You Found Her

LOCATION: SOUTHERN RIDGE — NEAR SHADOWREACH TRAIL

The path was dusty. Everything looked brown and cracked. The mud here stuck to their boots but slid off as they walked. Sharp rocks stuck out from the ground like teeth. The wind wasn't helping either, it kept blowing sand into their faces.

Serin stood near a boulder, holding a crumpled map. Her hair was tied back, but strands still got loose in the wind. She stared at the route like it would reveal the future if she stared deeper.

"This is where Shadowreach marked the movement," she said. "Relay came in from the old channel near Shadowedge."

Jareth was crouched beside her, one hand brushing the ground.

"Those are fresh wheel tracks," he muttered. "Big cart. Probably reinforced and that curve up ahead? Perfect for hiding something important."

Serin nodded. "Then we don't wait."

Jareth looked up at her. "You sure you're ready for this?"

She didn't answer right away. Her hand brushed her side, just briefly. "Ready enough."

He gave her a look, like he wanted to say more, but didn't.

Two Hollow Creed scouts waited quietly nearby. Hooded, focused and silent. One of them had blood on his boots already, no one asked why.

"Follow the ridge until the next bend," Serin said. "If we're lucky, they haven't spotted us yet."

Jareth smiled a little. "Since when are we lucky?"

---

They moved quickly.

The sun was climbing, shadows stretching thin over the cracked hills. Jareth took the lead this time, scouting ahead. Serin followed with the scouts, careful with each step.

Eventually, they spotted it.

A dark glyphcart pulled by two runed horses. Six soldiers walked beside it, heads scanning the path. Ashvale armor, the Creed of Chains.

Serin crouched behind a ridge and signaled.

Jareth slipped next to her.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That the cart's too quiet," she replied. "Definitely something inside."

He nodded. "We take the guards, fast and clean."

She just nodded once.

They waited until the cart hit the bend, until it hit the perfect spot.

Then it started.

One scout dropped smoke while the other threw a silence glyph.

Everything went fast after that.

Jareth jumped from the ridge and landed behind the lead guard, knocking him out with a quick hit to the helmet. Serin rushed the side, deflecting a blade and driving her elbow into the soldier's ribs.

The other guards scrambled, one shouting, another raising a flare but was too slow.

A throwing knife from Jareth knocked the flare out of his hand. The silence glyph still held.

Serin ducked and slashed, not lethal. One man screamed. Another tried to run, but one of the scouts tackled him.

It was over in under a minute.

---

They tied up the last conscious soldier.

Serin stood in front of him, breathing a little heavier than usual. Jareth leaned nearby, arms crossed.

"Name?" Serin asked.

The man stayed quiet.

Jareth kicked the back of the tree he was tied to.

"Name?"

"M...Marv," he muttered. "Private, Ashvale guard line. I...I just do escorts."

"What was in the glyphcart?" Serin barked.

"Food," he said too fast.

Jareth raised an eyebrow. "That your final answer?"

Marv swallowed. "Food, supplies, mo..mostly preserved packs. Some water glyphs. A...A few healer crates."

"Why send a guarded transport through this path for food?" Serin asked. Her voice wasn't angry. Just… sharp.

Marv looked at her then away, then back again.

"They didn't tell us why," he said. "But word going around is…"

"Say it," Jareth snapped.

Marv flinched. "They're prepping Bleakrest, making space, reinforcing supplies. I Heard someone's being moved there."

"Who?" Serin asked.

Marv shook his head. "I don't know, I swear. All I heard was it's someone high-value. Big enough that they're shifting guard units. Like, not just Ashvale internal. The Creed's stretching out."

Jareth narrowed his eyes. "When's the prisoner arriving?"

Marv hesitated. "Should be today. Maybe already left. Depends where they started from. But the food convoy's meant to follow behind."

That was enough.

Jareth turned, pulling his glyphstone from his belt.

"Lucan," he said into the stone. "Ashvale's reinforcing Bleakrest. New prisoner's being taken there. No name, high-value target. Probably on the road right now."

A pause.

Then Lucan's voice, sharp but calm: "Understood."

Jareth clicked the glyphstone off and looked at Serin.

"I'll handle the cleanup," he said. "You get back to camp. We'll send word if anything else moves."

Serin nodded, already turning. The look on her face said she wasn't done with this place. Not by aong shot.

---

LOCATION: HOLLOW CREED — RIDGE GATE

Lucan stood by the gate, reading the coordinates from the glyph relay Jareth had sent.

Zekk fastened his second blade with a low whistle. "So… Ashvale's moving someone important and thinks they can sneak past us?"

Lucan didn't say anything. He was staring at the road.

"Bleakrest," he said finally.

Zekk gave a short laugh. "Figures. That place reeks of secrets."

Four more Hollow Creed fighters were already mounted up — cloaks on, weapons ready. No banners. No talk.

Lucan swung up onto his runner beast. "We intercept. No questions till the chains come off."

Zekk grinned. "Good. I like breaking things."

They rode out fast, no ceremony and certainly no speeches.

Just six riders cutting through the dust, heading straight for a secret they were never meant to find.

---

LOCATION: OUTSKIRTS OF BLEAKREST — DUSK

The road was quiet.

Three carriages, marked by Ashvale's Creed of Chains logo and banner in iron wheels.

They didn't expect company.

Six riders came through the dust, no banners, no, no warning, just the sound of a decision already made.

It wasn't a battle, it was a message.

Lucan cut through two guards without blinking. Zekk broke the third's shoulder with a smile. The others cleaned up the rest quick, dirty but done right.

Then the last carriage.

Lucan stepped up to it, slow. No sound in his steps. Just the System whispering in his head:

[UNIQUE PRESENCE DETECTED]

[GLYPH SIGNATURE: FAMILIAR]

[RECOGNITION… INCOMPLETE]

He kicked the door open and a girl looked up from the shadows, pale, bruised and fire barely clinging behind her eyes.

Nyza.

And something in Lucan's chest cracked wide open.

For a breath, time didn't move.

He didn't move, just stared and in that silence, the System whispered again.

[YOU FOUND HER.]