Chapter 169 - Strange Intruder

Sonder was exhausted.

She had gone to bed hours ago—though how many hours, she couldn't say. Deep within the mountain, where no sunlight reached, it became hard to tell time.

The day had been a blur. She had spent it helping Lunt Junior, who, ever since his grandfather had announced his candidacy for Dwarf Lord, found himself swamped with work unrelated to the smithing he wanted to do.

A surprising number of smiths, most young and a few older ones, had crowded into the Lunt family smithy, eager to claim a piece of the luxorite she and Lunt Junior had unearthed. There were so many that, despite knowing most of them by name, Lunt Junior had decided to write everything down—names, reasons, and requests.

"I'll deliver these notes to Grandfather later," he had said.

Sonder had offered to help. Her literacy wasn't perfect, but it was good enough to jot down names and explanations.

Besides, she could understand Lunt and everyone else just fine. Whatever language they spoke seemed either identical or very similar to the one she'd grown up with in her village.

She wondered if the dwarves had their own language—after all, sometimes Master Lunt, when speaking to Vell or his grandson, would use words Sonder didn't recognize. They sounded foreign, almost out of place.

Maybe it was another language. Or maybe she just didn't know the words. 

She and Lunt Junior worked through the day, listening to endless justifications for why each smith deserved a piece of luxorite. She hadn't expected it to be such a big deal, but it was.

By the time she fell into bed that evening, she was thoroughly exhausted, and she was done with dealing with people. She closed her eyes and let herself sink into the stillness of sleep.

If something important happened, or if she was needed, Vell would wake her, she thought.

It wasn't long after she drifted off that she felt it—a faint presence, hovering over her.

The sensation reminded her of the training circles she'd used to practice mana barriers, where the air would hum with invisible tension and Vell was watching over her. Half-asleep, she dismissed it as one of his doings. Perhaps he was training. Even the Dread Mage needed to hone his skills.

But when the ache in her side began, sharp and sudden, she couldn't ignore it. It was the kind of pain she recognized from Simeria—strained muscles after intense training—but this was different.

Her hand instinctively moved to the source, her fingers brushing against something wet but not quite liquid.

She opened her eyes.

A figure loomed at the foot of her bed, their form hunched and shadowed. Hooded and indistinct, they crouched on all fours, like a wild animal.

Startled, she sat up.

Sonder's heart pounded, her fear sharpening, though not enough to scream. She watched as the figure took a step back, seemingly as startled as she was.

When they raised their arm, something primal surged through her—a flash of panic, an urgent need to act.

Sonder pressed her palms together, releasing a pulse before she could think twice.

The force was far stronger and more violent than she had intended. It sent the intruder flying into the stone wall of her room with a loud thud.

Scrambling to her feet, Sonder summoned fire to light the space. The fire found candles and flickered them to life, illuminating her room.

The hooded figure lay crumpled against the wall, their body limp but not lifeless. Their shallow breaths confirmed they were unconscious.

As she stepped closer, her breath caught. A thick, scaled tail—resembling that of a lizard—curled beneath their cloak, twitching faintly.

She glanced down at her side, where the ache had spread.

Black ooze dripped from her bedsheets, pooling on the floor beneath her. Her hand trembled as she traced the source, her fingertips brushing against the cold metal embedded in her skin.

A knife.

A second blade lodged in her side.