The company rode east as the sun cleared the palace walls.
Behind them, the Duke stood on the steps with his children, watching until the riders disappeared into the trees. Edward stood apart, his arms crossed, his face unreadable. Commander Vance was already inside, writing his first report to the King.
Ahead of them, the road stretched into country that grew wilder with every mile. The farms thinned first—fields giving way to pasture, pasture to fallow land, fallow land to forest. The villages came next, small clusters of houses that grew farther apart, their windows shuttered, their doors closed. People watched them pass from doorways, their faces blank, their hands still.
They knew. They always knew.
Lira rode at the front, her bow across her back, her eyes scanning the trees. She had been quiet since they left, her mind on the road, on the hills, on the things they might find. Grog rode beside her, his arm still bandaged, his side still wrapped, his face set.
Aldric rode behind them, his leg propped in the stirrup, his cane tied to his saddle. He had refused to stay behind. He had refused to ride in a cart. He had refused to let anyone help him mount his horse. He was pale, sweating, his jaw tight with pain, but he was here.
Gwen rode beside him, close enough to catch him if he fell. She didn't offer help. She didn't ask if he was all right. She just stayed close, her eyes on the road, her hands on the reins.
William rode behind them, his sword at his hip, his back straight, his eyes on his brother. He had been quiet since the argument, since the clearing, since the thing that had come through the tree. He was thinking. Planning. Waiting.
Mirena brought up the rear, her staff in her hand, her books in her pack. She had been studying the maps all morning, tracing the lines, marking the places where the world was thin. The hills were ahead. The portal—if it was still there—was somewhere in those hills. She hoped they would find it. She was afraid they would.
---
The forest closed around them.
The road narrowed, the trees pressed close, the light dimmed. The birds had stopped singing somewhere behind them. The animals had gone quiet. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.
Lira slowed. Held up her hand.
The company stopped.
"What is it?" Grog asked.
She shook her head. "I don't know." She was scanning the trees, her eyes moving from shadow to shadow, looking for something she couldn't name. "Something's wrong."
Grog felt it too. The same wrongness he had felt in the Grove, in the pass, in the clearing where the beast had died. The air was thick, heavy, pressing against his skin.
"We keep moving," he said. "Slowly. Carefully."
They rode on.
---
The tree was ahead of them.
Grog saw it before the others—a shape in the road, something that didn't belong. He raised his hand again, and the company stopped.
The tree was split in half.
Not by lightning—the wood around the split was black, burnt, but cold. The two halves leaned away from each other, their branches bare, their leaves gone. The ground around it was scorched in a circle, bare earth and ash.
Mirena dismounted. Walked to the tree. Ran her fingers over the burnt wood.
"It's cold," she said. "Whatever did this—it happened days ago. Maybe weeks."
Grog dismounted beside her. "What did this?"
She shook her head. "I don't know. I've never seen anything like it." She pointed at the blackened wood. "The damage radiates outward. Something exploded out of this tree. Or something came through."
Lira was already on the ground, looking for tracks. She found them at the edge of the scorched circle. Not animal. Not human. Wrong.
"Grog."
He moved to her side. Looked at the tracks.
They were large—larger than any animal he had seen in these woods. The toes were long, the claws deep, the gait uneven. Something had come out of that tree. Something that wasn't from here.
William had dismounted. He stood at the edge of the scorched circle, his hand on his sword, his face pale.
"That's where it came through," he said. "The portal. The door. Whatever you call it."
Mirena shook her head. "Not the portal. Something smaller. A crack, maybe. A place where the world was thin."
Aldric stayed on his horse. His leg was throbbing, his arm was shaking, but his eyes were steady. "Where did it go?"
Lira followed the tracks with her eyes. They led into the trees. East. Toward the hills.
"That way."
---
William wanted to follow them.
"We should go now," he said. "While the trail is fresh. While we can still find it."
Aldric shook his head. "We need to rest. We need to plan. We don't know what we're walking into."
"We know it came from somewhere. We know it's out there. We know—"
"We know it's been out there for days." Aldric's voice was sharp. "The tracks are cold. The trail is cold. Whatever came through that tree could be anywhere by now."
William stared at him. "So we do nothing?"
"We do what we came to do. We find the source. We find the portal." Aldric met his eyes. "We don't chase every shadow that crosses our path."
The argument was sharp, quick, uncomfortable. Gwen watched from her horse, her hands tight on the reins. Lira stayed silent, her eyes on the trees. Mirena studied the ground, the tracks, the scorched earth.
Grog made the call.
"We follow the tracks," he said. "But carefully. We stay together. We don't take risks."
William nodded. Aldric said nothing.
They rode on.
---
The tracks led to a clearing.
It was small, hidden, surrounded by trees. The ground was bare, the grass flattened, the earth scorched in a perfect circle. But there was nothing else. No portal. No door. No sign of whatever had come through the tree.
Mirena dismounted. Walked to the center of the circle. Knelt. Touched the earth.
"It's cold," she said. "Whatever was here—it's gone."
Grog stood at the edge of the circle. "The portal?"
She shook her head. "There's nothing here. No magic. No residue. No sign that anything was ever here." She looked up at him. "It's gone."
William stared at the empty circle. "That's it? That's all we find?"
Mirena stood. Brushed the dirt from her knees. "The portal brought things through. The beast. Maybe others. But the portal itself isn't here anymore. It moved. Or it closed. Or—" She stopped.
"Or what?"
"Or it was never here to begin with. The tree was the door. The tree was the portal. And now it's just a tree."
---
William walked to the edge of the clearing.
He stood with his back to them, his hands on his hips, his head bowed. He had wanted to find something. Something they could fight. Something they could stop. Something that would make sense of the things they had seen.
There was nothing.
Gwen dismounted. Walked to him. Stood beside him.
"It's not nothing," she said.
He looked at her.
"We found tracks. We found the tree. We know something came through." She met his eyes. "That's not nothing."
He was quiet for a moment. "It's not enough."
"It's a start."
He looked at the empty clearing. The scorched earth. The trees that pressed close on all sides.
"Where do we go from here?"
Grog answered. "We camp. We rest. We pick up the trail at first light."
William nodded. He didn't argue.
---
They made camp at the edge of the clearing.
The tents were small, the fire was low, the watches were set. Lira took first watch, her bow across her knees, her back to a tree. The others slept—fiftfully, badly, the way soldiers slept when they knew something was watching.
Grog sat with his back to a tree, his sword across his knees, his eyes on the darkness.
Mirena sat beside him.
"I've been thinking," she said.
He looked at her.
"About the portal. About what brought the beast through." She paused. "It's not here anymore. But something was. Something that left marks. Something that changed the world around it."
He waited.
"That means it could happen again. Somewhere else. Another tree. Another crack. Another thing that doesn't belong." She met his eyes. "We're not chasing one portal. We're chasing something that moves."
He was quiet for a moment.
"Then we keep moving."
---
In the night, something moved at the edge of camp.
Lira saw it—just a shape, just a shadow, gone before she could raise her bow. She sat perfectly still, her eyes on the darkness, her hand on her arrow.
It didn't come back.
But she felt it watching. Waiting.
She didn't sleep.