The closer Elowen walked toward the city, the more chaotic the road became.
Carts overturned in ditches.
Bundles of belongings abandoned in the mud.
People running.
Crying.
Shouting.
Soldiers moved through the crowd, trying to push travelers back toward the countryside.
"Turn around!" one of them yelled. "The city's not safe!"
But many had nowhere else to go.
Just like her.
Elowen stayed near the edge of the road, trying to keep her head down.
A group of soldiers suddenly stepped into her path.
"Stop there," one said.
Elowen froze.
Their armor was smeared with soot and dust.
One of them stepped forward.
He looked younger than the others but carried himself like someone used to giving orders.
His dark coat marked him as a captain.
Captain Rowan Hale.
He studied her carefully.
"Where are your parents?" he asked.
Elowen hesitated.
Her throat tightened.
"Gone," she said finally.
Rowan's eyes drifted briefly to the strands of red hair peeking from her hood.
But unlike the villagers...
He didn't react with fear.
Instead, he sighed.
"You shouldn't be on this road," he said.
Another explosion thundered in the distance.
Rowan glanced toward the city walls.
"Get off the road and head north," he told her. "Now."
Before she could answer, shouting erupted nearby.
Enemy soldiers had appeared on the far side of the fields.
Crossbow whistled through the air.
Chaos exploded.
People screamed.
Horses reared.
Rowan barked orders to his men.
"Form a line!"
Elowen stumbled backward, heart hammering in her chest.
She ran toward a broken wagon lying on its side near the road.
If she stayed low...
If she stayed quiet...
Maybe no one would notice her.
Boots pounded across the dirt.
A shadow fell over her.
Elowen looked up.
A soldier stood only a few steps away.
His uniform was unfamiliar.
Northern colors.
Rhaedor.
He raised his sword.
For a moment neither of them moved.
Elowen felt strangely calm.
Her mind drifted back to the house she had left that morning.
The slammed door.
Her mother's cold voice.
You are the omen that took my husband.
The soldier strike
Everything went dark.