Chapter 69 War
Dahila’s POV
The palace no longer felt like a palace.
It felt like a cage waiting to collapse.
The sounds of battle poured through the thick stone walls like a storm that refused to stay outside. Metal clashed against metal, wolves howled, and the ground trembled every time something heavy struck the gates or the walls. Even from inside my chamber, far from the courtyard, I could feel the violence spreading through the palace like a living thing.
I stood near the tall window, my hands gripping the cold stone ledge so tightly my fingers had gone numb.
Smoke curled up from somewhere in the courtyard below, dark and angry against the night sky. Flames flickered across broken structures and fallen barricades, casting shadows that moved like ghosts across the ground.
I could barely see the warriors from this height, but the sounds were enough.
Someone screamed.
Another howl followed.
My heart twisted painfully in my chest.
This was war.
And it was happening because of me.
Or at least, that was what the fear inside me kept whispering.
Dagnoth had told me to stay inside, to lock the doors and not step into the corridors no matter what happened outside. His voice had been calm when he said it, but I had seen the tension in his eyes.
He knew something like this might happen.
I just hadn’t understood how bad it would be.
Another explosion echoed through the palace, strong enough to make the walls tremble.
Dust drifted down from the ceiling.
My breath caught in my throat.
For a moment, I considered leaving the room.
Just stepping into the corridor to find someone, anyone who could tell me what was happening. But the memory of Dagnoth’s warning stopped me. His hand had tightened around mine when he spoke, his voice firm in a way that made it clear he wasn’t asking.
Stay here.
Do not come out.
No matter what you hear.
So I stayed.
Even though every instinct inside me screamed to move.
Another roar rose from the courtyard, deeper than the others.
Stronger.
It rolled through the night like thunder.
My stomach tightened.
That wasn’t a normal wolf’s howl.
It carried something ancient, something powerful that made the hair on the back of my neck rise.
I stepped closer to the window, trying to see through the smoke and darkness.
For a moment I caught a glimpse of movement near the broken gates, shadows shifting as another wave of warriors poured into the courtyard.
More enemies.
My chest tightened.
Dagnoth was out there.
Somewhere in that chaos.
Fighting.
The thought made my stomach twist with a fear I couldn’t push away. Dagnoth was strong, stronger than anyone I had ever seen, but tonight felt different.
Tonight felt wrong.
The air itself seemed heavy with something dark and waiting.
Another distant howl echoed across the night.
This one was different.
Lower.
Older.
And when it reached the palace, something strange happened.
For half a second the sounds of battle seemed to pause, as if the wolves outside had recognized something terrifying.
I frowned slightly, confusion mixing with unease.
Why did that sound feel so… familiar?
I had never heard that howl before.
At least I didn’t think I had.
Yet something inside me reacted to it.
A strange chill slid down my spine.
Somewhere deeper in the palace, footsteps thundered down a corridor. Voices shouted orders. Doors slammed open and closed as warriors rushed through the halls.
The fight was getting closer.
My heart began to pound faster.
What if the walls didn’t hold?
What if the palace fell?
My gaze moved across the courtyard again, desperately searching for a familiar figure among the shadows below.
For Dagnoth.
But from this height everyone looked like moving shapes beneath the smoke and moonlight.
Another crash echoed through the palace.
This one much closer.
I jumped slightly as the sound rattled the door behind me.
For a moment, silence followed.
Then distant shouting again.
I turned away from the window and began pacing the room slowly, trying to calm the nervous energy buzzing through my body.
This was supposed to be the safest place in the palace.
Yet right now it felt like the walls themselves were closing in around me.
The torches along the walls flickered violently, their flames dancing in the drafts sneaking through the cracks of the stone.
My thoughts kept drifting back to Dagnoth.
The last time I had seen him tonight.
The way his expression had hardened when the first alarm bells rang through the palace. The way his hand had briefly rested on my shoulder before he left the room.
He hadn’t said much.
But the look in his eyes had said enough.
He was prepared to kill anyone who tried to cross those gates.
Another distant roar shook the night.
Then something new joined the chaos outside.
More howls.
Many more.
My breath caught.
That didn’t sound like one army.
It sounded like two.
I slowly returned to the window, dread building inside my chest.
In the distance, beyond the broken gates, more movement appeared in the darkness. Shadows spreading across the horizon like a second storm approaching the palace.
Reinforcements.
But they weren’t ours.
I could feel it in the way the wolves below reacted, their howls shifting into something more aggressive, more desperate.
My fingers tightened against the cold stone again.
Whoever was coming… they weren’t here to help Dagnoth.
The wind carried another echoing howl across the battlefield.
This one felt different.
Stronger.
And for some reason it made a strange shiver pass through me.
Something about it stirred a quiet unease deep inside my chest.
I didn’t know why.
I didn’t know who it belonged to.
But whatever force was approaching the palace tonight…
It was powerful enough to change the entire battle.
And somewhere out there in the middle of that storm—
Dagnoth was standing alone against it.
I felt guilt, all this was happening becaue of me, what if he wants me and pups no more...
My heart was thudding against its ribcage.