POV - Melhe
The Council Chamber was, in appearance, a sacred enclosure.
A circular room carved beneath the roots of the Hypnos Tree, supported by beams of living wood and decorated with ancient symbols representing the unity of the clan. But that day, under the dim light of the spirit lamps, everything seemed cold and empty to me.
And for the first time in years, I did not feel the blessing of the Goddesses upon that place.
We were all there. The heads of the three main families, the eight wise elders, the five spiritual representatives who were under my command, present for what was possibly the most pressing issue in centuries.
I took a deep breath, holding back the anguish that burned in my chest.
"The search patrol has confirmed the exact location of the attack," Belroth began in a grave voice.
"Near Middle Creek. Someone was waiting for them."
"It was humans," Ienyr interjected, frowning.
"The marks, the symbols they left behind. Everything points to a premeditated ambush."
"We can't say that so quickly," Belroth replied.
"There are bandits, mercenaries, poachers. Not all humans are the same. If we accuse the cities of the Kingdom without proof..."
"Then what do you want us to do?! Wait for them to return the bodies?!" Harvion stood up abruptly, slamming his fist on the stone table.
"Silence!" I ordered, raising my voice for the first time.
Everyone turned to look at me. Even Belroth, who usually maintained his composure. They looked at me with the same mixture of respect and fear that I used to see in the eyes of the initiates before the rituals. But this time it was not fear of divine judgment.
It was fear of chaos.
"There are missing children, cadets. Our children. And you argue as if it were a territorial conflict." I stood my ground, not looking away.
"Do you think the mothers who are crying in their homes care if they were bandits or not? If it was a human or a dark spirit? They are lost! And we must bring them back!"
"What if it was a sign? A warning?" asked Feyra.
"What if someone is testing our defenses?" Garien snapped.
"What if it was the half-breed's fault?" Remar muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear, but without the courage to look in my direction.
My pulse quickened. I swallowed hard.
"Say that again, patriarch," I said quietly.
"Say it to my face."
"They must be looking for him, he's one of them, even his mother too," he plucked up the courage to say it to my face.
"That's right, we know nothing about Olivia before her arrival in Sephros," added Garien.
"They must have even detected when the half-breed awakened the yin. You know how humans are when they find talent."
The silence was absolute.
"My daughter was also part of that ceremony years ago," I continued.
"Are they going to point the finger at me too? At their priestess? At the will of the goddesses?"
Remar looked away. Belroth let out a long sigh. Ienyr clenched his fists but said nothing more.
"Enough with the blame," I added.
"We must focus on bringing them back. If you want to accuse someone, do it when you are safe. But if you really think you must go down that path, do so knowing that you will have to go through me first."
My words were not shouts.
They were soft, sharp blades.
Feyra stood up.
"You're right. The Wolf Clan does not collapse because of loss, but because of division."
The others nodded slowly. But the bitterness on their faces did not fade.
The official meetings were suspended until dawn the next day. But I did not move.
I remained in the room, alone, for a long time, my hands shaking, not out of fear of enemies, but out of fear of what my daughter might do. She was too impulsive, especially when it came to Luahn.
I knelt in the center of the chamber. There, where the sacred root emerged from the ground like an exposed heart.
"Dievas..." I whispered.
"If you still consider me worthy... show me where they are."
But there was no answer.
Only silence.
*
The days following the attack did not bring peace.
Only uncertainty.
And from that uncertainty, something more dangerous was born: fear.
I was walking through the temple corridors when I heard the first rumors.
"They say it was because of the mestizo... that they were looking for him."
"We shouldn't have let him stay... Dievas never accepted him."
"And what about the girls who were with him on the day of the ceremony? That warrior girl... and the daughter of the priestess Melhe."
"Don't say it so loud, woman. What if the priestess hears you?"
"Ohh, yes, yes, I didn't say anything!"
I closed my eyes for a moment.
I was used to the gossip.
Since Grisel was born, I learned to distinguish between true respect... and that which is born of fear.
But now it wasn't me who was being singled out.
It was Luahn.
And by extension, Emilia.
And by reflex... Grisel.
The roots of the tree were being contaminated with slow-acting poison.
I went out into the temple courtyard. The mothers of some of the kidnapped children had gathered to light candles. It wasn't entirely a ritual act, but I understood their need. The sacred, at times like this, is more comfort than doctrine.
I approached one of them.
It was Narea, the mother of a girl barely six years old. Her gaze was lost, her hands clenched as if she were still clutching her daughter's fingers.
"Priestess..." she murmured when she saw me.
"Do you think they still...?"
I didn't let her finish.
I hugged her.
Not in my role as spiritual leader.
But as a mother.
After all, if my daughter were in the same situation, I wouldn't know what I would be capable of to find her.
"They're alive," I said in a firm voice.
"And we're going to bring them back."
She let out a shaky sigh, as if she had been holding her breath for hours.
But not everyone could be calmed down.
Later, at the market, I heard shouting among the merchants.
Men from the western clan, wearing marked clothing, were demanding that the children of possible mestizos be separated from future field activities.
"It's dangerous! Because of them, we don't know if they were hunters or if they sold them to slave traders!"
"That's speculation!" replied a young man from the northern neighborhoods.
"What if it were your son who was lost? Would you also look for someone to blame before bringing him back?"
The guards had to intervene.
I myself stepped in to prevent the situation from escalating further.
"Are you going to fight while the children are still missing?" I said.
"Are you going to tarnish the memory of those who still breathe with your judgments?"
Some bowed their heads.
Others looked at me with suspicion.
It didn't matter how many years I had been a priestess.
I knew that in the hearts of some, my power was accepted... but not my blood, nor my decisions.
