Chapter 73 The Warning

Chapter 73 The Warning

Morning came gray and cold through the windows of our cottage, the light thin and weak, and I woke to the sound of raised voices coming from somewhere near the village center, a sound that made my stomach drop before I was even fully awake. Dorian was already sitting up, his hand on my arm, his eyes sharp and focused. "Something's happening, I need to go see what it is."

I pulled on my coat and followed him outside.

A woman stood at the edge of the village, her coat heavy and worn, her face pale beneath a dark hood. Elowen was already there, her hands clasped behind her back, her expression calm but watchful. The stranger lowered her hood, and I saw her face clearly for the first time, pale skin, dark eyes, gray-streaked hair pulled back in a tight braid.

Elowen's voice was steady. "You've entered a protected sanctuary, Thorne. You know the rules about that."

Thorne didn't flinch away from her gaze. "I know the rules, Elowen, but I came anyway because I have information you need to hear."

Jenna stepped forward with her rod in her hand, her jaw tight. "What kind of information, what's so important that you'd risk breaking the wards?"

Thorne looked at her, then at the rest of us gathered behind Elowen. "The council knows where you are," she said, her voice low and flat. "They've been tracking you for weeks, and they're planning an attack on the sanctuary."

Kael moved past Jenna, his knife in his hand, his face hard. "Why should we believe you, why should we trust anything a hunter says?"

Thorne met his eyes without blinking. "Because I was the one who tracked you here, and I could have led them straight to your door. Instead I came alone to warn you." She reached into her coat slowly, and everyone tensed, but she only pulled out a folded piece of paper. "This is a map of their positions, their numbers, their planned approach. Take it, or don't. But I've done what I came to do."

She held out the paper, and Elowen took it.

I stepped forward and studied Thorne's face. "Why are you helping us? You're a hunter, and we're what you hunt."

Thorne was quiet for a long moment, her dark eyes steady. "Because I've been hunting for thirty years," she said slowly. "And I've never seen anything like what you did to the Commander and the council. You fought back against something that shouldn't have been fought, and you won. That deserves respect, and that deserves my help."

Elowen unfolded the map and studied it, her brow furrowed. "She's telling the truth," she said after a long moment. "This is accurate, and this is detailed."

The village hall was crowded an hour later, every available seat filled, people standing along the walls with their arms crossed and their eyes serious. Elowen laid the map on the table and traced the lines with her finger. "They'll come from the east," she said, her voice carrying through the room. "Through the pass, and they'll hit the wards at their weakest point."

Jenna leaned over the map. "How many, how many are we talking about?"

Elowen's finger moved across the paper. "At least fifty," she said. "Probably more, with support from the hunters who've allied with them."

Kael's voice was sharp. "And how many of us are there who can actually fight?"

Elowen looked around the room. "Twenty, maybe twenty-five who have any combat experience at all."

The room went quiet, the weight of those numbers settling on all of us.

I broke the silence. "Then we train," I said, my voice steady. "We train every single person who's willing to hold a weapon, and we make sure that when they come, they find a wall they can't break through."

Elowen met my eyes. "And if that's not enough?"

I looked around the room at the faces of the people I had come to care about. "Then we make it enough. We have to."

\---

The next week was a blur of preparation, training in the village square from dawn until dusk, Vance reinforcing the wards with every spare moment, Jenna and Kael drilling the villagers until their movements were sharp and automatic. Mira and Zoe worked with the healers, stockpiling supplies and preparing for the wounded we all knew would come.

Dorian found me late one night, sitting alone on the edge of the village, staring at the dark mountains. He sat beside me and took my hand. "You're thinking again, Arya."

I didn't look away from the mountains. "I'm always thinking, you know that."

He pulled me closer and pressed his forehead to my temple. "What are you thinking about right now?"

I turned to face him. "I'm thinking about how much I don't want to lose this place, or the people in it."

He held my gaze. "Then we make sure we don't."

I leaned into him and closed my eyes. "We will. We have to."

The snow started falling again, soft and cold, and I held on to the warmth of his body.

We had survived so much already, and I knew we would survive this too.