The first true test of the alliance's training came not at the fortress, but at Ashmere, the same small farming village Caleb and Corin had visited weeks before — a messenger arriving at dawn, breathless and pale, with word that the Hollowing had returned to the village in force. The fortress had barely finished its morning routines when the messenger's horse came crashing through the gates, foam-flecked and exhausted from a ride pushed far past any sensible pace.

"It's not testing anymore," the messenger gasped, barely able to stand upright from the hard ride. "It's hunting. Three families gone since nightfall. Not killed. Just... gone, the way the sheep went....