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“Mydy, there seems to be a problem with the beasts this time,” Rio said grimly. “Usually, they attack in batches–ten at most, sometimes a scattered group. But not like this.”
I stepped closer to the ledge of the wall and forced myself to look down.
The sight made my stomach twist.
Below us, dozens of beasts moved in the darkness, their shapes illuminated by the flickering light of torches from the watchtowers. They were farrger than I had imagined, their shoulders rising taller than any warhorse. Their hides were mottled, a mix of cracked scales and coarse fur.
Some had too many limbs, jagged ws scraping against stone as they swarmed, while others dragged tails lined with spines sharp enough to pierce armor. Their faces were the worst, elongated jaws full of uneven teeth, their eyes glowing red as if the moon itself had burned into them.
One mmed into the base of the wall, the impact rattling the stone beneath my boots. Its ws screeched against the ck surface but didn’t break through. It lifted its head and let out a guttural roar that echoed in my chest. I gripped the railing tighter without realizing it.
“They aren’t supposed to look like this,” I whispered. When I was younger, I remember seeing a book about these beasts, but none of them looked like this.
“No,” Rio agreed, his eyes fixed on the chaos below. “Not usually. Most beasts are crude, animalistic. They’re dangerous, yes, but predictable. During the red moon, though…” His voice hardened. “They change. They be twisted,rger, more violent, they mutate. They fight without regard for their own survival, like something is driving them mad.”
Sivi stepped forward, his scar catching the torchlight as he watched the fighting below. “They don’t just change in form, either. Their behavior shifts. Normally, beasts scatter when they sense fire or smell wolfsbane. Now they rush at it, tearing through mes, biting into soldiers. even while their own hides burn.”
I swallowed, uneasy. “So… they aren’t afraid of fire?”
“They still are,” Sivi corrected. “But under the red moon, it takes much more to push them back. Look.”
As if on cue, a squad of soldiers hurled ming spears into the tide. The weapons struck, igniting the hides of two beasts, but instead of retreating, the creatures thrashed forward, bowling through the line until swords cut them down.
“They fight even when burning alive,” Sivi said. “That’s the red moon’s effect. It strips them of
fear.”
“And wolfsbane?” I asked quickly.
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Rio shook his head. “It weakens them, but not enough. Normally, a beast would stagger if it inhaled a dose of wolfsbane mist. Tonight, they tear through it. Their bodies slow, yes, but they don’t stop. The red moon drives them until their hearts give out.”
Another roar rose from below as a beast the size of a small house lunged from the treeline, its horns curving forward like spears. It mmed into a formation of warriors. I flinched as shields cracked and men were thrown aside, only for others to close ranks immediately, spears stabbing deep into its chest. Even impaled, it writhed, snapping its jaws at anything within reach until Sivi gave a sharp signal and an archer’s arrow, tipped with a faint blue shimmer, pierced its skull.
“That shimmer,” I muttered. “Is that…?”
“Fae stone,” Sivi said. “Bound to the arrowhead. It makes the weapon bite deeper. Without it, the beast might have torn through half that line before it fell.”
My chest tightened as I gripped the railing harder. Each growl, each crash of ws against the wall, was a reminder of how fragile the bnce here was.
“Then what are they afraid of?” I asked finally, my voice low.
Sivi and Rio exchanged a look before Rio answered. “Pain. Even under the red moon, they still fear overwhelming pain. Fire hot enough to sear, weapons sharp enough to pierce bone, wounds deep enough to cripple. That’s why we reinforce everything with fae stone. Without it, these walls would have fallen long ago.”
“And sound,” Sivi added. “Loud, piercing sound. They hate it. Horns, drums, even the shriek of metal. Sometimes it drives them back for a few breaths. Not enough to win a battle, but enough to breathe.”
I forced myself to look again at the horde writhing below the wall. Their sheer numbers, their grotesque forms, their mindless drive, it was like staring at a nightmare given shape.
“So, you are telling me that once the red moon passes, they also disappear?” I asked.
Sivi kept his eyes on the horde below. “Disappear? No, mydy. They don’t vanish. They retreat back into the wilds, scatter into the forests, crawl back into whatever holes they came from. But the red moonsts for days, not a single night. Three, sometimes four. And until it passes, the beasts won’t stop pressing the walls.”
I blinked. “Days?<b>” </b>
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“Yes,” he confirmed. “Even during daylight, the sky doesn’t return to normal. The sun still rises, but its light is stained crimson. The beasts don’t attack as often under the sun, but they don’t calm either. They circle, they watch, and the moment the night returns, they surge again. That is the rhythm of the tide.”
My grip tightened on the railing. If the red moonsts for days…
Mendez’s words came back to me. “He will wake when the red moon rises, and he will remain
in that feral state until it ends.”
I turned slightly, ncing toward the carriage behind us where Cassian stilly. When I left, he looked like he was only sleeping, his chest rising steadily, but I knew better. This meant that when he opened his eyes again, it would not be as the man I knew. It would be something else–driven, violent, and barely controlled.
If the red moonsted three or four days, then so would his feral state. He would be like this until it ended. My stomach twisted at the thought.
Sivi’s voice cut through my thoughts. “In the past, there were red moons thatsted longer,” he said grimly. “Weeks, even months. Old records speak of winters when the sky bled for an entire season. During those times, the beasts nearly overran everything. Packs were ughtered, viges erased. We haven’t seen such a red moon in generations… but it isn’t impossible.”
Rio grunted, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword as his gaze swept the battlefield. “If one like thates again, it won’t just be the walls under siege. The whole kingdom would bleed.”
Sivi nodded. “Which is why every outpost, every garrison, and every soldier trains for this. A few nights are manageable. Weeks…” He let the thought hang.
I drew in a slow breath. “And no one knows how long this one willst?”
“No,” Sivi admitted. “Not until it ends. All we can do is endure until the sky clears.”
Endure. That was what they all kept saying, endure the beasts, endure the blood, endure the endless nights. My eyes lingered on the carriage again. Cassian would endure too, but not as a man. As something else, bound by whatever bloodline he carried.
My hands curled into fists at my side. We needed to get through the walls and reach the northern outpost before Cassian woke. I turned back to Sivi. “Tell me something. The northern outpost lies even farther than these walls, yet it still stands. Why? Is it truly that strong?”
“The northern outpost… that is a different case,” Sivi said with a heavy exhale. “For reasons we still don’t understand, the beasts avoid it. They circle its perimeter, snarl and pace, but they never strike directly. It’s as if the ce doesn’t exist to them.”
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The roars below pulled my eyes back to the battlefield. “Avoid it? Why?” I pressed.
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“No one can give a certain answer,” Sivi admitted. “Some im it’s the soil, others say it’s the terrain, or perhaps something buried deep beneath it. Whatever the reason, it has been that way for centuries. There are rare ces scattered across the North that beasts refuse to touch. The northern outpost is one of them.”