Chapter 428 - CH 428 — Blood at the Border

The first pale light of dawn slowly spread across the northern frontier, washing the rugged mountains and dense evergreen forests in muted shades of silver and blue while a thin veil of mist drifted between towering pines like silent spirits wandering through ancient lands that had witnessed countless generations of guardians stand watch against dangers lurking beyond the kingdom's borders, and although the morning appeared almost peaceful from a distance, an unsettling stillness lingered beneath the beauty because too many patrol fires had vanished during the night, leaving long stretches of wilderness guarded only by scattered sentries whose weary eyes could not possibly observe every hidden path winding through the valleys below.