Chapter 88: Ambushed at Eldgid

The dawn broke beneath a bruised sky.  The ground was damp with last night’s rain, soft enough to mute the sound of marching boots. The army moved in disciplined silence  steel glinting, wolves shifting uneasily in their half-forms.

Ariella rode beside Ares, her blue cloak whipping behind her like a banner.

The forest of Eldgid loomed ahead: dark, ancient, and endless. Ares lifted a hand, signaling the wolves to halt.

“We make camp here along this shrubs,” he ordered. “We scout the valley before advancing. Cole will not catch us unprepared.”

Ariella’s gaze swept the horizon. The forest whispered not with birds or wind, but with something else. Movement. A shift that didn’t belong to nature. Her wolf stirred beneath her skin, uneasy.

“There’s something wrong,” she murmured.

Ares turned toward her, brow furrowing. “What do you hear?”

“Not what I hear,” she said softly. “What I don’t.”

The world held its breath. No birds. No rustle of leaves. No distant hum of life. Only silence  the kind that exists before violence.

Then the first arrow appeared .

It struck a soldier’s chest with a sound like wet thunder. He fell backward, choking. Before anyone could shout, the air filled with more black-fletched arrows slicing through the mist.

“Ambush!” Lord Cador roared.

Chaos erupted. Wolves shifted mid-scream, armor split, steel clanged against teeth and claws. From the forest edge, shadows poured forth  Cole’s rogues, half-man, half-beast, eyes glowing red in the morning gloom.

Ares drew his sword with a roar that shook the ground. “Form the line! Defend the ridge!”

Ariella dismounted before he could stop her, landing lightly, her gown already streaked with mud. Her pulse thundered in her ears as she pulled a fallen guard’s blade from the earth.

“Ariella!” Ares bellowed, fury and fear in his voice.

“I’m not hiding,” she shouted back, slashing through the mist as the first rogue lunged toward her.

The creature’s claws raked the air inches from her throat. She ducked under its swing and drove the blade up through its ribs. Hot blood sprayed her face, metallic and steaming. The rogue collapsed at her feet, eyes wide in shock  as if it hadn’t expected her to fight.

Her hands trembled. She had never killed before. Not truly. But there was no time to think  another came, snarling, and she met it with a scream that was more wolf than woman.

Around her, the battlefield had become a storm. Wolves tore through men, men cut through wolves. The forest itself seemed to be bleeding.

Ares was a whirlwind of steel and fury. . He was shouting orders, but the sound drowned him out  the cries of the wounded, the roar of shifting wolves.

Ariella fought to stay upright as the ground shook beneath the stampede. Every time she struck, her wolf surged closer to the surface, her muscles stronger, her hearing sharper. She could smell their fear  the rogues, the blood, even the faint copper scent of her own sweat.

“Protect the Queen!” someone shouted.

“I said hold your line!” Ares’s voice thundered over the chaos. “She fights beside me!”

The soldiers obeyed, rallying around them, forming a circle of steel and fur. But there were too many. For every rogue that fell, two more took its place.

From the tree line came a deeper roar a more advanced wolf with sharp claws. The rogues parted as a towering figure emerged, his armor mismatched, his eyes glowing the same furious red nature. Cole’s lieutenant.

Ariella froze as he smiled at her, baring teeth stained black.

“So this is the Queen,” he snarled. “The Moon’s chosen pet.”

Before she could reply, he lunged. His sword met hers with brutal force, the impact jolting through her arm. She stumbled back, . He swung again, faster. She barely could sustain his energy, sparks flying between their blades.

Ares saw the blow coming and roared, throwing himself between them. His sword caught the lieutenant’s just in time, the clash echoing through the valley like thunder.

“Touch her,” Ares growled, “and I’ll tear your throat out myself.”

The lieutenant only grinned, twisting his blade free. “You won’t live long enough to try.”

They fought with savage rhythm  Alpha against Alpha  their blades singing through fog and blood. Ariella could only watch, her chest heaving, torn between fear and fury.

Something flickered at the edge of her vision  movement on the ridge above. A figure in a dark cloak. Too small to be a soldier, too poised to be a rogue. For a heartbeat, the wind lifted the hood.

Evelyn.

Ariella’s heart stopped. The disgraced courtesan stood there, eyes cold, lips moving in a whisper. Her fingers traced a symbol in the air  faint, glowing red.

“Evelyn,” Ariella breathed.

The ground beneath them shuddered. A pulse of dark energy rippled through the soil. The rogues howled in unison, their eyes flaring brighter. They fought harder and faster.

“Magic!” Ariella screamed. “She’s using dark magic!”

Ares didn’t look back. “Take her out!”

Ariella ran  up the ridge, slipping on mud and blood. Arrows hissed past her as she climbed. Evelyn turned, her cloak swirling.

“So the little Queen learned to fight,” she said, voice cold as frost. “Let’s see how long that lasts.”

She raised her hand, and a wave of dark force slammed into Ariella, knocking her backward. Pain lanced through her chest as she hit the ground, air torn from her lungs. But before Evelyn could strike again, Ariella’s wolf surged to the surface  heat flaring under her skin, her eyes glowing silver.

She rose slowly, sword trembling in her hand. “You should have stayed gone, Evelyn.”

Evelyn sneered. “And miss your downfall?”

Their blades met with a crack like lightning. Sparks scattered through the mist. Ariella’s strength came not from skill but from sheer will  every strike fueled by rage, betrayal, survival. Evelyn fought with elegance, cruel precision.

The clash drew blood. Ariella’s arm burned, Evelyn’s cheek split open. The smell of iron thickened the air. Then, a roar split the battlefield below  Ares’s voice, furious and desperate.

Ariella turned for a few seconds enough for Evelyn to vanish into the smoke.

“No!” she shouted, spinning, but the ridge was empty.

Ares reached her seconds later, his armor splattered red. “Ariella!”

“I saw her,” Ariella panted. “Evelyn  she’s here. She’s helping them.”

Ares’s expression hardened, grief and fury clashing behind his eyes. “Then she dies with them.”

Below, the rogues began to retreat  the spell breaking with Evelyn’s disappearance. The soldiers cheered weakly, but it was a hollow sound. The ground was littered with bodies wolves and men alike.

Ariella sank to her knees beside a fallen soldier, pressing a trembling hand over his wound though she knew he was already gone. Her throat tightened. The victory felt like loss.

Ares knelt beside her, resting a bloodstained hand on her shoulder. “It’s over,” he said quietly.

She shook her head, eyes distant. “No. It’s just beginning.”