The villagers knelt frozen in the burning ruins above the shelter, surrounded by Night Hunters.
No one dared breathe too loudly.

Ashren knelt near the back, the two children hiding behind him.
His friend stayed close, gripping Ashren’s arm.

“What do we do?” the friend whispered.
“We can’t fight them…”

Ashren’s jaw tightened.
His uncle’s final words echoed painfully in his mind.

Be a better man…

The leader stepped forward, the firelight dancing across his dark armor.

“If the Princess insists on hiding,” he said,
“then we will begin eliminating the unnecessary.”

His words hit like a stone dropped in water.
Shock spread through the villagers.

“No… no please…”
“Don’t—don’t do this!”
“We don’t even know who you’re talking about!”

The leader ignored their cries.

He moved into the crowd and grabbed a young girl by the arm.
She screamed and struggled, but the Hunter’s grip was iron.

Ashren felt his chest tighten.

“This girl,” the leader said smoothly,
“now has one minute left in her life.”

He lifted his weapon to the girl’s head and checked his watch as if bored.

The villagers sobbed.

Mothers covered their children’s eyes.
Elders shook with terror.

Ashren felt the children behind him squeeze his hands.

“Why?” one of them whispered.

He didn’t have an answer.

But rage burned in his stomach.

The hooded girl in the crowd—small, unnoticed—shivered violently.
Her breathing quickened.
Her hands clutched the fabric of her disguise.

She didn’t look like a warrior.
She looked like someone barely holding herself together.

The leader began counting.

“Fifty seconds.”

Ashren’s friend whispered urgently,
“If someone knows who the princess is, they should just—just say it! Someone is going to die!”

Ashren shook his head.

“They don’t know. She’s hiding too well.”

“Forty seconds.”

Ashren forced himself to look at the hooded girl.

Is it her?

Her shoulders trembled.
She flinched at every number.

“Thirty seconds.”

Ashren felt heat rise through his body.

He couldn’t watch another innocent person die.

Not again.
Not after losing his uncle.

“Twenty seconds.”

The leader’s voice was almost playful.

The hooded girl’s breath hitched, her knees weakening.

Ashren whispered,
“It’s her…”

“Ten seconds.”

The leader raised his weapon.

The hostage girl sobbed uncontrollably.

Villagers begged.
Children cried.
Ashren’s heart pounded like thunder.

He took a step forward—

But something changed.

The hooded girl couldn’t take it anymore.

She lifted her head.

Her eyes shimmered with fear.

And then…

She slowly stepped out from the crowd.

Gasps echoed everywhere.

Ashren froze in place.

To be continued…

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