The red whistlers wouldn’t stop singing. Their eerie chants rose day and night, giving no rest to our ears. As for me—and maybe even Selene—we had learned to love their melodies. It sounded like broken voices, like laments. It suited The Damned so well, or even just our time, that it became easy to appreciate. I closed my eyes to take it in, humming faintly to accompany them.

The others were sleeping deeply, and I had taken the last watch. I wondered how Fratera was handling this. He hadn’t returned to The Damned in… so long. It must’ve been since the massacre of Goneblood, before Vileblood became the last stronghold. I could read in his features that he hadn’t lost his caution. His gaze had darted everywhere, even in sleep. He was always on alert, and I had expected no less from the one who had once mentored me.

As for Beret, I was discovering a more serious side of him. Oh, of course, he hadn’t lost his rough demeanor and thunderous voice, but I had caught him more than once with his hand on his sword, ready to strike. The only shadow on the picture remained the child. Watching her cheerfully chat with the other Dukes as if she knew we’d protect her grated on me to no end. She lacked vigilance, and I seemed to be the only one who cared!

Irritated by my own thoughts, I reopened my eyes. I took a deep breath, not at all bothered by the ambient stench, but then I paused. I sat up and looked farther, between the trees. The stench had grown stronger—strong enough to finally bother me—and I had crossed The Damned enough to know what it meant. I stood up and pulled Fratera’s bow from his bag. I nocked an arrow and crouched, waiting patiently.

I listened carefully. The red whistlers grew agitated, and the leaves of the saunes rustled, meaning they were flying off to escape some danger. That’s when, a few meters away, lost in the darkness of this land, bloodfeast creatures emerged. I stayed calm, neither drawing the bow nor waking the others. Instead, I watched as a dozen bloodfeast rushed toward us. Their shrill cries startled the others awake.

Beret reacted fastest, by instinct. Sword in hand, he raised it in front of him. But I lifted a hand to signal him to lower it. It took him a moment to understand, still lost in the fog of sleep. The little girl hastily backed away at the sight of the frenzied bloodfeast charging toward us and clung to Selene, who remained unshakably calm. We then witnessed the immediate death of our opposites.

Driven by hunger and bloodlust, lost to madness, these creatures did not see the trap laid out for them. Around the trees encircling us, we had carefully stretched out wire threads. Forged from the same steel as our armor, they had been finely cut and crafted to be easily manipulated. Taut between the trees, the wires were as sharp as our swords or the tips of our arrows. It was in Darkblood, in Beret’s homeland, that this kind of thing was made.

So when the bloodfeast hurled themselves at us, their foul stench filling our nostrils, their bodies were sliced into a dozen pieces. Their blood splattered over us, and being used to it, I had carefully kept my mouth shut. Pero and Beret, on the other hand, were overcome with nausea and collapsed to the ground. Selene and Fratera mocked them, but I didn’t get the chance to join in. Some bloodfeast backed away, realizing the trick. I then drew the bow and let the arrows rain down on them.

It was only once the bloodfeast, or the Barbarians as those from Harshblood called the ones capable of fleeing, were all down that I returned the bow and remaining arrows to Fratera. Pus oozed from their wounds, mixing with their blood, soaking The Damned even more. And yet, even with all those corpses...

"Anela," Selene warned me.

I nodded.

"I feel it too," I said. "Take up arms. It’s not over."

No sooner had I finished my sentence than a bloodfeast burst out of the foliage. Selene caught it mid-leap, grabbing its head with one hand and smashing it into the ground with a force only he was capable of. He finished it off by crushing its skull under his boot. I barely had time to admire his brute strength before four more bloodfeast came crashing down on us. The way they had managed to “bypass” the trap proved that they weren’t just mindless monsters.

And yet, even though we had passed the enemy scouts, we weren’t deep enough into enemy territory to encounter Brightbloods, as Selene called them. These bloodfeast were capable of thinking, of avoiding terrain by climbing trees—proving their strong motor skills—and from there, they managed to attack us as a coordinated group. So... what were those Brightbloods doing so close to the border?!

I slashed the throat of one and hurled its corpse at the one trying to reach Pero. She was struggling to draw her sword from its sheath, but something was clearly wrong. She couldn’t. Fratera drove one of her arrows into a Brightblood’s skull using only her fist, while Beret beat another to death with his bare hands, his sword apparently having fallen to the ground. Selene finished off the one who was about to strike Pero, just as more of them came our way.

Selene was thrown to the ground, and my heart pounding wildly, I threw myself over Pero to shield her from certain death. The claws of the bloodfeast that had threatened to slit her throat scraped against my armor, and I slashed the backs of its knees to keep it from reaching us. Pero clung to me desperately, so tightly that I could barely move my legs. I tried to make her let go—vainly. I finished off the wounded bloodfeast as best I could while my comrades took care of the others.

Selene finally managed to break free, and the way he massacred the bloodfeast made me realize he looked nothing like a ghost. He was... a monster, in his own way. He stood, covered in blood, as we all were. Our heavy breathing filled the forest, and I noticed my hands trembling around my hilt.

"Anela!" Beret shouted.

