<b>CHAPTER </b><b>106 </b>


    As soon as we made up our mind about what we were going to do we went to find Arthur, Kronos and Luke.


    We pulled them away from all the others and made sure that no one was able to hear anything that was going on.


    “Alright. You’ve got our attention. What’s going on?” Luke asked.


    “Well, Lyra has made up her mind.” Elias said.


    “And what would that be?” Arthur asked, looking at me curiously.


    “We’re storming the castle. We’re gonna gather our warriors and storm in there.” I demanded.


    “What? Are you kidding?” He asked.


    “No. We need to get inside that castle and this is the only way to do it.” I said.


    “No. It isn’t the only way to do it.” Arthur said.


    “Yeah. It is. We’re not going in there alone and we need as many warriors to help us fight since we don’t know what the hell we are walking into. I know that you don’t want us to do it this way, but I don’t see any other way. We’ve been sitting here in this vige going back and forth about what to do anding up with nothing. We’re taking the fight to her since she’s obviously not bringing the fight to us. She’s just sitting back and enjoying herself. Probably watching from a far with some stupid crystal ball. We are going in there and we are going to make her pay for what she’s done to this ce. And we’re going to make her restore it.” I demanded. Not leaving any room for argument.


    Arthur and Kronos gave each other a strange nce but they could tell th I wasn’t ying games anymore. I wanted to go home. I wanted to see my baby. I wanted to make sure that my family was going to be safe from this ce.


    “Luke. Go and collect the warriors that we have at the other viges. Bring the locals here. I know that it might be a lot of people, but it’s the best that we can do right now.” Elias said.


    “Yes, sir. I’ll be back soon.” Luke said, walking to the edge of town before shifting into a wolf and running off into the distance.


    “I really think there is another way.” Arthur said, starting to look really worried.


    “Arthur. Do you know how hot dragonfire burns?” I asked.


    “Yes.” He said.


    “And do you know how easy it is for me to create dragonfire with my own hand?” I asked.


    “Of course I do.” He said. <fn339a> Follow current nov?ls on find?novel</fn339a>


    “Then stop arguing with me. And just get to work.” I said.


    I started gathering locals to get as many sticks from the forest as they could. Thick sticks that could be made into weapons. Into spears and arrows after we made the bows for them.


    We all sat down and started shaving the tips of the sticks, creating weapons and throwing them into the pile that we were making.


    Elias was helping us but also going over a game n with the warriors that we had in this vige.


    I could see Arthur pacing around the camp and Kronos would asionally run up to him and whisper something to him.


    I didn’t know what they were talking about or what they were plotting. But I knew that they had something up their sleeves.


    They weren’t going to make this easy on us. But once we had our army, even if it wasn’t the full army, we were still going to storm that castle and get to the bottom of this.


    Elias was walking around doing a few different things at once until I saw him freeze in the middle of the camp.


    I got up and ran over to him, knowing that he was mind linking someone.


    “What is it?<b>” </b>I asked.


    “It’s Luke. The camps.” He said.


    He started running through the vige so I dropped the weapon that I was making and I started running after him.


    We shifted as soon as we got to the edge of the vige and ran the rest of the way to find Luke pacing out the front of a hideout for the locals.


    “What is it?” I mind linked. But Luke couldn’t talk.


    Elias and I looked at each other and when we walked inside we saw the same grizzly scene that we saw at the underground tunnels. There was blood smeared everywhere and everyone


    was gone.


    < CHAPTER 106


    +25 Points


    “What about the other camps?” Elias’s voice was low, but it carried the weight of dread.


    “They’re the same,” Luke answered, his expression hollow. “Empty. All of them.”


    “All of them?” My chest tightened. “The locals? Our warriors? They’re just… gone?”


    Elias bared his teeth. “How the hell does an entire force vanish without a sound?”


    “They were checked only this morning.” Luke’s words cracked. “This shouldn’t be possible.”


    “Magic.” I whispered. “Nothing else could erase them like this.”


    Elias’s gaze flicked to the blood–soaked earth. “Magic doesn’t exin the ughter.”


    “It could.” I said, though my voice faltered. “But to take everyone… it wasn’t mortal hands alone. This was something far darker.”


    “The Ash Queen.” Elias muttered, the name cutting through the silence.


    “If she learned what we were nning… she’d have reason to strike first.” My throat burned as the thought settled.


    “And how would she know?” Elias pressed.


    “Maybe it wasn’t her.” Luke’s eyes narrowed.


    I turned toward Elias, already dreading his answer.


    “It could have been him.” Elias’s voice was like a de.


    “No.” I shook my head. “He’s been with us all day.”


    “Drifting. Watching. Sending gods–know–what messages while we looked the other way.” Elias countered. “You know he’s never supported this n. He doesn’t w <i>us </i>there. He only wants <i>you</i><i>.” </i><ul><li></li></ul>


    “Arthur wouldn’t risk his own people.” My protest sounded weak, even to me.


    Elias’s stare hardened. “He would. He’s capable of sacrificing anything–<i>anyone</i>–if it puts him closer to <i>you</i>.”


    A cold silence pressed in. The air reeked of blood and betrayal.


    “Then what the hell are we doing, sitting here?” My paws dug into the dirt as anger started to fill me. “We can’t just wait.”


    Elias bent to the tracks at his feet. “We move. Luke–get Lyra back to camp, then return. We’re hunting down our warriors.”


    < CHAPTER 106


    “Yes, Alpha,” Luke said quietly.


    I caught Elias’s re. “Be careful.”


    +25 Points


    His eyes, dark with suspicion, met mine. “You too. And watch Arthur’s every move. We don’t know who the hell stands with us anymore.”


    So Luke and I ran back to camp as fast as possible and Luke headed straight back out to find Elias so they could hopefully find our missing warriors.


    I shifted outside the vige and got dressed again.


    I stood there for a moment, forcing myself to take slow, steady breaths, trying to piece back together some semnce ofposure. My heart was still hammering against my ribs, too loud, too erratic, as if it wanted to give me away. I couldn’t let anyone see the cracks forming in me, couldn’t let them guess that suspicion had already rooted itself in my mind. If I walked back into camp trembling or frantic, it would only draw more attention. I <i>needed </i>to be calm- calm, unreadable, untouchable.


    But the thought lingered like poison: Arthur. His words, his actions, the way he had looked at me–it all felt wrong. Was it just paranoia wing at me? Or was it my instincts warning me of something darker beneath the surface? I didn’t know. And worse, I couldn’t ask.


    For all I knew, the whole camp could be against me. Every smile, every friendly nod, every hand that reached out to help could just as easily be hiding a dagger meant for my back. I imagined their eyes following me, weighing me, waiting for me to slip. The uncertainty gnawed at me until my stomach turned.


    No–I couldn’t show weakness. Not now. Not here. If I was going to survive this, I had to keep my head down and my suspicions locked tightly behind my teeth. Trust no one, not until I was certain. That’s not a risk I was willing to take… not yet.


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