"Trigger the rockfall! Trap them in the gorge!"
Down in the pass, a sudden, thunderous crack echoed off the canyon walls.
*CRACK!*
The sharp, deafening sound shattered the eerie quiet of the pass, followed immediately by the terrifying roar of grinding stone. High above, thousands of pounds of jagged rock tore free from the cliffside, raining down into the narrow gorge in a cascading wall of debris.
"AMBUSH!"
Leo shouted first, his voice cutting through the thunderous noise like a whip.
"SHIELDS UP! DEFEND THE CARRIAGE!"
Before the first boulder even struck the earth, the Crimson Vanguard reacted with frightening, mechanical perfection. Silas shoved his hands forward, a shimmering, translucent wall of blue mana snapping into existence right over the carriage, deflecting the falling rubble into the canyon walls with violent explosions of dust and shattered stone.
The heavy rocks slammed into the narrow path, completely blocking both the front and rear exits of the gorge, trapping the convoy inside a narrow, dust-filled choke point.
From the high ledges above, dozens of cloaked mercenaries surged forward, drawing heavy crossbows and blades as they rained iron bolts down upon the trapped unit.
"Trap them and flush out the target!"
Norman yelled from the high ridge, aiming his crossbow down into the settling dust.
"Kill the guards!"
Inside the carriage, Cassian felt the heavy jolt as the carriage rocked under the falling debris. His eyes narrowed, all warmth vanishing from his expression, replaced by the razor-sharp focus of an academy instructor who had survived far worse than a mountain ambush. He didn't flinch. Slowly, he unlatched the heavy wooden door of the carriage and stepped out into the swirling dust, his fur mantle snapping in the icy wind.
"Your Highness, please stay inside!"
Honda called out, unsheathing two curved, silver-coated daggers as she landed gracefully beside the carriage wheels.
"I am fine, Honda,"
Cassian replied calmly, his voice steady as he looked up toward the high cliffs where Knox and Norman were perched. His crimson eyes gleamed.
"It doesn't seem like they are mountain bandits but mercenaries."
Leo rode his black charger to Cassian's side, his broadsword drawn and glowing with a faint, dangerous aura.
"They hold the high ground, brother,"
Leo reported, his jaw set hard,
"And they intend to pin us here and pick us off."
"Then show them why the Vanguard never loses the high ground,"
Cassian commanded softly, his voice carrying an unquestioned authority that sent a thrill through every nearby captain.
Leo broke into a dark, fierce grin. He turned to the captains, raising his glowing blade into the air.
"CAPTAINS! FORMATION C!"
Leo roared, his voice echoing off the canyon walls.
"CLEANSE THE RIDGES! LEAVE NONE ALIVE!"
"YES, COMMANDER!"
In an instant, the Vanguard shifted from a defensive shell into a lethal hunting unit. Gideon smashed his broadshield into a falling rock, shattering it to dust, while Felix and Helena bounded up the sheer rock face with terrifying speed, using raw physical strength and reinforced boots to scale the cliffs directly toward the ambushers.
High above, Knox looked through his spyglass again, his hands shaking violently as he watched the red-cloaked warriors scale the vertical rock walls as if gravity meant nothing to them.
"They're coming up!"
Knox panicked, taking a terrified step back from the ledge.
"Norman, they're scaling the wall! This is crazy, we need to fall back!"
"Shut up and fire!" Norman snarled, his eyes wild with desperate greed as he aimed his heavy crossbow directly at Cassian standing calmly beside the carriage below.
"The Prince is right there! One shot with the Aether-Bane is all it takes and this is our only chance!"
Norman pulled the trigger.
The heavy iron bolt whistled through the air, streaking down toward Cassian's chest with lethal velocity.
The heavy iron bolt never reached Cassian. Before it could travel halfway down the gorge, Felix leaped off a jutting rock formation, his greatsword flashing in a swift arc that snapped the projectile clean in two.
Without missing a beat, Felix slammed his boots into the stone cliff face and propelled himself the rest of the way up the ridge. Helena launched right beside him, her twin rapier blades already humming with a cold, blue frost aura, while Leo crested the high rocks with a heavy, earth-shaking thud.
High above the gorge, the air instantly turned freezing.
"They're on the ridge!"
Knox screamed, dropping his spyglass in terror as he scrambled backward over the loose gravel.
"Fall back! Fall back!"
"Stand your ground, you fools!" Norman roared, pulling his sidearm dagger and trying to reload his heavy crossbow with trembling hands.
"There's only three of them—"
Norman's words were cut short as Leo stepped through the settling dust. His crimson cloak snapped in the biting mountain wind, and the heavy broadsword in his hand glowed with a suffocating, dense mana pressure. The seasoned captain looked at the panicking mercenaries with cold, unblinking eyes.
"You targeted our commander,"
Leo spoke quietly, his voice dangerously low.
"There is no falling back for scums like you."
Before Norman could even raise his crossbow, Helena moved. She vanished into a blur of speed, appearing directly in the center of the mercenary front line. Her rapiers struck like lightning.
