contacts can be trusted."
Kasane hesitated.
"And if none can?"
"Then we stand alone."
---
In the hall that had once been the House of Falling Ash's council chamber, Shiori bent over a crude map inked on stretched hide. Her expression was calm, though her hand tightened on the stylus as Kasane delivered the news.
"They will come within ten days," Kasane finished.
"Perhaps less."
Shiori inclined her head.
"Then we must decide whether to meet them in the pass or here."
Daigo spoke from the corner, his voice small.
"If we leave, they will burn this place."
Shiori did not look at him.
"If we stay, they will encircle us. Starve us. Or drown us in numbers."
Kasane rested her palms on the map.
"Jin will not flee."
"No," Shiori agreed.
"He will not."
---
Jin entered without ceremony. Rain hissed across his shoulders and vanished.
Shiori looked up.
"You have decided."
"I have."
"And?"
Jin studied the map, his eyes distant.
"We will meet them in the pass."
Kasane exhaled in relief.
"Better ground."
"Better vision," Jin corrected.
Shiori set the stylus aside.
"Then we must begin at once."
---
By noon, the courtyard had become a hive of movement. Shiori's remaining agents scoured the storage vaults, gathering what food and weapons could be carried. Kasane organized the able-bodied into squads—archers, shield-bearers, skirmishers.
Jin moved among them without speaking. Where his gaze fell, men straightened. When he touched a shoulder or met a frightened eye, the trembling stilled.
But behind the respect, Kasane saw something else growing: dread.
He was no longer merely a man. And no one—least of all Jin—pretended otherwise.
---
That night, Daigo found him standing alone on the battlements, watching the rain fall across the valley.
"Master," he began, voice unsteady.
Jin did not turn.
"Yes."
"Do you…do you remember when you taught me to shape the tracer glyph?"
"Yes."
Daigo swallowed.
"You said…I would never master it without faith."
Silence.
"Do you still believe that?"
Jin's answer was quiet.
"Yes."
"Then…" Daigo hesitated.
"Do you have faith now?"
Jin closed his eyes.
"I have purpose."
---
Daigo did not speak again. He stood beside his master as the rain drummed against the stones, and for a while neither of them moved.
---
By dawn, the first reinforcements began to arrive.
Some came singly—mercenaries who had heard whispers of a power that would not bow. Others arrived in battered companies, their banners scorched and tattered.
Kasane met them at the gates, her expression guarded.
"You come to fight?"
The answers varied.
"For freedom."
"For gold."
"For vengeance."
Kasane did not care. All she demanded was an oath: to follow Jin until the campaign was ended.
Most gave it without protest. A few balked and were turned away.
By nightfall, nearly four hundred souls had gathered within the walls.
---
Shiori found Jin in the old audience hall, where the last of the moonlight spilled across the cracked floor.
"They will be here in eight days," she said.
Jin did not look up.
"Fewer."
Shiori's voice was quiet.
"More will come to you. But not enough to match what the Seryth bring."
Jin raised his eyes.
"They will see."
"And what will they see?"
"That oaths are broken."
---
The following morning, Kasane summoned Jin to the east parapet.
"You should see this," she said.
Below, a small caravan approached. No banners flew from their wagons, but the escorts wore lacquered armor worked with obsidian studs.
Kasane frowned.
"I don't recognize them."
Shiori stepped forward, her face unreadable.
"I do."
She turned to Jin.
"House Vyren. Smugglers. Spies. Thieves."
Kasane's lip curled.
"And they think to buy your favor?"
Jin watched the wagons without blinking.
"No."
"They think to survive."
---
When the Vyren envoy was brought before him, he did not kneel. He was an old man with a face carved by years in darker courts than these.
"My Lord," he rasped, "we have heard the Seryth mean to end you."
Jin did not reply.
The envoy spread his hands.
"And so we come, not with threats, but with gifts."
He gestured, and his attendants unrolled a length of crimson cloth. Upon it rested six sealed vials.
Kasane frowned.
"Poison?"
The old man smiled thinly.
"No, lady. Fire of the Deep. One vial can turn a company to ash."
Shiori's eyes widened.
"Forbidden."
"Effective," the envoy said softly.
Jin stepped down from the dais. His shadow fell across the offering.
"And why give them to me?"
The envoy looked up without flinching.
"Because when you win, we wish to be remembered."
---
Jin studied the vials.
"You fear the Seryth."
The old man inclined his head.
"And you believe I will destroy them."
"Yes."
Jin turned away.
"Leave the vials," he said.
"Take nothing else."
The envoy hesitated.
"And when the Seryth come?"
Jin's voice did not change.
"They will find no shelter in your houses."
The old man bowed low.
"As you command."
---
That night, Kasane stood beside Shiori as the last of the Vyren departed.
"You trust them?" Kasane asked quietly.
"No," Shiori said.
"But I trust their fear."
---
The preparations continued without pause.
Every hour brought new reports: skirmishers raiding supply lines, Seryth outriders testing the roads. The valley became a crucible—smoke, sweat, iron.
And in the center, Jin moved as if already beyond the reckoning of such things.
When Daigo dared approach him near dawn, he found his master seated cross-legged among a circle of tracer glyphs that pulsed with faint blue light.
"Master…"
Jin opened his eyes.
"Speak."
"Will yo
u…will you kill them all?"
Jin did not look away.
"If they force it."
Daigo's throat worked.
"And if they do not?"
Jin's voice was quiet, the words steady as the falling rain.
"Then I will give them a choice."
---
The boy shivered.
And somewhere in the darkness beyond the parapets, the first warhorns began to sound.