Chapter 53 Beneath The Smoke

• The smoke curled long before the fire was visible.
• Kael saw it as they crested the valley road—a thin gray thread clawing upward into a pale sky, silent and accusing. His heart dropped. He spurred his horse faster without a word, Elira close behind him, the others struggling to keep up.
• The village of Drenhall had once been small, quiet, unassuming. Now it was half-burnt, blackened timber cracking beneath the last heat of the blaze. Corpses lined the muddy path, some still smoldering. Chickens ran in panicked circles. A child screamed somewhere in the wreckage, sharp and hollow.