*shing-shing-shing!*
piercing armor and instantly flash-freezing the blood of six men where they stood. They collapsed like shattered glass statues before they could even scream.
From the left flank, Felix let out a booming laugh, spinning his massive greatsword in a devastating horizontal arc. The weight of his strike shattered wooden shields, snapped mercenary blades, and sent five men flying off the edge of the cliff to the rocky gorge below.
"Monster!"
a mercenary captain cried out, swinging a heavy battleaxe at Leo's neck.
Leo didn't even bother to parry. He raised his gauntleted left hand, catching the battleaxe blade bare-handed as if it were a wooden toy. With a simple twist of his wrist, he shattered the axe head into splintered metal.
Before the man could register what had happened, Leo drove his broadsword straight through the warrior's chestplate, lifting him off his feet and throwing his lifeless body into the dirt.
Within less than two minutes, forty hardened mercenaries were reduced to corpses strewed across the frost-covered rocks. The air smelled thick of blood and ozone.
Knox scrambled desperately toward the rear escape path, his boots slipping on the bloody gravel. He didn't make it three steps before Helena's ice blade pressed firmly against his windpipe, the freezing temperature locking his jaw in absolute terror.
Beside him, Norman fell to his knees, his face pale as chalk, his hands raised in frantic surrender as Leo stepped up, his broadsword dripping with dark crimson.
"Wait! Wait!"
Norman begged, his voice cracking as he reached into his pocket and threw the silver vial of Aether-Bane onto the cold dirt.
"We were hired! We were paid to do this!"
Leo looked down at the silver vial, then at Norman's terrified eyes. He didn't offer a single word of mercy.
"We don't care who paid you,"
Leo said coldly, raising his sword.
"You aimed your filthy sword at our commander."
A single, clean strike ended Norman's pleas forever.
Leo lowered his blade, turning his gaze down toward the gorge below. Cassian stood peacefully beside the carriage, looking up at the high ridge. Leo planted his fist against his chestplate, offering his commander a crisp, silent salute over the newly cleared pass.
Then he dragged Knox down the steep cliff path by the collar of his leather armor, throwing him onto the cold stone courtyard of the pass right at Cassian's boots.
Knox hit the dirt with a harsh gasp, his knees scraping against the frost. He scrambled backward until his spine slammed against the heavy iron wheel of the carriage. Trembling violently
Then he looked up.
Cassian stood above him, his fur mantle draped over his shoulders, his hands folded loosely inside his sleeves. He looked completely untroubled by the blood and chaos surrounding the narrow gorge. Beside him, Celia stood tossing a silver-coated dagger into the air, while Silas kept his hands resting on his spellbook, his quiet gaze fixed on the prisoner.
Leo stepped forward, tossing the silver vial of Aether-Bane onto the dirt between Knox and Cassian.
"We cleared the ridge, My Prince," Leo reported smoothly. "This one was smart enough to stop running when Helena put a blade to his throat. He brought a poison meant to suppress mana."
Cassian glanced down at the silver vial. He nudged it slightly with the toe of his boot, his crimson eyes gleaming with cold amusement.
"Aether-Bane," Cassian murmured, his voice calm and soft. "A restricted compound from the Southern black markets. It takes a considerable amount of gold to acquire a single drop, let alone a full vial."
He stepped closer to Knox, leaning down slightly so their eyes were level.
"Who gave this to you?"
Knox swallowed hard, his hands digging into the loose gravel behind him.
"I—I don't know her real name! She never showed her face! She spoke through a proxy at the guild in the capital!"
"Lie to him again and I'll cut off your thumb,"
Honda offered brightly with a sweet smile, catching her dagger mid-air.
Knox's face turned white as chalk.
"I'm telling the truth! I swear it! A woman dressed in high-born silk met our captain in secret three nights ago! She gave us three thousand gold coins up front and promised ten thousand more if we brought back his signet ring!"
"A woman in high-born silk,"
Cassian repeated thoughtfully. He tilted his head.
"Did she happen to carry the scent of sweet velvet-vanilla oil?"
Knox's eyes widened in realization.
"Yes! Yes! The scent was so strong it filled the entire back room of the tavern! She said–... she said if we failed to kill you here, her secondary group would set fire to the West estate warehouse tonight to distract Sir Arden and Lord Sora!"
Leo's jaw clenched tightly, his hand instantly returning to the hilt of his broadsword.
"The West estate's warehouse? That's where the wedding preparations and ceremonial artifacts are being stored."
Cassian let out a low, quiet laugh—a sound so devoid of fear that Knox shivered.
"She really hasn't changed,"
Cassian said, turning his back on Knox and looking toward the mountain road ahead.
"Always relying on petty schemes while trying to strike from behind."
Cassian looked at Leo.
"Keep him bound and hand him over to the estate guards when we return. As for the West warehouse..."
Cassian glanced over his shoulder toward the distant estate towers visible through the mountain gap.
"...-let us see if Lucien and Sora catch her rat before we even get back."
*****