A deep rumble echoed, and driven by the urgency of the situation, I picked up Pero and tossed her aside. Behind me, the wire threads were violently torn apart, even toppling the saunes. I was thrown against the trees and stifled a muffled groan. My breath caught from the impact, and I looked down at my armor. The metal—so hard—had bent under the force. I raised my head in dread.

We all froze in place. A creature—almost human—stood before us. Unlike the bloodfeast, whose human appearance came from their morphology despite their deformed, pus-filled bodies, this thing was closer... to us. Even though its eyes were nothing but gaping holes; even though its flesh was necrotic; even though its figure was long, hunched, and towering—it resembled Man. Was it... a Nightmare?

I... I had never seen one before, but the terror gnawing at my being kept me from lifting a finger. That... that had never happened. I had always known how to fight. Fear hadn’t overwhelmed me since my first expedition. So this was a Nightmare? I tore my gaze away from the threat to find Selene. He, used to facing such horrors, stood tall, sword in hand, shielding Pero with his presence.

How... how could Brightbloods and Nightmares be here? We weren’t deep enough into The Damned to encounter them. Did they... know we were here? But how?!

My thoughts came to a halt when a low, broken voice spoke.

"Rune and his brothers and sisters, the monarchs, welcome you to their land, Bloody Vicar. Our father, Od, awaits your arrival."

That Nightmare... could speak. A bloodfeast could speak. And his words... His long, forked hand was extended toward me, and his hollow eyes stared right at me. I couldn’t breathe. And he—seemingly uninterested in us—turned and vanished into the depths of the forest. I didn’t watch him go. I buried my head in my arms and drew in deep breaths. My body trembled like a leaf, and fear made me want to cry. I was in pain, too. Nothing made sense.

A horrible thought snuck in, worming its way through my mind, and I didn’t dare give it form. I was terrified of it. I tried to calm myself, to gather my thoughts, when Pero’s small voice rose.

"Duke Anela, I—"

"I should have sent you back home. I never should’ve listened to the Asmerion. You don’t belong here."

"Anela!" Fratera cried, scandalized.

I wasn’t sure whether it was my anger toward the girl that upset Fratera, or the fact that I dared to mention not wanting to obey the Asmerion, but I didn’t regret saying either.

"She doesn’t belong here!" I repeated, irritated. "She couldn’t even draw her sword! She held on to me so tightly I couldn’t move my legs without exposing her to danger! We could have died! She could have died!"

This journey had made no sense to begin with, but throwing a child into the mix was the worst way to make things worse. I still couldn’t get up. I felt my legs too weak, so when Selene approached with heavy steps and grabbed my jaw, forcing me to look at him, I didn’t do anything to pull away.

"We’re all in this together. We can’t afford to tear each other apart," he warned.

"Don’t you get it?" I whispered more softly, trying not to take my anger out on him. "We’ve already lost. Beyond the fact that… that some bloodfeast can speak, or at least some of them, we’re expected."

"How is that possible? Only a handful of us even know about this mission."

Selene seemed to read the answer in my eyes, and he lowered his gaze, unable to face the truth—just like me. Yet he surprised me when his black eyes rose again to meet mine, resolute. He seemed to know I was too loyal to voice the thoughts in my mind, but he didn’t seem afraid to say them out loud. He let go of my face and stood up. He turned toward the others, and I saw his fist clench before my eyes. He was going to say it, though it clearly cost him.

"Who decided on this quest? Who chose to gather all the Dukes—almost all of them—in one place and leave our lands undefended? Who made that call, even though it made no sense to us?"

"Selene, your accusations are serious," Beret growled. "The Asmerion may have lacked caution, but he’s no traitor."

I sighed. I had to admit, it was strange. The Asmerion was a just and respectable man. He had always fought for Blood and had never failed. So why now?

"That Nightmare said we were expected. He knew we’d be there. Not just him, but all the bloodfeast. First there were the Barbarians, who somehow avoided charging into our trap. Then the Brightblood, who evaded it entirely. This attack was planned—and we’re not far enough in to usually see them."

"He’s right. We’re not deep enough in to encounter Nightmares. Maybe Brightblood, at a stretch, but even that’s rare," Selene confirmed.

"Isn’t it possible we just got unlucky, and a bloodfeast scout happened to stumble upon us?" Pero offered.

I rolled my eyes. She was far too young to be here, and she kept proving it. I was about to reply, irritation in my voice, but Selene gently spoke before I could.

"No. It would’ve taken him more than a night to alert the hive. I mean… wherever Od must be."

"What do we do…?" Fratera asked, uncertain. "If they know we’re coming, it’ll be a trap for sure. And I think that Nightmare said we knew too little about them. The Harshblood books never mentioned that some bloodfeast could talk. How are we supposed to know how far their 'powers' go?"

"And that’s not even mentioning this 'Rune.' If he’s a bloodfeast lord, and that Nightmare mentioned him specifically, then he must be watching us closely, right?"

Selene shook his head. The air was heavy around us, and his statement, though true, sent a chill down our spines.

"That Nightmare didn’t speak of 'us.' It’s Anela, the Bloody Vicar, that Rune, the 'monarchs,' and Od are waiting for. We were never mentioned. So who knows what’s really waiting for us at the end of this road?"