I saw Remar and Garien watching the scene from a distance.
They did not intervene.
They just turned and walked away.
Their silence spoke louder than the words of the cowards.
Hours later, in the temple, I saw Feyra, Matriarch of the northern family, arrive silently.
She knelt in front of the altar and lit a candle. When I approached her, she gave me a calm look.
"At least one of the three pillars does not tremble," I said.
"I do not tremble..." she said.
"But it hurts me. That child... Luahn... has more dignity than many of the adults who dare to despise him."
"Not all are blind," I murmured.
"But the blind also walk. And when they walk together, they can drag the rest along."
I knew it.
We were on the edge of a crack.
And if that crack widened... we wouldn't just lose our children.
We would lose who we are.
*
That night, I looked for them, the mother who had lost the most.
The ones who loved that boy unconditionally.
Olivia opened the door, her face dry but swollen. Leyla was sitting in her living room, with Emilia in very bad shape sleeping on her chest.
"Do you have any news?" Olivia asked, her voice breaking.
I shook my head.
"Not yet. But the best are looking. And I... I swear I'll do everything I can to bring them back."
Olivia just bowed her head, her body shaking. Leyla, with Emilia in her arms, approached her to offer support.
Leyla looked at me.
"How is Grisel?" she asked.
"Ahh, she's not doing well either. That girl is actually thinking of joining the search without being in her right mind."
Grisel was not well. Luahn was more important to my daughter than I had imagined, and she herself seemed to have just realized it too. I could tell as her mother.
Although the news of his disappearance affected her greatly at first, it was nothing compared to what she became in the days that followed. She thought I didn't notice, but I heard her crying every night, her obvious anxiety increasing with each passing day.
"Luahn..." Emilia whispered in her sleep.
Leyla shed a few tears. She couldn't bear to see her daughter so distraught, so she just hugged her tighter.
As if trying to warm her daughter's body.
I could only go over to Olivia and hug her too. She slowly wrapped her arms around me as she cried on my chest again. I could only hug her tighter; it was all I could do for her at that moment.
*
POV - Garrok
First night since the kidnapping:
"And what exactly do you propose, Garrok?" Harvion's voice was dry, sharp.
"Send warriors into open terrain when we are still uncertain about the enemy?"
I remained standing, not wearing my instructor's robes this time, but those of the senior guard of the east wing.
The council meeting was not a routine one; we were all there because thirty children, thirty future warriors of the clan, had not returned.
"I propose that we assemble a reconnaissance force. With trained personnel and no political influence. A force that can move without being dragged down by family interests or unfounded fears."
"And who would make up that force? You?" asked Garien, one of the Patriarchs.
"Myself. And those who are willing to put the lives of children above adult quarrels."
A murmur ran through the room.
"What if it's a trap?" interjected an elderly woman from the Council of Wise Elders.
"What if that's exactly what they're after? To lure us in, weaken us... pave the way for something worse."
"Then it's better to fall while pursuing what is right than to stay here waiting for what is wrong," I replied without hesitation.
The room fell silent.
I knew that feeling.
The moment before a battle when everyone feels they might be making a mistake... but also understands that doing nothing is worse.
"We have lost contact with one of our youngest training groups," I continued.
"And we know that the enemy is human, not demons, not beasts, but humans who know our ways, who know how to move across our borders."
"Are you implying treachery from within?" asked Harvion of the Elders, this time more interested.
"I'm saying that whoever did this... knew our protocols. And that, counselors, is no coincidence."
Remar narrowed his eyes.
"And what does he gain from all this, Garrok? Glory? Being the one who saved the children when others hesitated?"
"All I want..." My voice broke for a moment, but I held it together.
"...is not to have to look at the mothers of those children and tell them they waited in vain."
The wise old woman from the northern district stood up.
"What if it were your son, Remar?" she asked softly.
"Would you still measure the action by political calculation?"
Remar did not answer.
He just looked away.
It was then that Melhe, sitting to my left, spoke.
"Garrok is right. And we have no time to lose. I will allow a search party to be formed... but with restrictions."
Everyone looked at her.
"The formation will begin tonight. Without publicly announcing their departure, to avoid pressure. Those who go will do so with my blessing, but without officially declaring that the temple is sending them."
"So they will go as volunteers?" I asked.
"They will go as parents, as warriors. As those who still believe it is worth disobeying... for love."
There was silence again.
A different kind of silence.
One that smacked of resolution.
And it was then that Feyra, Matriarch of the North, rose from her seat.
"My granddaughter was not taken. But my family will go."
After her, another.
And another.
Until the balance, which seemed to be tied by fear... began to tip toward courage.
I smiled slightly.
It was not a victory.
But it was a step.
And that step...
Could take us to the heart of the forest.
To the place where the footsteps that should have returned home still echoed.
And where now... we would go to bring them back.
*
In the days that followed, while searching the forest surroundings again,
A symbol engraved on a rock that was familiar to us was found.
And next to it, traces of blood, black crystals, and lanterns with light that still burned, as if something beyond oil was fueling them.
I crouched down. I closed my eyes. I felt a vibration in the earth.
"This... is not new," I whispered.
One of the trackers looked at me confused.
"What did you say, Master Garrok?"
"These rune marks, we found them before in the caves where I took Emilia's group on their first expedition," I said.
"We must go back and report this," added another tracker.
"Let's do it, immediately, time is what we have the least of," I added as we returned to the city.
"Somer, notify the rest of the unit and prepare what is necessary. We will depart when I return with the council's permission."
"Right away, leader. We will be ready when you arrive," he said as he headed toward the base.
As I watched him leave, I could only think of one thing.
"The time has come." It was time to act. Luahn and the others, just wait a little longer.