Far beneath the forest canopy, the hidden city remained awake.
The arrival of the messengers from the Black Fang Clan had sent ripples through every district of the settlement. Torches burned brighter than usual along the roads, and runners hurried from one section of the city to another carrying orders. Workshops that would normally be quiet at this hour remained active. Smiths worked their furnaces. Guards doubled their patrols along the outer earthworks. Great wolves barked and growled from their enclosures, seemingly agitated by the sudden activity.
At the center of the city stood the Great Hall.
Unlike the buildings surrounding it, the hall had not been built by one generation. It had grown over centuries. Massive timber pillars supported a broad roof layered with hardened hides and carved wooden panels depicting ancient battles. Stone foundations reinforced its lower sections, and enormous totems lined the entrance, each representing one of the great clans of the forest.
