The fortress had been quiet before the change began.
Iruen was walking along the upper corridor that overlooked the lower courtyard when the seal moved again.
The reaction was immediate.
The mark on his chest pulsed sharply, not like pain but like something pressing outward beneath the skin. He stopped walking at once and placed his hand against the mark through the fabric of his shirt.
It burned, but not violently.
But strongly enough that he felt the heat through his ribs.
He stood still until the pulse passed.
The corridor around him remained empty. The black stone walls stretched in both directions, lit only by the low blue flames that burned along the iron brackets. Nothing in the fortress appeared disturbed.
Still, Iruen knew the difference now.
This was not the same reaction he had felt before.
He had lived with the seal long enough to recognize its moods.
